2000 AD Online Forum

just reading it now, but a very very nice touch with the tom-frame dedicated centrespread

thinky

Yes, just got to the centre spread and stopped there. Well done to Rufus who put it together, and all the droids that contributed.

Only just finished Dredd, but I *do* have to say... what the *fuck* is that monstrosity of a thought bubble(#) in the last panel. Tbh, it's not something I'd expect from a seasoned letterer like Annie Parkhouse.






(#)John Byrne wants me for a moonbeam!

In polar opposite to my last post:

What a lovely memorial for Tom. I found it really moving.

Yeah, so did I. Particularly the picture WAlter is holding. Lovely piece.

As for the Prog, a nice enough cover but not going to getmany votes in cover of the year contest.

Dredd - Not sure which was oddest, that thought ballon in the last panel of Dredds, for him, lenghty speach about mans inhumanity to man.

Chiarascuro - Belting stuff. One of the most interesting new series I've read. Can't work out where it's going. Good thing.

Centre Spread - Wonderful.

85ers - Exceded my low expectations, better by far than I feared.

Sinister - Antony Williams arts lovely to look at and I like the story. Odd to see real swear words in Sin Dex but the joke worked. Really enjoyed the last few Sin Dex stories. Great arc.

Future Shock - I pulled the prog out of the envelope back cover first but despite that still enjoyed the tale. Very funny, very sinister, stunningly good artwork. Is he a newcomer?

I assume the big monster can understand radio signals as well as sound?

A huge Thank You to all the contributing Artists and Colourists, and to Matt, for letting it be printed.

  Yes... there are two Ukkos... Glenn was asked to do another character, but sent Ukko, so... 2 Ukkos..

Hell... Tom woulda laughed!

:-) Rufus

The thought bubbles back! i know its a little bit of a strange one but i havent seen a thought bubble in Dredd for ages, well not that i can remember but im sure someone will prove me wrong. Most likely a thought bubble from last issue...

Fantastic prog and only one downer: un-edgy art on Sinister Dexter which NEEEDS edgy art but ill allow myself to get used to it.

FutureShocks are always a nice addition

2000AD is on roll with fantastic issue after fantasic issue.

PS. when did ukko leave Slaine?

"Another wild goose chase..."

Tell me more.

The thought bubbles back! i know its a little bit of a strange one but i havent seen a thought bubble in Dredd for ages, well not that i can remember but im sure someone will prove me wrong. Most likely a thought bubble from last issue...

There were quite a few in the mess that was 'Warzone' in the Meg a little while back, all from Dredd. They were just as ugly and intrusive there, so I guess even Tom Frame could have off-days. Wagner too.

But not here. I liked the way he seemed to anticipate the gloom-mongers who were already whingeing about side-missions and sub-plots by abruptly ending it and getting the crew back on course with even Dredd self-knowingly grumbling that they've lost too much time to it, thereby somewhat deflating their indignant arguments.

Chiaroscuro's still good, The 86ers abandons the dull clones-and-GI-plots for some proper harbitten-flyboy-banter (yay!), Sin-Dex now has all kinds of new potential before it and the Future Shock is one of the kind I like, where a whole three-dimensional world and culture is believably created in only five pages. Stunning art, too.

Very touched by the dedication to Tom Frame R.I.P. Quite an extraordinary cross-section of artists paid him tribute. Think the biggest surprise was Mike McMahon's Sláine and Ukko.

An excellent prog although I have to agree with Nick-is-at-home, the art on SinDex was not my cup of tea either. Have we really seen the last of Ramone Algonquin Winnebago Dexter?

Two points I'd like to make the Cliff Robinson Judge Death looks exactly like Greg Staples style.

Secondly I reckon the whole point of the Children of the Apocalypse and the futility of war will take on a new meaning when its revealed Fargo had more involvment in it than previously revealed. Perhaps Bad Bob Booth wasn't that Bad.

"Have we really seen the last of Ramone Algonquin Winnebago Dexter?"

++SPECULATION ALERT++

My arse, have we! Tracey faked Ramone's death to get him out of the rather tricky situation he was in when last  we saw him.

A condition of this assistance was that he retire/go underground/leave Downlode for ever.

But now, of course, word is reaching his ears that his partner, missing presumed whacked by Appelido, is back.

Cue a dramatic return for Dex, just when things are looking bleak for Finny.

I'm prepared to put a fiver on it.

Cheers!

Jim

The centerspread brought a lump to my throat. Nice touch!

Fucking marvellous centrespread. Nothing more to say on that, really :-)

Dredd & Chiaroscuro are both rocking along nicely ( the order to execute the survivors in Dredd was a bit of an Apocalypse War moment) even if Chiaroscuro still feels a bit derivative.

The 86ers makes an alright return, and if the focus can be kept off Rafe and on the other pilots it might just pick itself up from the rather uninspiring first run. A couple of rushed-looking panels aside, a nice bit of work from PJ as well.

