Shame they didn't contine with the retro cover revamp theme - that would have been fun.
Cover - it's very pink and blue. Nice to see the title completely obscured, they should just remove it if they are going to cover it every week. It's ok I guess - a bit bland. I certainly wouldn't pick it up if I wasn't a reader already. However, the INJ's inside on brink is great.
Dredd - lovely art from pj and Adam, this is probably my favourite work I've seen from pj Holden! The story is more of the same 1. resolution of cliffhanger/fight 2. Talking heads chat 3.cliffhanger that is some kind of shootout/explosion. As I mentioned in an earlier post I can't help but feel that a lot of Carroll's Dredds, although generally an interesting idea, seem to follow this formula and for me it means that all we actually get regarding plot is 3 pages of talking heads and then a cliffhanger. Also I still find a cliffhanger of an explosion or a shootout boring as we know what will happen. i found the plot idea was ok, just a bit slow.
Aquila finishes this issue thankfully, but with every silver lining there is a rain cloud and survival geeks begins another series. The art in both these series is not really to my taste and the stories seem laboured and lacking characters that I care about. Also I find the humour particularly misses, but that's me.
I am pleased to see that Slaine is back next issue.
I think the response in Damage Report about the cover ideas was bang on: 4 months of it could get old quickly. Also, do we really want covers to remind us of some of the dark days of the nineties?
I have to agree on Dredd: okay as it goes. Bit of a LOL moment with the House of Commons scene - Big Dave's Pork Pies. Sorry but it did tickle.
Brink does a reasonable job setting the scene. See where it goes.
As for the rest of the prog. Not quite bad for a 'meh' personally but not raving either.
The Prog continues its upwards trajectory. Nice thing about The Galaxies Greatest even when its at a rare low ebb you can feel confident that things will start to improve and after the low of the 1972 (I think it was) line-up is starting to get good already with another positive change on the way with Slaine replacing Aquila next week. To be fair though Aquila does end on its best episode of this series, though only cos it pathes the way for its return and the feeling that things might become more substansive. Trouble is, as Skullmo says even if that happens I've not engaged with the characters so it'll never be a fav.
Its the same with Tainted for me, its all just so very there and the key to that is unlike other Kek-W work of the last few years there's no one to pull me in to get me involved with the tension that's so clearly there.
Survival Geeks , has the advantage of it not really matter about the specifics of the characters the caricatures they present make them at least immediately recognisable. The story has me interested and given the improvement I felt in the last story maybe this strip is finally beginning to offer me something. Again it'll never be a fav but you can't blame a trier and its doing that at least.
starts really well - see characters, there's something about the cops that was immediately engaging and interesting and made me want to learn more about them. The setting and scenario aren't immediately freshing but from that opening panel to that closing shot (is eye violence going to be a thing?) there was enough to keep it going while we enjoyed the duo we were meeting. Loved the way both Bridge and Brinkman were made to seem very human and real, both in the writing and the art. Not quite as exceptional as many 2000ad characters, vomiting aside. So yeah good solid start and I'm looking forward to seeing this one develop.
Finally we get to Mike Carroll's tour-de-force on Dredd. From early doors I was hoping he might become one of the key Dredd writers and that seems to becoming true ... well except of course its not Dredd is it. Really strong episode and I certianly think Skullmo's break down of the episode structure holds true here I don't think that as standard as he suggests and I think you only need to go back and look at the last two to see how deftly he balances the two elements to the ongoing plot.
What I do argee with him about is how exceptional PJ's art is. Seems like its been a while since he's been in the Prog but great to have him back. He certainly shows that he's continuely evolving and getting even better - just look at the fella getting his brians blown out, brilliant. Look at that last panel on page 3, superb, the expressions in the conversation so palpable. Only in 2000ad will will two such superbly rendered, contrasting images sit so comfortably side by side.
Loving me (lack of) Dredd at the moment and can't wait to see were this all goes - did like Hershey's line "...we are working on another option to secure the city." that one's going to come back isn't it and I do wonder how our absent lead will be either involved or resolve it. It also makes me wonder if this is fortelling the desperate mistake Hershey might make to fullfil Mike's promise of offing a character... all so forboding at the moment.
Cover: like it except for the logo covering. When will the madness end?
Dredd: who needs Dredd?
Survival geeks: a little bit too clever for its own good, breaking the fourth wall and all that, but it's got me intrigued. Art is growing on me as well.
