2000 AD Online Forum

Spoilers => Prog => Topic started by: Tjm86 on 18 May, 2019, 12:43:54 PM

Title: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Tjm86 on 18 May, 2019, 12:43:54 PM
Jon Davis-Hunt's cover is quality for sure.  Setting out the stall for a quality read. 

McConville's Dredd casts our mind back a loooong way to an early Hot-dog run as he explores the implications of events on Justice Dept.  The surprise though is who is back on art duties, another blast from the past:  Siku.  A very welcome return and an interesting comparison with former work.

Scarlet Traces continues this theme of returns and ratchets up the action.  It rattles along at an incredible pace and packs a lot in.  As always, D'israeli's artwork is outstanding.

Max Normal may well change the pace but not the quality.  Secrets revealed and threats dispensed.  Holden's art suits the tale well.

3rillers starts to move the story into familiar territory.  Corcoran continues to do a quality job that stands well against the roster of artists he is up against.  Whether Peatty can land the story well remains to be seen but so far it has made for one of the better 3rillers.

Kingmaker rounds out the prog with a return to the hard core action.  After the revelations of recent weeks its boots to balls as Edginton and Gallagher crank things up.

Thrills of the Future touts the return of Indigo Prime with Carter on art duties again.  So all round lots to enjoy and to look forward to.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: broodblik on 18 May, 2019, 12:54:05 PM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 18 May, 2019, 12:43:54 PM

Max Normal may well change the pace but not the quality.  Secrets revealed and threats dispensed.  Holden's art suits the tale well.


Isn't Dan Cornwell on art duty, did they switch artist ?
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Tjm86 on 18 May, 2019, 01:30:16 PM
did.  my bad.  Apologies to Mr Cornwell.   :-[
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Colin YNWA on 18 May, 2019, 03:21:38 PM
 Some issues this week behind a lovely cover.

Dredd is kinda... well... its set up, I get that ... but its what exactly. It just feels old and takes a long time (well six pages but that a long time in 2000ad land) to do what exactly. Let's see what happens when Dredd faces down our fella BUT Siku back on art and man I'm liking that.

Scarlet Traces remains high octane fun and I'm enjoying this.

Max Normal has a quieter episode as the tales transitions from the past to the present, while keeping the past very much front a centre. Its done well but didn't blow me away the way this strip has done to date.  But its still great.

3riller - mah, its just not gettin' me I'm afraid. Virtual escape from dysopian rebellian... feels ... well see Dredd.

My big issue is Kingmaker however. Now I've really enjoyed Kingmaker to date BUT this episode has openned some significent concerns. I have really enjoyed Crixus to date but he's come back from the dead and has super do what ya like ebora powers and we have a danger of having a too useful get out of jail free card that will remove jeopardy... I guess I shouldn't anticipate problems but they rooted in my noggin this episode so good lines and sharp action aside it kinda spoiled things for me.

So a slight down turn almost all round this Prog. As I've said before its always interesting how the little things can add up so the same series of stories can drop from GREAT Prog to Okay Prog...


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 19 May, 2019, 11:33:28 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/xD2ODpP.jpg)

Jon Davis-Hunt
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Magnetica on 20 May, 2019, 11:20:45 PM
Dredd was interesting for two things. I never expected to see Siku back in the Prog. He art style has changed significantly.

I can see what he is trying to do on page 4 but it doesn't really work. Ok have Dredd's head/ helmet as a back drop and divide up the panels but how come the panels don't line up? The top of the helmet is especially jarring. The close up on the top two panels also doesn't work nor does the way the top panel of page 4 lines up with the top panel of page 5. Not that I think that was intentional.

The other interesting thing is the evolution in Rory McConville's writing. I think he has had good ideas before which have been let down by the execution. At least here he moves away from exposition via a series of text boxes and we at have dialogue to explain what is going on. It all reads much better and is encouraging for the future.

@Tjm86 - have we seen Spode before? I don't remember him.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Judge Olde on 20 May, 2019, 11:41:03 PM
Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 19 May, 2019, 11:33:28 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/xD2ODpP.jpg)

Jon Davis-Hunt

Isn't that a lot of legs for a tripod?  :-X :-\
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Richard on 20 May, 2019, 11:46:11 PM
Spode was in The Hotdog Run in progs 233-235.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Magnetica on 20 May, 2019, 11:57:53 PM
I remember the free packet of Griddles more than the supporting cast on the Hot Dog Run. Oh and the marvellous Ron Smith art work.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Timothy on 21 May, 2019, 08:15:20 AM
Quote from: Richard on 20 May, 2019, 11:46:11 PM
Spode was in The Hotdog Run in progs 233-235.
Shouldn't he be Sidcup by now?
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Southstreeter on 21 May, 2019, 05:53:46 PM
Still no prog in CalHab. Judging by the lack of reviews on here, I guess I'm not the only one. Maybe Tharg will knock another 50% off shop purchases  ;) ?
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 21 May, 2019, 10:19:10 PM
Man, those Griddles.

I want free edible free gifts! Where is my Hubba-Bubba?
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: broodblik on 22 May, 2019, 03:30:47 PM
Again a solid prog but nothing spectacular. Everything just feels so middle to end of their respective stories


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 22 May, 2019, 05:17:51 PM

(https://i.imgur.com/idZkj7M.png?1)


Genuine pleasure to see Siku again. That flashback page where the huge image of Dredd is broken down into individual panels reminds me of Ezquerra's frequent use of the same technique (https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2018/10/ezquerra-dredd-h_2018.jpg), which is what I think Carlos meant when he said he could control the speed of a story (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=43932.msg993908#msg993908).

Siku's horizontal panels were probably less a philosophical conceit, like Langley's aspiration to make American Reaper feel like widescreen cinema, and more a concession to comics being read on handheld devices, but even this consideration of form as part of the storytelling process reminded me of the boy Akinsiku's transition from double-page spreads (https://i.imgur.com/Zqi71Gd.jpg) to tall vertical panels (https://i.imgur.com/kr4dpIi.jpg) to convey the physical space of the lift shaft Dredd's trapped in during When The El Breaks (1099).

These action-heavy episodes of Scarlet Traces feel like a completely different story to the previous book's Buddha Of Suburbia/Flash Gordon mash-up. That change of emphasis means the fantastic draughtsmanship steals the show, but the lads are onto something with the peculiarity of the sixties cultural references*, which give the strip the appeal of those SHARE IF YOU REMEMBER CREMOLA FOAM posts (https://exposingbf.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/why-is-britain-first-so-popular-on-facebook/) Britain F*** were using to get your mum into racial identity politics.

Kingmaker is a strip that could clap two bricks between my legs without grabbing my attention, but Goblin Guy's Final Fantasy VII (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c2/Final_Fantasy_VII_Box_Art.jpg/220px-Final_Fantasy_VII_Box_Art.jpg) box art styling hooked onto my eyeballs like Malcolm McDowell. Dan Cornwell's characterful Max Normal art's great, but this story needed ten pages, not ten weeks. I see what Peaty & Corcoran are doing, but I preferred Chimera when it was called Caliphate (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/podcasts/caliphate-isis-rukmini-callimachi.html).


* I'm as sick as anyone else of films, telly and comics that think referencing stuff you remember from other stories is an adequate substitute for creating compelling characters and original stories, but the Co-op vans and Porridge supporting characters that populate Edginton's strips get a pass just because I can't think of anyone else (certainly in comics) who judges those specific British cultural reference points to be as worthy of milking as Buffy or Star-bloody-Wars.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Geoff on 22 May, 2019, 07:53:15 PM
Quote from: Timothy on 21 May, 2019, 08:15:20 AM
Quote from: Richard on 20 May, 2019, 11:46:11 PM
Spode was in The Hotdog Run in progs 233-235.
Shouldn't he be Sidcup by now?


And on the hunt for Sir Watkyn's cow-creamer!


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: norton canes on 23 May, 2019, 10:02:04 AM
Quote from: Magnetica on 20 May, 2019, 11:20:45 PM
Dredd was interesting for two things. I never expected to see Siku back in the Prog. He art style has changed significantly.

