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Messages - SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

#391
Savage!

SBT
#392
This is impossible. I love so many of his strips so much that choosing between them is... not something I can do while confident I will agree with myself tomorrow.

1. Brink
2. Sinister Dexter
3. The Out
4. Lawless
5. Kingdom

But seriously, the qualitative gap between #1 and #5 is fag paper thin. And yet, they are all so different. That's why I consider Dabnett the best writer of the prog's last thirty years, and possibly of all of them.

SBT
#393
Having now read it, all I can say is that I am in awe of Aly Fell. I have no idea how this took to draw, and whether Aly is the sort of creator who would even consider working for hire when their creator-owned product can result in something like 'A Trick of the Light', but if I were Tharg I would be laying golden coins at their feet in an effort to bring them on board.

It's a beautiful comic- the story is perfectly pitched and convincing, the art is beyond words. Even the lettering, so easy to get wrong, is spot on.

I'd implore everyone reading this to get a copy. And can you imagine a prog with Fell involved? A strip by Fell, another by Adam Brockbank (Mezolith), now *that* would be a move towards a new era long overdue, to my mind.

SBT
#394
My copy of this turned up this morning, and I am utterly gobsmacked. It's beautiful! Will report back when I've read it.
SBT
#395
I've always disliked Zenith- not least because it is clearly Morrison apeing Alan Moore's work on Captain Britain. And I've never understood the plaudits it receives. Was the prog really so terrible at that time, that Zenith sees great in comparison? I've read it recently in the hardbacks, and it was like pulling teeth. Harry 20, on the other hand, was fun and didn't outstay its welcome.

Harry 20.

SBT
#396
Slaine, always Slaine.

SBT
#397
General / Re: Sideshow Vote: Halo Jones vs The Out
03 February, 2022, 04:33:35 PM
If Halo Jones had been finished, snd finished to the same standard as the three books we have, it would likely be difficult to refer to it as anything else but British comics' most shining achievement.

However, it wasn't finished and we have to judge it as either a thing of itself, or as the first act in a story missing two-thirds.

The Out has only just begun, and at any moment we might find that what we assume is its trajectory is not at all what Abnett and Harrison have in store. The potential is limitless, and Abnett has, to my mind, already proven himself to be a far better comics storyteller than even Moore was in his prime.

Because of this, I vote The Out. Because however good it is at the moment, after two books, it's likely going to get even better over the coming years.

SBT
#398
Prog / Re: Prog 2266 - Power Surge!
26 January, 2022, 01:03:31 PM
I'm still clinging on to the current prog, but only Dredd and Saphir are really doing it for me. Proteus Vex I've decided to skip and do a full read when it's done, Kingmaker is like visual soup and The Order actually makes me angry.

Good to have a letters page this week though.

SBT
#399
Books & Comics / Re: New Comic Book Day Megathread
26 January, 2022, 01:00:52 PM
I've just realised that I've got all the DC titles I've bought over the last month or so, sitting upstairs in a pile and so far unread. All the Aquaman-related mini series issues (Deep Target, Becoming, Black Manta, King Shark), and even the Swamp Thing Black Label series. I've noticed that I'm finding DC Comics harder and harder to bother with- what is it about them? Is it a modern house style I just don't get on with? I really don't find the same applies to Marvel, as I find even Marvel titles I'm not particularly fond of an effortlessly entertaining read in comparison.

SBT
#400
Off Topic / Re: The Dream Warriors
23 January, 2022, 08:48:10 PM
 That's my favourite ever post on this forum, and I thank you for it. And yes, I think mine are field mice too, from the limited research I have done. They are amazing little creatures- and in my detailing the ongoing battle to remove them on Facebook, I came up against a predictable barrage of advice to take them "at least two miles away, otherwise they will be back indoors before you are".

I've been photographing them along the way, because the trap is big and transparent, and am pretty sure (size, markings, physicality) that all six I've caught so far are all different- and I just wander over the road and drop them at the bottom of the field, about 40 metres from the house. They scamper off- I'm sure to imminent death in the jaws of the foxes that live down there, but I like to think they've all met up again and are having mousey adventures together.

Dragging this back to dreams- a few weeks ago I became aware that I wasn't really dreaming (or at least, not very vividly) so decided to take B6 as a supplement. Ever since then- well, funting heck, it's like I spend my life on psychoactives!

SBT
#401
Off Topic / Re: The Dream Warriors
23 January, 2022, 05:39:12 PM
We've got mice. And this isn't really a problem- I like mice, find them amusing, and catching them via the medium of an expensive humane 'trap and release' device has become something of an evening hobby, in Small Blue Mansions.

The other night, I was entertained by two of them- very small ones- who stampeded into the bedroom just after I'd turned the light off, like tiny elephants, and who showed absolutely no fear of the bemused human sitting up talking to them as they shot about, having loads of mousey fun.

Except. Every other night, the trap doesn't work. Doesn't matter what I bait it with, and how I balance the snickers on the spring-loaded ramp, the next morning the trap is empty and unsprung. It's been driving me mad, and I'm beginning to wonder if we have a particular Super-intelligent mouse, quite able to develop anti-trap techniques.

