McCarthy cover is great, good to have him back here and the Meg
Dredd... wish Barney was still up to date, if only so I could work out if Rory McConville wrote all thsoe otehr Dredds with a great premise that the strip tells us about rather than shows us. Loving Rory's Devlin in the Meg, so not sure why (if those other Dredds were his!) the Dredd fails - well I do know, I just said it - show don't tell. Don't shortcut the plot with explanatory text to fit it into six pages, spread it out over two parts. As I say, I have seen this before in Dredd, where an interesting idea was squashed into too small a space - not sure if they were all Rory's, but even so.
Skip Tracer - lost me now - it feels like someone read Junker and thought (not unreasonably) "I could do better than that!". Well, it is better than Junker but that isnt much to recommend it - adding unexpected Psi-abilities is pretty much where I bail on any strip.
The Order is a story I never kept up with and reading the bit on teh Nerve centre didnt get me reading this or keen to read what I had previously skipped.
Dredd finally turns up in Deadworld?
Red is the highlight - it isnt spectacular, but is the best use of the character in a long time, and I'm including the original Stront run in that - lots of potential.
(https://i.imgur.com/uubYGEN.jpg)
I can honestly say that I would never have predicted we would get a Deadworld cover by Brendan McCarthy. You can never have too much McCarthy though.
Behind a fantastic cover the line-up starts to change but the quality remains pretty much the same... well overall
So the big difference is of course The Order in for Survival Geeks and with this dynamic opening that means we get a plus.
The Dredd changes from a glorious multi-parter to a pretty good one-off, but as Leigh states quite clearly it feels a little to cramped and loses something with that. The standard of the art however remains as high, stunning stuff. But overall while its good its a minus.
The unchanging stories remain as you where. Skip Tracer looks like it should be blindin', but we don't know enough to care. Deadworld and Durham Red continue to be fantastic, with the former adding more to its cast really nicely and the later bringing the action to the fore. Superb stuff.
So yeah the more it chnages the more it stays the same.
Cover - did not like the cover since I believe that McCarthy's art does not suite the style of Deadworld
Dredd - I do like the occasionally Dredd once-off but this one did not work for me. The setup was good but the whole thing fell flat with the rush ending and read more like a documentary than a Dredd story.
Skip Tracer - continue as previously, keeping me intrigued on what is behind the story
The Order - glad this series is back. Wonderful art by Burns
Durham Red and Deadworld - more of the same as the previous episodes, still great
Solis prog but let down by a weaker Dredd strip
Cover - Nice, but not setting the heather on fire here
Dredd - I read this on Saturday and have forgotten it already, not a good sign.
Skip Tracer - skipped it
The Order - never ordered it, so sent it back.
Durham Red never red it, as the character bores me
and Deadworld - yes it is.
Soiled prog let down by a weak strips from cover to cover, I've not been this unimpressed by the Prog since 1990s nadir.
(https://i.imgur.com/UALmxHi.png?2)
Looking forward to Bunny (https://i.imgur.com/Wiy8WvY.png?1) showing up, next week.
For those not paying attention, that's a completely different angry cow to the one from the other week. I actually don't mind Skip Tracer; it's fantastically unoriginal*, but, ironically, it's one of the few completely original strips in recent line-ups and it's at least solidly constructed in every respect.
Kickass Future Lady, on the other hand, reads like a lesson in how not to write character or action. **
Using the least kinetic panel ever (https://i.imgur.com/Q77TZJ2.png?1), Kate Beckinsale escapes, telling herself she doesn't care what happens to Bootha. Then she tells herself to stop not-caring because she has 'a point to prove' (to someone she doesn't care about), then just falls off a cliff, explaining all the way down, because that's where the story needs her to be.
Who would bet against Mila Jovovich waking up imprisoned at the mercy of the same bad guys who had her tied up at the end of last week, making this episode devoid of the forward momentum humans have been taught to expect from a narrative but with massive appeal to crabs and, to be fair, many other species of decapod crustacean.
* And if it's not headed exactly where everyone realised it was headed after episode 2, I'll eat the cyber-fedora that hard-boiled future-detective Nolan Blake should be wearing to go along with his techno-trenchcoat.
** This week. The other episodes have been fine.
Cover - lovely. Completely uncommercial but lovely.
Dredd - 10/10 art, 1/10 script. Dull idea (oh tech in people heads is hacked! It's a Facebook founder grudge parallel). Dumb judges (a scarce resource) get gunned down because they stand in front of an obviously armed evil lair. Oh judges are so dumb they don't automatically scan bribed persons personal comms? Ugh. Editor please! The opening scene was great but really downhill from there. More Dave Taylor tho. He's ace.
