Prog 2209 - Bad Blood!

[broodblik]

Cover by Tiernen Trevallion:

[broodblik]

Cover plus logo:

[broodblik]

A good prog with two thrills coming to an end replaced next week by talking heads and some people from the world off the dead. We must not forget the great cover by the man himself Tiernen

Dredd – Dredd is infested to get behind what is going on in the institution. While he is running down some perps, he is busy unfolding what is going on as well. A good Dredd story with some nice humorous touches.

Skip Tracer – The boss-battle ends in a slightly different way in how I saw it end. A not too bad story maybe little bit generic but enjoyable. Do not fear all the new gained fans there will be more soon.

Stickelback – The action heats up as mister Holmes gets involved. Ian's script is lurking in the background for the art to shine. D'Isreali knows how to alter huis style depending on the series.

Hook Jaw – This is my surprise story of the year. I did not except this and I was pleasantly surprised. What I did like about it is how it build suspense and did not reveal the truth but rather gave us snippets of what is going on. The finale did not disappoint. Alec told a wonderful-gory story with some great art by Leigh.

Fiends – A more action heavy episode but we have now reached the crescendo point of Constanta's turn into mortality. Tiernen's art as always is lovely to behold. 

[CalHab]

Wait.... have people actually got this prog? Is this on digital only?

[broodblik]

I have a digital subscription

[Arkady]

Weirdly the DIGITAL edition is saying 'out of stock' for me on the website...

[Colin YNWA]

Weirdly the DIGITAL edition is saying 'out of stock' for me on the website...

Damn all those flippers for buying the digital copies and stickin' them on eBay at inflated prices.... oh hold on... that is very weird and you've gotta think a glitch?

[TordelBack]

Excellent prog, excellent cover.

A little surprised to see that Dredd was running past 3 episodes on a fairly thin premise, but then we got to the comedy stylings of Call-Me-Patsy and I was content to see more. I like how Niemand merges the Rennie strategy of infodump conversations during unconnected action scenes with the Carroll approach of having supporting 'house' characters doing the legwork: it works for me because Wrexler & Patsy are genuinely charming additions in the tradition of Buell & Garcia, and don't actually require interaction with Dredd to validate their presence. 

Hootin' heck but Austin is going all-out on these nutty crowd scenes, positively Googean! Was that eyepatch a visual pun on 'Dirty' Frank? For a first Dredd story, this is amazingly confident work.

I'm pondering the nature of Simps in this story a bit. I had always thought they were ordinary people that had completely committed to a lifestyle of looking and acting stupid in order to stand out and be noticed in the faceless millions, rather than being actual morons (like the Branch Moronian) or jaded hipsters with an agenda. Transitioning into a religion via Bishop Desmond Snodgrass' "outing"  seemed to grant them tax breaks, but I don't recall of there was more to it than that.

If I'm remembering a-right their most recent significant appearance was mayoral candidate Ribena Hardly-Lucidberry* in Day of Chaos, who only ever said "clump", and who certainly fits that picture: despite representing the Simp Party, she had no policies and nothing to say.

So given that Simping is a lifestyle/belief system that one adopts specifically to get attention, rather than an expression of something innate like sexuality or stupidly, I'm a bit lost as to where Colin and his Radical Simps fits in: Simps aren't actually incompetent, so why can't they shoot straight? They seem pretty good at making costumes and silly gadgets. If they now have a cause beyond being noticed, why wouldn't they pursue it in a competent way?

Anyways, it's a fun story, but I hope it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Skip Tracer ended in a fairly predictable way (especially if you took heed of Bolt-1), and maybe it was a bit stretched at 9 parts and I'm a little unclear on where the werewolf splices from last week got to, but I enjoyed this run. I'm pleased to say that I knew who and what both Hastings and Balbuena were, and I was glad to see the Stripmonger made it to pastures new, so we're definitely getting there.

Stickleback was a pure visual joy, and It was good to see the plot jog along so briskly. Initially I thought the 'others' that were incinerated might be Black Bob & Co, in some misjudged 'pare the cast back to Holmes & Dr Scarlet' move and I was distinctly unimpressed, until I flicked back and realised that it was the evil minions that we saw scurrying around in the foreground at the start of the previous episode's gigantibrawl.

Fiends was as gorgeous and engaging as ever, and I was quite sorry to see the key moment finally arrive, and in a fairly conventional manner. I could have happily followed the adventures of Skade & Cub for a good while longer. Bloody good stuff, though.

Finally, the Hookjaw finale. This story has exceeded expectations start to finish, and everyone involved deserves a hearty pat on the back. Yes,  many people predicted that [spoiler]Shako[/spoiler] would make an appearance, it is 2020 after all,  but did anyone predict [spoiler]Bonjo[/spoiler]? Warner Bros' MonsterVerse take note, this is how it's done.



*Although I suppose technically it was Jack Point in Trifecta.

[broodblik]

A little surprised to see that Dredd was running past 3 episodes on a fairly thin premise.....

I think it is a 5 episodes

[TordelBack]

I think it is a 5 episodes

Hmmm, not far off the combined length of Dredd Simp stories thus far. Ah well, we'll see if does more than obey Parkinson's Law.

[Southstreeter]

Never mind 2209, which I'll be lucky to get this year at this rate, I'm still waiting on 2208!

[TordelBack]

Having a Discussion elsewhere about the end of the marvelous Hookjaw. The [spoiler]toy polar bear is obviously Shako[/spoiler], but surely the dinosaur has to be [spoiler]Bonjo from Beyond the Stars[/spoiler]. Who else could it be?  Not [spoiler]Satanus[/spoiler], that's for sure! Am I missing any other candidates?

Said discussion also touched on why [spoiler]all the ghosts suddenly appear to help Esme[/spoiler] - but this one I'm sure about, so I thought I'd share. Unsurprisingly it's [spoiler]one of the spirit lures Jack got from Morwenna. You can see one poking out of his manbag,  looking like something you might get free in Scotland, but the twist is Jack takes the spell ribbon off the candle and wraps it around a flare instead[/spoiler].  Clever lad.

[TordelBack]

Bloody missing Edit button.  Continued...

The[spoiler] lures are what Duke used to capture Esme in the bottle[/spoiler], Jack's breaking of which released her a few episodes back.

I'm not kidding when I say this vies for my favourite story of the year, and in my opinion Worley's best work for the original to date. And it's a bloody Hookjaw reboot. Who's have thought it?

[broodblik]

I can see that Hook Jaw can continue with a lot of potential. This is for me how you do a re-image. The whole thing is so much better than the original one. Can not wait to see where the team takes this next. Kudos for Tharg to dare to be different.

[DrJomster]

Some good comedy moments in Dredd, I have to say... I'm looking at you, Patsy....