Prog 1834 - Lase The Dead

[Dan Banks]

Well I can't be too negative about it then. Although I will state that it wasn't for me and took me out of the story a little. I'm gonna have to read these first 3 episodes again when I get in to see if he has used the same trick in parts 1 and 2.

[TordelBack]

GAH!  Went to buy 1833 this afternoon and they flopped over to 1834 a day early leaving me with a hideous lacuna, an epistemological gap that no god can fill.  As a result I went into this one in a cranky humour and saw little to change my mood. 

Zombo was good, with the real possibility of two Zombos like the folkloric worm cleft'i'twain and President Van Satan in charge an exciting way to leave things, although the SW reffing did get a tiny bit heavy even for my taste.

Stickleback was lovely, but it seems really unfortunate that it's finishing next week.  I enjoyed the diversions we had along the way this time, but after so long a break it would have been good to get a meatier more self-contained chunk.  Maybe they'll surprise me yet.

As to the rest...

Sinister Dexter: Looks absolutely great, but I'm not loving the return to the center stage of the parallel universe storyline one bit.  After the underwhelming but protracted chase through Anthony Williams' version of every 2000AD setting that supposedly wrapped everything up, I thought we were supposed to be back to basics.  I imagine Dan is just baiting us with this, and the Moses situation will turn out to be something else, but speaking as a big SinDex fan, this isn't doing much for me  Art aside.

Dredd was, I'm sorry to say, pretty weak, hanging as it does on a revelation that was news to few, and I imagine a 'who?' moment for others.  I don't know what happened last week, but I didn't feel like I missed anything. Cadets can get sent to Titan now, eh?  Seeing as they aren't judges, this seems to diminish the 'ultimate punishment' the place represents for those who betray that highest office.  Some lovely characterful art on the Undercity sections gave this episode a big lift, but I still hate Dolman's look.

Cadet Anderson:  Stop, just stop right there. A squad of white-helmeted cadets cruising around the city with impunity, spouting platitudes and shooting citizens. What's the life-expectancy of fully-qualified judges once they hit the streets?  What's the point of a Full Eagle again? And wait, what's this, a stockyard and a falling crate?  Didn't this happen in the Yeowell-drawn one too?  I understand that something shocking happened last week that may give all this additional weight, or even make sense of it, but on teh strength of this week's outing not even Ezquerra's breezy open art and glorious futurovehicles can make me like this. 

It may partly be the hateful one-week hole in my reading, but that there Prog does not come up to usual standards.  Sharkbah^TM.

[Proudhuff]

no, its not you, its them...

Shirley if Cadets fail they are are out, and if out, it would be striaght to the cubes?

[ChickenStu]

Dredd, Anderson and Sinister Dexter stories all great. The Anderson one is looking to be quite disturbing. I'm thinking Zombo and Stickleback I'll wait till they're over, dig out all the old progs from the last couple of months or so and try and read them all in one go. Just so I get value for money.

Missing the 3hrillers. I was really digging those. Starship Mathematica could make a great movie.

[Mister Macheath]

Peeking at this thread through my fingers as I don't want to spoil anything for myself.... Still no prog popping through my letterbox and just wondering if anybody else is in the same predicament?

It is the first time it hasn't arrived on/before Wednesday since I subbed up in February, made all the more painful by the fact my newsagent has had it on the shelves since Monday.

I guess as it is the only bit I've seen I can talk about the cover... In short, I love everything going on here but I don't think it works very well as a front page. Great as a panel, less so as a cover. Also a key problem I have had with the past few issues is that I don't think the front end art would entice me too much if I wasn't already a reader.

Absolutely cannot wait to get into the meat though, the Dredd story in particular has me fired right up.

[LorcanQ]

DREDD : dull enough.. in the end, what point story-wise was there for the 2 cadets to go underground at all? looked like it was just to fill out a whole chapter with that particular ending. Also, not knowing any of the characters mentioned, the ending had no effect on me.

ANDERSON : Poor. Flimsy plot with absolutely no character development and some dumb dialogue

SIN/DEX : By far the highlight. The inclusion of the woman means it gives Sin an excuse to explain what's happened before in the story, which is great for new readers like myself. Entertaining, the cliff-hanger end is identical to last weeks

Didnt read the other two.

[Spikes]

Dredd: Well the wishes of some on the board have come to pass and the Dredd clone is [spoiler]a girl![/spoiler]

Finished reading this weeks prog, and have spent the last 5 minutes flicking through the back issues to see what [spoiler]she[/spoiler] looks like.
But they've already thought of that, and made it as vague as possible. Crafty 2000ad!

