We get a new Dredd thriller by TG Eglington and Staz Johnson. The Sons of Booth are back. Will have to see how this develops.
Jaegir is firing on all cylinders. Just loved the robot who has a bit of a K-2SO feel to him. The bit were [spoiler]they chuck him out of the hoppa craft[/spoiler] is just LOL.
Sinister Dexter - yeah just great. But there is some massive continuity errors going on in this episode. Just look at the arrangement of the cups and plates on the table between page 1 panels 1 and 2, and by panel 5 they have disappeared altogether. Plus the position of the third chair changes in panel 5. Just the sort of thing my wife loves to notice when we watch TV. It seems odd, having listened to the recent Thrillcast which explained the lengths Steve Yeowell went to in the Prog 2073 story to get this sort of thing correct.
Anderson carries on as before. Its ok, nothing spectacular. And I definitely prefer David Roach's black and white art.
Strontium Dog great story, but for me its let down just a little by the art not quite being Carlos' best.
To finish there is a letters page, with a couple of letters echoing what seems to be a widely held opinion that the stories since 2073 have been great, if what immediately preceded that wasn't to everyone's taste.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the Prog this week.
Would have to say that Carlos and John on strontium dog is absolutely what is keeping me buying the prog at this point.
I'm liking the art on Strontium Dog - it just looks like the resolution isn't as high as normal - as if he's drawing on boards half the size he usually does.
Carlos' art is fine for me... arguably it's ongoing development of his style, if you look at his scratchier Starlord and Battle art. It's so consummately skilful I might prefer it to Apocalyse War Carlos which is quite a thought.
Isn't it great that it's so utterly recognisable but still changes?
And the colouring needs mentioned. Its minimalism is incredible, but works. I've reread pages just to confirm what he's done; it's a few digital dabs and spots and... just works. Masterful.
Cam Kennedy's tribute to Jim Baikie on the letters page is very touching.
(https://i.imgur.com/2nTRLA5.jpg)
Quote from: Magnetica on 07 April, 2018, 08:59:30 PM
To finish there is a letters page, with a couple of letters echoing what seems to be a widely held opinion that the stories since 2073 have been great, if what immediately preceded that wasn't to everyone's taste.
I saw that - one especially was very articulate and perceptive.
It was me (what, you guessed?) first since way back in Prog 2020. Got the fever again. The letters fever!
Back from a parent run this weekend and back into the loving arms of the Prog.
Almost as we were except... well Anderson left me a little lost again this time. First they seem to be falling down a road cave in, then they're at the side, then I think the Undercity buildings all explode, then Anderson is reading a bit of paper, then Karyn freaks, BUT its not her who is the horrid beastie, its a whole bunch of new horrid beasties then NINJA JUDGE - who seemingly randomly sliced a flying dragon beastie in half earlier when talking to Hershey - huh, what TOO MUCH. Okay everyone slow down, take it easy there's no need to pack quite so much in each episode! Oh and the colouring felt a little flat to me, quite Baxter paper if you know what I mean?
Anyway speaking of colouring I know John Charles has recieved much praise here for how he's handling the Mighty Yeowell's colour on Sinister Dexter but having seen the black and white work pages over on Facebook I kinda wish it'd been left. I think John Charles does as good a job as he could but it feels a little like he's drowning out some of the careful toning on the original pages, or adding too much. Still relatively small complaint on a smacking episode. I love S&D at the best of time but at the moment its out the park!
No problems with the colours elsewhere but isn't it weird Carlos is the only one colouring his own stuff at the moment. Only just noticed that.
Anyway Dredd is a good opener, very glad to see this storyline back, Jaegir is fantastic and enjoying the way Strontium Dog is developing.
Top proggage.
Quote from: CalHab on 08 April, 2018, 10:43:14 AM
Cam Kennedy's tribute to Jim Baikie on the letters page is very touching.
Yeah, it's great. A nice thing to do.
(Great prog, especially Stront and Jaegir.)
Great prog, no doubt, but Anderson is just unfathomable at the mo. A careful re-read might do the trick.
My vote for top thrill this prog is the touching tribute to Jim by Cam - thanks, Cam.
Must say that all the strips are great except maybe Anderson. It reads for me like I have been dropped in the middle of something and I am not sure who the real enemy is.
