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Prog 2110 - Gremlins in the System!

Started by Richard, 01 December, 2018, 11:48:52 AM

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Jim_Campbell

One thing I think people may be missing about Kingdom is that there are a lot of calls on the Elson droid's time these days, and it may be simple pragmatism on the part of the creators to end the current run in a way which could be picked up if and when Richard has time, but which serves as a proper ending if it turns out that he never does.

Better this, surely, than ending it in a way that demands obvious continuation and leaving it hanging for five years, or never getting resolved at all...?
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Pyroxian

Quote from: norton canes on 06 December, 2018, 10:41:16 AM
I don't have progs or collections to hand, so can anyone tell me whether the other chapters have ended with 'THE END' below their final panel? I mean the SinDex story in this prog has 'THE END' on the final page doesn't it?

Most of them have.

Kingdom - The End
The Promised Land - The End
Call of the Wild - The End
His Master's Voice - The End
Aux Drift - The End (Kingdom will Return)
Beast of Eden - End of Book Six
As it Is In Heaven - The End

The Amstor Computer

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 06 December, 2018, 10:51:37 AM
One thing I think people may be missing about Kingdom is that there are a lot of calls on the Elson droid's time these days, and it may be simple pragmatism on the part of the creators to end the current run in a way which could be picked up if and when Richard has time, but which serves as a proper ending if it turns out that he never does.

Better this, surely, than ending it in a way that demands obvious continuation and leaving it hanging for five years, or never getting resolved at all...?

Indeed. Look at something like Caballistics (essentially left hanging for a decade+ and only now wrapping up in the Christmas prog) or more recent strips like Helium or Stickleback (3 years+ and 4 years+) that were unfinished (for whatever reason) despite being popular with readers, and left in an awkward position where it was clear that their stories weren't completely told.

Although it can be read as a conclusion to the whole saga, the opening panels of this episode of "Alpha and Omega" also leave DAbnett enough wriggle room to continue Kingdom in the future:

QuoteThis tale of Gene the Hackman, Lee Sower, and Pause who walks alone, it ends here.

...and:

QuoteSlipped away out of this tale. Safe for now, but alone. For those three, the future held nothing but hard survival, day to day, scrappy ever after.

Enough there to leave an out for another story - this tale ends here etc. - but also enough to wrap the whole strip up if need be, and in an appropriate way.

IndigoPrime

I love Kingdom. It's one of those strips that for me sits alongside some of the classics in 2000 AD, such as Strontium Dog. In the old days of 2000 AD, it could easily enough have been a regular, but that's not really how the Prog works these days with anything, bar Dredd. Given that it does have a narrative that's ongoing, I too would rather have an ending than a comma.

I'm of course not going to be annoyed if this creative team pics the strip up again in the future; but also I'll be content with what we have if this really is the end of the run. And it's been a fantastic run.

broodblik

An ending can ruin a whole series.  As norton said this feels like real lazy writing (Abnett for me is not a lazy writer). It was the easier ending to do.  This feels more like a season ending not a series ending.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Dandontdare

Quote from: The Amstor Computer on 06 December, 2018, 11:40:50 AM
QuoteSlipped away out of this tale. Safe for now, but alone. For those three, the future held nothing but hard survival, day to day, scrappy ever after.

Forgot to mention that "scrappy ever after" gave me a huge grin.  :D

Slugbreath

Gremlins in the system leads to "unathorised" edits by them

Frank




Steve Yeowell posts the black and white art to each episode of Sinister Dexter on his Facebook page. This seems to answer the question of whether the colouring is responsible for the 'blurry' effect noted here in previous weeks.

This appears to be a result of Yeowell's adoption of a pencil effect* and, sometimes, the use of two identical fine lines very close to each other, as if they were made with two pens taped together.


* The 'effect' might just be actual pencil, for all I know

MacabreMagpie

John Charles has been a good match for Yeowell on SinDex in recent times but, bloody hell, those black and white pages are gorgeous.

Trout

Brink is so, so absorbing. I think anthology format of 2000 AD makes it possible to have such an understated, subtle strip run for so long. I'm loving every episode and can't wait for more, yet little seems to happen.

Great Dredd, too, and I enjoyed the Kingdom tie-up. I'm a Yeowell fan but I'm afraid the current SinDex run has lost me again. I've been blowing hot and cold on this strip since it debuted, a billion years ago, and it could just be my fault my attention has wandered.

DrJomster

A very fine prog to round off an excellent run. Praise be to Tharg.

It's all been good, but Brink is particularly so. 
The hippo has wisdom, respect the hippo.

Eamonn Clarke

Just noticed I have a mesaage from Imgur about the cover image:

"Thanks for sharing your post with the community! Just a heads up -- it looks like you forgot to mark your post (https://imgur.com/gallery/wMqUBRe) as "mature," so we went ahead and marked it for you, which ensures it will be available to those who have opted in to see mature content. This is a friendly reminder, not an account warning. For more information on Imgur's Community Rules, please check out https://imgur.com/rules"

I presume because the gremlins are naked?

Frank

Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 09 December, 2018, 11:16:59 AM
Just noticed I have a mesaage from Imgur about the cover image:

"Thanks for sharing your post with the community! Just a heads up -- it looks like you forgot to mark your post (https://imgur.com/gallery/wMqUBRe) as "mature," so we went ahead and marked it for you, which ensures it will be available to those who have opted in to see mature content. This is a friendly reminder, not an account warning. For more information on Imgur's Community Rules, please check out https://imgur.com/rules"

I presume because the gremlins are naked?

You only see their arses. My mum has a ton of baby pictures Imgur would find very sexy.



titchard

Quote from: Richard on 01 December, 2018, 12:13:34 PM
and I really enjoyed the dialogue between the workers.

Me too - I found this so funny, great little back and forth.

JamesC

I think that's probably the end of Kingdom and I really enjoyed it.
I think it could work really well as a setting to re-visit in one-offs in Xmas progs and summer specials. Tales from the Kingdom could be great. I'd quite like to see a one-off told from the POV of Them or something.