Catching up on 3 months' worth of thrill-power

[House of Usher]

Last autumn I missed a couple of Progs, and then long hours of work meant I couldn't get to the thrill-merchants with any regularity, so I thought I'd just give up buying it and wait until I could afford a subscription. Well, yesterday my subscription came in: a run of 14 Progs, except there's a break where Prog 2010 should be, and 6 Megazines. So far I've read Prog 1658-1660.

Judge Dredd - Tour of Duty makes me nostalgic for when Dredd was set in Mega-City One. I'm not a huge fan of this story.
Strontium Dog - The Mork Whisperer: not bad. After all the build-up, the ending was a bit too neat, but by then I was just glad it was over. Yey again Johnny Alpha takes on a case he never should have, but these time it all works out for the best.
Necrophim - Hell's Progigal: Ye Gods! Angels that call each other 'men' and have DNA and can't smell a simple frame-up job when it's right in front of their noses. The plot is a bit hard to follow when you're not heavily invested in it.
Kingdom - Call of the Wild: a proper 2000ad adventure strip. Happy with this ending. Gene's supporting cast were great for an adventure or two, but the plot didn't absolutely call for Gene to go with them at the end. I suspect they'll be back. I'm looking forward to seeing where Gene ends up and who he meets next.
Shakara - Destroyer: Wow! Even more of the old-fashioned 2000ad cosmicness. It's an amazing space armada that closes in on Shakara's bolt-hole, and those are some very alien-looking aliens.

Dr. Brian Ireland's 'The Road to Hell' made me hurl.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Be careful 

[Mike Gloady]

Go easy, Ush.  Don't want to hear your buffers have blown.

[House of Usher]

I think my thrill-buffers were leaking a bit, judging by the three typos I've notice in my first post, above. Repairs effected, I've gone through Progs 1661-1665 like a dose of salts, and read all the Future Shocks up to Prog 1674 and I'm up-to-date on Judge Dredd. Looks like I haven't read Sinister Dexter at all yet. I'll remedy that this afternoon.

Judge Dredd - 'Gore City' was entertaining enough, and looked a lot like a first person shooter computer game. I've had to skip Part 3 until I get hold og Prog 2010.
'Dragon's Den' was an odd fish, and it was a bit luxurious spreading it over 4 Progs, so I'm glad to have had all the parts to read in one go. The highlight for me was the burnt-out motorcycle combination in Prog 1669. Some nice (rusty?) texture there.
'Lust in the Dust' seems like a replay of another Robbie Morrison Dredd where there was a gang boss everyone was loyal to, which meant Dredd had to go through everyone else to get him. Not keen on the idea of a 'heartbreaker' being a widely-known mutation not unique to this individual. Jon Haward's art was well suited to the story. The cover of Prog 1673 was hideous though. What horrid chest hair.
'The Talented Mayor Ambrose' looks like it could be a corker! Funny if P.J. Maybe turns out to be Dredd's best ally, getting rid of Sinfield for him.
Shakara was spectacular. Is this the end? I'm easy either way.
Necrophim is neither very good nor very terrible. The dialogue over-reaches a lot, as in the phrase "the first millennia or so" in Part 10. It's like when Ernie Wise comically writes deadpan lines for Glenda Jackson (having beauty like what I have got).
Slaine: The (Amber Smuggler) - more entertaining than Nercrophim, but also really terrible. From amber swamps to glaring anachronisms I'm sure there's nothing I can add that hasn't already been said in the Prog-by-Prog review thread.
Terror Tales: 'Seeing Things' - nicely satirical first page, with 'seeing dead people' and 'the circle of courtesy.' The rest worked as well as can be expected within the constraints of the 5-page format.
'Lost Property' - excellent script and art. The only thing I don't understand is what happened to Jamie. Dead? Oh dear. I see the compass was fixed again at the end. Is Jamie's ghost coming back to collect it?
'Pea Patch Podlings' - great title, odd premise.
Tharg's Future Shocks: 'Death of a Despot' - A tidy story; nice John Cooper artwork too. Pity it wasn't Tales of Telguuth, as I didn't buy the outer-space C16th setting. Good, anyway.
'Cargo Culture' - Clever title. Good premise. Nice art, reminiscent of Jesus Redondo, but tighter. Some odd perspectives put the sense of scale off-kilter. Glancing at page 2 before I read it, I thought the twist was gioing to be about a tiny civilization of ant-sized aliens. As I read it though, the twist was 'and now we're stranded here.'
'Lord of the Fanboys' - nutty and inventive. 'Fast Hearts' - both futuristic and twist-turny.

