I think the prog is really on an upwards trajectory with some bumps.
Dredd - there's a good resolution to the four parter 'The Samaritan'. Staz Johnson draws a bandaged Dredd up to the standard of Jim Bakie in that post Oz attempt on his life. There's a great feeling of weight and good anatomy as Dredd pulls himself off the operating table. Love it. Maybe it could have been a shorter story overall.
Indigo Prime returns with a re-cap that is one of the funniest things ever to read aloud. It also has a typo in the second line. And the story continues at a million miles an hour but is great fun. I love Lee Carter on this. Great fit. Is it bonkers? - Yes.
Anderson - Aneke's art a bit like the cover is hit and miss. It reminds me a bit of Mick Austin's Anderson one-off with Buddhist monks but there is some really weak anatomy under some nice finishes. It moves along but I'm not sure Karyn is working at all as either a character or a plot device. Two double page spreads are unusual for the prog but welcome.
Absalom - great confident funny work from all involved. Yup the prog benefits from this character.
Art-Star Winner Pin-up - Great Durham Red fully painted by Chris Skinner which is actually better controlled than the second character (Karyn) in the vampiric cover by Aneke. So maybe he should have been given the cover. That said Anderson on the cover is nicely done.
That was a stunning conclusion for The Samaritan. That story deserves to be collected in the Machine Law book, or in the 2000AD Ultimate Collection. I think four episodes was just right. I hope we'll see more from this writer soon.
I'm not sure how Doc Cotton thinks he's going to survive in deep space without a spacesuit, but whatever. I'm just glad Lee Carter's back.
(https://i.imgur.com/VDeIpta.jpg)
And I posted on the wrong prog thread:
Here goes again:
For those who are interested in this sort of thing the twitter @KennethNiemand confirmed he is the real deal by correctly telling me the first line of this week's Dredd in advance (or at least confirmed that he is someone with droid like AI).)
https://twitter.com/KennethNiemand/status/1147440838944968704
All the other Slim Shadys are just imitators.
His bio on Twitter now reads "Comic writer. Not Al Ewing."
So that's cleared that up then.
Loving that Dredd, and Judge Patsy, hope she doesn't fall to pieces or goes out walk-in after midnight
Nothing can replace Scarlet Traces but the continuing Absolm is just dandy..,.
But what's this in Damage Report, Windows for droids... what ever next?
Not as strong a Prog as recent weeks with Anderson and Indigo Prime effectively replacing Kingmaker and Scarlet Traces. Sorry to say but I have never "got" Indigo Prime; I just find it too hard to follow. Reading the recap of the last series really reinforced that - with half of it I was very much "I don't remember that / that went over my head when I read it."
I know a lot of squaxx like it, but I'm afraid I already can't wait for it to end. I read some where that this is the final series so I hope it goes out with a bang and lives up to the title....fairly soon.
The Indigo Prime recap was entertainingly incomprehensible. But then IP has always been a bit "go with it", bar the fairly straightforward (and superb) Killing Time. I do wish John Smith was still involved with the Prog, mind. Kek-W is doing a very good job on the strip (and what an insanely difficult strip to take on), but the loss of Smith is felt.
Why is John Smith no longer involved with 2000AD? What have I missed?
Quote from: UncleBaal on 09 July, 2019, 01:17:21 PM
Why is John Smith no longer involved with 2000AD? What have I missed?
https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=44800.msg970848#msg970848
Thanks Frank. Very sad to hear.
Arh bum.
I wrote my thoughts on this last night but must have fluffed posting them. Its been a crazy week for ... well one main reason I won't bore you with... so given where my heads at I'm even more flaky than normal.... anyway what did I say.
Well basically as you where really. Indigo Prime is a fair swop for Scarlet Traces. Very different strips, though both look amazing. Indigo Prime does a good job of getting us up to speed without loosening the crazy. Worked well for me and while I miss John Smoth immensely taken on its own value Kek-W is doing a fantastic job.
The rest as you where.
Dredd ended magnificently. Neimand is drumming up some great building plot threads as well as real mystery and Staz Johnson continues to get better and better.
