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Spoilers => Prog => Topic started by: 73north on 09 February, 2019, 03:46:09 PM

Title: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: 73north on 09 February, 2019, 03:46:09 PM
A Wonderful read today , Prog 2118 , and all the stories have been actually very good -
Dredd - the new Chief Judge Logan makes his mark - and it riles Dredd
Brink - wonderful - sadly the end of the present arc
Skip Tracer - actually pretty decent
Grey Area - very good first part of the new Story - well worth reading
Jaegir - as usual , for me , the best was saved till Last , Gordon Rennie
continues to write with excellence and knowledge of Military History ( loved the ' Stavka ' mention )
while Simon Coleby's art continues to be terrific - and adds to the stories enjoyment

overall - a damn good read ( 9/10 ) for me 
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Richard on 09 February, 2019, 03:48:55 PM
Dredd was the highlight for me. We knew Logan was going to be chief judge, but I did not see that coming.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 09 February, 2019, 03:52:58 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/Uio7NPv.jpg)

Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: IndigoPrime on 09 February, 2019, 04:02:46 PM
America off of the council also. Oof.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: gameluvah on 09 February, 2019, 05:42:25 PM
Any word on what is taking Brinks place next prog?
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: broodblik on 09 February, 2019, 06:39:02 PM
Accordingly to an article in Meg 404 about new creators a new 3riller will start in prog 2120. Thus most likely it will be either a Future Shock or a Terror Tale.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Tjm86 on 09 February, 2019, 06:44:09 PM
A couple of things have had me scratching my head with regard to Logan; his obsession with stats and his history with the Dark Judges.  There is a part of me that is not completely surprised at his decision so I wonder where Wagner is going with this.  I mean, are we looking at the shortest tenure of a Chief Judge after Cal?
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Andy Lambert on 09 February, 2019, 08:21:14 PM
Quote from: gameluvah on 09 February, 2019, 05:42:25 PM
Any word on what is taking Brinks place next prog?

I was rather hoping it'd be Thistlebone...
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Colin YNWA on 10 February, 2019, 07:03:12 AM
Nice Proggae Tharg, nice Proggage. There's a useful shift from last time and rather than go in reading order I'll go bottom to top to see if we can find the difference.

So last weeks weakest strip was the 3riller and here its Skipperty. Now I actively didn't like the 3riller and Skippster just struggles to engage me and this weak felt particularly light but still didn't really offend. So that's a plus.

Last weeks 4th ranked was the afore mentioned Skipperty and this week Jaegir and here we see the biggest positive difference. See Skipesque is just muh which Jaegir is bloomin' good. Really enjoyed this and if the fourth ranked strip is this sharp you know you are in good shape.

The middle rank goes to Grey Area replacing last weeks excellent Jaegir. Both where superb openers and so this is the first time we see parity between this weeks and last. Love Jaegir last week love Grey Area his simple opening pulling you in and placing the conflicit we about to the enter front and centre, bringing me back up to speed and engaging me straight away. Wonderful.

So the top two and this of course is where the ability to compare falls apart as both as soooo good BUT I can say both improve, though you'd have doubted that was possible. Dredd - well we may have been spoiled by the Thrillmail BUT I think it was a bluff, showing us what we thought was the episode's play but really was an incredible slight of hand as Wagner had an even bigger play to hit us with. Ohhh that John Wagner he's such a trickster... such a genius trickster. Bloomin' heck I did not see that coming but man it was handled quite brilliantly! Just genius.

Speaking of genius thrill of the week has to be Brink right if only to celebrate the fact that it ends and while Dabnett seemed to suggest that Brink would be finished with this book the end, which provides so much oversight, yet does so in the typically engaging and lowkey way, surely sets up more to come? The end was just so satisfying. The series has been gen ius beginning to end and can't wait to see what happened next.

