Messages

[Alan Grant and Carlos Ezquerra]

Alan Grant and Carlos Ezquerra by miles.
Abnett / Harrison I haven't read a lot of, but what I have read I didn't like much. May as well have been a different character.
The Worley / Willsher redesign I like, but aside from the first one the stories have not worked for me.

[Yes, let's see her as a mature woman]

Yes, let's see her as a mature woman

I like looking at drawings of pretty ladies but if everyone else is aging in real time in Dredd, she has to as well. You can't have it both ways.
Plus, as Colin says, representation of mature women as the protagonist in comics (and a lot of other stuff) is severely lacking. There's a chance for 2000ad to be a real leader here.

[Bad Company]

I think DeMarco promised more than it delivered, overall.
Bad Company is a stone cold classic - or at least the first two parts are, as unlike Colin I thought the last two were dreadful. The first series especially is still absolutely amazing, and easily still enough to take this vote for me though!

[Storm Warning]

Storm Warning

Whilst looking for info on Iain McCaig I discovered that Deathtrap Dungeon has 31 'instant death' paragraphs.
By comparison (from a list compiled by someone who isn't me):

Warlock has 6, 3 of which are incorrect combinations of keys to the chest.
Citadel of Chaos has 19
Forest of Doom 3
Starship Traveller 13
City of Thieves 10
Lizard King 10
Scorpion Swamp 20
Caverns of the Snow Witch 24.

I had a dream I was in Trial of Champions last night, though it was quite different from the book - kind of like that old Gladiators TV show but with mythical beasts to fight on the way, a baying crowd and lots of Roman-style pomp and splendour.

Did you win?
And was Jet in it?

Thanks Richard. I'm not sure about Iain McCaig but it's a real shame. I think the last thing he did for the regular FF series was the cover for Lizard King (which is way better than the interior image of the Lizard King!)

Speaking of Island of the Lizard King, I'll probably have a crack at it this week but I don't want to get ahead of everyone.

[Artie Gruber]

Artie Gruber

Red Seas, which I appreciate all the more after reading it in the Hachette books.

This sums my thoughts up too.

Personally I'd quite like a collected Night Zero / Beyond Zero / Below Zero.

It has been collected as a floppy in the meg
Night Zero meg 338
Beyond Zero meg 340
Below Zero - not been collected

Ah yes, but I want a collection of all three. Suspect I could be the only person who wants this though..

Surely a complete SinDex would be the size of one of those huge books evil wizards read from in cheap 1980s fantasy films.

A physical print collection of Armoured Gideon top of the list for me too. I don't count the digital collection.

If we're going for stuff from other Rebellion-owned titles, Johnny Red and Doomlord for sure. From Battle, Storm Force would be interesting, and of course HMS Nightshade, although the latter has been collected elsewhere. I'd really like to see a Reg Parlett collection of his stuff from Buster, Whizzer and Chips etc: Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Fright School and so on.

Personally I'd quite like a collected Night Zero / Beyond Zero / Below Zero.

[Vex]

Good summary there Norton.

I didn't comment on the rest of the Prog above but I thought this was a really good one.  Vex is truly excellent .. I thought The Order was better this week with the two groups about to come together: I welcome Armoured Gideon being rebuilt rather than remaining as mud golem Gideon, but this seems a bit sudden - 'oh yeah, we rebuilt this giant battle robot with the bits of other robots off screen' is stretching it a bit, even in this tale.
Speaking of sudden, my previous comments on Kingmaker stand about fearing it's either wrapping up or gearing for a change in focus but this was another superb episode and Leigh Gallagher's work is just outstanding again. Brink is the opposite - unbelievably slow - but by now we know this build will all pay off in the end, so that's cool.
I thought this was a more rounded Prog than last weeks and I'm looking forward to next week on all five strips, so it's doing things right!

[Caballistics Inc]

Tough choice but I'm going for Caballistics Inc

[Nemesis]

Who is going to vote against Nemesis here?

My sub arrived today, which is early by 2022 standards. Great cover, but it does feel ill-timed given current events. Not anyone's fault.
Dredd is excellent - Dredd himself is an utter bastard here, and whilst that's in character with his wartime self, I do wonder if there's an element of unreliable narrator at work. It seems evident that Winterton hates Dredd, and I think we're going to see a very harsh and very dark Dredd indeed in this story.