However, last night, my dream explained it all to me. Hearing a noise in the kitchen, I got out of bed and began to descend the stairs, only to become aware of one of Armando D'Ossorio's Blind Dead templars, standing at the foot of the stairs, gesturing to me to follow him into our kitchen. I followed, and found a bunch of his dessicated mates in there, standing round the mouse trap and pointing at it.

Inside the mousetrap, was a weasel. A weasel in tiny top hat and monocle, who had managed to avoid setting the trap off my stretching his neck over the ramp and picking the snickers and peanuts up with his mouth, but had become stuck this time.

The templars gestured that they wanted me to free the weasel. I freed the weasel. The templars filed out our back door and I went back to bed.

SBT
#402
Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection
23 January, 2022, 03:02:50 PM
I've not been picking these up regularly, as with the Marvel collection, I grabbed one if I see it in WHSmith and it particularly appeals.

So I bought the latest, Sinister Dexter Vol 4, and have to sing its praises. Why we haven't had the whole lot collected is a source of mystery and frustration. I understand they haven't historically sold particularly strongly... but surely, Abnett's name and the artists' along with a recognised brand is enough to shift units. I mean, if Hope (which I love, and have bought both so far, but which surely mustn't have half the visibility of SiniDex?) can have nice paperbacks, why not Downlode's finest?

Anyway. Vol 4 is superb. But, after reading it I did notice that my hands smelled strongly of arse. Anyone else had similar problems lately?

SBT
#403
Books & Comics / Re: New Comic Book Day Megathread
17 January, 2022, 07:00:49 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 16 January, 2022, 09:54:07 PM
SmallBlueThing's reading journal on Facebook is recommended - and always fascinating - and has reminded me of a few things to check out. I mean he should be doing it here BUT its fun where it is.

I'm very impressed you lasted 1/2 of Jan without comics. I struggle to make 1/2 a day!

Aw, cheers Colin. It was a hell of a slog to do it for a whole year- and I did find myself slightly resenting some titles, due to knowing I'd have to write about them in a short while. My hat is off to you, your determination and enthusiasm with the various threads here is appreciated.

Interestingly, I did find it very hard to go a couple of weeks purposely not reading anything. Glad I knocked THAT on the head- it's just not natural.

SBT
#404
Megazine / Re: Meg 440: Fully Loaded!
17 January, 2022, 02:37:14 PM
Minor peeve that after four and a half million floppies (approximately) this one is suddenly the size and dimensions of a US comic. I'm still not sure at the business sense of giving this away for free to people who probably would have bought it anyway, but I've long since learned to trust that the Rebellion people know what they are doing, mostly.

SBT
#405
Books & Comics / Re: New Comic Book Day Megathread
16 January, 2022, 09:34:34 PM
 Aside from the prog and the Meg, and Sentinel #10, I've not been reading any comics so far this year- purely because last year I laboriously recorded every single one on Facebook and it nearly broke me. 1602 of the bastard things. So I decided to take January off.

That went out the window today, because I'd had a conversation with my son about how much he was enjoying the Superior Spider-Man trades I'd bought him, and I realised that having an ever-growing stack of 'new comic day' floppies in the spare room was going to drive me nuts if I had to wait til Feb.

So- Amazing Spidey #83-85... alright, a vast improvement on Nick Spencer's terminally awful run, but still not fun enough for my liking. The Thing #3... magnificent in every way. King Conan #2 and Savage Avengers #28... almost perfect Conan comics, and I don't mind admitting I am deeply saddened to see the back of Savage Avengers, and hope we get a volume two. Devil's Reign #2 and Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1... again, almost perfect. I'm very much enjoying the Devil's Reign event, despite it being sort of Civil War all over again and a retread of umpteen DD storylines from the last decade or more. I was all keyed up for the tie-ins, but having read Superior Four #1, I'm now regretting ordering some of the others. SF#1 was the worst comic I've read this year, let's leave it at that.
Marvels #7 was another issue of a series that is either a whole lot of fun and an original take on a by-now hoary old idea, or a good idea that simply doesn't work. I will leave it to cleverer men than I to argue that one out. I'm on the fence.
Dark Ages #4 perked up after the dismal #3 and I'm suddenly enthralled again, even if I'm a bit bored of these out of continuity 'event' things, and Maniac of New York: The Bronx is Burning #2 once again takes the gong for 'best comic published anywhere'.

Which leaves two Aquaman miniseries issues, a Swamp Thing oversized Black Label miniseries thingy, The Good Asian, Walking Dead Deluxe, Deep Beyond, the Panini Batman, the second part of Hachette's Maximum Carnage, the latest Slott FF and Cates Thor trades, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane trade, two Walt Simonson Thor trades, the final Aaron Thor trade, a Marvel Knights FF thing, three issues of Accident Man, five issues of Dragon's Claws and an old issue of Tales to Astonish- all of which can now be attacked with gusto, despite it still being January.

SBT