The V.C.'s : The New Adventures.

[Smiley]

It seems to me that a lot of people (me included) have been fooled into thinking the last series of the VCs was good, because of the stonkingly good artwork.

Nah, Flint & Blythe's art was great, but the script was darn spiffy too. May be reading too much into things, but I really admired the refreshing attitude of having all the blah blah military techno babble (which overwhelmed 90's Rogue Trooper) abruptly cut short by "men are dying out there" style gung-ho heroics. War's hell, dammit, not a manual.

Of the current run, Look On The Bright Side worked for me best. I much prefer the bits involving soldiering through the Solar system's extreme environments, more than any of the Polity nonsense. Bright Side was good enough to have been a lost episode from the original VC's. That, in fairness, may sound like living in the past, but IMHO the latest character building episodes (in art and story) just aren't measuring up to the original or even the comeback.

Ideal world - Abnett getting more gung-ho, Kennedy & Blythe doing the art.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

well i'm loving it, love the dialogue interaction twixt characters, the tit episode pissed me off cos she was being so humourless & po faced. We girls in a all action team of libido challenged males have far more effective methods of getting the boys to behave. no need to resort to sexual harasment threat bollox. cummon these people gotta work togther, gotta have humour & respect.

action woman Bou.

[Tiplodocus]

I'm still enjoying the new VCs though it has had the odd shockingly bad/dull episode.

I think the "tittie" episode, if that is what it is to be called from now on, has probably done a lot of harm to the "difficult second series" that was trying to find it's feet.

[chris_askham]

I used to really like Anthony Williams art a whiles back but now it's just "I know, i'll draw a couple of figures and then stick a photo in the background, then I can stop working by lunch-time and have the rest of the day off." The guy isn't actually drawing any backgrounds at all! I feel cheated.

I feel that the VC's has just been one long wasted oppurtunity. I was genuinely excited when I originally heard about the Henry Flint drawn series, but that too seemed tired and forced.

What a shame...

[antwills]

I used to really like Anthony Williams art a whiles back but now it's just "I know, i'll draw a couple of figures and then stick a photo in the background, then I can stop working by lunch-time and have the rest of the day off." The guy isn't actually drawing any backgrounds at all! I feel cheated.

I Wish!

Ant

[Richmond Clements]

The Tittie episode was just plain bad.
But I quite liked the artwork on it, the use of just one colour, the green, throughout gave it something.
I'm not saying it made up for the story, but at least it was an attempt at something different.

[Nice Tom]

I'm kinda enjoying the soap opera feel. I prefer character based stories to war stories, which is why I'm so sick of the endless Rogue Trooper reprints, one-offs and so on. I mean, the guy is so dull. Can you imagine going for a drink with him? What would you talk about? And what was my original point? Cursed caffeine addiction, ruined my short-term thingy.

[Trout]

"Rogue Trooper... so dull. Can you imagine going for a drink with him?"

He's been for a drink at least once. It was in the Casbah episode, and he paid in gold that Bagman dispensed for him.
Now, where can I get a bag like that?

Anyway, back on the point: I'm not prepared to enthuse hugely about the first VCs, but it was clearly of a better standard than what we're now getting.

It comes down to character development. I had a rant about this in the chatroom one day, and none of the several people there could name any of the new characters in the Abnett stuff.

I'm pleased to see that question's being addressed to some extent in the newer stuff, but sadly that process has included the lowest points of the strip. Can we say "jubblies" - ? :-)

Continuning that argument, we can also look at SinDex and Atavar, as similar Abnett examples.
Where's the characterisation? How are we persuaded to identify with the characters?
What do we learn about them as time goes on?

So far in the VCs, we've got a standard-issue arsehole (the rival ship's captain), a letch, an ice maiden and an outsider (the Geek).

The converse is also true in this strip, ironically. Part of the fun of the original VCs is the enemy was so alien that they were clearly evil, enigmatic and easy to kill in huge numbers without causing offence, almost a la Starship Troopers.

Now we have "human" Geeks. Why? Unless he does something really interesting with it, I can't see the point.
Abnett's exchanged a fairly useful plot device for a tired formula of an outsider working to gain acceptance.
The VCs' Geek is going to save someone's life in dramatic circumstances and they'll all give him grudging respect, just as Smith had to earn it from Ringer et al.

I hereby give you all a cast-iron guarantee:
At no point in the current VCs series will there be any surprises whatsoever.

If I do find myself surprised, I will apologise here.
But I'm not exactly quaking in my size ten boots...

- Trout

[Quirkafleeg]

 fnar fnar the said 'plating'! snork fnar

[fairy-cake]

The VCs is not bad. The titty episode was fun. I hear the willy episode for series three is something else.

Dan, we salute you!!!:))

[Richmond Clements]

Well, well, Trout. You seem to have the same sort of relationship with the work of Abnett as I do with the work of Pat Mills.