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Prog 1805: Master of His Own Universe

Started by A.Cow, 13 October, 2012, 12:33:59 PM

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Hawkmumbler

Quote from: Proudhuff on 19 October, 2012, 05:45:32 PM
Quote from: Lee Bates on 19 October, 2012, 02:11:42 PM
JUDGES DO NOT WEAR HIGH HEELS.

Thought we'd knocked all that on the head years ago!!

prog 309:


He's a question dodging jammy sod that Tharg. :lol:

NapalmKev

Quality prog!

Dredd: not amazing, but also not that bad. Probably the weakest story in the prog which is a surprise, but it's certainly not awful.

Brass Sun: I thought this was the best part yet. The story opened up a hell of a lot compared to previous episodes. Quality series.

ABC Warriors and Simping Detective were both excellent, but better than that was the return of...

Dirty Frank: I think Frank is one of the best characters to come out of the Mega City. An extremely well written character, (great artwork as well). My highlight of the Prog.

Cheers  :)


"Where once you fought to stop the trap from closing...Now you lay the bait!"

Goaty

Great Prog!

Sorry for late review as wait for digital copy!

Dredd - Wow... but can see it be weak story of the Prog, too many Judges get killed quickly even after Day of Chaos! Think the family got away safety

Clockwork world - Wow... that is mind-blowing story, and like to see where it going...

ABCDEFGH... - Did I miss a prog about how that Stenhammer be statue?

Low Life - Dirty Frank IS the Low Life... love his replys in the story, but how to be in Mars? And Sharkhead!!!!

Simp Clown - Now that's very confused fuck up! And RIP gorilla!

A.Cow

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 19 October, 2012, 11:21:50 AM
Quote from: JamesC on 19 October, 2012, 09:59:16 AM
I guess the fact that he's 'Orlock level' is supposed to justify how he massacred all those judges.
I always think of Orlok as being the Sov Judge equivalent of Dredd.

Nah, it clearly says that the sleeper takes out three security cameras with stones in a single throw.  That's pretty special stuff.  Dredd could never do that.

For this reason I find it extremely plausible that he would take down so many judges -- Dredd getting badly cut in the process, too.

COMMANDO FORCES

Dredd There is quite a decent amount of time for those two snipers, that we can see, to take him out. They are high up, not affected by the confusion, can switch to infra red and take fatso out. As for the two combat droids, they were still in the landing area. During the smoke grenades dispersal they could have just turned round, locked on the target and taken him out.
It seems as though no Judges can take the initiative, even after 15 years training.

Too many points at which he could've been taken by the Judges, way before he eventually just vanished.

I loved the whole idea of the story and enjoyed it but the Mega-City One Judges really need to perform better!

Emp

With the recent poor performance of Judges I am beginning to wonder if there has been an easing of the required pass mark for a rookie to get full eagle. Will there be a reveal that cadets have been given their final assessment at 10 or 12 years, resulting in the resulting ineptitude?

Mardroid

Cover- I liked it.

Dredd- I liked that too. I found the story-telling a bit abrupt, but I figured out what was happening. I didn't have much of an issue with the guy killing all those judges (although the thought occurred to me) as he is obviously something special.  I did wonder why he didn't just shoot Hershey before running to his family since she was helpless. It wouldn't have taken much more time to pull the trigger (baring in mind he is pointing the gun at her) and run. Okay, maybe he was concerned that the subsequent judge hunt would have been more aggressive. I like to think that when his family were brought to mind he just had a change of heart and decided to give up killing, except when absolutely necessary.  Anyway, I liked the story, and I hope he made it too. It was an interesting story arc for the character too.

ABC Warriors - I thoroughly enjoyed this, although there were bits that made me scratch my head. Considering we saw a few Hammersteins wiped out with special weapons last week, how come these soldiers didn't come so equipped? Okay, maybe they wanted the damage to be minimal so they could extract his memory, but surely that laser knife in the right place would do the trick? Or is the Hammerstein  Type 3 prototype made of literally tougher material than his brothers? (I.e. did the manufacturers downgrade the armour when mass producing more?)

I was curious about the tapping into Khaos bit too. I thought it was something that only those with a particular talent, or at least years of training could do. (Although being a - presumably - chaotic magic -or should that be magick? - maybe training is the very thing you don't need to tap into it.) It felt a bit machina-ish (no pun intended) Hammerstein suddenly developing this new power when he needed it, but I think seeing Deadlock's face in Hammerstein's eye might have been key.  I.e. I can imagine Deadlock sensing Hammerstein's concentration and sending a help spell his way.

I don't really understand the Khaos thing though so maybe it was clearer to you guys.

Oh and who is Dedan? I get that he is Hammerstein's contact, his way of getting around the inhibitor, as spoken of last week, but have we met him before? I also wonder how the FBI were clued up that it was him, but I think that will probably be made clearer later on.

Brass Sun: I enjoyed this a lot. I actually quite like these expositiony world-building episodes.

Low Life: Wacky as ever, but good funny stuff. The spittle face bit made me go 'ugh' though.

The Simping Detective: Weird, and wacky in a different way, but also very good.

Thrills of the future (I guess this should have been at the top), I'm unacquainted with this character. I was introduced to him in Prog 2012 and didn't think much of that story at all, but then again it was a one off. I can't really judge the strip by that.


Mardroid


Frank

Quote from: Mardroid on 20 October, 2012, 10:38:14 PM
Low Life: Wacky as ever, but good funny stuff. The spittle face bit made me go 'ugh' though.

You sure it was spittle? Frank checked his shorts afterwards, and he did seem very pleased to be back in the Big Meg.

