Prog 1993 : MINDCRIMES!

[Link Prime]

"...This Lady ain't all Lady!"

Now here's a line that bugged me a little bit, do you reckon the undercover Judge realizes how transphobic a statement that inadvertently is?

No. Because he's not real.

[Hawkmumbler]

Aye, but Wagner is. A sad bit of bad writing from the legend himself, soon be forgotten

[Dark Jimbo]

Aye, but Wagner is. A sad bit of bad writing from the legend himself, soon be forgotten

Wagner is a real person writing a line of dialogue for a facist character from a regime with a 40-year history of near-contempt for people's feelings.

[Hawkmumbler]

Aye, but Wagner is. A sad bit of bad writing from the legend himself, soon be forgotten

Wagner is a real person writing a line of dialogue for a facist character from a regime with a 40-year history of near-contempt for people's feelings.

Doesn't mean it can't feel stilted or particularly mean spirited, even more so than usual. I highly, highly doub't Wagner shares the sentiments of this throw away character, he's a writer after all, but I still found the statement to be in poor taste.

[Hawkmumbler]

*Doubt, why the hell is auto correct adding a ' all of a sudden? Drokk it....

But anyway....Scarlet Traces is kinda excellent isn't it? I've not read any of the previous entries but i'll be having that omnibus when it comes out in February, thank you!

[Dark Jimbo]

The crux is surely that the unamed man/woman lied? I doubt the Judges really care what a person's sex is; until it's different to whatever's on their official records. That means lies and secrets, and that makes them a potential perp, and then the gloves are off.

[M.I.K.]

or particularly mean spirited, even more so than usual.

You really, really, really can't have been paying attention.

[Hawkmumbler]

or particularly mean spirited, even more so than usual.

You really, really, really can't have been paying attention.

Or, and this is more likely between you and me, I was paying too much attention and i'm reading into this a little too much. XD

I'll just file this under 'Moments Where Hawkmumbler Was A Loud Liberal Back Bencher" and move on.

[Frank]

I honestly thought that for anyone with an interest in LGBT issues it would be more of a deal that a loving homosexual relationship* was presented as no big deal, and that one of the major characters of the strip's near 40 year history has a fluid sexual identity that defies binary definition.


* on Budley Winterton's part, anyway

[Hawkmumbler]

I am of course very happy Wagner can write LGBT characters so well, without feeling forced or jaded, that doesn't mean I can't have a moan at a single speech bubble I didn't like. 

[Proudhuff]

wasn't it just a shorthand storytelling way of letting PJ know what the latest development was?

[Frank]

a single speech bubble I didn't like. 

You have to read that one speech bubble in isolation to produce the effect you describe. In context - the confusion, fear, and sense of injustice* expressed by someone seeing their partner dragged from their home - it's difficult to argue that the sympathies of the reader are supposed to be with the arresting officer.





It seems clear to me who the bad guys are here and how the scene is being played - look at the fear and confusion on their faces.

The cop is saying a jerk thing so you know he's a jerk doing jerk things, just like Dredd describing democracy as a cancer or letting Bennet Beeny watch the murder of the woman he loved because he'd paid a lot of money to see that show.

It would be difficult to construe the above as anything other than the black, gallows humour Wagner is legendary for.

[Dark Jimbo]

Earlier this year a 16-year (or to put it another way, half my life!) habit was broken when I forgot to renew my subscription. And to be perfectly honest, with the notable exception of Brink I don't really feel I've missed anything. Seems to be a real dearth of A-list thrills lately. Where's Defoe; Indigo Prime; Kingdom; Absalom; Jaegir...?

The end of Black Shuck (really, Tharg?! Twice?) and lure of a Wagner/Ezquerra/Maybe thriller finally draws me back this week.

Oh, how I've missed Wagner Dredd. I don't really think of Carlos as a 'PJ artist' and I think I'd rather have had Colin Macneil on art duties, but that's just personal taste.

Edginton really hammers the Iraq metaphors home in Scarlet Traces. That clunked a fair bit, but we get a lovely un-docking sequence, some great 'ship art' from Disraeli and a good action sequence. Mildly discombobulated to jump in a part six but not as much as you'd think!

Mindmine had a really intriguing start (and of course, the art's fantabulous!) Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Outlier reads astoundingly well considering I've jumped in at part four. Honestly, with another two pages to extend the opening hunt sequence a bit for pacing reasons, this could have been the opening episode - I'm totally following what's going on. This has never been a favourite thrill but fair play, Eglinton, your comic-fu is strong.

Huh. Hard to get excited about Anderson these days. Wish Tharg would make up his mind whether it's a prog strip or a Meg strip, too. Ah well, could be worse - at least it's not Cadet Anderson. Always lovely to see Nick Dyer in the prog and likewise to see a male Psi-judge!

Nothing blew me away, then, but then maybe that's unfair to expect from a mid-run prog.

[TordelBack]

.
Edginton really hammers the Iraq metaphors home in Scarlet Traces.

I must getting even more oblivious the older I get because I didn't pick up on this at all. I thought it was just a general post-colonial refugee thing. Loving the strip, by the way. Never seen a colouring job to match it.

Some A-List thrills Jimbo may have missed this year, other than Brink: Grey Area in Exile finale; Tales of Deadworld: Tainted. Other suggestions?

[Dark Jimbo]

Grey Area I hugely enjoy (since Mark Harrison was on art duties, anyway); but I didn't actually miss it, even though I knew it was running again.

Forgot about Deadworld, though! I didn't especially enjoy the original four shorts beyond lovely art and curiosity value, but the series sounded like it was a different beast. Must seek that out.

I'm kidding myself if I think won't eventually end up buying all the issues I missed, anyway!