Prog 2302 - ....and Hell Followed with Her

[The Monarch]

got mine in today bloody royal mail

Solid group of strips all round this week especially love the dredd and chimpski stories and hope is kinda perfect for the season we are in

even hershey which i have a distaste for since she should have stayed dead was good this week

[Richard]

Waldron and Hernandez left the Council of Five three years ago in Machine Law, after leading an unsuccessful coup against Chief Judge Logan, but here they are on the Council this week. 

[Colin YNWA]

Finally the Progs back in my life. That's what I've been missing. Feels like an absolute bloody age. I mean its probably a couple of weeks ANYWAY to to important stuff. Its a good Prog.

As has been well covered that cover is chuffin' amazing. We'll leave it there until the end of year votes!

Dredd creeps the Maitland story line along but doesn't really give us anything new character wise. Fine for 6 pages.

Chimpsky's Law is astonishingly effective settling out stalls, pulling characters together and setting the plot running. All with dynamic PJ art to top it all. Top classic thrillage.

Hope grim and brutal reintroduction to Hope and his world as we learn more about his wife and Je who fancies Jimmy Broxton's fever dreams! Amazing return.

Enemy Earth fills in a couple of blanks and maybe hints at the fact we might start to see this Earth of which we are enemy. Being under it too long could really drag things down! Lets go explore.

Hershey brilliant - flashes back and drives forward. Has character and action. Just fantastic.

[Leigh S]

In the Wagner Timeline, maybe...

Waldron and Hernandez left the Council of Five three years ago in Machine Law, after leading an unsuccessful coup against Chief Judge Logan, but here they are on the Council this week. 

[norton canes]

Last day before the new prog comes in (hopefully) and still no prog 2302 in Smiths, so to read it I've had to resort to illicit online means. Yes, I know! Don't worry, I'll be despatching an order to the Nerve Centre for a bona fide copy, don't want to be left with a prog 2302-shaped hole in my collection. I just hope (or should that be Hope...) that this was a one-off problem and everyone's favourite high street newsagent hasn't abandoned the GGC.

Anyway good stuff this time round, leading with an intriguing Dredd concept that'll be interesting to see unfold. Though I can't help thinking that for an idea which is so rooted in educating the cits, a year is going to be barely enough to do the execution of it justice. Is Maitland being sold short..?

Also, will a certain Mrs Marjorie Blackshack be keeping a close eye on developments?

Chimpsky's again the best thing on offer this week, a crisply told story with not a panel wasted. Hope... ploughs it macabre furrow to great effect, while Hershey remains resolutely bleak, teasing with a gruesome final couple of frames.

Enemy Earth I just can't get my head around. It's come from the Regened prog but this week the gore factor seems to have been upped considerably, with one character bitten in two in a graphical way that reminds me of that censored panel in Flesh book I where a train passenger is similarly dismembered by a Tyrannosaur. I do like this and wish more Regened stories could be as visceral but it does make me wonder if any of it will be reprinted in the Regened collections. I feel like there's a genuinely good Kingdom-style story struggling to get out here, but the strip is caught in an uncomfortable no-man's land between styles.

Excellent cover, Tazio Bettin is proving to be a droid of considerable talent and a prize capture by Tharg.

[broodblik]

A nice interview related to The Pitch:

https://2000ad.com/news/interview-revisiting-the-pitch-with-arthur-wyatt-rob-williams-boo-cook-maybe-its-time-we-tried-something-different/

[Proudhuff]

Really enjoyed that Dredd- and I for more interested in how that turns out than I am in the next crisis/ invasion/ alien superfiend shenanigans that is probably just around the corner. Also, Boo Cook's art was wonderful- that page with her just sitting, all lonely and (maybe) anxious outside was perfect. I've not been a massive admirer of Cook's art up to now, but that proved to me he can tell a story with great skill.

Any comic that can serve up a lead strip that good, two weeks after an equally fantastic *but completely different* one-and-done 'event' like the zombie thing, is a strip that is in rude health.

Everything else was top notch as well- I'm still not convinced entirely by Enemy Earth, as I think it's far too juvenile for a comic that has a lead story about political approaches to crime and a strip like Hope. Chimpskey walks that fine line with more dexterity, whereas Hershey would probably be impenetrable to anyone not versed in Dredd lore, but manages to please me no end. Antarctica! Snowscapes! Simon Fraser!

SBT

SBT says it all! Ditto 100%

[Proudhuff]

A nice interview related to The Pitch:

https://2000ad.com/news/interview-revisiting-the-pitch-with-arthur-wyatt-rob-williams-boo-cook-maybe-its-time-we-tried-something-different/

Interesting stuff! Looking forward to those story lines.

[Southstreeter]

Just back from a week away and still no 2302, though 2303 is here. I'll now have to resist peeking at until I can get a replacement!

[Southstreeter]

Yay, finally arrived! My take on Dredd. What should happen: the trial sector gets increased budget to spend on public services. As crime slowly drops, the judge budget can also do so. The savings can then be used to pay back the debt.
What will happen: the judging budget will be cut instantly, there will be chaos, and no time for any improvements to appear. The experiment will be declared a failure.

[Robin Low]

Been doing a bit of a Prog catch-up.

Really surprised this hasn't generated more yak. Smartest bit of Dredd writing I've read in a while. Absolutely nailed Dredd's voice, and entirely in line with the way Wagner subtly moved the character forward over many years.

If I didn't know otherwise, I'd have said this was Wagner at his best.

I will be renewing my subscription in the new year. This story is the reason why.


Regards,
Robin