Very quick review here, but I really enjoyed this one - best Sci-Fi Special in a long time.
Dredd was great - one of Mike Carroll's best, and it somehow captured a bit of 80s MC1 nostalgia, with all its mayhem and weird vehicles and the like.
SinDex was very nice too; much in the spirit of the early SinDex one-offs in the Christmas specials.
Special mention to Fiends; which was truly chilling, and contained a nice slice of history (my German mate Hannes recently told me of how his dad used to take similar trips through the Wall to West Berlin, which I hadn't realised was possible).
Death - great stuff, and really good fun to see [spoiler]so many different faces of the Joker[/spoiler], again a bit of nostalgia involved re. when 2000ad wasn't afraid to prod some very powerful companies' lawyers with a stick. Not sure Dredd would so readily [spoiler]encourage Death to hand-pierce so many Mega-Cits [/spoiler] however.
Anderson - Good stuff, fairly nailed her character as Alan Grant developed her. I still find it hard to deal with her looking like a 25-year-old, but ah well, suspension of disbelief and all.
Middenface - Liked this too. Sort of a Judgement on Gotham vibe, with serious inebriation.
JayzusB is spot on, this was one of the best Sci-Fi Specials in recent memory.
The more weird thing for me was that the Sin/Dex story was my favorite. It tells a story of a gun and how this gun swapped hands.
The Dredd tale was awesome as well and it would be nice to have Stewart Kenneth Moore getting more work done for the prog
Yep, the SiniDex was the standout and it was a sliding scale all the way down to Anderson, but most were in the upper half.
Definitely the best Sci-Fi Spesh for long, long while.
SBT
Glad you enjoyed it! As well as a creator droid i'm also a fan and really enjoyed the Dredd story, big fan of Stewart's art work and concur...more please.
Quote from: Steven Austin on 16 July, 2022, 09:07:20 PM
Glad you enjoyed it! As well as a creator droid i'm also a fan and really enjoyed the Dredd story, big fan of Stewart's art work and concur...more please.
Hey, it's the Six Million Dollar Art Droid! (Sorry, I'm sure you've heard that six million times before.) Great work on the Death story; some amazing artwork there. Kind of in the Bolland tradition, or even Staples' penwork. Looking forward to more.
Remember back when we did the sketch compos? This special's theme was basically what I pitched as the next topic before we lost Bolt-1 and it didn't seem to fit the mood anymore.
Definitely a decent special, this one. I was a bit worried the music theme would make it a bit cringe-worthy but for the most part this wasn't the case, although the Middenface reminded me a bit of the Dredd/Placebo crossover that was reprinted in a recent Case File - there's something about bands 'rocking' on stage in comics that doesn't work for me (a noteable exception being Love and Rockets). Not sure why, it just doesn't feel convincing!
Anyway Dredd was good and I'm certainly up for seeing more Moore. Enjoying watching him develop. Nice script too.
Sinister Dexter was a grand one-off in keeping with the early days of the strip.
Fiends - this one surprised me. I think this is my favourite strip Karl Stock has written. I didn't realise it was [spoiler]a Constanta strip [/spoiler]we were talking about until p3 and I was a bit disappointed at first - I'd been enjoying the strip up to that point as a straight historical story. But the rest of it continued to work well, ended creepily and Pleece did a good job.
Anderson - I felt like I'd missed a page or two here. Never seeing the stricken psi-judges in reality made it feel a bit abstract, and the strip didn't seem to get going before it was resolved. I did like the art and colouring though, particularly Vieceli's facial expressions which for me were the hook of the strip.