Sin/Dex kind of floated along, but with the added impediment (for me, at least) of having one of my least favourite artists attached to it. I know Williams has his fans, but I'm afraid I just can't get the appeal.

Cracking FS from Al & Edmund Bagwell, though. I don't think Bagwell's a complete newbie - he was responsible for the cover of Mamtor's Event Horizon 2, and according to one bio he's been active in designing for games & multimedia companies for a while - but this is a damn good first appearance in the prog.

Great prog, and it's good to see the order being mixed up again with the tribute centrespread & the back-page FS.

"when its revealed Fargo had more involvment in it than previously revealed"

thanks for that spoiler

Don't worry, it's not a spoiler - I think Rio is just guessing as to where the story might go based on what has happened so far.

I think that was speculation on Rio's part, rather than actual spoiler, tbh.

Nick-is-at-home

I'm assuming you meant your comment to be taken as sarcastic because obviously I haven't spoilt anything. I was just quite excited to have come up with a theory for why there has been what I  think has been a slow start to Origins



++SPECULATION ALERT++
i.e. Dredd is sickened by what the Atomic War has done to the Earth and the irony of this fact when in later episodes its revealed that Fargo was the War Monger and not the President.  



If I have spoilt the story for you with my idle guessing I'm genuinely sorry.

 

Personally, I'm can't wait until we find out that Fargo had 7 buttocks.

But only one ball!

Well, we've had the Wiseheads, so indeed why not the Wiseasses...

All together now!

Fargo has only got one ball
The other is still in the Grand Hall
McGruder had something ruder
But poor old Guthrie has nothing at all

And now for my comments...

Dredd: Origins: Dredd helps the mutants, but it costs him dear. One of the Judges is dead already, and the mission is hardly started. I didn't know that morks were native to Dredd's world. I haven't seen them out of the world of Strontium Dog. Nice to see them though...

Chiarostcuro: Horror isn't really my thing, I'm afraid. As yet, I'm not seeing anything supernatural, but it does seem to be taking a disturbing path.

The 86ers: Like the new generation of the V.C.s, it is difficult to get into this, but it's early days yet and this new storyline has promise.

Sinister Dexter: There are still a lot of questions to be answered in this story. "Dex wasn't there to listen" does this mean that he isn't buried in the grave? Or is it just a throwaway comment? Finny is obviously looking for a confrontation. He changed his face back, so he is easily recognisable and he went to see someone he knew would tip off Appellido.

Future Shocks: Well, the Murmux did pretty well out of that deal. The Earth gets eaten and they get a huge pile of cash! Can't be bad.

Finally, I have to add my congratulations to everyone involved in the Tom Frame tribute centrespread. Not only was it a marvelous tribute to a great person in 2000AD, it was also wonderful to see so many contributors, both past and present, adding to this memorial. I'm man enough to say that I was quite choked up when I first saw this.

All in all, a great prog.

Wils - that's ace.

McNulty - Dredd and Stront is the same 'universe' though just at different timelines. If dune sharks had made their way to the Cursed Earth from Hestia, same could have happened for the morks.

Strangely I'm more interested in finding out how Sinister Dexter (Deceased) works out than Origins. Dredd's okay, just a bit too slow a burn at the start after a good first episode.

Thought bubbles... I think one of the problems with thought bubbles is the way they look - those floaty clouds just seem a bit juvenile.  If only someone could come up with a better visual representation of them, I suspect they'd never have been run out of comics town!

Liked the art on the FS - a name to watch methinks.

The tribute was very well done.  Mike McMahons Slaine is incredible - Why we don't see his art in the progs is a national scandal.  Was this coloured by Mike himself?  If not, he needs to team up with however did it and get back in the progs - if he did it himself, no need for a team up - just get him back in the progs!

That is Mick's computer colouring. Mick now works in Computer game design, I'm hoping Tharg will bully him back into doing some covers.
  I'll post all the separate elements up soon.
:-) Rufus

"Thought bubbles... I think one of the problems with thought bubbles is the way they look - those floaty clouds just seem a bit juvenile."

Don't see the problem myself - how is a thought bubble any more juvenile than a speech balloon? It's something that's universally recognised, even outside of comics, so I can't see a reason for changing it. These accusations of of beong 'juvenile' always strike me as being rather too similar to the media's accusation of comics being a medium for 'kids'. Anyway, whether you approve of the device or not, it's hardly cause to spoil the story though, is it?