[Bat King]

My review is up...

http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/2000ad-prog-1834-general-release-290513-spoilers/

[Pop Culture Bandit]

Dredd - A little disappointed with the choice of Dredd clone, considering that I felt [spoiler]Echavez[/spoiler] had been more established in the story than [spoiler]Paris[/spoiler]. In fact, I didn't realise [spoiler]she[/spoiler] was a [spoiler]she[/spoiler] until I read this thread and checked my back issues.

Sinister Dexter - I agree with the points made in this thread about John Burns' art not quite fitting the futuristic cityscape of Generica. The plot seems to be treading water until Sinister and Dexter eventually meet up. I have the sneaking suspicion that this story will end before they meet up and we'll see Dexter's POV of this situation under the same 'Witless Protection' banner.

Cadet Anderson - Not much happens in this installment, which serves to move the story along to the next point without much happening. Nice final panel though!

Stickleback - This ends next Prog, but I'm expecting a big twist for some reason. I think Stickleback will be revealed to be part-dinosaur since his 'resurrection'. There have been enough hints of him being 'different' since his return.

Zombo - I liked this ending installment which managed to change my opinion somewhat and made me interested and care about the future of the characters. To add another Star Wars reference to this week's story (there were a couple!), the downbeat ending seemed very reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back. I just hope we don't get Ewoks in Viva Zombo, which I imagine may be the final chapter of the Zombo saga?

Here is a link to a more detailed review on my blog - http://popculturebandit.blogspot.com/2013/05/2000ad-prog-1834.html

[Spikes]

Really enjoyed this/last weeks prog. Top stuff from cover to cover.
And talking of covers, thats a bit of a strange one from our 'enry, but i like it.
Dredd is good stuff again. Really liking this current strip. Anderson is good fun, as was the last Young Anderson strip. SinDex, is again a good read - along with the art by John.
Stickleback, again nowt really major happens, but i am loving this strip. The art is the key, here. Though the story so far im enjoying.
And Zombo takes a break for the time being. To read this series, its all been a bit hit and miss, really. Though id say on balance its more hit. And a good final (for now) episode. See ya back in Viva Zombo.

A good solid even keel prog.

[DrJomster]

On the whole, a fairly tough crowd out there for this prog... Come on good people, don't forget to say something about the bits you DID like... Too much negativity and I'll start to think you're all Who fans as well... Oh, wait...

[staticgirl]

When the prog is really good you get plenty of frothing adulation - remember Trifecta?

All in al a decent prog this week. Zombo was funny but Zombo himself was a bit of a passenger in the story. I am worried that the constant story inflation has left him behind.

[DrJomster]

When the prog is really good you get plenty of frothing adulation - remember Trifecta?

Yeah,  it was positively gushing, wasn't it? Sometimes though the good ol' solid progs get a little bit of a bumpy ride. It's a tough gig when you've raised the bar as high as Tooth has these last few years!

[Recrewt]

Yeah, a solid prog this one - Dredd and Zombo were the highlights for me. 

One thing that has been niggling me for a few weeks though is why Dredd is trying to track down these recruits?  I thought the Judges were thin on the ground at the moment so to me, it doesn't seem the best use of his time - especially as Dolman seems to be running the investigation.

[Mister Macheath]

PHEW, after some delivery issues my prog finally arrived. To be fair to the good folks at Thrillpower HQ it arrived just a few days after alerting 'em to its disappearance. Thanks!

I've already mentioned the cover so I guess I'll just tear into some thoughts on the innards. Perhaps I was just so happy to get my mitts on the issue, but I really liked this one.

This Dredd story is just an absolute winner, writer and artist on top, top form! Love the juxtaposition between the procedural and the down 'n' dirty events. Gritty!

Cadet Anderson is a banger of an action strip. Love the art, LOVE that last panel. Garnered an audible swear word from me, which is a good sign.

Errr what was after.... Sin/Dex? After the ending of last week's falling flat for me, being a newcomer, this featured some more nice exposition, delivered in the middle of a shoot-out. Good stuff. Similarly I didn't realise this was an alien world, but having quite the noir-boner it doesn't really matter, the setting is cool.

Still not loving Stickleback, phwoooar it sure drags its heels. Badly. And I've already given my thoughts on the art. At least this one had a bit of action and saw the titular chap doing some Machiavellian scheming (I guess), but still. Not for me and disjointed as all hell.

Zombo played out very quickly and the Star Wars gags flew thick n fast (something that would normally irk me), but I liked it a lot. I'd had a couple of beers, maybe that helped. And [spoiler]TWO zombos[/spoiler]? That'll be fun!

I'll get onto 1835 when I get home.