Well that was a mixed bag...
Cover -- Nice, but we were were spoiled by last week's cover...
Dredd -- a very workman-like episode from the Carroll droid. Nothing special, but not bad either. Deals with the post-Chaos world well.
Savage -- page one was awful. [spoiler]"You've stolen my rations" "Don't distract me!"[/spoiler] -- I don't think I've read such dire dialogue in a comic since 1973. However, it picked up a bit when it became obvious what Mills was doing this week, and added a great contrast to recent weeks, and to the general theme. I suspect that [spoiler]The Savage Convention[/spoiler] will become a common phrase around here.
Ampney Crucis -- now this has been a bit of a surprise. Not only has it got, erm, actually interesting in recent weeks ... but there appear to be some fascinating ideas going on. The Babbagists are a very cool concept, and a quick Google revealed that Von Herder was Moriarty's gunsmith in Sherlock Holmes. Good stuff.
Red Seas -- I've been moaning for years about how dull this is, and it seems that others are now starting to agree. Won't be sad to see the back of this. It's a shame, 'cos Ian Edgingon is such a good writer, but this just misses the spot totally.
Strontium Dog -- there's something still not right about this story, and I think I'm going to have to follow others' advice and re-read it in a single take.
Inside-back advert -- A super comic con, you say? Blimey! Must get me to that, then!
No prog today but had nemesis vol 1 delivered so that will keep me going
That covers a bit samey isn't it? Reminds me of every Langley cover he's ever done for ABC's. >:(
Dredd is a nice one and done, but Red Sea's continues to be the pain in the arse that won't cramp out.
Crucis is lovelys, as is Savage and Stronty. So although the prog isn't reaching the hights of last year, Januar always seem's to be the 'dead' period where thrill power is at it's lower levels. Hopefully the return of Jay De'Ath soon will ammend that!
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 19 January, 2013, 02:15:57 PM
That covers a bit samey isn't it? Reminds me of every Langley cover he's ever done for ABC's. >:(
I really like this progs cover. Thought it was a great, striking image. Each to there own, of course. :-)
Liked the cover.
Thought Dredd was really good too. As much as I love the epic stories and inter linking episodes I also just love these one off tales which tell me more about a character I have been reading for the past 35 years.
Savage was ok.
Ampney Circus and Red Seas. Love the art on one and the writing on the other.
Strontium Dog. Better than the proceeding episodes. May be a story that is better read as a whole than in episode form.
Overall I enjoyed the prog. A solid 7 out of 10 for me this week.
And no, I won't be going to SUPER Comic Con
Still loving the Prog. Mighty fine Dredd by Mr Carroll aided by the wonderful Johns Burns. There simply can't be enough John Burns in the Prog, there just can't. The rest is as you were, which is predictably good. All very action packed this week. A slightly cliched (very) resolution to Savage's cliffhanger is nicely redemned by the continued examination if Savage as a brute fighting for the good guys.
Oh and if people still complainin' about The Mighty Yeowell after this weeks episode of Red Seas then there ain't no hope for them.
Great stuff.
I hope the singalong is Savage isn't an attempt to humanise the Volgs and demonise Savage - I want my goodies and baddies balck and white (not in a racialist sense).
Who was Dredd's perp-narrator talking to?
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 19 January, 2013, 06:52:01 PM
Who was Dredd's perp-narrator talking to?
I thought that was a great bit of set up for things to come and some mystery for something on the horizon. I didn't think we were meant to know?
it might of course be that I'm too dozy to work it out.
Quote from: moly on 19 January, 2013, 01:30:00 PM
No prog today but had nemesis vol 1 delivered so that will keep me going
No prog AGAIN for me this week - that's three weeks on the trot and it's starting to piss me off!
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 19 January, 2013, 06:55:14 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 19 January, 2013, 06:52:01 PM
Who was Dredd's perp-narrator talking to?
I thought that was a great bit of set up for things to come and some mystery for something on the horizon. I didn't think we were meant to know?
it might of course be that I'm too dozy to work it out.
Oh shit it's Smiley all over again! ::)
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 20 January, 2013, 10:28:48 AM
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 19 January, 2013, 06:55:14 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 19 January, 2013, 06:52:01 PM
Who was Dredd's perp-narrator talking to?
I thought that was a great bit of set up for things to come and some mystery for something on the horizon. I didn't think we were meant to know?
it might of course be that I'm too dozy to work it out.
Oh shit it's Smiley all over again! ::)
It grated for me, that last panel in Dredd. If it was internal investigations then it should be SJS judges. If it wasn't setting something up then it could have been other perps.
I saw the last panel as just the end of the interagation. Nothing more. Maybe showing a changing attitude towards the Judges. Great Dredd and the fact that a shoot to kill policy has now been put aside.
V
Quote from: vzzbux on 22 January, 2013, 12:18:01 AM
I saw the last panel as just the end of the interagation. Nothing more. Maybe showing a changing attitude towards the Judges. Great Dredd and the fact that a shoot to kill policy has now been put aside.
