Well that cover must be going down as a contender for the best of the year, fantastic.
Dredd - Another superb episode, Neimand has had 'some' lately. Dark and entertaining.
Skip Tracer - Another very good episode. The development of the Blake's daughter is pushing this to very satisfying areas its not reached until the story about his brother. This story needs to keep it in the family!
Dexter - very satifying end to the current story, all action - and yet another gap it would seem so we are all action, no traction alas.
3riller - The Mask of Laverna - hmmm this one is... I don't know maybe on read but its not engaging me here.
Jaegir - Another interesting episode - this one will be done too soon!
Decent Prog to say the least.
Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-RSv_XXoAQof_w?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and Logo:
(https://dyn.media.forbiddenplanet.com/lykr8L_QfLriS9srJ70gbIGZHv8=/trim/fit-in/779x1024/filters:format(webp)/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/a7/01/0622dcaa2e2e5978affea93cfdcb46ec9eef.jpeg)
I don't know if it's the joy of it arriving on a Saturday morning, but after being a bit down on last weeks Prog I am a lot more positive about this one.
The cover is superb: striking and combining Kali with an almost Jesus-like pose for Atalia. It's super evocative and I love it.
Dredd - Didn't dig this at all. There's an interesting idea at the heart of the story but I think it loses the creepy atmosphere once the zombies arrive (and zombies can bore off). A rare flat tale from Kenneth Niemand.
Skip Tracer - Taken out of context, this was an enjoyable episode. Looks great, moves quick, Nimrod getting Thanos-d was cool. Not sure if it's an intended comment from the author or not, but when Nimrod quotes a bit of MacBeth here and describes Nolan as the 'idiot full of sound and fury and signifying nothing' this is unfortunately a great summation of a lot of Skip Tracer.
Dexter - My dislike of where this strip has ended up is known, but that aside this was also a very enjoyable episode. There's a lot of action and it's actually pretty exciting - a bit cinematic almost, lovely stuff from Tazio Bettin drawing Kalinka doing all sorts of badass robot stuff. Once again the tale it wraps up just as it heats up.
The Mask of Laverna - Perfectly enjoyable 3riller this, bit of an old school feel, packs a lot in. On the downside, Delphi's smart-ass dialogue is annoying this episode however and doesn't endear me to want to see more.
Jaegir - Just wonderful stuff. I am so into this story. Only three episodes though! Can only hope this is getting everything set up for a proper, longer run to come (and soon)
Skip Tracer did that last issue, too, with "so predictable". What's this on now, part 11 or 12? Blimey. Feels a lot like a dependable fill-in that can run for long periods, like some of the strips in the 1980s that were kind of just there.
I'm warmer on Laverna and Dredd than Mr Boots, but otherwise broadly though the same, so:
Jaegir (nice cover, too) > The Mask of Laverna > Dredd > Dexter > Skip Tracker
Tharg's strategy finally becomes clear - (hatred of) Skip Tracer is the glue to finally bind the Forum, Megaverse and all other fractured fan groups together.
Loving the Dredd. Fantastic atmosphere and a strange new villain. Got me thinking if the Dark Judges ever make their way back to Mega City One, Percival HAS to be the one to illustrate it. Great Prog
Was this good prog yea or nay? It was certainly a good read not the best, but I still find it satisfactory.
Dredd – The house looks like a displacement in time where a "dark" judge has been having his fun with people stumbling into his lair of torture but alas he forgets his got the one and only mister spoilsport Dredd himself to wreck his party. A good Niemand Dredd with lovely gory twisted art by mister Percival.
Skip – Not a bad episode at all. As predicted Nolan's daughter came to the rescue and now it's time for our hero to escape and prepare us for the next chapter in the further adventures of a rogue psi (with a little bit of help from his little helper). As always, the double combo art from Marhsall and Teague delivers.
Dexter – Just as I got behind the story, we get another "The End". Where will Abnett go next with the story? I did like Tazio's art in the story, but I still see Yeowell as the Sin/Dex artist.
