Prog 2147 - The Enforcer

[broodblik]

Overall a good prog

Dredd – Solid story and art. It is like Barbarbara painted herself into a corner.

Sin/Dex feels a little bit direction-less. It reads currently like the strips from the 80s which is trying to establish itself.

3riller – only action so far, so we must wait for the last part to determine if the story was worth its salt. This so far is a good 3riller with great art

Jaegir – Good stuff, great art with a good solid story.

[iutley]

Regarding Sin Dex at the moment, does anyone know what the current situation is with people knowing/not knowing who they are after the inter-dimensional shenanigans?
I thought everyone had forgotten them (except Billi who was starting to remember) and they were having to start over but this story reads like they've just had a bit of time off and come back! They feel older and out of place but they are top sharks and hanging out with old pal Rocky at the Bar None.
Any Sin Dex experts out there who can fill me in?

[TordelBack]

No-one knew them, but they have established themselves as primo bullet monkeys again, and restored their acquaintance with Rocky, Bar None, Billie and various lowlifes. Only Billie has even the vaguest sense that they knew each other before.

Of course there is something larger and altogether odd going on, between the Devil, magic tats, Dex's thought bubbles, urban renewal and now this firewalled AI business. All smacks of a VR prison to me, or perhaps some of the themes of Banks' Matter.

[TordelBack]

Elsewhere in progland, I doff my cap to Carroll and Dyer,  current Dredd is great stuff. This is a much better angle on the 'pocket universe' problem that plagues the non-Wagners, a citizen's eye view of the eternal underworld struggles of MC-1, spreading across several otherwise standalone strips. And beautiful to look at too.

Spectacular Lynch cover too, love it.

[DrJomster]

Spectacular Lynch cover too, love it.

Yep. Very lovely cover, that! Might put that down in my top 3 for cover of the year in a few months time.

Another good prog for me this week. Some stronger than others, but a very good level across the board. Some particularly lovely art in every thrill, too.

Good times!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Elsewhere in progland, I doff my cap to Carroll and Dyer,  current Dredd is great stuff. This is a much better angle on the 'pocket universe' problem that plagues the non-Wagners, a citizen's eye view of the eternal underworld struggles of MC-1, spreading across several otherwise standalone strips. And beautiful to look at too.

Spectacular Lynch cover too, love it.

Aye, it's not only Mike's best Dredd to date, but Nick's too. I wasn't completely sold on Dyer's art at first, but these days I am delighted to see someone comfortably plugging the gap left by Cam Kennedy and Mike McMahon.

I like your VR prison idea; hadn't thought of that.  In fact I'm enjoying SinDex all round these days.  There's been a bit of a history of seemingly important plot threads giving way to massive anticlimaxes in SinDex: just hope this isn't going the same way.

[Leigh S]

Yeah, a solid prog received in the Birmingham Gap

Cover is superb - Jake Lynch really living up to the promise of his style

Dredd is intriguing and a welcome focus on Citizens

Sin Dex lost me, but I don't begrudge it a slot

a slightly weaker IP I thought this week, with the ending being very Zenith/Masterman.  Art remains a sight to behold though.

Similarly, the 3riller has great art - maybe it's stretching a one part FS over three weeks, though since they went 4 pages (as a rule?), I suppose it's hard to tell anything too complex or involved - maybe we need "2ture Shocks" for balance?

Jaegir is all good stuff - While I miss the zaniness of original GFD in Jaegir, and the politics/Nort culture stuff doesnt always grab me, this hits the spot with action and multiple agendas spicing things up

[iutley]

No-one knew them, but they have established themselves as primo bullet monkeys again, and restored their acquaintance with Rocky, Bar None, Billie and various lowlifes. Only Billie has even the vaguest sense that they knew each other before.

Of course there is something larger and altogether odd going on, between the Devil, magic tats, Dex's thought bubbles, urban renewal and now this firewalled AI business. All smacks of a VR prison to me, or perhaps some of the themes of Banks' Matter.

Thanks TordelBack! I hadn't thought about the amount of time that's passed within the story, being the same or longer, than our time. Makes more sense now. But as you say, something still feels slightly off......

[Dandontdare]

I really hope that thought-bubble thing is leading somewhere because it's starting to annoy me!

[norton canes]

Cover: Lynchtastic

Dredd: Shaping up so well, a totally compelling tale. Although... after last week's page one narrative confusion controversy I wonder if I should mention this, but - 'EL'? Was that/they mentioned last week?

SinDex: Looking forward to seeing where the Abnett droid goes with this 'ultimate AI' concept. Will it be a one-off thing that he's just transplanted into the Downlode universe because he's got no other story to include it in? Or will it play a big part in the series' future direction..?

IP: This is becoming interminable. Please put it to bed and let Kek-W concentrate his efforts on worthier projects!

3riller: It's been weird reading two weeks of a Mad Max-style road pursuit without knowing anything about the participants. I guess next week's payoff will determine if it's been worthwhile. No pressure!

Jaegir: So good.

[Proudhuff]

Jaegir...  the politics/Nort culture stuff doesnt always grab me,

Where that, and the Hardware (who doesn't love a Hopper!) is what does it for me! different strokes 

[sintec]

You should give the Ultimate Collection thread a go...!

I've pretty much given up reviewing the books there, lost as they soon are in the deluge of '44/45 finally turned up, but still waiting on 42/43.'

The spread of different delivery dates really breaks up the conversations - everyone is getting different books at different times. Add to that all the other delivery issues and meh. It's a shame.

Back on topic:- I thought it was a good prog but I have to say as a relative newcomer I'm finding Indigo Prime somewhat impenetrable. It looks amazing and it's rammed full of batshit crazy ideas but I've no idea what's going on. Fingers crossed Hachette will sort me a nice hardback volume of the early episodes in an extension (if not I might have to track down some trades as its definitely intriguing)

Jaegir and Dredd are both absolutely cracking. Sin Dex and the 3thriller just weren't quite there for me. Reading this thread there's clearly a big chunk of Sin Dex history I'm missing though, maybe that's the issue.

[Tiplodocus]

Late to the party but enjoyed this prog immensely.

These episodes of JAEGIR, 3HRILLER and INDIGO PRIME are all, in essence, just big action set pieces. The final fight if you like so it's interesting to see the approaches they take.

JAEGIR  has lots of different layers and people driving the (what might be considered straightforward) action and the interplay between them also drives exposition and shows character. It's smart stuff, makes the reading more complex but keeps the action clear and brilliantly paced.

INDIGO PRIME tries similarly but falters slightly to my mind because the whacky and weird nature of the story means that very panel, every text box, needs a little bit of extra parsing in my head and slows me down

The 3HRILLER is the most straightforward piece uncomplicated , unlayered action which is dynamically rendered.  It suffers by comparison especially as I'm still not entirely sure who these masked people are and whether we should be rooting for them. But if par three has some gobsmacking reveal, all will be forgiven.

[Proudhuff]

I really hope that thought-bubble thing is leading somewhere because it's starting to annoy me!

sorted this week 

[I, Cosh]

Obscure musical references in the works of Kek-W, an occasional series.

Older readers will get the significance of describing Thatcher as Baby Milk Snatcher. They might not realise it was also the name of an A.R. Kane hit.

The other strips are all quite enjoyable. The 3Riller making a virtue out of it's lack of depth in a way that probably wouldn't extend into a longer series but has me intrigued fur the closer.