Anderson still close but not quite there alas.
Absalom (who knows if I got my 'o' and 'a' in the right place haven't got the Prog in front of me so just copied matty_ae's spelling!) continues to build creepy tension quite brilliantly.
As does Thistlebone, showing that the brilliant building of creepy tension can be done in very different ways and still work wonderfully!
So yeah very good Prog again. Which is a sign of the good health Tharg's organ is in given we have a shifting line-up. As things come in and out quality is sustained.
The Samaritan was a very good Dredd story. Staz art really supplement the story superbly. Pity by the ending but not everyone (or anyone) in Dredd's world gets a happy ending.
Indigo Prime returns after a year so in limbo. I can never really say what I really feel about IP, what an awesome mind-bending story or it just do not make sense on any level whatsoever. At least for the last case we have some pretty pictures to look at.
Anderson is going on quite nicely. It is not standing out but still enjoyable
Absalom as ever is quite brilliant; art and story is strong. Pity that this is the finale but at least we will get an ending.
Thistlebone is building up each week and I can't wait to see where the trail is leading us. Davis art as always is brilliant adding to the mystery of the story.
Good prog
Really enjoyed this prog - every story and art, some of which I don't always get on with, worked for me.
That DREDD ending was superb.
Thanks Tharg and droids.!
By the way, does anyone know if the art stars thing was exactly as per competition entry or did Tharg ask for ot to be touched up for the Prog.
That Dredd was a classic.. oh could be a new ancillary character..... nope. Still a facist brutalist state folks. Love it. Oor Ken has that Wagner knack of making you love the strip and MC1 while ramming home how unjust it is. Brilliant.
Hints of Baike art about that, I thought, or perhaps it's just remembering that strip where Dredd gets back from Oz and also ends up in a hospital bed. But, yes, that was fab.
(https://i.imgur.com/I2PwCXH.png?1)
Dinnae hink sae. Maybe the real horror of the story is that everyone's turning Scottish? *
Niemand's the only 2000ad reader who watched Mike Carroll sideline Dredd in bed for the entire summer of 2016 and resolved to emulate those white-hot thrills if he ever got his shot at a major story; Indigo Prime's like listening to a brickie whistle a familiar tune with too many notes of their own; and Abamosal's the dream sequence fake-out in every horror movie reimagined as a multi-part series.
I thought there might have been communication issues between the creative team on the last series of Anderson: Wait, What Now?, but it's clear narrative ellipses are a deliberate stylistic choice on the part of the author. And every story is going to be about a paranormal Big Narstie kidnapping one of the gang so the others have to rescue them from the same Pretend Land Absalom's happening in.
I've done a Scojo-style piece of outsider art that expresses my feelings**
(https://i.imgur.com/PrBIyo2.jpg?2)
* Buckie, Malky, Kirkstow, aye for yes/no' for not - I suppose Eglinton could wrap the series with the ritual sacrifice of Avril atop a giant burning teacake, by villagers desperate to make summer last for two whole days, rather than one (giving Celtic extra time to sign a Portuguese who bombed out of Wigan, before the transfer window closes). Just to remove the apparent ambiguity, ken?
** ... my feeling that Tharg's refusal to make every strip about a bad-ass loner antihero with three-day stubble shooting zombies in the 23rd century is an attempt to control my thoughts and thwart Brexit.
I don't understand whether you liked the stories or not.
That makes two of us, Tips!
Whew, I thought Marney the Fox was hard hitting. This week Thistlebone earns its place alongside Killing Time etc. as a vehicle for utterly mind-blowing imagery - can it capitalise on all this visual glory with a bit of story to match and become this decade's Cradlegrave?
Dredd has a perfect conclusion, hats off to Not-Al and Staz. And a great supporting duo to look forward to more of.
Anderson. I love Aneke's art, its fresh and colourful, and her uniform re-design is terrific, but there are just a few elements that pull me out of it. Lose the mobility scooters, draw Flowers as male and Anderson of voting age, and this would be great.As for Beeby's script, I admire the attempt to create an ongoing non-Grant storyline, but I think we probably need to wrap up this abducting-Karyn cycle sooner rather than later. She still writes the best Anderson for my money, mind.