Well that could well be the case of course and I might be over reading things. Its just they seemed on my reading to be overly interested in how Dredd acted for it too be a regular interrogation? Also if it was why shroud them in mystery? There were a couple of opportunities to show them as regular Judges talking to a perp and on both they choose not to. That made it feel like a deliberate attempt to create intrigue to me?
Must dig it out tonight and give it another read to see if my ideas hold up.
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 22 January, 2013, 08:23:25 AM
Quote from: vzzbux on 22 January, 2013, 12:18:01 AM
I saw the last panel as just the end of the interagation. Nothing more. Maybe showing a changing attitude towards the Judges. Great Dredd and the fact that a shoot to kill policy has now been put aside.
Well that could well be the case of course and I might be over reading things. Its just they seemed on my reading to be overly interested in how Dredd acted for it too be a regular interrogation? Also if it was why shroud them in mystery? There were a couple of opportunities to show them as regular Judges talking to a perp and on both they choose not to. That made it feel like a deliberate attempt to create intrigue to me?
Must dig it out tonight and give it another read to see if my ideas hold up.
If it is an interrogation then isn't that, well, wrong? Judge, jury and executioner. Dredd sentenced the perp to the cubes. Why, then, interrogate them? The sentence should just start. Unless they want to know what Dredd did. In which case it is either (a) SJS or (b)
another conspiracy.
I just assumed the perp narrating events to the judges was a story-telling device, and very successful one at that.
Quote from: Cactus on 22 January, 2013, 09:22:18 AM
I just assumed the perp narrating events to the judges was a story-telling device, and very successful one at that.
This ^.
Anyways...
That was a fine cover reminder me of this:
(http://www.wga.hu/art/r/rodin/1gates/1gates06.jpg)
Rodin's Gates of hell , which would be appropriate.
Dredd a fine post DeeohCee tale, spoiled for me by the lacklustre art with Dredd lacking Authority.
Savage: Getting better, but the 'haven't a clue what I'm singing' grated, WTF?
ACrucis: Great stuff art and story in tandem, liked the nod to Sherlock too
Redseas; now we're getting somewhere, I get a feeling not everyone will survive this, hence the cast of thousands.
SD: I had thought this was a flashback to the previous Mutie uprising, blame my dotage, until that comment about Alpha being buried, nice nod to PG Woodhouse too
That London comic con, I can see there maybe handbags at dawn if certain parties meet up
Fine prog, marred only by a tardy snowbound Royal Mail
Great to see Brett Ewins on the guest list of the Comicon.
V
Quote from: Proudhuff on 22 January, 2013, 10:43:04 AM
Savage: Getting better, but the 'haven't a clue what I'm singing' grated, WTF?
Why so? The song is Russian, and he obviously doesn't speak it.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 22 January, 2013, 12:00:17 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 22 January, 2013, 10:43:04 AM
Savage: Getting better, but the 'haven't a clue what I'm singing' grated, WTF?
Why so? The song is Russian, and he obviously doesn't speak it.
So he sings along in russian? not knowing the language, the words, after hearing two verses, oh and under fire too, yeah that's easy enough. ::)
Dredd - Great story, poor art. Enjoyed it though, and intrigued if it is indeed a setup for later. (Or maybe we've been spoilt too much recently and reading too much into it?)
Savage - Great art, truly awful, awful dialogue.
Red Seas - Not got a clue what's going on here, pretty though. :D
Strontium Dog - See above. :D
Prog was good, but why I feelings like this prog was just fill in gap of all five stories?
Quote from: Proudhuff on 22 January, 2013, 12:37:53 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 22 January, 2013, 12:00:17 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 22 January, 2013, 10:43:04 AM
Savage: Getting better, but the 'haven't a clue what I'm singing' grated, WTF?
Why so? The song is Russian, and he obviously doesn't speak it.
So he sings along in russian? not knowing the language, the words, after hearing two verses, oh and under fire too, yeah that's easy enough. ::)
I thought the point was that it was supposed to be a well known song by her band. Plenty of people could have a fair stab at La Bamba, Guantanamera or J'en Ai Marre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk) without having the faintest idea what they mean.
That said it was still a pretty terrible episode. How bloody long are they going to be hiding behind that barrier and doesn't it seem a bit late in the game to be humanising the Volgs now?
Ampney is also suffering badly from extended incident syndrome: two weeks to have a car chase really isn't very interesting.
Really like the
cover. Lovely and gruesome and a nice change from more ABC Warriors.
Dredd was a decent story and a marked improvement on the recent Dolman/Space Corps ones. Didn't seem like a setup to me, just a different device to frame the story. Burns is a great artist but I really don't think he suits MC1 at all.
Oh, I don't agree at all about Ampney. The car chase is over in one week, where we also get intrigue with Calliope on the telephone to somebody, and the new technology of the machine pistol where the Webley should have been, and hints about the assassins... lots happened this week.
Compare to Red Seas, where nothing of consequence at all happened, and all the pages were white again.
I do think this most recent run of TRS has had slightly more going on than in previous instalmetns art wise. Besides that it's standard fare at best.
The prog continues to tick over. I'm still pretty much marking time until the next line-up, I'm afraid.
