Sadly, I didn’t really enjoy much of that.
The cover was quite nice, but Cadet Dredd still doesn’t work for me as a concept. Taken in isolation, this story is OK. But Dredd is a really boring character, with Rico being mildly more interesting. The point about the Black Atlantic just seemed weird. I mean, I get the notion that we should be telling kids to save the planet, but this seems at odds with Dredd as a whole. So is this a new continuity or its own thing? It doesn’t seem to know and nor do I. Moreover, I… don’t care.
Bladers left me halfway between Colin and Barrington. I didn’t think it was bad, but would echo Mr Boots’s points about the jokes seemingly being aimed at readers’ dads and the strip needing more excitement. Still, it was a part one and set the stage for something. The best thing in the Prog, even if it didn’t set my world on fire.
Ulysses Sweet was an oddball. I’d say there’s a big misstep in the baseball bat being shoved up someone’s arse (I mean, come the fuck on – this is a comic for kids). And the ending was a set-up that would only make total sense to people with a knowledge of 2000 AD minutiae. However, it came close in setting up a Sweeny Toddler for Regened. (Speaking of, what happened to actual Sweeny? He seems to have vanished from Rebellion output these days. A pity.) The format was odd, though. This would make more sense in a weekly, and without the last spread – just have it continue indefinitely. It’ll probably work well spread throughout volume 5 or 6 of the compiled Regened though.
Next up, the Future Shock. This looked nice. The script was fine. Not very shocking and too talky. Not bad though.
Then… that advert with the naked lady. I don’t even.
Finishing up, we get Chopper. Like Boots, I don’t care for this version of Chopper, but the story mostly works well enough, bar the joke for old people. I just can’t help wondering how many kids are going to care about this over, say, Mega Robo Bros.
In all, this is the first Prog I can remember where nothing really hit home for me at all. I also don’t know how much it would impact on the target audience. I suspect Chopper and Ulysses Sweet would have the best hope, although Chopper in part remains mired in continuity no Regened reader will know nor care about. On that basis – and given how many strips have this problem – it’s curious that only one of the five strips in this issue is something properly new.
Bladers > Ulysses Sweet > Chopper > Future Shock > Cadet Dredd.
