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Prog 2035 - War Games

Started by A.Cow, 10 June, 2017, 02:40:21 PM

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A.Cow

Blimey!  Bit of an action-fest this week.  Here's my personal ha'pennyworth:

Cover: -- Good to see Lobot getting his own cover.  Who'da thunk?




Lobot from Star Wars
The Traitor General

Nerve Centre -- When inner pages start with David Roach art and Apocalypse Now quotes, you know you're in a for wild ride.  No-one does heads tilted back like the Roachster!

Judge Dredd: The Fields (part one) -- Chris Weston, living god, wowing us with his usual top-notch artwork.  (Looks a tad different to usual; does he usually do his own colour?  At first glance I thought this was drawn by that excellent young upstart Mark Sexton.)  Rob Williams bats it out of the park with a cracking first episode.

Brink: Skeleton Life (part 13) -- things hot up, and it's solid plot this week.  However, I think I.N.J. Cublard's art style doesn't work so well for fast-paced action.

Defoe: Diehards (part ten) -- 6 pages of "some publisher screwed me over" from the Mills droid ... and yet it works far better than you'd expect, with great writing from Mills and interesting art from Colin MacNeil.  It infuriates me how Pat Mills thrashes back-and-forth between brilliant & awful.  Thankfully we're getting the former this week.

Grey Area: Back in Black (part one) -- a dense re-introduction, with Dark Harrison's art perfectly balancing the gritty universe our heroes inhabit.  Looking forward to seeing where this goes next.

Hunted: Furies (part two) -- when the lead character appears in only 3 panels, you know a tangled web is being weaven woved woven.  All the players are still being introduced, so nothing much to see here yet.  P.J. Holden seemingly channelling John McCrea on page 4.

So, in summary ... just when we thought things were slowing down a bit, Tharg pulls a sudden boost of acceleration on us.  Great stuff!


Geoff

Tharg, with this Weston Dredd you are really spoiling us! Worth the price of admission on its own!

Brink still on good form though and nice to see Resting Bitch Face is back.  Can take or leave Defoe and TG.

Dandontdare

No prog for me today, but Weston on Dredd? Yes please!

Taryn Tailz

I presume 'Judge Dredd - The Fields' will be an epic account of Dredd clashing with those pesky rich kids who insist on running through the wheat fields. :P

Tjm86

I've got to agree with everything said so far.  Quality work all round.  I only have one gripe; for me Holden is the wrong artist for Hunted.  His style just doesn't seem to sit quite right for the type of story.  Perhaps it is that we've been spoilt over the years on Rogue Trooper and the slowly developing universe building strips we've had.  Jaegir is probably a prime example here.  I'm struggling to put it into words ....

Hey ho.

Colin YNWA

Unlike others who've got here early I found that a steady Prog, not great. The Dredd has real potential but it all set so set-up... that said I am excited to see what comes next. Defoe I'm finding increasingly muh. Now the action has heated up in Brink the strip doesn't feel so special. Its still good, don't get me wrong, in fact very good, its just not Lawless good as it has been this series.

I'm always happy to have Grey Area in the Prog but this was all so recap and reminder. Getting us up to pace the series and where its at. Nice touches but over all a little flat. Plenty of room for this one to develop...

...speaking of flat Hunted really shouldn't be, it was packing it in, but nothing is quite coming together for me. Still early days.

JoFox2108

For me overall this was a fabulous Prog. 

Dredd
Chris Weston's art and Dylan Teague's colours were a visual feast in Dredd and the story is strong and interesting.  What can I say - I totally loved that one! 

Brink
I really enjoyed this one too - suspense and action!  It's just a minor point but I just kind of wish there was less pink in the colours.  I can see how it works with Junot's clothes but the colour seems wrong for the darkness of the story.  I keep expecting a talking unicorn to pop out.

Defoe I'm not really following the story in this - perhaps it's because I'm new to Defoe and don't have knowledge of previous stories in this world.  Anyway I'm going to read the whole thing through in one go when it finishes to see if I can figure it out.  The art is great and seems ideally suited to the subject.

Grey Area  Oh my goodness - this is AMAZING!  Brilliant interesting story from Dan Abnett with the most fabulous edgy interesting art from Mark Harrison.  I totally love it!  Some folks have said how a lot of this part of the story is recap but recap really really helps when you've not seen previous stories from the same universe before.   Fabulous work!

