Prog 1812 Trifecta

[gufnork]

So, after suffering all I could take of that awful 'Brass Sun' and the almost as bad 'Grey Area' and being a more-or-less new reader to the prog(discounting the odd prog here and there in the '80's) I decided to bug out for a while and come back at some random point a little later and see if things had improved. This is the prog I was lucky enough to pick up. I won't pretend to understand everything or everyone in this prog but it is worlds away from the disappointing stuff back in prog 1800. I really liked the different characters all being merged into one storyline and clown-detective guy really hit the spot and reminded me that I should never shun the prog completely because even though it throws up(literally...?) some real sub-par stuff from time to time(see first sentence), it then comes back numerous progs down the line at some seemingly random point in time and for some seemingly random reason with a wonderous, shiny little nougat like this. If only it could be consistant in this type of brilliance I could see myself buying regularly. But I know from the stinging disappointment that was prog 1800 that that is not going to happen so I shall forever be one of the also rans I'm afraid, simply dipping my toe into the waters from time to time in the hope that I've hit upon one of the good weeks. I did this week. It was extremely enjoyable and almost makes me want to get that big fat special next week(is it next week?) but then again I'm afraid I'll open the prog only to see 'Brass Sun' or 'Grey Area' staring back at me, and I'm really not sure I could take any more of that.

Anyway, well done to all concerned for this prog. Very good indeed. Shame it can't be every week though...!

[SuperSurfer]

Collectors edition: three volumes in a slip case? In my dreams. Er, with floppy finale.

Spooky! Were you hiding in my house when I was on Skype earlier

He's always been hiding behind a secret panel in your walls, through Judgement Day and through Doomsday, working in the background to make sure something like Lawman of the Future can't happen to your collection ever again.

Yeah. And plenty of biscuits left over.

As for the slip case edition: saudade.

[TordelBack]

...a wonderous, shiny little nougat like this.

You're making me hungry.

Interesting perspective there, gufnork.  It does seem like your prefer a coherent blast of something over the buffet of the anthology format.  I suppose accepting that sometimes 2/5 of the comic (or 4.5/5 if you're Logan...) may not be to your tastes can be a bit of a struggle.

For myself, while I salute the masterful balancing act that is Trifecta (which on re-reading somehow manages to infuse inherently fannish set-pieces with real depth and excitement), I couldn't be havingit every week.  Despite the dense, lucious read that 1812 was, I turned the last page wishing there could have been something else for dessert. 

[Alien Goodness]

Didn't realise Trifecta is a real word.

     a type of bet, especially on horse races, in which the bettor must select the first three finishers...

I didn't know that either. Thanks for the info. I love learning some new bit of (fairly useless) information! 

[Mattofthespurs]

Didn't realise Trifecta is a real word.

     a type of bet, especially on horse races, in which the bettor must select the first three finishers...

I didn't know that either. Thanks for the info. I love learning some new bit of (fairly useless) information! 

As someone who is a betting man I did know this word, much to my chagrin.

[Alien Goodness]

Didn't realise Trifecta is a real word.
     a type of bet, especially on horse races, in which the bettor must select the first three finishers...

I didn't know that either. Thanks for the info. I love learning some new bit of (fairly useless) information! 

As someone who is a betting man I did know this word, much to my chagrin.

Have you have successfully placed a trifecta bet?

[Mattofthespurs]

Only once in about 30 times of trying.

[Frank]

Only once in about 30 times of trying.

Maybe you need to spend more money trying more often, Matt.

[gufnork]

It wasn't so much that I don't like the anthology format as the fact that I think I was taken in by all the promises of prog 1800 being the prog for new readers to jump on and it was going to be all sugar and spice and stuff for us virtual-virgins but then... They gave me 'Brass soding Sun' and 'Grey Area'. I mean, what was I supposed to think. If you Will promise the world and then produce 'Brass soding Sun' then I'm just gonna think '...meh', hang my head and wander off. I can't even remember what else was in that prog since all I can think of when I look back on it is 'BRASS SODING SUN'.

Still, this prog was good, especially the bit where the clowns little gang of clown-groupies turn up. Heh heh, gotta chuckle at clown groupies

[Frank]

It wasn't so much that I don't like the anthology format as the fact that I think I was taken in by all the promises of prog 1800 being the prog for new readers to jump on and it was going to be all sugar and spice and stuff for us virtual-virgins but then... They gave me 'Brass soding Sun' and 'Grey Area'. I mean, what was I supposed to think. If you Will promise the world and then produce 'Brass soding Sun' then I'm just gonna think '...meh', hang my head and wander off. I can't even remember what else was in that prog since all I can think of when I look back on it is 'BRASS SODING SUN'.

That's the point BigBarryPenge was making about the anthology format. Neither you nor I were fussed about Grey Area, but I thought Brass Sun was consistently the best thing in the post-1800 line-up. Read through the relevant prog threads (before everyone lost their shit over the crossover) and you'll see that for everyone who hated ABC Warriors (for example) there are folk for whom nothing could have been better.

The way the anthology format introduces you to material you wouldn't normally read and forces you to take into account other folks' preferences is either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your outlook. For me, getting to know an artist or a writers through exposure to their work in 2000ad is a great way of navigating the wider world of comics and deciding which titles might be worth trying out for size.

[Mattofthespurs]

Only once in about 30 times of trying.

Maybe you need to spend more money trying more often, Matt.

I actually think the opposite maybe true.

[SuperSurfer]

Tiny pedant niggle: when Dredd catches that punch, she pulls back her right hand but he catches her left, petty I know... yes, yes I'm just a jealous, bitter and twisted, nit picking pedant

Ah, but we are told that as head of Black Ops she's got some moves, which she demonstrates against Point and Frank. So I can't imagine she would try to deck Dredd by drawing back her fist like that and advertising that she was going to give him a knuckle sandwich. A skilled fighter wouldn't do that, y'know.

[Professor Bear]

The way the anthology format introduces you to material you wouldn't normally read and forces you to take into account other folks' preferences is either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your outlook.

The inverse is also true: you're forced to buy and support strips you hate in order to read ones you like.  The crossover compounded this in that when it kicked off I had decided not to read a certain strip anymore, but it was now intertwined with these two other strips I really liked so if I wanted to fully follow those I had to read a strip I didn't want to.
All the same, no one is forcing me to buy 2000ad and I'd be a right tool to suggest that just because I didn't get along with one strip the prog's 35 year-old format should change - doubly so if I only bought the book once every blue moon.

[Tombo]

All this talk of how smelly Smiley's poo is and how great the Prog is and no ones commented on the names of the two judges who lead the charge out of the sleeping quarters after Point and Demarco reverse the brainwashing effects.  Go on, go and have another look.

Also, at 13 pages I believe this is the longest Prog thread in nearly two years, surpassing even 1791's thread.

[Frank]

The way the anthology format introduces you to material you wouldn't normally read and forces you to take into account other folks' preferences is either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your outlook.

The inverse is also true

You're going to have to draw on the full force of your considerable rhetorical abilities to explain to me what the "inverse" of an either/or proposition might be, Hawkeye.