2000 AD Online Forum

Prog first

The good news: The cover's nice - much better than the standard pose covers we see far too much of these days.

Dredd:  Possibly the worst art ever on Dredd?  It's  incomprehensibly bad - like something drawn on the back of a toilet door.  A hideously advanced case of  Regressive Bisleyitus, that I'd hoped we'd seen the last of a long time ago.  NO MORE!

Future Shock:  "There are an infinite number of tales waiting to be told", apparently.  So why this shit ever made it into the comic I cannot fathom.  Inpenetrable art from McCarthy doesnt help, but the story is such an old cliche.  Once again this old cynic's head was shaking in disbelief...  

Luckily the Scrap remains interesting, though Rogue still appears to be going nowhere at present - another bunch of near identikit norts appear. The setting is "Nu Earth" enough, but theres an intangible feeling of something missing.  The swearing still doesnt help...


The Megazine, thankfully, is a revelation.  Good strips for McNulty and Durham Red.  Scarlet Traces is just fine and makes the Megazine an even meatier read.  As PVS said, the TPO article seems very - erm - tactful this month, not commenting on McKenzies plethora of writing credits, or on the Fleischer factor..... but I foresee interesting stuff next month hopefully.

Heres mine:
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S

Cover - Didnt do much for me I have to say
Dredd - I agree with Watcher, the art was pretty poor.  The story, however, I liked.  Pretty tongue in cheek and had another of those references to present day (child deliquency).  Although my one gripe is that I would have loved to have seen Dredd getting badly hurt by the kids :-)
Future Shock - A filler, did nought for me, at all.
SinDex - I dislike SinDex, they leave me colder than a dead fish in ice.  
the Scrap - Nice little story this.  Lots to kep you interested, nice parallel story line running in this episode.  My favourite new strip for a while.
Rogue- Some souther soldiers die, rogue comes to the rescue.  Thats it.  The place is very nu earthy.  But I really want the Biochips to come to life, Mad Bagman, Gunnar losing it when killing, Helm pinnig over Venus.  

The stories seem t be lacking something,could be character.  Wether that is Nu-Earth (fort neuro) or the biochips (Bagman blues) I cant really say.  

- Yer Slippo

Yeah the story is quite funny - If they'd merged this with the similarly themed McMahon one from a couple of weeks ago, and let him do the art chores, it could have been a little gem...

By the way, sitting here reading my original post I apologise for calling the FS shit - that's a little harsh even by my own hateful standards! :)  It is however, not what I expect in my weekly  - If this is the best that the slush pile can throw up, I can see why Tharg is calling it a day with unsolicited stuff, though there surely is to God better stuff out there?  

Hmm - the Megazine is so superior to 2000AD these days it's almost not worth bothering buying the latter any more, save for the occasional Dredd. Ho-hum.

- TCC

>The good news: The cover's nice - much better than the standard pose covers we see far too much of these days

Have to disagree, not just because of my dislike of sin/dex but the cover art is just shite!

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Link: Class Of '79 Yahoo Group

Still waiting for prog 1310 to arrive by post, but from reading all your comments, is it safe to say that prog 1310 is a bit of a Bison then?

HiEx

The latest prog doesn't cry out to be read. I guess we'll have to wait until prog 1313 for anything of interest. my money is on Judge Giant or Max Normal returning to Dredd. If it's only bloody Mrs. Gunderson I'll be well hacked off.

I pretty much hate Sin Dex these days as well, but I crave any cover that isnt a bog standard portrait of one of the characters - And I'm noty normally a huge fan of Peter Dohertys work either, but the cover worked for me in terms of actually showing something happening - not the greatest cover ever, sure, but better than the string of deadly dull character shots that 2000AD has had for a number of years now - comic covers should show weird and wonderful things happening to entice readers in - some guy (or gal) staring moodily out of the cover isnt particularly intriguing....

Still waiting for prog 1310 to arrive by post, but from reading all your comments, is it safe to say that prog 1310 is a bit of a Bison then?

Au contraire, the prog is saved by the presence of The Scrap, which is turning out to be very, very good indeed.

I like the scarp and I enjoyed this weeks as fought of beer/wine induced uncosnciousness.  

I think it's going a bit far up Spurrier's Plumbing to say that the whole prog was worthwhile for scrap alone, but with a Jokey (although for me enjoyable) Dredd it was the strip that had the most about it.