Tainted: getting more like crossed, hopefully the Alan Moore version.
Brink: feels familiar but I always enjoy a new mythos and world building. Art is great.
Aquila: it ended.
Looking forward to Slaine coming back but I'm very happy with the line up as is. Sub still more than justified
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/757E3E39-C013-4A1F-95CB-708FE3B7B1A7_zpsby674sle.jpg)
Am I missing something obvious? Is there a reason the bar at the top says 'NEW THRLL!', or is it a mistake?
Quote from: scrotnig on 24 April, 2016, 11:38:12 AM
Am I missing something obvious? Is there a reason the bar at the top says 'NEW THRLL!', or is it a mistake?
I think it's because Brink is a new Thrill.
Quote from: The Cosh on 24 April, 2016, 11:52:52 AM
I think it's because Brink is a new Thrill.
I think he's referring to the fact that, unlike team, there
is an I in 'THRILL'...
Cheers
Jim
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 24 April, 2016, 12:07:53 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 24 April, 2016, 11:52:52 AM
I think it's because Brink is a new Thrill.
I think he's referring to the fact that, unlike team, there is an I in 'THRILL'...
Ha! That'll teach me to try and be smart.
Oh wow! How thrllng!
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 24 April, 2016, 12:07:53 PMI think he's referring to the fact that, unlike team, there is an I in 'THRILL'...
Fortunately, it wasn't copied and pasted across the entire... oh.
Anyhoo.
Cover:OK art, but a bit DRAG THE EYE EVERYWHERE. Covered up logo is almost superfluous. Perhaps they should just get rid of it entirely and retain the badge. The 'mankind' strap has bizarre kerning to the point it makes my eyes squiffy.
Dredd: I never used to be the biggest PJ Holden fan, but I'm really getting into his more recent art, and this Dredd is no exception. There's a kind of classic vibe going on, with some really nice movement. The colours felt a bit bland and murky, but not to the detriment of the strip, which has some interesting stuff happening in terms of Dredd's world. I'm starting to wonder if a major character is now going to be blown up every week, before Carroll hands Dredd back to Wagner and wryly notes: YOUR TURN.
Survival Geeks: Tootling along very nicely. I like the art and the strip in general. From a scheduling standpoint, it's also rather nice to have something that's light and silly in amongst the angst, horror and tension.
Tainted: I'm getting more into this. In fact, this strip has a lot of legs and could run and run in a Walking Dead kind of way. I suspect it'll be 'one and done', but how long would it take to kill a planet?
Brink: A decent intro. Nice art. In at the deep end worldbuilding. Also: another example where the profanity added nothing whatsoever to the strip, yet wrenches it out of a younger market. Oh well.
Aquila: Pretty gory and a new direction. Hard to know if this is heading towards a conclusion or another curveball. It still hasn't clicked with me, but I've certainly not hated reading it.
Next week: Sláine returns. I may as well flip a coin about that one. I loved book one of Britannia Chronicles, but thought the second one was duff. Here's hoping for more of the first again.
Maybe it's the solution to that Lube price hike. Ditch a few letters.
Cover: Fine cover, thought it was a giant microphone at first, dozy beggar! didn't noticed the missing 'i' as my eye was constantly drawn to Brink's strange left arm.
TNC: great to see Hannah Berry's name in the prog :D Damage report exposes itself on the moral high ground. Oooer Matron!
Dredd: Great story continues building with clues dropping left right and centre, or are they? Hmmmm. Nothing wrong with Gerry Anderson's 'start and finish with an explosion', if the meat in the sandwich is this kosher.
PJ's art has again stepped up a groove, with the odd wee things that used to grate disappearing and some great storytelling and page layouts. The colouring too adds to the overall Zarjazness of the whole thrll. I do love a silhouette and the use of white space occasionally.
Also Loved the statue of Corbyn, worn congestion 'C' on the road and pedestrianised Westminster Bridge. :thumbsup:
SGeeks: Cold opening and the fourth wall destroyed! GReenie droid you wee scamp! Art, colour and storytelling all good stuff, but there could have been more gratuitous French Maiding :-X
Tainted:I tried I really did, but its not for me, reminds me too much of the nadir of the 90's progs.
Brink: cold opening exciting and intriguing just as the droid foretold! struggling to seperate it in my eyes from the Counterclock world, my bad.
