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[The English Astronaut.]

I would guess it's a Dr Who reference, given who the script droid is (has the Cornell droid worked for Tharg before?). See also the scientist at the British Experimental Space Programme called Elizabeth Shore (the scientific advisor to UNIT in Pertwee's first series was Liz Shaw).

Hmmm... a quick Google also reveals that:

• Ladbroke Grove was a location for Remembrance of the Daleks.
• Doctor Who took a two-week break in late 1977.
• Doctor Who took a long break (from regular broadcast) between 1989 and 2005.
• Doctor Who took a year-long break during 2016.
• And the story is about someone travelling in time.

Interesting. 1989 and 2005 are obviously significant Who dates, marking the end of the old series and the start of the nu. That break in 1977 was just a couple of weeks off for Christmas though and apart from that there was a new producer, but it looks like it was pretty much business as usual for Tom Baker (pub-studio-pub-repeat). Is "our future starts to shut down completely" supposed to be a reference to the start of Jodie Whittaker's tenure in the following year? If so, sounds a bit mean-spirited. Perhaps things will become clearer in subsequent instalments of The English Astronaut.   

Elsewhere it's a delight to see the return of Full Tilt Boogie (with, yes, some proper recaps!), 'A Better World' shapes up to be a classic and Thistlebone is literally on fire. Plus, I had a proper read of Enemy Earth for the first time in a few weeks and now feel a bit guilty for not giving it enough attention, so I'll be back for a full read-through when this chapter reaches its conclusion.

Guessing it'll be a kind of greatest hits of the GF-D era stories - chem-tents and giant tanks to set the scene, flashback to the Quartz Massacre, some Brass and Bland, then perhaps onto Fort Neuro (or the British sector, at least) and possibly into the Ozarks before a climactic final reel on Milli-Com.

I thought it might be mildly amusing to imagine Matt Berry delivering one of the roles in full Lazlo-from-What-We-Do-In-The-Shadows mode

Why not go the whole hog and have Kayvan Novak and Natasia Demetriou as the other chips?

With Mark Proksch as the Traitor General

Think I bought the first issue, but it never really appealed to me. From my point of view it simply needed more strips - Third World War and New Statesmen were okay but with two (large) eggs in one basket it didn't have the diverse, anthology appeal of 2000 AD. Also, it came out at almost precisely the wrong time - just before I left home for University Polytechnic, and things like remembering to buy comics regularly (and having the spare money to do so) became things of the past for a few years. 

One of tne great thing about Ian Rankin's Rebus novels is that the dialogue isn't written in horrible phonetic Scots. It doesn't need to be - the atmosphere reeks (if you'll pardon the pun) of Edinburgh, so much that you can't help reading the dialogue in the accent.

When I heard Neimand say he had 'briefly interviewed Noam Chomsky' years ago I thought for a moment he might be journo Ian Dunt moonlighting as a fiction writer

If he interviewed Noam Chimpsky Chomsky then chances are he's on this list. Let's get  to it!

Put me down for the 2000 AD playing cards, if no-one else has claimed them.

(Edit: Bah! Beaten by seconds)

[The Devil's Railroad.]

Only time for a short post, which is a shame as there's lots to unpack

• Put me in the 'grimly fascinated' camp when it comes to The Devil's Railroad. Constance gets a whole three balloons of dialogue in this concluding chapter (not including 'AAAHHH!' in the first panel) and has no agency throughout. Almost hoping there is a sequel, because this needs some serious repairing.
• Kind of surprised by Feral & Foe's conclusion - first in a 'Well I didn't expect that!' kind of way, then because yes, it does all start to look very Kingmaker. First thought was that overlap should've been picked up while the two strips were being developed but if there's one thing we know it's trust in Tharg, so I presume TMO will ensure the Abnett and Edginton droids don't step on each other's pedal unit extremities.
• 'A Better World' and Thistlebone were excellent. Love the sign-off in the latter - "Cheery bugger, aren't you?"
• Very much looking forward to Full Tilt Boogie and The English Astronaut next prog.