The Mask of Laverna – A little more stock standard stuff here where human sells his soul to the dark arts and use the immense powers to some bad stuff. Still a good 3riller that at least keeps my interest.
Jaegir – Dark, moody and somber this is the world of Atalia as the story gets more interesting. Take top honors this week great stuff from Rennie and Coleby. Pity the story will end next week and then we must wait again to see where the dark path Atalia choose is heading to.
Oh goodie, Skip Tracer has extended scenes of characters quoting Shakespeare at each other, in the way that bog standard American TV series do when they think they're being profound.
Yes! Finally, I got a letter published in 2000 AD!
Admittedly it was only the second one I've ever written, the first being in 1978 (accompanied by a drawing of a robot horse). But still.
Congratulations!
Cliff Robinson is now the undisputed King of the 2000AD cover! Beautiful work!
A prog firing on nearly all cylinders if it wasn't for You-Know-Who.
Even the Marsh-L droid seems bored with it now - Please Tharg, give him something good to draw!
Quote from: Woolly on 09 September, 2021, 10:09:25 AM
Cliff Robinson is now the undisputed King of the 2000AD cover! Beautiful work!
That was cover no 129 by him
Quote from: broodblik on 08 September, 2021, 04:27:51 AM
Dexter – Just as I got behind the story, we get another "The End". Where will Abnett go next with the story? I did like Tazio's art in the story, but I still see Yeowell as the Sin/Dex artist.
I'm adoring this current arc of the story - finally Sin/Dex being good again, and some genuine fears for the future of certain characters, which is a rare thing in comics these days!
And this episode has really shown off Tazio's skills - not a slow moment or duff panel in sight!
Is this it for a while, or is it due back soon?
Dexter will be back in November ; and it's Dexter vs dinosaurs, by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin! :
https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/ (https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/)
Quote from: broodblik on 08 September, 2021, 04:27:51 AM
Jaegir – Dark, moody and somber this is the world of Atalia as the story gets more interesting. Take top honors this week great stuff from Rennie and Coleby. Pity the story will end next week and then we must wait again to see where the dark path Atalia choose is heading to.
Yep, absolutely the best thing in a very good prog. I've a feeling it's going to take something particularly nasty to get Atalia on a better path right now...
Also, it's been a looong time since I sat and pored over any artwork like I used to do as a kid.
The Cole-B droid's stuff I can marvel at all day! His robot arms are second to none! (And the one's he draws are pretty good too...;))
Quote from: broodblik on 09 September, 2021, 10:18:01 AM
Dexter will be back in November ; and it's Dexter vs dinosaurs, by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin! :
https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/ (https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/)
Not the title I was expecting, but yay!
Quote from: Woolly on 09 September, 2021, 10:22:34 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 09 September, 2021, 10:18:01 AM
Dexter will be back in November ; and it's Dexter vs dinosaurs, by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin! :
https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/ (https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/)
Not the title I was expecting, but yay!
There will never, ever be anything wrong with a story that can be summarised as Dexter vs dinosaurs!
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 September, 2021, 10:56:24 AM
Quote from: Woolly on 09 September, 2021, 10:22:34 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 09 September, 2021, 10:18:01 AM
Dexter will be back in November ; and it's Dexter vs dinosaurs, by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin! :
https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/ (https://2000ad.com/news/whats-coming-from-rebellions-comics-imprints-this-november/)
Not the title I was expecting, but yay!
There will never, ever be anything wrong with a story that can be summarised as Dexter vs dinosaurs!
Yep, I'm here for that!
Personally though, I'm hoping the 'dinosaurs' are older, deader characters being synthed back to life by the AI.
And
that's why I don't try writing stuff! ;)
Quote from: Richard on 08 September, 2021, 10:28:49 PM
Congratulations!
Thanks!
