1565 - Blitzkrieg!

[DavidXBrunt]

Steve Yeowell is my faviuritist artist but he's not strong with covers though when he gets them spot on, like he does here, there's iconic simplicity in his images.

Dredd - Unless this is picked up again later I could have  happily skipped this tale. It's solid, well written fair but seems to have been going on longer than Origins. I think I'd have preferred single part tales.

Bob Bakers Bit, well, it's not my cup of tea. Well done, but not for me.

Sin Dex ends with a bang, a twist, and underlines how great this strip has been for...ooh, a couple of years now. Nice ongoing arc.

Red Seas - this is the business. I've enjoyed this arc, and Steve has resisted the urge to get too detailed with the robots, making them convincing in an alternate universe kind of way. Fascinating flashforward. Whens Jack Back? And what happened to the promised Newton and the Chevalier tale?

Button Man chunders along nicely. I almost hopr this isn't the last series after all. Give us an Adele solo series.

[Eck]

I cant help comparing the art in Mandroid to the original story. Like most people, that first outing was a near perfect combo of script and art, but this one...not so much.

I've always thought Critchlow's art fares better when paired up with crazier stories, ala Lobster Random. Still a solid piece, but nowhere near as gritty and atmospheric as its predecessor.

Sinister Dexter was disappointing. Either I'm a moron, or Abnett is a god damn tease. I had no idea it was going to end this week...the pacing certainly gave no indication. Guess Abnett is stretching it out for as many pay cheques as possible, which is what I've always thought he's been like on the series.

The rest of the prog was great.

[Pete Wells]

Holy Hootin' Heck that is a nice cover.http://www.2000adonline.com/covers/2000ad/hires/1565.jpg">

[Byron Virgo]

"Bob Bakers Bit, well, it's not my cup of tea."

Bob 'Baker'? You got Dr. Who on the brain again, David?

[Matt Timson]

Cal me Mr Thicky from Thicksville if you will, but the Bob Byrne story left me scratching my head big time.

[I, Cosh]

Two decent cliffhangers for next week, one surprise for next year and a Giant Nazi Robot on the rampage. Good show all round, I say.

Unfortunately, as I'm never happier than when I'm complaining about something, I'd just like to take this opportunity to rant about the disgraceful state my Progs have been turning up in lately. I wouldn't mind so much if I was getting them on a Monday, but even that's become a rarity of late. I'm pretty close to canning my subscription and going back to buying it from an actual shop (shudder.) Postal cunts.

[Funt Solo]

Nah, it just didn't make any sense.  Why wasn't he eaten alive?  They liked blood, right?  And they had teeth able to eat through stone.  So - he'd get eaten alive.

Bashing his own eye out was just for a disguise?

Or is he now a piranha-squid pod person?

[JOE SOAP]

Bob Byrne's tale made sense, kinda interesting in the sense that it wasn't a typical twist like a future shock, more a weird inversion of the story.

[vzzbux]

For along time now the progs have been awesome and this one is no different.

Superb cover. Yeowell at his best

One little quibble with mandroid. Why aren't the sentries taking out the soldiers with heavy guns outside a secret Justice storage facility. Otherwise I am enjoying this story

The Bob Byrne story is different. I think the time between incarceration and escape is huge and the ordeal has left a shell of a man thus making his escape inconcequential. Maybe.

I was never a fan of Sin/Dex to start with but since the run up to Malone I have warmed to this.

Red Seas us top of the pile for me and cant wait to see where this is going.

Button Man finally delivers. Along time coming with the end soon in sight. Can see a horrible twist to this story with Harry just topping her like he did to Gann at the end of book 3.




V

[Trout]

The Red Seas was the best thing in the prog! It's exciting stuff, and I'm also a Yeowell fan.
Top cover!

I'm still enjoying Dredd and liked SinDex and Button Man a lot.

I also failed to understand the Bob Byrne thing, but I liked the weirdness of it.

- Trout

[Pete Wells]

A great prog for me spoiled by one bad, giant apple.

Cover - Really liked it.

Dredd - Class. The end was amazing, can't wait to see how Nate reacts and what's going to happen between him and Dredd. Thanks to excellent writing by Wagner, I really feel for Nate.

Byrne thingy - Ah, from one extreme to the other. Master of the silent my arse, what a mess! I read it and understood the first two thirds so I re-read it, really really slowly and it still didn't make sense. Please Tharg, stop putting small press in my prog! Dire, absolutely dire.

Sin Dex - Wehey, the roller coaster of a prog flies up again! I love what Abnett has done with Sin Dex over the last few years and then ending actually made me shout "Noooo!" Darth Vader Episode 3 stylee at my prog. Poor Dexter, poor Tracy, aw maaaan!

Red Seas - Bloody hell, Edington's good isn't he? How can a pirate romp have taken us here in such a relatively short space of time? Top!

Buttonman - Well, the inevitable team up happened but I still begrudgingly ended up enjoying the story. One question, that last panel, is it one of those new fangled car ignition buttons or is it actually someone with a remote detonator?

In all, a great prog which was really spoilt for me by one very poor strip. I don't know why it annoys me so much, I think it's 'cos I can just about cope with a poor future shock as they're the established training ground for new writers/artists. However, the whole approach to this Bob Byrne bloke just annoys me as, in my poor, ill-informed opinion, none of his strips have been any better than an entirely average future shock. Apologies to his supporters and to the guy himself if he reads our drivel but his work just leaves me cold. I wouldn't imagine it wasn't his decision to have a self named strip, but in my opinion hes doesn't yet have the chops to warrant it.

[ARRISARRIS]

...i find the problem with stuff like Bobs is that the art is very 'scrappy' and therefore drags any interesting story ideas down with it, if this is the pinicle of small press offerings the rest must be really bad...

[Funt Solo]

Despite getting utterly confused by the Twisted Tale (this time around), I love that this is in the prog, and want to counter calls to remove it.  So I have.

[Tiplodocus]

Blimey - I didn't enjoy much of this prog.

Bob Byrne: Add me to the list of Mister Thickies.  

It's all very well having stories brilliantly told without dialogue and captions but only if they are actually brilliantly told (and make sense to the majority of your readers).  

I'm not sure how many people like me just haven't "got" at least half of these tales without having someone explain them.

Hopefully, I'm in the minority because, despite the fact I don't get them and they are keeping potential new Future Shocks out of the prog, I do appluad the general air of mentalness that they contain.

DREDD - I'm flagging slightly with this one despite enjoying it - it does seem to be taking forever to get to the point.

SIN/DEX - I'd like to see a good 20 week run of this rather than little drawn out bits here and there. And then see it no more.  There's always been little things I like about it (Abnett's fabulous way with words, that great Malone thing, the art has been pretty high standard regardless of artist) but I've never really latched onto these two as characters and don't care about what happens to them or their buddies.

RED SEAS - I really liked the original Red Seas but as the series has broadened it's scope, so my interest has waned.  I'm not even sure who the hero is in this (I recognise the dog). Is the T2 style goodie Cap'n Jack or one of his crew who I never learned the names of?

Button Man:  Not a story I was particulary bothered to read with art that I think is too stylised for a gritty real world type tale.  Shame really because I do look both creators (absolutely love Frazer's art on Gutsville and Seven Soldiers).

[Banners]

:: Why aren't the sentries taking out the soldiers with heavy guns outside a secret Justice storage facility.

Yeah - that really grated. The whole scene was very empty and it was a shame that all that dialogue wasn't made against a backdrop of explosions and gunfire from the sentry Judges. Great last panel though - only in 2000 AD...

M@