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Prog 2140 - Deep in the Bone

Started by Richard, 13 July, 2019, 12:39:23 PM

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norton canes

Fantastic to see Tom Foster back, bringing his Bolland-y goodness to Dredd. Is there more than a little homage there..?



Also, 'Mackerel' and 'Petrol'? Am I missing some kind of pun? Will I be posting about this in the 'Things that went over you head' thread in a few years time?

Meanwhile, Absalom is just stunning - I think I might have to actually take my scissors to the prog and rearrange those panels so they read in the correct order. It's an amazing conceit, very reminiscent of Steven Moffat's best ideas in Doctor Who.

Thankfully I'm starting to get on the right frequencies to enjoy Indigo Prime and Thistlebone. The stumbling block I have with IP is that my 26-year 2000 AD hiatus began just as the strip was getting started, so I've never really experienced the John Smith version. There have been some nice concepts in this Kek-W continuation, though I still think I'd prefer shorter, 3-4 part self-contained stories.

Geoff

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.

JayzusB.Christ

Bloody hell, I'd forgotten about the delightful sight of Prince Phil the Greek's flabby, dead arse from Smith-era IP.  I like Kek-W a lot but John is one of my all-time comic favourites so it's hard to get into other people writing his characters. 
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Richard

That was always going to be a challenge, but I would rather have new Indigo Prime than not have any.

Robin Low

For the record, I would very, very much like to see Indigo Prime collected in the large hardback format. Lee Carter's art deserves nothing less.

I've always thought Killing Time was one of the best things Smith, Weston and 2000AD ever did. So since that, too, deserves to be available in a large hardback format, let's just collect the whole damn lot of Indigo Prime in the same format and be done with it.

Regards,

Robin

Magnetica

Quote from: Robin Low on 21 July, 2019, 05:17:21 PM
For the record, I would very, very much like to see Indigo Prime collected in the large hardback format. Lee Carter's art deserves nothing less.

I've always thought Killing Time was one of the best things Smith, Weston and 2000AD ever did. So since that, too, deserves to be available in a large hardback format, let's just collect the whole damn lot of Indigo Prime in the same format and be done with it.

Regards,

Robin

I am never happy to see Indigo Prime in the Prog but I think I would buy a collected edition, just to see if I can finally make head or tail of it after all these years. :lol:

Frank

Quote from: Magnetica on 21 July, 2019, 11:50:04 PM
I am never happy to see Indigo Prime in the Prog but I think I would buy a collected edition, just to see if I can finally make head or tail of it after all these years. :lol:

A large company has taken control of Indigo Prime and now the guy who had the idea for Indigo Prime in the first place has been taken out of the picture.

How's that for meta-fiction?





TordelBack

Very pleasing Prog under an arsom cover and a chuckleworthy Droid Life.

Pick of the litter was undoubtedly Absalom, Rennie & TT delivering a wonderfully clever take on an old chestnut, as compact and successful a piece of storytelling as you're likely to see in comics.

Close second was Thistlebone, which has definitely hit its narrative stride while continuing to be hypnotically gorgeous.  We are so damn lucky to have an artist like SDB working so regularly on the prog.  Quick quibble, stabbing someone with a closed secateurs has to be a tricky thing, those things only have one edge.

Not far behind, Foster works his lovely magic on Dredd, with a McConville alien zoo story that is just one additional teensy idea short of being totally satisfying. Being devoid of creative juices, I have no clue what that idea might be, of course. The phrase round these parts is 'hurler on the ditch'.

Anderson worked a lot better this week. Aneke seems to have mastered the bikes and tech along with her lovely uniforms and everything seemed a lot more cohesive this week.  A classic Anderson move in that final panel!

Indigo Prime: I've said my piece already.

jabish

I think it could have been a nice idea cos between Weston, Carter and the brilliant and missed Edmund Bagwell it would be an amazing volume art wise. The problem is it is no longer one writer's vision. This is not to shit on Kek-W whose work I like, but imagine a complete Indigo Prime hardcover that was all John Smith's vision for the characters he created. That is the missed opportunity I think. Alas.


Quote from: Robin Low on 21 July, 2019, 05:17:21 PM
For the record, I would very, very much like to see Indigo Prime collected in the large hardback format. Lee Carter's art deserves nothing less.

I've always thought Killing Time was one of the best things Smith, Weston and 2000AD ever did. So since that, too, deserves to be available in a large hardback format, let's just collect the whole damn lot of Indigo Prime in the same format and be done with it.

Regards,

Robin

Tiplodocus

Well I enjoyed all of that.

Dredd was great and love the art though character design a little on the safe and contemporary side. The real evil idea was that the apparently fully sentient slug should be in the Zoo in the first place. Has Dredd forgotten Tweak or his own anti-vivisection laws?

But Absalom is pick of the bunch. Just brilliant stuff. Art, basil, dialogue, pacing all bounce off each other in seemingly effortless fashion to create great tension and then shock!
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

TordelBack

Quote from: Geoff on 18 July, 2019, 06:08:37 PM
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.

Aye, nice catch Norton!  I puzzled the names for a good while too, thinking 'Petrol' might be a play on (Vin) Diesel (maybe a Fast & Furious heist ref?), or even just Gas, but I don't see the connection, and I can't make anything like a pair with Mackerel (Tulingan? Herring?).  Both are 'oily', I suppose...? Nah, not happening.

Dandontdare

well Petrels eat mackerel, but I doubt there's anything in that....