It was the letter captioned 'For Mature Readers' proposing a solution to the Regened impasse. And although its tongue-in-cheek tone saw it given short shrift by TMO, I think it's got mileage.
Let me expound...
As has been explained many times here, the major obstacles to the creation of a new Regened weekly have been the cost of marketing a new publication and the potential difficulty of getting it shelf space at the newsagents. So why invite those risks? The regular prog is already well-established, so there's no need to start from scratch. By filling it with all-ages content on a permanent basis you've created your new publication by modifying an existing one. We know the 'veteran' readership of 2000 AD is (how to put this kindly) dwindling, so sooner or later it's going to get to the point where there's a greater return to be had from aiming at the new generation rather then the old.
But of course the 'loyal Squaxx', as I put it in my missive, still want to buy and read the comic they love - which is where the new publication, aimed squarely at them, comes in. The difference is, it won't
need to be marketed; the long-term readership will simply transfer their allegiance. If Tharg announced today that all 2000 AD's strips were going to continue in a new organ, I'm willing to bet that 99% of us would take up a subscription (or modify their newsagent purchase) immediately.
I don't seriously believe, as I suggested in my letter, that the new publication should actually be called '2000 AD Degened', or that its content should exactly mirror that of the GGC in its formative years - that was a little humorous aside. But as time marches on I think it not only should, but must and ultimately will happen.
BTW until I saw my letter in print, I didn't realise the Betelgeusian style guide capitalises 'Thrills'
So norton it is like a magic trick, look at the "left" hand people whereas the trick is done by the devious mister "right" hand.
No, nothing devious about it : )
It would all be up-front ("Exciting news for readers inside!")
It just think it's a way that hasn't been considered of passing the thrill-baton (sorry, the 'Thrill-baton') to the next generation of Squaxxes.
Quote from: norton canes on 09 September, 2021, 11:52:16 AM
But of course the 'loyal Squaxx', as I put it in my missive, still want to buy and read the comic they love - which is where the new publication, aimed squarely at them, comes in. The difference is, it won't need to be marketed; the long-term readership will simply transfer their allegiance. If Tharg announced today that all 2000 AD's strips were going to continue in a new organ, I'm willing to bet that 99% of us would take up a subscription (or modify their newsagent purchase) immediately.
I'm not convinced that a weekly or even a monthly all-ages periodical is The Mighty One's endgame here. As mentioned on various previous Regened threads, the all-ages/YA audience isn't enamoured of the format, preferring the TPB/OGN format, which they buy (or have bought for them) in extraordinary numbers.
It's my strong suspicion that it's
this market that the House of Tharg is eyeing. The Regened-quarterly-tester followed by full-series-quickly-bundled-into-a-trade model enables that without having to sink a fuckton of cash upfront into commissioning content.
That said, I've advocated in the past for the regular prog to go all-ages, and the Megazine to become the home for everything 'grown-up'. Strips have moved back and forth between the prog and Meg in the past (Devlin Waugh, Missionary Man) so some clearly unsuitable strips for an all-ages treatment (like Brink) could migrate to the Meg whilst some others might be in line for a soft-ish reboot and stay where they are — Kingdom, for example.
If the Meg picked up a few thousand extra readers from the pool that don't currently buy both titles, it might even be financially viable to either up the page count, or drop some of the feature to make room for added strip, so more of the transfers from the prog could find a semi-regular home.
Which, IMO, neatly solves the all-ages issue without the expense (and administrative/editorial overhead) of launching a new title at all.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 September, 2021, 12:53:05 PM
I've advocated in the past for the regular prog to go all-ages, and the Megazine to become the home for everything 'grown-up'
Yes! Brilliant.
Quote
Strips have moved back and forth between the prog and Meg in the past (Devlin Waugh, Missionary Man) so some clearly unsuitable strips for an all-ages treatment (like Brink) could migrate to the Meg whilst some others might be in line for a soft-ish reboot and stay where they are — Kingdom, for example.
