Prog 1394 - Public Enemy!

[DavidXBrunt]

No, you're right the gay character is senior and in leading but both are rapists. You're also right when you say that it shouldn't matter what the sexuality of the characters is but in this case it does seem to be.

I suspect that the senior of the two will be killing the other one to get in with the rebels so we'll just be left with the gay character.

Interesting how Mills' writing seems to make him seem prejudiced towards certain people - he's turning into Torquemada. Let's hope this evolution into the villains they write isn't going on with all the writers or I'm going to be worried about any one who lives near John Wagner...'Yer cannae kill wut disnae live'

[Oddboy]

Great prog!

Dredd: Class stuff.

Savage: weakest thing in the prog - it's okay, but I'm not wrapped up in the story as I am with the other 4 strips.
I'm actually on the Volgans' side now - that Savage is a psycho & needs to be stopped. I can understand the "one man's freedom fighter/terrorist" sentiments, but when Savage is belly-laughing as he kills people, and forcing them to run through napalm - well, that's *not* heroic.

AHAB - Brill! Brill! Brill!

Low Life - nicely nicely!

Chopper - good story, really enjoyed it by the end.

[paulvonscott]

Well, enjoyed that more than I have a prog for a while.  Three stories that worked for me.

Total War is good and has helped pick the prog up for me recently from being pretty but dull.  It highlights that Dredd and Dredd's world is more complicated than some 2D backdrop.

Savage was another good episode.  Jack is a sick funk all right, I think it's refreshing to be sickened by the actions of a 'hero' as usually they kill anyone and we cheer them on, regardless of how sadistic they are.  Maybe because Savage is set in a slightly more real world than most, it is more squeemish for it.

Chopper, well, an okay story and it ended nice enough.  This is enjoyable, as most Wagner stories are, I don't think Chopper is a special character any more, which is maybe how it should be.  

He's grown up, there are only so many excuses that can be dragged up for wanting to go to the meg, when he gets there, what's the point?  He's way to old for supersurf.  His life in Oz is as good as you could probably get.  

Wagner could come up with some exciting stories, and sure I'd read them, but I'd be happy enough just leaving him lying in the sun. If the story has done one thing it's left us on a positive image, so maybe it was worth it for that.

I say all this because Chopper was my favourite all time Dredd character (even more than PJ Maybe) and a good rival for many a one in the prog as a whole, and he's never bested the moment in the Midnight Surfer when he shot the fox backwards.

All the prog looked great as is the norm at the moment!

[Trout]

I'm still enjoying the prog every week, and have little to add to that.

I liked the twist at the end of Chopper, Savage is still good, and I'm very pleased to see the return of Colin McNeil.

- Trout

[Smiley]

I'm actually on the Volgans' side now

Wash your mouth out with anti-tank soap.

[Oddboy]

Heh! I'm a funker now!

Oddboy gets down & boogies

[petemaskreplica]

all this funking malarkey is distracting me from an otherwise enjoyable story. If he can't say "fuck", whay the fackin' 'ell can't that fackin' Savage fackin' talk like this, eh? surely that'd get the point across better.

Anyway, that's a minor gripe, otherwise the prog continues its strong run, Dredd being the standout this week for me. nice little twist made Chopper turn out as an enjoyable if not earth-shattering story, I presume Wagner's got plans for him if he's bothered to reclaim the character this way so I look forward to finding out what they are.

[Conexus]

I'm actually on the Volgans' side now

Anyone read Red Son ? now there's the crossover deal they should do a cross over with Savage and the commie Superman universe, so you could end up with a "robot" Bill Savage acting all polite for a change  

[Dudley]

Ooops - put this on the wrong thread, sorry.

Damn fine prog, yet again.

Dredd's manifesto will go down in the Great Sayings of Dredd book.

Savage doing naughty things to double-yellow funks won't be on my quotable quotes list, but it was just SO fine to witness.

A.H.A.B. came back to life when I'd given it up for dead. There have been pacing problems with this story - just feels like the writer was trying to piss a quart in a pint-pot. Elson art still bland, though. But in the middle of the Autumn Offensive this would still have been second only to Cabs.

