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Topics - Leigh S

#1
Other Reviews / Strontium Dog: Search and Destroy Vol 2
27 January, 2023, 06:56:46 PM
Well this is lovely - definitive one might say!

The colour in Journey is very welcome and its all super lovely, but on to insane criticisms...


They really could have dropped last two stories  - Willy Blanko and Shickelgruber - as they are froma  different "era" of Stront.  Instead, pad it a little with "Assault on Trigol 3" It would stlll have been about the same size (lets not forget Assault on Trigol 3 for Vol 3 at the earliest, please?

I'd have also put "The Collector" in this Vol rather than Vol 1 - looks like they are just repeating the Case Files, which is maybe why "Assault on Trigol" was missed? There are also two text stories they should have included here (or in the last Vol) - Night of the Blood Freaks with incredible MacCarthy Art and an earlier one from a Starlord Special I think with wth Steve Kyte art.  Neither has bee reprinted, so I say definitive, but this misordering and omission makes it only "most" definitive, which is a shame when its so close and obviously a very classy product

Vol 3 could then have been Willy Blanko/Shickelgruber/Muties Luck/Doc Quince/Bad Boys for about 20 ish, plus annuals, Vol 4 then Portrait, Gronk and Kid Knee as a slightly bumper one, Vol 5 gets us to the 335 "relaunch" and so on

And final insane gripe is I would have used a Carlos image that was relevant to this era rather than Bollands later version, which would fit perfectly on Vol 3 (or Vol 4, as I'd have used that poster they used on the recent limited edition HB of The Son, whch is lovely, but again a bit "out of time")



#2
Megazine / Meg 452: Call the Cops!
14 January, 2023, 03:23:00 PM
Praise Grud!

A Saturday Megazine - can we begin to hope Tharg's Rigellian Hotshots have done the trick?

The Dredd is intriguing and convoluted in equal measure this time - a very odd premise, but taking its time, which isnt a bad thing here.... still not convinced this shouldnt be "Wagner only" territory, but I;m going to assume he gave some sort of nod to it as the gent he is.... Lets see if the odd premise lleads to a clever twist/resolution!(as an aside, who else could imagine an Al Ewing version of this having the One Eyed Jack sections revert to 10 panels a page story telling)

Tonally, maybe running Storm Warning, Waugh and Death is a bit too horror heavy - of the three, the only one I'm really digging is Waugh.

Surfer remains the highlight, but that's only expected - MacNeils art always shines, but really looked lovely this week - Blythe being at least a good chunk of that with his colours

Overall, think  do prefer the new Big Meg format, but mix it up a bit with the content I would say

#3
Prog / Prog 2315: Solar Flare
13 January, 2023, 11:44:46 AM
A Friday prog! Ntot had one of those since I don;t know when, so lets have a quick look

Dredd continues to be interesting and derivative in equal measure (could ahve done without Senior Leadership Team intrigue again  - get enough of that in real life!)

Pat couldnt have written a more PAt script for this one if its his last - evil wummin who we never heard of before is casually mentioned and is now super important to Joe's entire backstory (so now she just needs to tur up next week)

Hope: nope

The Out is pretty, but dragging its heels a bit - hope it gets a move on soon

Vex ... Vex I already feel like I need to reread the first few parts of this one, let alone the previous tales... frutstrating as an alien space opera should be right up my alley...

#4
Film & TV / Ordinary to Extraordinary
28 December, 2022, 10:20:11 AM
This is giving me heavy duty Deja-Vu - havent we been here before with this premise, which most obviously seems an "Ordinary" (by Rob Williams/Disraeli?) rip off, but then spirals into an argument about Mark Millar's Zenith text tale and prior sources of "inspiration"....

From the Guardian's 35 must see shows:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/28/the-35-must-see-tv-shows-to-look-forward-to-in-2023

Extraordinary

Imagine a world in which everyone has a superpower bar you. At the age of 18, everyone starts being able to walk through walls, commune with the dead, morph into a cat, or trigger an orgasm with a single touch. This fresh, witty comedy from first-time TV writer Emma Moran, and created by Killing Eve's producers, introduces us to Jen, who remains powerless at the age of 25 and is desperate to discover her gift, at any cost.
#5
News / Strontium Dog comes to Kickstarter?
21 December, 2022, 07:44:43 PM
Interesting tease from the Thrill Mail

anybody got any guesses?
#6
Prog / Prog 2300: On the Day of Judgement...
20 September, 2022, 05:52:17 PM
No thread?

**** ALL SPOILERS  *******

Great cover and even greater Flint art on the Dredd section.  Niemand pitches the set up well and the dynamic between Alpha and Dredd rings true.  Flint's Alpha is glorious.  The 2000 A-lternative D-imensions thing from Helter Skelter never really worked for me

The other stories only feel tangentally connected to the Dredd, despite it acting as a framing narrative

Rogue Trooper is OK - great art again - couple of oddities - having other (dead) GIs wandering around makes sense I suppose, though the art had him looking so fresh that it caused a bit of dissonnance.  From the Quartz zone I'd expect it to be crustier - felt like it needed some explanation there - also the "killing" of Rogue at the end isnt very clear (and looks like it is straight through the chip!)