Overall it's yet another cracking prog - really enjoyed this one, with Dredd moving on towards the mystery of 'Fargoville', and the mystery deepening in Chairoscuro (and some lovely art there, vaguely reminiscent of Graham Ingels more gruesome excesses). The 86ers make for a pleasant enough diversion, and I like the idea that we'll be introduced to this world in short bursts through a number of different characters. Chris Blythe always makes for a good collaborator with PJ, so I'm happy to see where this one goes. Sin/Dex returns, having won me over recently, and I even like the art! I've been fairly scathing of Anthony Williams' art in the past, but something seems to have clicked with me now - perhaps it's that he seems to have picked up a sort of Argentine style now, which kind of makes me wish that this was being printed in black and white (there's something very Eduardo Risso-ish about the third panel on the third page). Anyway, I assume this strip is going to restablish the series in preperation for the promised Moses Wars (or whatever it was called), which I imagine will return Simon Davis to art duties. Lastly, but not leastly, we have yet another groovetastic Future Shock from young master Ewing - and he's becoming so productive these days that you kind of get the impression that if he wasn't writing so many Future Shocks and Terror Tales then his brain might implode from the density of ideas that it contains. Gorgeous art there (surely we will be seeing more of Edmund Bagwell in the near future?), and it climaxes on the back cover as well - FANTASTIC!

The highlight of the prog has to be that beautiful centrespread though - it takes something like this to remind you what a wealth of artistic talent 2000AD has been lucky to employ during its long history. Great to see the likes of Will Simpson, Gary Leach, Ash Wood and Ramon Sola (who, I've just realised, has always kind of reminded me of Gene Colan - looking forward to that Hookjaw pin-up!) in amongst the usual suspects. And, as everyone has pointed out before, McMahon is yet again almost the best of a truly amazing bunch, perhaps only pipped to the post by the touching inclusion of the Joshbot. Sometimes it takes something like this to remind you why you loved 2000AD - and Tom Frame - so much. Always more of comunity that a business concern. Hopefully Marie Curie Cancer Care will get a fair few donations as a result of this, and well done to Rufus and everyone who contributed and made such a smashing tribute to a genuine UK comics legend.

RIP Tom.

You have me wrong Byron (well a bit!)  I love thought bubbles as a concept, but "my thoughts appear in a floaty cloud" isn't the best look for em I feel, and are one of many subconscious reasons why comics are seen as for "kids".

I always thought it was a sad day when thought bubbles were consigned to the dustbin - I just think they dont look the best on the page, and that look hasnt helped their cause.  

A speech bubble is a speech bubble - its a circular thing with a tag - functional.

A thought bubble is a fluffy cloud with extra fluffy clouds - I think they could do with a redesign that made them less intrusive looking (and imo vaguely juvenile!)on the page.

Otherwise, I think they are a real bonus for comics as a medium, and for the right story/moment, they're worth their weight in gold.  

I'd agree that it didnt spoil the story for me - I like Dredds internal monologues - but I can see why they might be jarring for people, and the visualisation of them I think is maybe part of that problem

See, I think people who believe comics to be juveline do so purely because it involves both words AND pictures, and is something of a bastard medium. The inclusion (or lack thereof) of fluffy-coud thought bubbles is probably neither here nor there in their deliberations.

I don't have a problem with how they look myself - and I used to really hate the use of thought bubbles, but over the last few years I've really had my opinions turned round. I think it's just a question of WHEN they're used, and that they're used in the right manner - which, for the majority of their usage in the past, they weren't (usually just used for needless exposition along the lines of ">CHOKE!< HE'S BEATING ME INTO A BLOODY PULP -- WITH MY OWN ARMS!")

Not bothered about the thought bubble but two uses of the awful "wild goose chase" cliche is surely worth a stretch in the cubes for the Wagner droid?

Loved the centre spread - good on yer, Rufus. What a wonderful gesture and representation of the great 2000AD spirit we're all a part of.

M@

Lovely prog overall, great art on the FS, reminded me of a tighter version of Mark Harrison's work on the Ten Seconders.

A worthy tribute to Tom Frame, that must have been an almighty task sorting that out. Good work fellas to all involved.

Cheers

Steve

Top Prog this week.

Cover is fine, but with three (count 'em!) new stories inside, I didn't linger too long...

In the beginning there was Dredd.  The Mad Max 2 scenes continue.  I'm surprised that Dredd got sidetracked in the first place, but it did help set the scene for what is to come (more muties, mutations and atom war recriminations).

Chiaroscuro.  The trailer didn't give anything away and I'm completely in the dark about the direction this may take, which is fine by me - I like surprises!  This is nasty and very dark, though I suppose that's the whole point, isn't it?

Centrespread is just fantastic, and it's great that so many people put time aside to contribute to this.  Very much looking forward to seeing more of the individual contributions, Rufus!

The 86ers is back, and this seems a good start.  I think a re-read of the previous outings is in order soon.  The appearance of the raider at the end reminded me of that Battlestar Galactica episode, Scar (if anyone's seen it), but not in a bad way.

Sinister-but-no-Dexter I like the change in art on this (not that I have any problems at all with Simon Davis) and if Finny shaved his head he'd look like Mr. X, whic is no bad thing in my book. I'm happy to see half of our favourite pair of gunsharks back in the Prog after a successful coup with Malone, and although Jim's probably right about Ray, I still think their days are numbered.

Now that's what I call a Future Shock!  Great story, great art, great twist, and with great use of the back page.  More like this, please.

