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Could not agree more.  What is more concerning is that it truly does appear that the Tories pulled their punches in the manifesto on the off chance that they ended up with another term in coalition.  They are currently in the middle of a wet dream in which not only do they have a majority (albeit it slim) and a fairly unified parliamentary party, they also, as you say Zen, have a Labour opposition that is, to put it bluntly, in complete meltdown.  What was the old Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times!"

Okay, colour me confused.  I had this preordered with Amazon who emailed a while back to say that they were cancelling the order as they had no idea when it would be printed.  This led me to believe that it was cancelled.  Needless to say this was disappointing news.  Now there is a preview / review on CBR with a September release date.  Nothing on the Titan books website and you can purchase it on Amazon for the exquisite price of £999.

So I guess my question is, does anyone have any idea what is going on with this?

[doesn't]

as others already have said, it reads much better in one sitting than 6p/w)

I see this comment made about pretty much every series. Is there anything in the prog that doesn't benefit from being read in one sitting? Isn't this just self-evidently true?

True.  For me though, the big issue was that whilst the story was running it felt like a coherent story that had been broken up for serialisation and not always in the most natural way. 

I have to be honest I am becoming increasingly concerned about what exactly the present government are likely to do over the course of the present parliament.  It seems that the worst fears of opponents are not even close to what is actually going to happen.  I think Butch is bang on the money in terms of the discursive framework within which they are working and the manner in which it is appealing to large swathes of the electorate.

The proposed changes to the tax credit system and welfare seem on the surface reasonable, particularly in light of the 'revelation' that larger corporations that have benefited significantly from subsidised wages.  The changes to Union law requiring higher turnout, higher thresholds, introducing criminal liability for certain breaches to challenge perceived abuses  appeal to a perception that unions are out of control and need to be reined in.  As has been mentioned, the review of the BBC is feeding on the view that it is effectively a tax for services that are rarely used in many cases.  All of these are tapping into the twin concerns of recent years, that large corporations and organisations are benefiting at the expense of the 'little person' and that militant unions are itching to return to the heyday of union power in the 70's.

This is all in the last month and they have barely started.  Lacking an opposition and benefiting from largely content and unified backbenchers the likelihood of the government failing to get any of these changes pushed through seems remote.  With that in mind, is it completely unreasonable to fear the worse in terms of a universal 'free at the point of access' health care service being replaced by an American style insurance service? 

On the other hand if you want to reprint something that most boarders have got in 5 different formats then your luck is in.

Personally felt that Dredd fumbled the ending and dropped off too quickly, as Geoff said.  Felt a bit crammed but otherwise a nice read.

Overall a good wee pick me up after attending a friends funeral.  Now, time to bust out copious amounts of cider.

My condolences sir. 

Just read latest issue 144. Damn...

Too bloody right!

I think the impact was all the greater after the last few months mundanity.

and another order ...

[a surefire way to get a whole bunch of fans moaning about "having to buy the collections twice".]

Wouldn't nice, new hardcovers with all flaws fixed, like Case Files 1 will be getting, be the way forward? a surefire way to get a whole bunch of fans moaning about "having to buy the collections twice".

Fixed that for you...

Cheers

Jim

That's why I didn't grab them in the first place.  Holding out for the hardcovers  (wasn't that a Bonnie Tyler song?)

I guess I can't fault any of the criticisms of the story.    That said a mediocre tale by Wagner is still light years above some of the better stuff from some other mainstream publishers.  It almost reads like a set up for bringing them back at some later point.  The artwork really is the star of the show.

It definitely reads better as a single volume.  I would heartily agree with Dark Jimbo on that score.  Moreover this is a fine example of how to do a special edition.  The roughs and development sketches are an excellent addition.  Being a bit of a sucker for the bookplate editions as well, this again is a nice job.  Sits nicely alongside the Urban Warfare GN.

You can never have too much bubble wrap.  Paint it red and make a fortune!

Ditto on both counts.  Scotch tape is the only one I've found that has the right level of adhesion for opening / closing.  Again had a few 'aagh!' moments over the years when the tape has flopped onto the front cover going back into the bag.

The addition to the line up of Jaegir has definitely upped the enjoyment for me as well.  Personally this year had seemed a bit flat to date.  Some good quality strips (Dark Justice) combined with stuff that didn't appeal.  Now every strip is a pleasure and the rest of the year promises even more quality thrills (Kingdom, Bad Company ...).

prove to readers that, given enough time and monkeys, Tharg really will reprint EVERYTHING.

Even Space girls?

The placement of John Cassavetes is Dead sounds a bit like Father Earth in the middle of Heavy mob.

Father Earth was the first outing of the Holocaust Squad (IIRC), hence it's inclusion.  Probably the fact that it was from the early days compared to the more Meg heavy later stories is why it appears so peculiar (<rant>plus the lousy reproduction </rant>).