*** Prog 2000 ***

[Jacqusie]

Wonderful Anderson by David Roach, probably the pick of the prog so far for me, just a shame it's not a full story/series by him.

I must admit I never saw the Dredd story coming, a good idea executed brilliantly and hopefully it won't be the last of this pairing in the future - as someone has mooted already - these two in space rounding up the Dark Judges would be pretty special!

[artdroid Roach]

Thank you so much, that's very kind of you.

[Leigh S]

Anyone elses poster back to front?   I was going to buy the other covers anyway, Tharg!

[Frank]

[spoiler]I still don't really consider the Dredd and Stront world's to be one and the same - I just can't see the Mega Cities becoming what we see in Stront -its just doesn't make sense[/spoiler]

A kind of [spoiler]spoiler[/spoiler] insanity appears to have infected the forum.

Dredd can exist in Alpha's past without Alpha (and his world) being part of Judge Dredd's future. Here's a Nobel laureate to explain the four dimensional physics of this complex, abstruse, and impenetrable theory (link):

[Magnetica]

Ok read it all now.

Great Prog. Reads like a summer special only better.

Great art all round mostly. There is Bolland plus what I would consider the Bolland clones - Cliff Robinson, David Roach, Mark Sexton. 

Elsewhere McMahon does his more modern style, which I don't really like, Kev O'Neill does Nemesis in the style of The Final Conflict (but...I prefer what he did on Books I, III and IV) and Colin MacNeil tries something now again (or it it just that it is in black and white).

The stand out art wise has to be David Roach's Anderson, especially what looks like pencils for Anderson's face. Quite an achievement considering who else is this Prog.

Good stories all round, but Rogue feels a little light weight. SInDex seems to be setting up a bit of intrigue for a new series (hurrah!). The Tharg one pagers provide a nice narrative through the whole thing.

Not sure about new thrill Counterfeit Girl. Rufus Daylo again seems to be doing his Brett Ewins impression, but thankful the dotted pattern shading (sorry can't remember the technical term) has been dropped.

Stand out story for me is Dredd.

Quick question- is the centre pull out poster by Cliff Robinson in all variants, or does the Chris Burnham and Glenn Fabry covers feature posters by them instead?

And you know what Frank - I was thinking exactly that myself - but not based on Back To the Future but rather on the actual physic theory of alternative histories - there was a recent I programme on this I watched (Horizon or BBC4). And I remember studying an early similiar theory put forward by the late great Richard Feynman.

[Leigh S]

I agree with Frank about how Dredd and Stront fit together - Dredds world is Strotns past, but Dredd doesnt necessarily have to follow that future, as we have seen in various other time travel Dredd shananigans.  As for Dredds world becoming Alphas?  Well there is the Great War of 2150 to knock out most Mega Cities - look how Day of Chaos has already started to eat away at the majesty of the Judge's Empire.

One thing that I dont quite get in the Dredd is the setting [spoiler] of the story in 2220, which doesnt really work for either Stront (which should be set in the dying years of the 22nd Century, given Alpha "dies" in 2187 and is resurrected 9 or so years after that lets say 2196 or some year after that to give him time to fight the second mutant war and all - thats before we get into why the Cal clones would be around and after Dredd's head 120 years after their clone dad rather than around about now in Dredd's own timeline.  I'm going to go with a typo again -should be 2200 - in homage to Stront stories where typo'd dates abound (2158 rather than 2185 in Ragnorak Job/Rage for example). Doesnt eplain teh Cal clones though! [/spoiler]

Anyway, enough nit pickery - it is an awesome thing, with all stories delivering.  I think Counterfeit Girl looks great and Rufus has done a bang up job on it - storywise theres a bit too much in panel exposition for me, but interesting none the less. 

Nemesis was interesting, seeing as it is set [spoiler]after the "final end" of the previous prog 2000!  So Nemesis is back, right? Henry Flint series to follow?[/spoiler]

[Jacqusie]

Did anyone get the Cliff Robinson cover? Is the logo really printed wonky? 

I got the Burnham cover, complete with Alan Craddock 90's style colouring - which I have to say for the 2000th edition cover doesn't really have an impact for such an occasion. The art isn't anything special IMHO and there are plenty other 2000AD artists who could have made their mark. I suppose it was deliberate using a stateside artist for the cover to get the US sales interested.

Still it means I will eventually be getting all 3 covers!

[IndigoPrime]

My poster was also 'white side up' when the DPS was open. I'm considering some careful 'staple opening'. As for art styles, I was really happy to see everyone in the mix, and disappointed by nothing. I love McMahon's newer style. There's so much energy in his work, and the only negative is that this single-pager doesn't somehow herald the start of a three-month McMahon Sláine run, or more of his Dredd. In fact, strong composition and energy were evident throughout, whether looking at the Nemesis coda, Roach's frame of Anderson giving Death a good kicking, or Dayglo/Regan's vibrant offerings in Counterfeit Girl.