"I'd agree that it didnt spoil the story for me - I like Dredds internal monologues - but I can see why they might be jarring for people, and the visualisation of them I think is maybe part of that problem"

FWIW, I've never like thought balloons. This one jars particularly because earlier in the same episode, Wagner has used the (far more effective, IMO) device of relating Dredd's thoughts in the third person via a caption.

I don't think we're supposed to get inside Dredd's head the way we are with, say Peter Parker. It's entirely in keeping with the nature of Dredd to have what little insight we do get into him relayed third person.

In fact, I think it's the fact that Dredd does so little first person narration or internal dialogue that made that opening of 'America' so thrilling:

"Let me tell you where I stand ..."

There's nothing you can do with thought balloons that you can't do with narrative captions, even multiple firsts if you need 'em (see the Miller/Sienkiewicz 'Elektra' series for a fine example).

So ... no reason why that thought balloon couldn't have been a caption:

"One gone. How many more before they found Fargo ...?"

Cheers

Jim

"no reason why that thought balloon couldn't have been a caption"

There's one big reason - that's not how Wagner wrote it.

The tribute is incredible. It was very moving, especially that so many big names contributed.
(Extra thanks for doing a key. I thought we were going to have to spend aaages online listing everyone who took part!)

As for the rest of the prog, Dredd is still 10 out of 10 and unparalleled in the history of human existence, etc...

Of the rest of it, the Future Shock was the best thing in the prog. Nice work.

- Trout

"There's one big reason - that's not how Wagner wrote it."

Well, pendatically, I should point that that's the reason why it isn't a caption. It's not a reason why it couldn't have been a caption.

'The Connection' made good use of the third-person caption device, and it's here again in this very episode.

As I said, I really can't stand thought balloons, so I'm probably over-sensitive on the issue.

Cheers!

Jim

pendatically

Campbell is a swinger!

- Trout

Enjoyed the Prog - not much to add apart from I didn't think hints and wrinkles on the Future Shock (fully realised world, hero NOT being greedy) were enough to set it apart from any number of standard "Oh my God, my folly has doomed mankind" stories. And it was, effectively, five pages of talking heads.  Which means the art must have been grand to impress so many of us.

Dredd just felt really clunky to me - I like the concept of CONNECTION and ORIGINS but so far my socks have remained fully intact - not a hint of high explosive anywhere near them.

I like Ant Wills art most of the time so I like it on Sin/Dex.  The only good twist from this whole thing would be if Ray really was dead.

Si's filmy thing is a good laugh though - I don't reckon much to his lead character's skills as a researcher though - he goes to interview someone without knowing of previous names etc.  Maybe Trout or one of our other journo types can say whether that's likely or not.  But that's a minor quibble - I think it's a great story so far.  Anybody else think Smudge's nice greyscales are hiding some sins in the basic art underneath?  The faces seem a little flat aat times and there's some odd bits of elongated anatomy going on.  But the overall effect is still quite pleasing.

86ers - good start and some atmospheric colours on PJs nice art. It is very Battlesatr Galactica feeling isn't it. (As an aside, I saw the first episode I considered to be entirely duff last night - Xena comes on board as a reporter and everyone leanrs to love the nasty military. Odd, I always see America as the Cylons).

Centre spread was very nice and a fitting tribute to a gentleman and a Droid who, like a brilliant special effects technician, did his job so well you weren't aware of his craft.  

"Campbell is a swinger!"

Har Har.

Y'know, I'm really missing that little 'Preview' button that you used to get before posting, but which seems to have disappeared in the Great Board Meltdown of 06 ...

"I didn't think hints and wrinkles on the Future Shock (fully realised world, hero NOT being greedy) were enough to set it apart from any number of standard "Oh my God, my folly has doomed mankind" stories."

It was a lot better than a lot of stories that have seen print in the past, or that I used to recieve (or write) when I was script ed over at FutureQuake.

Si's filmy thing is a good laugh though - I don't reckon much to his lead character's skills as a researcher though - he goes to interview someone without knowing of previous names etc. Maybe Trout or one of our other journo types can say whether that's likely or not.

Ha! Like any other job, sometimes people are lazy. You can, of course, do your job better with some research, but it's not unlikely some people would not.
Also, this is a secret the guy's been keeping, so there's no guarantee anyone would have known.

I'm enjoying Chair-scario so far. It's different enough from the usual 2000ad story to work well in the comic's anthology format.

- Trout

sozzers

i  thought you knew that for a fact and werent just speculating

" My arse, have we! Tracey faked Ramone's death to get him out of the rather tricky situation he was in when last we saw him."

Nah, he's dead, I reckon.
Fortunately the new story arc includes a cast from a parallel dimension which includes a non-dead Ramone Dexter - whose own Sinister partner will get deaded.

- Huey

"Fortunately the new story arc includes a cast from a parallel dimension which includes a non-dead Ramone Dexter - whose own Sinister partner will get deaded."

Oooh ... now that's gooood speculatin', sir!