I can see what he is trying to do on page 4 but it doesn't really work. Ok have Dredd's head/ helmet as a back drop and divide up the panels but how come the panels don't line up? The top of the helmet is especially jarring. The close up on the top two panels also doesn't work nor does the way the top panel of page 4 lines up with the top panel of page 5. Not that I think that was intentional

I think what's happening is, the top two panels close in on Dredd, then panels 3 and 6 are from the same frame (i.e. they're aligned) with 4 and 5 atop them, both slightly askew.

Quote from: Frank on 22 May, 2019, 05:17:51 PM
Siku's horizontal panels were probably less a philosophical conceit... and more a concession to comics being read on handheld devices

Interesting. Is that a thing with comics these days? Are layouts increasingly becoming a series of horizontal layers? Is it eventually leading to 'responsive' layouts where panels are shuffled around according to screen ratios? 


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Pyroxian on 23 May, 2019, 10:22:07 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 23 May, 2019, 10:02:04 AM
Interesting. Is that a thing with comics these days? Are layouts increasingly becoming a series of horizontal layers? Is it eventually leading to 'responsive' layouts where panels are shuffled around according to screen ratios?

Not that I've noticed. Even digital-only comics still have vertical / non-square panels. Two pages before those Dredd Helmet panels there are some diagonal panels. And even that Dredd Helmet page has speech balloons that overlap previous panels. And don't get me started on the layout of Scarlet Traces and Kingmaker - at one point Crixus' cloak is used as a panel border...
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: I, Cosh on 23 May, 2019, 10:39:06 AM
Agree that this whole setup episode of Dredd could've been done in a page or two but as the highlight of the Prog was having Siku back, it's all good. I know it's been a long time but surprised to see how much his style has changed. Quite a reserved palette for our man but I loved some of the things he was doing with perspective and panel overlays. Personally I thought that page with Dredd's helmet backgrounding every panel was fantastic.

I've rather lost the plot with this Scarlet Traces after enjoying the previous runs so I'll file it for a reread. I realise why and that my criticism is invalid but the whole thing has been too red compared with what we've had before.

Max Normal is a character suited to occasional appearances like the excellent one-off Guy Davis wrote a couple of years back. Like Solo (not the Mario van Peebles one) this current story has gone on too long trying to explain things which really don't need to be explained and the script is showing the strain of having to sustain the speech of Max's brain.

3Riller seems fine and I'm enjoying Kingmaker although I agree that Crixus needs some sort of vulnerability if this is to continue.

Quote from: norton canes on 23 May, 2019, 10:02:04 AM
Interesting. Is that a thing with comics these days? Are layouts increasingly becoming a series of horizontal layers? Is it eventually leading to 'responsive' layouts where panels are shuffled around according to screen ratios?
Don't know about the responsive layouts but it's definitely having an impact on the way comcs are laid out. I think it was an interview with Al Ewing where he said he'd basically never have a double page splash in a script now becuase of how shittily a lot of readers handle that. Maybe the newer generation of bigger tablets will change that back.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Richard on 23 May, 2019, 01:13:26 PM
Comics aren't meant to be read digitally. If you try and it looks shit, you've only yourselves to blame!  ;)
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: broodblik on 23 May, 2019, 02:19:30 PM
Quote from: Richard on 23 May, 2019, 01:13:26 PM
Comics aren't meant to be read digitally. If you try and it looks shit, you've only yourselves to blame!  ;)

That is true but not all of use have access to a physical copy of the prog. I will even make a general statement that reading was never "designed" for digitally consumption.  The reality is that this will become our primary media (we do not need to like it but that is what it is) .

I agree with Cosh where the Dredd strip used Dredd's helmet as the panel layout was excellent.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: MacabreMagpie on 23 May, 2019, 06:41:30 PM
This might be a common feature now which will expose my ignorance but I had a comics-reading app once (or possibly it was just a feature of a digital version of a specific comic) that displayed it one panel at a time, like an interactive storyboard. It was a shite way to read a comic, for an artist who appreciates a unique page layout at least.

Also pleased to see Siku again!
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Darren Stephens on 23 May, 2019, 06:53:34 PM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 23 May, 2019, 10:39:06 AM
Personally I thought that page with Dredd's helmet backgrounding every panel was fantastic.

Me too!
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 23 May, 2019, 07:58:37 PM

I too feel the handle of the genius switch has broken off in Siku's hand.

Trying to explain why someone should like something they don't is pointless, but, even if you don't think Dredd's big heid (https://youtu.be/IqycJpRdVaY) works as a storytelling device, you've got to admit it works as a fantastically surreal image in its own right.

(https://i.imgur.com/0s66DpY.png?2%5Dhttps://i.imgur.com/0s66DpY.png?2)

The repeating red diagonals of Dredd's helmet work lovely as a design element and the extreme close-up on Dredd's dome when the action moves inside his head - as the story switches to flashback - is as clever as it is literal.

(https://i.imgur.com/XXYUIiK.png?2)

Worked for me on every level. Since I mentioned Ezquerra's use of a similar technique (above), I'll admit I sometimes wished Carlos did what Siku did here, and offset the panels a little, so the image didn't join up so perfectly. Not sure I still agree with Kid Me on that score.

(https://i.imgur.com/hapeHUn.png?2)

That wee guy held many strong opinions on lots of topics. Now, I'm not sure he was right.

(https://i.imgur.com/lZfdn37.png?2)


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: sheridan on 23 May, 2019, 08:54:35 PM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 23 May, 2019, 10:39:06 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 23 May, 2019, 10:02:04 AM
Interesting. Is that a thing with comics these days? Are layouts increasingly becoming a series of horizontal layers? Is it eventually leading to 'responsive' layouts where panels are shuffled around according to screen ratios?
Don't know about the responsive layouts but it's definitely having an impact on the way comcs are laid out. I think it was an interview with Al Ewing where he said he'd basically never have a double page splash in a script now becuase of how shittily a lot of readers handle that. Maybe the newer generation of bigger tablets will change that back.


To be fair - double page splash pages became rare when 2000ad ditched the centre spread splash pages.  Not sure why they did that, presumably having an eye on the Titan / Fleetway / Egmont reprint collected editions?  Can't remember when they disappeared, but we had them for the Judge Dredd Oz epic, but not for Necropolis?
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 23 May, 2019, 09:16:47 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 23 May, 2019, 08:54:35 PM
... double page splash pages became rare when 2000ad ditched the centre spread splash pages.  Not sure why they did that, presumably having an eye on the Titan / Fleetway / Egmont reprint collected editions?  Can't remember when they disappeared, but we had them for the Judge Dredd Oz epic, but not for Necropolis?

Centrespreads were a feature of Dredd occupying the only two colour pages in the comic, a slot reserved for the most popular strip. Once the comic went full colour, Dredd moved to the front of the comic, since Tharg reckons the most popular strip should open the comic. *

Since the first page of the opening strip runs on the first facing page of the comic, it can't be a double page spread. The centrespreads and Dredd's position in the comic's running order are discussed in detail here (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=43932.msg1004650#msg1004650), by 2000ad aficionado Ian Hollingsworth.


* ...and the second strongest strip should run at the end of the comic, to leave the reader on a high.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: CalHab on 24 May, 2019, 08:33:42 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 23 May, 2019, 08:54:35 PM
To be fair - double page splash pages became rare when 2000ad ditched the centre spread splash pages.  Not sure why they did that, presumably having an eye on the Titan / Fleetway / Egmont reprint collected editions?  Can't remember when they disappeared, but we had them for the Judge Dredd Oz epic, but not for Necropolis?

