Prog 2285: Royal Blood

[Tjm86]

Dredd – pretty predictable so far.  Nothing that stands out as a surprise.  Question then is how the finale pans out.  Is Asher going to be written off as a character or will Niemand pull out some last minute twist?  Well, enjoyable as it has been ...

Terror Tales: Wunza – lot of effort for the final pun but not the worst we've seen in a while and certainly better than last week's FS. 

Hope: In the Shadows – another episode that doesn't really go too far.  Where is this tale going?  If that's a question that needs asking then that is not a good sign.  Sorry.

Brink – another talking heads episode but starting to tie together with previous threads.  A lot of this run has linked back to the very first run, few more than this though.  There is a sense though of foreboding.  Revelations of the sort trotted out here pretty much always end up with a body count.

Fiends of the Eastern Front: 1963 – should really be retitled "Fiends of the Eastern Front – hope you haven't read Stross' Laundry Novels."  Trevallion on art has definitely been the redeeming aspect of this run.  Previous runs that have dug into the back-story of Constanta worked far better.  Setting up a future scrap between Constanta and Dee ...  Maybe we'll be surprised?

The last few progs have seen a bit of a dip in quality, haven't they?  More mediocre than hideous, certainly.  That said, there are strips and writers here that have delivered far better in the past.  There is a sense of predictability, recycling of old tropes or a general lack of coherence. 

Then again this is not completely surprising.  Not to mention that the highs of the prog set incredibly exacting standards.  Artistically the prog is faultless right now.  In terms of writing though it is not exactly the top of these writers' games ...


On the positive side, it's about 2 days earlier than I expected given the jubilee boll**s ...

[broodblik]

Cover by Tiernen Trevallion:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[broodblik]

Cover by Tiernen Trevallion:

[broodblik]

Last weeks prog felt a little flat, but a week can make a big difference or not. The covers that Tiernen did for Fiends are just plain awesome and this week's cover is also another great example of how to do a cover.

Dredd – The Honest Man continues to be a great Dredd story. This round it focuses more on the action and ends with our protagonist meeting "The Law". So far it has been my favorite Dredd story of the year. Great from the creative team.

Terror – Another one of those shorts which is not bad but nothing new. More off a "been there, done that (got the t-shirt)" story.

Hope – What a creepy and horrifying episode. Although the plot is moving slowly forward the suspense is high and the intrigue of what is next makes me come back for more.

Brink – This episode solely focusses on one conversation. This conversation starts tying the lose ends and bringing the previous books plot-points to the front. Are we heading for the end game here or are Dabnett just playing with us?

Fiends – Interesting ending to this arc. The world that Edginton created is so vaster than the original with and spiced with more mysticism.

[Barrington Boots]

Tjm86's review pretty much echoes my thoughts on this weeks Prog. There's been a definite dip imo and not in the art, which is delivering a consistently very high level.
Tbh my thoughts are much the same as last weeks:

Dredd All action this week, presumably finale next week. I can't see how Asher isn't going to come a cropper here. This story's been excellent so far.

Terror Tales – Slight and rather contrived, but I enjoyed the various jokes here and the artwork so overall this worked for me.

Hope – This feels like the worst thing that's run in the Prog for ages, which is a shock given how good the previous Hope stuff was. This episode was a bit better than the previous one which is all I can say really.

Brink – A lot of talk here, a lot of harking back to previous books. I feel this episode would work better not as stand alone, as I had to check back to previous issues on certain individuals and events: the menace here relies on the reader already knowing a lot.

Fiends of the Eastern Front – Very disappointed with the direction this has taken. The wrap up is all a bit sudden, and it also turns out Constanza survived Hiroshima, so he's unstoppable then? Loved the previous stuff but the setup at the end of this doesn't make me excited and it all feels to me like the series has taken a horrible misstep from what made it good initially. Trevallion's art however is incredible.

Roll on next week!

[broodblik]

I do not want to burst anyone's bubble here but I think Skippy is back next week since Fiends ending this week

[Barrington Boots]

I do not want to burst anyone's bubble here but I think Skippy is back next week since Fiends ending this week

Gulp!

[The Corinthian]

I believe we've been promised more Dexter in Prog 2286 as well.

[broodblik]

I believe we've been promised more Dexter in Prog 2286 as well.

In prog 2283 it was stated the next installment will be Malice in Plunderland and it will return in prog 2289

[Colin YNWA]

You get the sense that the Prog is going to enter into one of those staggering chase to the line as Prog 2300 looms and the start of the years' wonderful line-ups start to fizzle away. This week is a pretty good comic but we'll have to see what rolls in alongside Skipperty.

Dredd will be getting a new story as this one rollicks towards what I assume will be a thrilling conclusion. Absolutely loving this.

Terror Tale has some lovely art, particularly the Vitti pages which has something of peak period Shade the Changing Man Chris Bachalo about it... I also really want someone to take up the idea for 'Hell & Keller' pun aside for some reason the idea really appeals to me. So yeah lovely art... it had a story too... which yeah was better than last weeks... so ... well that's something.

I thought Hope was suitably hot and unpleasent this week. Really enjoying this.

Brink really sprang this week as the plot is revealed... or is it. Another example of how a talking heads episode can feel so much more. It was just so rich in character and flavour.

Fiends ended with a bit of an epilogue really, not back but a come donw after last week and sets things up more than anything else. Its been a good run up to now however.

So yeah we run the risk of hitting choppy waters, we'll stumble to a Regened in 2288 - I think then see what comes up smelling of roses in July.

[Richard]

I thought Hope was really good this week.

[The Corinthian]

In prog 2283 it was stated the next installment will be Malice in Plunderland and it will return in prog 2289

You get the sense that the Prog is going to enter into one of those staggering chase to the line as Prog 2300 looms and the start of the years' wonderful line-ups start to fizzle away. This week is a pretty good comic but we'll have to see what rolls in alongside Skipperty.

The next Regened is supposed to be Prog 2288 so I suspect it'll be more Future Shocks/Terror Tales for the next couple of weeks.

[norton canes]

I thought everything was holding up pretty well this week, with the four regular strips maintaining their high standard. And the Future Shock was an improvement over last week, albeit mainly because some of the puns were amusing rather than the story being especially good. I presume Eoin Coveney only managed one page because Gordon Rennie suddenly delivered the next set of scripts for The Alienist..?

'An Honest Man' seems perfectly weighted at six episodes - any longer would feel too drawn out, shorter would deny room for development. As it is, the tension levels are perfectly set going into the final instalment. I guess we're all going to get Billy Joel earworms at the final part of the Kyle Asher trilogy?

Great change of scene in Hope and a reminder that our eponymous protagonist is no-one's Mr. Nice Guy. Did anyone else study the final frame of Brink for ages, looking for something to indicate Maslow's interview wasn't quite as secure as he hoped? (I have missed something, haven't I?) Also, on a technical note, would I be right in thinking the Culbard droid probably generated the interview room in a 3D app before inking it and drawing in the characters? Fiends has been a blast but in all truth a bit too close to Absalom for me to really get on board. Still, each chapter under Ian Edginton's aegis has had a different style so let's see where it goes next.

[Magnetica]

Dredd and Brink were great.

The rest isn't doing much for me at the moment. In fact Skip Tracer might actually be an improvement. And that's probably not a phrase that's ever been seen on the Internet before

Like last week's future shock, the Terror Tale was just too long.

Fiends and Hope lost me weeks ago.

Like Norton above I was thinking Absalom at the mention of being a "Protector of crown and country from unnatural agencies....since the first Elizabeth."