Prog 2219 - Stand and Deliver

[broodblik]

That is always a difficult thing to address to catch-up with the continuity of a story Barrington. The nerve centre try to address this by giving us some background on what happened before. In the older days the first few panels where almost a semi-catch-up type of thing

[broodblik]

I can also add this that it is much easier now to get some back issues. All of the progs up until the xmas prog of 2002 are available digitally. Yes, it will cost you a arm and a leg.

[IndigoPrime]

The question is how much a story should be entirely accessible to new readers and how heavily it should rely on continuity. Ideally, a strip should do both, but that's not always possible. However, in order to bring on board new readers, you cannot have an entire comic more or less say "well, you should have read several hundred previous issues".

Films have the same problem, not least when they become continuity heavy or don't act as a logical start point. When I went to see Phantom Menace with friends, one had never seen a Star Wars film. This lad was bright and smart and yet left arguing that the film was borderline incomprehensible. Others were big fans and started saying "But don't you see? X is going to turn into Y?" Newbie's point was this was supposed to be the first film, not the fourth.

I'd say 2000 AD in this issue mostly gets the balance right. Hershey, Sláine, Dredd and Strontium Dog are mired in deep continuity, but that continuity isn't required to enjoy those strips. You might of course get more out of them if you've a long history with 2000 AD, but you don't need that. Proteus Vex, I think, is far more problematic in that area, but then even during its first run that story had a tendency to throw so much lore at the reader, it was hard to keep up with what was going on. (I guess we should just count ourselves lucky it's not running the Meg, with a month between episodes.)

As for the Prog as a whole, I liked Dredd (human; topical; smart; great art), am bored of Sláine (indestructible; ponderous; going through the motions; looks nice though), remain confused by Proteus Vex, reckon Durham Red is easily the best thing in the comic right now, and found Hershey's ending a disappointment even if I broadly like the strip as a whole.

[Barrington Boots]

I also think 2000ad is pretty good at accessibility vs continuity but it's always better to hear from outside our own bubble, so to speak.

My wife is a casual reader of the Prog, and there's some strips she just finds impenetrable due to continuity - the last series of Stickleback being the latest example - she's just not interested. She read the first couple of episodes and then flipped past them every week for the rest of the run.

I'm not saying it should have been more accessible btw. Her loss imo.

[broodblik]

A good prog with a great city-scape cover by Goddard. Just one gripe with the cover and it is a pity that the digital prog does not have the wrap-around cover next to each other.


Dredd – Another goodie one-shot by "Do Not Know Nobody". What awesome landscapes by Goddard, just like how the Mega City is portrait from different angles.

Slaine – The story so far has been a real roller-coaster ride in the sense that one week I like it and the next it just feels flat.  So far if this is the last story then it is a disappointment, art can not carry a story forever.

Vex – This week's episode has a twisting ending as new alliances are formed. What next for our team of galactic mischiefs? Enjoying this and is an easy pick for number one thrill.

Red – The plot twist with another great episode.

Hershey – The ending feels a little bit unsatisfactory after the weeks of build-up. We now have to wait for the next chapter to see where this is heading.


And next week is Fight Club Round 2220 and some people still claim this cannot be as good as the classics from the class of 78.

[zombemybabynow]

still waiting for prog to arrive but nice to have something to be excited about and look forward to

[IndigoPrime]

And next week is Fight Club Round 2220 and some people still claim this cannot be as good as the classics from the class of 78.

People wrestling with their own argument that 2000 AD wasn't as good as it was when it was aimed at kids, and then slamming a few issues per year being aimed at current kids (rather than kids from in the 1970s) and subsequently getting all miffed when it's revealed these issues are the best-sellers of the year. Copy/paste.

[sintec]

Another great prog. 

