2000AD Prog 6: The Nazis have come Back from the Dead

Ian Kennedy returns to the Galaxy’s Greatest, though on Invasion! rather than M.A.C.H.1 this time.  The nasty Volgs are going to publicly execute innocent civilians in retaliation for the Mad Dogs first attack. The place they chose to do this was Wembley Stadium (renamed Victory Stadium), and so Savage’s response to this includes football imagery.  The song You’ll Never Walk Alone is used and I had to check it wasn’t Pat Mills on writing duties (though he was editor at the time, so perhaps he was in some way responsible for its inclusion?)

On to Flesh, and the main scene of interest to me is when Old One Eye accidentally kills her own son (not that she would have stopped if she’d realised).  I suspect this is the first appearance of the original Satanus, before he was reincarnated in the 21st century.  Shall have to compare scenes once I get to the Cursed Earth.

Facing the last page of Flesh is a fantastic splash page from Gibbons, of the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel.  Lots of visual treats on the sides of the trucks and superliners using it.  A racist commentator (who calls all of the Russian players Boris) notwithstanding, this is a pretty good episode.

Speaking of great art, Belardinelli is next on Dare, with our first view of the BIogs’ Base.  Not sure the use of red, blue and black works that well – black and blue might have picked out the detail nicely but the third colour doesn’t work for me.  Anyway, Massimo gets to draw lots of strange aliens, so all is good (and we get the first appearance of the Axe of Office).

The Nerve Centre is next with a (doctored) photo of Tharg, flanked by a couple of adverts for stamps (from different companies!)  If I remember my Thrill-Power Overload correctly, this is Kelvin Gosnell dressed up as Tharg, terrorising a secretary.

Next up, M.A.C.H.1 fights for Himmler’s Gold.  Neo-Nazis, actual Nazis and Stormtrooper skeletons crop up in a story which is pretty similar to every other tale we’ve had of the M.A.C.H.man.

Rounding the prog, story-wise, is Dredd coming up against Frankenstein 2, an transplant organ harvester.  Dredd is in Sub Sector 6, rather than Section 6 now, so getting closer to current terminology.  One of McMahon’s best panels to date on the third page (where Dredd is blinded, except he isn’t).  Classic Dredd elements here – future crime, punchline and a comment from a mother to her child about how grim Dredd is.

Rounding the prog off altogether is a cut-away of the Harlem Heroes superliner provided by Kevin O’Neill, where we get to find out what those other satellite vehicles are (hover car and seven mopeds in addition to the helicopter, essentially).