Yes I do!
And Dredd delivers in spades - I am intrigued by what Hershey is up to [spoiler]FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE![/spoiler]. Sad, funny and setting up so much anticipation for where this might go
Brink take us elsewhere, and very glad to have this back - beautiful comics
The Anderson story is a bit generic jump on prog - exactly what you'd expect from a Judge Anderson bingo tale - not badly told, Jake Lynch is always interesting on the eye, but no surprises
Leaving Deadworld and Defoe for later, but Defoe art from SK Moore looks like it could become something special, though hard to tell where it will go long term - I'll be interested in how his style develops but a strong enough start in terms of potential
(https://i.imgur.com/oZaU7jJ.jpg)
Joseph Michael Linsner cover.
Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 23 September, 2019, 08:53:34 PM
Joseph Michael Linsner cover.
It's skilled work, but it's not for me. Maybe on the Mad Magazine Dredd parody issue?
I've commented elsewhere about the cover, but just noticed Dredd appears to have a broken neck or owl DNA!
Weather control is on the blink, then. It's a bit chilly.
Anyhow, just read Dredd and SinDex. Loved both.
Joy of joys: Will Simpson back after ever so many years away. Fantastic stuff!! Z
Quote from: ZenArcade on 24 September, 2019, 09:28:33 AM
Joy of joys: Will Simpson back after ever so many years away. Fantastic stuff!! Z
No way! Can't wait for tomorrow!
[spoiler]What a powerful and emotional sendoff for Hershey up their with McGrudders[/spoiler]
The Magazine on Dredd's Lawgiver is way off on that cover image also. Unless it is meant to stick out from the side of the weapon....just sayin. Z
Well, it finally arrived. Worth the wait, cover notwithstanding. Plenty to savour but I'm not sure yet about the latest series of Defoe. Granted any new artist has insanely big shoes to fill so I'll reserve full judgement. Couple of nice one shots (can I quibble over the advertisement on the twitter thread that talks about Sinister Dexter as the start of a new series ...) and an intriguing FS (which regrettably pales compared to the one last week even with Simpson's artwork). Lynch's artwork on Anderson is so far from his early work on Orlok and so much improved and Yeowil as ever delivers in spades.
The real treat is definitely Dredd though. Lots of food for thought, mysteries laid out that may or may not be resolved across the course of the tale and sumptuous artwork. Tensions over the role of mech's seems to be an evolving theme at present. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Oh, and the news of that subscriber offer ....
The cover's no better in the flesh. Dredd is great and a real tear-jerker unless you are dead inside. Sin/Dex is a weird one (feels like an epilogue that would have been better an issue earlier). One-off Anderson is solid and fun. Decent Future Shock. MOAR BRINK! HURRAH! Deadworld... not yet convinced on the East-Meg thing, despite loving the series prior to that point. Defoe art looked lovely. Subs deal: interesting. (Also: small print suggests existing subscribers will once again get all the goodies, showcasing that Rebellion aren't like other publishers when it comes to their readers.)
Will Simpson in the prog and that wonderfully written and illustrated Dredd are almost enough to allow you to overlook that revolting cover...almost.
I actually like the cover and think it will stand out nicely on the shelf, that Lawgiver's magazine is an odd one though! :o
I read the Prog only today ( I was away from home working ) and it was very good
I loved the Dredd - Guatemala part 1 , its an interesting new story from John Wagner
plus also enjoyed the new Defoe series and the artwork was good - and promises to be a fun read-
I also loved the Future Shock and above all , the new Fall of Deadwork was just magical , with superb
art from Dave Kendall - I also liked sinister dexter - looking forward to its return soon
Hope and Brink were a couple of new story arcs that should get better hopefully soon -
both were average and slow burners .
overall 4 out of 5 prog
Quote from: Geoff on 24 September, 2019, 06:56:57 PM
Will Simpson in the prog and that wonderfully written and illustrated Dredd are almost enough to allow you to overlook that revolting cover...almost.
Indeed, the Dredd story reminds me of why I've stuck with 2000AD through it's sheer quality of the creative team and the prosaic story line where all things end and change. With stories like Absalom and Stickleback ending amongst others of this ilk, there's not much I get excited about these days in what is at times a pretty mediocre prog.
That cover really isn't a very good idea is it? and there are more than a few of those about these days sadly... Dredd looks like he's constipated and we are still in crap Anderson land... Nice eyeshadow Cass...