Judge Death... hmm. Again, nice art. That final panel on p3 - wowsers! Wasn't keen on the story though, especially the 'team up' and the song lyrics as dialogue, felt a bit cringey to me! Also [spoiler]Dredd sees off Death's spirit form with his respirator? Since when did the dark judges rely on being inhaled by their victims??[/spoiler] The dialogue towards the end felt a bit blasé too 'oh, probably back in limbo or whatever'. Did the [spoiler]Sisters always have wee ornately carved figurines like that? Very silly![/spoiler]
Quote from: Blue Cactus on 18 July, 2022, 05:30:42 PM
Definitely a decent special, this one. I was a bit worried the music theme would make it a bit cringe-worthy but for the most part this wasn't the case, although the Middenface reminded me a bit of the Dredd/Placebo crossover that was reprinted in a recent Case File - there's something about bands 'rocking' on stage in comics that doesn't work for me (a noteable exception being Love and Rockets). Not sure why, it just doesn't feel convincing!
Anyway Dredd was good and I'm certainly up for seeing more Moore. Enjoying watching him develop. Nice script too.
Sinister Dexter was a grand one-off in keeping with the early days of the strip.
Fiends - this one surprised me. I think this is my favourite strip Karl Stock has written. I didn't realise it was [spoiler]a Constanta strip [/spoiler]we were talking about until p3 and I was a bit disappointed at first - I'd been enjoying the strip up to that point as a straight historical story. But the rest of it continued to work well, ended creepily and Pleece did a good job.
Anderson - I felt like I'd missed a page or two here. Never seeing the stricken psi-judges in reality made it feel a bit abstract, and the strip didn't seem to get going before it was resolved. I did like the art and colouring though, particularly Vieceli's facial expressions which for me were the hook of the strip.
Middenface felt a bit weak. I feel like I've read this plot more than once in 2000ad before - character ends up on stage with the band, woohoo etc. Bit of a shame what happened to Zak Frak, no? His band mates don't seem bothered about it. V.V. Glass though - really pleasing art and I loved the colouring job - look at the line work and lighting on Middenface's, er, face on p2 panels 3 and 4 - that's gorgeous that is!
Judge Death... hmm. Again, nice art. That final panel on p3 - wowsers! Wasn't keen on the story though, especially the 'team up' and the song lyrics as dialogue, felt a bit cringey to me! Also [spoiler]Dredd sees off Death's spirit form with his respirator? Since when did the dark judges rely on being inhaled by their victims??[/spoiler] The dialogue towards the end felt a bit blasé too 'oh, probably back in limbo or whatever'. Did the [spoiler]Sisters always have wee ornately carved figurines like that? Very silly![/spoiler]
I see I've posted that twice, not sure if a mod can remove the quote post?
Yeah, best Sci-Fi Special I can remember in a while. SinDex probably the pick of a uniformly strong bunch - the Abnett droid can really rattle off these one-shots with panache, eh. Nice idea for a Dredd - I presume we now have another addition to the panoply of recurring characters? The idea that Dredd's internal organs have been scrambled by decades of reconstructive surgery is wonderfully grim. Karl Stock's come up with such a great Fiends interlude, it makes me wonder if rather than ordering his droids to write future shocks, TMO could instead get them to create further digressions for existing characters?
Paul Cornell's Anderson was a lovely wistful little tale, a welcome change from some of the stories that have been showing up in the regular prog recently. Is this the first time a credited TV Doctor Who writer has penned a strip for the GGC (not counting Mills and Wagner's Space Whale)? Liked Middenface McNulty, music's second best Eminem, and the Death story was worth it just for the excruciatingly literal take on the song title.
Note to Tharg: please don't print the Damage report on such a light background. Impossible to read!
Quote from: norton canes on 22 July, 2022, 01:43:15 PM
Is this the first time a credited TV Doctor Who writer has penned a strip for the GGC (not counting Mills and Wagner's Space Whale)?
Paul also wrote the Abelard Snazz story in the Regened Prog 2206.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 22 July, 2022, 02:10:59 PM
Quote from: norton canes on 22 July, 2022, 01:43:15 PM
Is this the first time a credited TV Doctor Who writer has penned a strip for the GGC (not counting Mills and Wagner's Space Whale)?
Paul also wrote the Abelard Snazz story in the Regened Prog 2206.
