Prog 2050 - Epic Thrills!

[JoFox2108]

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That Wikipedia link is out of date, by the way.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

Wow - mind blown - what a story!  I hope John Smith doesn't leave the team.

[The Corinthian]

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.

Given that Tharg seems to have had no problems with Greysuit covering similar ground, that might suggest that Smith's scripts went a lot further. (Possibly naming real, living people, with real, living lawyers?)

[dweezil2]

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.

Given that Tharg seems to have had no problems with Greysuit covering similar ground, that might suggest that Smith's scripts went a lot further. (Possibly naming real, living people, with real, living lawyers?)

Might be a factor in why Greysuit has been canned indefinitely, with it's potential for bating influential organisations, which is a real shame.

[Richard]

Naming real people who could sue for defamation is one thing. Satire based on real events isn't actionable. I'm sure if Smith wrote the former, Tharg would just have asked him for a minor rewrite to turn it into the latter. It's not a reason to cancel the whole storyline and ditch the writer. I suspect there's more to this then we know.

[Frank]

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.

Given that Tharg seems to have had no problems with Greysuit covering similar ground, that might suggest that Smith's scripts went a lot further. (Possibly naming real, living people, with real, living lawyers?)

Possibly, although Mills - a provocateur, but also an old pro with a preservation instinct - got round that one with a judicious Porpoise Square here and a less than subtle Johnny Sahib there.

I'm sure Tharg could have subbed all the names to Harvey Doctor or Hedward Teeth, if that was the only problem. That leaves us with a scenario where Smith refused to agree to even that small degree of obfuscation, which seems unlikely.

There might be other, more personal reasons that mean Tharg's reluctant to go into detail, but he must also have realised that ending the association between his third longest serving script droid* and his creations isn't something we're ever going to stop discussing.**


* Fourth longest serving droid in general, after King Carlos. Only the holy trinity, the founding fathers, enjoy longer relationships with Tharg. Smith predates the 2000ad logo, ferchrissakes.

** And now Thrillpower Overload has caught up with the current regime, it's not as if we can rely on a future volume to lance this particular boil

[dweezil2]

For whatever reason, it is regrettable.

We still need a bit of that good old fashioned militant (Mills-itant?) "fuck you!" punk attitude in the Prog.

[Taryn Tailz]

Greysuit was about as punk as Vera Lynn.

[The Corinthian]

There might be other, more personal reasons that mean Tharg's reluctant to go into detail, but he must also have realised that ending the association between his third longest serving script droid* and his creations isn't something we're ever going to stop discussing.**

I have to confess that, as someone who started subscribing regularly to Tooth again after many years in large part because Indigo Prime came back, losing Smith is going to be a huge jolt. I'm not pre-judging his successors here. It's just that... no matter how good, and fun, and inventive, and off-the-wall future episodes turn out to be... no one writes like John Smith.

[Steve Green]

Picked this up at TB even though I still have a few weeks on my digital sub.

Solid prog, interesting to see the shift in events in Grey Area, especially coming soon after the last shift offworld. The resting bitch face joke is wearing a bit thin though - and for a jumping on prog doesn't even explain it - I could certainly see a new reader picking it up and wondering why this is arsehole if constantly calling one of the characters 'bitch'.

When I first read the synopsis for Dredd I thought it was a reaction to events in the states, but on the TB panel Tom said it had been written before that.

Always good to see Colin in the prog - would love to see him do a Dredd (even partially in the Defoe/Insurrection style - maybe for flashbacks)

Rogue Trooper is well told and drawn, but given it's a self-contained thing which ties in with the game's release, and his story is done, it's probably the toughest of the classic line up to do much with.

Funny how there's nothing from the chips, and very little dialogue from Rogue.


The Zenith article is a fun little retrospective.

Slaine - always love Simon's art, but think that it's suffering without Ukko's presence, and I had problems with the pacing on the last couple of runs.

Sinister Dexter - again, fun but no idea where it's going now that it's hit its reset button.

Indigo Prime - not going to get involved in speculating the whys/wherefores behind the script changes, have to see where it goes.

Deadworld - my favourite thing in the prog by a country mile of the past year or so, and frustrating that it's just a taster for the series to come.

[Proudhuff]

Lovelrly heft to the Prog and glad to see TMO on message with hipster beards 

Dredd Highlight of the Prog for me, great story and timely, totally loving  the Happyshrapnel Droid's art.
Was that fight scene drawn from the bar at Tharg's 40th bash? loved the wee flying dug too   


Rogue Trooper is well told, but I always feel there is so little to be done with RT himself, his world on the other hand is a great sandbox for the GRennie droid to play in 

Grey Area, Agreed: constantly calling one of the characters 'bitch' isn't helpful or indeed funny. The first and last page tells it all really and so little action too.

The Zenith article is a fun little retrospective.Seconded, but I would have preferred a Citadel of Solitude or an Ozymandias style retreat, with a mad, bad and dangerous to know Zenith driven mad by his out there experiences.

Slaine - looks loverly, and thankful light on the chat too, but when oh when will he ever get that final McGuffin?

Sinister Dexter -  Art benefits with colour by leaps and bounds, but I stopped caring about these two a couple of re-sets ago.

Indigo Prime - no a scubby, but liking the art.

Deadworld - my least favourite thing in the prog by a country mile of the past year or so, and frustrating that it's just a taster for the series to come.

So over all a great jumping on prog for seeing the full range of current art that comics can do, but story wise it lacks big hooks! I think that's down to the constraints of writing for long long long played out ongoing series( cept Dredd obvs!)

And no letter page! 

[dweezil2]

Greysuit was about as punk as Vera Lynn.

She was for her day, she emboldened us against the Nazis! 

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Just a quick word on Zenith being ageless.

Despite having the appearance of middle-age in this prog he could, in theory, go back to his former youthfulness. That's exactly what Ruby did in Phase III and presumably Zenith has the same latent ability.

[IndigoPrime]

As for Peter St. John [spoiler]dying – sure. He's still a puppet-master – it's just no-one can see him now[/spoiler].

[Richard]

Maybe Zenith could become young again, but what would be the point? We've seen that already. I prefer it when characters change and develop.

Example: Dante went from being that long-haired, carefree, cocky rogue who never took anything seriously to a worn down, cynical, war veteran with a shaved head, by the time the series got to the Tsar Wars saga. Then after that story ended he immediately transformed back to his old self again, as if the war and all the tragedy he'd seen had never happened, and it was never as good again.

[TordelBack]

Then after that story ended he immediately transformed back to his old self again, as if the war and all the tragedy he'd seen had never happened, and it was never as good again.

I must have missed that.  I saw a man desperately trying to be his old self again, but never succeeding.