Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Topics - Richard

#1
Film Discussion / Civil War
06 March, 2024, 07:22:56 PM
I've just seen a trailer for Alex Garland's new film Civil War, and it looks brilliant. He's writer and director. Out in Spring. Looking forward to seeing that.
#2
Other Reviews / Which thrills have you skipped?
19 January, 2024, 10:52:59 PM

Quote from: Magnetica on 18 January, 2024, 10:31:49 PMI'll never skip anything in the Prog but I just read them as fast as possible and move on.


I saw this comment on another thread, and it made me think about how dedicated to the prog you have to be to read an episode of an ongoing story when you already know you won't like it, and -- if you're that kind of fan -- how bad a story has to be for you to decide that you're actually going to stop reading it.

For me, I hardly ever skip a story, and I'll usually force myself to read something I'm not interested in, but I did stop reading Space Girls.*

Which story made you think "nah, I'm done"?


* Sorry David -- if it helps, I really liked The Savage Amusement.
#3
Prog / Prog 2348 - Mega-City Crackdown!
02 September, 2023, 01:53:33 PM
A consistently good prog this week.

There's another good Dredd cover by Jake Lynch, a Droid Life, and Tharg tells us what's in store for prog 2350.

Then there's the penultimate episode of A Fallen Man, and the story suddenly makes progress, setting us up for its conclusion. People have complained elsewhere about this story being a bit of a slow burn; they won't be disappointed this week! I especially enjoyed Asher's misinterpretation of Zoola's motives.

There's a decent Future Shock by Ned Hartley (is he new?) and Joe Currie, and a revelation in Azimuth. It will be interesting to find out what is really going on here.

Die Hoard is just brilliant, way above par for a 3riller. I want to see more stories from Eddie Robson. Barney tells me he has done 3rillers and Future Shocks before; I'd like to see him do his own series now.

There's a decent episode of Hershey. (But can anyone tell me if the last two panels are a flashback, or is that where she is right now?)

5 out of 5 for me!
#4
Prog / Prog 2341 - Kill Shot
15 July, 2023, 02:56:40 PM
SPOILERS SPOILERS!!

A decent cover by Tom Foster introduces the first episode of A Fallen Man, which has plenty of action. I enjoyed the last two stories with Asher so I gave high hopes for this one.

And then we come to Azimuth. I have been enjoying this story so far, but my fears have been confirmed: this is indeed a Sinister Dexter spin-off, and it didn't need to be; it could have been its own thing. Oh well. We'll see how it develops.

Not started Portals and Black Goo yet, because I want to get on to the Megazine now.

Void Runners is another action-packed episode, and it's pretty fun.

Hershey returns, continuing where it left off last time, and there's an enjoyable flashback to one of her earliest appearances.

There is also a Droid Life.

All in all, a good prog this week.
#5
Film & TV / All Quiet on the Western Front
14 February, 2023, 11:46:12 PM
This film (on Netflix) is simply brilliant. A German film (dubbed but reasonably competently) about the First World War, it is utterly horrifying, with a strong anti-war message. The action sequences are extremely well put together. Well worth watching.
#6
Prog / Prog 2316 - Taking Liberties
22 January, 2023, 12:18:25 AM
Nice to get a Saturday prog at last!

Dredd finishes and does not disappoint.

Tin Man - whatever.

The Out - significant things happen.

Proteus Vex - apparently something significant happened but I missed what it was; I think it will be necessary to re-read all of this at some point to understand it.

The real highlight for me this week is the Terror Tale, which was really strong I thought, and an improvement on some of the recent offerings. A clear premise and a horrible ending.
#7
Other Reviews / The Garry Leach Collection
17 September, 2022, 02:01:47 PM
No prog today, but I did receive this free gift for subscribers: a 52-page tribute to the late Garry Leach, on glossy paper. It's nicely put together. It is an anthology of Judge Dredd stories and Future Shocks, including Ten Years On with the colour pages reprinted in colour, and an excellent Alan Moore story and quite a good tale by Kelvin Gosnell which I had entirely forgotten about but is fun.
#8
Prog / Prog 2290 - Double Impact!
09 July, 2022, 06:20:12 PM
The highlight this week is double-length Dexter. Funny script, lots of action, and glorious art by Tazio Bettin. There's also a really good cover by Andy Clarke (although the number plates don't match!).