I liked how even the computer was a reject from the overworld.  But why was it rejected?  Was that a false war test and it failed, or was it a real war or was it they were worried it was trigger happy? Wasn't very clear to me, but then this prog seems to have had that effect on me.

On the prog - Scrap is *really* looking good so far.

The Future "Shock" was a bit...Well, put it this way: Does anybody else remember a TV series called "Roald Dahl's Tales of the Bleedin' Obvious"?

I enjoyed the Dredd, Rogue was an over-long set-up episode in which nowt really happened and I breathed a sigh of relief that the current SinDex arc is finally finished (which I say as someone who's quite enjoyed a lot of SinDex, but this arc has been utter shite).

On the Megazine strips - the entire thing was excellent, with special mentions to "Scarlet Traces" and This issue's Scarlet Apocrypha.

Finally, Thrill Power Overload. This was the first installment of this series which left me with a "so what?" feeling. It told me nothing of interest, and felt like a mere listing of which stories started and ended in which progs. Where's the gossip? The behind-the-scenes intrigue? The back-biting?

Where, in short, are the tales of Maxwell which were vaguely hinted at ("buying my silence..."?) but not actually revealed. Even the Wagner anecdote with the Dredd memorabilia was told better in the Mega-History book. Ah, Bish-OP, I expect so much more from your histories. I hope next month's will be more revealing...

Roy

I suspect that seen as Alan McKenzie refused to be interviewed Bishop didn't have a lot to go on. As for Maxwell, he maybe a long time dead, but I'm sure his estate would soon start libel procedings for any ancedote that couldn't be backed-up. Something I'm sure The Meg would rather avoid.

You can't "libel" someone who is dead - libel law applies only to the living.

...alright, but they'd do some kinda legal thingy.

A corporation can sue for libel if you say they've been up to dodgy business practices.

I'll put my hands up and say TPO #8 is not as good as it should it. That article suffers from one simple problem - trying to cover too many progs too quickly. It stretches from 510-671 and doesn't do justice to the material covered. Not being able to interview Burton or McKenzie only made matters worse.

I am happy to report a big improvement in subsequent articles: #9 goes from Necropolis to 749 (including Toxic); #10 covers 750-841 including the aborted Junior 2000 AD project, the death of Maxwell and Egmont's arrival; #11 does the Summer Offensive, the 889 TV ad debacle and McKenzie being made redundant; the same issue also has 5000 words from John Sanders with several major revelations; and #12 covers the Dredd movie and its fallout and Dark Bish-OP's scorched earth editorial culling.

My apologies for #8 being a bit ho-hum - much better to come, I can assure you...

davidbishop

I'll say it again here, That computer Dredd looks crap.

Link: http://www.ximoc.co.uk

I'll look forward to it.

Especially since I'm just coming to the end of my reading of "Toxic!" and I'm intrigued as to how that comic was perceived over at 2000AD at the time

Oh, and why Toxic!'s sub-editing was so poor - so *many* spelling mistakes in the lettering - were 2000AD's lettering droids more loyal to The Galaxy's Greatest etc than the art/writing droids? I think we should be told...

My prog hasn not turned up yet.

Is any other subscriber still waiting?

Dredd and Scrap I liked a lot,Rogue and the Future Shock were alright,but Sinister Dexter really was absolute bollocks.This story has been one of the worst they've ever been in,and that really is saying something. For the love of Grud Tharg give them a rest.

Only if it's rest in peace

Dredd - Great fun. Never liked Millgate's art, but who cares when the dialogue is a joy to read. "The cubes ain't been built yet that can hold Smarty Pantsford!" Reminiscent of those enjoyable stories where the gangsters would meet up every month, with a sure-fire scheme to get rid of Dredd.

FS - Grrr!

Sin Dex - Parkhouse's art has been fab throughout. All good throw-away fun. Too puntastic, though. Half expected a joke on "sadly missed" at the end, e.g. "Yeh missed this time, yeh fecker" etc.

Scrap - By far the most interesting new strip for a while. Story's staggering a bit under the weight of narrative tricks, but at least there's a bit of drama. Shame that it's halfway through the run, already. Feels like it's building up to something longer.

Rogue - Although the dialogue still feels all wrong, this story finally captured a bit of that mystery and chem-cloud creepiness from the early stories. Best one so far in the new run.

I'd agree with Satchmo :-
Dredd (both story and art)was great.
Scrap is excellent - a cut above the usual fare.
Rogue was ok-ish.
Future Shock & Sin Dex was v. poor. Sin Dex quality is so variable - some stories are great, some really suck.