Cheers

Jim

But in the parallel dimension, it's Fiona Sinister and Reenie Dexter!

During one particular job for their boss, Demi Sroussos, Reenie's Headcase gets damaged and is permanently stuck on QVC, which has made her slightly unhinged.

Good job from Tharg, Rufus and everyone else involved with the centrespread.

Heh. You pretty much know where that Future Shock is going from the moment you see the tiny people. Not that it isn't great.

I always thought the cloud thought bubble as the least, stressed of the thoughts. If it looks childish it is possible it is because it is the most psychologically relaxed, expressive bubble technique.

As for Gene Colan. That has to be a made up name. Right?

As an aside, I saw the first episode I considered to be entirely duff last night - Xena comes on board as a reporter and everyone leanrs to love the nasty military. Odd, I always see America as the Cylons

Have you not got to the entirely awful episode where Apollo falls in love with a prostitute yet, or the incredibly naff abortion episode?

Enjoyed Dredd (Like, duh!), I think that has been a nice little opener to the series, with Dredd acutely aware of how easy it is to get distracted by other matters in the Cursed Earth.

I have no problem with thought bubbles (or captions or sund effects) in comic strips and think it's very strange that people abandon them wholesale because Alan Moore had an experiment back in the 80's.  I didn't think anything of the thought bubble (or the quality of it) as I read it.

Thought the Tribute was very well done.

Enjoyed the future shock, a bit of Deja-Vu, but nicely told.  The centre spread may have forced it onto the back page (who knows?) but I quite liked that.

Sinister Dexter appears to be there, rumbling on as ever.

86'ers looks interesting.  Nice bit of character stuff.

Miniature painting geeks!?

Reading Sin/Dex it occurs to me, what was the point of Malone? I enjoyed the strip, as discussed previously it was a nice bit of pulpy noir which kept me intrigued.

Introduce a character, with a great twist that no-one saw coming almost reinventing the character so it could potentially go anywhere.

Restart Sin/Dex with the characters almost completely where they left off, even looking the same with only a brief mention of surgery to cover it.

Just baffles me a bit.

It could have had any number of purposes like entertaining the readership for a few weeks and perhaps getting readers who've lost interest and don't read Sin Dex anymore to look again. Who knows?

In order from nuts to bolts -

Cover - Well, I like it.  9/10

Future Shock - although it is cliche #6 or so, it still works bloody well, mainly thanks to some amazing art.  Get this guy back soon, Tharg!  8.5/10

Chiararioscurio - Lovely work from all concerned.  The contrast between the levels of movie, mystical and real violence is being handled superbly. 8/10

Sin/Dex - Notice how everyone is avoiding saying the "dead" word?  There is no way that Ramone is dead.  I'm not sure I even think that Finnegan thinks he's dead.  Ace story, but I think Williams is woefully miscast on art duties. 7.5/10

Dredd - I hate Dredd's occasional thought bubble episodes.  His overthinking everything was what spoilt Mechanismo II for me, big style.  This series of episodes doesn't seem to be laying the ground for anything except emotional impact: hope I'm wrong.  So far, world remains unshaken.  6/10

The 86'ers.  This is really boring.  Hope it changes over the series.  3/10

In other matters, the Frame tribute was awesome and it's a pleasure to see original work from so many people.  My donation's gone.

>This series of episodes doesn't seem to be laying the ground for anything except emotional impact.

I think something has been set up in these episodes about early cloning experiments. The soil has been contaminated by something other that radiation. A whole tribe of people born with multiple heads may have something to do with residues left over from cloning experiments.

It's funny how Dredd's though bubbles only really make an appearance when he's outside Mega-City 1. I seem to recall the last (rather weak) excursion to the Cursed Earth - was it The Hunting Party? - featured a lot of such ruminations.

I quite like Anthony Williams' work on Sin/Dex - it heralds a fresh direction. I also like Huey 2's idea about Finny linking up with alternative Ramone. Of course that's the solution - it'll be like alternative Pete Tyler and real world Jackie Tyler getting together in Dr Who! True love will out! (My tongue is in my cheek while typing this.)

Who knows?

Personally, I think the whole thing was solely done to piss off PVS. If that *is* the case, it worked a treat.

All's well again, the story starts with the words Sinister Dexter, so I know where to stop reading.

Just got my prog.

Zarjaz centre spread.

Well done to all involved.

Look out for the 'Next Prog' bit in Dredd. Fargoville (or town - can't remember exactly).
Hmmm, interesting.

Even better than that, The Secret of Fargoville!

Ooh...

I am liking that Cursed Earth sky from Carlos. And when the action starts he introduces this luminescant purple that seethes with radiactiveness!

There are some great moves in the battles that make it perfect comic reading.

I've also loved Carlos' colours in this story, They were ace in the last Koburn story, too.

I don't think we've seen the last of the biker gang yet, especially as lackey #1 dragged his boss away to saftey* as the gang fled.








