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Cover - Superb!
Dredd - Superb!
Absalom - Still pretty damn good!
Thistlebone - Art's always been great and the tale is warming up at last...

4 out of 5 makes for a very strong prog. Good man Tharg!

Good spot Norton, must be an homage - too similar to be coincidence!

I'm also wondering about the Petrol and Mackerel... must mean something.

Mackerel's suit looked like it had the markings of one but that's all I've got.

Absalom was great, it's the story that's gripping me the most in 2000ad at the moment.

The cover is a stunner too, and Indigo Prime is bonkers (in a good way) with impressive art.

Speaking of impressive art, it's such a pleasure to see Tom Foster on Dredd and with a good script as well.  The colouring does verge on the gaudy though.

Anderson and Thistlebore drag this week's prog down. The art on Anderson is just weak and I have no interest in the story. With Thistlebone there's no complaints about the art, which is glorious but it's Part 6 now, six episodes and very little has really happened.  It was funny though when the journalist asks the other character 'Are you okay? You look pale.' You want her to reply, 'Really, you've only just noticed...'

Still not liking the Dredd story like others are. This instalment  has Dredd behaving in a completely inexplicable way. Why on earth would he attempt to stab an unarmed person who's giving him medical care? Why would he try to do that when he's too ill to move? Dredd's a stickler, yes, and might well arrest her after saving him but that carry on was just silly.

Scarlett Traces was great and looking forward to its return. Thistlebone is still underwhelming for me, it's taken up the slack left from Scarlett Traces old urban bigot with prejudice against country people inbred arseholes that they are.

Least said about Anderson the better really but old Harry is going great guns Trevallion is a great artist.

Mixed bag for me..

Dredd seems far more comfortable bandaged-up in a hospital bed lately, rather than sitting on a lawmaster wielding a daystick.

Like all 80 year-olds, Dredd spends most of his time asleep or recovering from a bad fall:

Perhaps the phrase on the cover is less about Anderson and actually advice directed at Dredd...

The cover is a fine illustration but not a good image of Judge Anderson.

After Dredd's active participation in the robot judges story arc, he's resumed his default position of recent years.  Dredd seems far more comfortable bandaged-up in a hospital bed lately, rather than sitting on a lawmaster wielding a daystick. I'm sure the virtuous young saviour will help old Joe on his way though..

Scarlett traces has superb art and an interesting, if somewhat confusing story line.  Mainly due to the passage of time between installments. I thought that the security guard was a surprisingly crude cliched cipher for such a talented writer though.

Anderson was a mess in my view, I hope this installment doesn't continue for too long.

Thistlebone...mmmn, hard not to love the art by Simon Davis but I'm not really feeling any of the menace that I got from the preview pictures and the rather wonderful title.

A below average prog for me.     

Like the Dredd in this month's Meg!
Dredd's on a mission and the story seems like it may even involve Dredd in an actively successful role.  He's not (yet) been out-smarted or beaten up and we've seen Justice 4 (I think for the first time).

Lawless is always a treat.  The middle two stories, ho-hum...

Glad to see the back of the dark judges, I wish they really would be killed off but I doubt it. Hope to see Percival's art back soon though.

Mmn oh dear, there's always one I suppose...

I really didn't like the cover or the Terror Tale.  I don't find this Quilli creature or the set up very engaging and I'm afraid I don't really like the art...I find it rather rough round the edges and the cover especially so.  It's clear many do though, and the Hitchcock droid is clearly a good egg, but there it is..

A treat to see Flint on Dredd and the story itself, as part of a wider context, with some action and word-play thrown in, works.

Scarlett Traces and Kingmaker are jogging along nicely, with some lovely artwork.

Speaking or artwork, Max Normal's visuals are getting better all the time. It's been an odd series but a sucessful one overall i think.   

[One other observation on the topic; we are (generally) a group of blokes in our mid to late 40's, with a lot in common.
The fact we're even here yammering on about a comic that we never gave up for 4 decades is embarrassing enough - but to have a genuine - genuine - internet argument with another grown man over this bullshit? Most wouldn't - it's just too uncouth.
[/quote]



This little gem made reading through all that madness worthwhile!

I personally wish they'd never invented devices to ink or colour comics digitally.

I wish the prog was still mostly black and white, drawn with pen and brush with India ink.  With the speech bubbles pasted on and the various logos and editorial blurbs cut out arranged and also pasted on.  With the double page spread in the middle in all its glory and the occasional fully painted strip.

Some digital art works well, like Scarlett Traces or Saga but most suffers from a degree of 'dead' line. Brian Bolland being the best example of this.  His analogue work being masterful, his digital rather cold and lifeless.

But, of course, I know that age is past and I also recognise that not being an artist myself I've never felt the agony of trying to rectify a mistake on a meticulously inked physical page and never had to deal with the mess and faff of inks and paints and airbrushes etc...

A good deal of 2000ad is nostalgia for me though, so sometimes it's hard not to go the whole hog in your
imagination!
   

Spode was in The Hotdog Run in progs 233-235.

Shouldn't he be Sidcup by now?

And on the hunt for Sir Watkyn's cow-creamer!

Other than the cover and the Dredd, I'm afraid there was little else I enjoyed..

Would it appeal to younger readers? It's hard to say, but maybe.   

That cover would be enticing I think, but the £5 price tag must have led to a few being put back on the shelf.

As a subber, I'm not bothered by this coming out as a one-off type edition.  I also don't think the cover price affects us as we've paid already...

just back from my travels - no 2128 no 2129 - wassup, Tharg??

A lot of 2128s, including mine, fell prey to an Easter thrill-sucker outbreak, a replacement request may be in order.

Normal service resumed with 2129 for me... 

Again, Sexton's art on Dredd was great, but the conclusion of the story didn't work for me for reasons already set out above.

Kingmaker and Scarlett Traces are still great reads, with quite a surprise in Kingmaker! Does that mean what I think it means...!?

The Max Normal strip I've mainly enjoyed but there has always been something that irks about it, I'm not quite sure what, but I felt it more this episode..still keeping with it though.

The Future Shock on the other hand was unpleasant rather than shocking and the art was a rather clumsy and unattractive mish-mash.

A mixed bag then...

My prog arrived today!

And a pretty good prog it was too. The non-Dredd, Dredd story is interesting but really made by the art from the Sexton droid, absolutely superb.

Scarlett traces and Kingmaker are going great guns.  I'm not normally a fan of Cornwell but his art suits the Max Normal strip and it's an involving tale.

The Future shock wasn't great, but I suppose very few are. The art from Tharg's newbie suffered a bit following on from Cornwell, whose inks are loose and very clearly inked with physical ink.  The art looked 'very digital' in comparison, the rooms and buildings looked like they were made up on a grid. Quite an attractive style though when drawing the curved lines. Oddly shaded noses though...

As they said in Alex, worth waiting for!