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Prog 2149 - Spiritual Awakening - 2000AD

Started by 73north, 14 September, 2019, 09:33:52 AM

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McNulty

I really don't like where Dredd is going at the moment. Dredd has always been a man driven by the law but importantly, he has also been one for justice as well. Of late Dredd is being portrayed as more and more hard hearted, less empathetic to those he is sworn to protect. If that was not disconcerting enough, he is also becoming more distant from his allies in the Justice Dept and beyond. Many of those he has interacted with in a positive way in the past have been killed off or are becoming disillusioned with Dredd. Giant, Maitland and Hershey being the prime examples. Other allies such as Beeney, Rico, Vienna or even Judge Anderson have not had recent stories with Dredd. This must increase the isolation he must be feeling. Dredd has always been a tough character, but there has always been those instances where we see his human side, even briefly. He has always done his duty no matter the circumstances, but he as has also shown us time after time that he show mercy, if not in deed, then at least in word. Above all, it is the instances when Dredd realises that he has been wrong about someone, that he will admit it. Dredd told Judge Nimrod, that he was wrong about him, He told the survivors of the Apocalypse Squad that he should have done more for them, After he felt betrayed by Judge Anderson and she returned from space, Dredd confessed that he had treated her badly. He told Hershey that he admired Chopper and didn't want to shoot him, He gave Kraken some words of consolation before executing him. He even tried to mend things with Hershey when he learned she has a terminal disease. I could go on but I think I've made my point - these instances, all in their contexts are where Dredd shows us his best aspects of his character. I'm not seeing anything like this in Dredd lately. I hope and pray that the writers are going somewhere with this

Bad City Blue

Brilliant cover, although criticism about the tagline placemnet is valid!

Dredd is great, I've really enjoyed reading this one and Nick Dyer gives good value as usual. She'll be back!

SInDex has been interesting, a bit different to usual, and it's a cracker. I have a feeling we havn't seen the last of that computer.

the Future Shock was good on the first read, great on the slower second one. A disturbing, graphic tale with exemplary art. So good to see Glenn back in the prog, and Karen's layouts are spot on. Deserved the cover.

Didn't read Jaegir as I never have enjoyed it.
Writer of SENTINEL, the best little indie out there

TordelBack

Yeah, seriously, not to join on the pile-on but what is going in with that cover layout?  Fabry covers are always popular with the Mature Readers Only comics set, and this collaboration with Holloway is a nice one for Tharg to snag - a passing non-scrot might mistake it for a Preacher or Hellblazer spinoff and throw a few denarii his way.  So why did he (presumably) sign off on pointless text obscuring so much of it? 

On the hard-hearted Dredd front, we've seen the man's goals suffer terribly lately (and arguably as far back as Necropolis) because of his ideas of justice, and attempts to fulfill Fargo's vision. His barely-disguised compassion for mutants saw Hershey replaced by the weak Francisco (and corrupt Sinfield), with the fatal failure to stop Borisenko at least partially the result. Then his opposition to extra-judicial assassination brought him into conflict with Hershey, leading to her resignation.  This lead to further conflict with Logan over his unswerving belief that only a Judge should have the right to administer justice, with the result that robots are the streets after all - opposition to which had cost him his relationship with McGruder.  One by one he alienates himself from friends and allies by insistence on upholding his own moral code, and things only get worse for his city.

Is it difficult to believe that he might be getting harder and colder as his isolation and sense of failure grows?


broodblik

Great prog 5/5 or rather 4/4

Dredd - Carroll likes to tell a bigger story arc over multiple smaller parts. This is the second part of his crime syndicate story arc. A good solid story and would like to see where this is going. The last part feels less grim than the preceding parts.

Sin/Dex - This week's double length episode was a very good read. I must admit that I was very critical of the current run but just shows you what a difference a week can do to a story. A few unexpected events happened, and a previous story-arc was brought back into the fold.

TFC – This was one intriguing tale. Love the whole damn thing from end to beginning. So glad to have Fabry doing something for the prog again.

Jaegir – The best thing that hit the Rogue-verse in a long time. The story just gets better and better. We should not forget the contribution the art brings to the story - Coleby is one of the new masters.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

wedgeski

Superior Future Shock this week. Coincidence that it was given a little extra space to breathe?

