Prog 1452 - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RESISTANCE

[Artificial Idiot]

Wow, Prog line up is still going strong! :D

Nice cover, but I feel that the sctrach lines were a little underwhelming. If you're going to try and make something look old, you either go all the way or you just don't bother, really. It's a nice enough image though, even if it is a little static... Could have really done with a more dramatic image considering the caption.

Dredd was great! It's nice to see Giant up and running again, and I just can't wait to see Rico with his titanium jaw! Vienna's dilemna really hit home as well, especially blended so well with Giant's own trials and tribulations as it was.

Savage is still top class stuff. Was amazed to find out from a friend that the Americans actually did you delpleated uranium aromour plating on thier tanks... Well I never...

Leatherjack continues to amaze and bemuse me as only John Smith can!

Breathing Space is shaping up to be an intriguing tale, too early for me to judge... I just hope the change in art duties doesn't effect the quality too much (unless, of course, the quality is increased!)

As for Robo-Hunter... Lunacy! Complete and utter lunacy! And I'm loving it!

Welcome return for Droid Life too!

[Bad Andy]

What's really disappointing about this issue is that glimpse it provides of how good Blood Trails might have been if Carlos was drawing.

That's a proper explosion which leaves people unsure as to who are the victims.

As for Byron's brain in a jar scenario, looks like it might be true for Guth!

[Artificial Idiot]

I pity the artist who has to draw a novelty mustache on a jar...

[paulvonscott]

Oh dear, Rennie seems to be fully at the steering wheel now and he's going full tilt down melodrama highway.  

"I had Dredd's grandhcild with a sov-block agent, but I had to give it up"  Vienna tells Trisha.

Still, plenty of people enjoy it, and I can't say it really bothers me, there could be much much worse.  Memo to self, it's just a comic y'know.

Oh and I wonder if Rico resembles that Iron Jaw character from he-man.  

A real shame the www.smashthevolgs.net website isn't real/active.

Robohunter better this week, really good.  Breathing space nicely done, and lots of fun flashes of wordplay in Leatherjack.   T

he Alarm Smells are ringing!

Another enjoyable enough prog, no rubbish, lots of decent stuff.  The cover is quite effective, tank looks good, Savage looks a *bit* cardboard cut out.

[McNulty]

And now for my comments?

Dredd: The fallout from Bloodlines continues apace. Fantastic art from Ezquerra as always. Giant is back on the streets, which is great, but we?ve lost Guthrie, who even if he survives won?t be in any shape to enforce the law. Still no word on Rico though. I really didn?t expect what happened to Vienna. It was a Hell of a decision she had to make. I don?t envy it.

Savage: Now you can?t even walk the streets of London without being seen as a terrorist. No hoodies or balaclavas allowed (and you probably won?t get into the shopping centres either!) I wasn?t happy about the Volgs using children as human shields. Good job Bill wouldn?t order his freedom fighters to fire until the kids were out the way.

Leatherjack: Still a weird story, with more techno-babble than I?m comfortable with. Still, it was nice to see a 2000AD Annual on the bookshelves.

Breathing Space: The darkness and brooding nature of Luna-One and it?s continuing decay are all more evident in this episode, along with the imperfect nature of the new Judge-Marshall.

Robo-Hunter: There?s a tax on everything in Brit-Cit these days, including walking. Good job Ken?s there to enforce these taxes (at least before the assassin put a hole in his head!) The robot stimulants are obviously very powerful, seeing how easily it change Stogie, but fortunately Hoagy was completely unaffected!

Droid Life: Funny as always.

I don?t normally comment on Tharg?s weekly communiqu?s, but as it was directed at a specific subject, I feel I can this time. Decompression is not something I have come across, as I don?t read American comics. But this is obviously a trend that is gaining ground in this country if it is being commented on in this illustrious anthology. On the whole I agree that the stories in 2000AD have not been deliberately drawn out. I like the pace that most stories go at. It gives plenty of action and doesn?t have me flipping over pages to get to the end. I think the droids at 2000AD have got the right formula at the moment and would be mad to adopt such a commercial practice as stringing out stories just to eat up pages. Well done to the Mighty One for sticking to his guns!