Aquila: ends on a cheery note :D
and an avert for the return of Slaine: the words Brutania and Psychopomp in there give you idea of what the forthcoming lecture story will be about, we will however have the joys of Simon Davis' art to carry us through these trying times.
Ok, as far as I'm concerned it is no longer Thrill Power; from now on it's Thrll's all the way. Z :lol:
Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 April, 2016, 03:39:07 PMand an avert for the return of Slaine: the words Brutania and Psychopomp in there give you idea of what the forthcoming lecture story will be about, we will however have the joys of Simon Davis' art to carry us through these trying times.
I finally watched Future Shock last night, and it was really interesting seeing the passion and energy Mills clearly has not only for comics but specifically for "his child", 2000 AD. It kind of made me rethink about his place in the Prog, but I do wish he'd tone down the lecturing a bit. (Strange also to see him and Diggle still griping about each other, too. Also bizarre that Mills would consider the Bishop/Diggle era the nadir of 2000 AD, given the absolute garbage shat out during the end of Burton's run and almost all through McKenzie's.)
The strange thing for me is that my politics and Mr Mill aren't that far from each other but I do object to the lack of subtly in the passing on of the info...
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 24 April, 2016, 04:05:05 PMAlso bizarre that Mills would consider the Bishop/Diggle era the nadir of 2000 AD, given the absolute garbage shat out during the end of Burton's run and almost all through McKenzie's.)
My impression - and this may not necessarily be accurate, but looking in from the outside etc. etc. - is that a combination of things might account for this.
First, I felt that Diggle (and possibly Bishop?) were more inclined to treat Mills' work in the way they would any other writer. Indeed, I think one particularly sore point for Mills' was Andy editing his work on the ABCs, to what Pat felt was its detriment (I think late changes to dialogue were the main complaint, but I can't recall exactly). I get the impression that earlier editors either let him have his head more, or the pushback came from further up so the relationship with editors was better, and I also get the impression that Matt Smith has a better working relationship with him, either because he doesn't make major changes, or because any changes are done hand-in-hand. I don't know, and I can't really make any claims here, but Pat has been a fixture of the prog in the Rebellion/Smith era, with more new stuff like Defoe and reboots/continuations of older stories like Flesh, Greysuit, ABCs etc., and I can only imagine that's because Pat is comfortable with the current editorial setup, and the content of the stories seems to be (for better or worse, depending on your viewpoint) more "Pat" than during Bishop/Diggle's run.
Second, there seems to have been some friction (to say the least) during the Thrill-power Overload research/writing, and I wonder if that contributed in large part to Pat's unhappiness with David Bishop. I thought David's book was fair and well-researched/written, but it's clear Pat is (rightly) protective of his position in the history of 2000AD and I could see that being a source of conflict. It wouldn't be the first time two people - both acting in good faith - clashed over something like that because they had different takes on matters based on their relative experiences. It's not necessarily a story about "Bad Bishop upsets Pat" or "Grumpy Pat tries to dictate history" but perhaps just that they both saw things differently and it just caused friction. Or perhaps not - again, looking in from outside etc.
Given those two things, I could see Pat having a better opinion of Burt/Mackenzie's era - when he perhaps had more leeway, or at least didn't have conflicts like TPO or editorial changes colouring his take - than he does of Bishop/Diggle's time on the prog/Meg. After all, his personal experience of writing his stories and dealing with editorial is very different from that of readers getting an issue a week and basing their opinion of the team on that as a whole.
Or perhaps he really just hated the Preacher reprints!
Much as I love Uncle Pat it always feels to me he is unable to judge the quality of 2000ad by the materials alone, rather he does by his relationship with the editors at that time. Which given he's on the inside is probably very understandable (and means he knows rather than me just spouting). It also means that Uncle Pat's history of 2000ad will always be glorious, passionate BUT a little unreliable.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 24 April, 2016, 04:05:05 PM
Also bizarre that Mills would consider the Bishop/Diggle era the nadir of 2000 AD, given the absolute garbage shat out during the end of Burton's run and almost all through McKenzie's.)
Pat's so keen to avoid accusations of plaigarism that he doesn't actually read the prog (and presumably hasn't for a long while), so he's basing his opinion not on the prog content but solely on his own working relationship with the editors.
I like the cover. Well I did until I read Proudhuff's comment about the left arm. Now that's all I can see. The design of the habitat is all a bit Babylon 5 for me though.
