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The Night Land's strengths are so great that even its manifest flaws cannot eclipse them. Still, you may find Hodgson problematic in a different way to Lovecraft - not in terms of his attitude to race, but towards male / female relationships. 'Unreconstructed' is an understatement! Still, it's more a case of thinking "oh dear" and moving on - he's not like Lovecraft, whose prejudices actively fuel some of his stories and are inextricably woven into their literary fabric.

Yeah - there's other criticisms I could level at this story, but I've got no problem with the lack of lead-up. There's no shortage of contemporary 2000AD stories that are endlessly setting things up - fair play to Williams for just getting stuck in this time.

It's the category I nominated him for - as a shapeshifter, deception is his central character trait. The first time we meet him he's pretending to be Major Honda. I don't think you had a category for 'monsters'.

[Halo Jones]

Halo Jones. That's it.

[Protoid]

Protoid - he's one of the prog's greatest ever villains, an oily, treacherous abomination, sarcastic veneer layered over a cold, hard core of boiling contempt.

Bland & Brass - a great pair of amoral ancillary characters.

[The Night Land]

You need to do The Night Land now. Monstrously flawed, frequently aggravating... and yet probably the best book ever.

Rogue judges: Barry Kurten

That's a good choice, I concur.

Lulu Romanov. She's one of my favs and given she joined Dante in the Rebellion at the end defo sided with the 'goodies'.

Lulu's a bit like Thrax - she's a completely amoral murderer - except she actively does go against Dante at points, even though she sides with him at the end. But Thrax has nicer eyelashes.

Another vote for Giant (Jnr.) and a nomination for Chief Judge Hilda Margaret McGruder.

Nominations:

Danny Franks - Soldiers
Sheeva - Soldiers
De Racine - Soldiers
Revere - Rebels
Fervent and Lobe - Rebels
Winwood and Cord - Agents
Fludd - Rebels or maybe Traveller
Wulf Sternhammer - Strontium Dogs

In my mind Thrax sits in the heroes side, in that he's an absolute git but fights on the side of the angels (ahem!) in story terms at least.

You're right that he's always on the side of Bad Company as a whole - even when he deserts, he comes straight back. But he's also a cold-blooded murderer who kills one of the raws for annoying him. I've always said his function the story is as yardstick for Danny - how Danny reacts to him shows how 'bad' Danny has become.

Nominations:

Protoid - I'd put him under Scoundrels and Tricksters
Thrax - Or does he belong in the other list? Here under Military and Government, there under Soldiers.
Phobia and Nausea - joint entry under Dark Judges

Similarly isn't The Dead Man effectively a Dredd strip but with a different banner stuck on it?

The funny thing is, I'd rate The Dead Man over virtually any Dredd strip - it's in my top 3 2000AD stories.

...thanks to you Mods for wombling the forum!

I'm pretty sure there was a link to that. "See red-hot mods wombling the forum hard!"

I've reflected on the fact that I've recently seen Dabnett's work describe as 'Ultra, ultra, ultra competent' (I might misquote slightly)

I only used two ultras, not three. That'd be pushing it.

As I've said repeatedly, I think Abnett's very good at what he does. I go into any new Abnett strip with an open mind, ready to enjoy. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I deny none of the man's technical ability - which to me would suggest a very high degree of competence. His ideas are perfectly decent.