Prog 1820: Sins of The Flesh

[Hawkmumbler]

Cover - Lovely bit of wierdness from Mr. Davis, loving Crucis at the moment and his covers are always original (Crucis being threatend by a Goatsy Leviathan not with standing) and this is no excepetion, how odd is that Babbagist priest? Cracking stuff.

Dredd - THIS is what i've been wondering for a while now, how would MC1 citizens react to any Sov immigrents who probably suffered from Chaos day just as much as any other citizen? The contrast between the mob boss and the average joe was run of the mill but if it works...
Curries art divides me. It's loud, pompus, makes you look at it and it's distinct...but I just tire of his constant over sexuality of his female charatcers. Hershey look's like she's 18 not a woman in her 40's for gruds sake!

Savage - Nice nod to Bill's shot gun, everythings going full circle here. Was hoping it would be Bill vs. Mek-Quake at some point but a moving fortress (it's hardley a tank by this point) is fine by me. Bit convenient how Bill seemingly pulled the thousands of dollars worth of weaponery out of his arse though...

Crucis - Yes, this is pushing all the right buttons right now. A mystery? Time travel? Dimension jumping? Steam punk cyborgs? Occult wi-fi worshipers? It's all barmy as hell but handled with such a serious tone it works, also, who's the agents answering to? Ambrose? The PM? Bastard is a bit harsh on the Babbagists I must say, whom here are just preying in there own way, gotta wonder if it was really them who sent the assasin to take out the martian ambassader...

The Red Sea's - Character death's with no levity as we know there coming back? Has to be Dead Sea's. This series is just boring by this point and Yeowell's improving quality of art isn't improving a bad script that drag's on to long. Be glad to see it's over and it pain's me to say that.

Strontium Dog - Ah, that's the Johnny we know and love. Brick shit face buy's the bullet take's a few with him (thought he was out?...) and the Stront's arrive to poach the (Now leaderless) millitery. Steaming towards a conclusion for this chapter i'm starting to enjoy this run and have accepted Johnnys resurection more now he's acting more like himself. Glad to see the back of the mind child, maybe he'll bump into The Golem Army in space. 

[Mabs]

Programme 1820

Nice cover artwork by Simon Davis, but nothing spectacular like the past few covers, still,  quite good.

Judge Dredd: Wolves (Part 1), was an okay read. I wasn't too keen on Andrew Currie's artwork, but on second reading became quite partial to it. Not only do we get a cameo from the Soprano's Paulie, but i thought the guy that picks a fight with the main character looked like Trigger from Only Fools and Horses!  . I must confess that i didn't like the look of the Judges especially Old-Stoney face himself. The helmet especially on the last page didn't look right on him. That said, i did enjoy Carroll's writing and hope to see how this one pans out.

Savage was hugely enjoyable; nice shootout with the T90. And Goddard's artwork is great as ever. I'll love to find out more about his drawing process from pencils to ink work. I just find his style really fascinating, with the line work and use of details and depth/ shading. And this strip wouldn't have worked in colour either, it would've taken away some of the magic. I was visiting Henry Flint's blog the other day, and his original artwork for the DoC without the colouring looked so amazing and Goddard's b&w work is very similar to that. Top stuff. Coming back to the story, Rusty definitely is not in a playing mood her appearance doesn't bode well for our hero...

Ampney Crucis was fun, especially our meeting with the babbagist priest and his disciples! . And Red Seas was superb. I've probably said this half a dozen times before, and i'll say it again - i love this strip! Its quite sad really because it seems that out of all the readers,  its just myself and Colin (and a couple of others) that like Red Seas. I cannot see what there is NOT to like, artwork...okay, maybe not catered to everyones tastes. But the story is very enjoyable, especially the last few progs where the heat has turned up a notch or two. This prog was also great; the Lightbringer showing his 'true colours', and some literally gut wrenching drama!

Strontium Dogs was superb. I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the strip the last couple of progs, but i enjoyed it this week. Nice to see Johnny back to his best especially after he [spoiler]dispatches Towler and the green gas Gremlin in one swift move - killing two ugly birds with one stone! [/spoiler]  . And Carlos Ezquerra's artwork is still awesome as always.

So overall, some really enjoyable stuff. Now onto this months Megazine....

[Spikes]

Only had chance to read Dredd, so far..
Really liked it. I was a bit critical of Andrew Curries art last time, but i enjoyed his work more on this one.
It may not be everyones cuppa, but as i said i liked this. (and his art wouldnt look out of place in the IDW run, i think).
Nice Paulie Walnuts cameo, as well. Good solid story as well. Looking forward to the next installment

[MercZ]

Pretty good all around. I liked the Dredd strip taking a look at the city and its issues, especially since we don't get much about East-Meg 2 and their relations with Mega City One. Maybe a parallel can be seen with the mistreatment of minorities in other countries after war or terror actions, the whole internment shot at the end reminded me of Japanese-Americans in WW2 era US.

