Prog 2256 - Total Excitement Overload.

[Magnetica]

This the first time I’ve done a Prog review in a few months and it’s another Regened this week.

Queue the usual moaning elsewhere on ‘tinters.

Personally I think they work and if results in a few collected edition sales, what’s not to like.

Cadet Dredd isn’t the best we’ve seen but there is some nice art by one of my personal favourites, Ben Willsher.

There are two news stories Scooter and Jinx and Enemy Earth. Neither is that exciting, both suffering from being too heavily focused on setting up there worlds. Scooter and Jinx is another James Peaty story set on a space station….hmmm.

The Time Twister is kinda fun, if a little light.

Strontium Dug was fun.

Anyway, having read it I’m now going to hand it over to my son. Which is actually the point.

[broodblik]

Cover by Ben Willsher:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[judgeurko]

Another random kids issue?

[Leigh S]

If they are random, it's crazy how they are the biggest sellers every time they ransomly hit the shelves

[Pete Wells]

I bloody LOVED that Dredd, though the Fast and the Furious blokes were a bit on the nose. Ben Willsher has always been amazing at Lawmaster-based Dredds!

There were some coll little cameos in the strip too!

[Funt Solo]

Shouldn’t Regened be a separate publication, though?

[broodblik]

Another random kids issue?

No I think they number it #2256

[Tjm86]

Notwithstanding the usual debates (let's just go with ... it's done, it's over with ... move on for now ...), this one does come across as a stronger one.  For the lineup we have:
Cadet Dredd - Johnson, Willsher, Parkhouse
Scooter and Jinx - Peaty, Roberts, Boswell, Bowland
Enemy Earth - Scott, Horsman, Charles, Campbell
Time Twisters: Temporal Tantrum - Harvey, Newell, Caldwell, Parkhouse
Strontium Dug - Bailie, Macneil, Blythe, Bowland

Arguably a strong lineup of new tales so the question is how do they fare?

Dredd - considering some of the variable tales we've had of late, this does appear to be one of the stronger ones.  Going for a straightforward action tale that is definitely right up Willsher's alley on the art front.  Chase a couple of perps across the city.  Small continuity quibble but IIRC the City Wall wasn't built until Cal's day.  Begs the question of why a gate ... An old school Dredd tale to be sure though.

Scooter and Jinx - a cheerful little opener / trial.  Bit by the numbers though.  Cheeky / lovable rogue character?  Check.  Slightly mysterious / talented character?  Check.  Attempt to con way out of trouble?  Check.  Start of new partnership?  Check.  Does feel a little like an awful lot of this has been tried before.  Some nice ideas but does need to find its own voice if it is going to stand the test of time.  Honestly though this does feel a little like a one-and-done.

Enemy Earth - the Bunker.  Well, considering the rather disappointing take on this topic in the recent 2000ad special, this one does quite a good job of turning out an environmental disaster / Earth is against us tale.  Quite a brutal take in fact but this one does appear to have more mileage.  Stronger artwork and a well paced narrative help to lay the foundations for what is probably one of the stronger contenders for a return as an extended series a la Department-K.

Time Twisters - definitely an old school effort, and I mean that as a compliment.  Plenty of familiar elements and an ending that could well be predicted by the end of the first page for those familiar with the structure of TT's.  For newer readers ... maybe a nice wry little ending?  Shades of Davison in the art? 

Strontium Dug - well, nothing else to be said about the art on this than ... Colin Macneil.  As for the tale, well this is probably more of the kind of thing we're used to from Stront.  It's a reminder of the potential of the world itself that raises questions about how previous attempts to widen the world have been so hit and miss.  Well paced, plenty of visual / verbal gags and a touch of toilet-humour that will no doubt go down well in some quarters.  Be interesting to see if lightning can strike twice and possibly better as a series of one-offs rather than an ongoing series?  Certainly if Macneil is enticed back this would be well worth another shot.

All round then this is another strong Regened.  The only real 'miss', if you could call it that, is Scooter and Jinx but more because it shares so many elements with strips we've seen before in the RP.  The other two new strips have far more potential if we're being honest.  Our returners (well, TT / FS ... very similar beasts, no?) are much stronger versions than we have seen.

Could be that we are edging ever closer to that magical point when the RP can be spun off to stand on its own feet?  Certainly this one gives more confidence to that idea.

[Colin YNWA]

Not the best Regened for me, but not bad.

Dredd was a fun action piece, enjoyably straigthforward. 

Scooter and Jinx just tried to do too much in the pages it had and ended up doing very little. Didn't feel I knew anything about the characters particularly and alas James Peaty did one of his terrible action movie lines

'Head Down'
'For What?'
'A full house...'

and then they smash through a window... errr

Still decent art and if it all just calmed down a little we might have something that could work?