I think that is PJ's best work ever on Dredd. I am totally convinced he is not dead now. I think who ever said he has been captured by the Lawlords is spot on and that it is a follow on from the Gyre. Same with Joyce. Only problem with that theory is we didn't see the funny electrical effect before the van exploded.
Aquila gets more like Blackhawk with every passing episode. So from now on presumably it's half disfigured warrior in search of his soul.
Tainted- sorry don't really like this much at all.
SG - it's ok I guess.
Quote from: Magnetica on 26 April, 2016, 06:29:27 AM
I think that is PJ's best work ever on Dredd. I am totally convinced he is not dead now.
Wow just cos he's not drawn in the Prog for a while you think PJ's passed away.
Do you see what I did there... do you... oh...
...sorry...
I was a bit grumpy when I read the prog and really only enjoyed Acquila.
The Dredd is a bit annoying because I know he's not dead, and so already feel that we are treading water for the big reveal that he is, in fact, alive and the Cursed Earth and Brit-Cit stuff is an over-arching plot by [Sino-Cit/ the Kleggs/ the LawLords/ Max Normal] (delete as appropriate)
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 26 April, 2016, 06:31:58 AM
Quote from: Magnetica on 26 April, 2016, 06:29:27 AM
I think that is PJ's best work ever on Dredd. I am totally convinced he is not dead now.
Wow just cos he's not drawn in the Prog for a while you think PJ's passed away.
Do you see what I did there... do you... oh...
...sorry...
Eh?...He's been working on Dept of Monsterol...oh, I see what you did there.
Very clever. :lol:
Four Irish lads take a trip to London; bombs start going off and one of them ends up in the back of a police van. Pete Postlethwaite could have played Michael Carroll in the film adaptation.
Reviews haven't said much concrete about Brink, but that cover alone looks like it's pretty much a clone of The Fuse? But a fave comic so not a complaint. Lovely cover and near-total eclipsing of the title works well for me. Looking forward to my Wednesday WH Smith trip to pick this up.
Dredd's deadness is pretty thrilling, and well done. The consensus that it's clearly a ruse (and not just for the readership but the participants) lessens the impact. May skip prog reviews, depending on how this goes. But not before contradicting myself... I'm in the camp that wouldn't mind one bit to find the death real enough, while the strip carries on in clone form. How apt. Mostly I wanted to echo the earlier suggestion that Wagner is writing this, under the Carroll pseudonym. His latest pen name in a long line and throwing canon fans into apoplexy. How delicious.
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Mostly I wanted to echo the earlier suggestion that Wagner is writing this, under the Carroll pseudonym. His latest pen name in a long line and throwing canon fans into apoplexy. How delicious.
Have you met Mike? Lots of people have. I have. I'm not sure if this is meant to be humour, but it's pretty insulting to suggest that the only way Mike's work can have weight if is it's really written by Wagner.
Bah.
Jim
Mike ain't no Keef Ripley.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2016, 10:52:09 AM
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Mostly I wanted to echo the earlier suggestion that Wagner is writing this, under the Carroll pseudonym. His latest pen name in a long line and throwing canon fans into apoplexy. How delicious.
Have you met Mike? Lots of people have. I have. I'm not sure if this is meant to be humour, but it's pretty insulting to suggest that the only way Mike's work can have weight if is it's really written by Wagner.
Bah.
Jim
Well is Willy Shakespear fooled people for 300 years...
*I'm joking, Shakey really wrote his own plays! I knows, crazy idea!
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2016, 10:52:09 AM
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Mostly I wanted to echo the earlier suggestion that Wagner is writing this, under the Carroll pseudonym. His latest pen name in a long line and throwing canon fans into apoplexy. How delicious.
Have you met Mike? Lots of people have. I have. I'm not sure if this is meant to be humour, but it's pretty insulting to suggest that the only way Mike's work can have weight if is it's really written by Wagner.
Bah.
Jim
It's a really (unintentionally, I'm assuming) insulting thing to suggest about both John and Mike; that one of them would suggest to the other that he write under his name so readers wouldn't' think the story was so important, and that the other one wouldn't - quite rightly - punch his teeth down his throat in response.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2016, 10:52:09 AM
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Mostly I wanted to echo the earlier suggestion that Wagner is writing this, under the Carroll pseudonym. His latest pen name in a long line and throwing canon fans into apoplexy. How delicious.
Have you met Mike? Lots of people have. I have. I'm not sure if this is meant to be humour, but it's pretty insulting to suggest that the only way Mike's work can have weight if is it's really written by Wagner.