[Mike Gloady]

How much more stuff is there to go through, Ush?

Your commitment to bring us your thoughts on the recent proggage is admirable.  I rarely feel the need to say more than a few sentences about the bits I liked on the prog review thread.  Like this, maybe I should make sure I review the progs PROPERLY in future.

[Jared Katooie]

'The Talented Mayor Ambrose' looks like it could be a corker! Funny if P.J. Maybe turns out to be Dredd's best ally, getting rid of Sinfield for him.

I suspect that if this happens it would be very BAD new for Dredd, as PJ would most likely take Sinfield's place and become Chief Judge!

[House of Usher]

How much more stuff is there to go through, Ush?

Ampney Crucis, Nikolai Dante, Stickleback, ABC Warriors. I'm looking forward to them all. Stickelback promises to be astounding. Ampney Crucis looks like it might be a hoot - far better than its debut outing was. From what I gather from threads, ABC Warriors is as nonsensical as ever: almost anger-provokingly so.

Your commitment to bring us your thoughts on the recent proggage is admirable.

Well, firstly I haven't much else to talk about at the moment, being a bit behind everyone else, and secondly I think reading 15 Progs' worth without weekly intervals between may give me a different take on it, so it's almost justifiable as something other than an ego-stroke.

PJ would most likely take Sinfield's place and become Chief Judge!

That would be interesting and cool at the same time. PJ would have to behave himself, and might do a great job as Chief Judge, or give himself away and Dredd would bust him in no time.

[Kerrin]

'The Talented Mayor Ambrose' looks like it could be a corker! Funny if P.J. Maybe turns out to be Dredd's best ally, getting rid of Sinfield for him.

I suspect that if this happens it would be very BAD new for Dredd, as PJ would most likely take Sinfield's place and become Chief Judge!

That would be fan-flurkin-tastic. Chief Judge Maybe, yes please.

And you take it easy Ush, this is probably how most cases of spontaneous human combustion occur.

[Colin YNWA]

I think the PJ as CJ is a distinct possiblity and one that would give us some pretty cool storylines. I guess only JW knows.

[TordelBack]

That would be interesting and cool at the same time. PJ would have to behave himself, and might do a great job as Chief Judge, or give himself away and Dredd would bust him in no time.

Hmmm, successfully passing himself off as the philanthropist heir to a billion-cred fortune is one thing, impersonating a senior Judge is another.  That convict in Tour of Duty couldn't even fool Dredd into thinking  he was Wally  Squad in a 30-second encounter, but then I suppose he wasn't not a psychopathic mastermind...

[James Stacey]

From the way he was talking I suspect PJ was happy with CJ Dan Fran and would be more likely to try and ease him back into power. Have we ever seen if PJ has an antidote to his mind control drug? On another tack, doesn't a forthcoming story title make reference to 'Mr Ambrose' not 'Mayor Ambrose' ... there is an election coming.

[Dandontdare]

How could Ambrose become CJ when he's not even a judge? Or did you mean "take his place" as in full bodyswap or face change?

I seem to recall from earlier Ambrose stories that Dredd quite likes him (insofar as he 'likes' any politician). I'd love to see Ambrose being instrumental in exposing and bringing down Sinfield, and thus become an even closer ally to Dredd. This would allow lots of potential for future stories; and make Dredd's sense of betrayal (or anger at his own gullibility) even more extreme when the secert finally does come out.

[House of Usher]

I've now read Sinister Dexter, which seemed to amount to even less when read in one hit than it might if read in weekly instalments. I laughed out loud at "And this is Downlode - the city that oversleeps," and "I Think I'm Malone Now," but there wasn't much story going on. A bit of a fib, the claim on the cover that promised Sinister Dexter would see the year out with a bang. What they actually did was listen to Demi Octavo's pitch and consider their dilemma.

Ampney Crucis was quite good fun. I think this series really needs to play up the comedy, because so far it hasn't managed to be very original in the horror stakes. The ghosts of the war dead coming home again and bringing the war back with them is what ghostly soldiers do in horror. Standard. In any comic or home-made RPG scenario. Great big monster formed out of whatever psychically-charged materials are available? Seen that one before too. It's Ghostbusters. It's Swamp Thing in space, landing on the planet of sentient vegetation, etc. Also period detail is a tricky bugger to pull off. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" is an anachronism - it dates back to 1946 - and the line is 'roll up, bowl a ball,' etc. Not sure what the buckets and spades are made of - looks like green plastic.

