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Not sure how Brian fits into that.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Maybe it's an indication of another side of him, in an LGBT sense! Or perhaps he was just often very grizzly! Or perhaps (You're fired—Ed.)[/spoiler]

My reading of the story is that Wagner & Ezquerra are taking back ownership of Alpha's death, having (presumably) decided (after a number of years of ambivolence) that they now dislike the ending that Alan Grant originally bestowed.

I'd hope that isn't the reason for what was a fairly turgid story that lacked the energy and fire of Final Solution. If it is, well... bah. I still have the original comics and I'll just pretend this tale never existed. My hope is it's a springboard, not Wagner hurling the strip off a clip while singing "AND I DID IT MY WAY!"

These days, it seems either the Meg or the Prog truly satisfies, and rights now the Meg is firing on all cylinders. As for the Prog, Dredd and Grey Area were fine, the Future Shock was OK, and ABC Warriors was ABC Warriors, but that a Strontium Dog cannot be the full stop.

If that really is the end, what a waste. It's hardly been the strongest story, lacking the depth and tight writing of Chaos Day. The brush strokes were so broad it was at times like a Mills take on the character, and it lacked the impact of Final Solution. That it then ret-conned a ton of other in-universe strips further cements it for me as a baffling direction to take things _IF_ that's it for good.

My gut feeling is this is just another cliffhanger. I very much hope so, or it's otherwise turned into a mere example of why in comics the dead should probably just stay dead.

The movie was set a couple of months before the first Dredd stroy in Prog 2 was meant to be, timeline wise. So if we're lucky and the movie gets a continuation they've got 35-plus years of Cass to explore as a side-lead.

More to the point, the continuities aren't the same anyway.

The only thing I remember about racoons is seeing a load in the trees in Florida, and our friends very clearly pointing out that we shouldn't go near them, "because they've all got rabies". Maybe that's why Rocket's so mental.

I'm sure we've been here before, the movie tries to sell an idea of MC1 to the masses, then the comic book writers go and destroy nine tenths of it.

That Peter Parker isn't currently Spider-Man doesn't seem to have impacted on the movie series's box-office chances.

Did Wagner really go to all the trouble of bringing Johnny Alpha back from the dead just to kill him again? And surely Middenface can't be dead?

I really hope not, or this is just a huge waste of time for everyone. The story's not been strong enough to warrant Alpha's 'proper' death, and although The Final Solution was imperfect and not Wagner's, it was a big shock at the time. As I've already said, I also hope this isn't just a reset to the status quo. Personally, I wanted the mutants to win (somehow, and for a given value of win), and for the future Britain to be rewritten somewhat—there'd still be a ton of scope for Strontium Dogs anyway. After all, what else would they do in that ravaged world?

If Alpha does get offed, perhaps it's Wagner's take on things that are dead being better if they stay dead.

Well, that was all pretty bloody fantastic.

Dredd starts off well, and immediately starts barreling along. Plenty of impact in art and script. A couple of solid text articles, and then DeMarco, showcasing that the character works really well when in the hands of someone who'll handle her with maturity. (But I do miss the monkey.)

Ordinary ends, which is disappointing on many levels. First, it's very definitely finite—it's done. Secondly, this was one of the real highlights of the Meg for me—I can never get enough of Brooker's art, and the script was excellent, witty and had heart. Fortunately, it certainly wasn't disappointing in and of itself, and I'm delighted to see a hardback collection now ready for pre-order on Amazon.

Ortiz gets a heartfelt obituary, and then we get Anderson. I more or less guessed the cliffhanger, but it still had shock value; and it feels in script and art like we're suddenly getting a very different Anderson—a grown-up and thoughtful take on a character that's been all over the place in tone.

Cover: plenty of impact, so good for the shelves.

Dredd: I also wondered why so many on Titan doesn't appear to have had their noses off. Still, I enjoyed this tale, but Tharg really needs to start giving Dredd room to breathe for stories such as this. It really needed an extra two-to-four episodes. Lovely art, as ever.

ABC Warriors: This continues the uptick for me, but that's from dire to readable, so I still don't really care what happens.

Grey Area: It's never going to be my favourite thing in the Prog, but it's solid, dependable and readable. It's been great to have while the Prog's been on a lurch of late.

Ulysses Sweet: It's gone, and I don't care if it never comes back. This had plenty of amusing dialogue and a lot of great ideas, but it was far, far too long. Four episodes and this could have been a high-octane "What just happened?" strip that left people demanding more; as it was, it just felt like a funny joke that got dragged out for at least twice its natural lifespan. A pity, not least because the Rupert the Bear bit was ace.

Strontium Dog: I still don't care. And yet I _really_ hope this goes somewhere next week. If we're left with a downtrodden mutant underclass and Alpha getting killed or going into exile again through the agreement with another reformed government, that'll be a very unsatisfying ending. This feels like Wagner tearing up the script, like in Chaos Day (although not nearly as successfully), and so it surely can't just end with the status quo.

I don't see that myself. Apple's never really cared about nor got gaming. It shows off games regularly, but largely because they rapidly show off the power of kit. Got a new iPad out? Great, now here's a high-end gaming shifting polygons and bling around like nobody's business. How about games controllers for iOS?

...

Oh. They're... um... not good, are they?

You can run Windows on a Mac, can't you?

Yes, either by dual-booting or using an emulator. When dual-booting, Macs perform admirably as Windows PCs (a friend liked the idea of a Mac, couldn't deal with OS X, but said his 'Mac' was the best 'PC' he'd ever owned). Emulation is slower but still acceptable for older games.

But OS X does have a reasonable selection these days, in part through Steam, in part through the few companies dedicated to porting titles (Feral, say), in part through the Mac App Store (which has a slew of iOS ports), and also because of growth in the sector.

Like Jim says, you'd be bad to by a Mac for games alone, but that doesn't say there aren't plenty of great games for the platform (albeit far fewer than for Windows—in other words, pretty much the opposite of the current situation on mobile).

I'm now imagining Molch-R printing that sauchie olympics post in 100pt text, nailing it to the wall, and doing a little jig in front of it, before planning on nailing a copy to anyone's head who keeps moaning that IDW isn't doing 'our' Dredd.

Hence all the '2000AD is still being published?!' 'I thought Johnny Alpha was dead?' 'Wait, since when is there a new Dredd film?'

The one that irks me is the all-too-regular: "I haven't read 2000 AD since 1986, but all the new stuff is shit and it was better in the old days." Just like music. And TV. And Spangles.

You'd be surprised how readily people on the FB page misunderstand, wilfully or otherwise, anything we do.

I've been in marketing and journo land for 13 years now. It takes a lot to surprise me. But that certainly doesn't stop me facepalming for Britain every time I venture on to the 2000 AD Facebook page and stupidly read the comments.

I like the look of this. I haven't bought any of the IDW Dredd ongoing series so I may get it for this.
I've been enjoying the revelations all day. It's like new X-Men. 

One thing's quite interesting—with these things being posted to the 2000 AD Facebook feed, lapsed readers and presumably also anyone not paying attention seem to think this is what 2000 AD has come to these days. Given the upcoming Dark Judges reboot by Wagner/Staples (assuming Staples finishes the art before the heat death of the universe), it's curious timing.

It's also curious how dodgy this central Dredd comic is, given the quality of the Mars Attacks four-parter and the fairly good Year One. Still, the comic continues to be released, so they must be doing something right in terms of finding an audience.