Well read it last night but had Last Jedi to finish so here I am now. And lets get the cover out the way. I don't really know Joesph Linsner's work but on this basis I'm not a fan. The anatomy is just off and nothing looks connected. The fingers all look weird to boot. Add to that clunky texted added ito it - I guess there was too bigger gap at the top of the art so a lot of text has been pushed in to flll the space. Shame Tharg is pulling in different international artists in the last few years which I love. Some are hits, some are misses.
Lets get to the inside shall we.
Dredd is masterful, just masterful. Hershey's final page is just so powerful. The set up for the story leads us beyond those first four pages but really it the fate of Hershey that dominates.
Hope - Under Fire looks stunning and has a suitably creepy start, lets see how it goes.
Brink - Well Brink continues as it was, just with a new character. Its a tight up close, wonderful episode. It only has hints connecting it to the main story, but hints are there and the emotional impact of the gun battle just build a creepy atmopshere out the trap.
Future Shock - Its just glorious to have Will Simpson back in the Prog, all be it in a solid twister.
Anderson - Nice one parter and Jake Lynch continues to grow and excells here, showing cover stars how Anderson should be drawn.
Defoe - Okay I've never been Defoe's biggest fan and this does nothing to change my mind. I see what folks like about Stewart Moore's debut (or has he done a Future Shock or similar?) but I find it a little to difficult to decipher at times, layouts a little too bold and style so stark the storytelling can suffer.
Sinister Dexter introdcues the story's just finished plot lines setting up new readers for... well the series return. Its a quiet interesting story, but a slightly low octane one for a launch Prog.
The Fall of Deadworld Well there's nothing low key about this is there. Fantastic as the missles fly.
Overall decent Prog with very generous news from Tharg for subscribers - another 50% offer to be explioted - Looking forward to see how the new line up shakes out next week.
On the first page of Defoe - Is it just me or are the captions set to echo the opening scrawl of the Star Wars films?
If so, then I think there needed to be some editing done to try and allow poor Ellie to get all of the text to be clearly legible. The opening lines were horrifyingly small to my eyes and I'm not a fan of the font choice either.
Elsewhere Stewart Moore delivers a solid set of pages - though as Colin says above - some of the layouts are a struggle for storytelling. However, I've great hopes for Stewart.
Oh, and Mrs Bolt had to ask what was wrong when my occular units started leaking whilst reading Dredd. Powerful stuff but I want to make a prediction - [spoiler]Hershey is being stored in the Mechanismo Unit as a personality download.[/spoiler] I may well be wrong, Jovus knows Wagner is a master at misdirection but it 'feels' right.
The Dredd story is at it's heart a standard Wagner one (no bad thing) with a great premise (robot dictator!) but the addition of a Hershey mystery makes it even better!
I haven't got a clue what was happening in Defoe. The art is impressive but so hard to follow.
Anderson is amazingly unoriginal for Alan Grant with nice art.
the Future Shock is back to being okay after last weeks greatness.
Hope... not getting great feelings from this
Sin Dex is not even remotely an accessable New reader story but I love it so there. Nice having Yeowell on art duties lately as well.
Brink and Deadworld are not for me so no comment.
As ever it's DREDD plus whatever else gets served up. Not bad.
This was a very good prog and the only blemish for me is the cover
What an emotional send off for Hersey in Dredd. It is a great to have Wagner and MacNeil back in action. What sounds like a normal story gets a nice surprise in the last few panels.
Hope is my story of the week. Great return with an intrigue story to match. I like the splash of gold at the end.
Brink starts in a new location with some new characters to match. I am sure we will see Bridget returning to the fold soon. I hope this story line reveals more around the Mercury Incident.
Another well told Future Shock with a decent Anderson as part of the one-shots.
Defoe makes a welcome return and I am enjoying the premise of the story. The new art looks good the only gripe is that there are too many dark patches in the art.
Sin/Dex is a more of a middle part of a bigger story line so it is not the best suited for a jump-on-prog. But it is still very nicely done.
The return of Deadworld is as grim and moody as ever, but why complain it is still great.
Dredd is definitely the highlight this week year. Such a good episode.
Only read Dredd and SinDex so far. Dredd was a perfect Dredd story. I really thought [spoiler]Hershey would last a bit longer, or even survive. But you do with old friends, don'tyou?[/spoiler] Events in Guatemala are simultaneously funny and chilling.
That cover is definitely not for me, the whole T&A thing was put to bed by a Deadpool bus sides a couple of years ago, never mind the sheer impossibility of both poses,unfeasible breasts and Debbie Harry prime looks, and dont get started looking at Dredd's arm sand relax...