Indigo Prime breaks my little squaxxy heart. I love IP, I count myself as Kek-W's biggest fan, and Lee draws the absolute stomm out of every page. I so very much want to like this. But instead I hate it. Best bit was the Nerve Centre summary, comedy gold.
Absalom is Absalom, always readable, always sumptuous. I'll miss it.
All the more reason to enjoy Franks review.
I think the last time I enjoyed an Anderson run was when Alan and Boo Cook were the team. The stories seemed self contained and fun / zippy. Since the Dowling (?) suicide Anderson I've barely kept up with it - something seems missing in her world in terms of distinctive support characters and enjoyable wider world when taken out of the 'one off adventure' story.
If I was Tharg I'd move her to the Meg and assign one proven script droid to build her a world - Williams or abnett would be ideal - one that's more than 'anderson and another emotional empath'. There is no reason Anderson can't have a supporting cast equal to Dredd to it never seems to happen. Indeed Lawson has surpassed her as the prime non-Dredd Judge fur all those very reason imho. Of course I could be wrong.
Yeah not much point putting Anderson in the Meg and having DAbnett write it whilst we have Lawless. I recently re-read the JD Mega collection Shamballa volume (Grant and Ranson) and it was fab. This seems like a completely different strip.
Starting in Meg 410 we have a new Anderson story by Maura McHugh and Patrick Goddard
Shamballa was a quarter-century ago, and was quickly followed by pure nonsense. IMO Grant's Anderson became insufferably dour, and the stories flat and repetitive, with a few exceptions.
I like Beeby's Anderson a lot, I just wish they had stayed with the older 'mentor' theme and the updated 50-something look that Dyer brought to the strip. But I accept that Anderson is 2000ADs flagship cheesecake, so young and perky she must stay.
QuoteBest bit was the Nerve Centre summary, comedy gold.
Did make me guffaw too.
I'm lucky, In the Huffverse, Judge D'eath is still in the young Anderson encased in Bong
C, and until the Anderson goes up to 11 on a full menopause rampage thro Megacity one... its stays that way :wave:
Great cover. With the talk of logos on the other thread, it's nice to remember that the logo can occasionally be sacrificed.
Within, Dredd and Absalom are very much on a higher plane than the other stories. Exemplary stuff. Thistlebone is becoming an intriguing read, delivering on its promise of weird thrills. Anderson PD is already becoming a bit of a skip for me. Mustn't lose focus! Concentrate! There are thrills to be had here!
As for Indigo Prime... hmm. Here, writ large, are the pitfalls of telling a complex, ongoing story in biennial chunks. That catch-up text is indeed extraordinary. I almost feel like I should be looking for hidden messages. Look, if you're going to have so long between chapters of a strip, surely it would be better to make each chapter a self-contained story? I don't see why so many strips have to be these ongoing ∞-part epics that need convoluted catch-ups. Just make the stories more compact, more punchy. A roving band of cosmic space/time engineers should be perfectly suited to short assignments. It's all too much of a drain on my retention circuits.
Quote from: norton canes on 11 July, 2019, 11:06:18 AM
I don't see why so many strips have to be these ongoing ∞-part epics that need convoluted catch-ups.
Nail on the head... Totally agree, Dredd should be the template for most characters: the odd epic with short punchy episodes in between. Do we really need all that for five pages of comic action?
I suppose we could have an intro like that for Dredd each week covering the last 40 years :lol: :-X
I do not mind the longer stories I do not like it when we have a 2 year break between them. Brink comes to mind on the longer stories but the breaks between is sorter.
Brink's chapters also broadly worked in standalone form. DA's pretty good at that – Kingdom pulled the same trick.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 11 July, 2019, 10:29:21 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 July, 2019, 07:15:35 PM
Indigo Prime ... Best bit was the Nerve Centre summary, comedy gold.
