Main Menu

Prog 2035 - War Games

Started by A.Cow, 10 June, 2017, 02:40:21 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

norton canes

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 June, 2017, 12:35:10 PM
Grey Area is structured this way, right up until the last arc, where the team's exile gave it more of a continuous storyline, and I would expect it to revert now. Other examples include Survival Geeks, Anderson and the shorter-run series like Jaegir and Dandridge, which tend to have self-contained scenarios, albeit within a bigger narrative.  Previous examples in recent years would include the first (superb) run of Damnation Station, and perhaps Indigo Prime

I like a long-running story, but I do agree with a call for an episodic middle ground between Future Shocks/3Rillers and continuity-heavy stuff like Brass Sun

Maybe they've just been getting the balance wrong recently then, because since I got on board at Christmas, as far as I can remember pretty much every story except SinDex and the odd Future Shock (and Dredd, as mentioned) has been long-form.

At least one other short-form strip in each prog would be great.   

Magnetica

Hmmm...not sure Indigo Prime counts, given the relatively few stories it has had and the eternity between them.

Another great example of doing one offs within a larger narrative is surely good old Strontium Dog.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 June, 2017, 12:38:45 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 June, 2017, 12:25:33 PMThe other obvious example is Sinister Dexter, but that's long since become another long-form saga since the dimension-hopping nonsesnse started.

Apologies for the double-post, but as one of the top-three of the forum's SinDex apologists, I feel compelled note that the last few short stories were almost entirely self-contained, with only hints at the larger context.

That's fair enough, aye. Dandridge is another good example that I did consider, but as the last story appeared in 2013 I sort of assumed that it wasn't coming back (sadly).
@jamesfeistdraws

TordelBack

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 June, 2017, 01:39:51 PMDandridge is another good example that I did consider, but as the last story appeared in 2013 I sort of assumed that it wasn't coming back (sadly).

Years pass like months, but the days are like weeks, afternoons measured out in coffee spoons, something something TS Eliot.  I would have guessed 2016, 2015 at the outside!


Magnetica

I remember reading somewhere or hearing it mentioned on a talk tecently that there are no plans for anymore Dandridge.

dweezil2

Those SJS uniforms are enough to give Dredd badge envy!

Serious though, they perfectly embody the intimidating nature of the department and scream "we're SJS, don't fuck with us!"

Gorgeous art and a very intriguing opening part!
Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

Taryn Tailz

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 June, 2017, 01:54:54 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 June, 2017, 01:39:51 PMDandridge is another good example that I did consider, but as the last story appeared in 2013 I sort of assumed that it wasn't coming back (sadly).

Years pass like months, but the days are like weeks, afternoons measured out in coffee spoons, something something TS Eliot.  I would have guessed 2016, 2015 at the outside!

The last time we saw Dandridge was in 'The Copper Conspiracy', which ended its run in Prog 1831, which was in 2013.

Frank


Concise summary: Defoe reads better in weekly installments, Brink is more satisfying taken as a whole.

Defoe errs, perhaps too far, on the side of caution, running through the list of suspects and their possible motives three times in five episodes. The reader is never allowed to forget they're reading a detective story and they're supposed to be speculating, week to week, on whodunnit and why.

Brink has been more a little more freewheeling within the confines of the detective genre - whodunnit seeming less important than the mystery of whether we're reading an X-Files supernatural, cosmic thriller or a human drama concerning double cross and corruption.

Without last series's clever feint of icing the apparent title character, Skeleton Life's mystery and ability to intrigue rested entirely with the question of whether the bad guys were elder gods or Senior Vice Presidents. Once that became clear, I'm not sure I cared which of the humans was behind the human trafficking.

Asher's relationship with Marian was outlined nicely in the opening scene, but the personalities of him, Styles, and Otis - and, therefore, their motives - were as well defined as a Steve Yeowell convention sketch. Mills paints his suspects with the broadest of brush strokes , but, week by week, I had a clear picture of their personalities and possible motives.

Skelton Life is a better written story than Diehards in almost every way - in a single read, Bridge, Vita, and even Fil are convincing characters, and the sense of atmosphere is palpable. But on a weekly basis, it was only my prior investment in Kurtis and the future direction of the strip that kept me invested.

Cruder on every possible level, Mills's knockabout comedy and sledgehammer social satire served up a more satisfying six pages every seven days. In between his extended tirade on the suspect nature of anyone who writes for reasons other than financial reward, Uncle Pat made sure I was either laughing or grossed out.

Detective stories are surprisingly rare in Tharg's canon*. On the evidence of this small sample, the gumshoe format is a good way of pulling the reader through a weekly serial, but the whodunnit formula - with its concentration on character and motive - is a more compelling method of maintaining interest than making the genre of the story the source of mystery.



The Killing Of Kidd (275-281) represents the best of a narrow field.

Frank

Quote from: JoFox2108 on 11 June, 2017, 09:39:32 AM
Brink ...  It's just a minor point but I just kind of wish there was less pink in the colours.  I can see how it works with Junot's clothes but the colour seems wrong for the darkness of the story.  I keep expecting a talking unicorn to pop out.

The pink borders denote a world in which Ivanka enjoys complete control of her environment. As that control slips away - as the character falls into unconsciousness - the pink border on the second page gradually fades into black. Clever, subtle visual storytelling.

The plot of this series - trusted family retainers exploit rumours of ghosts to drive down the value of an uninhabited building/previously successful business, so it can be purchased at a reduced price - is similarly sophisticated, recalling the classics of antiquity:






Jacqusie

Quote from: Frank on 18 June, 2017, 09:21:53 AM

...as well defined as a Steve Yeowell convention sketch...

...Detective stories are surprisingly rare in Tharg's canon*



Saucer of Milk... Yeowell doesn't really deserve the stick he gets on here IMHO.

I lost the rest of your obviously well informed information and insider knowledge looking for the other twin asterisk *






* I didn't find it

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Jacqusie on 18 June, 2017, 02:15:15 PM
Quote from: Frank on 18 June, 2017, 09:21:53 AM

...as well defined as a Steve Yeowell convention sketch...

...Detective stories are surprisingly rare in Tharg's canon*



Saucer of Milk... Yeowell doesn't really deserve the stick he gets on here IMHO.

Yeah but the leader of his gang insist Steve Yeowell isn't a talented artist and so regardless of his obvious talent he has to say things like that.

As you rightly say the Mighty Yeowell comes in for some needless stick in these parts, but fear not there are a good few of us who see his considerable talents and don't worry about the fact that he doesn't use lots of little (unnessecary) lines.

Frank

Quote from: Jacqusie on 18 June, 2017, 02:15:15 PM
Yeowell doesn't really deserve the stick he gets on here

Je t'aime Stevie Owl and have often fought his corner back to back with Colin YNWA, like Double Dragon. He's just an example of an artist whose style doesn't involve (and doesn't need) a great deal of cross hatching or stippling.

I think Abnett's Tharg's best regular scribe and I enjoy Brink just as much as Defoe; doesn't change the fact that Bridge and Gita finish the series by pulling off Votek's scary mask to reveal he was the crabby old caretaker all along.



* Very little of the copious spewings above (or anything I post here) concerns my likes or dislikes, because I don't think that's interesting or important. My entire time on this thread can be summed up as I NOTICED THIS AND (wrongly) THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING.