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I made a deliberate decision to leave the pillow talk prologue bit out of my version. It tends to overwhelm modern retellings

Probably a wise move.  I actually enjoy that bit a lot, but as you say it can totally take over.  I saw an excellent stage production of The Tain where more-or-less the entire tale played out on giant patchwork duvet (nicely embroidered with landscape motifs, fields, lakes, sheep etc)., with Ailill and Maedbh tucked up under it.  Brilliant, but very much placing the story in a later context.  It distracts from the core of the thing, which for me (as a Kinsella and Horslips fan) comes down to Ferdia and Cúchulain and the ford.  Much as I adore the incredible Age of Bronze, the story feels at its most strained when Shanower tries to incorporate medieval and even Shakespearean additions into what is otherwise a very historical take on Troy.  

Have you read Kenneth Jackson's venerable-but-still-interesting "The Oldest Irish Tradition"?.  He makes a good fist of tying the threads of the unadorned story onto (the 1960's version of) the Irish Iron Age, and it's very quick read.  More up to date but somewhat drier fare lurks in the pages of Emania, of course.

Somehow I completely missed the fact that Tempest (a neat little thrill BTW, more please) had the same artist as Stalag 666.  Very different look for both strips - impressive range.

I did have a cat called Blackie

Definitely a grey area.

I'm not and neither is my dog, Hitler.

Deep down we all suspect BM retyped that last word, and only because Dambusters is alphabetically inappropriate.

If anyone wants to report me, feel free.

Never entertain the thought, squire.  Your intentions are clear and honourable, I just don't see the point in having this argument here when Peter's opinions are clearly set out elsewhere.  

To explain where I'm coming from, several members of my extended family are ardent racists of the most irritating and inexplicable stripe (in that they have plenty of genuine friends from other racial or ethnic backgrounds, but seem unable to see that that doesn't excuse their making racist remarks about people they don't personally know - I'm always amazed to meet black friends of my mother's, when to hear her talk you'd imagine she believed everyone with skin darker than vellum were active in the Mau Mau uprising), and I have expended a great deal of energy and ruined many a family event  in arguing with them.  Now I just ignore their stupidity, and appreciate them for their other qualities.  It's defeatist for sure, but boy does it make for an easier life.

You know, it would be good if Mills could be persuaded to write a bridging story or series that writes those intervening series out of the storyline. Can't see him doing it, sadly.

Wasn't there a Greg Staples one-off where Slaine meets Slough Feg in the Underworld thst more-or-less does that?  Other than the short-story sequence (which had its moments) and the ghastly Secret Commonwealth, aka Dwayne Johnson Gets Murky, everything else takes place after Slaine dies at the end of his seven-year reign, and before he inexplicably comes back to life to save his people in the Books of Invasion - essentially he's wandering the timeways inside the Cauldron of Plenty - so it sort of takes place 'outside continuity', and writes itself out of relevance.

Wait, what, now we can only vote for Buttonman, or can we only vote for entries beginning with 'W'?  I's confused.

This is all very unpleasant, but I don't think it helps to bring these offensive statements to the wider audience of this forum in the form of an extensive quote block.  Maybe they should stay on Peter's blog, which I seem to remember several boarders actively encouraging him to set-up specifically for the venting of his more off-topic diatribes in order to spare us the discomfort.

I'd again ask Peter to think a lot more carefully about what he's writing in this forum, since recent comments don't sit at all well with the great majority of us here, but he's entitled to write what he wants on his own blog, and anyone is entitled (and in this case encouraged) to tackle him there.  A lot of what Peter writes here is good fun to read (especially his kebab adventures) - I'd just prefer that it all was.

Finally saw this tonight (leaned mercilessly on my mother to babysit for 2 hours - thank the Maker for 90 minute movies!), and I generally loved it, especially the bits I wasn't looking forward to: Ahsoka, Ziro, Tatooine yet again....