PROG was a bit of a low, Megazine was a bit of a high.

In general what was lacking in the Prog was depth. All the stories (Scrap excepted) only worked on one level for me - maybe I'm not reading them right.  

I don't mind these odd throw away JDs - in fact this one did make me laugh.
 
I must have missed the joke on SIN/DEX. Please, no more.

Future Shock was below average but we've had worse.

Rogue continues to irritate - after the intriguing Weapons of War we are saddled with stories that could have come from Battle Picture Weekly.  Mister Rennie is normally much more reliable than this.

Scrap I am enjoying. I wasn't looking forward to it as I'm no a big fan of the Future Shock's that Mr Spurrier has written anf I positively loathed Beck and Cawl but The Scrap has surpassed my expectations.  I do hope he has more of this kind of stuff and that Tharg pulls it out of him.

MEGAZINE was just top notch - the only disappointing bits being Durham Red and er.. that's it.

Just about all of the stories could be read on more than one level. And there was a half-naked bird in a shower. And a bloke with a knob for a nose.  

Anybody notice the Scottish accents (in Middenface and Scarlet Traces) didn't annoy me at all as half of the terrible mockney accents we've had to put up with recently.  The dialogue in Middenface is marvellous (Nyaffs! Richer than Billie Connolly) and did I mention the mutie with a knob for a nose!

Scarlet Traces was a joy - great art and gripping story.

RADLANDER's opening put me in mind of LAST OF THE MOHICANS.  I hope this doesn't finish too quickly. John Ridgeway - yum.

Cinnebar - great stuff.  This is more of what I was expecting our current RT run in the Prog to resemble.

I won't go on - I loved it.

All power to Mister Barnes elbow - I bet you felt chuffed when you saw the lineup for the issue.

Equally, I'm sure Tharg is aware that this is a little lull in TOOTH at the moment that will be repaired by the autumn offensive.  Christ, I hope he realises it was a poor issue. Galaxy's greatest comic? At the moment 2000AD isn't even Rebellion's greatest comic.

Now I've finished offending everybody, can anyone tell us (i.e. Mr Bishop or Mr Barnes) what kickstarted this current Megazine boom. I've felt it's gone from strength to strength since the relaunch as stiff-spined,  magazine quality, 100 pages. Was there a decision up high to pump more money into it? Or did all the writers and artist suddenly cut their rates? Did you realise that blokes with knobs for noses massively increase the quality of any magazine they are asscoiated with?

Prog:
Dredd: a good comedy episode, and I must say I didn't think the art was that bad. not great (MacMahon would have made more of it) but not bad. I get the feeling Wagner's softening us up with this kind of thing ( except for last week, which to be honest read to me like the sort of thing you used to get as filler in the annuals) before he unleashes someting more substantial. I suspect Orlok's trial, only 2 episodes as it may be, will have CONSEQUENCES.

FS: I do like Jim McCarthy's stuff, but the story was very so-so.

SinDex: A real shame, they have been good in the past. I can't remember who predicted the cast of Coronation st., but I'm sure I saw Jack Duckworth on p2.

Scrap: This is easily the best thing this week. I hope it runs and runs.

Rouge: I think Rennie's done a pretty good job on the whole with Rt, so I'll wait and see how this develops. The swearing still grates, though.

overall, not a classic prog, but enough to keep me interested.

Meg:

Overall, brilliant. Ridgway's ace (of course), Scarlet Traces is fab ( I picked up the Dare vibe too), I'm looking forward to reading Bendatti all the way through when it's done to see if it's as good as I think it is, I loved the Manga Red. Plus classic rouge and Cock-noses. what more could you want?!


IMO, the reason the Middenface accents grate less than the SinDex cockerny ones is that the former are written by a Scot who appreciates the dialect, whereas the latter are just tired cliches.

My prog 1310 finally arrived in the post yesterday. Still waiting for my Meg though :(

Cover - nothing special.

Dredd - I actually liked the art and think it fitted the story perfectly. I don't understand why so many of you are complaining about the art. My only complaint is that the artist does not know how to draw a Lawgiver properly. Oh, and Wagner's writting was great as usual.

Future Shocks - A mediocre filler. Not as bad as most of you are saying IMO, but not great either.

SinDex - I didn't even bother reading it this week, just glanced at the pictures and moved on. All I can say is thank grud it's finally over.

