I mean have we got this story just so someone can do that pun Nunja - I love a puin but come on...
ANYWAY
Dredd is another masterclass dfrom Neimand with Tom Foster at the absolute top of his game acompanying on art. The scene is well and truly set. We have SJS crushing the will of ex-Titan cons and now on a collision course with Dredd. Fantastic I'm so bought into this already and completely on edge about how this might develop.
Thistlebone remains creepy and wonderful and creepy again.
Visions of Deadworld another horrific beaut.
3riller - Chorus and the Ring not sure about this. Just seems like a standard ubercapable figher getting a mission to so their kick ass stills. I means its all dressed up with fancy words from 90s Vertigo and lovely Mike Collins art but ... well lets see how it goes from here.
Feral and Foe is getting broader and broader in its comedy - I mean the 'man eater in the back of the Wagon' just feels a little too far. Still damned entertaining stuff and its always played for laughs so...
Overall decent Prog with some real highlights.
Cover by Mike Collins:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ex4N6cDXAAUnVVl?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and Logo:
(https://dyn.media.forbiddenplanet.com/ys8_GMKHPzqPj0KPcfbDjhBFT7M=/trim/fit-in/779x1024/filters:format(webp)/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/3f/e9/99c775f670b880a24da6673849744322961d.jpeg)
It was a groan from me to have Dredd vs "evil SJS" once again... I mean, fair play to Niemand, I sense hee may have missed the grinding number of tales that have made this beyond a trope and if I forget all those other "corrupt Justice Dept Depts who think they are above the Law" this is well told.... so, I;ll try and put that ot one side and take it on its own merits.
Talk of battle sisters means I also have to put aside my only peripheral knowledge of WH40K, but even ith a cursory awareness of those sisters of Battle, cant help but feel this is another generic sci-fi outing ala Skip T. Always good to see Mike Collins though, so again, let's see how this goes.
Feral and Foe is welcome - it's all a bit silly and meta, but looks great and is breezy enough.
Need to read Visions and need to reread the first Thistlebone before I start on this one
If I'm honest, this week's Thr3rller strikes me as one of those that I'm not likely to be overly impressed with. Nothing about the opener inspires. The same goes for Feral and Foe. I'm sure that there is something clever and interesting going on but I'm blown if I can say what it is.
Deadworld is another of those one-offs that does pique interest though. As an interlude until we get back to the main story these do open up that world bit by bit. The same goes for Thistlebone. A slow burner to be sure, it is peeling its way back bit by bit.
I would agree with Leigh on the old 'corrupt judges' trope but as he says, this one is well executed. Foster's art is something else which helps. The irony of corrupt judges standing in judgement over corrupt judges ... o, I get that there are a lot of elements that we've seen before but certainly as things stand there are a few fresh elements being added to the mix.
Overall I have to admit to feeling a bit undersold by this week's prog. Not least with having to wait for the mangled postal delivery today. How much of that is because my prog slog is taking in some corkers from the early 1800's though?
This prog felt for me when you watch a show, and the show is mid-season. The plot is just lingering there waiting for something to happen. One of the weaker progs this year.
Dredd – After last weeks great opening this episode felt like a cliché. SJS is bad corrupt and above the law. Hopefully, the story will bring more to the party than the usual SJS storylines. So, a bit disappointed in the story.
Thistlebone – Well this feel like one off those filler episodes the plot does not move back or forward. It is time to unleash the beast.
Deadworld – Another twisted dark tale. As always Kendall's art is tailored made for the world of the Dark Judges. There is nothing wrong with these one shots but why not continue with the Deadworld series?
Chorus - A solid start to another 3riller series. The world does feel like a Warhammer world. Great art from Mike Collins. Let us see where the story goes next
Feral & Foe – The highlight of the prog. Enjoyed the humour of the story. Good stuff all around.
Cover: great to see Mike Collins on the cover, but the kewl-mohawk-katana subject does nothing for me.
Dredd: Lots of nice Mandroidy interaction, glorious Foster art, but oh dear corrupt judges again? Hoping for a twist before we're done, and preferably one that isn't "Fargo/Sinfield/Hershey instituted the Welcome Wagon programme".
