1508 - Back In Black

[Huey2]

" My arse, have we! Tracey faked Ramone's death to get him out of the rather tricky situation he was in when last we saw him."

Nah, he's dead, I reckon.
Fortunately the new story arc includes a cast from a parallel dimension which includes a non-dead Ramone Dexter - whose own Sinister partner will get deaded.

- Huey

[Jim_Campbell]

"Fortunately the new story arc includes a cast from a parallel dimension which includes a non-dead Ramone Dexter - whose own Sinister partner will get deaded."

Oooh ... now that's gooood speculatin', sir!

Cheers

Jim

[Wils]

But in the parallel dimension, it's Fiona Sinister and Reenie Dexter!

During one particular job for their boss, Demi Sroussos, Reenie's Headcase gets damaged and is permanently stuck on QVC, which has made her slightly unhinged.

[Funt Solo]

Good job from Tharg, Rufus and everyone else involved with the centrespread.

[Art]

Heh. You pretty much know where that Future Shock is going from the moment you see the tiny people. Not that it isn't great.

[Carlsborg Expert]

I always thought the cloud thought bubble as the least, stressed of the thoughts. If it looks childish it is possible it is because it is the most psychologically relaxed, expressive bubble technique.

As for Gene Colan. That has to be a made up name. Right?

[Art]

As an aside, I saw the first episode I considered to be entirely duff last night - Xena comes on board as a reporter and everyone leanrs to love the nasty military. Odd, I always see America as the Cylons

Have you not got to the entirely awful episode where Apollo falls in love with a prostitute yet, or the incredibly naff abortion episode?

[paulvonscott]

Enjoyed Dredd (Like, duh!), I think that has been a nice little opener to the series, with Dredd acutely aware of how easy it is to get distracted by other matters in the Cursed Earth.

I have no problem with thought bubbles (or captions or sund effects) in comic strips and think it's very strange that people abandon them wholesale because Alan Moore had an experiment back in the 80's.  I didn't think anything of the thought bubble (or the quality of it) as I read it.

Thought the Tribute was very well done.

Enjoyed the future shock, a bit of Deja-Vu, but nicely told.  The centre spread may have forced it onto the back page (who knows?) but I quite liked that.

Sinister Dexter appears to be there, rumbling on as ever.

86'ers looks interesting.  Nice bit of character stuff.

Miniature painting geeks!?

[James]

Reading Sin/Dex it occurs to me, what was the point of Malone? I enjoyed the strip, as discussed previously it was a nice bit of pulpy noir which kept me intrigued.

Introduce a character, with a great twist that no-one saw coming almost reinventing the character so it could potentially go anywhere.

Restart Sin/Dex with the characters almost completely where they left off, even looking the same with only a brief mention of surgery to cover it.

Just baffles me a bit.

[DavidXBrunt]

It could have had any number of purposes like entertaining the readership for a few weeks and perhaps getting readers who've lost interest and don't read Sin Dex anymore to look again. Who knows?

[Dudley]

In order from nuts to bolts -

Cover - Well, I like it.  9/10

Future Shock - although it is cliche #6 or so, it still works bloody well, mainly thanks to some amazing art.  Get this guy back soon, Tharg!  8.5/10

Chiararioscurio - Lovely work from all concerned.  The contrast between the levels of movie, mystical and real violence is being handled superbly. 8/10

Sin/Dex - Notice how everyone is avoiding saying the "dead" word?  There is no way that Ramone is dead.  I'm not sure I even think that Finnegan thinks he's dead.  Ace story, but I think Williams is woefully miscast on art duties. 7.5/10

Dredd - I hate Dredd's occasional thought bubble episodes.  His overthinking everything was what spoilt Mechanismo II for me, big style.  This series of episodes doesn't seem to be laying the ground for anything except emotional impact: hope I'm wrong.  So far, world remains unshaken.  6/10

The 86'ers.  This is really boring.  Hope it changes over the series.  3/10

In other matters, the Frame tribute was awesome and it's a pleasure to see original work from so many people.  My donation's gone.

[JOE SOAP]

>This series of episodes doesn't seem to be laying the ground for anything except emotional impact.

I think something has been set up in these episodes about early cloning experiments. The soil has been contaminated by something other that radiation. A whole tribe of people born with multiple heads may have something to do with residues left over from cloning experiments.

[Mr Ruh]

It's funny how Dredd's though bubbles only really make an appearance when he's outside Mega-City 1. I seem to recall the last (rather weak) excursion to the Cursed Earth - was it The Hunting Party? - featured a lot of such ruminations.

I quite like Anthony Williams' work on Sin/Dex - it heralds a fresh direction. I also like Huey 2's idea about Finny linking up with alternative Ramone. Of course that's the solution - it'll be like alternative Pete Tyler and real world Jackie Tyler getting together in Dr Who! True love will out! (My tongue is in my cheek while typing this.)

[Wils]

Who knows?

Personally, I think the whole thing was solely done to piss off PVS. If that *is* the case, it worked a treat.

[paulvonscott]

All's well again, the story starts with the words Sinister Dexter, so I know where to stop reading.