If the Meg picked up a few thousand extra readers from the pool that don't currently buy both titles, it might even be financially viable to either up the page count, or drop some of the feature to make room for added strip, so more of the transfers from the prog could find a semi-regular home.
Which, IMO, neatly solves the all-ages issue without the expense (and administrative/editorial overhead) of launching a new title at all
Yes! Of course - no need for a new 'Degened' publication. The Megazine is the missing piece of the jigsaw.
(Not sure about a 'soft reboot' of Kingdom though : ) )
Although, thinking about it, that would be a lot of extra content (four weeks' worth of a typical strip being ~20 pages) to fit in a monthly Meg.
A weekly Meg, on the other hand...
Quote from: norton canes on 09 September, 2021, 01:44:07 PM
Although, thinking about it, that would be a lot of extra content (four weeks' worth of a typical strip being ~20 pages) to fit in a monthly Meg.
At one point in its past, the Meg was square-bound and 100 pages. 88 pages of strip and 12 of feature/ads/editorial would deliver roughly the same amount of thrill power as a month of progs. You could run—what?— six 12-page strips and maybe a 16-page Dredd every issue? The longer page count for each episode would make the instalments feel...
meatier and help to offset the longer wait between issues.
What you suggest Jim is a workable solution but I love my weekly progs and the 4 regen progs a year is not a problem.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 September, 2021, 02:03:57 PM
At one point in its past, the Meg was square-bound and 100 pages. 88 pages of strip and 12 of feature/ads/editorial would deliver roughly the same amount of thrill power as a month of progs. You could run—what?— six 12-page strips and maybe a 16-page Dredd every issue? The longer page count for each episode would make the instalments feel... meatier and help to offset the longer wait between issues.
Literally beyond excited at just the thought of that.
I mean I pay £12.40 for four progs a month; I would happily spend a bit upwards of that on a lovely prestige-bound monthly publication instead.
Anyway, about this week's prog...
That cover is absolute filth (in the way da yoot use the word now to mean 'rather wonderful'). Flawless design and execution.
It's all kind of a bit disjointed inside with some strips only having short runs but Dredd provides some welcome stability as well as adding a nice twist to its tale. I'm beginning to wonder if Sinister/Dexter (delete as applicable) really is building to some kind of finale, or whether this story will just rumble on ad infinitum whenever a few progs need space filling (though I should say it's rumbling on brilliantly). 'The Mask of Laverna' is a bit by-numbers; we didn't get any backstory on Adelphi in the last one, did we? I think that might have helped.
As always with runs of the Rennie droid's stories, the major frustration is that they're over before you really have a chance to get into them. Oh for Jaegir to have enjoyed as much prog space as Skip Tracer over the last few years!
Quote from: broodblik on 09 September, 2021, 02:20:17 PM
What you suggest Jim is a workable solution but I love my weekly progs and the 4 regen progs a year is not a problem.
I agree. It's just fun to play Armchair Tharg every once in a while! :-)
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 September, 2021, 03:00:55 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 09 September, 2021, 02:20:17 PM
What you suggest Jim is a workable solution but I love my weekly progs and the 4 regen progs a year is not a problem.
I agree. It's just fun to play Armchair Tharg every once in a while! :-)
Well unless we're suggesting we'd release the Regened as a seperate comic that is...
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 September, 2021, 03:54:06 PM
Well unless we're suggesting we'd release the Regened as a seperate comic that is...
DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE.
My Top 3 for Prog 2248
Very strong cover, well done to the Robinson and Teague droid.
I'll have to tally the votes later in the year but surely the Teague droid is in the running for best colourist across his work for the GGC this year
1st - Dexter - Thoroughly enjoyed this action packed finale for this run. Shame to have to wait for what's up next
2nd - Dredd - A remnant from a long past Dredd battle coming back for more spooky thrills
3rd - Jaegir - Coleby and O'Grady keeping the Rogueworld grit happening in spades
Honourable mention to the Teague droid for his colours on Skip Tracer