*Yeah, so he was shot, but this is a comic - when did that ever stop anyone?

"As for Gene Colan. That has to be a made up name. Right?"

I take it you've never read Tomb of Dracula then, Carlsborg?

Link: The Dean

I know it's already all been said... but THAT centrespread.

The look on Rogue's, DR's, and Quinch's faces says it all. And that joshbot by his grandson...

Genuinely moving. Stirling work by all concerned, with special thanks to Mr Dayglo. I shall be contributing at my nearest Marie Curie shop on the strength of this.

Enjoy that can of oil up in The Great Creator Droid Lettering Cube In The Sky, Tom. You are missed.

"The look on Rogue's, DR's, and Quinch's faces says it all"

I have to say, I found the DR & Quinch art probably the most affecting of the lot (individually, rather than the overalll effect of the piece).

I could be wrong, but (excluding Sola), I think Alan Davis has been gone from the Prog for the longest, and is (probably) the biggest comic art name Stateside of those on display. And the look on DR & Quinch's faces ... heartbreaking.

It's a fine tribute, and the progs will be poorer for Tom's loss.

Cheers!

Jim

(composes self after that)


Executing the survivors.

Ooooo... harsh!

Good old Dreddy!

>Executing the survivors.
>Ooooo... harsh!

3.  A big Justice Dept hovership is dropping down towards them.   Take this view from near Logan and Curzon, who are walking among the mutie wounded.    Curzon turns one over with a foot.   Logan finds one alive and puts a bullet in him.

MUTIE:   Hâ?¦HELP MEâ?¦

LOGAN:   YOU BET.   ALL THE WAY TO HELL.

>3. A big Justice Dept hovership is dropping down towards them. Take this view from near Logan and Curzon, who are walking among the mutie wounded. Curzon turns one over with a foot. Logan finds one alive and puts a bullet in him.

MUTIE:   Hâ?¦HELP MEâ?¦

LOGAN:   YOU BET. ALL THE WAY TO HELL.



Yeah, but it wasn't really you logan only your namesake.

Art imitatin' life is my guess...

Don't be silly. Judge Logan doesn't have a tank.

Fish or Chieftain?

Sherman.

Justice Department policy is strict on the Sin of Onan.

No way its over for the masked head honcho, Dark. Did you see that armour plating he's got on? Aand, no exit wound, oh no.

Glad you brought those three panels at the bottom of page five(in the episode) to my attention too. I'm particularly fond of the opposite page and lackey#1 blowing his horn.

By the looks of Logan's panel description, Wagners composition is streaking right through the panels. Excellent stuff

--------------------

I take it you've never read Tomb of Dracula then, Carlsborg?

Heh...
 You've got to admit, Mr Virgo, it is one of those," artist who is still signing on," kind of moments.Not that I am casting aspersions, it makes for a funny anectdote for me.

 Added that site to me faves. It looks top. Dracula and Daredevil on the same page! Ferrero Rochet, Mr ( and it still makes me chuckle) Colan!

So far many images in this prog and last prog are what we see in Judge Dredd's trailer... there some few more maybe appears in next 2 or 3 progs, two sheriffs got their hands blow up by "lawgivers", image of Dredd without his gold things on shoulder, bleeding Dredd, and some images of USA........

so looks like something twisting will happens in more than 5 weeks.... something attacked the Mega-City???

I simply can't believe people are whining about a bloody thought balloon. Okay, it's not the best drawn example, but it serves the very important purpose of letting us know that there have been previous attempts to find the remains of Fargo, but this time it's going to be different.

I also think a few people have missed the point of the Children of the Apocalypse. It's not an indication that this is going to be a fragmented, Cursed Earth road-trip type story. It's an attempt to reinforce on us the damage that's been done to the world and its lasting effects before we find out how and why it really happened. Am I the only one who finds it odd that their predominant mutation was multiple heads. A bit like that bloke in The Connection...

There also seem to be obvious corollaries between cloning and mutation: compare the Wiseheads with Nimrod. As well as the real history of the world, I fully expect Origins to bring some sort of the resolution to the whole Judda/Bloodline/Brothers of the Blood/Nimrod thread. And provide me with an equation for generating very large prime numbers.

So who added the subversive anti-war and bush motifs in chiarascal?
Was it the writer or the elusive smudge?

I am guessing it is an insight into the Anthony Elvy character and nothing more, but could it be more layers in the whole idealism of the story?


The whole thing seems to focus on media invovlement with violence rather than violence itself.

So who added the subversive anti-war and bush motifs in chiarascal?
Was it the writer or the elusive smudge?

I am guessing it is an insight into the Anthony Elvy character and nothing more, but could it be more layers in the whole idealism of the story?


The whole thing seems to focus on media invovlement with violence rather than violence itself.

ace prog

Yo!

Logan is a yo-yo!

More yo!

- Trout

I agree, Cosh.  No problem with the bubble.

