Prog 1624 - Got Mania?

[TordelBack]

...no indication if what we're reading is a flashback...

Other than the opening episodes set during the Portrait of a Mutant years, the fact that Johnny looks about 17, and that many of his long-dead mates and opponents make up the supporting cast?  In previous stories I do take your point, but I like the uncertainty of when stories are set - it's part of the fun of the new stuff.  Harvey present?  Then it's set before Outlaw.  Wulf present?  Then it's set after The Raganarok Job and before, err, The Raganarok Job, if you know what I mean. Johnny present?  The it's set before The Final Solution... etc etc.  Fun, I calls it.

[Roger Godpleton]

One thing I've really enjoyed about this Stront tale is the fact that Wagner take advantage of the fact that he's still just a kid and doesn't see things coming like he would after a few more years on the job.

[Kerrin]

Cover - Old blue eye is back in town. Best cover of the year thus far.

Dredd - All good. Perambulating along at what has become it's usual pace. Nice bike jump panel. I still can't work out if this story is the preamble to some larger Dredd happening later in the year or if it's just a very extended MC1 crime caper. And sweet Grud I hope those two juve lackwits get the Rohmer treatment next week.

Greysuit - Hallelujah.

Marauder - I'm almost coming around to the point of view that it would be better for all involved if the Gimp gets the living sh*t beaten out of him by Vic, shot repeatedly by Judge Chinwig and finally run over by Dredd on his Lawmaster. Spiteful? Maybe, but I'm a bigger fan of the villains in this particular story. Of course next week I may very well have changed my mind.

Lowlife - So do we think the wounded judge is a young Frank? Interesting. Glad this is back and the dialogue is a sharp as ever. Are they really going to put the stinky beard beast back into uniform? What cataclysmic misfortune will he save the city from, allowing him to resume his crusty trousered crusade against crime and soap? In what embarrassing and physically improbable way will his youthful replacement get his comeuppance? I feel certain that the process of finding out will be a joyful and educational experience.

Strontium Dog - Nice.

Good prog. Three Mega-city 1 stories though. Not that I'm really fussed, because I enjoy them all, but isn't that more of the Megazines remit rather than the progs?  I hope there's a bit of the old "previously in 'The 86ers'...next week 'cause I'm damned if I can remember what the hell happened last time out. Wasn't there a man/spider thing called a Nosferatu or something? And there's still an unresolved 'Alien' matter as well....isn't there?

[mogzilla]

greysuits gone ! huzzah! liked the first "book" but this has lost my interest.

can we expect to see dirty frank return to uniform? now i'd like to see that!

[Mardroid]

I hope there's a bit of the old "previously in 'The 86ers'...next week 'cause I'm damned if I can remember what the hell happened last time out. Wasn't there a man/spider thing called a Nosferatu or something?

Wasn't it called a grendel? (I might be wrong there...) I forget much of the story, but it was a Nort genetically engineered creature, from what I do remember. And you're right, a little fill-in couldn't hurt. Last story was the first one 86ers I read.

[Dark Jimbo]

Wasn't there a man/spider thing called a Nosferatu or something?

Wasn't it called a grendel? (I might be wrong there...) I forget much of the story, but it was a Nort genetically engineered creature, from what I do remember. And you're right, a little fill-in couldn't hurt.

I thought the Grendel was the big blobby snot-alien they had in the basement, that had somehow got into Rafe's mind or may or may not have been the cause of the ghostly 'Rogue' that only she can see. And wasn't Kolonel Kovert somewhere in the mix?

While I'm not the greatest fan of the 86ers, I do hope it gets a good long final run in which to satisfyling tie up all the many plot threads (although it's criminal that we're getting resoultion for this and not Cabs!)

[Roger Godpleton]

(although it's criminal that we're getting resoultion for this and not Cabs!)

Uh, we did get resolution. It was called "Ashes".

[Dark Jimbo]

(although it's criminal that we're getting resoultion for this and not Cabs!)

Uh, we did get resolution. It was called "Ashes".

Ashes resolved the Ravne/Kostabi thread, certainly, but left several more dangling, and then we got a one-off in the end-of-year prog (Nativity?) that set up several more. The big one, of course, being Jenny/Ravne's imminent 'baby'.

[Roger Godpleton]

I think you're missing the larger point, namely that Gordon Rennie clearly isn't interested in Caballistics anymore.

[Dark Jimbo]

I think you're missing the larger point, namely that Gordon Rennie clearly isn't interested in Caballistics anymore.

I'm not 'missing' it, just lamenting it.

[BPP]

where is this 'Dirty Frank is going back to uniform' tosh coming from? He's getting his p45 not re-enlisted to the corps.

DIRTY FRANK FEELS A LONG WALK COMING ON. DIRTY FRANK SHOULD JUST TAKE THE ZOOM INSTEAD.

[Kerrin]

I think they might give him a desk job with PSU. He is, after all, well practiced at keeping an eye out.

[Cactus]

"Ah-ha! Trams only run in East Berlin! I found you out! Nah na na-na nah!"

FFS, this is just rubbish. Pat's technique of telling us what happens in captions while John draws something else is incredibly dated ('Zil rented a flat over the road', for example), the dialogue is stilted and the plot is bobbins. And we're being threatened with a third series?  

Low Life started during my hiatus so I'm a bit lost on the history and supporting cast, but I love Dirty Frank regardless. It was good to see an old skool manta tank too.

[TordelBack]

"Ah-ha! Trams only run in East Berlin! I found you out! Nah na na-na nah!"

Yes, incredible though it seems, this IS the worst line in the whole of Greysuit, and thus one of the worst lines in anything.  It's as if Pat was trying to mix The Bourne Identity with Stephen Fry's Trefusis stories, added some Manchurian Candidate for good measure, and then decided to chuck in some sheep-shagging and invisible men to pass the time.  It's absolutely awful. It lurched into so-bad-it's-fun territory along the way, but honestly, just stop.  I will be most displeased to see Book 3 of this tosh, as it's a criminal waste of some nice Higgins art.  

Dredd sagged again a bit this week, and Marauder began to outstay its welcome, but a terrific Strontium Dog (I agree that Moon may not be a mutant all) and the welcome return of Dirty Frank more than made up for it.

[Dark Jimbo]

"Ah-ha! Trams only run in East Berlin! I found you out! Nah na na-na nah!"

Yes, incredible though it seems, this IS the worst line in the whole of Greysuit

No, that appeared in the first book - 'This year it's not Tenerife, it's Elevenerife!'