Low Life - top strip, yet again. PLEASE don't let her shoot him and go back to the Judges... I want to see this Robin Hood kick unwind properly. And it doesn't look as though Dirty Frank has breathed his last just yet. Spin-off series, anyone?

Chopper. Well, I had a great build-up to this. I met someone on a work training course who turned out to be an ex-squaxx. She was raving about Horned God, Stronts, etc, so it was the same old story about progs drop off in quality around 700, reader leaves... Anyway, I was bigging up the current run (surely the best the comic's been in a decade) to her, and in the context of this I mentioned Chopper. From the reaction, I remembered what Chopper was - fun, the anti-Dredd, the voice of don't-give-a-fuck rebellion, the ultimate hedonist, one of us. Remembering all that made me realise just how great it was to see the scrawl on that page, and the letter to Popp. I agree with Logan (for once): Wagner has reclaimed the character from the too-serious writers for good. Go Chopper!

[Dudley]

Keepin' this above the other one.

[Art]

Liberal stalin says:

SUPPORT YOUR VOLGAN OPPRESSORS!http://www.arthurwyatt.co.uk/images/blog/stalin.jpg">

[thrillpowerseeker]

You're right of course..Welcome back Uncle Joe ; )

[Tiplodocus]

I thought that reading DREDD's take on terrorists/freedom fighters followed immediately by Savage laughing as the Volgs burned up made a particularly fine double whammy of a point.  I think Mills has done a good thing by showing Savage as, well, savage.

A.H.A.B - well, I reconsidered that nice Nigel's points the other night and I've decided after all that I they aren't "fair enough" after all.  This started out promisingly but for me has been lost in a maze of poorly motivated. It could have been asking BIG questions but, for me, it's just turned into a maniacal killing spree for a one dimensional villain (something that Ahab wasn't, if I remember).

Low Life - I really didn't like the clunky page of "He did this because of that and then she did this because of this" exposition and I didn't like the fact that Aimee had the plot explained to her (rather than figuring it out)  but I did like the way that the writer seemed to acknowledge the fact that the villain was not much of a suprise.  Yes the motive sounds interesting so I look forward to the next part.

Chopper - after a brilliant start, I actually thought the ending to this was dire.  Sure, they'd et on a ship and leave the city BEFORE checking out they have the multi-billion credit secret safe and secure.  And the fact that Chopper has actually been an eejit all along and only realised he was been played when he looked in the book made me wince.  Still, I'd like to have a whole series devoted to Calista and her nice tight white t-shirt.  C'mon Sir John, give us what we want.    

[VampiraJen]

is it just me or was the cover shit?  i liked it when it was posted here, but when i actually held the prog in my hands it seemed dull and was hard to make anything out...

haven't actually read it yet.  it came in the same post as essential uncanny x-men volume one, so........

[Nigel Kitching]

?A.H.A.B - well, I reconsidered that nice Nigel's points the other night and I've decided after all that I they aren't "fair enough" after all.?

Really? I thought I?d covered your specific points pretty directly. It wasn?t like I just made those answers up on the spot or anything ? this was all stuff that I spent a long time figuring out.

?This started out promisingly but for me has been lost in a maze of poorly motivated.?

What poor motivations are you talking about? And I know the plot is fairly dense but is it really a ?maze?? ? by that I assume you mean you are confused. I?m not out to bicker about this but I am quite interested. What motivated each character, I thought, was very clear indeed.

?It could have been asking BIG questions but, for me, it's just turned into a maniacal killing spree for a one dimensional villain (something that Ahab wasn't, if I remember).?

I don?t claim to be equaling the sophistication or intentions of a huge novel like Moby Dick in a nine part 2000AD series. And as for big questions, well I don?t know really. I?m addressing ideas such as making choices between personal goals and the greater good and I?m looking at obsession and ruthlessness. And we have a bit of spiritualism with Queequeg. I know I?m not flagging this aspect up a lot but I do believe it is there nevertheless if you care to look for it.

But it clearly doesn?t work for you and you have responded to the story in the way you describe and this really is fair enough.

Nigel