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Prog 2053 - Leap of Wraith!

Started by Richard, 14 October, 2017, 01:06:25 PM

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Leigh S

Quote from: Frank on 19 October, 2017, 08:26:46 PM
Quote from: Frank on 17 October, 2017, 06:16:48 PM
(Zenith is) 'Stock, Aitken, and Marvelman'.

There it is, Homer; the smartest thing you'll ever say, and there's no one around to hear it.

Also, MY STONES HAVE DROPPED and I CANNOT COME NIGH TO MYSELF, FOR I AM LACKING IN SANCTITY are comedy gold.

I think Yaldaboath is hilarious and a brilliant Millsian villaian, masking his lack of omnipotence in ludicrous self aggrandizing bollocks - if people don't see the humour in it, then I can see why it might fall horribly flat, but I'm loving it - I thnk it will read much better as a collection, and I don't think Simon Davis is really seeling it to me (much of my confusion as to what Slaine is up to/fighting and where Slaine is I feel is due to the art rather than the script), but Yaldaboath is as you say, comedy gold

Frank


As is to be expected of a retiree living it up on the Costa at the honest British tax payer's expense*, Mills seems in it mainly for the LOLs, nowadays**


* © Big Dave, 1993.

** He always was. Mills cites David Icke's insane posts in a way that makes clear he genuinely believes that bullshit, yet the man and his conception of the world are played for laughs in Accident Man and Finn, respectively.

Tiplodocus

Just caught up on about 10 progs worth and, while I'm not suffering from Thrill Power Overload, these have been a lot of fun and packed full of variety in art, script and plot.

There is the odd mis-step bit it never turns into a full fledged fall.

Surely this is what anthology titles are all about?
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Trout

I rarely post reviews here now but wanted to pop in and say how much I enjoyed this week's Dredd story. Good, solid writing and creative, idiosyncratic art. I mean the drawings, not Art Wyatt. He could be idiosyncratic, too, if you like.

I also enjoyed Absalom and Indigo Prime. I'm afraid Slaine and Grey Area don't tickle my tastebuds but, as the dinosaur suggests, it's a buffet, not a set meal.

Cheers

- Trout

TordelBack

It never ceases to be interesting, this anthology lark. 

In contrast to m'learned fish, I thought the Slaine was terrific, Mills finally dropping all the dancing about with religion and just tackling Yaweh Himself head-on, and as a comedy character too! And SBD's art, oh there are panels in that episode that take my breath away.   

I also loved the crisp and efficient way Dabnett wrapped up what could have been a tiring and dragged-out 'Book' in other hands, using action, character development and exposition in carefully judged quantities, and gave us a whole new layer to Grey Area at the same time.

Indigo Prime I'm keeping my own counsel on, for now.  We do agree about Dredd and Absolom, however!

TordelBack

Ooops, double post!  I do have one puzzled observation on an otherwise joyous episode of Slaine.  The Archons are the jailers of the Dark Gods, right? There to keep an eye on them, and the doings of their agents, the Cythrons and the Drunes, and by extension their herds of cattle, aka Humanity. So how does this work, if they are vulnerable to weirdstones, the Drunes' main tool,  and Dilluvial horns, one of the Cythrons' patented weapons?

IndigoPrime

I suppose if nothing else, Simon Roy can in this thread now be described as divisive, rather than everyone getting on board the hate train. But I think what surprises me more is how few people have experienced Prophet, which is a superb comic. The first volume, Remission, is seven quid on Wordery. Grab a copy.

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 20 October, 2017, 09:12:31 AM
Ooops, double post!  I do have one puzzled observation on an otherwise joyous episode of Slaine.  The Archons are the jailers of the Dark Gods, right? There to keep an eye on them, and the doings of their agents, the Cythrons and the Drunes, and by extension their herds of cattle, aka Humanity. So how does this work, if they are vulnerable to weirdstones, the Drunes' main tool,  and Dilluvial horns, one of the Cythrons' patented weapons?

Human prisoner wardens are vulnerable to pool cues. If I'm trying for a bit more historical heft, the British empire issued Lee Enfield rifles to Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, who outnumbered occupying colonial forces by factors of thousands.

