Love it, good line up at the moment but this Prog all of the stories are turning it to 11. Absolutely cracking episodes.
I'll start with Bad Company , which has been a little fly in the line-up ointment at the moment, not feeling it before, this Prog, regardless of my same issues still being there, not quite getting the theme yet, I loved this episode for what it was. Just good, violent, classic tooth fun. Well crafted and glorious in it energy.
Back to the rest then in order. Dredd had a very satisfying ending to this episode of the Russian Odyessy we now fine ourselves in. The story revealed its cards well, had a glorious [spoiler]resolution[/spoiler] for Salada, just brillant. AND it still finds space to set up the next stage. Just brilliant, quite brilliant and testament to something yet to be discussed that its not the highlight of the Prog.
Savage continues to play with its fantastically uneasy relationship. No one trusts each other, we don't know if Savage can trust Nika, he certainly doesn't trust himself. What are the 'allied' scienctist doing in the there? We know Uncle Pat doesn't trust scienctists. The central relationship in this story is just played so well and those other touches (well got over the science thing Uncle Pat) just add spice to the mix AND its a thrill packed delight at the end.
Good as all this is Brass Sun is the absolute shining light on this illuminated Prog. Its lacks action and kick of the other thrills, all of them, but it doing that it stands out and really takes the time to let the character drama breathe, get into you and like all the other thrills this week has a smackin' cliffhanger to pull you back in next week. Just perfect and in the context of of this weeks Prog the best of the best.
ABC Warriors is probably the weakest thrill this week and I still enjoyed it immensely. Loved the way Clint Langley used the visual cues handed to him by Uncky Patty and uses them to such effect. Its a fun story and while are writer does hit us over the head again with some of his ideas, lacking any subtly this does work in the context of this hyperbolic series. Its really good fun.
So yeah this is a real standout Prog. All the thrills avoid any mid story lull and just knock it out the park. The best thing is that each one of the, each one, has a fantastic last page and cliffhanger to absolutely pull you back next week. I'd be amazed if this was the prog that any didn't come back for more from its just a masterclass in pulling you back next week.
... just watch some bugger say, that's it I've had enough I'm done with the Prog now!
That's it I've had enough I'm done with the Prog now!
Quality review, BMC....care to elaborate, or should I not ask?
I think it might be a joke in reaction to the last line of mine (review that is).
(https://i.imgur.com/wils7gp.jpg)
Even though I think bringing back Bad Company was a mistake that is a great cover!
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 January, 2018, 06:38:24 AM
I think it might be a joke in reaction to the last line of mine (review that is).
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 January, 2018, 06:38:24 AM
I think it might be a joke in reaction to the last line of mine (review that is).
Yes it was & I apologise for any confusion caused.
Everything in the Prog is top notch (even Savage & ABC warriors :o). I'll start posting my review once I'm on my laptop!!!
Catching up on two progs and the scrotnig art throughout has given me thtill power overload.
Such variety and all perfectly matched to the scripts! (Which are mostly pretty good with Dredd, Brass Sun and Savage coming out on top)
I've sorta' half convinced myself, for no apparent reason it seems, that there's not much in the prog for me at the moment. Then I actually read the damn thing, and love it to bits. All except Brass Sun, which I'm afraid makes my enjoyment come to a clunking halt every week.
But everything else- even Bad Company- was blistering this week. Where else could you find such diverse storytelling, and the likes of ABC Warriors sitting next to Bad Company and Savage? Just fantastic. Zarjaz, even.
SBT
I feel kind of disappointed with the New Year lineup, mostly because they are all sequels. And two of them are written by the same guy (who I'm not a big fan of already). Even Dredd is directly continuing events from the end of last year!
In short, only Brass Sun, a serviceable Dredd, and Rufus's artwork is holding up the Prog for me at the moment.
Afraid to say I skim-read most of this prog, nothing in it is really firing me up. Roll on the next line-up.
I'm enjoying both of the current runs of Savage and ABC Warriors, but maybe it isn't the best idea to run them at the same time.
Current line-up is working well for me in general, with the exception of the increasingly insane Bad Company (although the Dayglo Droid provides some enjoyment).
Mentioned before, but a perfect line-up would always include a Future Shock / Terror Tale style one-off in my view.