Skip Tracer - absolutely grand. Paul Marshall gives great art - tons of detail in the background to savour and enjoy. The story moves along absolutely fine but suffers from a lead that isn't really engaging or relatable. He's a real none character in his own strip. Loving the belardinelli princess at the end tho. Maybe it's a Moon Runners prequel?
The Order - honestly never taken to it but anything keeping John Burns in work is A okay.
Durham Red - dull story, dull art, dull character (this isn't the Durham Red of old, it's Dowdy Red the dullest dog in the house). Frank's story points are completely right, Lee Carters art looks like a man not happy with his page rate and it's all too damm dark and dull. I don't know who this story is aimed at but I can't believe it's people who enjoyed Vamp or The Scarlet Cantos .
Dead World - Taking top thrill with the magnificent art and nice introduction to a third force. Even with a precocious child lead (ugh) this series goes from strength to strength each series.
Great art saves the day all round in the prog. Solid stuff.
This week, Tharg says "all hail me" in reply to a letter. That's my line, Green Bonce!
I'm loving The Fall of Deadworld and I'm thrilled to see the return of the wonderfully bonkers The Order. Good comic!
All hail me!
- Trout
ZARJAZ!
Cover: It's never bad to see more McCarthy but perhaps not when he has to copy another artist's character designs, especially one who has such a distinctive style.
Dredd: Agree with most people (actually, everyone) here - too verbose and rushed. Plus I've seen enough 'implants gone wrong' storylines on Black Mirror recently to last me a while, thanks. Love Dave Taylor's art, though - you can't beat a Dredd artist who gives different uniforms to Judges from other divisions.
Skip Tracer: It's like something from Starlord! Hope it goes on for 50 weeks (unlike Starlord)
The Order: I love The Order unreservedly. It's been my favourite strip since coming back to 2000 AD 18 months ago and this week's installment has done nothing to change that opinion.
Durham Red: The impetus seems to have stalled a little bit on this story. Also agree that the fantastically talented Lee Carter is here perhaps not the best choice of artist - it needs someone with a 'messier' style.
Deadworld: Continues to impress. The Kek-W droid is on fire right now.
I feel like the change of artist has taken all the momentum out of the Durham Red strip. I realise the change was unavoidable due to Ben Wilsher suffering an injury, and I absolutely love Lee Carter's art on the likes of Dredd, Indigo Prime, and Necrophim, but it feels a little vapid here.
Double post alert:
I might be being a bit thick here, or at least a little forgetful, but did the main character of Skip Tracer change skin colour this week? He seemed to be white this week, whereas I'm sure he's been black for the rest of the story.
Big dip for me this week l'm afraid.
Agree with all the comments wrt Dredd. I want a story, not a plot resume. It was just not engaging at all. And it wasn't really very original either. Tech giant does bad things yawn.
Skip Tracer. Not for the first time it feels like it's missed a bit out. Not to mention "twists pulled out of the ether". And the art seems a bit off this week-several of the depictions of Blake just don't look like him.
Th Order. Normally I can follow this for a few weeks and then it loses me.This time it has cut to the chase - I'm lost already. It wasn't a good sign when I read the "previously on The Order" feature and went "eh? I don't remember half of that".
I'm really missing Ben Willsher on Durham Red. What was his injury?
Deadworld. Is also losing me. Who is Tanya?
Cover. Nah not for me. Brendan McCarthy is a legend but I just don't like his recent style e.g Zaucer of Zilk and this looks pretty similar.
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 June, 2018, 11:28:32 PM
I'm really missing Ben Willsher on Durham Red. What was his injury?
Forgot to use his elbow (https://youtu.be/kVJJaIepK4o).
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 June, 2018, 11:28:32 PM
Deadworld. Is also losing me. Who is Tanya?
Think we've only seen Ava before.
Love McCarthy's art (normally) but he's another casualty of the digital painting revolution, this cover is not a patch on when paints, with paint..
Still enjoying Durham Red, not that impressed with the rest of this week's offerings.
The prog somehow feels a bit in the doldrums at the moment. I don't think there's anything objectively bad in it but it could do with a high-energy strip to lift things a bit.
The Cover is garish and ugly. Add me to the list of people who preferred McCarthy before he went digital.
Dredd was very by-the-numbers. It wasn't bad but felt a bit like filler, which is something Dredd should never be. I think Dave Taylor is a good artist but his Judges look weedy and I find his colours bland and dull.
Skip Tracer is fine, I like the artwork but I can't help feeling the strip is missing something. It has potential though.
The Order is enjoyably weird and bonkers but I find it hard to follow. John Burns's art is always nice but he's drawn a rather dodgy hand on page 1, panel 3.
I want to like Durham Red but, like Skip Tracer, I feel it's missing something. I wonder why this is a story the author wants to tell. It's just a bit boring.
Damned is excellent, by far the best thing in the prog. It's very much a downer strip though, which is why I feel we need a fast paced, up beat strip to balance things out.