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Prog 2050 - Epic Thrills!

Started by Richard, 23 September, 2017, 04:54:12 PM

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Richard

The last Indigo Prime story ended when [spoiler]a Nazi time-travelled back to the crucifixion, killed Jesus and replaced him with an imposter who the god Cthuhlu then used to become incarnate on Earth as Christhulu, who was then worshipped for the next two thousand years.[/spoiler]

(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu if you don't know who Cthulhu is.)

Leigh S

Lots of good this week, but that Archon font.. my eyes!

JoFox2108

Quote from: Richard on 24 September, 2017, 03:57:44 PM
The last Indigo Prime story ended when [spoiler]a Nazi time-travelled back to the crucifixion, killed Jesus and replaced him with an imposter who the god Cthuhlu then used to become incarnate on Earth as Christhulu, who was then worshipped for the next two thousand years.[/spoiler]

(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu if you don't know who Cthulhu is.)

Quite a serious breach in the timeline then!  ...And this is what's caused the psychic shock to most of the imagineers.  Got it - thanks!
QuoteIt's all a deep end.

Frank


Although, just to avoid confusion, we should point out that the Fake Jesus who replaced what Unthur refers to as 'the real/authentic/historical Jesus' on the cross was an Anonybody - a sort of blank slate shop window dummy that can be programmed to assume any physical form.

So it's not as if Cthulhu possessed Fake Jesus or ruled on Earth for two millennia; Fake Jesus was just programmed to go a bit octopussy, so people would worship that instead of the Kinky S&M Bjorn Borg Jesus we were all led to believe wanted us as sunbeams.

Reichsfuhrer Schröder wasn't trying to manifest Cthulhu on Earth, he was trying to build an egregor - to manipulate the group mind or (as Agent Burroughs puts it) to 'weaponise belief on a global scale' (1887).

It's unclear whether Cthulhu is any more real in the fictional universe(s) of Indigo Prime than it is in our own.

The Cthulhu we see at the end of Perfect Day (1880-1887) is no more the real/authentic/historical Cthulhu than Fake Jesus/Christhulhu was the real/authentic/historical Jesus (or Cthulhu). This Cthulhu is just another monster engineered by Osama Bin Obama*, which can be manipulated using an X-Box controller.

And of course the Nazi who engineers the egregor/Christhulhu isn't a Nazi in the sense we understand. Schröder's Reichsfuhrer of a reality where the Nazis won WWII and - for reasons we will now never know - lizards dressed in German army uniform stand guard outside Buckingham Palace.

That Wikipedia link is out of date, by the way. It's based on information contained in the first Indigo Prime strip (678), which claimed the organisation managed just 53 realities and employed a few dozen operatives.

When the strip returned from an 18 year hiatus, we discovered there has been both an unexplained 'event' and 'upgrade' that mean there are now untold millions of alternate realities and Indigo Prime has lost half its operatives (1752-1753).

Formerly, Indigo Prime appeared to act with impunity, but since the unspecified event/upgrade they are now answerable to 'Overseers', amorphous extra dimensional entities. We'll never learn the intended backgrounds to the event/upgrade, the Overseers, or The Nihilist, because the strip's creator appears to have parted ways with Tharg (as of next issue).

Glad to clear up any confusion. John Smith would be mortified if he thought anyone found Indigo Prime confusing.


* Like the ones we saw fighting/shagging in the opening episode of Perfect Day

Richard

Thanks Frank, I'd forgotten that Chtulhu wasn't (necessarily) real in that story.

Frank

Quote from: Richard on 24 September, 2017, 07:38:01 PM
I'd forgotten that Chtulhu wasn't (necessarily) real in that story.

If it walks like a Cthulhu and quacks like a Cthulhu, it might as well be a Cthulhu. *


* I really just thought it would be funny to write a pointlessly long post, full of unnecessary detail, under the guise of seeking clarity. No offence intended to yourself or JoFox.


Sinister Vegas


moldovangerbil

Quote from: Sinister Vegas on 25 September, 2017, 10:20:33 AM
Still not received it   :(

Same here.   :(

I was told my copy was being sent from the warehouse rather than through the usual channel and I had an email last Friday saying it had been dispatched, so no idea why it's not turned up yet.  Poor!

UncleBaal

Why is John Smith no longer working for 2000Ad?? Its a real loss if thats true

Frank

Quote from: UncleBaal on 25 September, 2017, 01:42:35 PM
Why is John Smith no longer working for 2000Ad?? Its a real loss if thats true

Nobody knows and Tharg's not telling.

Smith posted on social media in February, announcing he'd written the first three episodes of a new series of Indigo Prime. Smith replied to comments on the post, saying the story touched on sexual abuse by high profile figures at Dolphin Square.

A short time later, Matt Smith (Tharg) replied, telling Smith to contact him before proceeding further with the story. And that's all I know.



13school

From Smith's post at the time, it seems like there was a two year break between writing the first two episodes and the third ("After nearly two years, I'm finally writing Episode 3 of the new Indigo Prime. Hope it's bonkers!"). But yeah, it certainly sounded like the story may have been going in a very... challenging direction.

It'd definitely be a massive shame if he didn't write for 2000AD again, but some of Smith's more recent social media comments have made it sound like his interests currently lie more towards writing prose than comics.

Frank

Quote from: 13school on 25 September, 2017, 02:40:29 PM
From Smith's post at the time, it seems like there was a two year break between writing the first two episodes and the third ("After nearly two years, I'm finally writing Episode 3 of the new Indigo Prime. Hope it's bonkers!")

Yeah, I'm sure there are a number of reasons. Given the huge gaps between installments of other series (Brass Sun, Stickleback, Jaegir, etc) I'm not sure hiatuses are reason enough alone.

I'm also pretty sure that if Tharg had asked readers whether they wanted a new series of Indigo Prime/Devlin Waugh right now but with new writers, or to wait until Smith's muse started cooperating, the latter option would have won by a landslide.

The 18 year gap between Killing Time and Dead Eyes/Everything and More didn't seem to hurt.



13school

Having a new Indigo Prime story would also make it possible to bundle it into a reprint with the uncollected Perfect Day from 2014. That might be a consideration.

13school

Quote from: 13school on 25 September, 2017, 04:12:14 PM
Having a new Indigo Prime story would also make it possible to bundle it into a reprint with the uncollected Perfect Day from 2014. That might be a consideration.

It'd be a pretty slim volume, mind you.