Main Menu

Prog 2062 - Smush Hour

Started by hippynumber1, 29 December, 2017, 03:00:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

hippynumber1

New prog, (nearly) new year, and the first time I've bagged the prog thread in a while.
Quickly then:

Cover: Smashing Mongrol by Clint Langley

Dredd: Interesting enough but there's something about this arc that's just not grabbing me. Lovely art though.

Savage: my favourite thing in the prog at the mo; a great action episode with more brilliant art from the Goddard droid.

Brass Sun: More talking. Get on with it! (I do like it though.)

ABC Warriors: I'm enjoying this strip more now that Uncle Pat seems to have got over his continuity porn obsession of the last few stories.

Bad Company: Won't someone please make it stop?

Have a great new year, folks.

Tjm86

With Carroll on script duties on Dredd I'm not sure how this is going to end.  If it was Wagner then I would be optimistic that he would be able to pull a turn that we didn't see coming and add something to the ongoing narrative.  As you say, Macneil on art is helping.  Perhaps Carroll will surprise us this time.

A.Cow

Oh bloody hell ... Pat Mills has discovered Facebook.
This is going to be like the "email" thing all over again, isn't it?

TordelBack

Quote from: A.Cow on 30 December, 2017, 01:08:57 PM
Oh bloody hell ... Pat Mills has discovered Facebook.
This is going to be like the "email" thing all over again, isn't it?

We'll know for sure when the Vizards in Defoe start talking boasting about how many followers their Maskbook noticeboards have.

Colin YNWA

Well the new year in Thrill Power starts brightly enough.

First thing of note is how great Ben Willsher's preview piccie is for Durham Red. Not sure if this will carry through into the series as a whole but there's a real Jae Lee vibe about the picture. Looking forward to this one landing.

Into the Prog Dredd makes a decent continuation of the current storyline, its really becoming interesting and I'm intrigued to see where the haunting from East Meg goes.

Two more Mills pieces and much to my surprise both are fine. Savage continues the action well, its a break neck romp devoid of any politising worth the name... which these days, unless Uncle Pat surprises us with something new to say is when is talent for weaving a tale always shines brightest. To be honest the same can be said for ABC Warriors, which while it seems to be making some social commentry is so dry and tired as to barely be worth noticing and as such doesn't really interfere with the fun.

Brass Sun, ah how I love Brass Sun and this story is starting to boil up nicely, moving all its pieces into place.

Bad Company is a different beast than the old stuff (which I happen to have re-read recently) but then so is war and so that's fitting. There's some nice touches here and I remain cautiously optimistic that this is going somewhere interesting.

So yeah good Prog and while this run of tales is still a little on the brink and it could all go a bit pear-shaped right now is showing the potential of being a winner.

Magnetica

Well whatever you think of the stories, you'd be hard pressed to say the Prog isn't value. Is that a first? Every page apart from the cover and the Nerve Centre was story - no ads  at all. It feels churlish to say it, but it feels odd reading the back cover. As to the contents it's 4 good / great strips and one stin that is not so good.

First the great strips and it is great to see Uncle Pat back on form after the disappointment of the last Slaine series. Savage and especially ABC Warriors are fantastic  this week. Indeed I think this ABC Warriors strip could be the best thing he has done in years.

I re-read the Xmas issue and this week's Brass Sun together and they do a really good job of bringing you (back) up to speed. Don't think I am going to need to dig out the back Progs after all.

Dredd was solid enough...for a non Wagner.

Bringing up the rear for me is Bad Company . I can't work out of this is meant to be a parody or not. Well actually I guess it is; it has reached the point where I just can't read it as a straight story anymore. I won't skip it, but please: I don't need another series of this, so it would be good to wrap the whole thing up.

norton canes

Got to say I wasn't hugely fired up about 2018's inaugural prog. The Dredd story is OK but moving pretty slowly, it's obviously geared up to being read in long form and isn't really providing a hit over five (six?) pages. Savage passed by almost unnoticed. The ABC Warriors story is largely fueled by one of Pat Mills' typically obscure cultural references. Bad Company doesn't need to be there - as I said before, I wish Pete and Roof were serving up something new. Brass Sun is trying (I mean, it's making an effort  :)) but it's a bit underwhelming.

It may be cover-to-cover stories but this is the most disappointed I've been with a line-up since coming back to 2000 AD a year or so ago. 

DrJomster

I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I thought this was an excellent Prog. Every strip was a winner for me.

Brass Sun wins this week's prestigious Top Thrill spot, being really quite awesome in every department. Some strong competition, mind.

Roll on next Prog!
The hippo has wisdom, respect the hippo.

TordelBack

Nothing really grabbing me this week, except the rather natty Durham Red promo.  Savage and Bad Company are pretty to look at and that's about it, ABC Warriors feels painfully dated with its social media tripe,  Brass Sun is on its second week of a long reprise so literally nothing new there,  and surely I've read this specific Dredd story at least twice before? 

JayzusB.Christ

Glad it's not just me.  Not really loving the prog either right now, for pretty much all the reasons stated above. Bad Company is really, really overstaying its welcome.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

DrRocka

Yep, add my voice to the dissenters. I really think that there's nothing in this week's prog that I've not seen before quite a few times. Brass Sun/Brink/Helium all seem interchangeable to me and only the latter did I enjoy. Savage is marred by the bloody song lyrics for me, and the less said about Bad Co the better.

To be honest I've been a bit jaded with the Prog for a while now. I know we all get like this when it goes through a period that's not suited to our individual tastes, so hopefully it'll improve for me soon. It's just the thought of buying it for the next ten weeks or so until one of the stories ends that does me nut in.

Can we go back to the days when at least one strip is a thinly veiled western in space?
Never ever bloody anything ever

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: DrRocka on 07 January, 2018, 12:13:57 PM
Brass Sun/Brink/Helium all seem interchangeable

This, I'll confess, baffles me. Not liking any/all of those strips is down to taste, and I can sort of see how the interlinking elements of the Edgiverse might give a sameness to his strips to anyone not interested in trying to figure out how to join the dots, but I'm not sure how you drop Brink in there. Not liking it, I get. Finding it samey with Brass Sun... baffling.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Steve Green

I don't get that either - apart from a distinctive lead artist, one's a clockpunk quest, the other a more slow burn hard scifi possibly supernatural series.

DrRocka

I think the main thing is that I find the art quite static? It's lovely to see, but I don't get much "movement" from it (ooeer).
I did like the Helium one as I recall, but these three strips never fire up my enthusiasm. Perhaps a reread is in order?
Like I said, I love the Western In Space elements of 2000ad, so as soon as Johnny Alpha returns I'll as likely be back on board. Or Kingdom. Or Grey Area. Or...
Never ever bloody anything ever

Proudhuff

HNY folks....
Brass tacks.

Cover: big robots SMASH! What's not to like?

Dredd: Not sure where TB has read this before, but I'm enjoying the whole trip, and hoping there will be a big bang at the end storywise. Artwork is top notch as always from this droid.


Savage: with one mighty bound he was free...


Brass Sun: liking this and the feeling that this is an opening gambit of the final chess match add an extra frisson of excitement.

ABC Warriors: I like the '10 million other likes', however it really shouldn't be the hook for a whole story.

Bad Company: I feel this is the waste of two great talents, not sure what to make of this, as the original seemed to have nailed the coffin lid on these guys, and resurrecting them was a misstep IMHO.

Now back to work all of you  :D




DDT did a job on me