Dandontdare

Wheras the last 3hriller was given too much space for a thin story.

Excellent prog on all fronts - I'm enjoying this sin/dex storyline more than any for a long while.

I hope Kapiten Jaegir regains her moral compass at some point, but it's certainly great character development.

Frank

Quote from: Dandontdare on 18 September, 2019, 08:06:10 PM
I hope Kapiten Jaegir regains her moral compass at some point, but it's certainly great character development.

Jaegir's Good German premise doesn't appeal to me, but a Bad German story could be interesting. No luck for poor McNulty and his request for happy endings - maybe it'll turn out to be the good kind of genocide?



Trout

Best Future Shock for YEARS. I didn't guess the end, which is a compliment. I liked every story in this prog - the last one before a jumping-on prog. A rare and wonderful thing.

Can't wait for next week!

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Trout on 20 September, 2019, 03:54:29 AM
Best Future Shock for YEARS. I didn't guess the end, which is a compliment. I liked every story in this prog - the last one before a jumping-on prog. A rare and wonderful thing.

Can't wait for next week!

Seconded. Obviously the artwork is a huge factor, but that ending was outstanding.  I was wondering until then why it was a Future Shock and not a Terror Tale.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

TordelBack

All good stuff this week, standout being a corker of a Future Shock. I especially liked when the priest refused to help, great way of building atmosphere.

The excellent Dredd had a solid ending, perhaps not quite as much of a miseyfest as I had hoped (not very Iso these Cubes), but a very welcome direction. And how beautiful is Nick Dyer's Dredd.

Sin/Dex a precision mix of bloody action and subtly worrying plot. Poor Laura, that lone leg..

Jaegir. Kill them. Kill them all. I do hope this isn't building to a conclusion.

Only four strips and I didn't feel robbed!

Keef Monkey

This was a pretty decent prog, although it didn't knock my socks off the way it has others. I felt like the Dredd story took too many weeks maybe, a shorter punchier version of that tale would have appealed to me. I'm also not personally big on the art but I know a lot of people are and that's just a taste thing. It's definitely very good, just not my cup of tea.

Jaegir was the highlight for me, I love it a great deal and it feels so good to still be getting a fix of the Rogue Trooper universe. It's a brilliant use of that world and I hope it's not going to be wrapping up anytime soon.

One of the biggest thrills I got this week was seeing the line-up for the jumping on prog, because as far as strips that I really enjoy it's pretty much cover to cover bangers and it's probably the most excited I've been for an upcoming issue this year. Bracing myself for an exceptionally enjoyable prog next week!

wedgeski

Yeah, it's a times like this I wish the digital sub came out on Saturdays! I am absolutely buzzing for the next installment of Brink.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 20 September, 2019, 10:17:39 AM
Jaegir was the highlight for me, I love it a great deal and it feels so good to still be getting a fix of the Rogue Trooper universe. It's a brilliant use of that world and I hope it's not going to be wrapping up anytime soon.

Yup, it's just the perfect solution to the problem of Rogue Trooper. It's a bit mystifying that previous creative teams thought the solution was to take Rogue (the least interesting character) away from Nu-Earth (the most interesting character)! This is how you do it - accept that Rogue's story is done, and find new stories to tell about new characters, in the same evocative world.
@jamesfeistdraws

Tiplodocus

I suppose it's people finally realising that, like Judge Dredd can survive without Dredd, the Rogue Trooper can survive without Rogue.

Echo everything said above; a really enjoyable prog from first to last for me. Every tale was a punchy, fun science fiction tale with great visual story telling but also asked bigger questions.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 20 September, 2019, 10:17:39 AM
This was a pretty decent prog, although it didn't knock my socks off the way it has others. I felt like the Dredd story took too many weeks maybe, a shorter punchier version of that tale would have appealed to me.

I know what you mean. Still, I liked it a lot. Kind of in the vein of the first Taxidermist story - an ordinary citizen getting way out of their depth in the nastiness of MC1, with Dredd an occasional threat in the background.

More of this kind of thing would be welcome; it kind of makes sense to avoid citywide epic events which can only be anticlimactic after the colossal events of 2012.  Or 2134, I suppose.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"