Damage report, world domination beckons!
Dredd is masterful, just masterful. Hershey's final page is just so powerful. McNeil doing wonders again with his wonderful less is more approach.
Hope - Under Fire looks stunning and has a suitably creepy start, loving having this in the prog, creepy but not like much else out there.
Brink - Its a tight up close, wonderful episode.
Future Shock - a solid twister.
Anderson - Jake Lynch continues to grow on me, still put THE END under that last frame seems to be over egging it!
Defoe - Intrigued, just waiting on a full Millsian rant to pop up
Sinister Dexter. Its a quiet interesting story, but a slightly low octane one for a launch Prog.
The Fall of Deadworld Well there's a few Easter eggs in there, but sorry still not warming my cockles. But D'eath and the three stoogies never will.
(https://i.imgur.com/LDxd89K.png?2)
Tharg bows to reader demands to make the prog more like the comic of yesteryear.
I like the alternate history aspect of Hope much more than the Constantine in Sin City angle, so the Mind Bomb stuff in the scene setter went over well. This allegory for the loony left thought police who control the media sees Tharg capture the populist zeitgeist.
Broxton's art is extraordinary. Like Leonardo Manco and Chris Weston, he's lavishing 1990-levels of care and attention upon his art despite 2019 page rates. Judging by the previous series and Adams's Max Normal strip, not much will happen, so this gorgeous art will have to carry the story. (i)
Casting Marion Morrison as a dubious hero of the Pacific theatre is a droll use of The Duke's film and personal history. Casting him as an Italian-Indian even more so (https://youtu.be/_r7CTvFbvMc).
(i) Let's hope there's no repeat of the first series' midday siesta. When the story's so slight, a few weeks break is fatal to reader interest - even if this art is more than worth waiting for.
Was Hope in the prog before? Can't remember now. There were way too many stories I just skimmed over in the last few years but now realise I shouldn't have. I really must read Brink from the start.
So there's some doubt over the origin of the pathogen thst killed Hershey (quiet grizzle). And Pancho El Presidente is a remaindered robot chef with singularly ruthless ambition for power. With an army of robots and nice human hair. In South America. And PJ Maybe had that odd voice in his head back there before he was killed. I wonder if he was backing up his brain into one of his beloved robot chassis, and deliberately junking his fleshy body - after all, it was his DNA that kept shafting him. And I wonder if a President holding the world at bay with nukes is the step beyond Mayor he was looking for.
Im not finished either! Over in Sinister Dexter, everything is happening inside an AGI simulation that the lads ended up in uninvited when they were blasted out of reality on that Generican super-yacht. The magic tattoos are cheat code overriding the rules of the simulation. Lilith was destroyed because an AGI within an AGI would realise what was going on.
However, she's downloaded herself into Dex's headcase, which had been glitching since he participated in a simulation within the simulation, with his thoughts appearing to him an indication not of a virus but of a flaw in the simulation that Lilith exploited to escape. Billie's hacker skills give her an insight that let's her see there's something odd about this simulation that lacked, and then regained, the boys.
Anyway, that's why I don't write for the Prog.
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 September, 2019, 08:11:49 PM
So there's some doubt over the origin of the pathogen thst killed Hershey (quiet grizzle). And Pancho El Presidente is a remaindered robot chef with singularly ruthless ambition for power. With an army of robots and nice human hair. In South America. And PJ Maybe had that odd voice in his head back there before he was killed. I wonder if he was backing up his brain into one of his beloved robot chassis, and deliberately junking his fleshy body - after all, it was his DNA that kept shafting him. And I wonder if a President holding the world at bay with nukes is the step beyond Mayor he was looking for.
Im not finished either! Over in Sinister Dexter, everything is happening inside an AGI simulation that the lads ended up in uninvited when they were blasted out of reality on that Generican super-yacht. The magic tattoos are cheat code overriding the rules of the simulation. Lilith was destroyed because an AGI within an AGI would realise what was going on.
However, she's downloaded herself into Dex's headcase, which had been glitching since he participated in a simulation within the simulation, with his thoughts appearing to him an indication not of a virus but of a flaw in the simulation that Lilith exploited to escape. Billie's hacker skills give her an insight that let's her see there's something odd about this simulation that lacked, and then regained, the boys.
Anyway, that's why I don't write for the Prog.
Oooh. Now there's a bit of food for thought. Why don't I ever think of these things?
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 September, 2019, 08:11:49 PM
So there's some doubt over the origin of the pathogen thst killed Hershey (quiet grizzle). And Pancho El Presidente is a remaindered robot chef with singularly ruthless ambition for power.
