1487 - Sea Change

[wrighty47]

Phew... quite a response!  ;)

Bent Progs/Damaged items. Yeah, well you should complain as the items shouldn't be bent and damaged. That said, were they packaged properly, the postie wouldn't be able to fold 'em!  ;)

Amazon packages. Now this is a different kettle of fish. Many Amazon packages (especially the one's where you go for free postage options) and other online shops aren't actually delivered by Royal mail, but by private couriers. It's just possible (and in some cases probable) that you're blaming Royal Mail when they've had nothing to do with it.

If however it is a Royal Mail delivery, then they should not be left outside your door/in a bin etc under any circumstances and you should report any cases of this to your local PDO.

Wet Progs. believe me it's impossible to keep paper dry in heavy rain. Hold them in your hand and they get wet through. Keep everything in your bag and they get wet through because you're constantly in and out of the bag for said mail.

The only way round this is for Rebellion to send them out in plastic envelopes, and if these were hardbacked then it would also cut down on most cases of bent progs too!

Believe me guys, you don't have to tell me. I haven't done a delivery in years but know the score and i do see what goes on on the inside of the postal service. Remember, as well as being an employee, I too am a customer and there's no one who complain's more when a prog/item is damaged, but quite often the complaints aren't neccesarily Royal Mail's fault. They just get the blame by people with a misunderstanding of the asthetics of the industry.

Gotta hold my hands up regarding the red elastic bands tho!  ;)

Alan!

[Keef Monkey]

On the subject of crap posties, my postman will quite happily buzz my flat to get access, then after I've buzzed him in he'll slide a card under my flat door(knowing fine well I'm in because I just buzzed him in) saying he couldn't deliver the package because he couldn't get access. I must be awful to look at in the morning or something.
Saw this as an opportunity to get that gripe off my chest.

Never really had a problem with water damaged progs though, but I'd be all for plastic wrappers just in case. At least then people will know it's comics, I'm sure my elderly neighbours think I get a weekly porn delivery.

[wadew1]

Well, 2000ad subscription service is still a hell of alot better than DC or Marvel.

 Marvel ships their comics out in a bag with board. Still, my copies would always arrive  bent or damaged. My 2000ad issues always arrive in much better shape.

Plus, I always get my progs on time. Marvel could never pull that off. I'd always get my issue a week after it originally came out.

[Satanist]

I don't subscribe because I only receive bills. Anything looks remotely interesting gets stolen by Royal Mail long before it gets anywhere near my door.

Yes I have complained lots. Yes it achieved fuck all.

Yours,

Seething from Glasgow

[IndigoPrime]

:: If the packages had been there untouched for so long,
:: surely the risk of robbery in your street isn't as bad as
:: you think?

Not the point, really, though, is it? Just because some scumbag isn't checking out houses 364 days of the year, that doesn't mean they won't be for one day. And leaving a pile of Amazon boxes on our doorstep (and, frankly, everyone knows Amazon ships books, DVDs, CDs, and so on) was just taking the piss.

:: That said, were they packaged properly, the postie
:: wouldn't be able to fold 'em! ;)

One of our posties had a habit of folding magazines lengthways and then leaving it in the letterbox, so it had a lovely fold when you managed to free it from its trap. Pissed me off no-end, which (along with the aforementioned issue of stuff sticking out of the letterbox while we're away) is why I ended up putting a small sign on the front door, saying "please ensure all deliveries are pushed right though the letterbox". Amazingly, I heard the doorbell one day and answered to find a Royal Mail postie standing there, who then grumpily exclaimed (while pointing at my sign): "I suppose we can't just leave stuff on your doorstep, then?" My retort that he wasn't supposed to do that anyway was met with a grumpy "hmph!" and he stomped off after practically throwing my mail at me.

:: Many Amazon packages [are delivered by] private couriers

Without exception, Amazon packages in this area that have arrived when I'm in have been delivered by Royal Mail *if* you chose the "first class" option. The "free delivery" ones are delivered by private courier. It's not like this is the first time this has happened anyway. One of my "favourite" occasions was hearing the doorbell and then running down the stairs to see the Royal Mail chap already walking down our path (meaning he had to literally have started walking away after ringing the bell); as soon as he heard me, he turned and ran(!) back to the door and then picked up the package to give it to me, with a sheepish expression on his face. And that's the thing: the staff that aren't doing things right in this area mostly know that's the case -- they just don't seem to give a shit. (To be fair, we have one fantastic postie, but, sadly, he's not on every day.)

:: If however it is a Royal Mail delivery, then they should
:: not be left outside your door/in a bin etc under
:: any circumstances and you should report any cases of
:: this to your local PDO.

So far: two direct complaints to the PO, two to "head office" and one to my local councillor. In return, two form letters and two books of free stamps. No direct correspondence from the depot itself. To some extent, the letters have made a difference, thankfully. Apparently, when the Royal Mail person trespassed and placed our package between our bins, and when another left it by our back door (without leaving a note), it was "due to poor training". I suggested that, in reality, there are surely only really two rules: 1) all deliveries should be pushed right through the letterbox, and; 2) if a delivery doesn't fit through the letterbox, alert the house owner and wait for an answer?if they don't show up, bung a card through the door and get them to pick up their mail from the depot. Since then, nothing's been left out back, but we still get the odd package just left on the doorstep (sometimes after the bell has been rung, sometimes not).