Next is Brink with an interesting reveal.

Judge Dredd introduces some more characters, and then begins the action.

I'm not really following Skip Tracer. Why is the pop star even there? She's just a pop star. Why is Blake helping them again? "I have a bad feeling about this," well that's original.
#9
Well this arrived today, and I spent plenty of time looking through it. It's a nice, well put together volume. As explained in the recent Megazine feature, most of the artists are from outside the prog, but there are several droids too. There's an excellent image by Stewart Moore, which includes impressively detailed pictures of Wagner, Ezquerra, Pat Mills and Matt Smith, all surrounding Dredd. Other stand-outs for me were Staz Johnson on Rogue, Phil Noto on Anderson, Mike Perkins on Harry 20, and Mark Eastbrook's painting of Dante.

As well as work by 45 (I presume; I didn't count) artists, there are also the covers to progs 1 and 2270 (the 45th birthday issue).

I'd recommend this to anyone.
#10
Film Discussion / Top Gun: Maverick
25 May, 2022, 11:32:16 PM
Just saw this in IMAX, and I think it's actually better than the original. Definitely worth seeing in cinemas.
#11
Is anyone else seeing that the emojis aren't displaying properly, or is it just me?
#12
Film Discussion / No Time to Die
05 October, 2021, 12:36:39 AM
Just saw the new James Bond film, thought it was great.
Recommend you see it as soon as you can before somebody puts all the best bits on Instagram or whatever and spoils it for you!
#13
Prog / Prog 0 - AD2000
02 October, 2021, 01:44:17 PM
My subscribers' copy of Prog 0 arrived today! It's quite nice. It's slightly bigger than today's size prog, and has glossy paper all the way through. Inside the cover Tharg explains that this is the 1976 dummy for what became 2000AD, and compares its contents with the final line-up in prog 1.

That's almost the only text in the comic, since the dummy didn't bother with lettering except the titles. But it's actually nice to see the art on its own. It starts with Invasion 1988, as it was originally called, then Harlem Heroes, then Shako!

Then there is a colour double-page spread of Dan Dare (not by Bellardinelli). Then there's MACH 1, which has the same level of violence that got Action cancelled. It's all rounded off by The Visible Man, where the last panel of the story takes up the entire back cover as he reacts to his invisible skin -- my favourite illustration in the comic!

This was a great idea, and I'm glad it was done properly: full size and quality paper. Thanks Tharg!
#14
Prog / Prog 2236 - A View to a Kill!
14 June, 2021, 08:25:00 PM
An all-round excellent prog this week!

There's a cover by Dylan Teague, and a silly Droid Life, and then a new Dredd story by John Wagner and Colin MacNeil, Removal Man, about a hitman with inventive ways of killing people. As always, Wagner's writing is fantastic. Looking forward to seeing how this story turns out. I'm already rooting for the hitman.

More Mechastopheles and Department K -- these are good but I don't really have anything new to say about them since last time.

Chimpsky's Law is fabulous, with the same quirky text boxes we saw last week used to great effect. Genuinely funny and fun.

Feral & Foe II finishes with a seven-page episode, and ends on exactly the right note in my view. I hope there's a third series.
#15
Prog / Prog 2229 - Crunch Point!
24 April, 2021, 12:49:46 PM
A good prog this week. Visions of Deadworld is back for a two-episode story, but the first episode works perfectly well as a one-off story in its own right. I really like these stories.

A Penitent Man reaches its penultimate episode. Not much to say that hasn't already been said, it's a good tale. Looking forward to seeing how it ends.

Feral and Foe is full of innuendo and smut, which is entertaining.

