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The film largely filters the book through a US lens. It doesn't do so heavily, but that does twist it away from the book's anarchist tendencies. (I also never felt the lurch in the film made any sense. The scandal wasn't big enough and the voting patterns were nonsensical. But then I guess those details don't really matter too much!) 

As for the comic, I agree with Colin. It's been a while since I read it, but the story for me was more solid and more interesting than almost everything else I've read by Moore. It has heart. It's also brutal. Like Colin says, even the antagonists aren't cyphers and feel human, albeit ones that are on the wrong side of history. I also echo that I'd much prefer a B+W version of the book, but I suspect that's either impossible (in the sense no B+W art survives) or DC just isn't interested (perhaps due to the mess that was created when it took on the series, which has subsequently denied Moore the rights to his work back).

I witnessed possibly the first shift here when the latest Phoenix lay unopened and unread for two days. That said, mini-G is now part of the Beano fan club and loves her Gnasher badge. She never clicked with Monster Fun, though. Those early issues felt very "lots of boys and naff-all girls" and it for her never really recovered from that.

It'll be interesting to see where things head next. Although I suspect she may well continue to pick up Jamie Smart books for some time, even when The Phoenix is but a memory.

Disappointing but only because it's so good. I thought this would run and run. Such fantastic worldbuilding. Oh well.

[Dredd:]

Nice cover. Also, interesting editor's letter, which says one of the reprint slots next week is being replaced "with a pair of brand-new stories". Woot! Lovely to hear, not least because I've cooled on the reprint since the Matt Smith IDW Dredd and Ruckley Rogue Trooper ran out. (I need to re-read Johnny Red, though; not sure I gave that a proper airing.)

Dredd: I loved D'Israeli. I'm rarely convinced he's a good match for Dredd. But it works here, with an increasingly absurd tale that's a lot of fun and doesn't overstay its welcome.

After a whopping ten pages of interviews (all good), we get a Steve Roberts kluge pin-up, before the final part of DeMarco. I need to re-read this tale as well, because it's kind of washed over me. It didn't really stand out. By contrast, I'm enjoying Armitage more than I have in a long while. It's blazing along nicely.

Another interview (newcomer Helsby) leads into a slightly odd piece on Ted Cowan (given that there's naff-all info about him in the wild), and some Robot Archie. As is often the case with this stuff, it's an extended trailer for the book, although it just about works well enough in giving us some bite-sized mini stories of sorts.

Reprint-wise, Hook Jaw wraps. I couldn't stand this. I get that a lot of it was pushing extremes on stereotypes (choice dialogue: "I'm gonna slaughter every last one of these pirate sonsabitches then coil out asteamin' American deuce on their corpses."), but, I dunno. I just didn't care about any of it. I guess at least it ended well.

I'm fairly certain I've read Toxic before, but I don't remember much about it. Other IDW Dredd that feels a bit off, but I'm sure that will be perfectly serviceable. And then we wrap up with two originals: a new Harrower Squad has Yeowell having fun with stompy blocky robots, but the star is Dreadnoughts, which is its typical mix of grim and compelling. Alas, the editor's letter refers to it as a "short series". Hopefully not too short.

In all, a bit of a mixed bag, although I the majority of the original material was very good. That bodes well if there's going to be more of it as of next month.

Looking online, there was quite a backlash against his Roger the Dodger, which I think says more about the sensibilities of old fart parents than children. Lots of "this isn't the Roger I knew". Well, yes. It was much funnier and sillier, but still smart and mischievous. By comparison, the current Roger feels very safe and a bit dull. (Mind you, that in itself might not be the worst thing. The Beano has its own voice and feel, and that's neatly countered by The Phoenix, which to some degree fills the IPC/Fleetway equivalent from when I was a kid – more anarchic.)

As for The Dandy, perhaps that in the long run was a good thing, in giving DCT some razor-sharp focus. The Beano seems to be on reasonably firm ground these days, and The Dandy survives to some degree with the annuals. (I don't really count the specials, which are mostly reprint and staggeringly expensive for what they are.) They also just started flirting with Zoom, presumably following on from The Phoenix doing the same. Although the first Beano session was weirdly long and weirdly late in the day. I'm not sure how many of the target audience would be fully attentive during a 75-minute(!) video that didn't start until 7pm. Maybe Scottish kids have later bedtimes or something.

Blimey. It really is just one. 146 and 148 are the two unknowns, and there's no obvious context around them, to help guess what they might be. (Well, we know one should be The Order, but not which one.)