Now I'm going to have to look up the Case Files, as I'm sure I remember a couple of DPS in Necropolis with the sisters over the ruined city. Maybe the peak-Carlos art has been expanded in my memory.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: I, Cosh on 24 May, 2019, 09:56:53 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 23 May, 2019, 08:54:35 PM
To be fair - double page splash pages became rare when 2000ad ditched the centre spread splash pages.  Not sure why they did that, presumably having an eye on the Titan / Fleetway / Egmont reprint collected editions?  Can't remember when they disappeared, but we had them for the Judge Dredd Oz epic, but not for Necropolis?
Not completely. Red Seas was full of double page splashes as is ABC Warriors. More recntly, Kingmaker and Lawless have had a few in their relatively short life. They still exist and still impress, but at least one goood writer feels that the digital readership has had an impact on the way he writes a script.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 24 May, 2019, 12:52:42 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 24 May, 2019, 08:33:42 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 23 May, 2019, 08:54:35 PM
Can't remember when they disappeared, but we had them for the Judge Dredd Oz epic, but not for Necropolis?

Now I'm going to have to look up the Case Files, as I'm sure I remember a couple of DPS in Necropolis with the sisters over the ruined city. Maybe the peak-Carlos art has been expanded in my memory.

https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=43932.msg1004650#msg1004650

... and, as Cosh says, other strips sometimes go large. Simon Davis's Slaine was told mostly in double page spreads.


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: broodblik on 24 May, 2019, 01:07:43 PM
I am a digitally only reader and I do not find any double page spreads as an issue. The readers do cater for this quite easily anyway.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: TordelBack on 24 May, 2019, 09:52:10 PM
Going to be really rude and note that those of us viewing Tooth on a device are not reading a digital comic, we are reading a digital copy of a physical comic. It's like looking at an iPhone panorama of Monet's waterlilies at the Orangerie and observing that it's all blurry. It's not the medium it's designed for (yet).

Thought Siku's Dredd was both a surprise and a treat. Everything else was tickety-boo too.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Trout on 25 May, 2019, 01:09:35 AM
I also enjoyed Siku's art. I wasn't a fan of his way back when (met him once, though; nice man) but I can really appreciate how his technique has matured. It suited the story, which was also engaging.

Other highlights for me were the weird twistiness of the Max Normal story and the gorgeous art on Scarlet Traces.

Frabjous prog.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Colin YNWA on 25 May, 2019, 07:05:26 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 24 May, 2019, 09:52:10 PM
Going to be really rude and note that those of us viewing Tooth on a device are not reading a digital comic, we are reading a digital copy of a physical comic. It's like looking at an iPhone panorama of Monet's waterlilies at the Orangerie and observing that it's all blurry. It's not the medium it's designed for (yet).

Hold on... I don't not sure I'm up to the standard this debate will demand, but that won't stop me.... if you're reading the physical copy by that argument your reading a physical copy of a digital copy of a physical piece of art based on a digital script (this assumes the story is scripted on computer and art is physically drawn, there a a gazillion variations and this omits other folks involved).
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 25 May, 2019, 09:44:02 AM

Unless you're reading a Simon Davis* strip, the digital version's the original.


* Or a Greg Staples cover.  Or The Order.  Other cases are less clear-cut. MacNeil still rolls his art up in a tube and puts a stamp on it, but the postie delivers the digital colours separately. Henry Flint's art is a hybrid of pixels and pentel, leaving him with a physical original to sell, as is the case for many others. I don't know, but I'd guess that age is the determining factor, here. If an artist started in the industry during the Rotring and white-out age, there's a good chance they still work that way, to some extent, often because reselling original art is part of their financial model.

PJ Holden, no whippersnapper, recently posted despairingly about what he described as the useless pile of dead trees (original art from earlier in his career) stacked beneath his laptop and Wacom workstation, and Dave Kendall says he couldn't produce Deadworld on schedule if he wasn't working completely digital.  Then again, Dan Cornwell, no kid but just beginning his professional career, is a paper and pen man.  Looking at the ages of those I'm defining as the new breed tells its own story about comics, and 2000ad specifically, but that's a discussion for another day.

