So this excellent run comes to an end. Couple of points of note. I'm already wrong about Andy Clarke as here he is again introducing Kal Cutter in Sinister Dexter and now I think we get another story (at least by him) featuring Kal. Another surprise in this story is the introduction of Charon. For some reason I really wasn't expecting him so soon. Always felt more could have been done with him. Still that's a ways off.
Anyway that's all preamble. Welcome to

And as we head into a relaunch Prog at 1350 there is really only one thing to talk about... well given I kinda covered how good 'Revenge of the Chief Judges Man' is already and that's new thrill
Lobster RandomI love this thrill. Its quite brilliant and if I could get one creator back to finish a story in 2000ad it could very well be Si Spurrier to give us more of this glorious thrill... well maybe a beardo mage and this artist partner might edge it... anyway its great.
What has struck me is how this story of a aged expert torturer, with two additional lobster limbs grafted onto him and his fettish for robot lovin' is actually another example of a solid, dependable thrill...
...well okay its not is it, but there is a link I'll get to.
First though lets just revel in how this story offers something so untypical. Fair to say we have some of the characteristics of our lead already setting that up. But we have more. The story mianders quite wonderfully. From the simply magnificent opening episode when our led is rescued from a regression death that gives us possibly the best introduction to a character's past ever in the Prog. From here it quickly turns into an imaginative heist caper. Before ending as a bitter revenge thriller. All of these are balanced perfectly.
Si Spurriers bold and pulsating story maybe the star, but its brought so magnificently to life by Carl Critchlow's art. He seems almost born for this strip. I mean I love his work at the best of times, here though his tight earthy angles hold the story firm and keep it grounded and seemingly impossibly real. The chaotic and kinetic edges and shapes also push the story effortlessly to all the imaginative and mind expanding places it takes you to.
This glorious combination of art and story is no better exemplified than in the story's eighth episode when Lobster Randon loosens his connection to his dimension so he can pass through a wall. He has to hold himself together and pays the price for doing so as he loosens his grip all the pain he hasn't felt since being turned into a super solider is shaken loose too. The whole thing sounds extraordinary and in its delivery its superfically surreal and psychodelic. Yet so perfectly crafted its easy to follow, has emotional impact and feels natural and grounded.
Its just brilliant.
This combination of the extreme and 'crazy' and plain expert delivery makes it all so human, humourous and humunously good is also why it has elements of a 'typical' 2000ad thrill. For all the things Lobster Random is as described above he is also such a typically wonderful 2000ad character. In the stories of the 90s he'd have been a shallow badass. All clinched buttucks and crappy hard dialogue. Here he's from the leftfield where Tharg finds his best, but also a typical action bad ass, with a gloriously sharp line in wit and twisted wisdom. Yet he's also human and real hidden behind the kick ass fun. He's typically atypical in that way only a typical 2000ad story can manage.
This strip will be back relatively soon as I recall and I for one can't wait.
For now though after a short break we'll get back to some really typical 2000ad characters as 1350 brings us an all a list line up of Dredd, Slaine and Strontium Dog.