Hunted
I'm not following what's going on in this story yet.  I quite like the art although when  it gets to the page 'off world' the colour is a bit much for my taste.

Overall though - FABULOUS!
QuoteIt's all a deep end.

jabish

Quote from: JoFox2108 on 11 June, 2017, 09:39:32 AM

Defoe I'm not really following the story in this - perhaps it's because I'm new to Defoe and don't have knowledge of previous stories in this world....

Grey Area ...Some folks have said how a lot of this part of the story is recap but recap really really helps when you've not seen previous stories from the same universe before...

Hunted
I'm not following what's going on in this story yet...


I know it's a drum I've banged before but this is a great example of someone fairly new to the prog having trouble with ongoing series. The tiny recaps on the input page aren't enough. When a story returns it would really help new readers if there was a proper recap page in the prog or even a page on 2000adonline.com getting people up to speed. I'd prefer that to a letters page.

Dan Abnett has expertly done a simple catch up in Grey Area this week (and I think outside of John Wagner he's one of the best writers 2000ad has at the moment at writing stories in weekly episodes). I understand that not every writer will want to do that. Some help for new readers would be great and I think would help sales of the collections too. If there was indeed a boost in new or returning readers due to all the buzz around the 40th they need to be kept onboard rather than give up on the prog because they might find it a bit impenetrable.

I'm enjoying the prog at the mo but I've been reading a long time now.

My two pence.

Cheers

JB

IndigoPrime

As someone with every issue, I'd go for that myself, too. There'd need to be a balance, and it likely wouldn't be necessary for every strip (and certainly not every issue – I recall when the Meg once had leading pages of the sort – what a waste). But, yeah, with the more complex strips a lengthier recap of some sort might be nice.

I'll at least try to help with Hunted:

In the far future, a war is waged between two factions, the Norts and the Southers, with Nu-Earth being vital territory. The Southers create generically engineered warriors, who are dropped into battle, but a traitor general leaks the plan. The GIs are slaughtered, bar the one who becomes the Rogue Trooper, waging a one-man war and trying to find the man who betrayed his brothers. Hunted is the untold tale of the traitor.

Grey Area, I think summed everything up nicely. Defoe: no idea. That's lost me and I'm barely reading it now anyway.

Dandontdare

Quote from: JoFox2108 on 11 June, 2017, 09:39:32 AM
Defoe I'm not really following the story in this - perhaps it's because I'm new to Defoe and don't have knowledge of previous stories in this world. 

trust me, it doesn't help

jabish

Absolutely no need for one every prog that was just page filler in the magazine days. Like you say it would be most useful for multi-book strips which are continuity heavy or that have been on long hiatus. I can't imagine how a new reader would have a clue what's happening in, say, Brass Sun when it returns if there's no previously on... Some strips wouldn't need it so much. Strontium Dog is a good example of that because most recent tales have been self contained and any continuity points that readers need to know are dealt with in the strip. There's a skill to that in itself. It would be very useful in jumping on progs too.

Magnetica

Great Prog this week.

Dredd - great opener, great art.

Brink - just fab. I also thought the colouring was a bit pink - especially when used on the panel borders as well. Can't agree Culbard's art doesn't suit action. Indeed [spoiler]the shooting [/spoiler]seems to pack more punch as the series so far has been mostly talking.

Defoe - ok so its mostly  a Mills rant at how hard it is to get stuff published but it is still good. Defoe turning up at the exact moment to hear the baddie revealing what was going on was a bit....not sure what the word is...a bit B movie? Or just a bit rubbish???

Grey Area - just top stuff. If there is anything better than a Dan Abnett story in a Prog, it is two Dan Abnett stories in a Prog. Nice art too.

Hunted ...let's just say it has its work cut out to compete in a line up this strong.

Proudhuff

All great stuff, Grey area to a couple of attempts but worth it  :thumbsup:
DDT did a job on me

JoFox2108

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 11 June, 2017, 03:37:59 PM

I'll at least try to help with Hunted:

In the far future, a war is waged between two factions, the Norts and the Southers, with Nu-Earth being vital territory. The Southers create generically engineered warriors, who are dropped into battle, but a traitor general leaks the plan. The GIs are slaughtered, bar the one who becomes the Rogue Trooper, waging a one-man war and trying to find the man who betrayed his brothers. Hunted is the untold tale of the traitor.



Thanks for this - it is really helpful!    :D
QuoteIt's all a deep end.