Prog 1866: Jail Break!

[Dark Jimbo]

I'd be happy to see it back, but I'd suggest that shorter stories (say 6 parts or so) are the way to go for this character.

Short but Sweet, eh! 

[Judge Olde]

What an amazing cover,cover of the year surely? 
Dredd currently at it's best in a long time, the last frame was very Judge [spoiler]Cal[/spoiler] ... perhaps a bit too much for my liking.
         zZzzZ                                     zZzzABCzZzz          zZzZ Z           ZzZzz z
SD No doubt read better in one go, I still want to love this story like I always use to (before he [spoiler]died[/spoiler])

The other stuff I can't even remember 

[HOO-HAA]

A good prog overall this week.

DREDD: I'm still enjoying it. But what started out as something akin to ALIENS has now somehow shape-shifted into MAD MAX III. I'd like to get back to the vibe of the former, to be honest...

Plus, why doesn't someone take Dredd's helmet off? Wouldn't they be dying to see his face? Hell, spit in it?

SWEET: Really haven't looked at this since ep one or two. Just not my kind of thing. Humour seems a bit too naughty public school boy for me. Like a sci-fi version of Wiz.

GREY AREA: Now, this one's REALLY firing on all cylinders, now. Love the religious do-gooders. Very well realised. Great stuff and hope it sticks around for a long while.

STRONTIUM DOG: I'm kinda getting a little bit tired with this storytelling format. It seems to play out each week like one of those 'Previously on...' recaps that you see on TV. I'm starting to lose a grip on it and agree with whoever said it may have played out better as a GN, maybe with more room for Wagner to get into the story as opposed to be curtailed to the episodic approach.

Just my two cents...     

[judgerufian]

A good prog overall this week.

DREDD: I'm still enjoying it. But what started out as something akin to ALIENS has now somehow shape-shifted into MAD MAX III. I'd like to get back to the vibe of the former, to be honest...

Plus, why doesn't someone take Dredd's helmet off? Wouldn't they be dying to see his face? Hell, spit in it?

SWEET: Really haven't looked at this since ep one or two. Just not my kind of thing. Humour seems a bit too naughty public school boy for me. Like a sci-fi version of Wiz.

GREY AREA: Now, this one's REALLY firing on all cylinders, now. Love the religious do-gooders. Very well realised. Great stuff and hope it sticks around for a long while.

STRONTIUM DOG: I'm kinda getting a little bit tired with this storytelling format. It seems to play out each week like one of those 'Previously on...' recaps that you see on TV. I'm starting to lose a grip on it and agree with whoever said it may have played out better as a GN, maybe with more room for Wagner to get into the story as opposed to be curtailed to the episodic approach.

Just my two cents... 

Let me guess, ABC Warriors was forgetable? 

[HOO-HAA]

Ahaha! Actually, I enjoyed it. Don't know if there's a storyline as such each week, but it's entertaining enough.

But... didn't they already kill Mek-Quake at some stage in the past?

I'm a bit confused about continuity with this one.

[Frank]

Ahaha! Actually, I enjoyed it. Don't know if there's a storyline as such each week, but it's entertaining enough. But... didn't they already kill Mek-Quake at some stage in the past? I'm a bit confused about continuity with this one.

I think you're reading ABC Warriors in the right way - as a weekly gag strip with some great art. The Russian doll story structure of one character telling another character about a previous occasion upon which they told each other about stuff that happened another time makes the concept of linear continuity unuseful to the reader. That idea of each moment being contained within another and the past existing at the same as the future seems like a brilliant way of understanding the inevitable repetition of the lives of beings which are functionally immortal.

[Frank]

STRONTIUM DOG ... seems to play out each week like one of those 'Previously on...' recaps that you see on TV. I'm starting to lose a grip on it and agree with whoever said it may have played out better as a GN, maybe with more room for Wagner to get into the story as opposed to be curtailed to the episodic approach.

In Judge Dredd: The Mega-history, former 2000ad editor Steve McManus describes part of the success of The Apocalypse War as being down to Carlos Ezquerra "doing what he does best - drawing a six month war story on his own ... His experience of drawing war comics obviously helped him - he was in his element drawing the tanks and bombings of the war".

I suppose that's what this passage in the life and death of Alpha is about; giving his still convalescing co-creator the opportunity to work on the kind of story which plays to his strengths. One of the criticisms of the rebooted strip was the addition of unnecessary plot mechanics, so I suppose in returning Strontium Dog to the simple action formula of its heyday the creators are only obeying orders.