So, all in all a very good prog. BTW, did anyone else spot the mistake in the first page of Dredd this week?  

[tk5605]

Greetings to you all, I am the founder of the padawan academy, if you would like to join please go to ebay >community>padawan academy, all are welcome. In the near future we hope to have our own domain.

[Bad Andy]

McNulty - Dredd actually says that Rico is on the streets and has a comedy metal jaw that someone has broken their fist on. Stop looking for mistaeks and read the bloody story ;)

In the meantime - a sneak peak of Rico in action from next week's proghttp://www.cedmagic.com/featured/he-man/trap-jaw.jpg">

[petesbeats]

Tharg looks stoned on the Input page this week.

[McNulty]

McNulty - Dredd actually says that Rico is on the streets and has a comedy metal jaw that someone has broken their fist on. Stop looking for mistaeks and read the bloody story ;)

My bad. Sorry.

[Steve Green]

I'll forgive Carlos a slip-up on the elbow pad...

Great art on Dredd, good prog overall. I do like the nods to previous Luna-1 stories in Breathing Space, it makes it feel part of an established continuity than say, TSDM. And Christopher Lee cameos by the looks of it...

- Steve

[Funt Solo]

4 out of 5 ain't half bad.  Literally.

Love the cover.  Someone said they didn't like the cover-damage effect as it wasn't realistic.  First thing I did on opening my sub-env was go "feck, the spine is all damaged".

Look into the swirling light, Thargy, and relax as you're going deeper ... deeper ... and sleep!  Now, you will forget this hypnotism session when you awake but will carry out the following instructions:

- Force Gibson and Grant to write a tie-up episode that finishes Robo-Hunter next prog.  
- Replace it with a new 4-page strip.  
- Use the extra page to provide us with a star-scan every prog.

[snaps fingers]

On with the show:

Judge Dredd: Matters Of Life And Death
This is fantastic stuff.  Reminds me of thrills gone by, where you'd get a huge climax and then a couple of progs later (or the next prog) without any fanfare, you get loose ends tied up, or important denouments followed through.

As for the writing, I thought it was Wagner until I read someone else on this thread making comments about how it was so obviously a Rennie script.  Hmm...not obvious to me.  As for the argument that Rennie does melodrama more than Wagner, I don't see it.  Remember the little girl who was run over and became a brain in a jar on top of a robot body?  Wasn't that Wagner?  Anyway, this is a great addition to the Dredd dynasty and the 'bloodline' thread.  What will become of this child?

Talking of brains in jars, yes, it does look like The Guth will be slightly robotic if we ever see him again.  I like that.  Remember the Judges from the Academy of Law in The Day The Law Died?  It's good to see how a Judge goes from street duty to something else:  assuming that we ever see Guthrie again.

Also, as predicted on this very board:  Rico's got a robo-jaw!

Fantastic art, brilliant script.  Next prog:  Manimal.  Sorry, Mandroid.


Savage, Book Two: Out Of Order
This is gripping stuff.  It's difficult to ignore allegory:  but I wouldn't get too specific, as it could be any guerilla war anywhere.  The key point here is that Savage refuses to target innocent children.  Note that his squad are perfectly willing to, though, and he has to think about it.

Is the line about hoods, balaclavas and hands-in-pockets a dig at our nations ridiculous attack on hoodies?  That was like something from 50s America:  we must ban long hair, jeans and dancing!

Curious:  have we been introduced to Jan, Annie and their father before now?  I need to go back and read Book 1.  That's a really horrific cliffhanger, though, Pat.  Tell me she gets rescued.


Leatherjack
Again, no real surprises here:  it's going by the numbers.  Gorgeous art, action-packed and inventive script.