TL;DR:  The art you see on the page has only ever looked that way on a monitor.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Andy Lambert on 25 May, 2019, 10:38:42 AM
I'm not sure how I feel about the increased emphasis on Judges being such unfeeling, fascist bad guys. I get that obeying the Law is first and foremost which can lead to some good internal drama, and they've always been harsh, but aside from numerous other tales building up to this approach, we've got this callousness on display in the current prog and in the current meg. Unless this is building towards something bigger, I'm wondering if this is leaning a little too much into "bad guy" territory. The more this happens, the more I wonder if I care if the Judges get their asses kicked in the next apocalyptic event.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Andy Lambert on 25 May, 2019, 10:43:25 AM
Perhaps living under a government that blatantly cares more for their own select few rather than the people they claim to serve causes me to be critical of the fantasy world I like to escape in, where the same thing is happening there....
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: MacabreMagpie on 26 May, 2019, 09:52:34 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 May, 2019, 07:05:26 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 24 May, 2019, 09:52:10 PM
Going to be really rude and note that those of us viewing Tooth on a device are not reading a digital comic, we are reading a digital copy of a physical comic. It's like looking at an iPhone panorama of Monet's waterlilies at the Orangerie and observing that it's all blurry. It's not the medium it's designed for (yet).

Hold on... I don't not sure I'm up to the standard this debate will demand, but that won't stop me.... if you're reading the physical copy by that argument your reading a physical copy of a digital copy of a physical piece of art based on a digital script (this assumes the story is scripted on computer and art is physically drawn, there a a gazillion variations and this omits other folks involved).

I think the point being made was that the prog on a device is just the prog as designed for print repackaged in a digital format... it's a "port" of a physical comic, if you will.

A true "digital comic" can contain features such as where the individual panels load without lettering and then the speech bubbles appear sequentially with each press of the screen.

I'm not personally pedantic enough (I knew I'd find a limit one day!) to draw a line between those definitions in general conversation but (think) I understand the differentiation.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: sheridan on 26 May, 2019, 11:24:04 AM
Quote from: Frank on 25 May, 2019, 09:44:02 AM
Unless you're reading a Simon Davis* strip, the digital version's the original.

TL;DR:  The art you see on the page has only ever looked that way on a monitor.

My copy of the following page by Patrick Goddard looks exactly the same as printed (except for the logo and lettering).

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o3rrARr7fwM/WpVRFvV7xRI/AAAAAAAAgl4/vhhbqUjjG4EY1m_V-PaM9wAQnFBa_ymiACLcBGAs/s1600/2000%2BAD%2BProg%2B2071-9.jpg) (http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/03/advance-preview-next-weeks-2000ad-prog.html)
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 26 May, 2019, 11:32:44 AM
Quote from: MacabreMagpie on 26 May, 2019, 09:52:34 AM
I think the point being made was that the prog on a device is just the prog as designed for print repackaged in a digital format... it's a "port" of a physical comic, if you will.

A true "digital comic" can contain features such as where the individual panels load without lettering and then the speech bubbles appear sequentially with each press of the screen.

Ahh ... sorry for getting the wrong end of the stick.

The bells and whistles described above are trying to import a format - panels and speech bubbles* - that nobody would have devised for use on a screen that can show you any novel or film ever made. It's an awkward compromise.

Which, I now see, was TordelBack's point regarding reading any comic on a screen. I basically agree.


* I think comics as we understand them are a great format, even as an anachronism on a screen. The guided-view stuff is wheels-on-dog territory
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: TordelBack on 26 May, 2019, 01:12:47 PM
Quote from: Frank on 25 May, 2019, 09:44:02 AM

Unless you're reading a Simon Davis* strip, the digital version's the original.

TL;DR:  The art you see on the page has only ever looked that way on a monitor.[/i][/size]

Oddly I am aware of that, but I too produce illustrations solely on a screen, and do so in the certain knowledge that they will be printed on paper at a specified dimension, and thus design and format accordingly. When I'm drawing for a static or interactive screen or projector, I do things differently.

I'm no artist, but I'm sure that consideration applies to pixel monkeys too. As 2000AD is still a print comic, all versions must represent that brief. It was ever thus: a ceiling fresco is not an eye-level canvas.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 26 May, 2019, 01:52:06 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 May, 2019, 01:12:47 PM
I too produce illustrations solely on a screen, and do so in the certain knowledge that they will be printed on paper at a specified dimension, and thus design and format accordingly ... I'm sure that consideration applies to pixel monkeys too. As 2000AD is still a print comic, all versions must represent that brief.

