Main Menu

Prog 2238 - Dead stop!

Started by Colin YNWA, 26 June, 2021, 07:48:42 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Colin YNWA

How do very good Progs become great Progs you ask... come on someone must... well I'll tell you anyway. They do it by finding those little somethings to creep everything (well almost) up just a notch and Prog 2238 does just that.

Dredd - well okay Dredd just remains wonderful leading us down the procedural path with Dredd and the murder scheming with Bick... seriously though its no coincidence that Biba's body replacement was called Ingrid - so close in Inga - this is Wagner cursing the fact he killed off PJ - right???

Aquila finds a notch and hitches up the thrill pole. What a way to start a thrill, sneaking into hell, stopped by titans and hordes of undead. I meaning talk about opening big! But also smartly dangles us a little mystery - just who is that (not) masked archer?

Department K slips further up the Thrill Pole by bursting out its full remit. Going full on hyper-real Kirby style. Just fantastic. Then brought gloriously crashing back down the little character piece with Blackberry. Some folks don't seem to be getting on with this thrill. For the life of me I don't know why its magnificent.

Skip Tracer see damnit its doing ti again. This is fantastic - except its not - its cutting to the thrills without taking breathe. Its moving along at a thrilling action packed pace... its just in this case it shouldn't. It needs to stop a second, take a moment and make us care before hurtling along at break neck speed like that.

How often is there a magnificent Wagner and MacNeil Dredd and its not the best thing in the comic... only when its Chimpsky O'clock it would seem. Chimpsky's Law crankles the fun up to thrill-power overload. Throws the chuckles at us with break neck speed and then has the genius slam on the breaks and remind us why we do care in this case. As Chimpsky meets his... well read it and see. Its just brilliant.

All this is beautifully tucked behind a cover that is fantastic even by Cliff Robinson's standards. Damn how many has he done lately - even by his prolific form he's cranking them out.

Superb Prog.

broodblik

Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague:


When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

broodblik

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Darren Stephens

Hell of a cover, if you'll excuse the pun!
https://www.dscomiccolours.com
                                       CLICK^^

athorist

Not a fan of Chimpsky's Law, the constant jokes in the captions don't land for me and just slow it down
You need light here even in the morning
Compared to this St Petersburg was nothing

The Fall - No Bulbs

Batman's Superior Cousin

Chimpsky and Proteus Vex are the standouts for me
I can't help but feel that Godpleton's avatar/icon gets more appropriate everyday... - TordelBack
Texts from Last Night

broodblik


Dredd – Wagner and MacNeil keep on weaving their magic. What I like about the story is how Dredd is unraveling the mystery and how is delving for clues. Dredd is on the hunt, great story, some real detective work.

Aquila – I always like some mythology in my prog and boy do Aquila deliver on the first installment. What a great opening episode and wizzes off with the top laurels here. Too add to the joy this is Book 1 thus more to come.

Department K – Double wow, what a lovely two opening pages we got.  I just love the way Cornwell opens the world up and swing his imagination in motion. The story continues to jump between scenes and events we are kept in the dark off what is really going on.

Skip Tracer – As always Skippy in not a slow-paced story and hurls off at breathtaking beat. This might not be the finest thrill in the archives of the prog, but it is still more than fair. As soon as Nolan landside the action heats up and we end with a cliffhanger.

Chimpsky – The solo venture of Chimpksy is sure a bliss to read and PJ Nobody delivers a blast off a story. I expected that the "original missus" was behind it all along. Yes, poor Chimpsky is for surgery

When you have Wagner writing Dredd and a very good Dredd by the way, and it is not the best thing in the prog then you know that the prog is in a good space. So lets get boring here and say the obvious yet another goody prog.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Barrington Boots

Dredd - Highlight of the Prog by a long way this. I prefer Dredd doing the detective work instead ofbeing a superman and I love Bick being super resourceful yet fairly hapless at the same time. Upton Nogood? Amazing. Can't wait to see if he's going to get away it. Art is great as you'd expect - two masters at work here.