Did make me guffaw too.
It only makes sense as a piss-take, especially since the most important information is already recapped alongside the other synopses on the same page. I did a BIG TEXT (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=44800.msg970724#msg970724) summary at the start of the previous series - all that needs adding is the information that Arcana was pulling a sting
*Indigo Prime is always a
really simple story; it was the way Smith festooned that framework with entertaining characters, wild concepts, and opening ceremony firework displays of language that endeared the man and his work to fans.
* Technically, the arch-villain whose appearance has been trailed for years finally showed up and Revere was brought into the story, but it turned out neither of those things made any difference to the story at all.
THISTLEBONE CREATOR COMMENTARY (http://www.multiversitycomics.com/interviews/creators-commentary-thistlebone/?fbclid=IwAR0TsRddSdfQ33sLxrPZX1V5guGHiRwrosqsNEiT5tkHGpHxWXsgQovGNjE) (edited highlights)
TE: The inspiration for Thistlebone's look came from a deer bone mask found at Star Carr in Yorkshire. Although we're a bit further North in "Thistlebone," it seemed like a perfect fit. The deer bone masks have an unnerving aspect to them.
The rest of Thistlebone's outfit is roughly based on shamanistic clothing. Even if the gods are not real, the people believing in them are, and that can have consequences.
SD: Thistlebone's size is maybe exaggerated or maybe not. The essence of folk horror is not necessarily an actual manifestation of something malevolent. It often is a human construct of fear that is contrived to exert control over others.
So at this stage, I wanted the reader to maybe question "did this really happen?" Avril is the epitome of an unreliable narrator.
Page 5 was full on Wicker Man homage and I wanted to have the masks realistic, as if the characters really were these animals. Almost like that Beatrix Potter ballet from the 1971 film that really freaked me out. Because this part of the story is Avril recounting it, there was a latitude with the scale of the forest spectres, as she was a child and maybe drugged, so she could be exaggerating or even lying.
So whether or not what she is recounting is true or not gave me freedom to ignore any continuity with what follows in the rest of the story.
TE: Having events filtered through a single character's recollections allowed us to play around with what was seen and heard, especially since the original experiences were already distorted due to her compromised mental state.
Before we began "Thistlebone," we talked about various things we wanted in it thematically and visually. Simon had this vision of giant animals in woodland that he wanted to include. This was such a great image I worked this into the script from the beginning. As it turned out, having the totemic animals of stag, fox and hare was the perfect way to refine the story as a sort of shorthand for the major characters.
For the speaking-in-tongues by the cult members I used a Burroughs style cut up technique, chopping up words from famous phrases into smaller sections to create a convincing glossolalia. Some of the source material for this was lines cadged from famous folk horror films, then boiled down into babble.
TE: A few weeks back I went to Simon's birthday party and was introduced to the real Avril. I only realised Simon uses models for characters when I met the lady who had been posing as Avril. It was extremely disconcerting, like I was having some meta-breakdown where one of my characters had come to life and had stopped by for a pint and a chat.
SD: I use models for my comics for continuity purposes. The two main characters are friends of mine, Sofia and Vaishali, and it also adds to the fun, getting them to act out the scenes. It was funny to see Tom meet Avril/Sophia and disappear into a warm hole (sic) of his own making!
Quote from: Proudhuff on 07 July, 2019, 11:41:32 PM
But what's this in Damage Report, Windows for droids... what ever next?
Windows for droids - that's just asking for BSoD!
Quote from: matty_ae on 06 July, 2019, 02:52:21 PM
Indigo Prime returns with a re-cap that is one of the funniest things ever to read aloud. It also has a typo in the second line.
It does? I've read and re-read that panel and can't figure out where the typo is?
There's a letter missing from "recruited."
Y'know, thinking about it over a re-read, stuff like this week's Thistlebone is what makes 2000AD for me. I know I've said that I'm not sold on the story so far, and it's definitely overshadowed in those stakes by this week's Dredd, but the inventiveness and impact of the imagery just bowls me over. It's that magic you get when a top-tier artist like SBD is so obviously completely engaged with what he's drawing, and you get the feeling of something truly unique being created that you absolutely would not get anywhere else in English-language comics. I'm thinking Firekind, Necronauts, The Dead , Necropolis or Shamballa here: perfect confluence of script and artist = alchemy.