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 18 January, 2018, 09:10:24 PM
Where else could you find such diverse storytelling...?
SBT
Yeah. I often bang on about diversity in art but this is also true. It's almost unheard of that you could take the script for X, substitute a few names, and end up with something that looked like a script for Y.
For now I'm very pleased with Prog but as someone said few post above mine, I really want to see something new. No sequels, no spinofs, something... new, or at least sequel to something quite new, like Counterfeit Girl.
Sadly, I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing a sequel to Counterfeit Girl. For me (and I only claim it's for me) one of the problems of the prog over the last decade or more, is the perceived lack of variety. The strips continue to come, series after series of things that we've seen before, with very little standing out. I would like bold new characters, new situations. I want series that don't assume six multi-part books in order to tell a story.
I want I want I want.
But I'm not in charge. Most of the time, even when I sigh at the line-up (like now), I find that it's perfectly grand when I actually read it. I just wish we could see something as innovative as Halo Jones, Nemesis, Shakara, Dante, Slaine again- stories that stood up in little five or six page bursts and didn't require a massive reread once done to get the full point.
I miss that.
Also, I'd like a complete redesign of the prog. New paper size, new style, new everything. How long has it looked like it does now? Feels like twenty years!
But, as I say, I'm not in charge. And as long as it entertains me each week- and the strips I don't like I can see are being enjoyed by others- I will keep on buying. I just want to be able to pick up a random prog and feel thrilled, without having to have read the last nine.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 19 January, 2018, 12:22:37 PMAnd as long as it entertains me each week- and the strips I don't like I can see are being enjoyed by others- I will keep on buying.
Tut-tut, what kind of an attitude is that: this is the i
nternet, we'll have none of that here. If every strip isn't to your exact specifications, you're
supposed to rage-quit and accuse Tharg of shoving his rigellian hotshots up your childhood, or at the very least of caving into to [unspecified] SJW pressure and
ruining everything.
I'm largely enjoying the prog at the moment, but I do find it difficult to remember what happened the weeks before, so I enter the current strip a bit lost.
That's probably the fault of my memory, but I don't suffer this every week from every strip. So is it the style of story telling as aimed at a collected edition? I'm sure much of the stories are fine if read in one go.
I do think I need to work at training my memory, however.
Quote from: Link Prime on 19 January, 2018, 09:48:17 AM
I'm enjoying both of the current runs of Savage and ABC Warriors, but maybe it isn't the best idea to run them at the same time.
Since the teasing of the Thousand Year Stare in Savage, and Ro-Jaw's new role as a resistance leader in ABC Warriors, I have been pondering the means of a surprise crossover (Bifecta?) - could this parallel run be in service of that moment?
That's an interesting idea. Certainly Savage has been moving closer towards ABC Warriors over the last few series. I am wondering if it will soon reach the point where it merges with the Volgan War as seen in Hammerstein's war memories, but I am not sure when that is meant to be set and whether the timeline makes sense.
I think they're pretty much contemporaneous - Hammerstein's memoirs were set during the period when robots were first being deployed to replace human soldiers, which is ground we covered in the last books of Savage - we're not quite at the ABC warrior stage where the war was all-robot, but I can imagine Hammerstein and his blind sergeant in Siberia as Bill is running around Berlin.
Has the phrase "ABC Warrior" occurred previous in Savage? I don't believe so.
That name-check and images of Hammerstein, Joe Pineapples and Deadlock are too clumsy to just be part of a slow build-up. I get the feeling that Uncle Pat is about to smash these two stories together very soon.
Hmmm ... I'm thinking that .... [spoiler]Quartz gets reciprocal retaliation on Bill by thumping him to a pulp ... Bill's mind is transferred to a FRED sewage robot (as Quartz's idea of eternal punishment) ... eventually, after many millennia, Savage (with consciousness now fully restored by the "disobedience virus" thingy) finally gets to destroy Quartz and his military-industrial complex, winning the Volgan war once and for all[/spoiler].
I hope not. I wouldn't like to see that [spoiler]Rojaws[/spoiler] was [spoiler]Bill Savage [/spoiler] all along.
