Prog 1712 - Vote Tanenbaum

[vzzbux]

Cover: a bust shot of Moses. nice piece but nothing to shout home about. Looks more like The King Pin though..



All for now.




V

[Darren Stephens]

Was up all night with a poorly little'un last night. Seeing the McCarthy droid back on Dredd today has balanced things out, though. Fantastic! (great script,by Al Ewing If I recall...dont have the prog to hand...). All the rest was quality. The future shock was very funny.  

[Mangamax]

Staz Johnson channeling Cam Kennedy on Rogue Trooper trumps Brendan pour moi

[Darren Stephens]

Staz Johnson channeling Cam Kennedy on Rogue Trooper trumps Brendan pour moi

It's close...but I've seen the Rogue image before. Great as it is. Can't wait to see the full strip.

[Colin YNWA]

The prog dipped a bit for me. Both the Future Shock and Dandridge I didn't really enjoy which I did last week. The Future Shock lacked much of a twist and was really flat, even the Steve Yeowell art seemed a bit lack lustre and I normally love me some Steve Yeowell. As for Dandridge Warren Pleece is still playing a blinder but all the engima and intrigue that the first part promised has evaporated pretty quickly over the last couple of weeks and its become pretty standard fare at best.

That said two massive positives this week. Sinister Dexter continues to entertain big time and that Dredd was fantastic, it really was. I was excited about the return of Brendan McCarthy and he didn't disappoint. The script held up its end as well and was really good fun to. Loved the the Yates / Benton nod of the head all wonderful fun.

Alas two superb strips do not a good Prog make

Ok prog.

[Tjm86]

Alas two superb strips do not a good Prog make

Ok prog.

glad it isn't just me.  Feels like we're treading water at the moment.  Much as I enjoyed the McCarthy Dredd, the DW jokes were a bit too thinly veiled at times. 

Personally glad to see the back of Slaine again.  Langley's artwork is like any confectionary item, best enjoyed in small doses lest one becomes nauseous.  It doesn't always lend itself too easily to storytelling.  Different for something like Glimmer Rats where the style enhanced the sense of disorientation that was integral to the story ( think that was Harrison but some stylistic similarities), not so sure it works for Slaine as well.

Like to see where Dandridge is going before making a judgement, intrigued enough to hang in there.  Future Shock was probably not the best timed piece in light of a recent Dredd storyline of a very similar nature.  Sin/Dex moving slowly and laboriously forward.

[Dark Jimbo]

Hmm. Feels like we're in a bit of a 'clearing out the decks' run at the moment. When one of the slots is taken up by a Future Shock (necessary, not unwelcome but never especially 'must-read') the other stories need to be bringing their A-game to compensate, and nothing's particularly doing that at the mo.

Dredd was fun fluff with lovely dayglo visuals. I thought the names were a tad overdone - one or two little nods to DW would have been enough, this many felt a bit silly. Also a shame that the script specifically referred to the doctor's 'blue box' when the art portrayed it as, variously, red or purple.

Sin/Dex is, surprisingly, currently one of the best things in the prog. I initally hated that Anthony Williams had become the strip's smei-permanent artist (I never used to be a fan), but now I wouldn't want this arc done by anyone else. Starting to get a bit fatigued by the whole Mover plotline though, much as I've also enjoyed the twists and turns along the way. This is an interesting new direction, but can't they just kill the bloody guy already? The boys are losing their touch. In the old days they'd have whacked him years ago in the space of an eight-part miniseries.

The Future Shock did not, sad to say, shock me. I didn't find the humour especially funny, there was hardly a twist worth the name and I'm not a fan of Yeowell's artwork. So a big miss for me. Still don't begrudge it a place in the prog though.

Slaine was... also in the prog. Not sure what to say, really. Diverting, but ulitimately a little pointless.

Wah-ha-ha! I knew it! I had my ideas about who Dandridge's mysterious servant might be since the line 'abandoned on arctic ice' a few progs ago, and now I see I was right! Loving the script for this, but have certain gripes about the artwork - namely that neither the art nor colour convey any sense of time or place. It doesn't feel like the 80's, it doesn't feel Edwardian - it could be set anywhen with no discernable difference.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Hmm. Feels like we're in a bit of a 'clearing out the decks' run at the moment. When one of the slots is taken up by a Future Shock (necessary, not unwelcome but never especially 'must-read') the other stories need to be bringing their A-game to compensate, and nothing's particularly doing that at the mo.

Dredd was fun fluff with lovely dayglo visuals. I thought the names were a tad overdone - one or two little nods to DW would have been enough, this many felt a bit silly. Also a shame that the script specifically referred to the doctor's 'blue box' when the art portrayed it as, variously, red or purple.

