Prog 2261 - Never Look Back

[IndigoPrime]

Well. Two strips bow out this issue but two presumably continue in the end-of-year extravaganza. But before then, this is a masterful Prog.

A quality slice of Harrison art on the cover is followed by a two-part Dredd finale that is completely ridiculous in the best possible way. This feels like a modern take on old-school absurdist Dredd—like a love letter to the best strips of the classic era. That Dredd wasn’t really in it doesn’t matter, because it was so enjoyable.

Then we get some horror in The Out and a YOU CAN’T LEAVE IT THERE cliffhanger (damn you, Abnett), along with a further demand in my head for an oversized Image-style HC of this series. (Please, Tharg.)

Scarlet Traces ends well, except it doesn’t, because, well, there’s a twist—and I honestly didn’t see that one coming.

Which leaves Dexter, bringing up the rear. It’s enjoyable nonsense, although very much filler in a Prog of gems.

Full marks though this week. This was great stuff. Dredd > The Out > Scarlet Traces > Dexter, but it’s all good.

[broodblik]

Cover by Mark Harrison:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[Colin YNWA]

That's a fine final prog of the year, though strangely we have two stories going into the end of year Prog, which I always find a bit weird, but the schedule is the schedule and I ain't keepin' the traffic movin' so...

Let's get back to the positives.

Dredd is just plain good fun, wonderfully realised. Okay maybe running the idea to 3 parts, the last of which is double sized is stretching the joke a little too far. The underpinning story is quite weak too, though it hangs in there and Enormo Overdrive I or III is always welcome.

The Out remains terrifyingly wonderful. Just superb.

Scarlet Traces it'd have been a soft ending, but ending it would have been. As it is the leap ahead has left more doors open and I'm no longer sure where this story feels it can go now? Still its done what its done, looks incredible and has opened those doors. i guess were Brass Sun is a journey through worlds, Scarlet Traces is a journey through time...and when I think of it like that it works.

Dexter I'm enjoying this more and more, still significent questions, but if it keeps this momentum up it could find its place and pace again. Nice end to this segment and happy that this one seems to get to continue into the new year.

Good prog, maybe not quite as good as the last couple but still very good.

[broodblik]

This is the last regular prog of the year and it is a goody. An excellent cover for an excellent story. This is a fiver or rather fourer.

Dredd – Super enjoyable yarn by Rod and Chris and with some extras pages to boot. Dredd makes his appearance and does what he does best by applying the letter of the law

The Out – The enemy revealed at last and what an image as everything erupts in violence.  What an ending to this episode as we have to wait a week so see where mister Abnett is steering the boat.

Scarlet Traces – The story jumps a few years in the future where everyone (or rather all species) working together to explore our universe. It ends but the door is kept open for me.

Dexter – Some backstabbing and betrayals and next we start the next arc of Bullet to the Head.

[Timothy]

I am not happy that we were robbed of “gaze into the fist: you’ve been dissed”

[Barrington Boots]

Another really great cover this week.

Dredd Great wrap up to a great story.  Everything about this was so incredibly ridiculous in a good way, from the breakdancing Grunwalder to Enormo and his Sharkbah utterance at the end. A real love letter to old school Dredds indeed. I have absolutely loved this. With Klegg off to the cubes I hope it's not the last we see of him.

The Out This episode was fantastic.

Scarlet Traces Not sure about this ending tbh. It feels both a good one and somewhat detached - it's so 'big' in it's time jump and universe-spanning nature that it leaves almost all the small elements of the series behind. I think this will benefit from an all in one read. Despite enjoying this run, I feel it ending here wouldn't be a bad thing.

Dexter Well, there were some terrifically drawn dinosaurs and such in this run, but overall this has been totally forgettable, mainly predictable and neither funny nor exciting. Real waste of the talents involved.

[The Corinthian]

So what happened to Enormo Overdrive II?

[Leigh S]

Missing in Action prog over in the Birmingham Gap....

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Still no Prog in the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne area

[Leigh S]

Gave up on my sub and got one from Smiths - looks like very few people have got it, or ahve anything to say about it? 

[norton canes]

Anyway. Like I was saying (in the wrong thread)...

A strange prog, full of endings which aren't quite endings

A bumper wrap for 'The Musical!' which TBH might have been better without the Enormo Overdrive stuff bolted on. Love Fire's paper flames. Probably one for the 'Things that went over your head' thread in General but this is mainly a pastiche of Hamilton, isn't it..?

I guess it would be fair to say nobody saw this coming in Scarlet Traces? It reminds me a bit of the epilogue on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album that jumps forward to a NASA mission discovering the Martians aren't as dead as people thought. As someone who didn't read the strip from the start, it'll be nice to have a continuation of the story that isn't burdened by so many characters.

Dexter is as great a read as ever. I genuinely think it really does encapsulate the feel of ongoing 2000 AD strips from the 80's. Am I missing another reference with that "Some barbarian queen from a really cheesy movie" remark? Also, what's the betting that next week's instalment consists mainly of a plot catch-up..?

Finally The Out, which is just utterly, absolutely devastating. Because the truth is most of the time war isn't about heroic hand-to-hand combat, or duelling spaceships - it's about wiping out as many people as possible from a safe distance. Stunning work from Mark Harrison on the centrefold pages, with the masterfully crafted sound effect lettering, and on that breathtaking full page panel. Hands down the best single instalment of a strip this year.

[Double checks this is in the right place]

[Sean SD]

My Top 3 for Prog 2261

1st - The Out - Wow, what an episode. Norton Canes sums it up beautifully for me below. Page turn made me gasp, and I want to see what happens next issue now. Excellent use of sound effects lettering for both the violent actions and the other characters reactions.

Finally The Out, which is just utterly, absolutely devastating. Because the truth is most of the time war isn't about heroic hand-to-hand combat, or duelling spaceships - it's about wiping out as many people as possible from a safe distance. Stunning work from Mark Harrison on the centrefold pages, with the masterfully crafted sound effect lettering, and on that breathtaking full page panel. Hands down the best single instalment of a strip this year.

2nd - Dredd - Good finish to the musical for me. Nepotism, Walter, Sir Laurence

3rd - Scarlet Traces - Peace in our time?

[Barrington Boots]

Dexter ... Am I missing another reference with that "Some barbarian queen from a really cheesy movie" remark?

I thought this was a reference to Conan, given the pose she is in at the end, but Abnett's jokes are usually cleverer than this so maybe I missed something too.
Re-reading Dredd and there's so many little visual jokes in there. It's brilliant.

[The Corinthian]

The most poignant thing about The Musical! is that Sensitive finally meets someone who thinks he's as much of a creative genius as he imagines he is but then literally tosses him away for a chance to stan Dredd.