Prog 2360: The weight of the world

[IndigoPrime]

Nice enough and timely cover, although it appears to align with something we haven't got to yet in the strip itself.

Dredd kicks off a presumably final part in the trilogy of tech being taken over my a malevolent force. More high stakes here than Dredd vs toilet. And given that Anderson was buy, I'm guessing Kaspian is going to end up very dead indeed. Anyway, a good start.

Helium continues to be top-notch, in both art and script, and Devil's Railroad at least manages one of those things. But there's a point where the script goes beyond on-the-nose. I mean, I guess this strip isn't supposed to be subtle, but we're about one millimetre away from the bad guys wearing literal signs saying "I am a bad guy. Please hate me". And it continues what feels like clickbait for feminists but adding to implied sexual assault and actual sexual assault with bizarre frames about vaporising a uterus and making the woman forget she was pregnant and then calling her a tramp for not agreeing to this. Yes, we get it. Evil, nasty characters. But just... bleh. This increasingly reads like something from 2000 AD's dark era.

The last chunk of Enemy Earth starts off well enough. Though quite why Hitler shot them out of the sky, I've no idea. Perhaps we'll find out next week. And then we end with Feral & Foe, which continues to be quietly excellent.

A good Prog, in all, if not hitting the dizzy heights of some recent weeks. And I'll be happy when Devil's is out and something else is in.

Feral & Foe > Helium > Dredd > Enemy Earth > Devil's

[Barrington Boots]

Quick review from me this week!

Really great cover that, I think. Very powerful.

Dredd Good start to this tale. Loved the previous ones featuring this antagonist: having the alien force in the Mechanismo isn't as daft as the two previous instalments but the dialogue makes up for it. After a superb, serious Dredd I appreciate the change to something sillier.

Helium still really enjoying this. Visually very striking. I really like how moral a character Hodge is.

Devil's Railroad Didn't enjoy it at all.

Enemy Earth I struggle with the art on this but as before, keen to give it a chance!

Feral & Foe Really enjoying this also. Swift end for the Beholder, but the real plot is with Wrath and now I'm not sure where this is heading, which makes it intrguing as well as fun. Looks brilliant.

[Colin YNWA]

Well its a bit of a dip under a glorious cover.

Dredd lovely art, fun start good stuff. Love the dialogue for Clanker, if its a little Chimpski. Nice start.

Brass Sun is massive fun this week. The art is stunning the action is intense and 'Pursuit course laid in.' is just cruel!

The Devil's Railroad I worry I'm the only one who likes this one! I completely agree the villians are just so evil but for me that carries the farce in the story which is played well with Rufus Dayglo's art. Its all so over the top and in that it works! I want to see more of Palamon with his solo reduced now! Fun over the top stuff.

Enemy Earth... err can this have really lost me already... we'll see...

Feral and Foe is just great fun.

Decent Prog but still a dip as the line-up charges to X-Mas. It'll be a curious X-Mas Prog that's for sure.

[broodblik]

Brass Sun is massive fun this week. The art is stunning the action is intense and 'Pursuit course laid in.' is just cruel!

I almost got so excited to see Brass Sun is back but then my inner Sherlock deducted that Helium=Brass Sun

[Colin YNWA]

Brass Sun is massive fun this week. The art is stunning the action is intense and 'Pursuit course laid in.' is just cruel!

I almost got so excited to see Brass Sun is back but then my inner Sherlock deducted that Helium=Brass Sun

Well dammit! My subconscious hopeful dreams got the better of me there!

[IndigoPrime]

And there was me thinking you were doing a wry funny.

[Colin YNWA]

And there was me thinking you were doing a wry funny.

Oh you overestimate me so much... I mean, well yes of COURSE that was what I was doing....

[broodblik]

A good solid prog but a little more down than previous weeks. We are steadily moving to the year-end and it will be surely a quite a different year-end party with nothing new starting.

Dredd – From the serious of last week to the over-the-top silly and violent we could not ask for more contrasting stories. The alien being possessing machines is back and it is as silly in its goodness as the previous stories.

Helium – It is all action stations in this episode as our valiant heroes try to escape from the clutches of the foul villains. Another good episode by our creative team lovely vibrant colors by D'Isreali, good stuff.

Railroad – So the baddies are just plain awful people with no more values, this still reads like something from the dark times of the 90s. In some sense this episode was better than the preceding ones, but I am still not a fan.

Enemy Earth – The return of my least favorite series the last few years mainly due to the clunky art and we have done this before multiple times storyline. At least I find this much more entertaining than Railroad lets see how the finale is handled.

Feral and Foe – Super enjoyable series with great dialogue and super art. I liked the fight scene and how it was portrait as we are introduced to a new character (technically it was last week). Top thrill in the prog and this is steadily moving up in the Dabnett queue of great stories.

[broodblik]

B/W Cover:

[broodblik]

Alternative cover:

[norton canes]

It's a break-neck prog, with no time to catch a breath - from the prey-thing running for its life to the Battle of the Bellerophon; from the race to reach Earth to the race to reach... er, wherever it is Zoe and co. are racing to (checks recap - India), and another pair of pulse-pounding pages portraying the clash of the Longaevi, it hardly lets up. Florix Grabundae to all droids concerned but Top Thrill goes to 'Clanker' for all the other lovely details - the gore, Nick Dyer's slightly louche looking Dredd and Kaspian's puppy-dog enthusiam.

[Richard]

Have we seen Kaspian before?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Really didn't enjoy this prog.

Not at all impressed with the art on Dredd. The colouring seems off, the art too blocky, and neither lifts the other. The mechanismo on the second last page is a good example. It feels, I dunno, rushed.

Devil's Railroad is an idea waiting on a story.

And Enemy Earth is too childish for me. I get why it's in the prog and it does what it needs to...

The challenge the prog has is keeping long term reader 48 year olds like me happy while winning an audience.

Maybe the childish stuff should be like the recent Battle cross over and less following the crowd?

[Le Fink]

Dredd I've usually got a lot of time for Nick Dyer's style - he's one of the few who draws Anderson as a tough middle-aged cop for one thing - but yeah I thought it was a bit too rough and ready in places this week. The strange green stuff wasn't convincing. Maybe it's the shock of the new after Poison and I need to get into it? The comedy has previously come from an entity trying to make ridiculous things murderous, whereas now we have a murder machine being murderous, so it's not as funny so far.

Rest of the prog's ongoing series, Helium - Devil's Railroad - Feral & Foe, are still great, I mean really, really good, especially Helium. Enemy Earth I started to like in the second series so interested to see how it ends.

[Richard]

I really like how moral a character Hodge is.

Am I the only person who thinks what she did makes no sense? Not just rescuing her enemies, but doing that by attacking the creature that an entire village of innocent people happen to live inside.