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Prog 2022 - Light 'Em Up

Started by Trent, 11 March, 2017, 10:50:32 AM

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Frank


Three guesses what Steve Yeowell got for his Christmas.  Also ...






TordelBack

Arse, I thought, as I finished all the strips in this week's prog: there go some of the best runs of  three of my absolute favourite stories, and one I've just started to love.

And then I read what we're getting next week.

You're just on fire these days, aren't you me old green mucker?

user2000

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 14 March, 2017, 07:18:44 PM
Quote from: user2000 on 14 March, 2017, 06:44:01 PM
After all my moaning about having to wait until Tuesday for my Prog, I AM PROGLESS TODAY.

What did you think was going to happen? That the Royal Mail would be monitoring this forum, realise the error of their ways and miraculously deploy extra staff at sorting offices and on delivery routes to ensure that your prog arrived on time? Or that Rebellion, a very small fish in terms of bulk mail carriage, I'm sure, would be able to persuade them to do the same?

I'm not saying you don't have any right to be pissed off, I'm just not sure how you thought 'moaning' about it on here was going to magic up a better postal service...

Well, no, I didn't mean that obviously but reading back I can see it looked like that.

What I meant was that I have been moaning on in various threads about Tuesday being my "usual" prog delivery day and it just seemed incredulous to me that it had slipped past this.

In fact it never arrived today either but maybe I will get it the day after its in the shops...

First world problems yes, but disappointing all the same.

Pegasus P Artichoke

Really like the cover, very striking and eye catching

Dredd was great fun, really enjoyed it and the pun at the end was the icing on the cake

Sin Dex was another good one off as well, an interesting character there not sure if we have seen him before as I have not come across him in the Sin Dex I have read so far but I hope we see the devil again in the future...although I think fleeting glimpses for now would be best

Kingmaker ends well for now on an interesting note and looking forward to where we go from here

The Order I really enjoyed this run sometimes I get a bit lost with them but no such problems this time round

Kingdom is always good for me, so no complaints here

Another strong prog
We'll give them back their heroes

norton canes

Cover: Hmm... I'm going to go against the consensus here and say it's a bit underwhelming. I love Ben Willsher for his fantastic work in 2000 AD and Doctor Who Monthly but while this cover is technically impressive (sure, those firearm flares are expertly rendered) there's something lacking in sheer excitement. I think it's because, for a science fiction magazine, a picture of two pretty regular-looking guys firing regular-looking firearms doesn't really fit the bill (plus, as mentioned elsewhere on this message baord, doesn't Sin look a bit humdrum these days?). And like last week, the image doesn't have a lot to do with what's going on in the story. I don't have the prog in front of me right now but isn't the whole point that SinDex don't actually get in a firefight this week? I guess maybe Willsher's brief was just a bit unimaginative. I'd rather have had, I don't know, a recreation of the frame with the Devil kneeling by the corpse of Banjo Tigershark (NOT his real name) with SinDex looking on astonished and a caption "The Devil gets his due" or something.

Anyway. Rant over.

Dredd: I'm biased here because I do converse with the estimable Tom Foster on other social media but that's some freakingly good art. Sort of a cross between Bolland and Arthur Ranson, I'd say. I particularly like the incongruous moose corpse on the second page. Story-wise it's a bit of a slave to that horrible pun but the Grundy family looked great, I loved their mangling of various Mega-City legal codes to suit their own ends. Shame I guess we won't be seeing any more of them.

SinDex: Ongoing disclaimer - I haven't read any SinDex outside of the last few progs so the continuity references are beyond me. Still, this looks like something new is being thrown into the mix so I'm happy to see how it develops.

Kingmaker: Not so much a conclusion as an outset, really. Not much going on plot-wise except the revelation of Crixus's power, so looks like we'll have to stick around for the next chapters.

The Order: Baffling, utterly incomprehensible, no idea what on Earth was happening... only joking! Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly and it was bliss, just exquisite. The panel with the tentacles reaching into the cosmos inside Intuitor Browne's eye... perfect. Other script droids take note - although Wyrm War was part of a longer narrative it still felt like a self-contained story with a beginning, middle and very satisfying end.

Kingdom: Again, I would have preferred an ending... OK, the story goes on. It's just a pity that most of this, the final episode of the chapter, was concerned with setting up the next chapter. Still, that frame where Gene casually tosses away the head freshly ripped form its shoulders... no complaints.

Finally just want to reiterate that Kingmaker, Kingdom and The Order will be big losses, but... hugely looking forward to next prog. Yes!

sheridan

Quote from: norton canes on 16 March, 2017, 10:14:09 AM
Dredd: I'm biased here because I do converse with the estimable Tom Foster on other social media but that's some freakingly good art. Sort of a cross between Bolland and Arthur Ranson, I'd say. I particularly like the incongruous moose corpse on the second page. Story-wise it's a bit of a slave to that horrible pun but the Grundy family looked great, I loved their mangling of various Mega-City legal codes to suit their own ends. Shame I guess we won't be seeing any more of them.