Superb Dredd from Niemand, nice simple little one and done tale and simply stunning cityscapes. Goddard really captured the skysurfer views of the Meg and Teagues colours are (as usual) brilliant.
Slaine has more dragons and... well look at those dragons.
Vex continues to deliver twists and turns with a daring escape this week, I suspect those massive Citheronians are gonna be pissed.
Durham red this keeps getting better and better it took a couple of episodes before I was fully onboard but it's a great little action strip
Hershey ends and much like Slaine I find I've not cared about the story much but the art has been great.

[broodblik]

Here is cover in its full warp-around glory:

[sintec]

Here is cover in its full warp-around glory:

That's glorious. They really need to sort a way of handling these properly for digital readers.  Surely it's as simple as just repeating the 1st page at the end or am I missing something?

[broodblik]

Should be easy to do as you say just add the front page again as the last page

[Tjm86]

Hey, I'm one of those decades long readers and even I couldn't explain Slaine's backstory.  I reckon I'd have a better chance of explaining String Theory or why anyone wants to vote for Johnson ... 

[broodblik]

From Ken Niemand's twitter feed on the Dredd story: "We're definitely going to be revisiting this character.". So yes we will see the return of our new sky-surfer.

[TordelBack]

This prog was a 4.5/5 for me, absolutely splendid.

I understand that readers may be frustrated by not having every story be completely self-contained, and that enjoyment for newcomers may be diminished as a result, but after many rounds of heartfelt umming and ahhhing on the subject,  I've finally concluded that this is, I'm afraid, just tough luck. 

A character that has run for nearly 40 years cannot be expected to be devoid of useful context beyond the chapter you're reading, in any medium, unless it is at the level of simplicity of Dennis the Menace*. And really not even then.

Sláine has been my favourite 2000AD strip since I read the first episode aged 12, and I'm happy to report that (for me) this current run, and this episode, is as good as anything in that long uneven history. It showcases that 90-ideas-a-minute Pat Mills machinery of old is still as tightly wound as ever, with almost every page having the content of whole episodes of some other strips. And it's all so beautifully realised on each lush page, the perfect combination of detail and big picture, it's hypnotic.

Against the accusation that Sláine is some kind of Gary-Stu, for whom every problem can be easily solved by his innate wonderfulness, I'd respond by noting that for much of the preceding 5 books he has been rudderless, heartbroken and for long periods reduced to a sobbing unshaven heap on the ground, and driven almost to madness by the mysteries of his origins. Dragontamer sees him regain his mojo, through an understanding of his past, and take the fight to the self-appointed Knights that oppress his world. Sláine, that is. Not anyone else. No.

For all that,  Patrick Goddard's Dredd (and cover) completely one-ups Manco this week, with the most visually exciting Dredd story I've seen in many moons. The script is perfectly fine, but its real value is in giving Patrick and Dylan the opportunity to draw the most complete Mega-City 1 skyscape imaginable. Sublime.

Durham Red is another visual feast, with Worley continuing his wonderful streak of Setting Up Really Wonderful Things for the Right Artists to Draw, which is to my mind the greatest skill a comics writer can possess (cf Pat Mills). I mean seriously,  a floating brain in a bobble hat, tell me any of us had that on a Durham Red bingo card.

Proteus Vex is in much the same vein. I care about these characters, I want to learn more about the puzzles they face, I'm excited by events, I believe in their peril and that the stakes are somehow high. No higher praise have I.

Hershey is fecking gorgeous. The version I choose to read, where the disembodied spirit of Enceladus Energy Aimee Nixon comes to the dying Hershey and offered her a deal: "let me inhabit your body and we'll right the wrongs we feel responsible for, so we can both die in some sort of peace", is going very well,  thanks for asking.


*Not suggesting writing Dennis is remotely easy, as many retoolings have shown.

[Colin YNWA]

From Ken Niemand's twitter feed on the Dredd story: "We're definitely going to be revisiting this character.". So yes we will see the return of our new sky-surfer.

Oh that is excellent, if not unexpected news. He does have a way of creating immediately engaging supporting characters that Neimand.