Prog 2042 - Beware the Hollow Men.

[Frank]

Grey Area is how I want to see my Judge Dredd series - fresh and exciting from week to week!

It must have occurred to Tharg that putting his best writer on his biggest strip might be a good idea.

Abnett told the Thrillcast he would be happy to take another crack at Dredd, so you have to think there's a good reason why that hasn't happened.

I suppose the best argument against it would be that if you only have a few writers capable of creating new stories and original characters that strike a chord with readers, forcing them to work with other people's old characters and ideas might be a bit of a waste.

[Pete Wells]

Oh bugger, what I meant there was the forthcoming Judge Dredd TV series, that it's the perfect template for that! It wasn't a dig at the strip in the Prog, though I have made my feelings on that clear on that in the "Is it me?" thread...

[Frank]

Too late. You're now the founding father of the ABNETT FOR DREDD movement.

[Magnetica]

As I have said on another thread recently, I consider Abnett to be the top 2000AD writer - apart from Wagner.

I am sure he would do a fantastic job on Dredd but I would much rather he continues to create and write his own strips. Indeed as has been pointed out Grey Area and Sinister Dexter are wonderfully flexible vehicles for different types of story. So there is simply no need for him to do Dredd...unless the quality of Dredd really drops off (90s style) and he needs to rescue it. But we are a long, long way from that.

[Frank]

Got to agree that it was a exposition heavy but necessary episode of Dredd.

Was it? As noted above, it's impossible to hate on a story where Clifford is mounted like Black Bess, but all we need to know is that the bad guys are farming brain nodes.

Carroll's a bit too in love with the details of the plot and the drug, but he clearly enjoys writing the character and the Blazing Saddles beans were funny, so what the heck.

Spent ages trying to work out if Ouroboros was an anagram before I thought to google it. Interesting ...

[Muon]

Fun prog. Highlights for me were the giant puppy in Dredd and the sudden, jarring reference to "nude parts" in Grey Area.

Greysuit seems to be a conscious effort at having a really old-school thrill that wouldn't have been out of place in a prog from the '80s. Good fun. I wonder if Pat's poking fun at the reception given to his "Savage sings PJ Harvey" run from earlier in by having characters belt out various cheesy pop songs?

Grey Area is fookin' awesome.

[A.Cow]

I wonder if Pat's poking fun at the reception given to his "Savage sings PJ Harvey" run from earlier in by having characters belt out various cheesy pop songs?

The previous Greysuit story "Prince of Darkness" was promoted as "coming soon" in April 2013 using a panel from the first episode; however, it didn't actually run until a year-and-a-half later (Oct 2014).

Hence it's fair to presume that the current script is likely to have been written more than a year ago, long before the Savage singing fiasco hit the forum fan.

[Frank]

Moreover, the söngderkommando has been keeping it all killer, no filler since prog 1909 (Nov 2014). Savage first made with the show tunes in prog 2007 (Nov 2016).

As previously noted, Mills was hogging the karaoke machine as far back as Terror Tube (167), Return Of Rico (30) and that episode of Robusters where the residents of Northpool serenade Charlie the harbour robot with Gerry And the Pacemakers.

[philt]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a Ro Jaws and Hammerstein tune. Sorry Rogers and Hammerstein tune

[TordelBack]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a Ro Jaws and Hammerstein tune. Sorry Rogers and Hammerstein tune

Okay, I did not know that, mind-blowing fact of the day for me!  Really going to have to watch Carousel sometime.

[Steve Green]

Lovely!

[A.Cow]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a Ro Jaws and Hammerstein tune. Sorry Rogers and Hammerstein tune

I suspect that the songwriters are more of a (very) happy coincidence.

Given that the story focuses on "The port of Northpool" -- a thinly-veiled Liverpool equivalent, complete with docks & token Irish priest -- it's clearly intended to reference the anthemic use associated with Liverpool FC, which was triggered by the Gerry & The Pacemakers version.

[Colin YNWA]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a Ro Jaws and Hammerstein tune. Sorry Rogers and Hammerstein tune

I suspect that the songwriters are more of a (very) happy coincidence.

Given that the story focuses on "The port of Northpool" -- a thinly-veiled Liverpool equivalent, complete with docks & token Irish priest -- it's clearly intended to reference the anthemic use associated with Liverpool FC, which was triggered by the Gerry & The Pacemakers version.

Well given the time travel associated with 2000ad and I don't don't Tharg's omniscience not restricted by time or space I've always assumed it was a tribute to my forum name...

Mind putting ego aside its clearly a reference to both the Liverpool FC connection AND Rogers and Hammerstein. I suspect Pat Mills is more than smart enough to have been aware and combined both* happily. Note there's no mucky Z Cars references.

*I mean all three as its clearly all about me me I I me.

[TordelBack]

Been slowly catching up with me prog backlog, and all was pretty groovy, but this week I'm feeling the post-Brink slump. Grey Area is head and shoulders above the rest, with the Alienist proving a lot more interesting than I remembered. As for the rest, hmmmm.

I had been enjoying Hunted a lot, but this week there were so many different people shooting at each other than I basically gave up and just looked at the pretty colours.  In Dredd,  the Cursed Earth continues to look like somewhere you might buy a retirement cottage and Paradox Vega doesn't half go on, and lampshading t doesn't help. I liked her first outing, but this one is grating already.

Which brings us to Greysuit. Higgins now looks like he enjoys drawing this about as much as I enjoy reading it.

[Delingpole]

Have I slipped into a parallel universe where suddenly Greysuit is good?

Thank God it's not just me who winces at every single frame of this lame and politically patronising story.