Scrap - Great. This is getting better and better.

Rogue - So-So. Starting to get a little bored. Bring back VCs soon...please!

HiEx

Prog 1310 - a bit of a dissapointment for me.

The cover was fairly rubbish, but I've never been a big fan of his art anyway.
I thought the art on Dredd was terrible. Really terrible.
Sin/Dex - I'm glad this trash is over.
The FS was pretty cruddy too. Though I like McCarthy, but this wasn't really him at his best.

Got to say though, The Scrap is fabulous. I'm really digging this one. Well done Spurioso droid!

Rogue was okayish. Nothing special.

CC

congrats on an accurate portrayal of scotland in the megazines young middenface story i have never laughed so much

I didn't think much of the FS either, but I thought the Dredd art was OK, there's a difference between childish art and cartoon art-it reminded me a little of Bisley's art in Bad Boy, and it had kind of a warped feel to it. Let's see some more diverse art popping up.

Vive le difference'


mat

My Meg 4.16 finally arrived in the post yesterday.

Dredd - Radlander: Liked the story and John Ridgeways art is pretty good, except I have one complaint. What is it with artists and Lawgivers recently? We have had several stories recently where Judges have been drawn with the old Lawgiver MK1, instead of the new MKII. Not only that, but Ridgeway's version of a Lawgiver, has to be one of the worst I've ever seen, which is strange considering he draws Judges uniforms quite accurately. Another small complaint is about the colouring of the Judges helmet mounted respirators, which are wrongly all yellow, instead of just yellow at the front.

Middenface Mcnulty story - So-So. Filler, nothing special. Never really liked the character anyway.

Scarlet Apocrypha - I really liked this months story and art. Steve Kyte is the only Western artist I've ever seen who can carry off a convincing Manga art style. I would really like to see Mr.Kyte drawing some more Durhum Red in this style.

Bendatti Vendetta - This is a real Bison. Please somebody end it quick. I hate it!


Thrill Power Overload - While it might not have as much 'insider dirt' as previous months, I really enjoyed this installment, mainly because it covers the period when I stopped reading 2000AD, so I get to learn about all the stories I missed.

Cinnabar - enjoying this as it's a story I've never read before.

Scarlet Traces - Really enjoying this, but it seems like it's starting in the middle of the story. Are there early episodes? Any graphic novels?

In the article about the Dredd vs Death game, I notice it mentions a 'six foot daystick' in the first paragraph!!!!! Never seen a judge with one that long!  What is most intersting though is that the article mentions that there will be news coming soom about other platforms in addtion to the PC? Could this mean we are going to see a PS2 version. I sure hope so.

HiEx

Scarlet Traces - Really enjoying this, but it seems like it's starting in the middle of the story. Are there early episodes? Any graphic novels?

Link: Welcome To Scarlet Traces!

I really enjoyed the art in Dredd. It was perfectly matched to the story, and was so lively that it was a real tonic after struggiling through Waterloo East station (thank you very much, you greedy bastard tube unions).

FS made me sick for all the struggling artists and writers out there who'd kill for 5 pages of prog to call their own and then have to suffer this crap. This really was the dregs. I'd rather have an epilogue for Bison than... oh bugger it. After enjoying Dredd so much, it made me want to hit something.

Glad SinDex is over, nuff sed. If the next off world saga doesn't shape up then they really need to be put on ice, or be given to a new scribe.

As for the Megazine..... A multiple orgasm in ink.
Aside from the admitedly average (but still very readable TPO), it had no weak points.
Durham Red - The most original yet. Real good choice of artist, too.
Spaghetti vendetta - Very good, though more slightly gratuitous tits 'n' ass. And the windmill seige just made me think of the Invisibles in the same situation. There's so few windmills in comics that you're bound to make such comparisons.
Scarlet Traces - Never read War of the Worlds (shame on me), but I know the story, and this is by far the strongest steampunk/ alternate future type story I've read. D'Israeli was a perfect choice of artist, also. What's with all the "It's grim up north" references in the Meg this month, though?

I agree though that I'm looking foward to the Meg more than tooth, these days. Scrap is the best thing in it at the moment, though I think that Droid Spurrier needs to get less cryptic. The flashback with the missiles was interesting, but poorly written, to the point of being confused and a little gabbling. Still a great read, though.

Thanks for the Scarlet Traces link - I have now have a nice new ST Wallpaper on my computer !
;O))