Bolt-01 Cup - Best Strontium Dog - Resurrection Shuffle

Colin YNWA · 02 August, 2021, 06:46:57 AM

Second of the all in votes to kick off the week and this time it's the resurrection and post resurrection stories. I think for some this is a sticky patch and it was very sadly curtailed due to the tragic passing of Carlos - who knows what might have happened after The Son? Anyway there are five fine stories here to vote on...

YES FIVE this was discussed earlier and I've gone with the suggestion that I split Life and Death as per the trades... its a done deal we discussed earlier, sorry if you disagree.

You, the voter, YES YOU have 5 votes each to distribute how you want to the stories below. So you can give all 5 votes to one story, 4 to one and 1 to another. Or one point to five stories. Any combination of whole numbers you like. It's up to you. When you're voting just make it clear how many votes you are giving to which story... or my noggin will get confused!

What are the stories, well funny you should ask...

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - The Project (Books 1 + 2) - more info

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - Dogs of Wars (Books 3 + 4) more info

The Stix Fix - more info

Repo Men - more info

The Son - more info

As this is an all in one we have all week and this one won't close until morning of Saturday 7th August - first thing.

The winner qualifies for the tourney proper. The runner up goes into a play-off which we can worry about later.

What on Earth is all this?

Why on Tharg's Earth head are we doing this?

Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN!

Oh and my 'More info' links... well I don't say how much more and they get pretty wonky at times!

broodblik · 02 August, 2021, 07:07:52 AM

The Stix Fix 3
The Son 2

Rogue Judge · 02 August, 2021, 07:47:04 AM

Perfect timing to listen to Eamonn's latest MCBC episode which covers both volumes of The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, listen here: https://megacitybookclub.blogspot.com/2021/07/161-life-and-death-of-johnny-alpha_02023364488.html

I love all the 'modern' SD stories but am in the mood to throw my votes at Johnny's return as I've just only re-read them. I'm in the unapologetic camp that was very happy to have Johnny resurrected and put back in the Prog where he belongs.

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - Dogs of Wars: 3
The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - The Project: 2

Tharg - can you please collect The Son in TPB soon? Please....I'm willing to lay down my hard earned creds at the drop of a hat to have the final SD volume collected. If it's not long enough, thow some recent SD specials in with it, or some additional Ezquerra art etc. Thank you!

Dark Jimbo · 02 August, 2021, 09:22:01 AM

Quote from: Rogue Judge on 02 August, 2021, 07:47:04 AM
Tharg - can you please collect The Son in TPB soon? Please....I'm willing to lay down my hard earned creds at the drop of a hat to have the final SD volume collected. If it's not long enough, thow some recent SD specials in with it, or some additional Ezquerra art etc. Thank you!

If it helps, December sees the release of the final Stront Ultimate Collection book; Stix Fix, Repo Men and The Son in lovely hardback, probably with By Private Contract and various other bits in there as well.

Barrington Boots · 02 August, 2021, 10:02:35 AM

The Son 3 - Despite not being intended to be, as far as we know, it stands up as the final SD story (if it's allowed to be) and for that reason only it seems to resonate significance.

Repo Men 2 - of the rebirth stories, this felt close to a classic SD adventure.

I didn't enjoy the Life & Death of Alpha much and Stix Fix wasn't the strips finest hour either, really.

Dark Jimbo · 02 August, 2021, 05:47:40 PM

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - The Project Loved Middenface and Precious' detective work as they scour the galaxy for the breadcrumbs that might lead them to Johnny. It was fascinating, it was dense, and suddenly it all mattered again, because we were back in the 'present' for the first time since the Final Solution - and that particular elephant in the room was finally being confronted head-on, for better or worse. The strip was moving forward again, and it felt like history was being made. Oh, and the Stone Wizards were great as well. 2 points

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - Dogs of War Dark and brutal stuff, but compelling and vital. It gets a vote just for the moment when all seems lost and then the stronts come pouring down out of the sky. 1 point

Repo Men was not a return to form, exactly; but certainly a return to more lighthearted romps after years of much darker storylines. It felt fresh and breezy, and could have pointed the way toward a fun new status quo (though in actuality we were soon back to bounties on the doghouse). 1 point

I didn't love The Son, to be honest - it felt a bit off-model, and Ezquerra's art seemed rushed and very far from his best. But what a stroke of serendipity for the strip. Not planned as any kind of end for Strontium Dog, it was inadvertantly, and retrospectively, a beautiful one. 'Just thinking of an old friend.' 1 point

