...PROG 1526, 30 YEARS OF THRILL POWER.... ...LET THE GALAXY CELEBRATE, ITS HERE AT LAST!!!...

[ming]

Well it wasn't perfect, but this still felt like a suitably special prog to me.  Ta for the badge and yet another Abaddon sampler.

Cover  Give Tharg a Santa hat and stick some snow in there and this'd be a great Seasonal Cover.  For a 30th Anniversary prog, it's a strange choice of artist, if not design.  I like the cuddly Nemesis, though.

Droid Life was a corker.

Dredd is rolling along very nicely.  I've been enjoying this tale; it's packed a lot of nice elements into it (SJS, psykers, Rico, The Vaults) and supernatural vengeance stories are always welcome (Riders on the Storm being one of my all-time favourites).

Flesh  The addition of the Flesh story was a nice idea, but in reality was disappointing to say the least.  I wouldn't have been very thrilled by this back in the 1979 2000AD annual, and in the 30th Anniversary prog...  Still, points for trying, Green Bonce.

Nikolai Dante was top thrill this week; a fantastic opener for this story - looking very, very good indeed.

Savage has been absent for longer than I thought (October 2005) and it's good to have him back, the surly bugger.

Great Moments in Thrill-Power is a lovely touch; Blank Blank Oranges Blank and Zenith are just a delight.  Almost like having Star Scans back... (hint, hint).

Haven't read the Tharg strip or the text bits yet, bit I'm a happy Squaxx...

[Trout]

Bolt: Poor Tharg- he goes to all the effort he obviously has and he gets ripped about the cover.

I'm sure he can take it. He's had worse criticism.

PVS: A real effort has been made and if you look at previous anniversay progs, much more than usual.

A fair point. It is nice to see bits and pieces in their to mark the special occasion, but it doesn't change the most important fact about 2000ad: quality strips make the comic.

You can add as much window-dressing and extras as you like, but the success of an issue always comes down to the quality of the strips.

With respect to those of you feeling sorry for Tharg, I don't think it's nit-picking to separate the bits you like from the bits you don't.

Still, overall it's a pretty damn good prog.

- Trout

[I, Cosh]

I also don't think you can judge an anniversary prog by the standards of a regular prog, it may be an okay prog for people, but I reckon it's a very good anniversay prog.

A good point. Given that most of the criticism's been levelled at the choice of cover, I'd say it's no worse than the usual uninspiring character montage and a far better image than many.

The contents were always likely to suffer in comparison with what's been my favourite line-up in years, but there's still enough there to make it worthwhile. Dredd continues a solid tale, Savage makes an impressive comeback and Dante looks set to be for a major storyline.

Flesh didn't do it for me, as the art seemed poor. However, I appreciate the thought and effort that went in to putting a story and creative team like that together.

The other stuff was filler but again it was well-intentioned. The history strip was pleasant enough and it was interesting to see Tharg's mask slip slightly with regards to "no story being intentionally bad." Shows his heart's still in it if you ask me.

[Trout]

Oh, one more thing...

I haven't read a word of the Abaddon sampler or any of the others I've been sent. According to their initial brief, before any of it was written, it's for the teen fiction market.

I know I'm pigeon-holing, but that puts me off it a bit.

- Trout

[Trout]

I just realised that was a really crappy, small-minded thing to say. Very sorry!

If you're enjoying it, who am I to judge?

- Trout

[Mr Ruh]

Great excitement when I opened the envelope and a lovely badge which I'm wearing with pride today. However, the Prog itself was a bit disappointing overall.

Maybe it's the fact that, instead of a celebratory Dredd or even the return of Origins, we just had Part 4 of an ongoing story.

Maybe it's the dreadful Flesh strip, badly drawn and adding nothing to what we've seen before.

Maybe it was all those pages of filler article. If you're making a big deal of the fact that you've got a bigger page count, then fill it with more comic strip!

On the plus side, Dante's superb, Savage is solid and dependable, and the Tharg strip was fun (although I've always had a slight problem with strips written in verse).

Whatever, it's 30 years! All those memories! And a free badge.

[judge dreddd]

special issue and ....er...no origins as art late, 30 years and nowt changes eh

:)

[The Amstor Computer]

Poor Tharg- he goes to all the effort he obviously has and he gets ripped about the cover

Well, I tried not to be too harsh about it, but I really didn't think it was the right cover for this particular prog. I thought I'd balanced that by praising the (bulk) of the contents, but perhaps not.

FWIW, I've just re-read Flesh and while I still stand by a lot of what I said about the art, I think I was unfair to say that it looked like the work of an artist out of practice. There are some iffy panels - the raptors attacking the styracosaur, floating in whiteness - and the strip does look rough & unfinished, but it isn't as bad as I thought on first reading it.

I'd encourage other readers to go back and re-read it. It may not be quite the flashback to early Flesh some of us were expecting, but I think it deserves more praise than I gave it earlier.

[chris_askham]

I'd have been happy to read the Flesh strip at 3 or 4 pages, as it wouldn't have had much impact on the rest of the prog, but 10 pages...? TEN PAGES? Christ, what was Tharg thinking....

[Leigh S]

That the art would be more to Squaxxes tastes?  

[paulvonscott]

I'm hapilly prepaired to turn my moaning circuits off for this issue, though in truth I think there is very little to moan about, as if we can't celibrate the comic now, when can we?

[Proudhuff]

Group Hug!! hey where's Moonbeam?