Wah-ha-ha! I knew it! I had my ideas about who Dandridge's mysterious servant might be since the line 'abandoned on arctic ice' a few progs ago, and now I see I was right! Loving the script for this, but have certain gripes about the artwork - namely that neither the art nor colour convey any sense of time or place. It doesn't feel like the 80's, it doesn't feel Edwardian - it could be set anywhen with no discernable difference.

Judge Dredd: perhaps he painted it blue afterwards before starting his journey through Time & Space???

Dandridge: Sorry but who's his assisstant again???

On a little side note, I very nearly typed in Doctor Who instead of Judge Dredd before. That's how good it was!!!!

[Dandontdare]

Striking cover, better than most of the recent ones I think.

I really wanted to like this week's Dredd but I didn't - it all felt too laboured - I counted 12 separate Dr Who in-jokes - YES WE GET IT! Grud knows how many more will be squeezed into next week's. A shame McCarthy's return has to be on this. Sorry Al, not your finest hour.

The first two episodes of Dandridge confused me until I went back and read them back-to-back, but now I get it, I'm rather enjoying this strip.

Sin/Dex trundles on enjoyably - have we  been told why the psycho cabby's got a problem with 'change'?

Again, the future shock was ruined by the hilarious topical name gags, much the same as Dredd, but the little baby Heston was cute.

Slaine the hypnotherapist - pretty but insubstantial.

Not a bad prog, but not the best either. We've been in a minor slump recently, but only because we're generally so spoiled.

[Dark Jimbo]

Dandridge: Sorry but who's his assistant again?

It'd be no fun if I spelt it out Batson, but all the clues you need to work it out are there.

* He was abandoned 'on an arctic shore'.

* Dandridge calls him 'Shelley.'

* He's at least a century old.

* There are an awful lot of scars on his face...

[vzzbux]

Slaine running away from a fight seems very out of character to me.






V

[Dandontdare]

eH obviously thought it too many.

[House of Usher]

Good Prog, I thought. 7/10.

McCarthy on Judge Dredd was a nice surprise. The first page of Al Ewing's script especially was finely crafted, with the quick build-up of the protagonist through an accumulation of heavy hints, plus a tip of the hat to continuity.

Sinister Dexter was okay. I don't like this Charon guy.

The Future Shock, Universal Masterchef, was a hit and miss affair. If I may invoke a Southpark meme, 'John Tomlinson did it.' It's much too soon to be reading this story all over again. The title is rather weak and not clever, just telling us what it is and not setting up expectations to be confounded by a twist. Heston Moominbald was a weak pun name akin to a playground taunt. I liked his robot eyebrows though! Gastronomy of endangered species is a well-worn trope, but bonsai animals are always good for a laugh; can't remember where I first saw that. 'Crabstick Jenga' made me laugh out loud. The final page had unexpected pathos in the second panel, but I don't understand the punchline: the clone gurgling 'more foie gras!' or 'm*ther f***er!' depending upon your preferred reading. Bits of it made me laugh myself hoarse, which is all that matters really.

Slaine: Mercifully brief in four weekly parts. It's fine for people who like that sort of thing, and there are people who like it. People who don't read comics but like made up and not real ancient religions.

Slaine was... also in the prog. Not sure what to say, really. Diverting, but ulitimately a little pointless.

Ah, no, but it wasn't pointless. The Guledig is the Messiah, you see. Slaine doesn't like Messiahs. "He suffered unimaginable torment in order that we turn against the foul ways of nature and ascend to a higher, purer plane!" - a bit like Jesus. It's a dig at Christianity is the point of it. That and a message of free love. Pat's done this before; Ro-jaws to Purity Brown: "keep on trucking, luv." (geddit??)

Dandridge really looked equal to the task of being an ongoing/returning 2000ad serial this Prog. I can't believe I was so slow on the uptake as far as this strip is concerned. I registered that the villain, Packman, was turning into Pacman last week, but it still hadn't clicked that eating ghosts was part of the joke! Also, if it hadn't been for Dark Jimbo's clues I wouldn't have known who his servant, Shelley, was supposed to be.

[Dark Jimbo]

I can't believe I was so slow on the uptake as far as this strip is concerned. I registered that the villain, Packman, was turning into Pacman last week, but it still hadn't clicked that eating ghosts was part of the joke! Also, if it hadn't been for Dark Jimbo's clues I wouldn't have known who his servant, Shelley, was supposed to be.

And yet the pacman thing had entirely passed me by until now! Can't believe I missed that.

[House of Usher]

Mind you, I was thrown off the scent of Shelley's identity by the fact he clearly can't read, which is at odds with him being the one to whom the other clues were alluding. That guy could read well enough to cope with the Bible and Paradise Lost.