Forum's Favourite Thrill - American Gothic vs Fervent and Lobe - Round 1 Heat 1

[Colin YNWA]

Round 1 might require you get your thrill-banks tuned up as we drag some lesser lights of Tharg's Thrillverse out - though there are some stonking series in here it has to be said. And even when there's not, most of the ties offer some intriguing conundrums at least.

Heat 1 starts off with two very interesting, short lived series, both of which feature cowboys of one form or another, mixing it up with otherworldly powers of one form or another.

Which most rattles your thrill-receptors:

American Gothic - more info

vs.

Fervent and Lobe- more info

Just reply in this thread naming your favourite thrill of these two series at the beginning of your post (or use Bold tags so I can spot it easily) and say what you like about these wonderful stories after that.

Match ends early on the morning of Thursday 28th October and the winner gets a place in Round 2 (of 9!!!).

What on Earth is ALL of this?

For those that need 'um and can be bothered to follow 'um there's some simple rules

Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN!

[broodblik]

Fervent and Lobe

[rogue69]

American Gothic

[abelardsnazz]

I haven't read American Gothic but I am a big fan of the Smithiverse, so for me it's a shoe-in for Fervent and Lobe.

[Dark Jimbo]

I adore the Indigo Prime stuff, but not so much the needlessly obtuse Fervent & Lobe stories... That said, I didn't particularly care for American Gothic beyond the neat premise, so F&L still takes the win.

[AlexF]

Gosh, I hadn't realised we were launching straight into the next and most Mega of tournaments! I can't in good conscience say I have a strong memory of either of these thrills, but I know I like the art in Fervent and Lobe more, and admire its ambition even if I remember it ebing an absoliute arse to try to make sense of. American Gothic is almost the exact opposite - it's pretty straightforward but for whatever reason I found it kinda bland. Chalk up another one for Fervent & Lobe, please.

[Colin YNWA]

Gosh, I hadn't realised we were launching straight into the next and most Mega of tournaments!

Well if I gave you any time to reflect you'd all realise how ridiculous all these tourney's are so I just drive you ever forward...

Gosh, I hadn't realised we were launching straight into the next and most Mega of tournaments! I can't in good conscience say I have a strong memory of either of these thrills...

Yeah as I started to right these up there were a number were I thought
1) I don't have  strong view either way on these thrills
2) I can barely remember them

But then concluded:

1) That's half the fun and for ever thrill I'm muh about there will be folks who love it / hate it - such is the glorious diversity of 2000ad fandom

2) The fact that I can't remember something is a metrc in itself - these are thrills and most the time for me not remembering something is worse than disliking something!

[sheridan]

My thoughts on why I may barely remember some of the thrills that will come up are along the following lines:

a) I've only read them the once - back in the days when there were less than 500 progs, every story had been re-read multiple times.

b) not only were those sub-500s re-read, but they were perused at that impressionable age.

c) I can remember a sandwich I ate when I was 14, but can't remember what I ate last week (other than on Tuesday, when Rackle cooked me a special meal).  Same applies to stories I read when I was 14.

[sheridan]

Oh, and I vote for the representatives from Indigo Prime.

[Blue Cactus]

I'm planning an Indigo Prime reread soon but haven't got to it yet. Huge fan of John Smith (recently bought myself the back issues of Scarab and his Starblazer stories out of curiosity) but the Fervent and Lobe strips have never left me with a huge impression to be honest. American Gothic was fine enough but again hasn't left a big impression. However I do remember it had a solid enough story arc and some decent characters that I was invested in enough to care what happened to them.

I was expecting to vote for F&L just for the Smithness of it but I think I'm actually going to vote American Gothic as I think it was just a more satisfying story.

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

american gothic

[Southstreeter]

Fervent and Lobe because Indigo Prime innit. Also, all I can remember about American Gothic is that I didn't like it. Was it the vampire cowboy one?

[Funt Solo]

There's a lot to be said for being able to follow a narrative, so it's American Gothic for me, even though the promise of the set up felt as if it wasn't quite realized in the fuller story. 

[Aaron A Aardvark]

Fervent and lobe.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I don't remember a lot about American Gothic either.  But I remember Fervent and Lobe very well, and the odd feeling that I was probably too young to be reading stuff like what Almaranda did to that Arab guy, and what the demon in hell was planning to wear on his horns.  It was twisted, perverted and gruesomely violent, but it was great, so Fervent and Lobe for me.