I'm not saying I want every strip to do this, or even that there always has to be one like this, but when it does happen it's the 'why' of 2000AD.
Spoiler blocked in case someone's playing catch-up
Just gonna throw this in there, but I wasn't impressed by [spoiler]Rico[/spoiler] in the Dredd story. [spoiler]She was running, but she wasn't a killer and the story could easily have been written so she was taken down with a leg shot. I don't think we've seen anything to suggest that Rico is that brutal. Sure, she has to go down bad to enable the shock ending, but another Judge could have used.
[/spoiler]
Just a tone thing, I guess.
Regards,
Robin
Quote from: Robin Low on 13 July, 2019, 01:58:32 PM
Spoiler blocked in case someone's playing catch-up
Just gonna throw this in there, but I wasn't impressed by [spoiler]Rico[/spoiler] in the Dredd story. [spoiler]She was running, but she wasn't a killer and the story could easily have been written so she was taken down with a leg shot. I don't think we've seen anything to suggest that Rico is that brutal. Sure, she has to go down bad to enable the shock ending, but another Judge could have used.
[/spoiler]
Just a tone thing, I guess.
Regards,
Robin
I thought the same. Though Dredd has done similar things in the past - 'So my aim was off.'
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 13 July, 2019, 02:04:44 PM
I thought the same. Though Dredd has done similar things in the past - 'So my aim was off.'
Yeah, that's true enough. It never quite sits right with me though, even less so these days.
Regards,
Robin
It was a bit brutal, but he is a vlone of Dredd and Dredf's done plenty worse. I toughy it was lampshaded quite nice by Dredd's explanation of the Judges's SoP. And at some point Rico has to get fed up searching for his ctitically injured and secretly abducted Pops.
Jovus but my fingers are extra fat today!
It had to be Rico, to explain why the psi mistook him for Dredd when she foresaw it. As for the brutality, the judges have always been bastards. Also, Rico was emotionally invested in the case, since it concerned the abduction of his nearest relative. I didn't have any problem with accepting how things turned out.
(https://i.imgur.com/yjb5zXN.png?1)
Reboot Rico has another 7 years on the mean streets before he turns into a whiney, emo, lib - like his dad.
If you want happy endings then maybe Dredd is not the story for you.......
Quote from: broodblik on 13 July, 2019, 05:35:44 PM
If you want happy endings then maybe Dredd is not the story for you.......
Robin gave John Wagner the idea for
Origins, so he's probably fine with the concept of ambiguous endings:
(https://i.imgur.com/faMF8GR.png?1)
Quote from: Frank on 10 July, 2019, 02:47:05 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/I2PwCXH.png?1)
Dinnae hink sae. Maybe the real horror of the story is that everyone's turning Scottish? *
I initially thought it must be set in Scotland as well, but in Prog 2138 Avril and Seema are referred to as "southerners". Naeb'dy Scottish wid ever ca' thim that if they soond English, (which Seema seems to, as she uses the word "sarnie" in prog 2136). I therefore theorise that Thistlebone is indeed set in England, bit only jist ower the boarder.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 13 July, 2019, 08:22:01 PM
Quote from: Frank on 10 July, 2019, 02:47:05 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/I2PwCXH.png?1)
Dinnae hink sae. Maybe the real horror of the story is that everyone's turning Scottish? *
I initially thought it must be set in Scotland as well, but in Prog 2138 Avril and Seema are referred to as "southerners". Naeb'dy Scottish wid ever ca' thim that if they soond English, (which Seema seems to, as she uses the word "sarnie" in prog 2136). I therefore theorise that Thistlebone is indeed set in England, bit only jist ower the boarder.
I've been to Berwick, but I'd be lying if I said I could remember what dialect they spoke there. Carlisle is as much a mystery to me as the bits on the Mappa Mundi where imaginative cartographers supposed dog-headed men dwell.