In case anybody's not aware of what happened last year: Bundy's occupy nature reserve.



norton canes


Magnetica

Quote from: norton canes on 16 March, 2017, 10:14:09 AM
The Order: Baffling, utterly incomprehensible, no idea what on Earth was happening... only joking! Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly

Ok so I am trying really hard to not take offence at this comment...just because someone finds a story not that easy to follow doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

Spaceghost

Quote from: Magnetica on 16 March, 2017, 11:46:11 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 16 March, 2017, 10:14:09 AM
The Order: Baffling, utterly incomprehensible, no idea what on Earth was happening... only joking! Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly

Ok so I am trying really hard to not take offence at this comment...just because someone finds a story not that easy to follow doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

Agreed. The Order, for me, remains a confusing soup of almost identical looking female characters with unpronouncable names, multiple versions of virtually identical robots, random time skips and re-written histories that I simply couldn't follow.

I will concede that it probably reads better in one sitting, but read weekly, it made little coherent sense to me I'm afraid.
Raised in the wild by sarcastic wolves.

Previously known as L*e B*tes. Sshhh, going undercover...

sheridan

Quote from: Magnetica on 16 March, 2017, 11:46:11 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 16 March, 2017, 10:14:09 AM
The Order: Baffling, utterly incomprehensible, no idea what on Earth was happening... only joking! Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly

Ok so I am trying really hard to not take offence at this comment...just because someone finds a story not that easy to follow doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

Yes - i thought this board didn't allow personal insults, which that comment was by implication.

James Stacey

Quote from: sheridan on 16 March, 2017, 12:29:43 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 16 March, 2017, 11:46:11 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 16 March, 2017, 10:14:09 AM
The Order: Baffling, utterly incomprehensible, no idea what on Earth was happening... only joking! Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly

Ok so I am trying really hard to not take offence at this comment...just because someone finds a story not that easy to follow doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.
What! The Order is supposed to make sense ? Lies.

Yes - i thought this board didn't allow personal insults, which that comment was by implication.

norton canes

Ah, OK. I see what's happened. I said "Like any moderately intelligent person I understood it perfectly". A highly intelligent person, on the other hand, would be able to spot all the inconsistencies, and therefore it wouldn't make any sense.

See! In fact I'm saying that I am less intelligent than most of you!

TordelBack

Glad that's sorted, for a minute there I was afraid somebody might be seriously offended by a mild aside while they described the suberb work of Long and Burns as an incomprehensible mess of nearly identical female (all three of them!) characters with unpronounceable names (like Anna and Donna). That would have been rude.

Woolly

Quote from: TordelBack on 16 March, 2017, 03:56:47 PM
That would have been rude.

Unintentionally though, I think.

As for the cover...

QuoteCover: Hmm... I'm going to go against the consensus here and say it's a bit underwhelming. I love Ben Willsher for his fantastic work in 2000 AD and Doctor Who Monthly but while this cover is technically impressive (sure, those firearm flares are expertly rendered) there's something lacking in sheer excitement. I think it's because, for a science fiction magazine, a picture of two pretty regular-looking guys firing regular-looking firearms doesn't really fit the bill (plus, as mentioned elsewhere on this message baord, doesn't Sin look a bit humdrum these days?). And like last week, the image doesn't have a lot to do with what's going on in the story. I don't have the prog in front of me right now but isn't the whole point that SinDex don't actually get in a firefight this week? I guess maybe Willsher's brief was just a bit unimaginative. I'd rather have had, I don't know, a recreation of the frame with the Devil kneeling by the corpse of Banjo Tigershark (NOT his real name) with SinDex looking on astonished and a caption "The Devil gets his due" or something.

Whilst I agree that it's certainly a stock pose for Finny & Ray, I also think that's the point of the cover. An image of 'The Devil' would have spoilt the surprise in the prog. This way, the reader will expect the protagonists to be the ones getting the Hit, and the twist remains secret till it's read. (I'm guessing that's the reasoning anyway, it could also just be to tell the reader that Sin/Dex is in the prog!)

And as for Finny's looks... I dunno. I like to think he dresses how he feels at any given time. Sometimes he paints himself up (and it definately is make-up, as proven in Malone), sometimes he can't be arsed and just gels his hair.
He's like Dredd in that respect - the uniform may slightly change, but as long as it's Dredd/Finny in there it doesn't matter!

Frank

Quote from: Spaceghost on 16 March, 2017, 12:25:13 PM
The Order, for me, remains a confusing soup ... it probably reads better in one sitting .

Two of the board's cleverest clogs confirm this to be so.

Maybe when some describe t'Order as confusing, they mean the strip hasn't gained enough grip on their imagination to invest neurons remembering week-to-week developments (or commit to a re-read). Like Kola Kommandos.

The Order seems popular with the majority of readers, so the unconvinced have to remind ourselves that Tharg's peculiar brand of communism forces its fans to subsidise our enjoyment of strips that inspire indifference in them*.


* ... and remember there are always a small number of weirdoes who don't like stuff everyone else enjoys. There are some out there (in Wales, specifically) who don't think America is any good.