As for claims this is 'just' going to be another Cursed Earth style jaunt.  What's wrong with that?  Though as Dredd says - from this point in, no more distractions - I suspect it's not going to be like that.  

The Cursed Earth of course is a place where stuff happens, if you attempt ride through it all sorts of weird shit is probably going to happen to you.

'As for claims this is 'just' going to be another Cursed Earth style jaunt. What's wrong with that? Though as Dredd says - from this point in, no more distractions - I suspect it's not going to be like that.'

Agreed, and, as many have said before the mutie arc has been about foreshadowing later events - giving the events of the war a relevance to the 'present'.

I reckon Origins will pan out something like this:
Dredd is kidnapped/buried alive/locked in a stationary cupboard by some twisted Fargo clones (who have in mind a nefarious scheme relating to the bloodline), and begins having hallucinatory conversations with Fargo himself (with mucho revelation-packed flashbacks), while a second plot strand will focus on the surviving team members, and possibly Rico, and their attempts to rescue Dredd.
That, and a surprise return/death of a few minor characters - I reckon Bob Booth is a possibility.

Great prog, a bit of everything in there even thought ballons, did anyone notice that?

When's the collected Damage Reports coming out?

oh and the new guy taking over Downlode gotta be Ramone, with a new plastic face, shock!

Dredd's angst over losing a helmet will come out later on I'm sure. Shurely I should have been a Wild Mutie chase or a Wild Gonk Chase?

oh and this just in from the Oxford Dictionary page:

The adjuration 'Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry' finds an echo in the note of caution struck by an Arab proverb: 'Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel' might come in handy for Old Stoney Pus.

Huff the elder



 

Er...we already know who the new guy on the move is and it isn't Ray with a new plastic face.

I simply can't believe people are whining about a bloody thought balloon.

thought bubble. It's very important that you refer to it as a bubble.

I forgot to drop my thoughts in:

Cover - I really liked this. A really nice use of colours.

Dredd: Great. A thoughts: Why is Nicey's sidekick called Quigley and not Smashy or have we seen him already? I didn't mind the thought... baboon (that'd be great if it turned out Dredd's inner voice was a big baboon) what I thought was interesting was we got two examples of his internal dialogue.

Chair-obscuro: Shaping up nicely. It could go one of a number of ways. I'm hoping (betting on) it going completely off the deep end into craziness. Not that I'd mind if it went and did something else instead.

Centrespread: An amazing tribute that brings a lump to my throat (despite the fact my heart is cold as a block of ice). Top marks to everyone involved.

The 86ers: Looking good already. I'd like to see more stories that don't involve anyone blue to flesh things out a bit more. Love that raider ship - can't wait to see it in action.

Sinister/Dexter: A great return considering I was rather going off it. Some of the banter seemed a bit contrived but that is part of the point.

Future Shock: I am kicking myself for taking a sneaky peek at this thread as it didn't live up to my epxectations. As has been said though the art was great and I hope he is a being manacled to a desk as we speak so he can't escape. I am feeling slightly over-speudonymed as I found myself, for no good reason, looking at Edmund Bagwell's name and wondering if it was a fig leaf for someone else but I did some Googling and found some previous work which just confirms my feelings we need more from him in 2000 AD and makes me want to see him draw some spaceships too. Dredd in spaceships with a giant baboon telling him what to do (baboons beat clowns any day of the week).

Verdict: Top notch - best one in a while with a consistent high quality.

Now thats great montage.

Is it all done by the one artist?

Is there really supposed to be more than one Ukko?

Sorry for there being 2 Ukkos....

 Glenn was originally gonna draw Slough Feg, but changed his mind.
Mick had already drawn Slaine AND Ukko....

So waddaya do,huh?!

 So we have.... lotsa dwarfs...

:-)

I don't buy the prog these days but I'll get this issue for the center spread.

Thanks to Rufus for organising that.

Any chance of organising a charity auction of the individual artworks? It'd be nice to see the charity benefiting from it too, not just Rebellion from selling a few more progs.

Just a thought.
J.

"not just Rebellion from selling a few more progs."

A bit harsh and uneccesary?

2000AD is my favourite charity.

Yeah, I'd say that's a bit harsh. Yes, they will benefit from any extra sales from people buying mutliple copues but they also put the Marie Curie links on the centre spread.

Don't forget that to cram the centre spread in they've had to lose two pages of advertisements.

Sorry, didn't mean it to come across like that.

In no way do I think Rebellion seen this as any sort of a marketing excercise - their integrity is clearly obvious - I just thought an auction for Marie Curie would be nice.

Appologies to anyone I may have offended.

J.

... and you can never have enough Ukko's!

Yeah, a charity auction would be a grand idea.  I've just paid off my credit card from the last one.

Thrylseeker; there is an organiser of the artists on the input page numbering and labelling the various characters with associated artists.

I for one am stunned at the miriad of talent who have contributed.

It was tough enough getting the Artists to send Tiffs/Jpgs etc... few sent art.

But I do have Alan Davis,Glenn's Ukko and a few others originals that I will put up for sale on behalf of the Marie Curie trust soon...

