Prog 1788 - Slay Per View!

[WhitBloke]

Cover - Nasty and direct, and all in a good way.

Dredd - Nasty and direct, and all...  Uh...  Actually, yeah, nasty and direct and all in a good way.  Is that the 'Christmas Tree' I see there?  Got to wonder what the results of the People's Election is, and what it more importantly can amount to anyway since this is clearly as martial law (even for the judges) as it gets.  Beeny, oh, Beeny... but an absolutely perfect week.

Durham Red - Romping now, which is fun to be along for the ride with.  Unless of course you're Jones and she should let one off on the third page...  Nice to see Durham Red has the scent, though I'm betting she means somebody other than Avi.  Why can't we all live in Ezquerra architecture and countryside like that?  More than anything in this week's adventures, its Ezquerra's scenery that's got me all swept away.

Grey Area - Not entirely convinced by Corel, but that's perhaps just cynicism and liking seeing focal characters in dubious situations - which this has provided in spades right up to the end.  Birdy is no longer somebody I would 'fool about' with, mind you!

Future Shocks - For all its [spoiler]Solent Green Ebay Cash Converters Sell-Your-Gold [/spoiler] mash-up-ness, it still works.  Nice art, flow that sweeps you through the plot, good pace and satisfying conclusion.  Not the best of recent weeks but that's hardly a criticism; fun read that certainly qualifies above the filler level.

Dante - Rhubarb crumble and old soldiers, Diavolo and Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha splash page, zee pritty girrrls in zeir bedchambers and the bastards on the horizon...  It's got to be Dante!  Sound as a pound and yet worryingly tease-y with some despairing suggestions of what may be coming in the climax.  About which, I fervently hope I'm wrong.

High - That last panel in Dredd.  So a deep low of a high, I guess...

Low - Same as last week, so not so much to really dig at me.

[Mikey]

I would normally wait until I read the whole prog,but...

...I've just read Dredd. Fuckin amazingly bleak and devestation has rarely looked so beautiful. My hat is truly doffed and my mouth agape. Is it next week yet?

I want an all Dredd prog as part of this arc,please Tharg.
M

[Colin YNWA]

I would normally wait until I read the whole prog,but...

...I've just read Dredd. Fuckin amazingly bleak and devestation has rarely looked so beautiful. My hat is truly doffed and my mouth agape. Is it next week yet?

I want an all Dredd prog as part of this arc,please Tharg.
M

Yeah only had time for Dredd as well, but christ astonishing. If Dante managers to be top this this week I'll fall over with delight. Jesus that was epic stuff, so devastating and powerful, yet so intimate and personal. I find it hard to believe that 6 pages of comics have ever been so good. Blown away. That last page was a heart rending joy.

[Van Dom]

  Beeny, oh, Beeny...

I don't like the sound of that...

[WhitBloke]

Oh.  Oh, my.  Did I phrase that in a casually evil way? 

[Van Dom]

Yes.
Yes you did.

[Sedgendary]

Cover: Very cool cover from Karl Richardson that really shows what to expect from this prog – *****

Dredd: This story really shows the impact of the recent events and the personal effects on the judges which is shown when Beeny [spoiler]offers her badge after a mistake[/spoiler] - *****

Durham Red: The strip is starting to pick up though I'm not much of a fan of the art style - ****

Grey Area: This was a good end to the current story and showed that these guys aren't to be messed with (even if the Xeno-Fascists don't seem to be the smartest of people) - ****

Future Shocks: An interesting story if a little predictable - ***

Nikolai Dante: Another good story from Dante this should be an interesting ride - *****

[Radbacker]

god damn, drunk posting but frag i wish i wasn 't 8 weks behind you guys, Dredd is perfect at the moment and these hints at whats to come realy keep me waiting, same with Dante, the prog is prtty much perfect at the moment.

CU Radbacker

[Trout]

Grim stuff in Dredd, eh?

Then I realised: that's Judge Dredd. Nothing breaks him. Go and look at the cover of Prog 85. It was the first issue of 2000AD I ever bought, and it's an image that sums up Dredd perfectly - then and now.

He's going to fight back, and he's going to win.

I think I just guessed the end, too.

By the way: what an incredible comic this is.

[TordelBack]

I have never hated you subbing bastards as much as I do right now.

[Trout]

I have never hated you subbing bastards as much as I do right now.

You're right to feel that way. These are days that will never come again.

[JUDGE BURNS]

Wow, both the Meg AND the Prog both on the same day. My kind of day.

Only have had time to read DREDD, love that final panel . How much more desparation must Dredd endure?

[Colin YNWA]

Well having read the Prog in full whats wonderful is Dante gives Dredd a run for its money. It doesn't get there, but damn it goes it a good go.

The fantastic things about Dante, but what stops it being as good (well exceptional would be a better word) is the fact that Dredd is no longer leading to something, its all about the events, its about the human reaction to extreme circumstances, and that's extreme in Mega City terms too.

Whats brilliant about Dante, its about stirring a human reaction in the uncertainty of whats to come, I'm nervous reading it, I'm genuinely on edge, which is just superb, but I'm constantly speculating on what will happen. Will the wedding be an horrific end, will it all be a tease and end well (christ its a bit rubbish of me but I really hope so at this stage, sod what serves the story best I want a happy ending, I care too much.), will the news in the last page, combined with the rest, mean that events transpire so there is no wedding (I have a real dread that this is what will happen, Dante will have to do the hard things and by doing so will once again pay the massive personal cost, but live to suffer that cost). The thing is I'm constantly drifting from the now to the what if. That's genius right there, but Dredd at the moment is so focused, we know and its terrible and so gives you an astonishingly pure emotion, not drifting, no thinking of the multitude of possibilities, its there and its real. It so powerful. It'll be fascinating on re-read when Dante has this focus, will it actually top the Dredd.

Fuck me those too alone are the very very best of comics.  A numbnut like me is thinking about them this much, from 12 pages in total. Just pure genius, and I've just read Ballard of the Salt Sea!

Anyway there is more and to be fair to the rest of the Prog it does a fine job of standing up in the shadow of these two greats. Durham Red is a great old skool romp. Grey Area wraps up really well and neatly, possibly a little too neatly as it felt a little boxed up and put away and the ending striped the series of what would have been much more interesting alternatives. Shame actually but still well done. I wonder if that's it, its been tidied away for good hope not but I get that feeling. The Future Shock is the best of the bunch of one offs lately, again not the twistlyist of twists, but not bad, great story over all though. As for the art why oh why don't we get more Nick Dryer in the Prog, bloody loved the art even if it does feel a bit derivative, what it derives from is very good.

Still however much fun all that was it is really in the wake of two absolute giants.

[Mikey]

Hate all you can TB-I'll be away for the next two Saturdays and I'm seriously thinking of asking Mrs Mikey to scan and email the Dredds for me.

M

[Hawkmumbler]

Royal Fail strikes again.