Deadworld: Re-skinned or not, Mortisss is still the best DJ. Love the fate of the golden samurai. Kendall really sells rot and decaying meat.
3riller: Reserving judgement.
Feral & Foe: did I stumble into a secret Survival Geeks crossover? The farce and Whedon-speak went a little far this week. I appreciate that this is often a humorous strip, but where's the prevailing sense of dread and failure to give it an edge? Next week, hopefully.
Thistlebone: I fear folk looking for horror action are going to be disappointed: this is the action. Which is to say, creeping tension, unsettling imagery and odd incidents is what this strip does, and it does it brilliantly. That Strachan's a wrong'un and no mistake. Saves a rather lacklustre prog for me.
Not the strongest prog for me either this week.
Dredd Tom Foster's art is fantastic but as others have said I could do without another story about evil judges going up against Dredd when Asher himself is a more interesting character. Hopefully there's more of a twist here than just Dredd fights the SJS.
Thistlebone Whilst I'm behind the slow build, in a weaker prog the unhurried pace is more obvious. After last weeks creepy end a bit of momentum lost, I think something needs to happen here.
Visions of Deadworld Not as good as last week, but grotesque as ever. I think I said last week that these little oneoff snapshots give us a cool bit of world building away from the main plot and I like that. Are we supposed to know who Mortis's mate was? This strip is true horror, long may it continue.
3riller Yeah... this looks really nice but it comes across as completely generic. Let's see where it leads. Doesn't feel Warhammer-y to me.
Feral and Foe Feels like it's getting sillier? Very lightweight this week but still very enjoyable, highlight of the prog for me but needs to be careful it doesn't become too meta imo - no references to armour class or anything.
Folks not liking the whole Dredd vs SJS angle in 'The Penitent Man' is interesting. I'm fine with it cos its established and so while others are finding it a cliche I seeing it as making sense in the world we know.
That said if I was going to hold up a flag of - oh no not this again - it would be on the whole system grinding down the citizen that's trying thing. It feels, as Tordelback points out - very Mandroid and so soon after 'The Fall of Barbarbara Grimm' (in particular) makes this feel well trodden to me instead.
That said as I mentioned in my review since I've been skillfully engaged with the character in question this time I don't mind as I'm invested in this story as a specific.
I think (at least for me) it's more that a story about a returning Titan inmate has all sorts of cool directions it can go and to have the focus be on corrupt judges again is a bit 'oh well'
Do we know how many parts this story is? There's been definite work crafting sympathy for Asher so I'm hopeful there's still time for there to be a good tale constructed around him.
It is six episodes.
Here is an interview with Tom: https://2000ad.com/news/interview-tom-foster-on-judge-dredd-a-penitent-man/ (https://2000ad.com/news/interview-tom-foster-on-judge-dredd-a-penitent-man/)
It's a good prog but the Nunja doesn't quite manage to fill Nakka's shoes. Thistlebone also feels like it's stalling a little (one of those I'm sure this will read better collected episodes where not much really happens).
Feral and Foe was the star of the show for me - looking forwards to seeing how the team manage a fiight against a more serious foe. Visions coming in a close second - Kendall's art really sells the grim grotesque world this inhabits. Still making my mind up about this Dredd, I think it has plenty of potential interesting to see where it goes next.
Taking on board criticisms of the slow pace of Thistlebone, but I'm not personally finding it a flaw.
This week we had the results of Malcolm poisoning Not-Mick Aston, his acquisition of the deer mask and the implication that Strachan may not (just) be a paedophile but has been pulling Malcolm's strings. That's plenty for me.
It's a gradual build-up to be sure, but it's the build-up itself that's the point of the strip. Thistlebone, insofar as it exists, isn't going to emerge from the woods as a 30ft tall bone-golem and do battle with the USMC, at any point: this is a tale of odd people people touching and perpetuating weird and ancient traditions that may have an independent eye-gouging reality.
It's Summer Magic if Uncle Elias had actually just gone nuts after reading Alfred Watkins.
