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Prog 2222 - Reach For The S.T.A.R.S!

Started by Goosegash, 08 March, 2021, 01:51:09 PM

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TordelBack

Happy to wait a bit longer for Sláine, each beautiful episode looks like it must take a few months to draw anyway, and top marks to Tharg for having a 3riller plus technicolor cover ready to plug the gap in style. 

Dredd gives us a Chimpsky origin story, and PJ serves up great gallery of citizens and chimps-eye views of the city. I like how Niemand emphasises tech details, with Dredd's built-in helmet birdie and the little forensics globes he used last week, reminding us that time marches on,  even in the future.

Much as I'm enjoying the story, going to have to opine that this needs to be the last time Noam walks away from Dredd. In Chopper's first three stories he was cubed twice and barely escaped a standard-execution in the back. Chimpsky's had a caution. Now they've had a second face-to-face, future adventures need to take place well away from Dredd, or have a tragic ending: the macrocosmic balance demands it.  I'd prefer the former.

3riller is intriguing, great to see Langridge back, and the strip is so perfect for McCarthy. Not unwelcome touch of the Bix Bartons, as JimmyNailz observed.

Over in another exquisitely painted Thistlebone, very pleased that late great Mick Aston finds his way into SBD's reference collection, and is that maybe an amalgam of Carenza Lewis and Alice Roberts in tow? Really nice that this setup is getting a second run to allow it to grow.

Speaking of the joys of second series, Proteus Vex has turned into a real high point for both Mike and Jake: coherent, action-packed, distinctive. Love the way Vex chucks Tross' little eye-patch officer at the guards, brutal.

Finally, Durham Red continues to engage. I'd feared that the reboot had stalled in inconsequential shirts after a great beginning, and further that this kind of longer run might be its death knell, but absolutely the opposite is the case. It's exciting, full of incident and quirky designs, and I hope Worley and Willsher have plans for more.

Richard


TordelBack

Quote from: Richard on 11 March, 2021, 01:00:14 AM
Is it me, or is the paper different?

It thought so too,  but it turned out I'd just got some Shredded Wheat on the screen.  ;)

Tjm86

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 March, 2021, 08:50:10 PM
Much as I'm enjoying the story, going to have to opine that this needs to be the last time Noam walks away from Dredd. In Chopper's first three stories he was cubed twice and barely escaped a standard-execution in the back. Chimpsky's had a caution. Now they've had a second face-to-face, future adventures need to take place well away from Dredd, or have a tragic ending: the macrocosmic balance demands it. 

You know, I've got to agree with you there.  I wonder if we need to evaluate this against Charlton Heston's fate?  Definitely interesting to see where this is going. 

There is also the issue of what constitutes 'vigilante' behaviour.  Captain Cookie seems to have adopted a proactive approach, tackling potential criminal behaviour before it manifests.  Chimpsky, like Dredd, responds after the event.  Theirs is largely reactive rather than proactive.

So if vigilanteism is taking personal action with regrards to criminality, does it have to be reactive?   :-*

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Richard on 11 March, 2021, 01:00:14 AM
Is it me, or is the paper different?

It certainly seems to be all the talk of Facebook. I didn't notice - and now the Prog is in the nerdcave so can't check - bit defo seems to be a difference and if you take Facebook opinion as of any value, not for the good either.

broodblik

Quote from: TordelBack on 11 March, 2021, 07:01:48 AM
Quote from: Richard on 11 March, 2021, 01:00:14 AM
Is it me, or is the paper different?

It thought so too,  but it turned out I'd just got some Shredded Wheat on the screen.  ;)

Mine if full of fingerprints
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: broodblik on 10 March, 2021, 06:56:29 PM
Jim this one is for you on your work  on Durham Red (read it in a review for the prog):

I hadn't seen that, broodblik — many thanks!
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

broodblik

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 March, 2021, 09:32:02 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 10 March, 2021, 06:56:29 PM
Jim this one is for you on your work  on Durham Red (read it in a review for the prog):

I hadn't seen that, broodblik — many thanks!

Silly me should have added the link as well, well here it is:

http://comicsthegathering.com/review/gavin-johnston/14750/2000ad-2222-review
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

norton canes

Chimpski: Agreed that this should probably be the final meeting of the titular chimp and his law-enforcing nemesis, and that if stories featuring Dredd are continue, the judge should be given his own strip. So much to enjoy this week - the flashback, the montage of cits, double Dredd in the limpid pools, "Check out prog 2212 while you're at it"... also, it's lovely that this has gone from a simple whodunnit* to a very Chimpsky case of ensuring justice is meted out correctly.

* [spoiler]Or has it? Come on, we all know the jays shoot Cookie![/spoiler]

Nakka of the S.T.A.R.S: Was ready to dismiss this as a bit of inconsequential whimsy but if nothing else there's a puzzle to be solved, which provides sufficient intrigue. Theories that the killer might be non-human are all very well, but I'm wondering if the cover of this very prog provides a foretaste of events to come..?