Everyone south of Gretna might speak like The Broons, but voddy, Bucky, shite, no' for not, ye've, dinny, nae, aye and a kid called Rab (https://i.imgur.com/raEvAn3.jpg?1) - as well as the aforementioned Malky Kinniburgh and Kirkstow sound too
Still Game to denote
Likely Lads.If that turns out
not to be the case I'll just be more interested in the story
*, but the most obvious reason for including what appear to be four or five Jock-talking characters in your story is to let readers know it's set in Irn-Bruburgh.
* Eglinton might be deliberately constructing ambiguity because he's interested in liminal spaces where things (and people) aren't one thing or another, or the speech of the kids might be meant to link them to Mairi from the first episode and illustrate how cult members came to Harrowvale from other places. I'm open to all that if something happens next week that makes it clear this all happening in Upper Petewellsland - and the fact the editorial staff think the story's set in England kind of suggests it is. Harrowvale certainly sounds more Anglo than Scots.
Scottish people have been known to escape over the border occasionally
(https://i.imgur.com/GvSgfzC.png?1)
Quote from: Frank on 13 July, 2019, 10:27:13 PM
I've been to Berwick, but I'd be lying if I said I could remember what dialect they spoke there.
A mixture of Scots, Romany and Geordie. Don't know about the alcohol side of things but instances of all the other words definitely extend further down than Berwick with the possible exception of "dinnae" which seems to rather abruptly change to "divn't" on the border.
I also know of at least one Rab from Berwick (although that might be due to Scottish relatives), and speaking as both a Malky and a Kirk who's predisposed to notice such things, I can tell you that there are a hell of a lot of Kirk placenames all over the entirety of the North of England.
Incidentally, "Kirkstow" translates as Church (from Old Norse) holy/meeting place (from Old English).
(Didn't even need to look that last fact up, by the way. I have an auntie who stayed at a place called Stow. It's 17 miles away from me, in the Scottish Borders).
Unusually perceptive do-gooder shot down for trying to give everyone free healthcare:
(https://i.imgur.com/LMR4Ptq.png?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/5182uz8.png?1)
S A T I R E
Am I the only one that thought 'The Samaritan' kind of pushed the boundary of revealing Dredd's face too far? He's been heavily bandaged before, but in this his right eye was completely uncovered. You could more or less extrapolate his whole face.
I into the forums to see what other's were thinking and not one person even mentioned it. Heh.
Heh indeed! This comes up every now and again, but I think the general consensus is that it doesn't matter - we've seen Dredd's face many times, from child (Blood Cadets) to older man (Dredd Angel), and most of the rest time and again. Dredd's face is his helmet visor, what's under it is just padding.
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 July, 2019, 12:46:04 AM
Dredd's face is his helmet visor, what's under it is just padding.
Couldn't agree more. Whats under the helmet doesn't matter (fnarr)
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 July, 2019, 12:46:04 AM
we've seen Dredd's face many times, from child (Blood Cadets) to older man (Dredd Angel), and most of the rest time and again
Anyone with a decent Case Files collection has seen every single feature of Dredd's face(s) individually
(https://i.imgur.com/CRE0zkc.png?1)
Not sure what difference seeing them all at the same time would make. That doesn't mean I want to see Dredd without his helmet - it's pointless, but it's the kind of trivia that appeals to
a certain kind of reader, so why kill their buzz.
This will seem like pointless pedantry, but Dredd doesn't have
a face. If you saw how Staz Johnson drew his face, you still wouldn't know how Henry Flint would draw Dredd's face - and Chris Weston would draw Dredd's face differently from both of them.
Besides, we've already seen what happens when the only artist who counts has to draw Dredd. If Dredd had
a face (singular), this is what it would look like:
(https://i.imgur.com/kZZNec1.png?1)
...And that Carlos not-Stallone one actually works fine, it's pretty much compatible with all the others, and is instantly forgettable and unimportant. That could be anyone (much like yer man from Skip Tracer!), it's not a character. Today's Dredd is just some old battered hardass in a helmet, emphasis on the helmet.