This and a Thrills of the Future promising us more Warren Pleece call me a happy bunny. Two stone wall classics, two great thrill and one muh in a Prog is a decent return it say the least in my book!
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Geoff on 10 February, 2019, 02:17:36 PM
The excellent Brink just got even better.  How is this possible!? Well it's just brilliant story-telling and Brink is fast becoming an actual 2000ad classic.  Not just a modern classic but a classic, full stop.

As with many other readers...I did not expect that, Chief Judge Logan!! Dredd is hotting up, wish Wagner was writing more Dredd, come back more often John you are sorely missed.. 

Jaegir is good stuff too, with superb art.

Gray Area, mmmn. I don't know when it happend, but at some point I stopped recognising who was who and understanding what was going on... Used to quite like it, enough to read it anyway. Unlike Skip Tracer which I did try and stick with but have now given up on.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Sinx on 10 February, 2019, 10:15:14 PM
Now that is a science fiction comic cover. Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague are just a great team.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Fungus on 10 February, 2019, 10:58:36 PM
Quote from: Sinx on 10 February, 2019, 10:15:14 PM
Now that is a science fiction comic cover. Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague are just a great team.
Exactly - that is scrummy.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: wedgeski on 11 February, 2019, 11:59:51 AM
What a prog! It might be Brink's last episode for a while (boo! please not as long a wait this time Tharg), but the confluence of Brink, Wagner Dredd, Jaegir, and Grey Area makes this a red-hot line-up.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: CalHab on 12 February, 2019, 07:56:59 AM
Dredd escalates quickly. From being fairly ambivalent about the robot judges storyline, I'm now very curious to see how this goes.

Brink wraps things up nicely. It's been said before, but this is one of Tharg's best ever.

Simon Coleby is clearly having a blast over on Jaegir. Long may it continue.

Skip Tracer continues. This is a perfectly adequate episode, undermined by the fact that I don't care about the lead or his mission. In contrast to Grey Area, which again is a decent episode, but has tension because I care about the characters.

Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: I, Cosh on 13 February, 2019, 12:53:43 AM
What can you say? Dredd and Brink utterly outstanding. Dread, Hershey and their differences dwarfed by MacNeil's vision of MegaCity One. Culbard's facial expressions and body language make five pages of delusional ramblings utterly electrifying and fraught with potential.

other stuff decent.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: broodblik on 13 February, 2019, 03:08:37 AM
Cover – nice work (from the man that certainly done the greatest number of covers)

Dredd – interesting turn of events by wow what a great page 2 (the view of the city). Wagner knows how to tell a Dredd story.

Brink – this was again a great episode and hopefully we do not need to wait to long for the next chapter.

Skip Tracer – this is one of those stories that I find enjoyable but not one that I will rate as a top contender

Grey Area – good first episode set the tone for the rest of the story

Jaegir- love Colbeys awesome art and my current favourite. Good all-out action episode

Overall this was one good prog the best of the year

Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Trout on 13 February, 2019, 05:07:54 AM
That Dredd story is so good it made me say "oh fuck" out loud.

I'll miss Brink. Standout story of the last year for me.

I now enjoy Jaegir at least as much as I ever enjoyed Rogue Trooper.

The other strips don't float my boat but it doesn't matter in an anthology with three strong stories.

- Trout
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Bad City Blue on 13 February, 2019, 09:17:35 AM
Quote from: Trout on 13 February, 2019, 05:07:54 AM
That Dredd story is so good it made me say "oh fuck" out loud.

- Trout

Haha - I said "Oh you DICK!" as I read about the councill of 5!

he should know better
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 February, 2019, 11:59:53 AM
It's a masterful reveal in Dredd. Makes perfect sense but still unexpected.

BRINK, Jaegir, Grey Area and Skip Tracer all work for me as well; ranging from "Awesome I can't believe another Book is finished" to "That's a solid old school thrill with great art but is just lacking a character or stakes to latch onto" respectively.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: I, Cosh on 13 February, 2019, 12:16:18 PM
Just done something I can't remember doing for years and reread this Dredd story from the start while it's still running. Sublime stuff.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 February, 2019, 01:48:01 PM


Seems like Harvey's story is another mini-epic in the making to test Dredd's beliefs that just crept up from behind, and as ever, it's playing out brilliantly.