The slow pace of Thislebone is not a flaw at all it is part of how the story progresses. This week felt just at first that nothing happened but on the second re-read I can actually see that more is going on.
Yup!
More Thurday re-read musings: I'm intrigued by the gold bullet thing in Deadworld. We've never seen this before, have we?
My thought is that Mortissss can't affect/is affected by gold because it doesn't rust (or oxidise) or otherwise react to most things in a terrestrial environment, due to its funky electron shell arrangement: in other words, there's no way for Mortis to rot it, as the alt.SinoCity judges say. A gold slug in the ol' sheep's head disrupts the flow of whatever forces of corruption keep Mortis going.
Aaaagh, deleted my entire point: would a hi-tech plastic work the same way? A non-flammable version of Boing, say?
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 April, 2021, 09:22:27 AM
Aaaagh, deleted my entire point: would a hi-tech plastic work the same way? A non-flammable version of Boing, say?
If it helps the plot it would = sci-fi plot science.
Is Slaine ever coming back?
Quote from: The Corinthian on 08 April, 2021, 09:40:36 AM
Is Slaine ever coming back?
Yes it will be back but when is the question. Only episode is left
Having only returned to the fold in 2017 after a 17-year prog-lapse I'm not as jaded with the Dredd vs. SJS trope as some of you more dedicated squaxx, so I'm finding plenty to enjoy in 'A Penitent Man' (anyone else getting a Billy Joel earworm?). Though this week is mostly background and exposition, it's setting the scene for a potentially fantastic four further episodes. Am I overthinking this, or would it actually be quite difficult to write graffiti across cupboards and shelving so that the letters extend over the flat surfaces?
Another excellent Vision of Deadworld - these are so much more gratifyingly immediate than the ongoing saga. Thistlebone continues to fascinate, though as this instalment demonstrates, I'm not sure the character (I say 'character', she's more just a narrative instrument) of Seema is really needed? Feral & Foe continues to be utterly glorious - every panel is brilliant. The sissy-flapping at the bottom of the first page was priceless. It can get as meta as it likes AFAIK!
Finally 'Chorus & The Ring' (definitely what I'm going to call my vapourwave band) - agreed, not really enough to go on in this first instalment to judge. I am getting shades of Abnett's Durham Red, though. Interesting that the device on the Signet Spiritus was a straight-up star of David, and not some made-up mystical sigil. Tell you what, I really want to get Dylan Teague round to paint a few rooms in our house.
More Hope, yes! Also, do we know when the Rennie droid will next grace the prog?
Quote from: norton canes on 08 April, 2021, 10:11:23 AM
Also, do we know when the Rennie droid will next grace the prog?
I'm not sure when it's scheduled to run, but the Goddard droid appears to currently be hard at work on a new book of Aquila...
Cover in B/W:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CHORUS-AND-THE-RING-COVER-775x1024.jpg)
Quote from: TordelBack on 07 April, 2021, 09:08:18 AM
Thistlebone: I fear folk looking for horror action are going to be disappointed: this is the action. Which is to say, creeping tension, unsettling imagery and odd incidents is what this strip does, and it does it brilliantly.
I agree.
Thistlebone is one of my favorite strips in recent years and I have the lovely hardcover of the first series sat next to me. I think the
slow burn nature is a benefit to this kind of tale/Folklore Horror.
Deadworld is just glorious and another of my favorites. Three cheers for brave, loyal
Sir Robin Judge Gargon!
Dredd continues to intrigue and
Feral and Foe is great. The
3hriller? Didn't do much for me I'm afraid. Still, it's only the first episode so we'll see what happens.
Looking forward to the return of
Hope...Cheers
All credit to Mike for the art in the 3riller (Mike is always welcome in the prog), and that Nunja looks very much like Dominique Tipper in the Expanse - a great look.
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 08 April, 2021, 12:53:10 PM
...and that Nunja looks very much like Dominique Tipper in the Expanse ...
Ah-hah, cheers Bolt couldn't put my finger on the resemblance and it was driving me crazy! Having enjoyed the Iberian idiocy of the
Warrior Nun TV series last year my mind was firmly stuck in that rut, when I should have set my sights higher.