Thistlebone isn't for me I'm afraid, but I'm sure the people who like it will enjoy it this week.

There's a Future Shock with art by Glenn Fabry. Story-wise, I enjoyed the first five pages, and I thought it was going to end in a particular way, but then the sixth page disappointed me, and also made much of what had happened earlier seem irrelevant. It reads (to me anyway) as if the writer originally had another ending in mind and then was told to change it, but didn't adjust the rest of the story. I'll be interested to read what others think about this one. I'd still like to see more stories from Mark McCann though.

The cover is by Dermot Power; when did we last see him round this way?
#16
News / Half price Zenith graphic novels
05 September, 2020, 07:52:42 PM
There's a 50% discount on hardback Zenith graphic novels at the shop, until 9 September:

https://2000ad.com/news/get-50-off-the-superpowered-superbrat-in-the-zenith-sale/
#17
Prog / Prog 2175 - Semi Detached
28 March, 2020, 01:02:50 PM
Judge Dredd: Hair of the Dog finishes perfectly well.

Skip Tracer, well the art is good anyway.

Survival Geeks returns for its last story, and for me this is the highlight this week. There are two massive and crazily-detailed panels that must have taken Neil Googe absolutely ages! The theme of this story seems to be the exact way that this series should logically conclude actually, as if the whole series has been building up to this. Can't wait to see how it pans out.

Aquila is suitably bloody, and promises more mayhem next week. Also it's nice to have an occasional alternative to science fiction in the prog, and I always love Patrick Goddard's art (can we have him on Dredd again please?).

Finally, I will spoiler tag this last one because I think some people will enjoy the surprise of discovering it for themselves. A new series starts called [spoiler]Hershey, starring ex-chief judge Hershey,[/spoiler] by Rob Williams and with brilliant art by Simon Fraser, and I really like how this looks, with the unusual use of colour. [spoiler]At first I thought it was going to be about what she did after she resigned but before she died, but no: it retcons her death in Guatemala and says she faked her own death and cremation. Well, sorry but fuck that. That's a big nope from me. That death scene was a brilliant and touching moment, and this story retrospectively unhappens it? This is the same mistake Garth Ennis made with Chopper, and it seems that lesson has not been learned. I'll still read it but I will never think of this as canon. (I wonder what Wagner thinks about people "improving" his stories?)[/spoiler]

Finally, Damage Report gives us an insight into Tharg working from home during the coronavirus lockdown, and it sounds like we are lucky to get a prog at all! So congratulations Tharg and thank you!
#18
General / Stories you've changed your mind about
02 November, 2019, 11:53:07 PM
I've just re-read Breathing Space in one sitting, a story I didn't think much of when it first appeared in the prog (I was only re-reading it for the art), and I quite liked it this time -- it's much easier to follow all in one go. This made me think about which other stories I and other squaxx dek Thargo have re-appraised on a second reading, either because the story works better that way or just because our tastes have changed as we've matured got older.

I doubt that I'll be saying the same thing about Skip Tracer a decade from now, but I'd like to know which other stories in the prog or the meg the rest of you have unexpectedly enjoyed on returning to them weeks, months or years later.
#19
Other Reviews / Ragtime Soldier
05 October, 2019, 05:10:39 PM
Ragtime Soldier, a new World War I story by Pat Mills and new artists Gary Welsh and Philip Vaughan, in Great War Dundee no. 1, is now available online here: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/files/38849747/GREAT_WAR_DUNDEE.pdf (desktop version, 96 MB) and here: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/files/39072837/GREAT_WAR_DUNDEE_compressed_1_.pdf (mobile version, 40 MB).
It's much like Charley's War, and I liked it. There's also a text article by Pat at the end.
#20
Other Reviews / Wildcat: Loner
15 September, 2019, 09:38:09 PM
I've just started the Wildcat book Loner from the Treasury of British Comics, and I have to say that Dave Pugh's art is absolutely beautiful to behold. Tharg should get him back working for 2000AD at once!