Bah.
Jim
It's humour.
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 12:12:34 PM
It's humour.
You were obviously having a laugh. I can't quite believe they
weren't.
Quote from: Butch on 27 April, 2016, 01:28:24 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 12:12:34 PM
It's humour.
You were obviously having a laugh. I can't quite believe they weren't.
Ve don't allow humour here on ze forum!
Quote from: Skullmo on 27 April, 2016, 01:44:54 PM
Ve don't allow humour here on ze forum!
Yes, of course, because "it's not canon if Wagner doesn't write it" isn't
totally a thing on this forum, with a non-trivial swathe of forum members not only prepared to say it, but prepared to defend it when it's suggested that it's a pretty insulting thing to say about the many fine writers contributing to the Dredd canon.
I wanted to check if the remark was meant humorously, Fungus said it was, that's fair enough.
Edit: (Obviously,
I didn't think it was funny, or I wouldn't have asked, but there you go...)
Jim
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 April, 2016, 01:57:10 PM
Quote from: Skullmo on 27 April, 2016, 01:44:54 PM
Ve don't allow humour here on ze forum!
Yes, of course, because "it's not canon if Wagner doesn't write it" isn't totally a thing on this forum, with a non-trivial swathe of forum members not only prepared to say it, but prepared to defend it when it's suggested that it's a pretty insulting thing to say about the many fine writers contributing to the Dredd canon.
I wanted to check if the remark was meant humorously, Fungus said it was, that's fair enough.
Edit: (Obviously, I didn't think it was funny, or I wouldn't have asked, but there you go...)
Jim
How dare they express opinions, we need to crack down on this! Send in the tanks!
Quote from: scrotnig on 24 April, 2016, 11:38:12 AM
Am I missing something obvious? Is there a reason the bar at the top says 'NEW THRLL!', or is it a mistake?
Thrll-suckers obviously.
Another Tharg story is needed to sort them out!
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 26 April, 2016, 09:15:00 AM
The Dredd is a bit annoying because I know he's not dead, and so already feel that we are treading water for the big reveal that he is, in fact, alive and the Cursed Earth and Brit-Cit stuff is an over-arching plot by [Sino-Cit/ the Kleggs/ the LawLords/ Max Normal] (delete as appropriate)
East-Meg Two would my guess as they are still holding ex-Chief Judge Sinfield and surely they wouldn't do that if they didn't have a plan that somehow involved him
What if Mike Carroll, and John Wagner are both writing the strip, and are having a bit of fun with that set-up..
Mind you, Rebellion wouldn't let Wagner kill Dredd either.
Quote from: Butch on 27 April, 2016, 01:28:24 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 12:12:34 PM
It's humour.
You were obviously having a laugh. I can't quite believe they weren't.
It wasn't
that obvious. I'm usually quite good at picking up on that stuff and I wasn't sure, (although it wouldn't be the mentallest opinion I've read on the internet today, so my disbelief settings may be slightly lower than usual).
Quote from: scrotnig on 24 April, 2016, 11:38:12 AM
Is there a reason the bar at the top says 'NEW THRLL!', or is it a mistake?
It's a misguided attempt to alert the AWOL
THRYLLseekr that a new Sláine story starts next month.
This week's comic was worth the cover price for the salutes to the Prime Minister and the leader of Her Majesty's opposition. Almost all 2000ad artists seem to be lefties; you'd think there'd be one or two who'd sneak some pro-free market and deregulation graffiti into the background. Maybe Tharg makes them sit an entrance exam.
Day and date display on the face of Westminster clock tower =
genius:(http://i.imgur.com/iTD4VXK.png?1)
So my initial reaction to the Prog is bloody hell can that PJ Holden draw or what. I'm a vocal fan of the way PJ seems to bring something new to his art with each story he draws, but here he has really done something special. The energetic movement of Dead Signal mixed with the light touch of his occasional non-2000AD cartoons on the expressive faces, all against what seems like a new approach to space in his background. With all respect to MacNeill , Richardson et al I don't think I've ever had such a clear sense of what Joyce Jr actually looks like. From Joyce's panel rupturing backflip on the first page to Hershey's billowing cloak and the Timex-style Day dial on Big Ben, it's just fantastic stuff.
Dagnabbit, just beaten to it by Butch!
