Prog 1393

[The Amstor Computer]

re: Low Life

It's probably worth remembering that a second series of this is already in the works, so there may be a lot of scene-setting going on here, and many of the questions will remain unanswered at the end of the first run.

"'Yeah, files are all kept on paper in 2004'"

Well, to be fair, most still are. I've spent the past month working in a hospital archive, and while they've got very abbreviated versions of the files on their network, the main files themselves are still on paper. It's not really unrealistic to think that security files in Volgan Britain would be stored in paper archives as well.

[SilvaShado]

I was just informed that I got the letter of the week, but I wouldn't have known because I haven't been able to get a hold of an issue since I wrote that letter!

Living in the US sucks sometimes, but I will persevere!  Even though I haven't read a new prog since 1386, I was able to get some back issues to fill my time until my store can get some new progs in.  I just keep praying that it will happen because it's been a few weeks since I put in the order.

[Bolt-01]

Congrats SilvaShado! Thargs reckons the best way for you to get your fix is to subscribe.

Glad to have you on-board.

Bolt-01

[SilvaShado]

Thanks!  I'll subscribe if it looks like it won't come into my local shop.  It's cheaper if I can get it that way rather than subscribe.  I won't have to pay any shipping fees and I get a 25% discount in the store.

[Nigel Kitching]

Damn? I can never resist when somebody asks questions.

As long as the questions aren?t along the lines of  ?Why did Tharg print AHAB, it?s crap?...

?Sometimes, the people in AHAB seem to behave in a way that makes the plot more "exciting" but not logical. Surely they'd have got more money from taking the antidote back to earth than they would for selling a carcass??

Well, I?m sure I tried to make the point on a couple of occasions that the chemicals and so on that could be liberated from the Kohenyu?s carcass were worth an absolute fortune ? enough to make every crewman incredibly rich. Sure the crew could have blackmailed whoever organized to expedition back on Earth and maybe raised more money that way but what?s the guarantee that the crew don?t just end up being arrested when they deliver the cure? I know I didn?t have space to go into all that in the strip (and nobody would have thanked me for taking up the space if I had. But I?m sure I did make the point about just how valuable a Kohenyu is.

?Why was the Captain (before he got into A.H.A.B*) so obsessed with the big whale things??

Well, he wasn?t. All we see of this is that one page at the very beginning of the story. What we do know is that he?s been hunting the Kohenyu in a restricted part of space. We see that he is on the verge of capturing the creature and he is determined not to let it get away. He?s just a hunter determined to get his prey and as we discover later on killing the Kohenyu would have made him fantastically wealthy.

? Why didn't Izzie mention her kid before issue 5??

Why would she? She was on board the ship under false pretenses ? her real aim was to get out into space and then steal a ?shuttle craft? and go find her son. She would hardly be likely to make her intentions clear to anybody. She only told Queequeg when he asked her about a picture of her son and at the point where the crew were on the verge of mutiny and she was actually about to leave.

So all this stuff makes sense to me. But that?s not really the point, of course ? it?s got to make sense to the people who are actually reading the story. I hope it does but as the writer you can never be sure.

Nigel

[Tom F]

[Tom F]

"Damn? I can never resist when somebody asks questions.

As long as the questions aren?t along the lines of ?Why did Tharg print AHAB, it?s crap?... "

And even then ;)

[Tiplodocus]

Yeah, that all sorta makes sense Nigel. I'll let you off.

[House of Usher]

I can swallow the Volgans storing their files in paper form. What seemed odd to me was Bill Savage, having gone to great lengths to convince the Volgans he's dead, burning the file that effectively concludes "yup, Bill Savage is definitely dead".

I think the best way to enjoy Savage is just to disengage your brain first. As long as dodgy politics are kept out of the way it's quite good fun to read.

[Dudley]

Damn fine prog, yet again.

Dredd's manifesto will go down in the Great Sayings of Dredd book.

Savage doing naughty things to double-yellow funks won't be on my quotable quotes list, but it was just SO fine to witness.

A.H.A.B. came back to life when I'd given it up for dead.  There have been pacing problems with this story - just feels like the writer was trying to piss a quart in a pint-pot.  Elson art still bland, though.  But in the middle of the Autumn Offensive this would still have been second only to Cabs.

Low Life - top strip, yet again.  PLEASE don't let her shoot him and go back to the Judges... I want to see this Robin Hood kick unwind properly.  And it doesn't look as though Dirty Frank has breathed his last just yet.  Spin-off series, anyone?

Chopper.  Well, I had a great build-up to this.  I met someone on a work training course who turned out to be an ex-squaxx.  She was raving about Horned God, Stronts, etc, so it was the same old story about progs drop off in quality around 700, reader leaves...  Anyway, I was bigging up the current run (surely the best the comic's been in a decade) to her, and in the context of this I mentioned Chopper.  From the reaction, I remembered what Chopper was - fun, the anti-Dredd, the voice of don't-give-a-fuck rebellion, the ultimate hedonist, one of us.  Remembering all that made me realise just how great it was to see the scrawl on that page, and the letter to Popp.  I agree with Logan (for once): Wagner has reclaimed the character from the too-serious writers for good.  Go Chopper!

[Rio De Fideldo]

Any idea if there's going to be another series of Chopper?

[paulvonscott]

Erm, you wouldn't be spoilering prog 1934 for me there would you Dudley?

Oh well.

[House of Usher]

Yeah, I thought that too. Weren't we talking about Prog 1393, and not 1394?

[paulvonscott]

Ah well, easy mistake to make I suppose.  It got me off my arse to go and buy this weeks prog and read Chopper properly.

[Dudley]

Balls-up, sorry.