I was glad to see the [spoiler]time bomb[/spoiler] in Strontium Dog too.

[McNulty]

the whole internment shot at the end reminded me of Japanese-Americans in WW2 era US

My mind went to the other segregation that Mega City One instituted after the Apocalypse War.

[Hawkmumbler]

I mus admit, the Pop culture reference in Crucis has alluded me. Anything to do with the Babbagist priest's first sentence? It FEEL's like a paraphrase.

[TordelBack]

The three pop-culture-tastic refs I picked up in this weeks fabarooney Ampney:

1. The foundry locatoion is [spoiler]from the gold-smuggling Ealing caper The Lavender Hill Mob, the 'Holland' of the dialogue being Alec Guinness' character[/spoiler].

2. The Babbagist priest's [spoiler]opening dialogue paraphrases Tubbs from The League of Gentlemen, and he has a rather wonderful resemblance to her too[/spoiler].

3. And s HoU notes, the Adulterated Ones and their church look a lot like the Smash-advert alien family, to which he linked.

Most amazing of all, this LoEG-lite approach doesn't distract at all from a thrilling and intriguing tale.  Absolutely loving this.

A great, great Prog, everything find favour.

Dredd: Carroll's writing is so assured here that this establishing episode gives us two whole characters and their lives, changes in Dredd's world, some more Dredd'n'Hershey conflict, a nice bit of action and valuable information about Munce and a cliffhanger!  Currie's exuberant art injects life into caption-heavy pages, and some pleasing digs at us censorious readers.  Very good stuff.

Savage: Goddard's meticulous art steals the show this week, but for all my niggles Mills delivers his message with considerable weight

Red Seas: Should never have doubted this team, this is really boiling now.

Strontium Dog:  Should never have doubted this team, this is really boiling now(!).  Love Ezquerra's slight-return to Necropolis-era colouring, and can anyone write a last stand like John Wagner?

[TordelBack]

Ah feck, those bold bits were supposed to be Spoliler tags!  Mods, help - man down!

[I, Cosh]

The three pop-culture-tastic refs I picked up in this weeks fabarooney Ampney

Does the Jerry Cornelius referencing title of the story (and its immediate predecessor) not count as pop culture? Something about multiverses I imagine but can't quite decide what.

[Spikes]

and valuable information about Munce

Yeah, that saw that panel. I guess were slightly closer to filling in the blanks as to what exactly Munce is, but it still remains a mystery.

Wasnt there a thread asking this question from a year or two ago?

[TordelBack]

The three pop-culture-tastic refs I picked up in this weeks fabarooney Ampney

Does the Jerry Cornelius referencing title of the story (and its immediate predecessor) not count as pop culture? Something about multiverses I imagine but can't quite decide what.

Aye.  The titles, combined with Ampney's Pater being one Cornelius Crucis, acknowledge the debt to Moorcock's entropy-riddled reality-hopping sometime-agent, and by extension the steampunky shenanigans of Talbot's Luther Arkwright.  Also, they were always somewhat better titles than books, so no harm giving them another outing!

[I, Cosh]

The three pop-culture-tastic refs I picked up in this weeks fabarooney Ampney

Does the Jerry Cornelius referencing title of the story (and its immediate predecessor) not count as pop culture? Something about multiverses I imagine but can't quite decide what.

Aye.  The titles, combined with Ampney's Pater being one Cornelius Crucis, acknowledge the debt to Moorcock's entropy-riddled reality-hopping sometime-agent, and by extension the steampunky shenanigans of Talbot's Luther Arkwright.  Also, they were always somewhat better titles than books, so no harm giving them another outing!

A-ha! Managed to miss that.

[Ghastly McNasty]

I very much enjoyed the sexy ladies in Currie's art.

Great prog all round.

[Mabs]

I very much enjoyed the sexy ladies in Currie's art.

Great prog all round.

Lol. Same here -  the extra hot one is staring right at us! 

[Richmond Clements]

I very much enjoyed the sexy ladies in Currie's art.

Great prog all round.

Lol. Same here -  the extra hot one is staring right at us! 

Whereas I find it tedious and infantile. Every woman in the city seems to have heaving cleavage and is staring at the reader.
I can only assume the artist, while undeniably brilliant at his job, is a fourteen year old boy.