Hey Fungus I actually thought it was funny. Z
Speaking as we were of Keef Ripley, does anyone else fancy Brink as a covert Kingdom prequel? This Cal Hamilton guy has form.
Quote from: Tordelback on 27 April, 2016, 09:45:36 PM
does anyone else fancy Brink as a covert Kingdom prequel?
The guy with the sandy hair is Finnie from
Sin-Dex. It's early days, but I don't think
Brink is my kind of thing. That's fine, because I'm sure it's
exactly what most readers want to read, but a tough cop action story seems an odd fit for Culbard's restrained style.
I can see why
Tainted triggers
Proudhuff's Nam flashbacks to the nineties, but I love the feeling of decay and corruption oozing from Kendall's pages. The bus's immobility is an apt metaphor for the rut the (enjoyable) story seems stuck in - I'd prefer more variation in setting and for the story to move on.
I was going to make the same point
TordelBack did about PJ's characterisation of Joyce. A blank slate's acquired a personality just in time for me to care about whether he lives, dies, succeeds, or fails, and I find Mike Carroll's newly discovered facility for
brutal violence very entertaining.
Quote from: Skullmo on 23 April, 2016, 10:39:21 AM
Cover - it's very pink and blue. Nice to see the title completely obscured, they should just remove it if they are going to cover it every week.
Yes, I'm with you on this Skullmo. What's the use of the horrrid 2oooAD banner if it just gets covered up. The space is much better used with the art IMHO
Si
To save money, why not just have the logo massive, front and centre each Prog with the issue number underneath. That would easily be seen on the shelves each week and catch the potential new readers eye!
Surely if sales plummeted every time some of the logo was covered up, Rebellion would put a stop to such antics.
Not everyone is visually unaware, you know.
The bit on the left says '2000AD' as well. That's how I knew that the comic I bought is 2000AD. That's how the sales assistant in WHSmiths knew what the publication is and so put it in its regular spot on the shelves.
The reason for the 'horrid' banner has been explained many a time.
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 28 April, 2016, 02:56:22 AM
The reason for the 'horrid' banner has been explained many a time.
Am I the
only one who likes the current banner?
Quote from: Fungus on 27 April, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Reviews haven't said much concrete about Brink, but that cover alone looks like it's pretty much a clone of The Fuse?
It's a Bernal Sphere (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_sphere).
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/External_view_of_a_Bernal_sphere.jpg)
The concept has been banging about since 1929. Wondrous stuff.
SF police procedurals date back to at least 1953 when Isaac Asimov wrote The
Caves of Steel in response to
Astounding magazine editor John W. Campbell, Jr's assertion that it was impossible to have a SF mystery, because the detective could always pull out some gizmo that would magically solve the case.
Really really REALLY chuffed to see some proper hard sf in the prog. Massive props to the Dabnett & INJ droids.
Quote from: COMMANDO FORCES on 28 April, 2016, 02:06:30 AM
To save money, why not just have the logo massive, front and centre each Prog with the issue number underneath.
Heh! Of course the Meg tried almost that for it first 7 or 8 issues, and it
was horrid. As has been said, I think the dual-logo version of the Prog cover offers huge design flexibility while retaining on-shelf clarity. I'm not mad about the specific look of the big logo itself, but the principle is sound.
(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/megazine/hires/1.01.jpg)
Ack! Double post! But...
Quote from: Butch on 27 April, 2016, 10:40:32 PM
...and I find Mike Carroll's newly discovered facility for brutal violence very entertaining.
... I do have to agree with this sentiment. The succession of executions over past weeks really works to show a Justice Dept permanently on the back foot, turning to its war-time practices almost as a default. And it gives Carroll's stories a tone of their own, independent of his harem of supporting characters.
I like to think in that first Meg cover, the photographer's going: "No. Lower. Sorry, Dredd. Lower. Stop scowling! We've got to fit you AND that massive logo in, you know. Nope. Down a bit. That's it! Great!"
Fantastic (non-) Dredd by the Carroll & Holden Droids this week, and that's saying something following on from the past month.
For me, this storyline is generating the kind of excitement only fleetingly felt once or twice since Chaos Day.
I think PJ's art is as sharp as it's ever been, and it's Adam Brown's gorgeous colours that are adding that unfamiliar edge, similar to his recent collaboration with Patrick Goddard on Sinister / Dexter.
I'd love to see Brown paired with new Art Droid Mark Sexton at some stage.
