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Prog 2080 -PSI no More

Started by 73north, 05 May, 2018, 05:08:08 PM

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Woolly

Quote from: Frank on 10 May, 2018, 09:27:20 PM
Quote from: Steve Green on 10 May, 2018, 08:49:14 PM
Doesn't dreams of deadworld mention that Mortis has been bored out of his (sheep) skull for a couple of hundred years, even before he gets fat-shamed into his svelte beach body readiness appearance in the Dark Judges?

Tainted and Cursed seem intended to dovetail with previously published Zombie Nation stories, but Dreams Of Deadworld read more like self-contained tone poems that could have happened at any time before or after Dredd rocked their (Dead)world*.


* Even if Tharg threw a minor wobbly over the suggestion that the Deadworld Justice Department Expanded Universe wasn't strictly 'canonical'.

RE: Ancient Flesh - It's down to the dead fluids.

We won't know exactly when Fall of Deadworld is set until it explicitly tells us so, assuming it ever does. Something tells me that this isn't the point.
It's a great story that could go anywhere, just love it for that if nothing else.

Frank

Quote from: Woolly on 10 May, 2018, 09:44:54 PM
Something tells me that this isn't the point

Yep.*


Hopefully, we'll never get the equivalent of TordelBack's favourite 5 minutes of Revenge Of The Sith, where events are telescoped to the point of absurdity so we can see absolutely everything that happened between the end of the prequel and where we came into the original story.

Leigh S

Wouldnt Death's skin get to be Centuries old in the time they spent stuck on Deadworld after wiping everyone out?  Not sure what it establishes in the story around prog 901-903 - Ian Gibson art-  that established they stole the dimension hopping tech from dimensional travellers who arrive at some point (could be centuries?) after Deadworld is all dead

TordelBack

One fine comic there, no complaints at all from me.

Dredd: Now that's a good citizen-focused tale.  Strong characters, characterful designs, lots of humour and action, Dredd wins, then a satisfying reversal. More of this kind of thing!

Sin/Dex: wasn't too sure about the first part, but this week really hit the spot. And Yeowell's art is fantastic: that middle page that's largely a phone conversation, simply spectacular

Anderson: Good conclusion to a fascinatingly different Anderson run - as seems to be the general feeling, I think this could have handled a few extra pages to close it out (especially around Kazuo and the Hondo squad, but also the vampires and the old lady psi), but to be honest I just appreciate the sheer amount of material Beeby squeezed into 8 episodes.  She also made me interested in Karyn, and that's an achievement in itself.  And Collins and Robinson, what a combination. 

Future Shock: neat little tale, and beautifully drawn - Dyer has developed such a brilliant sense of light and space, he gives Yeowell a run for his money. Way up there in my list of top current artists.

Strontium Dog: reigns supreme over even this strong stable of stories.  I could read this one forever, two consummate masters doing what they do best and clearly loving every minute.  Please Tharg, never let it end.

JamesC

I haven't really enjoyed the last couple of progs.

Dredd was okay but 'wacky old ladies in incongruous situations' is such a tired comedy trope that I just find it annoying.

I'm normally a big Sin Dex fan but I'm not really enjoying this story. I've never been a big war comic fan so the parody isn't really something I'm enjoying. Yeowell really needs to put more effort in too. I'd consider myself a Yeowell fan but recently his work looks rushed and frankly unfinished in places.

Anderson lost me.

The Future Shock was okay but felt like a rather half baked idea.

Strontium Dog was excellent though - the best thing in the prog by an absolute mile.

TordelBack

Quote from: JamesC on 12 May, 2018, 08:25:35 AM
Yeowell really needs to put more effort in too. I'd consider myself a Yeowell fan but recently his work looks rushed and frankly unfinished in places.

I've thought his recent SinDex to be his best work in ages, helped along (or Dr least not hindered) by Charles' bold colouring. I did slightly regret that the conceit of the current story wouldn't  have benefitted from a more 'war story' artist, someone like Weston or Holden maybe (in the absence if either Kennedy) but this week's pub scenes settled me down. I do wonder if some intercut panels showing what the boys are actually doing in the real world (as it's AR, not VR) might be fun.

Completely agree about Strontium Dog, though - towers over the rest.

Steve Green

Agree on the AR/VR thing - I guess it maybe would distract from telling a Battle/Commando comics style story.

Could have been interesting splitting the art between 2 artists, Steve in the real world and someone with a bit of history of war comics in the sim.

The type for the captions bugged me a bit too.

SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

I'm not sure if my thoughts this week are entirely relevent, as I'm really not feeling too hot- which is probably best left for another thread- so I'll concentrate on the positive.

SiniDex was smashing- really liking this story, and the change of pace. The suggestions made above would have been interesting, but as we have it it's more than good enough.

Stront is magic. Loving this run, in a way I haven't for a long time. He needs a Wulf (of some kind).

That's about it, really. I didn't get the Future Shock, I gave up on Anderson a few weeks ago and Dredd was basic stuff. Of the cover I will just repeat what was asked of me, as the prog was laying on the coffee table: Why is that woman's fanny on fire?

SBT

Colin YNWA

Quote from: JamesC on 12 May, 2018, 08:25:35 AM
Yeowell really needs to put more effort in too. I'd consider myself a Yeowell fan but recently his work looks rushed and frankly unfinished in places.

My admiration for Yeowell is well recorded across this site so I'm clearly biase, but this really surprises me. Clearly as with all art its so subjective so I can't disagree with James point but I'm just surprised.