Aquila A welcome return throwing us back into / setting stuff up for the story. Good to see this moving forward. Always a treat to see Goddard back on art duties as well, it's a visually striking episode. Cool stuff.

Department K I'm one of the guys not into this, sorry Colin! It's just not working for me, despite the art, which is excellent, especially the opening here withe the big Eternal guy fighting in space. The story and characters all just feels a bit fucntional. It's not horrible, it's just sort of there. I want to like it, we'll see.

Skip Tracer Talking of functional strips - there's not much to say here that's not already been said: this is alright, unobjectionable, and there you go. Nolan does look cooler with a beard though.

Chimpsky's Law the big reveal this week didn't wow me as perhaps it should have done and I was a bit disappointed to see [spoiler]99% of the supporting cast killed off[/spoiler] but I really like the idiosyncratic presentation of this strip as narrated by Chimpsky with his text boxes and maths and I'm really enjoying this.

You're a dark horse, Boots.

broodblik

I think one the problems with Skip Tracer are that the balance of the story is all wrong. It is written almost like each episode should have a talking part followed by an action scene and end with a cliffhanger which gets resolved next episode (almost like watching an episode of the A-Team on TV).
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

The Corinthian

Chimpsky: so what will the surprise twist (part 2 of 2) be? I notice that [spoiler]we don't see Herakles or Millie Ploog-Jepperson among the dead[/spoiler] and we still don't know what was going on with the [spoiler]cocktail shaker[/spoiler].

norton canes

'Removal Man' - An absolute scripting masterclass by the master himself. I mean 'Upton O'Good. U-P-T-O-N. That's Right', come on. And in that final panel, Colin MacNeil makes Bickford look like a macabre cross between Reg Varney and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child Catcher.

Aquila

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 26 June, 2021, 07:48:42 PM
What a way to start a thrill, sneaking into hell, stopped by titans and hordes of undead. I meaning talk about opening big!

I said a few weeks ago when the latest chapter of Mechastopheles kicked off that the Rennie Droid was a master of the opening instalment, and this only bolsters my claim.

Department K

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 26 June, 2021, 07:48:42 PM
slips further up the Thrill Pole by bursting out its full remit. Going full on hyper-real Kirby style. Just fantastic. Then brought gloriously crashing back down the little character piece with Blackberry. Some folks don't seem to be getting on with this thrill

I'll confess to have been ambivalent over it so far but this instalment does the simple things well and is all the better for it. And I still can't help laughing every time I see Dan Cornwell's starfish people.

Skip Tracer - And heck this prog has got me in a good mood 'cause I like this too; I mean, it's five pages of pulp SF with some superb art and colours, I'm cool with that.

Chimpsky's Law - Rounds off a solid 5/5 prog with a panel that's surely a tribute to Wile E. Coyote's equation-covered blueprints in the Roadrunner cartoons. Nice!


I see there's another graduate from the school of 3rillers coming up...

Barrington Boots

Quote from: The Corinthian on 30 June, 2021, 06:15:23 PM
we still don't know what was going on with the [spoiler]cocktail shaker[/spoiler].

I totally forgot about this! Plot twist anticipation rising!
You're a dark horse, Boots.

The Corinthian

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 01 July, 2021, 11:20:24 AM
I totally forgot about this! Plot twist anticipation rising!

Possibly that's already been covered by the [spoiler]"those two helped me so not all the murders followed a pattern"[/spoiler] panel. I suspect the second twist will be more about who alerted Chimpsky to all this in the first place, and why.

Sean SD

My Top 3 for Prog 2238

Great prog again with a clear top two for me this week

1st - Dredd - Dredd as detective and Bick getting in above his head (probs)

2nd - Aquila - Great opening to a new book. Provides good balance to other 4 thrills.

3rd - Department K - great art and colours to open thrill.

Last two pages great as well with Blackcurrant in action well done