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I see comments are disabled on that article. Probably because they're tired of people pointing out how mistaken they were.

[covers]

If you read the text bit in that link it mentions Staples doing the regular covers which means we've got more to look forward to.

I like Sim's exploding logo. More logos should explode in my opinion. The one thing I'm wondering is how much that cover reflects the story. Does the punk chap actually appear and what role does St Barton's Home for Wayward Spugs play?

Also, Coleby on art? Triple-yes!

I haven't read a crossover since Mark Millar's Civil War and I bowed out after Black Goliath was killed by Thor's robot clone. I haven't bought an issue of a Marvel comic since and reading commentary on Avengers vs X-Men completely validates that decision.

One of the big factors separating this story from that sort of crossover is the secrecy. You wouldn't get that in a Marvel crossover since the whole point of them is as a marketing gimmick.

I think if you drop the death of Wolverine then the story loses a lot of its impact. Although I agree it should be a reduced part. Perhaps only have him in the future bits.

I thought Smiley working in the walls was a great touch. Maybe he had his rooms constructed the last time the Hall of Justice was destroyed. It reminded me of Varis from Game of Thrones.

Speaking of spies, does anyone think that the script was adjusted to include comments made on the board. I'm specifically thinking of Maitland's references to "Mr Biscuits" here. I know I've seen Ewing logged on here a few times recently.

Fantastic prog and a fantastic end to the story. Like others have mentioned before, the machinations from the previous stories were missing here since everything was now in the open so this was more of an action strip.

I like the meta-fictional nods in the captions of Judges Point and Frank. It's as if they're watching all this as a DVD and providing running commentary. I liked that Dredd didn't actually do a whole lot. Normally he's the only judge who can fix things and the others are useless. So it was nice to see Frank, Point and the supporting cast kicking arse. It also makes sense since he was terribly injured

I had a go at reading the digital issue 0. It's a lot like the early flash story-telling that used to be everywhere on the web in the late 90s. There are plenty of better examples of digital comics that they could have looked at. This feels like a real throwback and not the sort of thing that will get today's kids interested. I hope they up the quality for the first paid-for issue or this is going to tank badly.

Worst of all, partway through the Desperate Dan strip, I got to a frame were there was no link to continue the story. Maybe the site isn't optimised for Firefox.

Ratfink and Anderson were worth for the art only. Both scripts were fairly dull but Tiernan Trevallion has a wonderfully Mike Mignola-ish style and Alan is giving Boo plenty of great things to draw. The highlight of the Ratfink strip was the last page. We learn Leon survives (which is rare for any judge in Dredd's vicinity) and it ends in a joke. I agree Dredd should have shot him. He would have known Ratfink was up for execution.

I can't say Killer Elite was great either but it had it's moments. The running out of bullets thing also irked me. It was there  merely to show our friend's counting ability.  Snapshot didn't make any sense to me, similar to previous episodes.

Downlode Tales wasn't particularly interesting but it did have some nice painted art by Staples, Siku and others.

All in all, a slightly disappointing Meg. I hope the Christmas issue is a good one.

[Glory]

I think the title has been on a very slight downward slide since the trade.  Every issue has some great moments, but the story isn't strong enough to continue at this rate.  i enjoyed the first few issues because it focused on the Earth Empire Prophets - but I think since introducing John Prophet a bit more work could have been done showing who John is actually fighting (who are the Earth Empire).

The back ups have deteriorated as well.

Link Prime and I were on a side-track about Glory, I've said nothing Prophet being cancelled!

Yeah, good thing too. Prophet seems to be doing well.

Although it's a shame about Glory. I wanted to like it. I did like it but perhaps not enough. The creative team is great and I loved Ross Campbell's design of Glory with her huge hulk-like frame. But the first storyline never lived up to that promise. It was fun but not enough to justify buying each issue. I say it's a shame because it was better than anything put out by Marvel and DC but not as good as Prophet or Saga or some of the stuff coming out of Dark Horse right now.

But it's good that Prophet will last.  It does seem to be actually gaining a plot, though I was pretty happy with each issue on its own as a perfect slice of sci-fi weirdness. Though in a recent interview, Brandon Graham did mention that he had a finite number of issues in mind.

So Dirty Frank is the big weapon to saving the Mega-City?


Still wonder there something biggest for Jack Point. As they kept try to kill him... He only done sell the list... Something biggest coming?

Well, Jack's shutting down the brainwashing but compared to what's happening with Dredd and Frank, he does seem a little less heroic. I'm sure he's got a big moment coming in the next prog. He's got to fight Turner at least.

But in this prog, and probably in this storyline so far, Dirty Frank's getting the big heroic moments.

SAUDADE:

I have a colleague who translates to and from Portugese as a sideline. I asked him about this word, and he explained it amounts to a feeling of nostalgia, but idealistically, almost like a belief in the good old days when they weren't necessarily that good. It was linked to a musical movement and, apparently, a political trend where people became disaffected with a dictatorship.

I've no idea if any of that's relevant but some of it struck a chord.

- Trout

Having experienced the feeling of saudade over the last week it got me thinking. My pet theory is that it refers to Frank's feelings for his sanity.

Ha, nice. The obvious answer is that it refers to Frank's longings for Mega-City 1 and the Lowlife in particular, especially if it ended up being destroyed while he was stuck on the moon.

"Damaged, brutalised and diseased, perhaps... but still Dirty Frank's city."

'Tis done!

Awesome. Thanks very much 

from what i recall bishop was the head honcho not wolverine who instead got clobbered by nimrod a super sentinel and left in the past.

I think Bishop was the key character in the cartoon and he spent weeks lost somewhere in time and every scene he was in during this had a blues harmonica soundtrack.

that was a different one with apocalyse and cable

also on vhs somewhere i remember it being like two hours long.

bishop had a lot of screen time...

It was the nineties. Bishop was becoming quite popular in the comic at this time. Same with Gambit.

Also explains why the characters were designed by Jim Lee.

Could I get a leg-up too? I've been very good all year.

It does seem a huge shame. The oldest running comic in the UK (and possibly the world at this point). I hope the online version does well and they at least get to bring out an annual or other occasional print specials. I have fond memories of reading it when I was a nipper.

Flags will be at half mast on Tuesday.