Interesting side detail for me is that the story of Fargo's missing body, and his subsequent return, is public knowledge.



Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: wedgeski on 13 February, 2019, 01:55:10 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 February, 2019, 01:48:01 PM
Seems like Harvey's story is another mini-epic in the making to test Dredd's beliefs that just crept up from behind, and as ever, it's playing out brilliantly.
It seems likely to me that Harvey will have his own strip soon -- assuming he survives this one.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 February, 2019, 02:26:31 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 13 February, 2019, 01:55:10 PM
It seems likely to me that Harvey will have his own strip soon -- assuming he survives this one.

Or raher Judge Hershey's World Tour of Duty.

Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: broodblik on 13 February, 2019, 02:41:10 PM
Hersey might be back sooner than we might spell Harvey
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: wedgeski on 13 February, 2019, 03:30:19 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 February, 2019, 02:26:31 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 13 February, 2019, 01:55:10 PM
It seems likely to me that Harvey will have his own strip soon -- assuming he survives this one.

Or raher Judge Hershey's World Tour of Duty.
Oh yeah, that too!

I'm in for both, tbh.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Tiplodocus on 13 February, 2019, 04:57:05 PM
If it's anything like these last 4 episodes, I'd love to see this lead into a Third Robot War.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Leigh S on 13 February, 2019, 06:19:10 PM
That's the beauty of Wagner isnt it?  He can concoct a twist that in retrospect seems so obvious, but still makes you spit out your tea!

Brink is fab, but not sure if/how the "Lets go look at Mercury" works - surely someone else might have already had that idea? Mariam Junot is said to be in protective custody, so not sure what she can do, and other than that connection, what leverage would they have to be involved in any Mercury trip?  Of course the point here is that I am engaged in this enough to wonder where it will go because it is ace.

Grey Area has never really grabbed me - possibly because I struggle with who is how - the art has either had very similar looking people with Richardson or hard to pin down looking peolpe with Harrison, so maybe that hasnt helped.

Jaegir is perfectly seviceable, but I find it a bit dull - like if Dredd was always a humourless procedural - Nu Earth should be more "out there" than that - I found it a bit odd how the recent competition was mostly pics of Rogue, but the most interesting things about the strip were the Bio-Wire, Atmocraft, Sun Legion, Blackmares, Decapitators etc.

Over on the Thrill cast James Peaty says all the right things about what 2000AD strips should be, but I can't detect much of that in Skip Tracer, which feels one step less inventuive than "Beyond Zero" - Don't get me wrong, Beyond Zero was pretty inoffensive (and about when Peaty began reading the progs, though I'm trying to not read anything into that) - so is Skip Tracer, but 2000AD should be off the wall mental high concept and above all feel original and fun and I'd rather see a brave fail than playing safe from Tharg

Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Dandontdare on 13 February, 2019, 06:41:26 PM
maybe Harvey will negotiate an "every empire falls" style deal with the meka-revolutionary state of Guatamala?
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: broodblik on 13 February, 2019, 06:45:25 PM
I cannot remember the last time I was so excited to read Dredd. Since "The Small House" and now with "Machine Law" it feels like Dredd is the king of the hill again.  Not only are we treated to some top storytelling but some real sublime art to go with the story.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: norton canes on 13 February, 2019, 10:37:42 PM
Epic stuff from cover to cover, not much more to add really.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Richard on 13 February, 2019, 10:54:28 PM
QuoteMakes perfect sense but still unexpected.
That is the epitome of masterful storytelling. When something is far from obvious and yet when it happens it seems totally plausible.

The bit about Fargo was the only bad part of that episode, for me. I just can't believe that the judges would disclose any of that to the public. That bit should have been cut. (I felt the same way when they told the public that Dredd executed Chief Judge Silver in prog 1178.)
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: sheridan on 15 February, 2019, 01:23:17 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 13 February, 2019, 12:53:43 AM
What can you say? Dredd and Brink utterly outstanding. Dread, Hershey and their differences dwarfed by MacNeil's vision of MegaCity One. Culbard's facial expressions and body language make five pages of delusional ramblings utterly electrifying and fraught with potential.

other stuff decent.


