Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth, Chapter 14 – For Whom The Bell Tolls!

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth, Chapter 14 – For Whom The Bell Tolls!

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 74

DATELINE
22 July 78

PAGE COUNT
7

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 02.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd and Spikes are set up to be sacrificed to Satanus.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First time that a story has reached fourteen parts, first reference to Flesh.

INFORMATION
Black Rock is near Repentance. When the townsfolk ring the church bells in Repentance the dinosaurs assemble at Black Rock to be fed.

JUDGE DREDD
He has programmed the land-raider's computer to teach Tweak elementary English. His food is drugged in Repentance's saloon and he awakes to discover he has been tied up at Black Rock as a sacrifice.

OTHER CHARACTERS
SATANUS
He has memories of his first life, 65 million years ago, Old One Eye was his hag-mother, she taught him everything he knew and she killed him when he attacked her in a bid to replace her as pack leader. Now, he tears off another Tyrannosaur's tail and the dinosaur falls into a volcano. He now leads a pack of at least eight Tyrannosaurs. He is also known as Satanus the twice-born and Satanus the unchained.

OLD ONE EYE
Hag-mother to Satanus in his first life. She killed a Scolosaur and tipped it onto its back for her three offspring to eat from its armour like a feeding trough. She taught them how to hunt. In her eightieth year, Satanus attacked her in an attempt to replace her as pack leader. He was unsuccessful, she broken every bone in his body and ate him alive. At the age of one hundred and twenty, she lost an eye, earning her the name Old One Eye and she led an army of Tyrannosaurs to great and bloody victory.

TWEAK
Dredd has programmed the land-raider's computer to teach Tweak elementary English.

SPIKES 'HARVEY' ROTTEN
His food is drugged in Repentance's saloon and he awakes to discover he has been tied up at Black Rock as a sacrifice.

JACK
His food is drugged in Repentance's saloon and the townsfolk intend to sacrifice him to Satanus later.

BULL CANNON
Blacksmith of Repentance.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
Six. Satanus kills another Tyrannosaurus Rex and his pack eats two of the sacrifices. In flashback. Satanus and his siblings eat a Scolosaur and a Brontosaurus, and later Satanus is killed by his mother.

BEST LINES
Bull Cannon: "The way we see it, Judge...The tyrant lizards ruled for millions of years at the beginning of the world...And now they'll rule again at the end of the world! It's a judgement on the human race!"

WORST LINES
Spikes: "They're coming for us now! Well, why don't yer say something, Judge? Anything!"
Dredd: "What is there to say, Spikes - Except...we're dead meat!"

CATCHPHRASES
Dredd says "what the Drokk...?"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Satanus is revealed to be the clone of the son of Old One Eye from Flesh.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940.

In the saloon someone sings a version of 'Home On The Range' with dinosaury lyrics, the original lyrics were written by Dr. Brewster M. Higley (1823–1911) in the early 1870s, set to music by Daniel E. Kelley (1845–1905) and it was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas in 1947.

Scolosaurus is a heavily armoured dinosaur from about 76 million years ago and fossils have been found in what is now Canada. Brontosaurus, now known by the name Apatosaurus, lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period and was one of the largest land animals known to have ever existed.

MISTAKES
Vittals again.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Pat Mills
Artist: Mike McMahon
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
Another flashback heavy chapter, but the tie in with Flesh is great and the rudimentary pseudo-religion of the people of Repentance is a nice touch, deftly explained.

Next Prog: Picnic At Black Rock!