BUT... It didn't go far enough in the direction of a Saturday morning serial to clearly distance itself from the six movies. Unlike the Tartovsky cartoons, it looked almost like a Star Wars movie, but not quite... a wannabe, or an "uncanny valley" effect that was disconcerting if you weren't clued up going in. Taken as what it was (a fun toy commercial with some nice character moments and some actually funny humour) I thought it was way better than it had any right to be.

All it needed to solve problems with pacing and structure was Chapter breaks at the start of each episode. This would have telegraphed to the audience that they were watching the start of a serial and not a movie. [spoiler]It would have made sense of the Battle Scene/New Character Intro/Dialogue/Lightsaber Duel/Resolution pattern that made things seem a bit repetitive and directionless.[/spoiler]

"Directionless" is a particular problem for me with the Clone Wars era in general[spoiler]. For example, thanks to Ani, Ashi and Padme, at the end of this movie Jabba signs a treaty with the Republic, not the CIS. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Dooku looked annoyed, but was Sidious? Presumably this means Ani is now directly supporting the system of slavery Qui-Gon rescued him from, and also this relationship inevitably leads to the Empire's benevolent attitude to Hutt control in the Outer Rim. This is a good thing how, exactly? Because Biggs will have ready access to an Imperial recruiting office when the time comes?[/spoiler]

So it's refreshing to have a simple plot that cuts through all this - someone's cute son has been kidnapped, the Jedi have to work together to rescue him. Doesn't really matter who the parent is, or why he was kidnapped, or what the larger stakes are - it's the right thing to do, and you can root for them. That's more like it.

Ouch.  Ah well.

And double ouch:
 

Meanwhile, on topic, Apple just banned Murderome for being too murder-y:

That's insane.

Uh, Peter, you might want to rethink that last-but-one post... there's some fairly unpleasant things in there that I'm sure you don't really mean to read the way they do.  I imagine you're just letting your inner conspiracy theorist have a bit of fun.  Then again, if you'd actually vote for Judge Dredd, I could well be wrong...

Top stuff squire, and your political meanderings get the blood boiling in a most stimulating way.

And as far as Dredd's departure is concerned, well he's already taken the long walk, and while he may deserve a herioc send off I think something a bit more tawdry would be truer to the way of life and death in Mega-City One, like the way Morphy was killed.

Absolutely agree, or maybe  even what happened to Minty, gives a perp the benefit of the doubt.  The die was cast along time ago when Dredd was encased in real time, and his eventual death has to follow as a consequence - although it doesn't have to be soon, or spectacular.   Something utterly prosaic would answer: intervenes in a juve rumble, stabbed in the back by a teenager he failed to disarm.  Or if it has to be heroic, just takes a bullet meant for a citizen in a bat-glider strafeing.  'Course it is possible that a judicial civil war is on the cards as Joe keeps pushing reform as per Fargo's request: Dredd, Hershey and the young 'uns versus the old guard while the city burns, it'd be a fun way to go if it has to be 'epic'.

If I was to look to the future, I'd like to see Beeny (the most intriguing character) and/or Dolman (an interesting 'version' of Fargo) step into the tight boots (not Rico or Giant, who despite promising origins frankly lack distinctive personalities), but still go under the Judge Dredd title, in a Taggart stylee.  It'd give the strip the integrity it thrives on.  Let an Ultimate Judge Dredd run concurrently that still stars a version of Joe to satisfy the marketing boys.

I was pretty negative about the idea of adding reprint supplements (again), and only more Ratfink (what a monster!) is offsetting the ennui inspired by the prospect of owning a second version of SnoreTodger, but the Jock collection... that was a great read.  All of it is lurking in the attic somewhere, but grouped like this it was a surprisingly good introduction to MC-1.  And the art... mmmm, nice. Is this really all of Jock's Dredd work (except for Lenny Zero)?  

And I am genuinely looking forward to Canon Fodder, a strip I've never read a single episode of.

Ugggh, that's really quite disturbing... nice one!