I'd probably be among those wholeheartedly welcoming the return to the hit-and-move guerrilla narrative tactics of Portrait Of A Mutant if there was just a little more of that story's unfolding human drama in there as well. A final panel of a snarling villain swearing next week will be Alpha's last battle makes the events of that episode feel like more than scenery shifting, and deaths amongst the supporting cast are only involving if they've previously been given something memorable to say or do in the story.

[Steve Green]

As a relatively new reader, i was wondering if someone could tell me, are the prisoners beating on Dredd well known? Were they featured in previous stories? Aside from Sinfield and Nixon, obvs.

The big moustache on one of them made me think of Judge Manners AKA Bad Manners but he got killed to bits 

Nope.

[HOO-HAA]

I'd probably be among those wholeheartedly welcoming the return to the hit-and-move guerrilla narrative tactics of Portrait Of A Mutant if there was just a little more of that story's unfolding human drama in there as well. A final panel of a snarling villain swearing next week will be Alpha's last battle makes the events of that episode feel like more than scenery shifting, and deaths amongst the supporting cast are only involving if they've previously been given something memorable to say or do in the story.

Totally nailed it there, Sauchie: what I'm missing most from this strip is human drama. I enjoy action, but I need strong characters, too. And right now, everyone (including Johnny) is just devolving to STOCK  MUTANT or STOCK HUMAN. 

[BPP]

Dredd' staking a beating, Alpha's handing out one. The world couldn't be a better place.

[judgerufian]

Dredd' staking a beating, Alpha's handing out one. The world couldn't be a better place.

Sounds like 'Top Dog' re Judge Dredd Yearbook 1991

[Goaty]

I hadn't upload highlights pictures in Prog threads for long time...

and this is the highlight image in Prog of the week!

[Mabs]

I'd probably be among those wholeheartedly welcoming the return to the hit-and-move guerrilla narrative tactics of Portrait Of A Mutant if there was just a little more of that story's unfolding human drama in there as well. A final panel of a snarling villain swearing next week will be Alpha's last battle makes the events of that episode feel like more than scenery shifting, and deaths amongst the supporting cast are only involving if they've previously been given something memorable to say or do in the story.

Totally nailed it there, Sauchie: what I'm missing most from this strip is human drama. I enjoy action, but I need strong characters, too. And right now, everyone (including Johnny) is just devolving to STOCK  MUTANT or STOCK HUMAN.

I think the ruthlessness with which Johnny dispatches that Norm toward the end says a lot. If you look at the panels, he hardly flinches. Killing has become a part of him, he has become a casualty of war, by which I mean that he has lost some of his 'humanity'. I think (for me at least), there's quite a bit I can take away from the strip.

[HOO-HAA]

I'd probably be among those wholeheartedly welcoming the return to the hit-and-move guerrilla narrative tactics of Portrait Of A Mutant if there was just a little more of that story's unfolding human drama in there as well. A final panel of a snarling villain swearing next week will be Alpha's last battle makes the events of that episode feel like more than scenery shifting, and deaths amongst the supporting cast are only involving if they've previously been given something memorable to say or do in the story.

Totally nailed it there, Sauchie: what I'm missing most from this strip is human drama. I enjoy action, but I need strong characters, too. And right now, everyone (including Johnny) is just devolving to STOCK  MUTANT or STOCK HUMAN.

I think the ruthlessness with which Johnny dispatches that Norm toward the end says a lot. If you look at the panels, he hardly flinches. Killing has become a part of him, he has become a casualty of war, by which I mean that he has lost some of his 'humanity'. I think (for me at least), there's quite a bit I can take away from the strip.

Definitely see your point, there, Mabs. And I agree, to a point. I guess my worry is that in taking away Johnny's 'humanity', he's just become like all the other guys. He loses a little of what made him unique.

I'd buy the cold-blooded Johnny if we saw more of a fallout from this change: inner monologues of self-doubt or conflicts with other characters, worried he's going too far. There's been a little of the latter, I guess, but not enough for me to be as fully invested as I really want to be...

[Greg M.]

I'd buy the cold-blooded Johnny if we saw more of a fallout from this change: inner monologues of self-doubt or conflicts with other characters, worried he's going too far. There's been a little of the latter, I guess, but not enough for me to be as fully invested as I really want to be...

Don't you reckon that tormented inner monologues are bit Marvel / DC and a bit antithetical to the spirit of 2000AD though? As you rightly acknowledge, we've had Middenface call Johnny on his extremes - do we need it again? The point's been made. That's not to say I don't enjoy a more overwrought style of storytelling too, when done well, but I don't want to see Johnny angsting about his actions. I want to see what he does and then interpret accordingly.