Breathing Space
I'm just really enjoying this.  It's Comic Noir, I tell you.  So far, it would make an excellent movie.  The apparent Christopher Lee cameo doesn't bother me (as the cameos did bother me on Blood Trails).  I suppose that here it's understated and the art is sublime, whereas in Blood Trails every other character was a glaringly obvious cameo and the art was often inconsistent.


Robo-Hunter: Stim!
My little hypnotism show up at the top of the post should give a hint as to how I feel about this.  For anyone who's read the original adventures of Sam Slade (Verdus, The Day of the Droids and his Brit-Cit adventures) this is fairly pointless.  It's just a join-the-dots, tick the boxes thrill.  Not bad, not good:  just drifting slowly in the doldrums.


Input
Tharg gave the http://www.2000ad.org/caballistics/" target="_blank">Cabs fan-site a menshy.  Nice one, green-bonce.

[Dudley]

I predicted a Dredd event!  I'm so happy - I never predict anything!  (Vienna's pregnancy, by the way).  Cracking, cracking story.  Abortion being illegal in MC-1 makes sense, even if the doc's speech about Bloodline is gibberish.

Excellent prog nearly all round, though Robohunter continues to read like a children's strip that just doesn't make sense in the same comic as Savage.

Savage comes to my home patch and I'm still trying to work out where that big roundabout's meant to be.  Tower Bridge approach, maybe?  Don't know if it's co-incidence but Adlard has nailed Hackney Road in the background on the first page.  Damn and blast, we're back to Mills's rape obsession.

Leatherjack and Breathing Space are awesomely high quality.

[Steve Green]

Re: the Bloodline speech, I'm guessing that there's a 'no' missing, and Vienna had given an invented Bloodline flaw as a possible excuse for termination.

- Steve

[DavidXBrunt]

Fate - from memory we haven't seen the family before but they have been talked about off-stage.

And that's a mighty nice Prog. The cover was nicely different and the colour use striking. Droid Life manages to have multiple punchlines again and Tharg should be applauded for the risk taken in commisioning it in the first place.

Dredd - Rennie and Ezquerra. That's a guarantee of quality in my book and they didn't disapoint. Nice to feel things progressing. Next week it's the major new villain story with Kev Walker art work, isn't it?

Savage - Much better than the first run and that was pretty good. Some nice character moments within the action sequence and hints at what's to come. If Savage had to reign his squad in, how long can he control them?

LeatherJack - Confident and clever, very well done. I'm enjoying this immensley and hope we have at least a couple of months more in this world.

Breathing Space - The art is so good I fear the transition will damage the story as there's a lot to live up to. The best script from Rob Williams so far.

Robo-Hunter - Enjoyable stuff. Contrary to previous posters I think it earns it's place in the prog by being so utterly different from the likes of Savage. This could still go some dark places but it's a wonderfull part of the line up and shows the progs variety.

Quite possibly a perfect line-up. Short of adding 8 more pages to the prog and filling them with 6 pages of Cabals, a star scan and a one page tale this comic couldn't get any better.

[GermanAndy]

Nerv Centre: I have to confess that I don?t read this often; I have got a hype allergy. But this one was good. In 90% decrompressed means "writing for the trade" and rip-off. No wonder I am reading 2000 AD and have canceld most U.S. stuff

DREDD: Sigh, couldn?t Carlos draw "Blood Lines"? Then it would have been a classic instead a good story with disappointing and unappropiate art.

Rennie was sure in Wagner-mode in this one.

But one thing astonished me. Abortion is illegal in Mega-City One? Huh? One would think that with their kind of problems the Judges would leave this decision to the woman.

SAVAGE: Adlard is great, and I like even the story. But hated the end. This is a bit too heavy-handed cliche, or?

LEATHERJACK: Like it. I hope Leatherjack and his boss get ripped in shreds. I absolutly detest book-burners of any kind, and to destroy such a planet just to steal a book, tz.

SPACE: lovely artwork, good story. a winner

ROBO-HUNTER: its ... nice. Can?t say I am a fan of the character, but it has its moments :-)