Main Menu

Prog 2089 - The Apes of Wrath!

Started by Richard, 07 July, 2018, 01:21:34 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Taryn Tailz

Quote from: norton canes on 12 July, 2018, 10:15:40 AM
Another great prog. Killer cover by Chris Weston. Shame the monkey isn't actually on Dredd's back, as the caption claims. The episode itself concludes the story in riotous fashion, bit rushed in places but that just adds to the sense of chaos. Still not quite sure where the elevator was actually headed, though..?

There was a panel showing where the elevator was headed in the first part. On the second page, if I recall correctly.

norton canes

Ah yeah, you're right. I thought that was just a shot of the underside of the elevator (even though looking at it now it's completely different). Cheers.

Taryn Tailz

Quote from: norton canes on 12 July, 2018, 06:14:23 PM
Ah yeah, you're right. I thought that was just a shot of the underside of the elevator (even though looking at it now it's completely different). Cheers.

No worries. I don't think you were the only one who missed it judging by the previous progs thread.

BPP

Cover - hurrah

Dredd - hurrah x2 (and how better when the humour is in the mouths of chimps and cits not judges)

The Order - delayed hurrah (no doubt)

Skip Tracer - half hurrah - very disappointing deus ex machina conclusion. Paul Marshall's art and the pace of this gives it a lot of good will but there isn't (yet) a character to be interested in. Up for more but the script droid needs to find a way to develop Skip himself - be that personality, dialogue, humour, back story, supporting cast or whatever.

Deadworld - good-will hurrah - stupidity of plot (crashing into the halls of justice) reaches the characters weeks after the reader. Byke's departure a tad random etc.. but still a very likeable strip.

Dullard Red - no hurrahs. A deeply boring reboot with Wagner's Red defenestrated and a laughable 70s cinema  'oh the horror, the blood, the horror' flailing thrown on top of generic-feisty-independent-tough-lady trope. Her character is dull, her outfit is dull, the settings were dull, the final confrontation dull, the inner monologue dull, the whole thing.. dull.
If I'd known it was harmless I would have killed it myself.

http://futureshockd.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/FutureShockd

Dandontdare

Fantastic cover and great Weston art on Dredd, although the story winds up in pretty unremarkable fashion.
Skip Tracer ends without leaving much trace on my memory - nothing horrible about it, just a little tired and clichéd. The Order is tremendous - okay, it's got a few brain-testing time-travel conundrums, but it's really no more complicated than a good episode of Dr Who, and it's so good to see Burns back in the prog. I'm running out of superlatives for Damned - this whole Deadworld trilogy has been for me, the highlight of the prog over the last couple of years. I really want to like Durham Red, and I appreciate the darker tone to the character, but for some reason it's not really hitting the spot just yet - still, a character like her is like a comfy pair of shoes, always welcome.

NapalmKev

Deadworld stands tall over everything else in the Prog and has done for a long time! Art and Storywise, I can't fault it.

Dredd Fantastic artwork.

Skip Tracer didn't do much for me and is less memorable than the strip that had 'Carcer' in, which I enjoyed more but can't remember the name of.

The Order another great series, can find no fault at all.

Durham Red was ok but I've never been a massive fan of the character.


Cheers
"Where once you fought to stop the trap from closing...Now you lay the bait!"

Aaron A Aardvark

Yep, Deadworld outstanding thrill for me. Top stuff.

A fun, undemanding Dredd.

Can't really get into the Order but it's proper bonkers so I'll go along with it.

Red seemed to lose her way after an excellent start but I'll be happy to see more of this new version.

Skip Tracer, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. A complete vacuum of a character with dull world building and weak, uninteresting story. It's coming back but I wonder why.

Trout

Deadworld is my favourite, too. Such a great prog. Weston can do no wrong!

Frank


I didn't have a problem with Durham Red going AK-47 and absolutely, positively killing every motherfucker in the room[1].

Her feeling the need, the need to feed, had been Chekov Gunning it throughout the story and Worley's using her blood frenzy like The Hulk, with Banner-Red a helpless back-seat passenger watching Hulk-Red swerving a transit van through bystanders like ISIS - so her motivations and moral character don't really come into it[2].

It wasn't an especially satisfying narrative conclusion, though.

