Prog 2374 - A World of His Making!

[don wiskerando]

I got the Meg on Saturday and the Prog today. They usually arrive on the same day.

[Richard]

I used to get them on Saturdays. Today I got progs 2373 and 2374 together, and still no Meg.

[Robin Low]

Wot?  Is nobody going to mention that stunning cover?!?  One of the best depictions of Death in recent years, in this cow's humble opinion.

And yet ... shurely misleading, given the prog's actual content?  (Where's that number for Trading Standards...?)

Yeah, that's a really great cover. Nothing like his style, but I can imagine it as a Brett Ewins on an old fashioned bog-paper Prog.

Regards,
Robin

[don wiskerando]

I used to get them on Saturdays. Today I got progs 2373 and 2374 together, and still no Meg.

That always happens to me when my sub renews.

[IndigoPrime]

Proggage! Seems like people's reactions to this one are all over the shop, and mine won't be any different.

Fantastic cover, even if it has nothing to do what what's inside. And then Dredd kicks things off. We've seen it all before. But so what? I don't care when the strip is this well written. I probably chuckled several times. "Everyone loves the friendship lasers!" I mean, come on. Currie's art was good. Hints of Steve Sampson and other 1990s Dredd, but broadly only taking the good bits. Nice.

Indigo Prime has already been called trippy. And... yeah. Nice twist. Although almost everything in the strip is a twist. Full Tilt Boogie also shook things up on its last page, and I'm enjoying this one, despite its decompressed storytelling.

Deadworld... I dunno. I'm not sure there's any saving this one. Great art, again, but I hope whatever we gets next has a bit more cohesion and a bit less camp and 'comedy'. Honestly, that last frame doesn't feel so much like a cliffhanger as the run just having to stop so the creative team can catch up with the schedule. It's all feeling a bit Zenith Book III.

Thistlebone didn't grab me as much as other folks, by the looks of it. I definitely agree that it's written very nicely with the weekly format in mind, but it's overall not quite landing with me to the same degree as the previous two outings. Not a Hope-style fall, mind, and I'm glad it's here.

Looking forward to next week. Proteus Vex has been relentlessly great so far. And Rogue is dependable, if nothing else.

Dredd > Indigo Prime > Full Tilt Boogie > Thistlebone > Deadworld

[Richard]

I used to get them on Saturdays. Today I got progs 2373 and 2374 together, and still no Meg.

That always happens to me when my sub renews.

Interesting, mine renewed last month! Hopefully that's all it is.

I did however get impatient and bought 2373 in Forbidden Planet, so if anyone didn't get theirs then DM me and I'll send one over.

[norton canes]

Excellent cover. I think all the hype for next week's bumper prog must have affected me because I kind of skimmed this one. Fun Dredd, albeit on a well-worn trope. Lovely art from Joe Currie. Nice cliff-hangers for Indigo Prime and Full Tilt Boogie. Loving Thistlebone as ever.

I'm getting old annual cover vibes from the next issue preview

Oh yes!

[Funt Solo]

void indiga 

For anyone not in the know, Indigo Prime first appeared in the guise of Void Indiga in the Future Shock A Change of Scenery in prog 490. It wasn't until the Tyranny Rex story in the 1988 Sci-Fi Special that they reappeared under the name Indigo Prime.

We got some retro-explanation for this in 2017's A Dying Art:

[Funt Solo]

2000 AD is kicking it at the moment and I really enjoyed the prog. As has probably been mentioned, the cover is great but also has nothing to do with what's happening in the story. Last time we saw Death he was in a dentist's gown and very much on the back foot.

Dredd I liked, although the art style is ... different. There's lots to love (e.g. interesting H-Wagon designs, great attitude in the final panel), but it's also running a 90's Sampson vibe that pushes it a little outside of my comfort zone. Happy to concede that's really my problem, and we need new artists keeping things fresh.

Void Indiga is doing its job of fucking with our minds and also driving a plot forward, even if we're not entirely sure what that plot is (which is probably why it needs to keep up the momentum). The artistic storytelling, though, is masterful - switching from a Minecraft reality, to a multiversal singularity before turning Challis into a 2D plane and then rescuing him using 80s line art. Wow!

Full Tilt Boogie I'd been avoiding because I wanted to do a deep dive, so I read the "previously on" and first eight episodes in a single sitting. I really enjoyed it, with the switch of tones, settings and characters keeping things fresh. Is granny knowingly avoiding bad things or just lucky? The "trapped in a tube" scene, especially with that stonking cover from Alex Ronald, was superbly done. This episode keeps the stress levels up because we have no idea what is going to happen - only that it seems it won't be good.

Fall of Deadworld remains a favorite. This series did dip a little into the cheese with the Johnny Biker scene, but it's difficult to balance things if you accept all the canon. Something I think a lot of these long-running, multi-character thrills would benefit from is some kind of who's who graphic that would help readers out. It was done with Indigo Prime in prog 678 with an Organizational Structure chart, and we got The Family of Tomas de Torquemada in prog 250.

Before this series I did a full re-read of the saga, so I know who everyone is - although it doesn't help that Byke/Eunomia keeps skipping forms. The art is next level slaps, though. That full page of the triad's psychic shriek is worth the entry price alone.

Thistlebone continues to be both the best and most worrying thing in the prog. Every episode builds up the horror and we get this slow and steady ratchet, ratchet, ratchet. It's fucking creepy! Now, we have a double threat - the director is now fully a monster, and his insane misogyny is loose and aimed at Yvonne. Meanwhile, we've shifted from a very disturbing scene of gay bashing and homophobia into what looks like a planned murder. Thistlebone usually lets us off the hook in some way, at some point - but this is starting to seem hopelessly dark.

[Magnetica]

Has or Currie drawn Dredd before? There is a lot of praise up thread for his art this week, but for me his depiction of Dredd himself and especially his helmet doesn't quite work. The rest is fine though.

[broodblik]

Yes, he did a Cadet Dredd story in prog 2346. Personally I am not a fan of his style

[Funt Solo]

Dredd wasn't always in the first slot of the prog. Maybe...