I think his current style feels more solid complete than other work he's done of late. The use of some brush effect (I'll not try to work out what but do plan to buy a page from this run so will report back) to add 'greytone' really adds something to his art. I've always liked the way the Mighty Yeowell is brave and confident enough in his work to leave lots of white space, but here I think the use of 'greytone' really adds an extra depth to his already supreme work . What's even better is he knows when to use it.

In the bar scenes in the Satan story it was all over the place, adding atmosphere. In this story a lot less, letting the space open to add movement ... Jez I could go on but suffice to say I'm finding his current work some of his best to date.

But that's what 2000ad all about. Different strokes for different folks!

JamesC

It's really more about the little details. I totally agree with most of what Colin has said and I certainly wouldn't argue that the story is hard to follow.
It's hard for me to point out specifics as I don't have the progs to hand but there's a panel this week in which Ray is in a phone box and Fin is outside. Fin's hand looks terrible - l suspect Yeowell has just marked a couple of lines to indicate where a hand should be and never got around to drawing it. The worst one was in the devil story where a character was driving a car - the hand was in the extreme foreground of the panel and looked like a cross between a pig's trotter and a seal's flipper. Again, I think the 'inked' version had gone straight over the 'layout' stage (I realise it doesn't work the same with digital art) without there ever being finished pencils to tighten things up.
It irks me because I'd usually describe Yeowell as quite a precise artist and his old work doesn't have these problems.

TordelBack

Heh, I was rating the phone box page as one of the most accomplished things I've seen in ages: it's just such a neat, interesting way to show a long series of potentially dull talking heads. 

But I do see what James means about Finny's rather naff hand - I just didn't notice it all, which may be the real point for me.  I suspect it may be the perennial problem of colouring Yeowell's supremely open linework, with the graded tones dropped on it your eye is forced to fill in the (unlikely) 3D shapes, whereas when it's (count 'em) three or four B&W lines, you would probably just accept 'hand' and look straight through it. 

The Sherman Kid

Cover  Cool cover nicely done

Dredd Entertaining and concise

Future Shock Very good with sharp art

Anderson Episode one included some good ideas and it was a welcome return for Karyn but overall this was an unholy confusing mess that made less sense as it went on. The lack of clarity was irksome (colour coded 'identity' thoughts weren't a problem, another good idea, but the way they were used muddled the narrative greatly).

Flying green lizards from nowhere ...er ... fine, I guess.  They are riding on a highway when the road gives way they stop and drop a flare into the undercity, clearly they are still on the highway. Buildings collapse for no apparent reason...? Anderson looks at a blank piece of paper..what? They stand in the rubble above the undercity..Anderson enters a block...Flowers and Kazuo are....somewhere...Echo is somehwere.

Anderson is dangling well above the undercity. Echo is descended the outside of a towerblock into the undercity. Echo is now back on the highway 'greeting' the other rogue psis above ground with the meg in the background?? What the...where the hell are we?

Metal guns that don't work for psi's erm what?? Really? Whatever...fine. Foreign judges invited in...after the Texas fiasco? Really? Ermm fine....whatever.


Echo shoots Karyn? No, its some kind of psi thingy. Anyway Karyn is mortally wounded...somehow.

A Hondo judge stands over someone 'Is she dead?' Who is that..? Karyn? A rogue psi, ah, yes, well, that was not clear. Karyn is on the floor looking like shes been ..well...shot.


Someone who loves looking at entrails is caring for the psis, well, that's ..encouraging.

An unpteenth garbled piece of dialogue appears from 'blind?' entrails woman who doesn't deserve a name, in response to Anderson's question 'How many did we lose?' -'Four so far,who were more seriously injured. It's not really a coma their spirits have ...retreated' -who talks like this? Obviously they were seriously injured -their dead!? Entrails woman touches the stomach of a patient, God she misses those entrails.

Karyn with only a 'few moments left to live' is ...actually ...alive. Whatever (sigh).

PS -Ilsa is ...??? Where on earth did she go??




A.Cow

Quote from: Steve Green on 12 May, 2018, 10:21:52 AM
The type for the captions bugged me a bit too.

Glad I'm not the only one irked by that.  Yes, you find Roman/serif captions in Look & Learn and Eagle but I don't recall seeing it in any war comics.  Not only did it ruin the effect but they also missed the opportunity to use old-style typeset corrugated-edge speech balloons.  A shame.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: A.Cow on 13 May, 2018, 04:41:59 AM
Quote from: Steve Green on 12 May, 2018, 10:21:52 AM
The type for the captions bugged me a bit too.

Glad I'm not the only one irked by that.  Yes, you find Roman/serif captions in Look & Learn and Eagle but I don't recall seeing it in any war comics.  Not only did it ruin the effect but they also missed the opportunity to use old-style typeset corrugated-edge speech balloons.  A shame.

Funnily enough that's being discussed over at the 2081 Thread. For me it worked really well evoking the early Johnny Red strips from Battle.

IndigoPrime

There's been a bit of 'off the shelf' lettering of late. Sláine had the same problem in the previous series. Not sure what's going on. There surely must be better options from typographic, design and legibility standpoints.

As for Anderson, I'm keen to re-read. I like Beeby's stuff. But it feels like something's been lost between script and page, or perhaps head and page. It reminded me a bit too much of some of the strips during the 1990s in the Meg, where it was clear the author knew what was going on, but figuring that out as a reader was a mite trickier.