ANYWAY, as for the PROG(!), I quite enjoyed it this week. VCs still leaves me utterly cold, but Dredd's decent enough; Lob's enjoyable and suitably different to other fare; Low Life's readable, if unremarkable; and Dante could be a return to form. One thing Dante has sparked in my head is a hope that Tharg will perhaps start commissioning fewer strips, or at least enable those that are ongoing to show up more regularly. I remember "back in the day" that strips with long arcs (Stronty Dog, Nemesis, etc.) were semi-permanent fixtures, but these days the momentum is lost. (Of course, this isn't entirely down to Tharg?some of those creators take extended breaks *cough*Rennie/Cabs/just write some more, dammit!*cough*, but it'd be good if he could persuade those who are willing to keep the momentum going to do so, and then bend the schedule to suit.)

[Radbacker]

as I've mentioned befor I think there's a big break between books generally so we can have the same artist all the way through.  = longer waits between books but look better when collected.  I personally dont mind change of artist as long as the ones used compliment each other(which I think Burns and Faiser do quite well, hmmn would be nice to see some more Fraser on Dante wouldn't it).

CU Radbacker

[scutfink]

Cover:

See Above (The pirate whose eye is on it he'll sing: "I'll be king of the pirates! I'm gonna be king!")

Dredd:

Scriptwise, I've nothing more to add this week that  I haven't said about the last two eps. Artwise, I seem to be in the minority here, but I quite like it, it's kind of reminiscent of Alan Davis or Barry Kitson in places, how can that be a bad thing?

Random:

Still firing on all cylinders, I liked the Toby cameo, the profusion of captions can be a bit wearing but at least they're not....

Late 80's...

Frank Milleresque...

Fragments.

(Now we get to the meat)
Dante:

Why are Pirates so much fun?

On this evidence the answer would have to be a Scooby Dooesque 'Rrry Rrrunno?'

I know, in reality pirates are grim, vicious, villainous scum, who'd think nothing of blowing up your plane crash survivours group raft and stealing your bizzarely pschicly powered kid (As I understand, they're killing music too :) )...

But this is fiction, I want fun pirates. (More Red Seas Soon...)

The whole swinging from the rigging, high seas adventure in the future thing doesn't sit right with me either. If they were space, air or land pirates, that'd be a different story, but the mix of old fashioned and super space age ships doesn't work for me.    

It's not that I dislike Burn's art, I just don't think it's suited to Dante, especially when he's painting (Burns that is not Dante :) ).

V.Cs:

Chugging away nicely, see below :)

Low Life:

myeh.

And now,

[SPOILERS] Re: Prog 1486 - Lock and Load........ posted by fate amenable to change on 4 May 06 at 10:15
In reply to [SPOILERS] Re: Prog 1486 - Lock and Load...... posted by scutfink on 4 May 06 at 10:04

:: "to my mind a 10 pager doesn't take much longer to read than 5 pages"

Twice as long, on average, would you say?

[View messages by fate amenable to change] [Reply] [ Scroll]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SPOILERS] Re: Prog 1486 - Lock and Load........ posted by scutfink on 4 May 06 at 10:18
In reply to [SPOILERS] Re: Prog 1486 - Lock and Load........ posted by jont on 3 May 06 at 11:52

No, actually I wouldnt, that's kind of my point...

[View messages by scutfink] [Reply] [ Scroll]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week (whether you meant it or not :) ) a challenge was raised so, For the Benifit of Mr fate :), let me introduce to you (Help I've got the Beatles stuck in my head!), the one and only...

GREAT V.CS TIME TRIAL EXPERIMENT.

(You may drink your weak lemon drink now, or save it 'til later.)

The Hypothesis:

It takes less than twice as long to read a double length episode.


The Experiment:

I intend to time myself reading last week's episode of The VCs then repeat the process with this weeks episode, enabling me to compare and contrast the times.

Equipment:

Progs No. 1486 and 1487
My Eyes
My Brain
Moblie Phone Stopwatch

Procedure:

I've already read last weeks prog once, so to compensate for any unintentional skim reading on my part, I wait until I've read this weeks prog before beginning the experiment. In the interim I watch Shaolin Soccer, it's ace.

Then I re-read last weeks episode. Having experienced difficulty with the stopwatch due to unfamiliarity with the equipment, the time comes out at over 6:00 mins. I abort the experiment to try again later.

Having watched an entire episode of One Piece, that I videoed earlier in the evening,and read a chapter of the Star Trek Novel Federation I restart the experiment.

I re-read Last weeks installment again, working the stopwatch properly this time, then I watch the episode of Rescue Me I taped while watching Shaolin Soccer, that Tommy Gavin eh?

Finally I re-read this weeks episode, I like the big Geekfest at the start (That reminds me, have fun in Bristol everyone:)), and I note the time.

The Results:
 ________________________________________
|Issue No. of episode. | Time(Mins:Secs).|
 ----------------------------------------
|        1486          |     4:09.07     |
 ----------------------------------------
|        1487          |     1:29.86     |
 ----------------------------------------
|     DIFFERENCE:      |     3:20.79     |
 ----------------------------------------

Conclusion:

Bizzarely, it seems to take more than twice as long for me to read the extended episode.

Approximately 2 2/3 times as long, for the sake of scientific accuracy, lets call it 2.68 times.

I can only conclude that my feelings of the Prog being shorter are a result of my peculiar reading practices, breaking up the Prog with bursts of other media.

(If you haven't drunk your weak lemon drink yet, DO IT NOW!)

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


I've not written anything like that in 14 years :)




 

[SamuelAWilkinson]

I recognise the weak lemon references, but alas cannot place them...

[Endjinn]

Simon Quinlank - Duke of Hhhhobbies.