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Prog 2032 - Shock and Awe!

Started by Eamonn Clarke, 20 May, 2017, 03:20:11 PM

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Eamonn Clarke



Biggles Stardust and the Spitfires from Mars
( I know, it's tenuous but I'm going with it. Sky 1 launches)

Lovely cover, looking forward to the Covers Uncovered blog on this one.

Dredd wraps up the Sons of Booth

Brink has got the blues.

Defoe sneaks in some interesting and familiar chapbooks

Scarlet Traces brings back the Virgin Soldiers

Cursed also brings the references. Gruesome.

A.Cow

Cover -- D'Israeli doing his usual cracking job.  (He's obviously been having evening classes at the Simon Coleby school of in-yer-face perspective.)

Nerve Centre -- As you'd expect, suitable space given to THE announcement.

Judge Dredd: Sons of Booth (part three) -- Seemed to be building nicely ... but this episode is a bit of a damp squib IMHO ([spoiler]a bit like Kelvin's bomb[/spoiler]).

Brink: Skeleton Life (part 10) -- Brink has a nice habit of catching the reader out and this week is no exception.  A bit too heavy on the talking heads -- something that Defoe handles much better -- but satisfying nevertheless.

Defoe: Diehards (part seven) -- Unfortunately, although I'm a fan of Colin MacNeil, I'm finding it hard to tell the difference between many of the minor characters.  Pat Mills showing off his enviable research skills again with some of the references, plus a nice [spoiler]Nemesis[/spoiler] cameo.

Scarlet Traces -- Cold War: Book 2 (part 10) -- solid with a nice little twist at the end.  The Martians also need to get a spell-checker for their [spoiler]song lyrics[/spoiler].

Cursed: The fall of Deadworld (part X) -- Hmm.  This is one of those episodes that probably works better when read at fast pace in a collected edition.

All-in-all, a mixed prog but certainly enjoyable.

Colin YNWA

Day late to the Prog - I've been busy its not reflection on the quality of the comic, which remains top notch.

As I mentioned in my Meg whithering T.K. Eglington, who I'm liking more and more as a writer has two Dredd stories endings. Both stories have started well , but a good exit can be the trick, here he pulls it off quite superbly, unlike in the Meg. I loved this. Fantastic story. Pat Mills over in Defoe could take a leaf out of book here (to be fair not so much this week but generally). The story makes its points strongly, its messages of fear from political extremes, leaking insidiously and ruining the week, its clear and simple but doesn't feel laboured. Its really nicely done and more Dyer please.

In similar fashion Brink hits nails firmly in heads but without feeling laboured and preachy and its another simply magnificent episode. Simple and deliberate in execution. Brilliant.

Defoe would normally then stand in stark contrast to those two... but this week it lets me down by not having a hamfisted episode and its not bad. The problem here though is the threat doesn't seem treatening at all.

Scarlet Traces is magnificently solid and dependable in a really rewarding way. Maggie's cameo is interesting.

Deadworld has really turned itself around for me in this run and is chilling in theme and execution again. Just don't fumble it with comedy Fear at the death (no pun inten... well okay I did intend it...)

Magnificent 4 out 5 for me.

Proudhuff

3-2 Prog this time, hoping someone can explain WTF Mrs Mills laddie is having a pop at, Confused by the AFA in Dredd, as read it as Anti-Fascist-Action, then realised it was America for Americans  ::)
DDT did a job on me

TordelBack

Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 May, 2017, 11:44:03 AM
3-2 Prog this time, hoping someone can explain WTF Mrs Mills laddie is having a pop at

People who use anonymous ghost-writers, or possibly publishers who don't give credit to their writers. And probably toffs manipulating everyone with fear of a threat they themselves created and probably control - as usual.

sheridan

Quote from: A.Cow on 21 May, 2017, 12:20:46 AMNerve Centre -- As you'd expect, suitable space given to THE announcement.

Have to disagree with that one - the announcement of a 7" record got this:


QuoteDefoe: Diehards (part seven) -- Unfortunately, although I'm a fan of Colin MacNeil, I'm finding it hard to tell the difference between many of the minor characters.  Pat Mills showing off his enviable research skills again with some of the references, plus a nice  cameo.

"A warning to the sinners of the Earth to be of purity, vigilance and be obedient to the laws of the Creator" ;)

SuperSurfer

Quote from: sheridan on 24 May, 2017, 01:02:48 PM
Have to disagree with that one - the announcement of a 7" record got this:
Allow me to make the most annoying comment in record collecting: I've got the 12inch. Wish I had one of the giant size posters that were fly-posted around town when that (crap) single was out, though.