There is nothing in the original [spoiler]Robusters[/spoiler] or the [spoiler]ABC Warriors [/spoiler] strip to suggest that. For instance when [spoiler]Quartz [/spoiler] buys [spoiler]Rojaws and Hammerstein [/spoiler] they don't recognise each other. We have already had one convoluted explanation for why not re [spoiler]Hammerstein[/spoiler]. We would now need another for [spoiler]Rojaws.[/spoiler]
I think the whole Robusters- ABC Warriors- Savage continuity is convoluted enough as it is.
Not much to add, except to say, I really enjoyed the Prog.
Nice variety in the stories and art and all of them hitting the mark for me.
We did the whole 'Bill Savage brain in a robot' back in Zarjaz 07- what 2006, was that?
(https://futurequake.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/48c70-z07cavey01.jpg)
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 January, 2018, 09:14:19 AM
I have been pondering the means of a surprise crossover (Bifecta?) - could this parallel run be in service of that moment?
Bifecta could indeed be on the cards, but dear lord don't let Ro-jaws turn out to be Bill bleedin Savage.
turning bill into rojaws
would be the end of savage/invasion
dont think pmills wants to end any of his strips
or give up there slot in prog
Their personalities are just too different, in my opinion. Sure they're both cockneys with a tendency towards dryness, but Savage is completely vengeful while I find Ro-Jaws rather joyful and upbeat in his way.
Copying aspects of Savages personality, maybe, but I think the whole result would still be a very different person.
I don't think Pat has anything as direct as another robot bodyswap planned - he's very fond of Ro-Jaws, but bases Savage on some annoying bloke down the pub - and as Bolt notes, Simpsons Zarjaz did it.
They're completely different personalities.
Quote from: Mardroid on 24 January, 2018, 06:18:27 PMCopying aspects of Savages personality, maybe, but I think the whole result would still be a very different person.
Just had a thought ... what if Bill Savage's personality gets distributed across ALL of the ABC Warriors? It would explain their common purpose & destiny.
- Ro-Jaws gets the cockerney I-luv-me-dear-old-mum bits
- Hammerstein gets the hero bits
- Mongrol gets the vengeful devotion to dead loved ones
- Joe Pineapples gets Bill's leather jacket and preoccupation with shootahs
- Deadlock gets the, um, eyebrows
- Blackblood gets the hat that Bill took from Marshal Vashkov
- Steelhorn turns into the Mess that was Disaster 1990
- Mek-Quake gets recycled from Bill's lorry
...And they all get their own spin-off series.
Genius!
Quote from: A.Cow on 24 January, 2018, 11:15:57 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 24 January, 2018, 06:18:27 PMCopying aspects of Savages personality, maybe, but I think the whole result would still be a very different person.
Just had a thought ... what if Bill Savage's personality gets distributed across ALL of the ABC Warriors? It would explain their common purpose & destiny.
- Ro-Jaws gets the cockerney I-luv-me-dear-old-mum bits
- Hammerstein gets the hero bits
- Mongrol gets the vengeful devotion to dead loved ones
- Joe Pineapples gets Bill's leather jacket and preoccupation with shootahs
- Deadlock gets the, um, eyebrows
- Blackblood gets the hat that Bill took from Marshal Vashkov
- Steelhorn turns into the Mess that was Disaster 1990
- Mek-Quake gets recycled from Bill's lorry
We can only hope that Uncle Pat sees this. Fantastic!
Quote from: A.Cow on 24 January, 2018, 11:15:57 PM
Steelhorn turns into the Mess that was Disaster 1990
Quote from: A.Cow on 24 January, 2018, 11:15:57 PM
- Blackblood gets the hat that Bill took from Marshal Vashkov
- Steelhorn turns into the Mess that was Disaster 1990
- Mek-Quake gets recycled from Bill's lorry
You are as a bovine god to me, Sir.
Sorry, meant to add a :lol: under my quote...!
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 January, 2018, 09:14:19 AM
Quote from: Link Prime on 19 January, 2018, 09:48:17 AM
I'm enjoying both of the current runs of Savage and ABC Warriors, but maybe it isn't the best idea to run them at the same time.
Since the teasing of the Thousand Year Stare in Savage, and Ro-Jaw's new role as a resistance leader in ABC Warriors, I have been pondering the means of a surprise crossover (Bifecta?) - could this parallel run be in service of that moment?
The thought has ocurred to me as well - though I wouldn't want Bill to live as a F.R.E.D. of any mark.