(I'm in the middle of moving right now....)
:-)

I did wonder about an auction for charity but as you say there is not anything to hand. I did wonder about a limited edition print - number them and get each one signed by a different creator (who may or may not throw in the original - some of them are going to be digital) and then auction them off. Marie Curie probably have the contacts to get the printing done at charity rates.

Just a thought and it would be a bit of a pain to organise and you've gone above and beyond the call of duty already.

When did Judge Dredd ever wear a green body suit.

He got too close to Ro-Jaws, fresh from a respray job.  

Got my prog at last today and as usual it was ace stuff! Dredd slowly moves along and Chiaroscuro's sen-bloody-sational! The 86ers kinda sucked but Sinister (no Dexter?) was brilliant with some okay art! The future shock was a bit predictable but i liked the art!

And finally a tribute to Tom Frame! Took a while but boy was it worth it! I've said it umpteen times and i'll ay it again.
RIP

Cover was great, one of the best in many a prog. Basking in Dredd at the moment. Chiaroscuro's been an interesting start too, kind of reminds me somehow of 8mm. Much in the way that the Future Shock felt like one of the classics- somehow reminded me of The Big Bang one, even though there are no direct comparisons. I didn't mind the 86ers last time out- it felt like a set up for more, so I'm interested to see where it goes. Sinister felt slow, but it needs time to recap and fill out the blanks before it can get underway again. I have to say i agree with those who believe Dexter to be alive. Don't know how, but I just don't buy it that he's dead, and it's still called Sinister/ Dexter. I'll also be glad when mr Davis is back on art duties. Nice back page, fantastic memorial spread. All in all, top stuff.

I think it would be a lot more interesting if Dexter stayed 'dead', but i doubt it's going to happen.

Good prog, made great by the very moving tribute piece.  How fabulous was it to see McMahon doing Slaine again!  I was also struck by how good Steve Pugh's Feral looked, bit of a wasted strip that.  Donations a-plenty, I hope.

Elsewhere, Dredd was odd but lovely looking - blimey but Joe's a bit conflicted these days.  And no, Head Biker Bloke is definitely not dead.  Surely Dredd should have sent the H-Wagon after the gang?

Chiaroscuro is gripping, best strip for me this week.  

Sin Dex is back, ah well.  I loved Malone, but I just can't warm to the parent strip, despite always enjoying Dabnett's relentless punning.  I suppose I just can't handle the swing between  amoral ultra-violence played for laughs and character-based pathos.  I'd feel the same way about Dredd if the strip alternated on a weekly basis between a Hicklenton-drawn Heavy Metal Dredd and Tale of the Dead Man.  

Battlestar Gala...err, The '86ers was actually good.  Buckets of visual dynamism in what could have been a talking-heads fest.  Love the design of the Nu-Boat.

The Future Shock was nicely drawn and well told, and I still love seeing strip on the back cover - makes me feel I'm getting my money's worth!

We dont know what happened between Sini/Dex being walking skeletons and Sinister turning into Malone. That's going to be an intresting story, as well as that boy.. kyle is that his name was also introduced into their world recently so at the moment Sinster Dexter is one of my favourite parts of the prog because of the whole story arc. No other character seems to do that in 2000AD Downside? THAT BLOODY ART!

I've just looked at the cover and thought;
" Bring back trapper hag.

Trapper Hag should have his own series, giving him the same cover compesition as that."

Kal Cutter is the professional name of the huy you're talking about Nick. The meeting between him and the boys is as anspect of the story I'm really looking forwards to.

Sinster/Cutter?  

Thrilling is it not?

Finnigan and Kal facing toe to toe.

 Kal is too emotional; he should get a good kicking for his part in Dexter's death.

Btw I like Dexter's headstone. Nice touch. It was missing the Fony.

only different is image of Dredd??

and Cutter not part for Dexter's death, it was himself, for shooting the cop... but it was his girlfriend fault...

     That was a temporary Dredd image I dropped in while I was  assembling it, Jock then kindly drew the final version of Dredd.

As I received the art contributions piece by piece, I had to constantly rejig the composition.... all part of the hundreds of hours of fun...

:-)

I like Gary Leach's VC Trooper Smith best.

My favourite bit was the return of the 2000ad staff droids.

I'd like to see them in a Tharg strip again, preferably taking on the Dictators of Zrag!

But what an image that tribute is.

- Trout

Excellent to see Jamie Hewlett in the prog again, even if its just a small cameo like the one here.

I love the fact that Winwood & Cord are "speechless" without Tom. A nice idea.

Great prog.

"I love the fact that Winwood & Cord are "speechless" without Tom. A nice idea."

A concept re-deployed (both honourably, and entirely appropriately) from Warner Bros' tribute to Mel Blanc. A version of the image below originally appeared as a double page spread in 'Variety', accompanied by the word "Speechless" and the dates for Mel Blanc's life.

Cheers!

Jim