(Can anyone enlighten me on the meaning of the simile "...like the back tyre of a midwife's rudge"? The only definitions I can find for 'rudge' are 'a dialectal variant of ridge' or an antiquated term for a partridge - neither of which make much sense when compared to a back tyre. Oh hang on, turns out Rudge-Whitworth were a British cycle manufacturer. I see.)

Thistlebone: Absolutely one to be read in collected form, I think. No-one does faces like Simon Davis, do they. If you'll pardon the expression.

P.Vex: The Carroll droid wisely mixing exposition with plenty of action, here. The little cutaways of the jet pack crashing through walls as it flies to its target are excellent. I do slightly miss the feel of the first book where (IIRC) Vex did more travelling, from weird location to even more weird location; but still, this is great stuff.

Red: On and on, and better and better. Ten instalments in and no sign of relenting, continually throwing up new twists; I thought this would be five or six episodes and over but I'd be delighted if this turned into a 20-part mega-epic (sorry - a 21-part mega-epic).

It's a shame about Slaine. Ah well, at least we get to see it in the same prog as Feral & Foe, which pleases me immensely.


scrotnig

All I feel I can add to this thread is this:

It's testimony to how strong 2000AD is these days, that one of the major strips can be unexpectedly missing from a prog, yet said prog is as awesome as this one is. That's impressive at any time, but in the current situation it's astonishing. That 3rillers is brilliant.

Had a new reader happened upon this prog (and not read the Nerve Centre!) they'd be completely unaware anything was 'amiss'.

And yes the paper is definitely different. Not sure why. It's not better or worse particularly, just...different.

IndigoPrime

The paper feels different, yes. Print quality seems unaffected, mind. I've only read two strips so far, but liked them both. Dredd is fun — although I agree the wee chimp now really has to spin off. But Durham Red has been the star of the show for weeks. I do hope this momentum can be continued, because this run is as good as any of (in fact, I'd say better than quite a lot of) the 'reboot' Strontium Dog run and up there with a good chunk of the classic run.

TordelBack

Agree about Durham Red, the more I read of it the higher I rate it. Increasingly I see Worley as a major element of Tharg's script arsenal, he's developed a persuasive episodic rhythm of concept, action and revelation, and he's consistently providing a space for great artists to do what they do best. More of this kind of thing.

On the Chimpsky thing, I know I said he now needs to either get out of Dredd's orbit entirely,  or be crushed, but that really isn't because I don't like the little guy or his adventures. The citizen trying to live a good life is absolutely integral to my view and enjoyment of the strip, and Joe doesn't have to even do anything beyond the occasional one-panel sneer for these to be great Dredd stories. Chopper, James Fennimore Snork, Tony Tubbs,  Jacob Sardini, Dink Jowett and Rosie, Banzai Battalion, Kenny Who?, the guy from It Pays to be Mental (did he even have a name?).

There's an argument to be made that in an era of passive/incapacitated Dredd, essentially Dreddless stories compound the problem, but I'm still in favour. My concern with Chimpsky is that for his position in opposition to the cold inhumanity of the system to have any value, he needs to lose. If a citizen can circumvent Dredd repeatedly without being a bigger villain than Joe himself, without consequence, then he's breaking the rules of the setting (such as they are). The only solution is to move him well way from the big guy.

of

Colin YNWA

For me the chance to Chimpsky to grow outside of the main strip is too fold.

Within Dredd its Dredd stories that have a similar beat and tone and it feels repetitive, particularly with the rate at which they are coming. If we had a Chimpsky story once every couple of years then they would be a real treat. The biggest weapon in Dredd's arsenal is the variety his world and how it operates in it offers and Chimpsky is in danger of putting a bump in that.

Then for the Chimp himself it'd open up a much richer set of possiblities for stories around him. So we could stretch from the investigation of crimes from two angles side of things and stretch out. I love the character, I love the stories he's been in. He's just needs to get a job and get out to stand on his own two feet now... or swing with his own four thumbs, whatever.

broodblik

Many moons ago people was allowed to vote if Robin lives  or die so maybe Tharg must give us a voting right on Chimpsky's outcome:
1. Spin him off let him fly and soar to higher heights
2. Nope lock the little one up let Dredd cube him
3. Nope let Dredd dim his lights
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Leigh S

With my tinfoil hat on, I'm hoping the art issues might be a rejig to allow the story to carry on, with Pat having had second thoughts about it -more likely conspiracy theory would be the opposite, with the art being changed to finish it off for good, but we can live in hope!

I see Tharg calls it the "climax of the Celtic Warrior's adventures" so I'm aware thats wihful thinking on my part! Just a pity to ahve yet another Mills creation wrapped up hurriedly (not that I aam against wrapping them up, but both Nemesis and Slaine will ahve both gone out in as an abrupt manner as you coould imagine)