Prog 2343 - Frozen In Fear

[Tomwe]

Made time for myself today and read my Saturday Prog.
Dredd is great. Not at all enamoured by Portals & Black Goo. Partly it's the name. Is there a pun there I'm missing? While I'm happy to have Hearne & Shuck back it seems rather a similar vein to what precedes it in the prog and could have been better timed. Hershey is also great, but contrary to the majority of this forum's members, I'm actually enjoying Azimuth most right now. If it had been its own thing it could have been even more but for sheer storytelling and eye candy it wins this prog for me.
Azimuth > Dredd > Hershey > 3riller > Black Goo.

[broodblik]

Cover by Dave Taylor:

[Richard]

The art on Dredd, 3rillers and Azimuth is exceptionally good.

[Grush]

Hershey my top thrill at the moment. All out action and regret.

Nice to see Herne and Shuck back, was hoping for a longer run rather than a Threeller but loving it so far.

Dredd: very much like the Neimand droid script as usual. Black Goo still not quite clicking for me but it's kind of growing on me (as black goo should I suppose)

Azimuth or Dexter or whatever we call it now just brought in so much backstory that I don't know or care about. Zzzz

Top notch prog overall

[IndigoPrime]

A good one overall, with one exception, I thought.

A nice cover by Dave Taylor, and further confirmation The Out will be getting a book four, before Dredd shows the vice closing on Asher. The Niemand/Foster pairing is a really good one, and I hope they work together more in the future.

Portals has for me shifted to "give this a chance" to "does nothing for me". The storytelling is messy. The art is fine, but feels very muted, like everything is in flashback. I don't remotely care about any of the characters. I hope it improves, but at this point it's read-and-forget.

3rillers is an interesting one, in giving is another short burst with a set-up I very much enjoyed last time. I wonder if this is now a pilot, with Tharg seeing if this bunch can justify a longer run? Still, this first part worked well for me, and I'm keen to see more.

Hershey has a big twist in that final frame, which I wasn't expecting. Good to see the rescue earlier. "Joe, brutally attack the nasty man" was a great line. Best thing in the Prog right now.

Finally, I've got over the Azimuth bait-and-switch, which leaves a story that's among the more interesting Sin/Dex. that means I'm happy to read it, even if I rarely give a hoot about the strip.

In all, four hits and a miss for me this week, then. Hershey > Dredd = 3thriller = Azidex > Portals

[norton canes]

An evocative turn of phrase to open this week's instalment of 'A Fallen Man': "The Black Atlantic docks, where Mega-City [One] bares its teeth to the toxic reality of the world it exists in", compounded by the fact Tom Foster's dockland façade really does bear a resemblance to a row of teeth. It's a good story so far, just slightly diluted by the fact Dredd is perfectly well aware the perp he's after is Kyle Asher. Portals & Black Goo (you're right, that surely has to be some kind of pun) is perfectly readable and I quite like the way the narrative switches with each page. Don't know if it was intentional, but for some reason the name 'Nona Nomus' really made me laugh. 'Herne and Shuck', is that the official umbrella title for these 3rillers? Terrifyingly I have also encountered the shadowy organisation known as 'Saint Michael'. Fortunately they were merciful on that occasion and allowed me to return my pants. Are we going to have a proper go at identifying some of the denizens of Azimuth this week? Feel like the woman with the lion epaulettes must be a fugitive from Brit-Cit. Finally, some proper balls-to-the-wall turbo-thrills from Hershey. Exciting stuff, and I really want to know what happens next. Stat!

[nxylas]

Portals and Black Goo certainly sounds like a pun, but i'm as mystified as everyone else as to what it's a pun on. Is it one of those things like "Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein" that will have everyone kicking themselves when they finally get it?

[Woolly]

Portals and Black Goo certainly sounds like a pun, but i'm as mystified as everyone else as to what it's a pun on. Is it one of those things like "Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein" that will have everyone kicking themselves when they finally get it?

All I can think is it's a play on 'blood and black lace'.
Can't really see that being correct though.

As for Azimuth - I liked it to begin with, but I've found myself way more invested now it's turned into Sinister Dexter. Suzy needs to make a comeback though, she's great!

[Richard]

More interesting than the arrival of Dexter is the revelation that Azimuth is a physical place, not just a virtual reality setting which it had seemed to be at first. 

[Colin YNWA]

Back from my holidays and catching up and have to say the Prog at the moment feels a bit like crashing home after a lovely trip aboard. It feels nice a dependable but after recent highs I've come to expect more from life.

The Prog was in a real high and the stretch to 2350 - which I'm assumning with be a jump on - feels a little like killing time with filler.

Now this should be unfair given we have a Niemand / Foster Asher Dredd and A Fallen Man is good, its just not as great as the billing would have me expect.

Portal and blackgoo after a promising is starting to read like a Tomlinson mess of a Future Shock, except longer, but failing to make me care with the extra room it has.

Maxwell's Demon - I mean its fine but is this the 3riller we really needed more of?

Hershey looks AMAZING but I'm getting pretty tired of the 'Enceladus' thing. Something so more fresh and interesting could have been done with these characters.

Azimuth now I was a bigger booster as there was of Azimuth swinging into Sinister Dexter but I have to be honest its stripped it of some of the intrigue and mystic it seemed to be developing. Still good stuff, just no longer great stuff.

A good Prog but after recent times that's actually a bit disappointing.

[AlexF]

With no fanfare at all, is there an argument that this week's has the finest collection of art in any one Prog? It's all very beautiful to look at. If anything lets it down it's the cover, but Dave Taylor is no slouch.

[Barrington Boots]

Very late on this one - Royal Mail mislaid my Prog, but Tharg's sub droids sorted it out pretty sharply.

I'm really loving this Dredd. Asher looks pretty cooked right now, but I'm sure there's another twist waiting here. As others have said this is a very good creative pairing and I hope, if this is the end of Asher's story, that they do more together.

Portals I said last week was growing on me but this episode cooled me off considerably. I'm not really sure what this story is - I think 'urban warlock on a council estate' could possibly work as a story, as could 'I'm a vegan vampire', as could the ' food delivery driver to monsters', but all three together has a jumbled story with a lack of focus and protagonists I don't really care about. It's all a bit of a mess for me, and the racism stuff continues to be less than deftly handled with a bunch of thugs straight out of the Beano school of 'what thugs are like'.

3riller wasn't keen on this the first time, but the dynamic seems better here with the kid and Herne being less generic-hard-bloke. I find the dialogue a bit awkward, however it looks great, Heilung tshirt and all, and I'm keen to see where this goes.

Hershey Art is still off the charts good. Good episode. The final frame is interesting and I'm keen to see how that's handled / how they get out of this one.

Azimuth also looks terrific and it's great noticing all the weird creatures and pop culture references in there - the snail from Labyrinth, a D&D Grell and Number Five this week, and is that a Necromunda Delaque exiting the restaruant?. This isn't a bad episode - it's actually quite good fun - the weird characters and concepts are it's strength. I'm not into Dex and I'm still kinda salty about the switch. But I'm up for seeing where it goes.

[Bad City Blue]

DREDD - Niemand seems to be turning into a droid who stretches things out, and this needs more pace and movement forwards.

PORTALS ETC - Loved the basic idea but it's so lost me now. No shits given.

THREELERS - Going well, a nice finish to set up part 3. Great art.

HERSHEY - It's ok, but not essential for me. Nice to see Ol stoney face.

DEXTER - Rilly good episode.