Like I said earlier, I thought it was all great. The Dredd was fun (and I don't care that much about the dates, given how entertaining the story was), and the Nemesis – the strip I was a bit concerned about – was an amusing full-stop for a series that had already ended well. Superb stuff all round.

(Jacqusie: Yes, the logo on the Robinson cover's at an angle, presumably intentionally.)

[Magnetica]

Did anyone get the Cliff Robinson cover? Is the logo really printed wonky? 

Yes you are right it is wonky. I hadn't notice that, but it is. But you see Tharg has his hand on it and is using it to steady himself and is pushing it up a bit.

[Tjm86]

Great Prog. Reads like a summer special only better.

You know, I think this is the best definition of the prog for me.  Perhaps this is the greatest strength, that so much of the prog was isolated rather than continuing storylines.  There were so many great setups without them necessarily following on next week.  I do get where some of the issues with Dredd are coming from but at the end of the day we are dealing with fiction aren't we?  That said, I am also a subscriber to Pratchett's interpretation of the trousers of time ( I refer the reader to Jingo ).

I did feel like the Tharg interludes pulled punches a little mind.  Or perhaps it is a case of so much has changed since Tharg's Head Revisited.  It would be interesting to see a follow up to that strip, dealing with the changes that have been affected since then.

[Richard]

I'M NOT USING SPOILER TAGS, so if you haven't read it yet then move along.


I loved this week's Dredd story, which for me is the stand-out of the prog (although Roach's art was fabulous too, and I liked the way SB Davies's art was used for one panel in SinDex).

Don't try to over-think Dredd. We don't really need to know why all these Cal clones are around so many years later, just go with it. (Incidentally, this story is the first time Dredd has actually killed Cal himself -- previously that was Fergee and Darien McKenzie.)

I don't have a problem with Dredd and Stront being in the same universe / timeline, whatever. I quite like it. And as others have pointed out, Alpha is only in one of Dredd's possible futures. (That said, the Doc's explanation in Back to the Future Part II doesn't apply here, because if it did, then Alpha wouldn't be able to come back and see Dredd post-Judgement Day, assuming that that's when the timelines diverged.)

As for the date 2220, while that's a bit further in the future than I'd expected to see, it's not so implausible. If Alpha was aged around, say, 20 when we first met him in 2180, then he'd only be about 60 in this story, or even younger given that he was dead for ten years.

Nice to see Bolland do Dredd again.

[Darren Stephens]

Just looking at the cliff robinson cover - im getting that one no matter what! Proper anniversary cover

Ha, my feelings exactly. As nice as the Burnham / Fairburn one is, the Cliff Robinson is the one for me!

[Leigh S]

I'M NOT USING SPOILER TAGS, so if you haven't read it yet then move along.

As for the date 2220, while that's a bit further in the future than I'd expected to see, it's not so implausible. If Alpha was aged around, say, 20 when we first met him in 2180, then he'd only be about 60 in this story, or even younger given that he was dead for ten years.

Nice to see Bolland do Dredd again.

Yeah, a 60 year old future medicine Alpha might be plausible, but he would definitely be 70 if we went with 2220 and McNulty a good deal old than that. (and sorry for the geek fest that follows - I blame Bolt-1!)

Alpha was born in 2150 - joined up with the SD agency at its inception in 2167.  Met Wulf in 2170.  We first see them in action in Starlord 1 in 2180.  In 2185, Max Bubba kills Wulf.  2 Years later, the events of the Final solution unfold.  7 years after that, Precious Matson taskes McNulty with tracking down Feral but it takes 2 years after that (so 2196) for them to find Alpha - current stories taking place some time soonish after that we can assume. 

None of that bothers me too much - as I say, it is in the Grand tradition of Stront to mess up it's dates while remaining otherwise remarkably consistent continuity-wise!

[Richard]

I forgot he was born in 2150. So chronologically he'd be 70, but physiologically 61. Middenface would be far too old though. Date should have been 2200.

[glassstanley]

I'd not been overly-excited by the preview press for this. Pages by Bolland etc, 1 off stories of favourites - been done before. It seems like every major anniversary we get a Tharg nostalgia strip usually focussing in the newsprint period. I was looking forward to it, mind, just not in a big way.

Well, I was wrong. Loved it all. I think my favourite moment was the reveal of Nemesis with Torque's Crown Jewels. What could have been a tired re-tread of the series was instead a strip with some really nasty ideas - true thrill-power. Loved the end of Sinister Dexter. Someone mentioned earlier that it felt like a sci-fi special. For me it was more like the Dredd annuals of the early 80s where they strived to get the top drawer talent in. Dredd in particular felt like it should have been bound in between those hard covers.

And I loved the next Prog image. Here's to the next 1000 progs - I should still be alive for Prog 3000!