Stickleback has been the highlight of 2010 for me. Quite a routine plot: heroes think someone's out to get them, launch revenge attack, turns out they were wrong, go after the real bad guy, everything explodes. With Stickleback I find it's not the destination that counts, it's stopping to look at all the scenery along the way, and the references to vintage sci-fi characters previously referenced by Kim Newman and Alan Moore. What did I love about this? The audacious cameo that referenced that Dick Van Dyke inventor chap! That more than makes up for the wafer-thin and linear plotting (the car had, of course, already been depicted as being in the hands of military intelligence in The Black Dossier).

[House of Usher]

I've now read Sinister Dexter, which seemed to amount to even less when read in one hit than it might if read in weekly instalments. I laughed out loud at "And this is Downlode - the city that oversleeps," and "I Think I'm Malone Now," but there wasn't much story going on. A bit of a fib, the claim on the cover that promised Sinister Dexter would see the year out with a bang. What they actually did was listen to Demi Octavo's pitch and consider their dilemma.

Ampney Crucis was quite good fun. I think this series really needs to play up the comedy, because so far it hasn't managed to be very original in the horror stakes. The ghosts of the war dead coming home again and bringing the war back with them is what ghostly soldiers do in horror. Standard. In any comic or home-made RPG scenario. Great big monster formed out of whatever psychically-charged materials are available? Seen that one before too. It's Ghostbusters. It's Swamp Thing in space, landing on the planet of sentient vegetation, etc. Also, period detail is a tricky bugger to pull off. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" is an anachronism - it dates back to 1946 - and the line is 'roll up, bowl a ball,' etc. Not sure what the buckets and spades are made of - looks like green plastic.

Stickleback has been the highlight of 2010 for me. Quite a routine plot: heroes think someone's out to get them, launch revenge attack, turns out they were wrong, go after the real bad guy, everything explodes. With Stickleback I find it's not the destination that counts, it's stopping to look at all the scenery along the way, and the references to vintage sci-fi characters previously referenced by Kim Newman and Alan Moore. What did I love about this? The audacious cameo that referenced that Dick Van Dyke inventor chap! That more than makes up for the wafer-thin and linear plotting (the car had, of course, already been depicted as being in the hands of military intelligence in The Black Dossier).

[House of Usher]

That was weird. Anyway, now I've read ABC Warriors as well.

You know what? I didn't hate it nearly as much as a lot of people seem to have, judging by the review threads. It certainly was nonsensical but I found it really quite entertaining. It bowled me over with its energy, its verve. I love the word 'Marsokhods' - it sounds awesome!

The plot:
Prog 1666: There's a price to pay to spray, but it's not £10.50 - it's death - but you only pay the price if they catch you: it's not like a flat tax or an all-you-can-eat buffet. Zed's dead baby, but we have the technology - we can rebuild him! The ABC Warriors rescue Z, but the bad men shoot at them with nail guns - not any ordinary nail guns, mind you, but armour piercing ones. The nails themselves are quite armour-piercing too, but they have a more lethal effect on human bystanders. Hammerstein gets a face full of nails, but he's still going strong. The ABC Warriors disengage from the battle because they feel like it, and the bad men let them walk away and regroup. Blackblood greets his friends and takes the class register.

Prog 1667: the Urban Fox turns out to be Ro-jaws. No-one else in 2000ad says 'mush' or 'cludgey,' but it was a cute 'surprise' all the same. He's the guy who does the graffiti, even up high. He must get about on those crane things, because he'd never get up a ladder. Zed's body is full of molten metal, which will need flushing out. It may have fused his gears together and melted his insulation and internal wiring, but it won't have cooled down and solidified by now, so you can just flush it out, because molten metal is liquid. Didn't you pay attention in science class? Try to keep up. U-Fox risks his cover for a face-to-face interview for a lifestyle piece because it wouldn't have exactly the same propaganda impact if Alien Nation just made it up and said they'd met him. Volkhan has always been the ABC Warriors' greatest enemy despite having only recently been made up, because he's been ret-conned in. The Marsokhods beat the meat. Heh. That sounds rude.

So far this has been really dense story-telling. I feel like I've had value for money. I'm enjoying it more than Judge Dredd, Ampney Crucis or Stickleback's unprovoked attack on the Crais. I haven't read Nikolai Dante yet.