Happily, I don't disagree with any of that. Current issues of 2000ad look better on a decent size and quality of screen than they do in WH Smith, though, whatever the many complicated reasons for that might be.


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Fungus on 26 May, 2019, 03:37:33 PM
Quote from: Frank on 26 May, 2019, 01:52:06 PM
Current issues of 2000ad look better on a decent size and quality of screen than they do in WH Smith, though, whatever the many complicated reasons for that might be.
That's opinion. Reading on a big iPad, I still prefer the physical copy and always browse (wistfully!) when in WHS. Screens show that super-slight outline around dropped-in titles and effects, and it's often garish*. Kingmaker's mixed-focus art this time round feels like an experiment that hasn't quite come off. Draws your attention in the wrong way, IMO. Gallagher's b/w Defoe art seemed to read better. A top artist nevertheless.

Prog 2132 was OK and Siku was the highlight. But it did feel computery, especially the colouring. I do realise economics can explain why we're reading a 'digital' prog.

* The recent kiddie-prog strip that I enjoyed was Full Tilt Boogie, largely to do with colours that calmed the hell down... [however they were generated].
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Frank on 26 May, 2019, 03:40:54 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 26 May, 2019, 03:37:33 PM
Quote from: Frank on 26 May, 2019, 01:52:06 PM
Current issues of 2000ad look better on a decent size and quality of screen than they do in WH Smith

That's opinion.

This is the prog review section. It's all opinion in here, buddy.


Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Geoff on 26 May, 2019, 04:26:41 PM
I personally wish they'd never invented devices to ink or colour comics digitally.

I wish the prog was still mostly black and white, drawn with pen and brush with India ink.  With the speech bubbles pasted on and the various logos and editorial blurbs cut out arranged and also pasted on.  With the double page spread in the middle in all its glory and the occasional fully painted strip.

Some digital art works well, like Scarlett Traces or Saga but most suffers from a degree of 'dead' line. Brian Bolland being the best example of this.  His analogue work being masterful, his digital rather cold and lifeless.

But, of course, I know that age is past and I also recognise that not being an artist myself I've never felt the agony of trying to rectify a mistake on a meticulously inked physical page and never had to deal with the mess and faff of inks and paints and airbrushes etc...

A good deal of 2000ad is nostalgia for me though, so sometimes it's hard not to go the whole hog in your
imagination!
   
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: Jacqusie on 26 May, 2019, 05:17:19 PM
Quote from: Geoff on 26 May, 2019, 04:26:41 PM

I wish the prog was still mostly black and white,

Some digital art works well, like Scarlett Traces or Saga but most suffers from a degree of 'dead' line. A good deal of 2000ad is nostalgia for me though,


I'd love to see more black and white in the prog, the clear & crisp line work of Tom Foster which (IMHO) gets lost in the colouring joins a host of artists work I'm finding dissonance between wanting to like the art and hating some of the muddy and lifeless colouring.

D'israili gets some great results from his work mind like you say through Scarlett Traces and there are others, but the computer heavy graphics of 2000AD is starting to leave me cold and I can't really enjoy some of the souless and heavy handed colouring and rendering.

I know this will wind a few folk up as I do respect how difficult it all this is through an artists craft, but the classic days of 2000AD art are remembered fondly (just look at all those T-shirts!) for a very good reason...
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: broodblik on 26 May, 2019, 06:05:54 PM
I like B/W on the occasional strip but do not wish for the golden old days to return where everything was B/W.
Title: Re: Prog 2132 - Bringer of War
Post by: CalHab on 27 May, 2019, 08:09:19 AM
Quote from: Jacqusie on 26 May, 2019, 05:17:19 PM
I'd love to see more black and white in the prog, the clear & crisp line work of Tom Foster which (IMHO) gets lost in the colouring joins a host of artists work I'm finding dissonance between wanting to like the art and hating some of the muddy and lifeless colouring.

Just the excuse I need to post this brilliant video of Tom Foster's again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOXxco2WV0