I'd made the
who do we know who has past form infecting Chief Judges with lethal infections leap, but the Schwimmer-McPherson (https://youtu.be/GIU6vnbh6RE) hypothesis hadn't occurred to me.
Could be; though he spent his Byron years as a baldie and didn't stage a coup when he was living in Cuidad Barranquilla. I suppose that was before he'd had a taste of power, though.
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 September, 2019, 08:11:49 PM
So there's some doubt over the origin of the pathogen thst killed Hershey (quiet grizzle). And Pancho El Presidente is a remaindered robot chef with singularly ruthless ambition for power. With an army of robots and nice human hair. In South America. And PJ Maybe had that odd voice in his head back there before he was killed. I wonder if he was backing up his brain into one of his beloved robot chassis, and deliberately junking his fleshy body - after all, it was his DNA that kept shafting him. And I wonder if a President holding the world at bay with nukes is the step beyond Mayor he was looking for.
It had crossed me mind; also because PJM had a thing for Babs.
(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/judgedredd/images/e/e8/Inga_Hershey.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20190502112523)
Indeed. And could it have been his (most recent) encounter with the disembodied DJs that inspired him? That seems to fill the gap between his encounter with Death in Dark Justice and the rather changed man we meet in Ladykiller.
I'm not floating any of this too seriously BTW, just playing with the connections (also: MacNeil on art and Beeny along for the ride).
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 September, 2019, 09:06:01 PM
I'm not floating any of this too seriously BTW, just playing with the connections
Aye - it's fun, but that doesn't seem to be the game Wagner's playing. Much more likely he's putting away his toys in the same way he and Grant did at the end of the eighties (and Williams appears to have done with
The Small House &
Control).
Agreed.
Just read Dredd... emotional reading to say the least. Excellent work, those droids!
Felt myself welling up reading Dredd, another masterclass of writing and art!
Can't wait to see where this story goes!
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 25 September, 2019, 07:42:34 PM
Was Hope in the prog before? Can't remember now. There were way too many stories I just skimmed over in the last few years but now realise I shouldn't have. I really must read Brink from the start.
Yes, Hope was in Prog 2011-2016 and 2044-2049. It was collected as well: https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/more-titles/XB642 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/more-titles/XB642)
Where to start with this thrill-packed extravaganza? Putting the strips to one side for a moment, it has to be the phenomenal cover. How utterly inspired of Tharg to go full-on late 70's retro-style, gloriously redolent of the nascent heyday of 2000 AD when no-one really had an idea of how to draw Judge Dredd. His face and helmet are a terrific pastiche of those early European artists drafted in to provide illustrations for cheap rates at short notice. Honestly, this could be straight from the front of an unpublished 1979 Sci-fi Special - one almost expects Dan Dare, Shako and Frank 'Visible Man' Hart to complete the ensemble. With its breathtaking unwillingness to conform to any conventional notions of anatomy - Dredd depicted in a tangle of mis-shapen body parts projecting at apparently random angles - this piece has an almost Cubist air. And then we get to Anderson, flaunting everything that defined the very notion of 70's cheesecake. A shame the whole thing is spoilt by the artist drawing modern-day Lawgivers! Or trying to draw them, at least.
Florix grabundae, Tharg. This cover will live in the memory for years to come.
Anyway, on to the contents, and across the eight strips there isn't a genuine weak link present. Dredd... what is there to say? That third page in particular, just spine-tingling, especially the final row. That Dredd has been such an enormous part of Hershey's life, he's the last thing she sees. Wow. I wonder if any ideas for unwritten episodes of Spector will find their way into a plot about a sentient robot?
So happy to see Hope back, got a feeling it's going to be every bit as good as before. I'd forgotten that the break in the first book was over six months - no hiatus this time please! Nice curveball in the welcome return of Brink. Curious to see the term 'vic' used in the non-Dredd universe. Coincidence, or are we in for the mother of all crossovers? A decent Future Shock but perhaps one that will be more remembered for the return of the Simpson droid. A proper Annual-tier Anderson story, but no less enjoyable for it, and greatly enlivened by the excellent work of Jake Lynch. I wouldn't exactly call it a 'favourite' but Defoe is the Millsverse strip I have the most time for, and this is no less intriguing than previous chapters, if a typically unfocussed. A very un-Abnett SinDex in that it does literally nothing at all, being 100% recap of the previous story. Not even sure it makes sense in the context of this being a jumping-on prog. Finally, Dave Kendall pulls out all the stops once more in a fantastic opening to the latest Deadworld chapter.