[Funt Solo]

Cover:
S'okay, s'pose.  It's better than prog 1, and it's bright and cheerful, as befitting a birthday prog.  The thing that saves it is the cuddly Nemesis (or is it Thoth traveling through time)?  I would've preferred Tharg riding a Tyrannosaur, with Dredd riding alongside on his lawmaster, Dante flying overhead on one of those cool hover-horsies that Simon Fraser draws, and, erm, Bill Savage on a Triceratops.  What?  You've got all these really cool, iconic characters - that Prog 2000 made such good use of.  (Only 474 progs till that's an issue.)

Droid Life:
One of the coolest renditions of Dredd I've ever seen.  Booting the Mekon was the best bit.

Judge Dredd: Origins
I am not missing Origins (which isn't the same as not liking it, because I do).

Judge Dredd: Judgement
This is one of my favourite Dredd tales in a long time.  Anderson is actually up against someone other than the Dark Judges / Sisters of Death combo - thank fuck!  It's good to see a positive SJS character in Ishmael, as normally the SJS are portrayed uniformly as goons.  Also, it's a blind-sider that the real enemy isn't some ghost from the past, but rather the person controlling it - who's not a major player.  Dredd's not really centre-stage, which works well - even down to his cliche'd walking off the operating table before he's properly healed - it's low-key, secondary to the adventure.  Gibson's art is incredibly good, with great touches (like the psyker on his head) but I'd like to see what Boo Cook could've made of this (after the stunning work we saw in Descent, 1432-6).

Great Moments In Thrill-Power:
Whoever thought of doing these, thanks so much - they're brilliant and amount to four Star Scans in one prog!   So cool.  It's just great to see full page work from the art droids - I always loved Star Scans and I think it's a real shame that they fell by the wayside and have never really made it back into the prog.

Judge Death Lives!
I was looking at this and my brain was auto-identifying the artist - one of the classics, I thought - that's obvious - McMahon, no - not quite - maybe Cam, but - there's a bit of Ezquerra - so I started scanning for the droid's name and lo and behold it's Rufus.  Clearly not altogether human, I believe as a child Rufus fell into a bath  with a pile of early progs - when he came out the thrill-power had seeped into him - and now he's half-man, half-prog, infused with the varied talents of the old school artists.

The ABC Warriors: The Black Hole
Cool emulation of Bisley's warriors suffering from metal fatigue.  Joe with his headphones in and all.  Not sure why Deadlock's sword is levitating so far in front of him, though.  Oh, and a sad nerd writes: Hammerstein's straggly bits of helmet were on the other side.

Zenith vs. Masterman
Why isn't this out in a collected edition etc. etc. ad infinitum?  Great to see a modern Yeowell take on this classic scene.  That fucker really deserved it for what he did to Siadwell.  "Oh dear, I think I broke him."  

DR & Quinch Go To Hollywood
I didn't know who Brando was when I first read this - it's even funnier now that I do.  The only thing missing is the 12-metre high sign "bearing the words 'DANGER! DO NOT TOUCH THESE MONSTROUSLY HAZARDOUS CITRUS FRUITS, MAN!' in fluorescent lettering."

Flesh - Hand of Glory:
You know when something's so bad it's good?  I mean, you've got to laugh.  Everyone goes to this great effort to create a really cool birthday strip, and we get this.  Obviously, as Tharg points out later in the prog, nobody aims low.  (Possible exception: Mark Millar.)  Both script and art are equally ludicrous - I was looking at the flying dinosaurs on page 2 and thinking, why's there no ground?  My, what an interesting choice of perspective - then the script tells me they really are floating.  Oddness.  How many times can Claw Carver (if it is him - I can't tell who's who from frame to frame) say "frag"?  Why is he doing a levitation magic trick with his hand-cuffs in the middle of a mexican standoff?  Why did he jump on top of a flaming styracosaur?  I mean, who would do that?  In jeans and a t-shirt?  

Finally, Pat Mills absolutely must have been taking the piss with the exposition at the bottom of page 6: "I know. You told me before.  But tell me again if it helps."  Pure Basil Exposition.  No shame.

Nikolai Dante - Hellfire:
This is what I'm talking about - six blistering pages of pure, unadulterated thrill-power from the masterful Morrison and Fraser.  Morrison's script is dark, and it's great that he can tie in the necessary backstory whilst still driving the plot forward. Konstantin must die!  

Simon Fraser's art is just sublime - wonderful angles in the castle and the church - and great expressions - Dante's look at the bottom of page 3 is excellent.  More next prog - can't wait.

Ask Tharg:
Some gems (like the infallibility response), but they're hidden well in standard Tharg-response guff.  More interesting would've been Ask Matt.

Tharg the Mighty - A History of 2000AD In 5 Pages:
This is great for just droid-spotting - Mills hair is hysterical, and I recognise the Ewins and O'Neill droids from way back.  Why does Wagner have a visor - did he wear one?  It's more like 7 years or so in 4 pages, then the last 23 years briefly covered in the last page, with images chosen again from those first 7.  

Tharg's Big Breaks:
An excellent article with two real high points: the quotes from Al Ewing and that story from Bishop about the nutter that sent him a constant load of dross.

Savage - Double Yellow:
Charlie Adlard would be perfect for a new Zenith strip.  (Tales from the Alternative Earths - s'right.)  Not much to say about this - it's a strong opening to the new series - and I wonder how Savage can remain so invincible, or whether he will.

---

Cheers, Tharg and crew.

[+rufus+]

"that story from Bishop about the nutter that sent him a constant load of dross.
"

That'll be me..... Poor Bish....

:-) rufus

[Mangamax]

Anyone know - that illo on the back cover by Henry Flint of Dredd fighting the original version, is it an upcoming tale or just a pin-up?
Kinda interested as:

Link: http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/fiction/2004/dredd/doppelganger.shtml" target="_blank">Veja Du