You can go back to talking about the prog now.

sheridan

Quote from: SuperSurfer on 24 May, 2017, 01:14:32 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 24 May, 2017, 01:02:48 PM
Have to disagree with that one - the announcement of a 7" record got this:
Allow me to make the most annoying comment in record collecting: I've got the 12inch. Wish I had one of the giant size posters that were fly-posted around town when that (crap) single was out, though.

You can go back to talking about the prog now.

Pretty sure I managed to snag the 12" as well at some point - did you see video for that?

Proudhuff

Got the 12 inch and loved it, as a Madness fan who wouldn't like it?
Back to the Prog!
DDT did a job on me

Dandontdare

Quote from: SuperSurfer on 24 May, 2017, 01:14:32 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 24 May, 2017, 01:02:48 PM
Have to disagree with that one - the announcement of a 7" record got this:
Allow me to make the most annoying comment in record collecting: I've got the 12inch. Wish I had one of the giant size posters that were fly-posted around town when that (crap) single was out, though.

You can go back to talking about the prog now.
My best pal's mum used to work for virgin records and he got me one of those huge posters, which adorned my wall for many years. Pity the record was shit though!

I have to disagree with Eamon & A.Cow about the cover - I thought it was a very dull and poorly framed image and the perspective on the plane's nose seems wrong somehow.

Dredd, Brink and Deadworld all superb, Scarlet Traces is great, but I tend to get a bit lost week-to-week. Defoe, like most Mills stuff just grinds on and on with the occasional flashes of brilliance such as the Nemesis chapbook, but on the whole I'm not invested in the story or characters

AlexF

I'm a digital subscriber to the Prog so only read it to today (Wednesday 24th May). Had to stop after the Dredd effort as it's just a bit too timely following the Manchester bomb. Thank Grud Eglington chose to end the story the way he did, with the mad bomber going mad before he could properly detonate the device, or Tharg might've had to consider pulping the Prog. I know 2000AD has always been on the cutting edge of the news but this one sailed way close. That said, thank goodness for freedom of speech.

Magnetica

Quote from: sheridan on 24 May, 2017, 01:42:55 PM
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 24 May, 2017, 01:14:32 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 24 May, 2017, 01:02:48 PM
Have to disagree with that one - the announcement of a 7" record got this:
Allow me to make the most annoying comment in record collecting: I've got the 12inch. Wish I had one of the giant size posters that were fly-posted around town when that (crap) single was out, though.

You can go back to talking about the prog now.

Pretty sure I managed to snag the 12" as well at some point - did you see video for that?

I had never seen that before - I think Suggs sums it up nicely at the end "what a load of old grot" - and wasn't he one of The Fink Brothers?

Does that get the prize for the worse Mean Machine costume of all time?

And who was that scarecrow bloke meant to be???

Richard

Quote...or Tharg might've had to consider pulping the Prog.

I doubt it. There's always an explosion or massacre or something violent in the prog, so every time something like that happens in real life there'd be a relevant story going on at the same time which people could draw a parallel with. But no prog has ever been pulled before.

It's not like cancelling a film or episode on TV and then showing it a few weeks later, which is easy to do. The logistical and commercial difficulties of cancelling a publication would be a nightmare.

A.Cow

Quote from: Dandontdare on 24 May, 2017, 03:53:21 PM
I have to disagree with Eamon & A.Cow about the cover - I thought it was a very dull and poorly framed image and the perspective on the plane's nose seems wrong somehow.

Bloody hell -- now you've pointed out the nose, I can't un-see it.

norton canes

Not sure what could be done about any perspective issues, since I presume the image as a whole is modelled on computer-rendered objects. If that's how they turn out then I guess the artist uses that and gets on with the next step. Anyway, I do love this cover. The strange nose cones make the attack craft satisfyingly ugly, as most combat vehicles tend to be.

As for the rest...

Dredd - Wasn't expecting SoB to end so soon, but TC Eglington does a magnificent job of wrapping the story, replete with a couple of wry twists.

Brink - Excellent again, though if I would level one tiny criticism (my first of any kind at Skeleton Life), the hidden workers Kurtis encounters could look a bit more decrepit; cadaverous, even.

Defoe - What is there to say. Like Pat Mills? You'll love this. I do, and I do.

Scarlet Traces - Well, this bizarre story moves on, not my favourite but it's never dull. I think it suffers from a surfeit of spindly bald men, I've lost track of which one's which.

Deadworld - Excellent as ever, looking forward to some hot Fear action next week.