Mabs

PROG 1805

COVER: I'm loving D'israeli's superb cover. Loving the pink. Is there no end to this guys talents? My favourite cover since the Hammerstein/ Swamp Thing one, two Progs ago.

JUDGE DREDD ASLEEP PART TWO: Not as visually striking as the last Prog, no shots of the MC-1 vistas's here, but still some excellent stuff from Mark Harrison. As for the story, it was okay. There were some qualms though, like the fact that a dozen or more Judges getting their asses handed to them by a guy with a beer belly! The last couple of panels were a little touching, the family aspect. This doesn't end too good does it?

BRASS SUN: Another enjoyable instalment from what is my favourite story in the Prog right now. The artwork by Culbard is just gorgeous as ever. Its a joy opening the Prog every week to see what we have in store  - and this week's issue did not disappoint.  It was great to see the origins of The Orery, and how came to be in such woeful situation - I guess wherever there are humans, there will always be problems. The story is building up nicely, and I cannot wait to see what we have in store next Prog.

ABC WARRIORS RETURN TO EARTH: A great instalment. Langley's black and white artwork continues to impress. I wasn't too keen on ABC Warriors at first, but I've really grown to it. It was fun seeing the FBI unable to break down Hammerstein. I was a little confused with Hammerstein's ability to feel pain. He's a robot isn't he? I thought they're not meant to feel pain especially one that is an ABC Warrior! Or maybe because he is so high tech so to speak, he can feel pain only if he wants to? Maybe he couldn't surpress the pain because of his frozen predicament? Who knows but it was still enjoyable stuff. I agree with most of my fellow reader's that the 9/11 7/7 reference was a little jarring. The story is supposed to take place in the distant future, I think within that period there would have been recent catastrophe's to cite. But thats just a minor quibble - overall it was an excellent read. Looking forward to seeing Hammerstein kicking ass next Prog!

LOW LIFE PART 1: I'm loving D'Israeli's superb artwork. The story? I'm not too familiar with Dirty Frank's character, so was left in the dark a little. Having said that, he seem's like a likeable fellow! I enjoyed reading this opening story and look forward to next week's instalment.

THE SIMPING DETECTIVE PART 2: Another great read. Eh hold on - another black and white story? Hmmm, I mean all them do look really nice, especially ABC Warriors and Low Life. But is it one too many? Anyway, back to the story - I think things are developing nicely. I'm really loving the look and feel of the setting, its like the arse end of MC-1! Nice seeing Jack Point getting one over that dastardly Judge! But hold on, he had backup? oh dear. Really interested next Prog to see how he gets out of this!

Roll on next Prog!
My Blog: http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/

My Twitter @nexuswookie

TordelBack

Quote from: Mabs on 21 October, 2012, 09:38:19 AMI agree with most of my fellow reader's that the 9/11 7/7 reference was a little jarring. The story is supposed to take place in the distant future...

Mid-late 2060's, at a guess, so not that distant - we still refer to the Eleventh
Hour of the Eleventh Day some 95 years on, and to the 7th December 70 years on.  This is a confirmed Mills tic, no doubts there - the point is a good fun one, the execution maybe a little clunky - even throwing in a third date fictional futuro-date reference would have sugared the pill.  But it is what it is.


SmallBlueThing

I didnt even notice we had three black and white strips this week! Is that me being very old and boggling that we have colour inside at all, or the fact that the prog is so bloody good at the moment?

SBT
.

Mabs

Quote from: TordelBack on 21 October, 2012, 09:52:43 AM
Quote from: Mabs on 21 October, 2012, 09:38:19 AMI agree with most of my fellow reader's that the 9/11 7/7 reference was a little jarring. The story is supposed to take place in the distant future...

Mid-late 2060's, at a guess, so not that distant - we still refer to the Eleventh
Hour of the Eleventh Day some 95 years on, and to the 7th December 70 years on.  This is a confirmed Mills tic, no doubts there - the point is a good fun one, the execution maybe a little clunky - even throwing in a third date fictional futuro-date reference would have sugared the pill.  But it is what it is.

Oh, I didn't realise that! The story feels like its set in 2160 and not 2060: but then again some memorable sci-fi films/ book's got their dates wrong, like 2001, and Blade Runner which is just 7 years away! I cannot wait to see Spinner's flying around and male nuns roaming the streets! :D

My Blog: http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/

My Twitter @nexuswookie

Mabs

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 21 October, 2012, 09:55:36 AM
I didnt even notice we had three black and white strips this week! Is that me being very old and boggling that we have colour inside at all, or the fact that the prog is so bloody good at the moment?

SBT

I'd go for the latter mate!
My Blog: http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/

My Twitter @nexuswookie

Frank

Agreed, the current line-up is the best there's been since Zaucer of Zilk and Day of Chaos brought me back to the fold.

Brass Sun's the obvious highlight; it really is the perfect marriage of script and art. Just imagine how much more generic the story's sort-of-like-the-olden-days-but-not-quite fantasy setting would have felt with Bisley-copyist painted art, or how differently you'd feel about Wren as a character if Leigh Gallacher was rendering her as an exquisitely detailed and anatomically precise nymph with a bandage across her breasts. Somebody in editorial probably deserves a pat on the back.

Brass Sun and Low Life really demonstrate how clear and simple line art can help bring a strip to life: by letting the reader's imagination fill in the gaps and resolve the visual aporia encouraged by the stylisation of the art; by acknowledging and revelling in the artificiality of the medium; and by encouraging the readers' immersion in the strip as pure story - something separate from ordinary reality, with its own rules and internally consistent logic. All the textures, filters and effects in the modern cartoonist's toolbox can't hope to compete with that. More please.