New Poll: In my opinion, Blood of Satanus III, currently running in the Meg, is:

paulvonscott · 01 August, 2007, 01:24:38 PM

Well John Hicklenton is a guy getting back into comic art after some time, and a big story as well, so he deserves to be cut some slack.

Sadly, despite my huge respect for both creators, it's not a great strip, it's pretty bad. And I say that with no joy, as I really don't want to fuel some of the anti-mills nosnense that goes on.

This Judge Dredd has nothing to do with the one of the past, or the new and mature strip that Wagner writes, nor is a direction anyone really wants to see the strip go in I imagine. So it's a bit of a non-starter, and nobody is going to come away happy.

A real shame both their twisted energies weren't put into something new and original, because there is original work in there from the pair of them and stuff that could be developed. It's just unfortunately shackled to Judge Dredd.

Anyway, I hope to see both Pat Mills and John Hicklenton again in the meg soon on something else. I'd like to see something in the mould of Nemesis book 8 (? the bonkers coss dimensional Thatcher one), I think this storyline could have worked quite nicely (or quite horribly rather) in a more modern setting with some work.

There's stuff I don't read every month in the meg ands almost every week in the prog. This has just turned out to be one of those stories.

Noisybast · 01 August, 2007, 01:50:42 PM

Shudder

Yeah, but you didn't pay me the going page rate for my tatty A4 biro daubings. And anyway, I didn't draw it in the pub...

JOE SOAP · 01 August, 2007, 06:19:44 PM

***This Judge Dredd has nothing to do with the one of the past, or the new and mature strip that Wagner writes, nor is a direction anyone really wants to see the strip go in I imagine. So it's a bit of a non-starter, and nobody is going to come away happy. ***

You're sounding like Scojo, except....you're right of course.

paulvonscott · 01 August, 2007, 06:32:28 PM

Ouch.

opaque · 01 August, 2007, 06:50:36 PM

I can't read it. I mean physically it's got darker and harder to read. I like his artwork but either he's using more and more ink or it's not reproducing very well.

And from what I have managed to read it's going on about some major event in MC1 whilst they're in another dimension? I do wish people wouldn't do that.

Art · 01 August, 2007, 06:54:53 PM

You're sounding like Scojo, except....you're right of course.

Errâ?¦ not really, I mean, Scojo is given to making pronouncements on whatâ??s wrong with Dredd stories but what makes him Scojo, asides from usually being wrong, is that heâ??ll say the same thing at least half a dozen times, with an increasing degree of urgency (especially if he feels no one is paying him enough attention at the time, so that by the end Scojo would be saying â??They put a writer and artist not particularly suited to do Dredd together, ITâ??S THE WORST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO DREDD EVER! Dredd is ruined for all time! 2000ad and the magazine are now doomed! My life is over!â? etcâ?¦ etcâ?¦

paulvonscott · 01 August, 2007, 07:04:03 PM

Thanks Art, I was desperately hoping someone would come to my aid there.

JOE SOAP · 01 August, 2007, 07:09:41 PM

***Errâ?¦ not really, I mean, Scojo is given to making pronouncements on whatâ??s wrong with Dredd stories but what makes him Scojo, asides from usually being wrong, is that heâ??ll say the same thing at least half a dozen times, with an increasing degree of urgency (especially if he feels no one is paying him enough attention at the time, so that by the end Scojo would be saying â??They put a writer and artist not particularly suited to do Dredd together, ITâ??S THE WORST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO DREDD EVER! Dredd is ruined for all time! 2000ad and the magazine are now doomed! My life is over!â? etcâ?¦ etcâ?¦***

'twas a joke.

Dudley · 02 August, 2007, 03:16:06 PM

For my money, Blood of Satanus III is not a Judge Dredd strip, it's a strip about Judge Dredd, in a metafictional manner. So, rather than trying to reproduce either his own earlier take on the character, or Wagner's increasingly subtle portrayal, Mills writes in a wild style that riffs on the perception of Dredd both by the readers and the citizens of MC-1, rather than the established "actual" character of Dredd. I think it works, and Hinklenton's art is an excellent companion for it.

WoD · 02 August, 2007, 03:27:43 PM

It's just rubbish. I like this style of art so it is not that, but the 'story' is bloody awful.

starscape · 05 August, 2007, 05:16:59 PM

Yeah , I really like the art but the dialogue is very child-like and stunted in places. It's probably the only Mills I've thought was poor. I didn't like Black Siddha for instance but it's just not my cup of tea rather than poor.

Chris