But at the end of the day, there's only going to be one reason this prog is remembered.
Quote from: broodblik on 26 September, 2019, 03:45:25 AM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 25 September, 2019, 07:42:34 PM
Was Hope in the prog before? Can't remember now. There were way too many stories I just skimmed over in the last few years but now realise I shouldn't have. I really must read Brink from the start.
Yes, Hope was in Prog 2011-2016 and 2044-2049. It was collected as well: https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/more-titles/XB642 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/more-titles/XB642)
Thanks! I'll have a reread of it.
Quote from: Frank on 25 September, 2019, 08:26:03 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 September, 2019, 08:11:49 PM
So there's some doubt over the origin of the pathogen thst killed Hershey (quiet grizzle). And Pancho El Presidente is a remaindered robot chef with singularly ruthless ambition for power.
I'd made the who do we know who has past form infecting Chief Judges with lethal infections leap, but the Schwimmer-McPherson (https://youtu.be/GIU6vnbh6RE) hypothesis hadn't occurred to me.
Could be; though he spent his Byron years as a baldie and didn't stage a coup when he was living in Cuidad Barranquilla. I suppose that was before he'd had a taste of power, though.
This is a nice, far-fetched theory but I think the truth is a little bit simpler. Look at the facts. Will Simpson is back in the Prog on the same day that a robotic ex-chef makes his debut. That's vanishingly unlikely to be a simple coincidence that, so the only logical answer is that El Presidente is Cookie. Bosun's Broth all round!
Quote from: I, Cosh on 26 September, 2019, 11:27:39 AM
Look at the facts. Will Simpson is back in the Prog on the same day that a robotic ex-chef makes his debut. That's vanishingly unlikely to be a simple coincidence that, so the only logical answer is that El Presidente is Cookie. Bosun's Broth all round!
Ye hates me, don't ye, Matey?The great news about El Presidente -
viva El Presidente! (https://youtu.be/Rc9BGSsU_ZU) - is that I've never not found any robot John Wagner has written - from Call-Me-Kenneth through Mechanismo Unit Number 5 and right up to that Public Defender robot with the externalised internal monologue - hilarious and enormously entertaining.
Except for Nero Narcos, but everyone's allowed one duffer.
Aye. It's like the complete opposite of the comedy song pastiche thing. Except for Apocalypso.
Quote from: Frank on 26 September, 2019, 11:56:31 AM
Except for Nero Narcos, but everyone's allowed one duffer.
Not a robot. Just a human brain equipped with an impressive robo-wang.
Cookie theory is marvellous.
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 September, 2019, 12:30:09 PM
Not a robot.
Thank you Janet!*
* new series drops today BTW
I've read the whole prog now. Defoe is taking a very interesting turn with the space angle. It's basically clockpunk Dark Justice but so far more enjoyable.
Speaking of which, nice to see [spoiler]Fatty Mortis[/spoiler] taking centre stage again. He's always been my favourite [spoiler]Dark Judge, ever since the truly nerve-wracking Necropolis scene where he pursues the cadets[/spoiler].
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 September, 2019, 12:30:09 PM
Not a robot.
Don't think that's why he was rubbish. I'm probably just paraphrasing something I half remember
Dan or
Jayzus saying years ago, but
Doomsday's the forgotten epic, isn't it?
Of the rubbish epics*,
Wilderlands impacted on the larger narrative of MC1 and even
Inferno has had the odd oblique reference.
Doomsday might as well never have happened.
No repercussions, no mentions in the strip - even when it would have made sense, like when Smiley switched off Dredd's gun.
We don't even talk about it here. Good manners, probably.
* I thought Doomsday had killed the idea of the epic. It basically did, for around a decade.
Quote from: Greg M. on 26 September, 2019, 05:59:38 PM
Quote from: Frank on 26 September, 2019, 05:22:27 PM
No repercussions
It made Hershey Chief Judge.
I was thinking of providing the impetus for other stories - burial pits being reanimated by necromaguses or Fatties being locked up in concentration camps - rather than housekeeping that provides background colour in strips about something else.
(i)That's probably a distinction that only seems (sort of) significant to me, though.
(i) Cal Legacy 1178-1179 (https://i.imgur.com/VN0GXfF.jpg)
With the majority of the prog excellent, the new art on Defoe has my squirming and not in a good way. The use of blurs really is a turn off for me. The last page is much better for the simpler approach. Overall it reminds me of the arrival of Simon Harrison to SD. I expect some will be big fans, not least Uncle Pat himself who often works with artists who use digital effects in their linework. Hopefully it will settle in as the run goes on. Sorry.