The rest of the Prog is solid fare, with Tainted being the last strip I slowly savour each week.
Delighted that Slaine will be back next week, with concurrent painted artwork from the Davis and Kendall Droids we can party like its 1994.
Quote from: Link Prime on 28 April, 2016, 10:50:06 PM
similar to his recent collaboration with Patrick Goddard on Sinister / Dexter.
Too late to edit- I meant Brown's recent colouring of Goddard's work on Judge Dredd: The Beating.
Don't be a double-poster hater.
Quote from: Verence on 27 April, 2016, 04:02:06 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 26 April, 2016, 09:15:00 AM
The Dredd is a bit annoying because I know he's not dead, and so already feel that we are treading water for the big reveal that he is, in fact, alive and the Cursed Earth and Brit-Cit stuff is an over-arching plot by [Sino-Cit/ the Kleggs/ the LawLords/ Max Normal] (delete as appropriate)
East-Meg Two would my guess as they are still holding ex-Chief Judge Sinfield and surely they wouldn't do that if they didn't have a plan that somehow involved him
I wonder if Sinfield will end up doing for East Meg 2 what Anatoli Kazan did for MC1? An adviser in how the Mega City 1 judges think etc? My money's still on a less obvious villain, either Brit Cit or Texas City.
It's clear Dredd isn't dead, I guess the mystery is why he isn't dead/who has him and whether its a Mega City 1 sting operation or an external threat.
I am getting a little tired of the someone gets shot/something explodes cliff hangers.
Rest of the Prog was ok, it says something about how into Survival Geeks I am that I didn't even realise there was a new character last week until it was spelled out this week! Brink seems fairly generic at the moment and whilst I initially really liked Aquilla when it started it seems to be drifting a bit lately. Deadworld is interesting but, and I don't know if its down to the artwork or the script, I'm not 100% sure who everyone is or quite what's occurring sometimes! Also we know no one's going to survive so the problem of prequels is in play too.
Must say that I find the inevitable demise of all the characters in Tainted very liberating. I can stop worrying about them (not Grandpa too!), and just watch the horror unfold. And such horror! The most effective horror strip we've had since Cradlegrave, IMO. Hope Fairfax's inevitable transformation (into Fear?), or bloody refusal of same, is as grim as I'm imagining...
So Survival Geeks is good these days. It was always going to take a while to escape the Big Bang Theory singularity, but running these two tales back to back looks like it may have built up enough momentum to do that. And gawsh but it is a perfect visual sorbet.
After an uneven run Aquila had a solid end, with the Fifth Horcrux now in sight. How many more to go? I'm not convinced by Davidson on this yet (although I love his art), I feel the world looks too generic medieval/fantasy, rather than the more grounded Roman/fantasy we've had up to this: I never got much sense that we were in 1st C Spain. Or is that more to down to the mythological/wizard's tower focus of this outing? He did do a truly fabulous on the skinning, ugh ugh ugh.
I as yet have no opinion on Brink, except to wonder if I've reached satiation with regard to Culbard SF series.
Quote from: Starkers on 29 April, 2016, 10:17:23 AM
...it says something about how into Survival Geeks I am that I didn't even realise there was a new character last week until it was spelled out this week!
Wasn't he the villain from the first Survival Geeks story?
Quote from: Anzati on 29 April, 2016, 11:53:05 AM
Quote from: Starkers on 29 April, 2016, 10:17:23 AM
...it says something about how into Survival Geeks I am that I didn't even realise there was a new character last week until it was spelled out this week!
Wasn't he the villain from the first Survival Geeks story?
It was, his return was Lampshaded in the Winter Special.
Quote from: Tordelback on 29 April, 2016, 10:45:15 AM
I as yet have no opinion on Brink, except to wonder if I've reached satiation with regard to Culbard SF series.
I had a similar thought myself but when you think about it what has he done? Brass Sun and a 3riller, and that's about it.
Don't think there would be too many complaints if say Henry Flint (to pick an artist at random) was drawing 2 series at once.
3 is you include Wilds End, which is everything but in a tual fact, a 2000AD comic.
Having at least read the prog now it's weird just how closely Brink feels like The Fuse. No other Fuse readers here? Stevie, not for a second suggesting it's completely original, though... :o
Yup, PJ is on fantastic form, and Adam Brown's colours have been a breath of fresh air recently. Great combination.
High point possibly being the announced return of Davis' painted Slaine. Let's hope the script gets back on track.