Dog Deever · 02 August, 2021, 09:55:25 PM

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - Dogs of War 3
The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - The Project 2

Leigh S · 02 August, 2021, 10:28:47 PM

The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha - The Project gets 1 point for trying, but really, not a fan of the way it strings out the resurrection. That wouldnt be a problem if it commited to explaining/exploring it fully, but it seems to get cold feet. The ghosty in Johnny is surely meant to be the reason why Alpha wasnt killed - his body used to house some malevolant spirit - a resurrected Malak Brood would be the most obvious - but it is despatched off handedly after being teased for so long - the focus shifts to the Second Mutant War, which feels totally unnecessary, distracting from the resurrection plotline and not adding anything to the post resurrection set up.

Repo Men What we should have been getting on with - as DarkJimbo says, there was a hint of a new status quo, with the Stronts taking over the Rock - sadly swerved, but 2 points for having got past all the post resurrection repositioning of deckchairs

The Son can therefore claim the last 2 points for much the same reasons as Repo Men.

AlexF · 05 August, 2021, 08:16:30 AM

I really don't know what to make of the whole resurrection thing. It's an epic story for sure, with some memorable and exciting sequences. But I did not like the rather cruel depiction of Feral, or indeed the way he was drawn. The politics/ war story sequences are again fun but kind of end up going nowhere, I think because Wagner is interested in action more than world building.

But they're still better than the rather plodding Bounty Hunting that follows.
I guess on this basis, The Project an have 2 points, Dogs of War 1 point, and The Son can have 2 points for poignancy, intended or otherwise.

Rogue Judge · 05 August, 2021, 03:53:34 PM

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 02 August, 2021, 09:22:01 AM
Quote from: Rogue Judge on 02 August, 2021, 07:47:04 AM
Tharg - can you please collect The Son in TPB soon? Please....I'm willing to lay down my hard earned creds at the drop of a hat to have the final SD volume collected. If it's not long enough, thow some recent SD specials in with it, or some additional Ezquerra art etc. Thank you!

If it helps, December sees the release of the final Stront Ultimate Collection book; Stix Fix, Repo Men and The Son in lovely hardback, probably with By Private Contract and various other bits in there as well.

Thanks Jimbo, unfortunately those Ultimate Collection books are challenging to get here in Canada. My only hope is if I could find them all on ebay for a fair price. If I could get the Ultimate Collection I'd be all over it.

Also, I have a the other Rebellion trades, it would be nice if they finished publishing the complete series in that format too.

Colin YNWA · 06 August, 2021, 06:40:54 AM

ONE DAY TO GOOOOOOOOO

Wow all caps on this one!

Tough one this as I've not read and re-read these strips in quite the same way I have the older stuff. That said I've read many of these recently in my re-read and there's some good stuff in here, though maybe not with the immediate dramatic punch of the older stories. And a couple feel a bit drifty.

I like the first half of 'The Project' but the second half got a bit messy and Repo and Stix felt a little stretched. So I'll go

Dogs of War 3
The Son 2

Rogue Judge · 06 August, 2021, 07:19:35 AM

Colin, we give your forum contests/polls a shout-out in the latest episode of MCBC, if you've not had a chance to hear it yet.

Thanks for running these! I've recently re-read the Strontium Dog trades so the timing was perfect!

Trooper McFad · 06 August, 2021, 07:41:26 AM

The project - 2
Dogs of war - 2
The Stix fix - 1

Colin YNWA · 06 August, 2021, 09:25:42 AM

Quote from: Rogue Judge on 06 August, 2021, 07:19:35 AM
Colin, we give your forum contests/polls a shout-out in the latest episode of MCBC, if you've not had a chance to hear it yet.

Thanks for running these! I've recently re-read the Strontium Dog trades so the timing was perfect!

Oh I've not listened to that one yet - its in the queue... gosh errr... I'll listen soon as I can... gulp...

Rogue Judge · 06 August, 2021, 04:59:42 PM

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 06 August, 2021, 09:25:42 AM
Quote from: Rogue Judge on 06 August, 2021, 07:19:35 AM
Colin, we give your forum contests/polls a shout-out in the latest episode of MCBC, if you've not had a chance to hear it yet.

Thanks for running these! I've recently re-read the Strontium Dog trades so the timing was perfect!

Oh I've not listened to that one yet - its in the queue... gosh errr... I'll listen soon as I can... gulp...

Haha no pressure or anything...