Prog 2126 - Earth under siege!

[Eamonn Clarke]

Cover by D’Israeli

[73north]

not too bad an issue ,
new Judge Dredd Story ( Part 1 ) THE LONG GAME written by Michael Carroll
( who always writes a good yarn ) which was pretty good and promises a decent
read in the next few weeks
Kingmaker was enjoyable ( a highlight of the Prog ) , whilst Survival Geeks was okay -
Max Normal was interesting - with a reveal of Max's childhood past
while Scarlet Traces picks up from the last part , with Earth about to be attacked by Mars Fleet

[Colin YNWA]

Well I'd say I'm late to the party due to getting back from my holiday but barely a word has been said about this weeks prog yet.

Which is a shame as its a decent Prog. Not as good as last week I'll grant you but  damned decent Prog.

Dredd is a decent opener which had me wondering what Bill Savage was doing in Mega City One - but rather sets up a lot, weaves an intricate start which has pulled me in to want to know more.

Survival Geeks has good episode but still isn't great. Even when good this series just doesn't have enough to it some caricature character moments aside.

Kingmaker on the other hand has great character moment, builds excitment and plot and I'm invested more as it offers more. Brilliant stuff.

Max Normal gives us an origin I didn't think we needed, but I'm so glad we got. 'So long ago...' so powerful. Also brilliant stuff.

The beginning of a new Scarlet Traces swapping in for Grey Area. Its not a fair swap but Scarlet Traces does its best and sets things up nicely, neatly recapping, introducing new characters (I think??) and giving us a great ending. Nice job, just not end of Grey Area good.

Nice Prog.

[Richard]

I really like Mark Sexton's detailed art in Dredd this week. He's like another Chris Weston.

[Proudhuff]

Dredd: Having just finished watching the Punisher on Netflix, this felt v fimilar, until that final twist, I didn’t realise this was ongoing it stands alone fine as a Megacity tale. Some nice lighting effects too.

Survival geeks nicely done, but never been a D&D player so probably missing a lot of stuff.

Kingmaker just not my stuff, the refs and riffs on LOTR annoys rather than enhances this.

Max Normal feels a bit shoehorned in, and the colours could be clearer.

Scarlet traces is top dog in the Prog this week for me, and more that fills Grey Areas boots, Having recently re-read The Great Game collected, I’ii be hunting down the last series too.
For me these guys are in the top teams at Tharg Towers and should be shackled to their desks before the big two pinch them from under Thargs Boogie green nose.

[Jacqusie]

Did anyone else spot the alignment anomally on this weeks cover near the top?

Check out the building and Tripod, it looks a cut and paste gone a bit wrong... that's to take nothing away from a great cover...

[Trout]

Holy crap, Scarlet Traces is good, isn't it? Grim and exciting. I can't get enough of that D'Israeli art.

I confess I had an emotional moment seeing Max Normal as a boy. My son was named after him and looks about the same age. Great story, too. Love that weird dialogue.

This week also had a strong Dredd story and, with Survival Geeks, the best comedy the prog has run in years. I even thought Kingmaker picked up this week. It wears its influences too openly for me, but here we had a bit of character depth so I found myself paying more attention.

Five out of five from me! I'm also in agreement with Tharg on the cannibal Sovs.

- Trout

[Magnetica]

Great Prog.

Highlight for me was Mark Sexton’s art.

I would really like to see Tharg use him much more than he does. If anything this is even better than his previous stories.

[broodblik]

A very good prog.

Liked the Dredd, good built-up. Yes Mark's art is  very good

Glad for the return of Scarlet Traces.

The rest of the prog is top-notch as well

[norton canes]

I always look forward to a Michael Carroll Dredd, he's one of my favourite JD script droids. 'Yes' to more Mark Sexton too (though I did notice that some of his buildings were a bit old-school, like the story was set in the undercity). S-Geeks, Kingmaker and Max Normal flying along again, great reads. Scarlet Traces...

Scarlet Traces, I'm not sure I'm ever going to get to grips with. It seems to be doing too many things at once plot-wise and the tone is all over the place too - at some points a Grey Area-like satire on alien settlers, then suddenly we're off into space battles. It certainly doesn't drag, but I think it just needs to be a bit more focused to click.

Anyway, forget the strips - the big news this week is that Skip Tracer will return!!

[Proudhuff]

Glad to see Bishop is (still) in charge of Moonbase... and Matt Brooker sneaks in his little statue of Kali, is this his new Fishpaste?

[Magnetica]

I used to struggle with Scarlet Traces, finding the plot hard to follow. Then I bought the collected editions and read them in a fairly short period of time. Doing that I found it all hangs together really well and has gone from being a chore to read to one of the top thrills.

[broodblik]

I used to struggle with Scarlet Traces, finding the plot hard to follow. Then I bought the collected editions and read them in a fairly short period of time. Doing that I found it all hangs together really well and has gone from being a chore to read to one of the top thrills.

The collections are highly recommended. A lot of back story are covered in the editions (especially the first volume).

[Geoff]

What a prog for the art! Quality from cover to cover. 

Sexton on Dredd is superb - more from him please. I got the feeling that this was a one-shot story and it had a nice twist. The migrant trope is becoming rather over-used I think, it's topical and so on but it was only a few weeks ago that an alien migrant was having troubles in MC1 and old Dredd was wheeled on to deliver a (rather crass) callous one-liner. Love the art though!

I'm not fond of the Survival Geeks but, again, you can't knock the art.

Really enjoying Max and Kingmaker and it's great to have Scarlett Traces back.  It's a fine tale and the art is beautifully stylish and engaging.  V good prog.

[norton canes]

I used to struggle with Scarlet Traces, finding the plot hard to follow. Then I bought the collected editions and read them in a fairly short period of time. Doing that I found it all hangs together really well and has gone from being a chore to read to one of the top thrills

Cool, I'll put them on my ever-lengthening 'to buy' list.

One thing that does strike me about Scarlet Traces - admittedly having only read the last second part of the last chapter (progs 2023-2034) - is that, despite striking images like the one on this week's cover, there seems to be a distinct lack of war-waging Martian tripods.