I suppose human psychology was once such that when you had won a victory over an entire people, the subservience The Guvnor rails against every week kicked in, and a misplaced sense of shame and humiliation made the population reluctant to take even obvious opportunities for insurrection.*


* Obviously in our new age of individualism, where there's no such thing as society and everyone's the architect of their own conspiracy theory, psychological dominance is no longer enforced in the same way. See the continuing resistance to our two recent referenda

Darren Stephens

Quite liked the Dredd art, despite Dredd being a little off-model, though the smoking Judge is a bit of a silly error. Things like that tend to niggle me, but not a big deal in my eyes. :lol:
https://www.dscomiccolours.com
                                       CLICK^^

Fungus

Thank Grud for old Harry...!

At this stage think I may be skipping Slaine & Indigo Prime from here in. From paper-thin to gobbledygook with nothing in between  :( And that cover, hard to like).  Been a slog since 2050.

The Dredd art was amateurish by Tharg's standards but as a one-off it's a curio, so fine.

I want to love the prog. When Absalom appears it's a ray of miserable sunshine. Trevallion is masterly and Rennie - especially when writing solo, in my opinion - knows how to entertain. Top Thrill!


TordelBack

Quote from: Fungus on 25 October, 2017, 11:03:22 AM
The Dredd art was amateurish by Tharg's standards...

Seriously, no. 

Look, you can say you dislike the art, you can say it's not a style that you appreciate, or that you don't feel it suits the strip or the story, or that it doesn't succeed in what it sets out to do* but amateurish?  That's an utterly ridiculous statement - this is plainly professional work, both literally and in the extended meaning of the word, by anyone's standards.  I really like it, you don't, fair enough - no need to imply that the artist doesn't measure up to some notional standard of worthiness.   



*I'd say none of those things - I'd be glad to see Simon Roy in the prog any day, although if he's any sense he'll leave us to our own devices find a more appreciative audience. 

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: TordelBack on 25 October, 2017, 11:59:05 AM
no need to imply that the artist doesn't measure up to some notional standard of worthiness.

Yeah, it's one of those things we casually trot out as fans that we should really try to stop doing, rather like "phoning it in", which implies we're party to an artist's motivation and process, when we're really not. In much the same way, fans often react negatively when an artist tries to simplify their style, perceiving 'laziness' when it's incredibly hard to do. Kev Walker, for example, quite honestly stated that Mignola-fying his style was an effort to save time on inking* but quickly found that time saved inking was eaten up in extra time spent getting stuff right in the pencils that he'd previously have fudged with a bit of cross-hatching...

*Interview in Meg whatever-issue-it-was ages ago.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

CalHab

Quote from: TordelBack on 25 October, 2017, 11:59:05 AM
I'd say none of those things - I'd be glad to see Simon Roy in the prog any day, although if he's any sense he'll leave us to our own devices find a more appreciative audience.

I doubt we'll see him back, unfortunately. Thankfully he seemed to take the comments well on social media, but he doesn't need to deal with that kind of crap. My faith in my fellow Squaxx has taken a knock. I thought we were better than this.

JamesC

I really like Simon Roy's work on Dredd in general. I certainly have more positive than negative things to say about it (love the alien designs, the storytelling is great, the sense of space works very well, good use of facial expressions and body language).
I find it hard to get my head around a couple of the panels though. I'd say the final page is let down by the third panel in particular but the Grand Hall isn't given much sense of scale either.

As for the cover - the layout and captions let it down a bit but I really like the picture of the sheet-ghosts.

The Sherman Kid

Dredd Well this has become a bit of a minefield....hey ho...I thought it was terrible, awful story, really dreadful artwork, which, yes did come across without question as amateurish in parts (complete with glaring error of a smoking judge!) . The briefest bit of research, (or simply asking) would have kept that out -(should have been spotted regardless).

This is called opinion -I won't chastise those who liked it that's their opinion.

Grey Area Enjoyed it, glad to see it return. Impressive artwork.

Slaine Time to wrap this up entirely -seems a long way past its sell by date (so too Sinister Dexter)