And XTNCT + the less memorable Pan-African Judges
https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=thrills&Comic=Megazine&Field=Writer&choice=paulc (https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=thrills&Comic=Megazine&Field=Writer&choice=paulc)
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 July, 2022, 02:23:47 PM
And XTNCT + the less memorable Pan-African Judges
Yes! TBH, I was just thinking of what he'd done since becoming far better known as a Dr Who writer.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 22 July, 2022, 02:42:22 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 July, 2022, 02:23:47 PM
And XTNCT + the less memorable Pan-African Judges
Yes! TBH, I was just thinking of what he'd done since becoming far better known as a Dr Who writer.
I bet that he's relieved that nobody recalls
Blackadder Deathwatch in the Meg.
Quote from: O Lucky Stevie! on 23 July, 2022, 07:17:03 PM
I bet that he's relieved that nobody recalls Blackadder Deathwatch in the Meg.
I certainly didn't! Until now. Thanks for that...
Yeah, properly good, this Special.
The Dredd, SinDex and Fiends all SO good, in fact, that the other strips were a bit disappointing, despite being perfectly good in themselves.
Not quite sure how much actual inspiration was taken from the songs themselves (haven't even heard of about half of them), but I would say 'the Joker' was the only one where I could tell the lyrics were having a literal impact on the story and it was maybe a bit much, but forgivable for the goofy fun of it.
I'm all for Tharg adding gimmickry to the Specials. So far they've been the most memorable - the 'red' theme for the 40th Anniversary, the 'creator swap' ones from the mid-90s, and the horror-themed Winter Specials.
"Thrills to the speed of 45 rpm"?
(https://c.tenor.com/Pvvx0W970EoAAAAC/parents-cool-dad.gif)
I mean, Tharg knows his target demographic...
Finally got around to reading this on my holidays after picking it up in my LCS and want to echo the positive sentiments here. A blast of a special... well ever if I read it with the songs playing (known and unknown) and get distracted by thinking - in some cases - what you took the song that way, REALLY. Which is clearly an inherantly silly thing to do, but... well it was there. So I'll rate the storys as stories and use of their inspirations.
Dredd - did know the song but having hear it will reading (in exactly the time the song took to play interesting) it fitted wll. Was a blast and Stewart K Moore's art improved each time I see it and the storytelliing is fine here.
Sinister Dexter - lovely old skool thrill and neatly and simply used the songs title to play with. Which given its supposedly simple poetic nature isn't a bad thing and with lovely art this is super and best thing in a good comic.
Fiends of West Berlin plays nicely with the details of the song and with Warren Pleece art is a lovely little horror story with a fantastic ending.
Anderson don't much like Kate Bush but put this on and it washed over me... so kinda like th story which was fine but didn't have the impact I felt it might.
Middenface McNulty was a really fun story BUT this is the one that really threw due to its poor use of the song. I love me some Neil Young so WAY over thought how I'd have used it differently... didn't even make the concert reflect the concert in the video... grumble groan silly pointless moan... still did really like the story so got over it.
Judge Death now this one went the opposite way of Middenface and used the well known songs lyrics very literally, but in equally fun ways so I enjoyed the playfulness of this and it made good use of panto Death in the context. Also nice touch at the end.
So yeah great special and I kinda want them to use this theme on a regular basis it has such potential for fun!
Quote from: AlexF on 28 July, 2022, 12:31:47 PM
I'm all for Tharg adding gimmickry to the Specials. So far they've been the most memorable - the 'red' theme for the 40th Anniversary, the 'creator swap' ones from the mid-90s, and the horror-themed Winter Specials.
Same here - especially as the format of specials and annuals have changed so that they look a little like an oversized prog (back in the seventies and eighties, the weekly was four-colour on bog paper while the specials had higher quality printing on the cover, at least). So the ones you've mentioned, plus the Carlos special make them more distinct.
Next planned special, of course, has to be an Alan Grant themed special, like the Carlos one.
Smokin' pot and stickin' it to the Man - the Alan Grant special! Looking forward to it already :P