What do you mean, delusional?  The shadow biosphere (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_biosphere) is real, I tell you, real!
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: sheridan on 15 February, 2019, 01:25:45 AM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 February, 2019, 01:48:01 PM
Seems like Harvey's story is another mini-epic in the making to test Dredd's beliefs that just crept up from behind, and as ever, it's playing out brilliantly.

Interesting side detail for me is that the story of Fargo's missing body, and his subsequent return, is public knowledge.


That line gave me pause to think as well - can't imagine why it would have been made public knowledge, but then it's been a long time since I read Origins.  Then again, it led to the other Fargos, and mutants in general, gaining entry to the Big Meg...
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: DrRocka on 15 February, 2019, 07:25:22 PM
3 out of 5 for me this week, but by Grud, those 3 are by far the best thing I've read in AGES. Only Skip Tracer and Jaegir not grabbing me, but the others were so good I don't care. And THAT Dredd... absolute classic.
Thrillshocked over here. Cheers Tharg.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Andy Lambert on 16 February, 2019, 10:28:46 AM
I have the most minor of gripes with the prog, specifically Judge Dredd - so minor it's probably a little churlish to mention it, but with such a surprising turn of events, I just wish the reveal had been on the left page instead of the right, because being placed on the right I had figured out the reveal before I got to it.
Like I said, it's a REALLY minor niggle...
Otherwise, the story continues to be compelling and brilliantly written and illustrated. The Mega-City landscape is breathtaking, to the point I actually said "Oh wow..." out loud, and I just love Wagner's handling of the two friends of old, conveying so much history and experience in a handful of lines. Just brilliant.
No wonder everyone sits up and pays extra attention when Wagner is on writing duties.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: norton canes on 16 February, 2019, 09:32:37 PM
Ha, the right/left page thing gets me too sometimes. If I'm readin any story and I think there might be a shock reveal coming up, I'll carefully turn the page so that the right-hand side is folded under.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Tiplodocus on 16 February, 2019, 11:56:33 PM
Not a problem with digital.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: sheridan on 17 February, 2019, 11:41:17 AM
Quote from: Andy Lambert on 16 February, 2019, 10:28:46 AM
I have the most minor of gripes with the prog, specifically Judge Dredd - so minor it's probably a little churlish to mention it, but with such a surprising turn of events, I just wish the reveal had been on the left page instead of the right, because being placed on the right I had figured out the reveal before I got to it.
Like I said, it's a REALLY minor niggle...


I disagree - I reveals like that should be set up on the recto page so that they can be shown on the verso page (the word verso deriving from 'turned' or 'changed').  Many here will be spoiled though, as the absolute master of the craft would have been starting his career in these very pages (Alan Moore, early 1980s).
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Magnetica on 17 February, 2019, 07:01:48 PM
Even all these years later I still think of the ruined reveal of old Ben in Harry 20 on the High Rock  :'(
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: broodblik on 18 February, 2019, 02:41:28 AM
Quote from: Magnetica on 17 February, 2019, 07:01:48 PM
Even all these years later I still think of the ruined reveal of old Ben in Harry 20 on the High Rock  :'(

Put it on the cover to make it so much easier for everyone.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Magnetica on 18 February, 2019, 07:19:28 AM
That was the week after wasn't it?
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: titchard on 18 February, 2019, 10:41:53 AM
Read the Dredd part last night - excellent story and loving how it's evolving.  When he mentioned about a new council I saw it coming that he was going to put the RoboJudge on it, and love how it's creating that tension.
Title: Re: Prog 2118 - Enemies of the State
Post by: Judge Olde on 18 February, 2019, 10:44:19 PM
I think recent Dredd stories have ruined me  :)
Re read Small House & already re read Machine Law
I can't wait until Wednesday