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Insurrection TPB

Started by Zarjazzer, 07 December, 2011, 06:50:41 PM

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Zarjazzer

Yay! It's here!  Having missed some of the early episodes I gorged on part 1. There's also some extras at the back Colin Macneil sketches and what looks like  Dan (Abnett) and Colin (Macneils') original "pitch" to the editor.

And they jokingly had it originally down as  "Rebellion"... ;)

The story simply roars along with no or little window dressing, art just as stunning as I remembered. A lovely early Christmas present.
The Justice department has a good re-education programme-it's called five to ten in the cubes.

Emperor

FP review:

QuoteIt's a great set up, the struggling underdogs, heroic and with right on their side but with little chance of success, up against an unjust, inflexible, greater power; not the first time the Dredd universe has painted the Judges as complete fascist bully boys, of course, but it works so very well and it means we get some serious future space-war combat action thrills but as it comes with a strong moral-political imperative we can enjoy the spectacular action (and MacNeil gives us some cracking big scenes, from a fleet of vicious judicial starships to ground action as the Special Judical Squad – the feared SJS who deal with other Judges – come in force) and feel no guilt over the violence.

...

Now I won't go on into this second part of the book because I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will tell you that is is, if anything, even more gripping than the first half. Abnett and MacNeil move on to a classic guerilla campaign for freedom and also a war of ideals. But it isn't entirely straightforward good freedom fighters versus evil imperial power, Abnett is too canny and experienced a writer for that, and he mixes in some shades of gray too. Although I suspect most readers will still predominantly have their sympathies on the side of the rebels, the guys introduce some other elements, not least the SJS leader's argument to Luther as to why not just MC-1 but the entire Earth desperately needs the colonies as they are, which does muddy the formerly clear moral waters a little. It's a fine combination of science fiction, war action, morality, ideology and heroism that makes for a gripping, absorbing tale that draws you right in, deftly weaving in references to other fights for freedom, such as the French and American Revolutions as well as more recent history (you could read part of it as a comment on fighting foreign wars largely based on the chance to exploit the natural resources of another land, dressed up in ideology to mask naked greed).

And throughout Colin MacNeil's art is superb. The Dredd Megazine has, like its 2000 AD parent, been fortunate in having had a roster of extremely fine artists over the years and MacNeil has long been a fan favourite. I've admired Colin's art for many years myself, not least for his ability to create quite different styles to suit different tales – he's a brush jockey who can go from the very cartoony to the highly stylised to the realistic as the story he's working on demands. And here he has created a visually stunning wash of monochromatic art that is as at home depicting epic starship fleets as it is individuals, giving real character to the human and the uplift, mutie and robots alike, while also treating us to some brilliant large splash pages showing vast colonial landscapes and action scenes.

The monochromatic nature of the art suits the story perfectly, both visually stunning and clear and yet still moody and atmospheric at the same time. I look forward to more of this intriguing new aspect to the expanded Dredd universe.

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2011/insurrection-freedom-justice-and-the-law-in-the-dredd-universe/
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

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Proudhuff

Looking forward to this filling the Post 2012 Prog gap... if its under the Xhuff tree
DDT did a job on me

dweezil2

Another great GN from the Rebellion team.

Hope the Abnet and MacNeil droids intend to continue the adventures of our favourite rebels soon!
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Emperor

Another review:

QuoteThis is class—and classic—science fictional stuff. The rights of non-citizens or non-humans, and of course what it is to be human, who decides what is human and what rights a being with the same ability, reasoning and sentience should or should not have, or why prejudices or an apartheid should apply to humans who are in one person's eyes sub-standard (as the mutants are considered), the dystopian oppression, the infringement of both rights and what is morally right, all these issues are raised, and even religion as affecting the robots gets a mention.

...

The artwork by Colin MacNeil is only stunning. It's a very nice black and white style; one might be tempted to say that it's like highly detailed pencil work, but it is a step ahead of that and yet seems to embody the best of pencilling. It's so clean and neat, and the lack of colour has its own effect on the story. It's space; it's a bit darker and more off-worldy. His action scenes and imaginations of ships, uniforms, uplifted creatures and weapons of war are all excellent, while his facial expressions are spot on.

This comic shows the justice system to be a failure in what it's meant to be, a sense of justice, and that's good as the justice system is indeed pretty flawed, with its inherent prejudices and apartheid based on physical deformities. It should be noted that some mental deformities are exploited, and the Judges even have a PSI-division of psychics, but that's just another example of the hypocrisy of the system.  This story allows the reader to see the system for what it is in quite a gruesome manner, showing the Judges to be dictatorial monsters that they can be.

Abnett and MacNeil have been very clever, placing this story within a known universe, yet stylishly enabling a fresh and new perspective on the Justice system, delivering the reader a great action filled Science Fiction story, with a few neat twists and turns to keep the guesses going.

http://comicbuzz.com/insurrection-review
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

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Proudhuff

this sadly never make it to the Huffmas tree, got the 1st Rogue instead which was also wanted. This will have to wait until my next big train journey
DDT did a job on me

Colin YNWA

Read this on my recent holiday after it got a very cheeky boost up my read pile as I was looking forward to it so much. And it didn't disappoint bloody brilliant. I do wonder if its sense of scale would have been amplified if read 'live' so to speak. The set up is handled brilliantly given the format it first appeared, clearly explained ad dealt with quickly, read in compacted form the sense of building dread in the first story doesn't get the room it needs to breathe, rather its a thrill a minute, just over too soon. Small quibble was regardless its superb and the art by Mr MacNeil is just glorious.

Really hope this one runs and runs as one day I'd love to see a story going back to the original war with the alien fella and the build up in political tension with the Judge's. It is made a little redundant as it stands but I'm sure talents like Mr Adnet and MacNeil could find a way to twist it and make it work.


Steve Green

Bought this last week - stunning art and a great little tale - I don't know how long it took Colin to create, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

Emperor

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 06 May, 2012, 07:31:16 AMReally hope this one runs and runs

I believe the next one is now on Colin's dance card, I have my fingers crossed it'll be out at the end of the year or the start of 2013. I assume Tharg has it already pencilled into this schedule.

Quote from: Steve Green on 13 May, 2012, 01:19:57 PM
Bought this last week - stunning art and a great little tale - I don't know how long it took Colin to create, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

I did ask Col about this - it takes him a lot longer than the style he has developed for S&D which then got an outing on the current Dredd. However, it does mean the original art is much in demand (I recall a bit of a rush to bagsy pages in the last run - another reason to subscribe ;) ) but I am unsure it compensates for the extra time it takes. So don't be shy about buying the art from him, it'll keep him in hats. ;)
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+