Well I guess the big news this Prog is even with 'Brimful' on the inside cover Tharg still managed to squeeze in a letter's page, even if a certain S. Watson can't squeeze in a new letter.
Well ACTUALLY the big new is how chuffin' brilliant Dredd is. Niemand and Goddard deliever more breathless action as Monas' race is run. There's a fantastic dollop of set up on the final page as well. Just classic Dredd.
Proteus Vex follows hard on Dredd's heels with more mindbending world building and then some hardcore action. Superb stuff.
The Order is a mixed bag - on the main its strong stuff, but John M Burns who seems to have been able to cope with anything and everything that KeK-W has thrown at him in this series seems to have found his limit when it comes to making Sludge Gideon look good. The Cassie starts a new journey - one I think might soon coincide with the journey through the time wastes - and then we get a nice idea in the 'Reef of Lost Automata' but... well is that Walter we see? Is this going to be another excuse for needless crossovers? Let's wait and see.
Kingmaker has Crixus kick serious ass, so the baddies just throw in the next level bosses to see what they can do - the art is all very shiny but still works.
Saphir2 looks lovely but is steadfastly okay. There's some good ideas in here. I'm just not sure why I should care yet.
Good Prog with splashes of greatness.
Cover by Leigh Gallagher:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJiifLiWUAAyxzo?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and Logo:
(https://dyn.media.forbiddenplanet.com/rhfjX3K1wTeslK3fqlSw3P29Kyw=/trim/fit-in/785x1024/filters:format(webp)/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/32/ac/9d4086211e012a4df9244e00cf20592f2610.jpeg)
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 January, 2022, 09:04:10 PM
Well I guess the big news this Prog is even with 'Brimful' on the inside cover Tharg still managed to squeeze in a letter's page, even if a certain S. Watson can't squeeze in a new letter.
Well ACTUALLY the big new is how chuffin' brilliant Dredd is. Niemand and Goddard deliever more breathless action as Monas' race is run. There's a fantastic dollop of set up on the final page as well. Just classic Dredd.
Proteus Vex follows hard on Dredd's heels with more mindbending world building and then some hardcore action. Superb stuff.
The Order is a mixed bag - on the main its strong stuff, but John M Burns who seems to have been able to cope with anything and everything that KeK-W has thrown at him in this series seems to have found his limit when it comes to making Sludge Gideon look good. The Cassie starts a new journey - one I think might soon coincide with the journey through the time wastes - and then we get a nice idea in the 'Reef of Lost Automata' but... well is that Walter we see? Is this going to be another excuse for needless crossovers? Let's wait and see.
Kingmaker has Crixus kick serious ass, so the baddies just throw in the next level bosses to see what they can do - the art is all very shiny but still works.
Saphir2 looks lovely but is steadfastly okay. There's some good ideas in here. I'm just not sure why I should care yet.
Good Prog with splashes of greatness.
It is clearly Walter (or at the least another MC1 style robot) but I doubt it'll ever actually be referenced in the story. Just a throwaway cameo I expect.
Did you spot Robot Archie's head is down the bottom as well?
A good prog and I am enjoying all the stories.
Dredd – Now this was a great Dredd story with a nice twist to end this tale. This one was mostly action and Goddard provide us with his wonderful city-scape world of the meg – which became an unknowingly character on its own. Just wonderful and a great start to the Dredd-verse for 2022
Porteus Vex – This was another great episode as Carol continues to provide us pieces of world-building as the intrigue of Vex continues to engulf us. No respect to Flint but Lynch now has made Vex his own. Wonderful sci-fi story.
The Order – This round we do not mount the rollercoaster, but we will surf the whale as the voyage continues. Interesting episode the only letdown was how Gideon was present, just a little muddy for my taste.
Kingmaker – Fantastic action-oriented episode as we go all out brawl to the wall as our hero takes on the horde of the Wraith King. The episode ends with a showdown panel and the action will continue next episode.
Saphir – We are provided with same back story on the how and the what. So far, I am enjoying this one and I find the world that Kek-W and Roach has built quite interesting and want to see more.
Quote from: broodblik on 26 January, 2022, 03:19:21 AMthe only letdown was how Gideon was present
The strip has taken one of the most bizarre and fantastic robot designs I've seen in 2000 AD — perhaps in comics as a whole — and transformed it into a literal pile of mud with a robot head that doesn't even really resemble the original. It's quite sad.
I'm still clinging on to the current prog, but only Dredd and Saphir are really doing it for me. Proteus Vex I've decided to skip and do a full read when it's done, Kingmaker is like visual soup and The Order actually makes me angry.
Good to have a letters page this week though.
SBT
I'm really taken with Saphir, especially after re-reading the original 3riller, it's mental in a good way.
And for all that it's true that Burns's verison OF Armoured G is frankly poor, at least in this week's episode Kek-W is fainlly exploring what the link even is between that old strip and this new one - and it's intriguing. Am kinda hoping it will lead to a re-design of the Gideon robot as it is now, whether Burns wants it or not...
'Working Girl' steals the show again. Other script droids take note: first and foremost, create a character we care about and in whom we therefore invest attachment. Place them in situations of genuine peril so we're never certain they're going to pull through. Then worry about your multi-chapter story arcs.
Absolutely exceptional stuff from all droids involved.
Proteus Vex scores highly on the character investment scale too (perhaps we should call it the 'Niemand Scale'?) by virtue of its protagonist being so damn quirky. Despite being such an outlandish creation he seems almost as lost in the bizarre universe he inhabits as we do. Jake Lynch is really helping bring this chapter to another level. Although I wasn't sure what was going on with the guns... I mean, they were guns, weren't they..?
Saphir is lusciously illustrated and is an intriguing concept but going back to my point above I just think we need a little more idea of the characters' background and motivation. Early days yet though so we'll se how it goes.
Kingmaker was a little lightweight this week. If you're reading a collected edition it's fine to have five pages of largely dialogue-free action but if that's all you get in a week's five-page instalment you do feel a lttle short-changed.
The Order is largely trading on its sheer oddness right now. Which is a shame, because the early chapters had some appealing and relatable protagonists (granted, we did have that nice episode focussing on Cassiopeia a couple of weeks ago)
Stoked for more Jaegir.
B/W Cover:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/KM5-COVER-INKS-SML-1012x1024.jpg)
Crixus without his magic crest:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/KM5-COVER-flat-SML-1024x976.jpg)
Catching up on my progs and am enjoying nearly everything even though hardly anything is a match for my particular tastes.
Dredd Working Girl has been brilliant but do we really need two KEK-W tales weaving historical figures it not fantasy situations, NJ no matter how yummy the art is?
Proteus Vex likewise isn't my cuppa but has enough clever script and art to keep me onboard.
Kingmaker should be entirely my kind of thing but somehow falls short. Love the art but as someone said a few progs ago, some of the storytelling takes several goes to parse correctly.
And I guess that's what ultimately puts me off some of the thrills like The Order or Deadworld. I don't mind rereading a story many times because I love it. But I don't want to have to reread it lots of times in order to love it. Grab me first (like Brink, The Out) and then you can be as complex and overflowing with ideas as you want.
Dredd is worth the entry money alone, and a nice dollop of set up on that last page without it being to old come work for the Justice Dept finish.
Vex isn't Vexing but the rest are for me, as is often the case for me, when the Prog is in the doldrums the Megazine is flying high.