Quote from: NapalmKev on 08 April, 2021, 10:37:30 AM
Thistlebone is one of my favorite strips in recent years and I have the lovely hardcover of the first series sat next to me.
Tempted! I find myself regularly dipping into the
Brutannia hardcovers just for a visual hit of SBD, and I can see this serving a similar function.
Thistlebone really should be a crossover hit with both Euro- and post-Vertigo markets.
All the reviews I have seen around Thistlebone is super positive. Even calling Thistlebone one of the best strips to grace the pages of AD.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 08 April, 2021, 09:27:10 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 April, 2021, 09:22:27 AM
Aaaagh, deleted my entire point: would a hi-tech plastic work the same way? A non-flammable version of Boing, say?
If it helps the plot it would = sci-fi plot science.
S'right!
I suppose I'm just contemplating a proper materials-technological solution to the DJs - Boing (R) for Death, a shotgun shell of undecayable microplastics for Mortis, an asbestos ballon full of halogen for Fire, an opaque carrier bag for Fear...
Boing® only worked on Death while he was possessing Anderson, to stop his vaporous spirit escaping. Don't forget, while in corporeal form his chief modus operandi is his ability to pass through solid matter...
(Or is it just organic matter? No, it must go through clothes too, at least some of which will be non-organic. Remind me, does he ever stick his hand through doors, walls etc.?)
Quote from: norton canes on 08 April, 2021, 02:12:48 PM
(Or is it just organic matter? No, it must go through clothes too, at least some of which will be non-organic. Remind me, does he ever stick his hand through doors, walls etc.?)
Good points! I think he must have done at some point, or a simple spacesuit would defeat him. But then conversely the gaseous form clearly
can't pass through non-organic matter or the Hoover approach wouldn't work. It always annoyed me a bit that their spirits behaved like a gas rather than an intangible ghost, but that's interdimensional superfiends for you: it's as much weird tech and malevolent fanaticism as it is ghosts and ghoulies.
So if Boing® won't defeat Death, how about an certificate of marriage to the Queen?
There's certainly a vacancy!
Quote from: norton canes on 09 April, 2021, 01:56:17 PM
There's certainly a vacancy!
Yes, not my finest bit of timing.
Me, I'm delighted that Ken Nieman is now a regular on Dredd - whatever his real name is, it's looking likely that he's going to be stuck with the pseudonym forever. Just look at Jock and Frank Quitely. I do kind of agree that the whole evil SJS thing is getting tired, though.
Deadworld was suitably horrible. My only real problem here is that Fatty Mortis is the only DJ that has become less sinister in his Dave Kendall incarnation - for my money, the scariest DJ moment ever was the sleek, skeletal frame of Mortis chasing children through the Undercity in Necropolis.
I like Thistlebone. Not every thrill needs to be action-packed. Also, it's the right time of year for that genre that's become known as folk horror.
I haven't read the other two thrills, but I'll get round to it.
My Top 3 for Prog 2226 :)
1st - Dredd - been a Squaxx for five or six years so not sick of SJS v Dredd yet. Niemand on fire atm
2nd - Visions of Deadworld - enjoying the one offs for Deadworld. Time to stock up on golden bullets
3rd - Thistlebone - still building up will be better collected
I'd say it's not the SJS as corrupt, but being a bunch of fascists. They can drive the Welcome Wagon all they want and there's no reason ordinary Judges would know about it, or that it's dodgy beyond SJS procedural policy. It is interesting though that ex Titan inmates would be let back at all if they weren't wanted. Loving the yarn in any case.
In other news, Tales of Deadworld takes top laurels again for me this week.
Would SJS have jurisdiction over ex-Judges though?
One odd thing: post-Cal, the heads of SJS have been if not nice people exactly at least harsh-but-fair types like McGruder and Niles or even the fairly agreeable Buell. If they were tolerating or ignorant of extra-judicial nonsense like this it suggests they weren't much good at their jobs.
Throughout the entire history of Dredd, the SJS have often been a law unto themselves. It's curious that they still exist in this form after Buell's tenure at the head of the organisation.