Don't apologise, your views are as valid as the next person's.
Dredd: Very sad farewell. [spoiler]I wonder when the Judges will learn that the so called alien pathogen was actually down to Judge Fear?[/spoiler] Strange that her last request was to put down a robot revolution in a foreign country.
Sin/Dex: [spoiler]I am of the opinion that the sentient AI downloaded herself onto Ray's headcase in an act of self preservation.[/spoiler] We'll see how that plays out.
Future Shock: The ending was confusing and it didn't make sense.
Anderson: The art style wasn't for me in this one - I found some of the faces elongated. The story was fine though.
Hope has been away for a while now, so it'll probably take me a few weeks to get back into it. It's starting well.
I am afraid I didn't like the art in Defoe at all. It was hard to make out what was going on. The white handwriting script was almost impossible to read and the artwork and I didn't like the character designs. For such and exposition heavy opening episode I was completely lost by the end.
Brink: I skipped it. I've never warmed to the art or the story and I can't see anything in this episode to make me change my mind. I know 2000AD is an anthology publication and Brink does have its fans. I am not one of them.
In conclusion: Dredd was the best one for a long time. Sin/Dex and Hope were good, Anderson was okay, the rest were not for me.
QuoteFuture Shock: The ending was confusing and it didn't make sense.
The robots were released from their programming by the virus the protagonist used to get them to turn against the tyrant. The robots then turned against all the other humans too. They were the real slaves.
I thought the art in Defoe was really nice, apart from the aforementioned blurs mucking up certain panels. Let me see your art man, it's good! I feel the same way about Langley's B&W, loads of lovely linework and then fade and blur... it's the comic art equivalent of botox and life-fillers: artists, you're beautiful just the way you are!
Delightful to see Will Simpson on a neat little Future Shock too.
"Lip fillers"...
In general I liked the art on Defoe I had a bigger issues with the lettering on the first page (thank goodness for the zoooom capability)
Quote from: TordelBack on 27 September, 2019, 11:45:19 AM
I thought the art in Defoe was really nice, apart from the aforementioned blurs mucking up certain panels. Let me see your art man, it's good! I feel the same way about Langley's B&W, loads of lovely linework and then fade and blur... it's the comic art equivalent of botox and life-fillers: artists, you're beautiful just the way you are!
Agreed. All the heroes of high-detail pen-and-ink - Fabry, Bolland, McMahon, O'Neil, Belardenelli, Hicklenton etc - did just fine without photoshop. For my money, some of Langley's best work was on his first Sláine, the Robin Hood one.
I'm really liking the current run of Sin Dex. There's something about the pacing of script and framing of the panels that's really working for me. I'm intrigued to see where this goes next.
Hats off to Brink and Hope too.
Good prog that. Wasn't 100% sure about the cover though tbh.
Cover - awful, truly awful
Dredd - no disrespect to Mssrs Carroll, Williams et al, but when Wagner takes the helm it just feels more weighty somehow. I like to think that was Dredd's helmet on the bed (why would hers be there?) - there's not many people he'd take it off for. I had a real lump in the throat,it was beautifully written. I'm liking the speculation about PJ being el Presidente, but I think the dark judges connection is tenuous. However it plays out, I know with certainty it will be awesome
Hope The last series didn't really grab me, but I'm intrigued by this opener - makes me want to read on
Brink -glad to have this excellent strip back - are we moving on to new protagonist, or will we see Kurtis again?
Future shock - nice, enjoyed the twist
Anderson - I would prefer a million snappy, throwaway Anderson strips like this than the ponderous mess we've been subjected to lately - Cass is at her best when wrong-footing perps with her psi powers, and quipping as she does.
Defoe - this has never been a fave of mine. I like the space angle, but I couldn't read most of the text on page 1 so was a little confused
Sinister DexterQuoteSin Dex is not even remotely an accessible New reader story but I love it so there.
Don't really get this - little happens, but all the main characters get together to recap to each other 'What Happened So Far' - is that not the definition of jumping on episode?
Deadworld - I have loved this from the start and nothing has changed - we've see the horror sweep pseudo-MC1, now we're seeing how it went global. Masterful
A fantastic prog overall, I'm a happy squaxx over current thrillpower levels.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 27 September, 2019, 11:07:46 PMall the main characters get together to recap to each other 'What Happened So Far' - is that not the definition of jumping on episode?
