Prog 1686 - Borough Boys

[Proudhuff]

Great prog! Great saturday double

[Goaty]

was Dredd bit down this week? changes of artist, and the story gone quick?

[Buttonman]

David Leigh of Liverpool (who has failed to get a letter published in 200ad) has a letter in the new issue (1263) of Private Eye noting the Kleggs were used to keep an evil tyrant in power.

Tharg first with the news as always!

[Mike Gloady]

I was going to write a similar letter to the Eye, but I decided it was such an obvious joke that surely EVERYONE would be making it. 

[Hoagy]

Cover; From right to left I'm figuring, Beesley is Mekquake(Big Cheese) Gorgeous is Backblood Danny is Steelhorn, Savage for Hammer, Jo next,then Deathlock, then Mongrol.

The whole design's a bit fruity, if you ask me gov.

In Dredd....It's kind of fitting really. He is a psychopath. Events around him will eventually become random.

IIIn Savage. Yea,getting the 2D, generic thing. I've been reading Black Hole recently and it seemed he was doing it for quite a few episodes and there wasn't any real story going on except your being pushed through the lives of each character again and again and the pretty good story he's capable of is a little dispersed and tacked on.

IIIIn Damnation Station; Okay, I'm finally sussing this out as an A-Teamy squadron in the debt to a Charlie's Angels sort of Boss. Of course its set in the future with planets as locations and an underlying modern nazi commentary. So I wondered about the first two worlds and rather than setting it up in the usual way, the characters are drawn out to their importance in the unraveling plot.


AAAANd Azreal..Nope I didn't see the end of Cradle grave and I'm befuddled.

[Jared Katooie]

Cover: Love it. I was reminded a bit of Jason Brashill. Hope to see more of this artist inside the prog.

8/10



Savage: Good. A scene-setting script with no clunky dialogue or painful attempts at humour. The robots nearly did me in, but I haven't lost hope yet.

6/10.


Ichabod: I was going off this, but I'm being drawn back in again. I'm curious to see how it ends.

7/10


Damnation Station: I was going off this as well. It felt a bit dull and aimless, but for some reason I quite enjoyed this weeks installment. As with Ichabod, I'm genuinely curious as to where the story will go next.

7/10


Dredd: Great, but... dang. The final page came as something of a let-down. I was hoping for a bit more. Still, you better believe I'll be there next week for the denoument.

8/10


What a great prog! Maybe I'm just in a good mood, but it's been a long time since I enjoyed every thrill on offer. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

[Dark Jimbo]

Dredd: Great, but... dang. The final page came as something of a let-down. I was hoping for a bit more. Still, you better believe I'll be there next week for the denoument.

That was the denoument!

[mygrimmbrother]

Cover - no thank you. I did quite like Neil Roberts' recent Time Twister but I didn't like this at all.

Dredd - Mike Collins' art was pretty great - didn't jar that they brought him in just for the final episode (although I'm sorry we haven't seen anything of Henry Flint so far in T.O.D.). As for the plot - I approve. Caught or not, it won't be the last we see of Maybe, surely.

Ichabod I still love. Dom's artwork is mesmerising in it's purity and simplicity.

Savage - hmmm. Liked the opening episode but I'm reserving judgement.

Damnation - a solid double parter but I prefer Boo's art on this. Said it before but Simon Davis with the right strip (Ampney Crucis) = awesome. But I don't find him to be the right choice for this.

Overall, a cracking prog. Saturday was fantastic - up early, left the missus in bed, read all 3 outside in the sunshine with a cuppa in me Bolland Dredd mug. Good times.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Haven't really got into Ichabod or Station.  Savage was good though; can't help feeling that he's a bit well-spoken these days to be a cockney lorry-driver.

Dredd - bleeding aces.  Speaking to P.J. on first name terms; as if he's an old friend - very nice.  Checking the old files too - Dredd's nobidy's fool for too long

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Cover - Another good un' from Roberts although they JUST DIDN'T get across the book-cover thing well enough. Although that's someone else's fault I suspect.

Dredd - Beautiful ending. Absolutely perfect tension - Mike is great for really straight-forward storytelling and Blythe's atmospherics made it something special. Nice conclusion. Looking forward to the continuing story -

Savage - Ever since Mills (I think, on Twitter) said that Goddard brought a Guy-Ritchie esque flavour to the story I haven't got the comparison out of my head. It's annoying. Because I always saw the story as shadowy and oppressive. And now it's all light-hearted cockney antics sans Alan Ford.

Damnation - Breathtaking art from Davis (as always, its almost painfully beautiful isn't it? Like getting poked in the eye by Freyja's nipples)- Beginning to get the hang of the Station story as well. Which can't be bad.

Ichabod - Very strong narrative - GENIUS minimalist art by Reardon.

- it's all good at the moment, isn't it - ?

[Paul faplad Finch]

Okay, in ascending order of preference.

Savage. An list of character bios does not a story make, however good the art may be. Especially with dialogue this bad.

Damnation Station.  Ten pages of this story is very welcome. Ten pages of this art is not.

Ichabod. Nice to see I was right about the kid being supernatural. The script continues to impress and for the most part surprise while Dom Reardons art is a thing of beauty.

Dredd. I can't qite believe that PJ has been caught. I honestly thought that he was gonna wheedle his way out somehow. Gagging to see how this story plays out now, and what his contingency plan is. My only worry is that Dredds line "you may disappear", followed by the next prog tag "mega city justice" may mean Wagners gonna do an Orlok on him. God I hope not.

Mike Collins art is really very good this week as well. Not that it's been bad before you understand but I just think it's praiseworthy to be able to make a bunch of people standing around in a room feel as exciting as this.

[maryanddavid]

Ichabod is class, hope the ending lives up to the series.

David

[Van Dom]

I'm way behind on my reading at the moment (at least 4 months)but I finally got some time last night and managed to catch up on Dredd at least (as far as this prog).
VERY disappointed by the ending though. I think its the first time I've ever been disappointed by a Wagner Dredd. It just doesn't make sense that after building this Maybe/Ambrose con up for so long and finally getting it to the point where something really big could happen...he just ends it. I didn't even feel it was all that dramatic, what with Dredd making the discovery "off-camera"..... Major let-down for me there, I have to say. The only thing that will fix this for me, is if there is a real reason for exposing Maybe and its only the set-up for something even bigger. If he just ends up being locked up and thats the last we hear of him...bah!

[James Stacey]

Imanaged to catch up on Dredd at least (as far as this prog).
VERY disappointed by the ending though. I think its the first time I've ever been disappointed by a Wagner Dredd. It just doesn't make sense that after building this Maybe/Ambrose con up for so long and finally getting it to the point where something really big could happen...he just ends it.

The story is far from over. Fret not