Prog 2379 - Humanity on the Brink...

[Richard]

Proteus Vex -- say it ain't so!

[broodblik]

Cover by I. N. J. Culbard:

[Colin YNWA]

Well damn this one arrived yesterday but still waiting for 2378! Hate when that happens.

[Barrington Boots]

That last page of Vex is a bit of a shocker!

Disappointly no bear this week in Dredd although bear-threat remains high. In all seriousness though, we still don't know what the story is here so little to be invested in this week beyond some great looking panels.

Really enjoyed Aquila this week - looks like we're accelerating hugely towards a climax. Everything about the art this week for me: the images of the damned rising up on pages 1 and two are fantastic and then that double page spread with the armies and generals mirroring each other absolutely rocks. Amazing stuff.

Brink is very Brinky - that's a good thing.

Indigo Prime feels a bit more straightforward this week whilst remaining absolutely bonkers. Horrible puppets! The only issue I have with this current run is that its style of semi-obfuscation means I read it in an air of mild befuddlement I occasionally forget who people are and I therefore need to remind myself who Trixie was. It's unique and I am digging it.

And then Vex is very brutal and very excellent.

[norton canes]

Yeah once again the prog is firing on all cylinders. Okay, most cylinders (sorry, Indigo Prime). R&TWT&T takes a breather but I'm sure the action will be back soon, so I'll bear with it. I get Dredd's motivation for attacking their guide but I'm not convinced he'd eliminate them while they were all still trapped in the wilderness. While Moon is obviosly being shown as a resourceful cadet, it's important that isn't demonstrated by Dredd becoming stupid.

Aquila is thrillingly epic - that nude scene's certainly an eye-opener! It's a shame my CBR reader displays the double spread as separate pages. I'm sure that if I adjust the settings when I'll be able to put them together. Brink is for now just building the layers of intrigue, of course. It's certainly the only strip which could possibly finish on the cliff-hanger "You know we got golf here, right?".

Running out of superlatives for Proteus Vex.

[norton canes]

Aquila is thrillingly epic - that nude scene's certainly an eye-opener! It's a shame my CBR reader displays the double spread as separate pages

Sorry, should just clarify that by 'double spread' I mean the face-off before the battle, not the nudity : )

[IndigoPrime]

I'm very close to fighting with norton cranes block this week. But let's not gloss over that cover, which is great – an excellent mix of sci-fi and horror.

Dredd vs Shako continues to be a blast, even if there's almost no Shako this week. (Boo!) But, yes, Dredd is being a bit of a dolt at times here. It does sometimes feel like there's a balance to be struck between 'Dredd can tackle anything' and 'Dredd is less effective out of his element', but this episode is trying to do both. Still great, mind.

Aquila has gone for full-on epic fantasy scrap, and I'm all for that. Brink is its usual excellent self, in every way. I'm thinking this has to be a top-tier thrill now, surely? Even if I imagine Kurtis will never make it on to one of those covers depicting Dredd, Rogue, Sláine, Johnny Alpha et all.

For me, Indigo Prime is the only blot in the Prog this week. It feels a bit too much like a certain kind of improv music that I used to partake in myself, which was an awful lot of fun to do, but less fun for anyone else to experience. For me, this entire run has been bouncing back and forth across a barrier of interesting|don't:care. And while I find some of its meta points interesting, I'm not sure I care about any of it. And when I think back to something like Killing Time, that wasn't the case.

As for caring, though: Proteus Vex. Yikes. A rip-roaring episode that should stop people griping that the strip is getting a bit talky. But that final page. Who knows if that means what it looks like on the page. I sure hope not. I guess we'll find out next week!

Quality Proggage, though. Tharg's been on something of a top-notch run of late.

[AlexF]

On Indigo Prime - was there ever a time in which the series was about Agents encountering and (attempting) to solve problems with reality, or has it always been about vairous politicking within/around the Agency itself? I do enjoy the madcap nature of Kek-W's imagination but I'm getting a bit bored of the boardroom antics of the over-arching plot here.

[IndigoPrime]

There was always an element of corporate politics (and satirising that), but I don't recall it being to the degree it's impacted on Kek-W's version of the strip.

[NapalmKev]

On Indigo Prime - was there ever a time in which the series was about Agents encountering and (attempting) to solve problems?

The series 'Killing Time' is exactly that. Without spoiling - two agents attempt to stop the end of a reality. It's self contained and is absolute Gold.

Cheers

[Funt Solo]

On Indigo Prime - was there ever a time in which the series was about Agents encountering and (attempting) to solve problems?

The series 'Killing Time' is exactly that. Without spoiling - two agents attempt to stop the end of a reality. It's self contained and is absolute Gold.

Kev has it right. In the early days, we got three operative-pair tales:

Winwood & Cord: Downtime (680-681)
Fegredo & Brecht: How the Land Lied (682)
Winwood and Cord: Killing Time (735-744)


There are also the Fervent & Lobe tales, but those operatives start off in a Tyranny Rex story:

Tyranny Rex: Soft Bodies (595-598, 604)
Fervent & Lobe: The Issigri Variations (642-649)
Fervent & Lobe: Holiday on Ice (WS3)

[Funt Solo]

Cover: sort of last week's cover. This is happening a lot these days.

Fudge Bread vs. Mega-Shako: Dredd should take some advice from Vito Corleone - never tell your enemy what you're thinking! This also leads to a bit of a parsing crime (5 months cube-time, Williams!) with Dredd's unwieldy "I promise you this, however, creep: I will get you back to the city and you'll see the inside of a cube for what you've done." Parsing crimes aside, this is till solid gold.

Blackhawk: More parsing criminality here, but then it is hell. Perhaps Titivillus has bled over from the Megazine. "For fear is the true chains that keep us slaves"? I know, I know - you can't say "for fears are the true chains", and you can't say "fear is the true chain". Anyway, it was a tense moment for Spartacus, so we can forgive him. Unless we're Hannibal.

■■■■■: somehow some people meeting and walking through some hallways is thrillingly disturbing and works as a terrible cliffhanger full of foreboding for the horrors to come.

Periwinkle Supreme - entirely worth it for the "malignant Mr. Punch outbreak". (And as long as Depp's a balloon, we can carry on.)

Salamander Irk - even worse, emotionally, than Maitland! But is it as final as it looks?

---

In the pipe, five by five. And a win for Titivillus.

[Colin YNWA]

Well after some Lego and tea to allow the thrill receptors to cool back to the catch up.

This time not much to write here really is there. As its just as you were.

Dredd actually I'm getting into this more and more. I mean its nowt news but its really good fun.

Aquila just magnificent opeatic fun.

Brink actually I might have to save my last visit with Briget until tomorrow so I can saver it more! So good.

Indigo Prime - still immense fun.

Proteus Vex - still even immenseier fun - just so, so fun, just not quite Brink good.

You know what this Prog might be even better than the last. I think I've save 2380 until tomorrow as three of these in once day is just going to lead to thrillchaffing isn't it.