But it's not back next week. So we get an epilogue that's also a set-up, but then a gap. Bit weird, to my mind. I'd have more happily seen this run last week, or before whenever the next Sin/Dex happens.
Love the evil John Wayne in Hope!
The text from page one of Defoe, mostly copied and pasted from online editions of the genuine 17th century works of John Wilkins, (some of the spelling varies)...
Quote from: John WilkinsTime will come, when the indeavors of after ages, shall bring such things to light as now lie hid in obscuritie.
As wee now wonder at the blindnesse of our Ancestors, who were not able to discerne such things, as seeme plaine and obvious unto us; so will our posterity, admire our ignorance in as perspicuous matters.
Thus I believe there may be some meanes invented for a conveyance to the Moone, and though it may seeme a terrible and impossible thing ever to passe through the aire, yet no question there would be some men who durst venture this.
Yet I do seriously and on good grounds affirm it possible to make a flying chariot in which a man may sit and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through the air. And this perhaps might be made large enough to carry diverse men at the same time, together with food for their viaticum and commodities for traffic.
Its engine may be contrived from the same principles by which Archytas made a steam-powered dove, and Regiomontanus a mechanical eagle.
Tis probable there may be inhabitants on the Moone, but of what kinde they are is uncertaine. I dare not myself affirm anything of these Selenites.
...and on the second page...
QuotePosterity however might invent some means for our better aquaintance with these inhabitants.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 27 September, 2019, 11:07:46 PM
Dredd - no disrespect to Mssrs Carroll, Williams et al, but when Wagner takes the helm it just feels more weighty somehow.
Wagner does indeed has the gravitas that makes him the Godfather when it comes to Dredd, no one pens the words or thoughts of Joe so well alongside those rather poignant and game changing moments.
Saying that I do think that Rob Williams is the sucessor in his delivery and scripting from the School of Wagnarian meaning, depth and weight and I hope he's kept on Dredd for a good while yet.
Anytime Wagner's stories are drawn by Colin McNeil means we are in for a treat and although Wagner's Dredd's are rarer and becoming more like events these days, they are appreciated all the more for this...
Anyone remember Hershey sitting on Dredd's med bay bed when he got[spoiler] shot up [/spoiler]after Oz? Who would have thought then that he'd be doing the same thing for her years later, as she [spoiler]lay dying?[/spoiler]
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 September, 2019, 06:58:08 AM
Sinister Dexter introdcues the story's just finished plot lines setting up new readers for... well the series return. Its a quiet interesting story, but a slightly low octane one for a launch Prog.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 25 September, 2019, 03:39:05 PM
Sinister Dexter. Its a quiet interesting story, but a slightly low octane one for a launch Prog.
Thirded :P
Decent jump-on, and I quite like the noticeable spread of opinion. Which makes my own mumblings feel less grumpy...
Cover is icky, Dredd is wonderful. Wagner actually gets even better over time, and MacNeil's helmet-work is perfectly done (hats off to Blythe's great colouring too).
Hope and Brink continue to be favourites, and look so different but deliver on their respective art so well. Broxton is a true find.
I find the other strips confused, muddy or on the juvenile side so not a strong prog overall. Cover aside, it starts so strongly and seems to drop off as the prog continues.
Cover - The only way I can put this is that it sucked balls big style. Listner was popular twenty years ago. What was the point of hiring him to produce some TandA toss like this? It's outdated, old wank material. How is this going to bring new readers in? Who's doing the christmas megaprog cover? That modern fan favourite Hal Foster?
Dredd - John's script and Colin's artwork are a gorgeous combination. I know that people think of HFlint as the modern main Dredd artist but to me it's McNeill.
Hope - nice starter thats got me more interested than the whole of the first series
Brink - really happy that it's back so soon in comparison to previous stories. Love INJCs art and Abnett has such a deft touch at dialogue and slow boiling plots. I have to say that Abnett has produced three of the top five strips of the last ten years with Brink, Lawless and Kingdom.
Future Shock - I used to hate Will Simpson's art with the weak scratchy lines he used to do along with the murky colours . This, like when Siku popped up the other month on Dredd, is a revelation
Anderson - Unoriginal story with ugly, hideous and inconsistant art.
Deadworld - gorgeously weird and nasty
SinDex - it's attracting me more now that we have short blasts and one artist than when it was in every prog for a year and a different person every week drawing it.
Dredd That prog will stick with me for a while. A real gut punch seeing Hershey go out like that having been such a great character and stalwart of Dredd's universe for so long (but this is what makes 2000AD so great). it reminded me of the death of Giant -no foreshadowing, just blam -dead, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!