Not to drag over the other stories in detail, but just to say they run off with the idea of "Zombies"  to greater or lesser effect, but completely disregard that the Zombies (at least Sabbat's zombies) are magic based, rather than a disease or other such, so they dont really addd anything.

Stront comes back with some nice Staz Johnson art, but pedant mode has to be engaged here - Torso was killed years before the events of Judgement Day, as was more obviously Wulf, so why are they here other than fan service?  You can say "different time line" but the starting conceit of the strip appears to be a single different path taken at the end of Judgement Day.  Not sure how Alpha is aware of other dimensions being directly affected when he returns to the Doghouse either, but I suppose its a minor quibble - i just like to see the characters discover the plot through events rather than have it explained in a narrative box I suppose - as far as Alpha can tell at this point, he just hasnt succeeded in stopping Sabbat turning his own Universe bad? 

All of this might seem pedantic but it does undermine the "cliff hanger" a bit - overall, an interesting experiment - worked better for me than the Summer Special with the linked stories, but I do have to divorce the "back up strips" from the arc -  I suppose there are all kinds of explanations you could give to explain why Sabbats "Necro Magic" leads to very different types of zombies just sprouting up elsewhere (its "complex" as Alpha says!), but not having that cohesion diminishes the overall impact for me.

Looking forward to getting the Meg , which will hopefully concentrate on the main plot more, and therefore have more "ahem" bite for my taste...

#7
Film & TV / Stranger Things 4 *SPOILERS*
04 July, 2022, 06:27:17 PM
So, now its over, what did people think of it? SPOILERS**

I thought it was pretty good - characters were fine, though Mike remaained as whiney and useless as previous series.  Loved Eddie and leaning into the Satanic Panic I thought was a good call.  ST is trying to do what Chibnall did with its gay charcters with its metal characters, though.  Dont have a problemw with Eddies demuse, but it could hvve been more meaningful - in what way is he the hero?  Or his death part of that heroism?  If he had kept running, he would have kept the bats occupied longer AND survived - I see the theme they were gonig for, but it lose something in the execution - shame after the Master of Puppets scene.

The ending I didnt grock at all.  OK, so 11 brings ax back from clinical death and reverses the gates opening - but Max is now comatose and her mmind is a blank when 11 tries to look... Then the gates silently open back up a coouple of days later... not so much a cliff hanger as a head scratcher.  Feel liek they';d have been better not having  a fake out "happy ending"  if that's where they were going to leave it?

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it still suffers with a lot of weak story telling that I've come to expect from modern TV.  How did Papa create a "chip" to block Ones powers? How does he know all about how Ones papers work now: "he takes all their memories" How would he know?

How did the Russians transport all those Demogorgons and such to Russia if they didnt have a way to subdue them?

I kind of wish they hadn't gone with the disaster ending - I know theres only one season left, but they were stretching credibility last season by writing everything off to a "Mall Fire" - was there also a hospital fire?
#8
So Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors appear to have been seen on location filming for RTD and Tennant's (first) Specia'

Very conflicted on that.  Those Mills Wagner Gibbons stories are the reason Iam still a comics fan to this day, so seeing them become "real" is nice - seeing them rewrite them out of my own head cannon, possibly less so!

For me, the Weekly strips are a far superior season 18 to the one we got on screen....

Interested in Mills reaction!


Thoughts?
#9
Film Discussion / Spider-Man: No Way Home
17 November, 2021, 08:57:52 PM
New trailer has me quite excited despite making this explicitly the near as dammit the same plot as Helter Skelter.

The de-aging of Molina is the first time I've been impressed by the technology
#10
General / Subscriber Gifts
20 September, 2021, 07:22:39 PM
Hi all!

I switched to annual Subscriber back in September (techncially from October) 19, in ordder to get the freebies available back then - poster prog, badge and print.

2020 has now all but passed and I havent had the 2020 badges.

2021 sub gift is now showing in the prog... should I be ringing Tharg tomorrow? Have I missed my chance?

#11
Website and Forum / Calling all Admins!
02 September, 2021, 04:47:18 PM
...well just the one will do!

Who do I message to get some help for a fellow Squaxx locked out of their profile?
#12
Megazine / Megazine 433: Day of Dark Judgement!
15 June, 2021, 09:17:10 PM
A mixed bag this month...

Dredd.... oh dear... This is I'm sorry to say, Millar level stuff as far as we are portraying Dredd (and possibly wth the Sino-Cit stuff too).  Dredd beating up citizens for his own amusement!?!  I dont thnk even Millar went that far!

Devlin is a great read by contrast - how to take someone elses strong vision and do a story that fits that vision.