144: Harlem Heroes (vol 2)
145: Dredd: End of Days
146: ?
147: Armoured Gideon
148: ?
149: Age of the Surprisingly Cute Wolf
150: Counterfeit Girl

Context is everything. Christmas: lots of people were excited about the refresh of the show, and it was aired on Christmas Day, when families are together and probably fancied something fun to watch. This Saturday was a new series, sure, but not the debut for the new Doctor, and the weather was astonishingly good for the time of year.

I'm sure we'll know more in the long run. Although there is a sense that RTD can do no wrong, and that may counter anything that does turn out to be a negative, to some degree. (Honestly, I wasn't overly thrilled by his return, given all the shit that went on during Eccleston's run, and also on the basis of the manner in which he writes. But it is what it is.)

kids really don't watch live TV any more

Can confirm, at least in this household. I think the last thing we watched live with our 9yo was the women's World Cup final last summer. She these days watches a lot on iPlayer, but nothing live. She wants to watch things when she wants to watch them. TBF, so do we. Even with the very rare 'live' TV we watch (mostly things like Sewing Bee), we watch on iPlayer.

The ratings are broadcast. They don't include people watching on iPlayer, which may well be a significant number when factored in. And I suspect the numbers on Disney+ will be more important in the long run.

That said, I'm unsure whether these are the episodes to get people on board. I can imagine a lot of "what the fuck was that?" And the horribly messy way in which we transitioned from 13 to 15 hasn't helped. A clean break and starting completely afresh would have made more sense, but there you go. It's not like the show has ever made a lot of sense. It's always been messy to some degree.

It felt very... RTD Who. The man doesn't do logic. His plots, such as they are, fall to pieces the second you examine them. But the show is loud and flashy and sometimes fun.

I thought Space Babies was absurd. I'm not sure I liked it, with the thing lurching back and forth between uncanny valley talking babies, the C-list Alien, and the Doctor repeatedly being weirdly callous in scaring the kids. The final act wasn't earned either. This one could probably have been saved with a script editor but this show since the return hasn't cared about giving someone in that position any power.

I thought the second episode was much better. The villain was menacing. The story just about held up. Ish. And the ending was so over the top that you had to admire probably the most expensive thing Doctor Who has ever done being a dance number. Even if the song itself was (ironically, given the plot) terrible.

So a 2/5 and a 3/5 from me for those so far. And that's a quarter of the series done. It'll be interesting to see where it goes and if people are so quick to consider RTD the second coming at every available opportunity. I'm preparing for it to be fine and am not terribly invested. It's six hours of hopefully entertaining telly.

Yes, the alien nature of Proteus Vex makes it something special. It has imagination and strange elements. These beings aren't just humans slightly reworked. In 2000 AD terms, perhaps Shakara is the closest strip in that regard. Although Vex is much deeper.

And I'd second the art. Honestly, I was disappointed when the artist changed and a little unconvinced by the second run. It just didn't quite feel right. But now I can't imagine this being illustrated by anyone else. Lynch's art in this strip has evolved to become nothing short of superb. Properly top-tier stuff. 

[Judge Dredd]

New beginnings and one ending this issue. First up, Judge Dredd unsurprisingly puts us back in the city, with no explanation of how he escaped the pit of Shako. Niemand does a good job setting up a tale of horror, with some exposition on page two delivered in a way that felt natural. Nasty last page. Looking forward to what's next.

Aguila concludes with a thoughtful few pages of mercy and a final frame of freakiness, before the confirmation that the next story will be the last. And then we get Intestinauts, which gives the Prog a touch of levity (and vibrancy) but puts its miniature heroes in a sticky situation at the end. Honestly, I think I enjoyed this episode more than most of Indigo Prime already, so I'm happy for the swap.

Brink is essentially five more pages of talking heads that can nonetheless do no wrong, in my eyes. It's got to be up there with the best strips in 2000 AD's history. And then Proteus Vex  ends the Prog on another cracker, providing us with more insight into the flesh pilots that, to some extent, just takes us further down the rabbit hole.

2000 AD has been strong for a long while. But this line-up was excellent – one of those times where I blazed through the Prog because everything was so good. Kudos to every writer and artist this issue, and of course also to Tharg and his minions.

But motivated to do what, exactly?

Get it replaced.

As for when the collection ends, who knows? These things are fluid. If sales are up and all parties are keen, maybe it will continue. If not, or other factors are at play, perhaps it won't. The fact we now have at least a 180-volume HC 2000 AD series – which collects even quite obscure fare like The Red Seas and Armoured Gideon – in addition to the 90-volume Dreddworld one is bonkers.

Oddly enough, the set of comics I have next after I finish my modern Marvel run (almost there) is... the original Machine Man run, which I won for $1 on eBay years ago.