Quote from: Magnetica on 29 April, 2016, 01:01:32 PM
Quote from: Tordelback on 29 April, 2016, 10:45:15 AM
I as yet have no opinion on Brink, except to wonder if I've reached satiation with regard to Culbard SF series.
I had a similar thought myself but when you think about it what has he done? Brass Sun and a 3riller, and that's about it.
Don't think there would be too many complaints if say Henry Flint (to pick an artist at random) was drawing 2 series at once.
Yeah completely agree with this. Give him a Dredd or two while your at it. Can't get enough of the good stuff.
Quote from: Fungus on 30 April, 2016, 02:08:59 AM
Having at least read the prog now it's weird just how closely Brink feels like The Fuse. No other Fuse readers here? Stevie, not for a second suggesting it's completely original, though... :o
We're here.
Funny thing with the Fuse (and Copperhead*, and few other Image sci-fi books) is they've always felt like a material that should be published in a
prog.
Not read Fuse yet (have a digital copy of the first collection working it's way up my read pile) but certainly Copperhead is definitely Prog worthy. You should ALL buy it when it returns. Brilliant stuff.
I didn't mean to imply personal dislike or general oversupply of INJC art, just that my initial reaction to Brink was muted... Nothing leapt out at me, and I wondered if it was because I was already receiving my RDA of Culbard-in-space from existing sources. I felt the same way about Mark Harrison on Grey Area initially (fresh off Damnation Station), although that soon changed.
I thought Brink was more reminiscent of the Thomas Jane bits of Syfy's The Expanse, but with only one episode in the bag it can go anywhere. Here's hoping it's its own thing in the end and not another of those 2000ad series that turns out to be linked to an existing series like The Kingdom or something like that. Actually, Tharg could probably do a decent bit of rug-pulling by making you think it's linked to The Kingdom only for it to turn out to be linked to Rogue Trooper instead "haha it was exactly what you thought it was but not quite!" kind of thing, though I admit I got sick of that about 20 minutes into Star Trek Into Darkness.
Are we being nerds about the science of it? I'm a mild space colony geek so I'll have a punt: the digital states of the "ambi-grav" seems out of place in an outer ring of a Bernal Sphere (if that's what it is) which presumably would be rotating and generating its own - constant - gravity - and does Brink suffer from motion sickness from that rotation or is she just sickened by the gore on page 1? The habitats also seem to have been built up from the bottom of the rings rather than along the inside of the outer hull. The colony also looks too small to be a Bernal Sphere, which I mention as a Bernal sphere houses somewhere in the region of 20,000-30,000 occupants, but the script lists this - clearly much, much smaller station - as having ten times that population.
Guys, I don't know how to say this, but I think the science in this strip about space police might not be entirely accurate, etc etc.
Dredd... it's a good effort, but I don't think I'm sufficiently sold on the Big Meg kowtowing to Brit Cit under any circumstances. Past form suggests a Hail Mary, a bluff, or a brutal public display that Justice Department would rather go down in flames and bring the world with it before it would show weakness to a judge force comprised of glorified theme park staff, so the extradition thing seems a stretch, or at the very least the first act in the set-up for something else - perhaps Hershey's hinted-at "one other option".
Survival Geeks - kudos for shitting on cold openings, which are a pox in modern tv. The art, as ever, is great, but the writing is starting to remind me of Sisko's dialogue from The Flash, and I don't know if this is good or bad.
I like Deadworld because I know ahead of time that everyone is fucked no matter what happens, so there's no way to feel short-changed about anyone's fate - They Dead. It's just a matter of seeing how it plays out, and what a lovely-looking journey it's been so far.
Aquila is on firmer ground here when it's a Conan-esque pulp romp rather than a sort of Roman Wolverine thing where he's a monosyllabic walking massacre who occasionally has superhero fights, and I'd rather it continued next week and didn't go on hiatus, but understand that this kind of decision isn't left in the creators' hands.
Cover: Nope, not for me thanks. Wooden faces.....too similar colours between foreground and backround.
Dredd: Rather than a new story, it does roll nicely on from the last, and the building of this Brit Cit issue from the last while.
SGeeks: Still keeping me entertained.
Tainted: Working well for me, love the art, love the hopelessness of the plight.
Brink: So, another tale I find almost impenetrable due to Culbards art.... Bah.
Aquila: Ends, and to be honest, I'd likely not notice if it never returned.