['A Better World']

Uh oh. I am so gonna be 'that guy' but I thought some of the art in this week's instalment of 'A Better World' looked just a tiny bit under-detailed - by the Flint droid's usual cosmos-quaking standards, of course. Or maybe leaving things like Glenn's suit mostly blank was a stylistic choice? By contrast, the cityscape panel on the third page was glorious, as was the walkway battle on page four. Also, is it missing the point for me to say that Glenn himself came across as a cliched Trump parody? I mean, if you want an antagonist, what better template than the most despicable person on the planet? The very Platonic ideal of despicable, if you will.

Thistlebone is reading like an episode of Inside No.9 come to life right now - I can just see Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith playing some of those characters. Love the detail in some of the panels, like Janine's blackened toenail. Feral & Foe is as blistering as ever and The Devil's Railroad has become a must-read if only to see how nasty it gets. Palamon's degeneration reminds me of how Danny Franks became steadily more haggard in each episode of Bad Company.

So if this was the Olympics then The Out with 7/2/2 would have been placed first and Azimuth second with 6/6/2

Very true! I hope I make it clear enough in my intros that 3/2/1 points will be awarded.

Thanks also to our favourite Stinkin' Nort for running the show once again

Stak! It was no trouble. I managed to find an online Excel to BBCode converter this time, which made constructing the results table easier.

As for 2023... will the forthcoming Abnett/Bettin blockbuster Azimuth embark on the first step of its own trio of triumphs? Can anyone knock 2000 AD's imperious scribe off his perch?

Short answer: Yes, and no! Once again, as one Dan Abnett saga drops back, another emerges from his oeuvre's serried ranks to take its place. Who would bet against us finding ourselves here in a couple of years heralding a hat-trick of hat-tricks?

	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Azimuth	6	6	2	32
The Out	7	2	2	27
Rogue Trooper	3	3	3	18
Proteus Vex	3	3	2	17
Helium	2	3	3	15
Feral and Foe	1	2	3	10
Hershey	1	1	4	9
The Fall of Deadworld		3	1	7
Void Runners	1			3
Maxwell's Demon		1		2
Durham Red			1	1
Enemy Earth			1	1
Hope			1	1
Joe Pineapples			1	1

Naturally that all depends on what future Azimuth has in store, but for now it's done what most of the Abnett droid's stories do and been instantly catapulted into its readers' affections. Tazio Bettin's phenomenal artwork has hardly been a hindrance, of course, and along with Matt Soffe's colours and it has to be said some pretty damn decent lettering, it's once again raised the bar for any competition.



Azimuth's success shouldn't obscure the continued popularity of The Out, which finished in a strong runner-up spot, closer to the top than third place, where we find Rogue Trooper heading up the chasing pack, having wowed us with the hard-hitting 'Blighty Valley'.

First-place votes for Proteus Vex, Helium, Feral and Foe, Hershey and Void Runners all demonstrate that the Squaxx have a diverse range of favourites, and with only a handful of strips receiving no votes at all (but plenty of honourable mentions), and after factoring in the year's wonderful Dredd, Regened and one-off strips, I think it's safe to say the GGC isn't wanting for talent. But Tharg, you might want to check the Abnett unit is fitted with those extra-durable thrill circuits.

Absolutely definitely the last call for votes! Results imminent!

['A Better World']

Intrigued to find out what happens to Maitland's experiment in sector 305, but perhaps a little less eager to get more from the Red Queen et al thread, so hopefully 'A Better World' will biased towards the former. Henry Flint's art is putting me very much in mind of the work of an art droid from 2000 AD's early days - can't quite place who, though, I'll have to look at some back progs.

Obviously a pleasure to have Thistlebone back, once again pushing all the right folk horror buttons. A print of that 5th page would be awesome (one for next year's 2000 AD calendar?), though it already has competition from the 4th page of Feral & Foe.  And, come to think of it, the 5th page of The Devil's Railroad. I can't deny there's something genuinely stomach-churning about the direction it takes this week but it feels really exploitative, like a horror movie that has to fall back on schlock and gore.

And I think I've finally got what Enemy Earth reminds me of - basically, a really good modern pop song: the tune (the story) is fantastic but the production (the artwork) is so loud, in a totally ramped-up way, that it obscures everything else. If that makes sense.

1. The Night Shifter
2. Shrine
3. The Disciples of Death

Bump! Let's give this a couple more days. Can we get it onto its third page..?