Extremely powerful and poignant, delivered from the master Wagner and the superb McNeil.
I am a few weeks behind, but it is a good jumping on point.
Cover: I didn't mind it at all. There were a lot better for sure, but also a lot which are mediocre or downright dull.
Dredd: Masterful. Wagner can say something meaningful in five words where others need five pages. His work is still the highlight for me. I am basically of the opinion that Dredd has gone too stale and mostly by the numbers. Of course one could argue that the foundation of the series is rich enough to mine it a few years longer, so it doesn't need innovation. And stories like "Machine Law" prove this of course right, where a staple of SF and of Dredd manages to transform itself into a intriguing concept. But after too many dull court intrigues in Judge administration and lukewarm one-offs I kind of lost interest. Too often I just skim the story and enjoy the art if possible. The one pleasant surprise in 2019 was the work of Ken Niemand.
Now Hershey's death was wonderfully written and drawn. A touching and memorable scene. She was so long a cornerstone of the Dreddverse and will be missed. (And I dearly hope that she won't be resurrected.) I like it how MacNeil manages to make the Judges sinister in just a couple of panels. And it is nice that Beeny is featured again.
Hope: I wasn't a big fan of Hope, but didn't dislike it either. I just have a hazy recollection of some nice visuals and the end being not very well realized. As an opener this is a bit underwhelming, and in a historical series with the background WWII nobody should say "Hippy". This is just a needless anachronism which kills the atmosphere. For me, at least. Broxton's art is still very well done. I would have said Clark Gable, but there is a lot of John Wayne in Modi.
Brink: Abnett is very much hit or miss for me. I love his novels, I adore Lawson and things like Kingdom, while I mostly skip Sin/Dex or Grey Area. Brink grew on me. Abnett always tries to give little things a twist, and while I normally used to roll my eyes on the blacking out of swear words in the series, here I thought it funny for the first time. A good opener for readers who know the earlier parts, but I can see why new readers will have problems getting into it. Culbard's art is as good as ever. I hope Tunde Weyowa stays as a protagonist. Abnett can be good with everyman heroes.
Future Shocks: Not my cup of tea. I thought the art in parts confusing and the twist not very well done.
Anderson: A weak (and too long) story with some weak art. Grant can do better than this.
Defoe: I mostly skip Pat Mills' work these days. Defoe is the one exception. While the politics were as usual as subtle as a sledgehammer, at least the topic of the Levellers was original. At least for someone abroad. And I loved Gallagher's artwork. So this transition is hard for me. This is of course a matter of personal taste, and of course is the interpretation of different artists for the same characters one of the strength of 2000AD. But the artist change in Aguila for instance pretty much ended my interest in the series. And judging from the first part I am not convinced it works here either.
Sinister/Dexter: Like I already wrote, this is not for me. I don't care for the characters or the story. Yeowell sure does a good job of what is just talking heads, still I can't work up any interest for this.
The Fall of Deadworld: I am not a fan of the whole Judge Death universe. I also managed to confuse this first part with The Dark Judges in the Megazine before looking it up. So I am rather indifferent about this. Like so many other of these "fill in the blanks" series readers know the ultimate outcome, so it is a bit hard to care.
Quote from: GermanAndy on 10 October, 2019, 12:02:41 PMThe Fall of Deadworld: I am not a fan of the whole Judge Death universe. I also managed to confuse this first part with The Dark Judges in the Megazine before looking it up. So I am rather indifferent about this. Like so many other of these "fill in the blanks" series readers know the ultimate outcome, so it is a bit hard to care.
I usually agree with that sentiment, but this series has dragged me in anyway. Even if I'm not convinced by its mirrors of the Dredd world we know (Deadworld was always pitched as a very different, less tech society, and so seeing Sov craft zooming about is just weird), it's still engaging me. And, who knows, perhaps there will be a twist of some kind regarding the protagonists. I just hope that if there's an end in mind, Tharg allows the creators to get there, and that it's done in such a way that makes finishing the series as hardback collections viable.
Quote from: GermanAndy on 10 October, 2019, 12:02:41 PM
Hope: As an opener this is a bit underwhelming, and in a historical series with the background WWII nobody should say "Hippy". This is just a needless anachronism which kills the atmosphere.
'Hippy' dates from the '40s Jazz scene, in common use by the '50s. Not that big of a stretch to hear it used in the Pacific, although the specific usage is odd. Not as much a stretch as occult warfare and thought-seeking bombs anyway...