Plus, by my count, this is the third time readers have been told to get excited because the Doghouse is reopening. Red's text alert doesn't make sense if Worley Red's bringing Hogan Dogs back into canon[3] (where the Agency was already back in business) [4] or if this is the reopening of the Doghouse we've only just seen in the previous Wagner Dog story (The Son). [5]


[1] (accept no substitutes)

[2] WORLEY: 'the angle I wanted to bring to bear here was, I dunno what you'd call it: 'vampire ethics'? Kim Newman once made a point about vampire fiction often taking pains to avoid the very tension that makes these characters so appealing in the first place: the fact that they must murder people in order to survive. Durham is essentially half-gunslinger, half-serial killer! I've done away with all the usual excuses. Can she drink from ethically-sourced bloodbags? Nope. Can she feed from animals? No way. But she's a good person, right? Maybe...  https://2000ad.com/post/3527

[3] For want of a better term

[4] WORLEY: 'Continuity-wise, Born Bad is set after 1996's Epicedium (Dan Abnett's first work on Durham Red), which was a single-episode conclusion to the Hogan/Harrison stories and ends with her walking off into the proverbial sunset prior to her eventual cryo-sleep and reawakening a zillion years in the future. Tharg is an authority on the Stronti-verse, and has yet to pick me up on anything, so I must be doing something right.' (ibid)

[5] 'After' being a relative concept. Wagner Dog takes place 'after Abnett Red took a pill and went Sleeping Beauty, after all. In a universe where time travel's commonplace, Tharg probably wouldn't mind doing the quick narrative tidying up necessary to bring Red out of future exile and back into play in the main Wagner Dog storyline - although Carlos's Tijuana Bible take on the character might mean he's unlikely to be trusted with one of the Strong Female Jewels in Tharg's Social Justice League again.

Leigh S

I believe it is the latest reopening as per "The Son" (still wish the Stronts had commandeered the hive of scum and villainy from the previous story though!)

Red was decent enough, though lost something as it went - I'm not going to pile on Lee Carter, because I think he did a grand job of having to jump  in there - I felt it went a tad off more due to some odd story beats - when did Red gain superspeed - what was she trying to prove again?

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Frank on 15 July, 2018, 01:53:26 PM
[5] 'After' being a relative concept. Wagner Dog takes place 'after Abnett Red took a pill and went Sleeping Beauty, after all. In a universe where time travel's commonplace, Tharg probably wouldn't mind doing the quick narrative tidying up necessary to bring Red out of future exile and back into play in the main Wagner Dog storyline...

Is it set after Red went into cryo, though? She was part of the Stront army who answered Johnny's call to arms in Prog 1821 (albeit in a non-speaking cameo) and although Worley's series has made no mention of her part in the Second Mutant War, it hasn't contradicted that appearance either.

Also, don't forget that Red was scheduled to run before the recent Stront - so this should have been the first mention of the Doghouse opening, followed by our actually seeing Johnny and Kenton there next week. Not really Worley's fault that this didn't happen that way.
@jamesfeistdraws

Frank

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 July, 2018, 03:37:03 PM
Quote from: Frank on 15 July, 2018, 01:53:26 PM
[5] 'After' being a relative concept. Wagner Dog takes place 'after Abnett Red took a pill and went Sleeping Beauty, after all. In a universe where time travel's commonplace, Tharg probably wouldn't mind doing the quick narrative tidying up necessary to bring Red out of future exile and back into play in the main Wagner Dog storyline...

Is it set after Red went into cryo, though? She was part of the Stront army who answered Johnny's call to arms in Prog 1821 (albeit in a non-speaking cameo) and although Worley's series has made no mention of her part in the Second Mutant War, it hasn't contradicted that appearance either.

I can't locate her in that specific episode, but I'm sure you're right that she cameos somewhere in that epic. The final pre-Rip-Van-Winkle episode of Abnett Red says she wasn't seen again for 'a long time', which, I suppose, means Tharg could stick her back into Wagner Dog* without necessarily invalidating the rest of Abnett Red.

Can't see that happening until the gentlemen from Greenock and Zaragoza leave the field, though.



* By which I mean the main Strontium Dog continuity, irrespective of who ends up in charge of that

Richard

I think that's over-complicating it. Easier to say she just hasn't gone into suspended animation yet.

Frank

Quote from: Richard on 15 July, 2018, 11:36:24 PM
I think that's over-complicating it. Easier to say she just hasn't gone into suspended animation yet.

That is what I said, buddy. It just took me around forty more words than you and Jimbo, so saying I over-complicated it is a fair point.



DrJomster

Dredd and Red, baby!

#PraiseBeToTharg
The hippo has wisdom, respect the hippo.