I really enjoyed Enemy Earth. Yes it set up an odd couple 'buddy movie' just like Scooter and Jinx but did so in a far more interesting and frankly brutal way. The world is hard and terrifying world and Zoe, or led, has had it hard. She feels she's let all those around her down so when she discovers...??? at the end she has a chance of redemption? Tell you want I'd love to find out. Great stuff.

Decent Time Twister, if fact a very good one, just let down with an all too simple ending. Still worked up to then.

Strontium Dug was fun with glorious art so pretty good.

Yeah not bad - not great but not bad and Enemy Earth was a real highlight and the art was lovely throughout.

[IndigoPrime]

Right, then. 2000 AD has, for me, been on a dizzy high for weeks now, and so it was unlikely Regened would keep that going. (I like Regened, but the recent Progs have been so great.) That said, there was a lot to enjoy.

A Willsher cover is always a good thing and his internal art for Cadet Dredd was pretty great. I’m still not taken by the strip as a whole, and it lacks the fizz and excitement of, say, Mega Robo Bros. in The Phoenix Still, one of the better episodes in the run.

Scooter & Jinx was an odd one. There are lots of solid ingredients there, with a good few intro pages, but there was some baffling dialogue (the aforementioned “full house” line in particular) and the whiff of sexism from the cat. Also, is it me or did Peaty remove the most interesting thing from Scooter (her powers) on the last page?

Enemy Earth was much better. Action. Nastiness. Well-defined characters. An interesting take on a sci-fi trope. Make it black and white and add in a bit of extra gore and this could pass for old-school 2000 AD. As it is, it feels like old-school 2000 AD modernised. I’d like to see this jump to the Prog proper for a six-week run.

The Time Twister was topical, smart and tightly written and illustrated. Yes, the ending isn’t anything new, but it was deftly handled and a lot of fun.

Which leaves Strontium Dug. I question the existence of the strip in a comic where the readers won’t have the backstory knowledge, although the intro page synopsis does a solid job in bringing readers up to speed. The tale itself, though, was loads of fun. It feels very one-and-done, but I’m glad it was done.

Enemy Earth > Strontium Dug > Time Twister > Cadet Dredd > Scooter & Jinx // 3.5/5 in the good column this week for me.

[Tjm86]

Enemy Earth ... Make it black and white and add in a bit of extra gore and this could pass for old-school 2000 AD. As it is, it feels like old-school 2000 AD modernised.

Now this might sound a little daft (albeit not completely bonkers) but this actually put me in mind of a couple of the strips from the 80's Eagle.  Survival and Walk or Die spring to mind.  I need to dig out my old issues and have a quick check but IIRC Wagner and Grant may well have had a hand in them.

[broodblik]

Not the best prog but efficient enough. I will give it a 3/5. The two new strips is fine but did not really work for me but then again this is what I am enjoying about the regen progs: it gives certain stories which we would never have seen an opportunity. So far no one mentioned in the Nerve Centre Joko mentioned that we will receive another quartet of regens next year (so please remember to get your heart pill subscriber early)

Cadet Dredd – I enjoyed this one with some good art by Ben Willsher. This was a more straight-forward action heavy story and no heavy reading required here.

Scooter & Jinx – Overall not too bad first episode but not sure that this will work in the normal prog.

Enemy Earth – This was an ok story, and I did really like the premises. Another end-of-the-world story apocalypse with a different “living dead” enemy. Again, not sure this will work in the prog.

Time Twister – Although by the end of the story I already predicted what is going to happen, but it was well told, and it worked for me.

Strontium Dug – The best thing in the prog and it is good to see that Colin MacNeil’s talents are used in the regen. What is nice it is done and dusted story.

[Barrington Boots]

I thought this was one of the weaker Regened progs. Best thing in here imo was Enemy Earth. Definitely felt like an older-school concept thrill and I'd be interested how this slightly bleaker tale goes over with younger readers.
Really cool art on Dredd and Strontium Dug but not the best, storywise. With the latter I'd also be interested in how this went over with younger readers, as I would guess the SD continuity plus the idialect writing would be a barrier to them.
Didn't see anything in Scooter and Jinx at all, sadly.

[Richard]

I agree that Enemy Earth was best. Good fun.

I enjoyed Strontium Dug, but new readers might be confused by the text, since nowhere is it ever explained that the characters are Scottish.

The Time Twister was just right for a Regened prog.

It still irritates me that Rico Dredd is addressed as if Rico was his surname and his badge says Rico. Like, some of the children reading this have siblings, they know how first names and surnames work.