Prog 2300: On the Day of Judgement...

[Leigh S]

No thread?

**** ALL SPOILERS  *******

Great cover and even greater Flint art on the Dredd section.  Niemand pitches the set up well and the dynamic between Alpha and Dredd rings true.  Flint's Alpha is glorious.  The 2000 A-lternative D-imensions thing from Helter Skelter never really worked for me

The other stories only feel tangentally connected to the Dredd, despite it acting as a framing narrative

Rogue Trooper is OK - great art again - couple of oddities - having other (dead) GIs wandering around makes sense I suppose, though the art had him looking so fresh that it caused a bit of dissonnance.  From the Quartz zone I'd expect it to be crustier - felt like it needed some explanation there - also the "killing" of Rogue at the end isnt very clear (and looks like it is straight through the chip!)

Not to drag over the other stories in detail, but just to say they run off with the idea of "Zombies"  to greater or lesser effect, but completely disregard that the Zombies (at least Sabbat's zombies) are magic based, rather than a disease or other such, so they dont really addd anything.

Stront comes back with some nice Staz Johnson art, but pedant mode has to be engaged here - Torso was killed years before the events of Judgement Day, as was more obviously Wulf, so why are they here other than fan service?  You can say "different time line" but the starting conceit of the strip appears to be a single different path taken at the end of Judgement Day.  Not sure how Alpha is aware of other dimensions being directly affected when he returns to the Doghouse either, but I suppose its a minor quibble - i just like to see the characters discover the plot through events rather than have it explained in a narrative box I suppose - as far as Alpha can tell at this point, he just hasnt succeeded in stopping Sabbat turning his own Universe bad? 

All of this might seem pedantic but it does undermine the "cliff hanger" a bit - overall, an interesting experiment - worked better for me than the Summer Special with the linked stories, but I do have to divorce the "back up strips" from the arc -  I suppose there are all kinds of explanations you could give to explain why Sabbats "Necro Magic" leads to very different types of zombies just sprouting up elsewhere (its "complex" as Alpha says!), but not having that cohesion diminishes the overall impact for me.

Looking forward to getting the Meg , which will hopefully concentrate on the main plot more, and therefore have more "ahem" bite for my taste...

[Funt Solo]

No thread?

Alternate dimension, innit.

Signed - Sideways Scuttleton

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[Colin YNWA]

Well after we can all stop being offically sad the Prog is allowed to land and bring the good times.

I mean this is all utter nonsense and poppycock, but by george it knows its nonsense and poppycock and simply revels in that fact. I'm going to break with tradition and not review this story by story as there's little point. The framing sequence sets up a flimsy premise just there to serve up the playful, chomping fun. Each story handles its take on the zombies their own way. Nothing is of any substance or consequence it all played for laughs. Best punchline is defo the end of Robo-Hunter. That's a beaute!

Sinister Dexter is particular fun too.

Couple of artists I want to call out - in what is generally a wonderful draw piece. Do we know Russell M. Olson (on S&D) or Kieran McKeown (on Meat Arena) both new to me (I think) and both great.

The biggest problem is the framing sequence. In trying to give it a serious underpinning - well of sorts - it almost undermines the fun. Johnny going around being stern and all Johnny kinda tips things over. Mind Henry Flints simply breathing art more than makes up for that. Each time you think Henry Flint can't get any better you read his next thing and realise he can. Truly Mr Flint is a wonder to behold.

So yeah for a special issue (or 2 with the Meg coming) this is well worth the price of entry.

[IndigoPrime]

I thought it was great fun. It knows what it wants to be and it just runs with it.

[Barrington Boots]

Sad to be the dissenting voice but I thought this Prog was abysmal.
Nice art.

[broodblik]

I enjoyed it as silly fun. The one that really stood out for me especially the last few panels where Ampney Crucis. Super to have Flint back on Dredd he is just an awesome artists.

[The Monarch]

Not the john smith series i was expecting to show up in this but it made me smile just seeing Zombie firekind dragons

[judgeurko]

Sad to be the dissenting voice but I thought this Prog was abysmal.
Nice art.

Gotta agree but then I always thought the idea was stupid. Seems strange to do a zombie thing in 2022. maybe about 15 years ago this would have been new & novel? Seems old fashioned & tired.

[The Monarch]

its the 30th anniversary of judgement day its just a bit of fun

[Dark Jimbo]

Seems strange to do a zombie thing in 2022. maybe about 15 years ago this would have been new & novel? Seems old fashioned & tired.

Try 30 years ago - because I think a lot of people are missing the point. It's a bit of silliness to mark Judgement Day's anniversary, that's all. And Judgement Day was all about zombies, so it would be hard to do that without 'em!

[Timothy]

I thought it was good silly fun. I think that Russell Olson is new to the prog, but I would recommend checking out his Gateway City series, which is very good. The only thing that I didn't get in the prog was the person making Psi-division's heads explode. Who was that?

[Jim_Campbell]

Who was that?

I think that was Wolfie Smith, a psychic lad who briefly graced the pages of the Prog in 'The Mind of Wolfie Smith' after the merger with Tornado.

[broodblik]

The whole thing works even better when you read the prog and immediately read the meg. Read it as one big contentious story. Silly fun that's it, I love the fact that Dredd becomes the big villain and the whole multiverse is destroyed

[The Monarch]

yup that was wolfie smith