That said, Dredd was a good 'un this week. I find Mike Caroll's Dredds to have a few problems on occassion (the supporting Judge cast have frequent bumbling-stooge-syndrome, for one, and there's a very Robbie Morrison-esque tendency to have Dredd saving bairns and babies) but they're always fairly well-constructed plot-wise and he's really committed to the post-DoC landscape in a way that not all the other writers have. The construction of this episode was really good, and it's always a pleasure to have John Burns in the prog.
Savage hits a bit of a bum note. I appreciate what Pat's trying to do but dialogue has never been his forte and he doesn't quite pull it off here. It's nice to see the Volgs humanised a bit. It may be a bit too late in the day, but it is serving to cast Savage - and his utter unwillingness to change his opinions - in an increasingly unflattering light. I'm hoping this new ambiguity about who the heroes and villians of this strip really are extend to the imminent arrival of the Americans, and a looming sea change whereby Britain realises it has simply changed one foreign aggressor for another and is not really any better off under the Yankee jackboot.
Red Seas is Red Seas. Hard to review an all-action episode in any case! The appearance of the corpse-giants was a nicely played scene, immediately ruined by the rather camp Satan's glib remark. I'm of the personal opinion that comedy villians make for poor drama, and that's really borne out here - Lucifer as presented just doesn't live up to the endless build-up of the past few years.
Ampney's another all-actioner, which makes it a bit hard to find anything to say about this episode.
Strontium Dog really kicks up a gear this week. Loved the Doghouse scene and Red's cameo.
Ampney was easliy the highlight in a rather mediocre prog, I could stare at that art forever.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 23 January, 2013, 10:46:50 PM
Strontium Dog really kicks up a gear this week. Loved the Doghouse scene and Red's cameo.
Missed that! It's moments like this that make me realise why I love the prog! :D
So can we assume she will be playing a role in this?
Another top prog again this week.
Not totally enamoured with the cover TBH, maybe a little too dark and muddy. But it works well enough close up.
Dredd was a nice little tale told - and i did wonder myself if there's slightly more to it.
Ampney continues to grab me solidly. Just glorious art. A new fave, at the minute. Stronty's a good one this week, and Red Seas is dragging a little, but im still loving it.
Savage is intriguing. Is ol' Bill being shown to us as an un-hinged psychopath? Glorious art from Goddard
And yes, nice to see Brett in the line up for the LSCC. Though i must admit my initial reaction was one of surprise.
I really, really love that Doghouse scene. Ezquerra's inking is pretty rough, but Wagner's doing such an amazing job with the script and with that incredibly natural dialogue that I'm rereading the pages again and again. Kid Knee in panel four: "I got big news! The norms have done it! Oh boy, have the norms done it this time!" There are several other possible examples, where character is coming out so perfectly in just a few lines of telling dialogue.
Mutant Spring should not be flying under our radars. This is fantastic stuff.
Looking at this weeks cover has made me think that The Red Seas would have been brilliant if Cling Langley had been the artist for the strip. Oh well...
Top thrill this week is Strontium Dog, which hasn't put a foot wrong since the first chapter of "A life and Death..." in my opinion.
The Dredd one-shot was the clear winner for me this week. Nice bit of emotional depth to it and a great sense of forboding in the final panel.
Programme 1816
This week's cover by Clint Langley is outstanding! Whats more its a wrap around cover like the last programme. As for the strips themselves, Judge Dredd (Sealed) was a very nice read by Mike Carroll and illustrated by John Burns; his painted style is very impressive to behold. The story is set in the aftermath of DoC (Days of Chaos), and was immensly enjoyable. Next up was Savage (Rise Like Lions Part 5); i said last time it was the weakest story in the prog and there's nothing in this prog to change my mind just yet. However, Patrick Goddard still maintains the high standards of his hugely impressive black and white artwork. The Brit/ Volgan sing-a-long was quite nice though!
Ampney Crucis (The Entropy Tango Part 5) was a thrilling read. After trying to off the alien ambassador, the Joker-esque Babbagist's try to make their getaway but they did not bank on Lord Crucis going all out 'Commando' to bag their psychotic asses! Ian Edginton's writing continues for the next strip also; The Red Seas (Fire Across The Deep Part 5). We see our sea faring pirates taking on Lucifer's horde in a battle of epic proportions, the stand out being the 'Legion' giants made up of hundred's of the 'Evil Dead'! (as depicted on the cover). Many consider the strip to be the weakest, but not me, oh no --- i fucking love it!
And finally, to top off this thrilling prog we get Strontium Dog (Mutant Spring Part 5). This strip is coming along very nicely indeed. Things are getting very heated up right now as war is imminent. About time!
So when all is said and done (or read and done) this programme was a very enjoyable read. Now onto this months Megazine...damn that cover looks hot!
4.5/5
Lovely cover and Dredd top story from the Carroll droid. The singing Volgs were the only surprise in by the numbers Savage, Ampney was top this week with the running over the burning bad-guy scene my favourite by a mile ! :) Red Seas finally had some action in it but Stront seemed all to familiar, those wicked norms ,eh? :-\
Really enjoyed this, the one shot dredd was very nice, love John burns. Back in the prog habit now - mmm nice.