It is however great fun coming up with photo-fits and speculations, so there's no raining on anyone's parade going on here. As Ron Smith had the honour of first drawing Fargo's face, and he looks a little like the Love Island version of John Wagner, I'm happy to use that for my personal fanwank-fantasies of current Dredd.
It is odd though how every single time Dredd gets seriously injured, and despite 22nd century med-tech, it is always necessary to bandage most of his head to nose level.
Wait, I'm not done!
See this guy?
(https://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Johnny-Alpha-Strontium-Dog-2000AD-c.jpg)
That's a character with a face - shorn of his Snoopy helmet and lurid bondage gear, you'd still know him amywhere, even it was Colin McNeil....
(https://cafart.r.worldssl.net/images/Category_6205/subcat_11873/IM000185.JPG)
...or Steve Dillon...
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f5CeYHsQgt8/SElryLcju5I/AAAAAAAAAkU/cHHia86D-SA/s320/515.jpg)
...or Simon Harrison...
(https://britcitreviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/the_final_solution_01_stor.jpg)
or even no-longer-canon trapped soul version by Nigel Dobbyn...
(https://2000ad.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/scan0013.jpg?w=584)
... that's a character with a face.
That Carlos Dredd up there, or even all those bandaged versions? Could be Butcher from The Boys, could be Bill Savage, could be the Punisher. But stick a helmet on his face, voila, Dredd.
.
There's a misconception that Dredd is hiding something.
(http://i.imgur.com/ofuF7IG.jpg) (https://imgur.com/ofuF7IG)
(http://i.imgur.com/faJv9J3.jpg) (https://imgur.com/faJv9J3)
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 July, 2019, 06:17:33 PM
...That could be anyone (much like yer man from Skip Tracer!), it's not a character. Today's Dredd is just some old battered hardass in a helmet, emphasis on the helmet.
The Skip Tracer is future-Fargo clone fused with the undead spirit of Anderson rumour / thesis is officially GO folks.
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 July, 2019, 06:31:21 PM
See this guy?
https://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Johnny-Alpha-Strontium-Dog-2000AD-c.jpg (https://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Johnny-Alpha-Strontium-Dog-2000AD-c.jpg)
That's a character with a face - shorn of his Snoopy helmet and lurid bondage gear, you'd still know him anywhere ... That Carlos Dredd up there, or even all those bandaged versions? Could be Butcher from The Boys, could be Bill Savage, could be the Punisher. But stick a helmet on his face, voila, Dredd.
When I read a story for the first time, it's like I'm looking at a film in my head. So, I can see quite well how the character looks; I try to reflect their personality in their face, their movement and their clothes.
I try to design a character so they will be easily identifiable even if they change clothes. With Dredd, the uniform is practically the most important thing, but with Strontium Dog, he's changed his clothes, shaved his hair, and you can recognise him.
Not just Strontium Dog: Just A Pilgrim, Durham Red, Bloody Mary - they are easily recognisableThe late Carlos Ezquerra, interviewed by Julius Howe for Inky Fingers, 2014 (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1glidhi-CNYNM70i8Tuj5Ft6jFmd8IX-TUwabEgwptSg/edit?usp=sharing)
While I agree that Dredd's helmet is his face, if talentless hacks like Mick McMahon and Brian Bolland hadn't been allowed to develop the look of Dredd to suit their own (very different) styles, Dredd's helmetless head would probably still pass Matt Groening's silhouette test today.
The cadets at the Academy call him Old Fishyface:
(https://i.imgur.com/ASDQ6kB.png)
© and property of the Ezquerra estate
Quote from: Frank on 25 July, 2019, 08:43:35 PM
While I agree that Dredd's helmet is his face, if talentless hacks like Mick McMahon and Brian Bolland hadn't been allowed to develop the look of Dredd to suit their own (very different) styles, Dredd's helmetless head would probably still pass Matt Groening's silhouette test today.
Excellent point!