Nice tribute for Jim from Cam
I'm glad it's not just me finding Anderson hard to follow. It seems lots is happening and its its beautifully rendered but the narrative makes no sense.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 April, 2018, 08:03:11 PM
Anderson left me a little lost again this time... then NINJA JUDGE
I wondered if this was Tempest? They seem to be throwing in every other supporting character they can think of!
Quote from: SIP on 08 April, 2018, 01:00:56 AM
Would have to say that Carlos and John on strontium dog is absolutely what is keeping me buying the prog at this point.
Nothing else floating your boat? Tough crowd...
Quote from: Dandontdare on 11 April, 2018, 05:17:41 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 April, 2018, 08:03:11 PM
Anderson left me a little lost again this time... then NINJA JUDGE
I wondered if this was Tempest? They seem to be throwing in every other supporting character they can think of!
Good call - I did wonder who was wearing a Judge-like costume but with unauthorised modifications. Think you've got it there.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 April, 2018, 05:22:13 PM
Quote from: SIP on 08 April, 2018, 01:00:56 AM
Would have to say that Carlos and John on strontium dog is absolutely what is keeping me buying the prog at this point.
Nothing else floating your boat? Tough crowd...
... no kidding! <meant in jest><rant>I mean seriously, Coleby's work on Jaegir is going from strength to strength and Rennie once again turns out a cracking tale! It's been a while since we've seen Mr Johnson's work but he's turned out quality work to complement Eglington's writing. Abnett and Yeowell on Sin/Dex? As the old saying goes, 'nuff said.' Anderson is the weakest by far but only because most of us have quite literally lost the plot. Roach's artwork makes up for what is either a confusing script or speech bubbles that could do with being better placed. [My money was on the Tempest appearance at the end but we'll see]. If none of that 'floats your boat', as Jim so eloquently put it, then I really am at a loss as to what to suggest.</rant><meant in jest (well, a little ... actually, quality wise, no, but as a personal attack ... aye)>
Thought that was an all-thriller issue, not a dull panel in the thing. Captivated by Johnson and Bulmer's art on Dredd, very nice, and just realised that it reminds me of [spoiler]Kim Raymond[/spoiler]: this is a good thing in my book.
Excellent episodes all round: particularly enjoying Beeby on Anderson pulling a Kek-W and just lashing on the characters until it explodes, very dense and diverting.
Aye, I'm going with a third alternative on Anderson. Based on a re-read from the start, I'm being a dull reader. This has definitely piqued my interest. Something that has suborned PSI judges, that has Hershey worried. As Anderson says, "We're being rounded up'." By whom, by what? Sorry Ms Beeby, you have been given a disservice with my previous comment.
Jaegir's the top thrill for me this prog by a fair margin. Coleby's art goes from strength to strength, loved last week's cover by him. The story, action and humour - the classic 2000ad combination!
No so taken with Dredd, with the art or these Son's of Booth characters. Is the child being held in his mother's arms at the bottom of the penultimate page supposed to look like that..? The grinning Dredd is nicely done though.
Sin Dex is enjoyable stuff, with some fresh colouring. Sadly David Roach's beautiful art is rather wasted on the messy and almost incomprehensible Anderson story and not improved by the colouring.
This feels wrong (criticising the King)...but...I do think Ezquerra's art on SD is rather lacking in detail and finish. Rather too much bare digital background colour. It's still great to see him on SD and the idea of Wulf's son is engaging although the story isn't the most exciting. Those glass creatures are pretty horrifying though.
I may have missed something...but do we know what's up with Kenton's nose, or lack of it?
Quote from: Geoff on 11 April, 2018, 10:17:27 PM
I may have missed something...but do we know what's up with Kenton's nose, or lack of it?
Half-mutie, innit. Either that or he committed a crime on Garn.
... or the Formorians got hold of him. Damn. Pat Mills gets everywhere.
...or Kid Shaleen bit it off in Wolf City, Wyoming.
Damint, auto correct, you humourless bastard: Wulf City. A pun fumbled!
I adore everything about Strontium Dog, especially the villains. Wagner follows Man U ...