Diamond Dogs and Deliverance I am not really keeping up with - not grabbing me, but the Returners remains interesting and nicely illustrated.

Articles were engaging  - I'm keeping my eye on that Johnson fellow as a potential star of the future (keeping my eye on the otehr Johnson fellow as well, but for different reasons!)

Mechastopheles was a handy reprint as it means I can go back and read the new story having refreshed myself of the previous this morning.



#13
General / Voting Coupons
15 May, 2021, 04:09:21 PM
Watching Pat Mills on the Lawless panel, he raises an interesting point about voting coupons, though obviously Pat's memory can "cheat", so my question is thus:

when did the voting coupon vanish?
#14
Prog / Prog 2228 - The Slayer & The Slain
17 April, 2021, 11:16:50 AM
A good prog this week - can't bring to mind what is missing from last weeks to make way for Slaine?  I;d presumed we'd be waiting for the end of the 3riller


Dredd is well wrtten, but I'm really havinng to pretend a lot of the previous "evil SJS" tales had ever happened - I suppose that really isnt that great a hardship - Imagine this story taking place in a universe without those and it's a solid thriller, though Asher's use of applied violence on citizen is one thing,on SJS judges quite another! Wonder what he is up to with his big wrench - off to the Undercity if he has any sense!

Feral and Foe remains enjoyable, sometimes falling over the wwong side of meta for me (side-quests), but solid entertainent again


Slaine is glorious to look at and exciting stuff, but not really what Pat was promising - finished in a way no other writer will ever be able to take him on?  Erm, if I hadnt read Pat's Twitter, I'd still be eagerly awaiting the obvious Book 2 of this, resolving all those dangling threads.  Not that it isnt an "end" of sorts, but a "final" end? I like the idea that Slaine   [spoiler] can't stop the British Empire, beause, we know that's true, but he can "drag it's name in the dirt" - Slaine as Internet Troll?  [/spoiler] Hmmm

#15
Other Reviews / KING'S REACH: 25 years at the top
19 January, 2021, 06:00:21 PM
Anyone working their way through it?

Finding it bizarrely addictive, but it is also bringing me back on board with Pat Mill's opinion!

He spends a lot of the early part of the book decrying the short sightedeness of a system that was patently inefficient and top heavy, run by people with Titles, castles, yachts and private airplances ( and that's just the Union reps!). 

Then when it comes to creator rights he uses the exact opposite arguments....

Still, a fascinating read!
#16
Hopefully this doesnt belong in the copyright infringement section! 

May have to take the plunge on this if I can find more detail about it....Each song has it's own story, so what will be the "I am the Law" tale....

https://z2comics.com/products/anthrax-among-the-living-graphic-novel?fbclid=IwAR1ri4URtUghZl-cpxJQpNHONC7k5bSMt7EndHYzTIDNJwGTJj3SmxpsztM&variant=34325090762892
#17
General / Prog drought!
11 October, 2020, 03:59:53 PM
Has anyone else had a problem with their progs?

I am three saturdays down without a prog, coinciding with my Annual Subscription being taken at the start of the month - contacting Subs and they have put me on hold until Friday on the proviso that post can be three weeks delayed, but it seems to me that this is not normal!

I went out and bought 2201 last week, but no 2202 or 2203 as yet... If nothing turns up tomorrow, tempted to buy 2202 before it goes off the shelves and just ask for my sub to be pushed forward a couple of weeks.

I seem to recall having to get in touch with Subs last year with my annual renewal not "sticking", but they fixed it pretty quickly that time....anyone else have similar problems?

#18
Games / Forgotten Depths
20 September, 2020, 08:23:06 PM
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forgottendepths/forgotten-depths-co-op-dungeon-adventure-game?ref=user_menu

This is a game tht has caught my eye and looks like it needs some KS love - the art is particularly lovely (getting a Full Tilt Boogie vibe from it) . Love to see a Wizards of Earthsea comic book adaptation from this artist (or FTB's team while I'm thinking about it).  The game itelf seems to have an interesting bag of ieas too
#19
News / Sniper Elite Boardgame KS - with added Eazy!
16 August, 2020, 11:36:09 AM
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rebellionunplugged/sniper-elite-the-board-game

This actually looks like quite an interesting game with the added bonus we get a cool looking (yet curiously not really named here?) Major Eazy mini!
#20
Prog / Prog 2191 - Let's Boogie!
18 July, 2020, 12:45:13 PM
Dredd will eat itself


Full tilt has a bit of a talky episode here and I'd have reconfigured the cliffhanger to not take the sting out if it, but enjoying it for all its odd pacing at times

Diaboliks feels like it is deliberately setting itself in the same world as Dr Sin, let alone Caballistics -this is a good thing.

The Order I have lost track of too far past, so no ready until such time as I eer get to a reread

The Out swerves from where it might have one, with hume 2 mainly there to help give Cyd a push in a direction that otherwise (and kinds still does) feel a bit plot driven rather than character driven - but can't complain as where it is going should be interesting stuff.