(https://i.imgur.com/nhQtKv8.png?2)
... one for the 'things that went over my head' thread! :lol:
Cover: Another stunning Alex Ronald effort, putting Dredd in the background to great effect. Someone on FB mentioned that the colour pallet appeared to be taken from a tin of Quality Street :)
Dredd: Good, but, I've not been massively taken by any of the Sons of Booths stories yet. Here, with the focus being on two blocks, I don't really get a sense of city-wide tension. Let's see how it pans out though.
Jaegir: Let's just say that Hunted has been firmly relegated to the realm of bad memories! A really nicely conceived kidnap plan, and a great bit of humour with the robot. Must admit I've never thought of the Norts actually speaking a different language, apart from the odd "Nain!!".
SinDex: But... what... Sin's dead? Or what?? Shit! Exciting.
Anderson: Sure it's a bit of a dog's dinner but I'm loving every frame!
Strontium Dog: I think if there is a problem here it's that there are too few panels to the page. I'm enjoying it but there just isn't enough of it!
Overall things must be going well as I've used six exclamation marks in that review.
!
I just re-read the four episodes of Anderson back to back as I was having a bit of trouble with it, and it all makes perfect sense. The storytelling is just a lot more dense than we are used to on this particular character. I do think at points things could be a little clearer, and sometimes the dialogue is also very condensed in a way that makes it tricky to follow, but at the same time I admire Beeby's choice to avoid captions explaining what's going on either as a third person narrator (which can sometimes seem a little childish) or as Anderson's own 'thoughts' (an approach which often reads as unnatural or unconvincing). The fact that there is an overall baddie called 'The King' and that Karyn is possessed by a different unrelated baddie called 'the Vampire King' was a bit unfortunate. I'm glad to see Karyn back though, always liked her, though I think the Adrian Salmon and Dean Ormston versions are definitive! Is Judy Janus going to turn up?
If the ninja is Tempest I hope I can find him less irritating than I used to.
Quote from: Blue Cactus on 12 April, 2018, 10:57:04 AM
The fact that there is an overall baddie called 'The King' and that Karyn is possessed by a different unrelated baddie called 'the Vampire King' was a bit unfortunate.
Ah that might help make sense of it
My thoughts are along the same lines as Blue Cactus' - the density of the story makes it slightly difficult to unpick week-to-week, but it also makes it very satisfying, and distinct from Grant's (later) work. I really like the idea of this being Crisis on Infinite Anderson-Substitutes, and for the first and probably only time I would welcome the return of Judy J'Anus, like wholely.
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 April, 2018, 11:30:28 AMI really like the idea of this being Crisis on Infinite Anderson-Substitutes, and for the first and probably only time I would welcome the return of Judy J'Anus
Judy J'Anus? Not heard of her and not sure that's a name I should Google here in the office :o
It's a shame that with Lamia appearing only a few weeks ago she isn't there to bump up the complement.
Quote from: norton canes on 12 April, 2018, 11:46:05 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 April, 2018, 11:30:28 AMI really like the idea of this being Crisis on Infinite Anderson-Substitutes, and for the first and probably only time I would welcome the return of Judy J'Anus
Judy J'Anus? Not heard of her and not sure that's a name I should Google here in the office :o
It's a shame that with Lamia appearing only a few weeks ago she isn't there to bump up the complement.
TB means Judge Judy Janus (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=JANUS).
Quote from: sheridan on 12 April, 2018, 12:43:14 PM
TB means Judge Judy Janus (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=JANUS).
I meant, like, exactly what I said.
Really enjoyed the prog from cover to cover. I too had been doing Anderson a disservice but a quick reread where I actually paid attention to something other than David Roach's immaculately rendered areas made it all good. Jaegir is particularly my cup of tea.
areas = arses.
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 14 April, 2018, 12:57:57 PM
areas = arses.
Probably pretty good at areolas as well.
Quote from: Buttonman on 08 April, 2018, 05:04:26 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 07 April, 2018, 08:59:30 PM
To finish there is a letters page, with a couple of letters echoing what seems to be a widely held opinion that the stories since 2073 have been great, if what immediately preceded that wasn't to everyone's taste.
I saw that - one especially was very articulate and perceptive.
It was me (what, you guessed?) first since way back in Prog 2020. Got the fever again. The letters fever!
You mean your allowed crayons and paper again?!