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Mine was waiting for me when I got home today. Hurrah.

I have only had the merest flick through so far but initial impressions are: it was very nicely packaged and looks like the most nicely put together book I have ordered from the 2000AD store so far (not counting the Zenith Apex edition - but that is a whole different league).


I am really impressed that the poster Prog has its own sleeve inside the back cover. I was just expecting that to be loose.

I think this has now jumped to the top of my reading list, given it is the one of the very few 2000AD stories I haven't read before (the other main one being Inferno - must get round to that - but its hard to fit it all in what with the Mega Collection  ).

Brass sun trundles along. Is it just me who has trouble figuring out who's who at times?

No it's not. I know what you mean. I had to do a double take on who was who in the fight between Septimus and the other engineer.

Clearly - it's one (of the many) reason(s) I stay out of the political thread. 

Yeah a knock off that appeared three or four years earlier.

It's okay.

I say them like Tordelback as well. It never occurred to me there could be another way.

 Steve Austin was a great character

I wasn't really trying to comment on the consistency or otherwise of Bad Company as a whole, just the reference to the Hawkin Shift and sub light travel.

I wasn't saying that there shouldn't be fantastical elements or elements that are beyond what is scientifically possible based on our knowledge today. Indeed you absolutely need to have these elements in order for a story to be a fantasy or Sci-fi. What you do need is a set of boundaries around how those elements work that is consistent. I don't even need them to be explained. It is enough that there is a method of inter stellar travel. Equally I don't need an explanation of how Dog Brain, Fly-Trap or the Krool Heart "work". So long as the story stays within a logically consistent framework that it establishes, then I am absolutely ok with that.  And think Bad Company does do that.

That wasn't the point I was making. It was calling it the "Hawkin (sic) Shift" that was what I was commenting on.

Some works have attempted an explanation of how say inter stellar travel works e.g. warp drive, hyperspace, worm holes etc. and I don't have a problem with that. Where it starts to lose credibility is when an attempt is made to say the theories of a real, named scientist could lead to such things (spelling not withstanding).

Now Stephen Hawking has done work in areas such as cosmology, quantum mechanics, relativity, black holes etc. but the point is, it is a massive leap from where we are now (whether based on Hawking's work or others) to being able to engineer a working inter stellar travel capability.  If it is possible at all – which I doubt.  So please don't call it the "Hawkin shift". Just make up a fictional future scientist.

At least in Star Trek they came up with a fictional inventor of the warp drive in their (future) time line.

As for the sub-light travel to Ararat in months, well that's just plain wrong.

[Dredd]

After a run of really strong Progs comes a bit of a dip for me this week I'm afraid.


Dredd was ok but not as good as the last two weeks for me. I like Karl Richardson's art, so that was nice. Highlight of the Prog was the almost Iron Maiden lyrics - well ok the second part of the song, but definitely not the first. Don't think that was the intention though.

Defoe - as we were, which is fine.

Terror Tales. Hmmm - at the risk of being run off the board - I have never liked these and I'm not really a big John Smith fan either. As for this taking time away from writing a new Indigo Prime series, well I'm not exactly sitting here in eager anticipation of that; I'd rather have more Sinister Dexter. I know these won't be popular opinions in some quarters, but there you go.

Brass Sun - the dark side of Septimus. I can't quite remember the incident, but I seem to recall we have seen a glimpse of this before, but he went too far this time and there are bound to be consequences. I wonder what Wren would think if she found out?

Bad Company. As we were.

Over in nit-pickers corner:
- it's "Hawking" if that is who was being referred to, and I'm pretty sure there is nothing in current theories that could lead to the development of "hyper-surface" travel
- the nearest star is over 4 light years away, so there is no way you could reach Ararat in months at sub-light speeds.

Ok these are minor points, but it annoys the physicist in me...

Main thing that stands out is the so called "banned episodes" of The Cursed Earth. However Rebellion have now stated they will publish these in a new Cursed Earth collection next summer, which will also have the centre spreads in colour.

Oh and obviously anything that isn't Judge Dredd!!

Seriously don't limit yourself to just Dredd - check out stuff like Strontium Dog, Nemesis the Warlock, Slaine, ABC Warriors, Zenith, Nikolai Dante, Robo Hunter, Ace Trucking, Bad Company, Rogue Trooper....the list just goes on and on.

[more]

I prefer to support the 2000 AD on line store where I can but what I don't understand about it, is that it is often more expensive than say Forbidden Planet.

[Cover]

Another good Prog. I am going to stop short of calling it great though.

Cover - really good by what I get the impression is an artist who is not highly rated in some quarters, which I don't get; he has always done nice stuff IMO.


Dredd - another great example of how to do a one off. Really glad this wasn't stretched out to two or three parts, which it could have been. Some nice ideas (e.g. Judge's way-station) but let's face it, it was all about that last panel.

Defoe - I am enjoying this more than I have ever before, both the story and the art.

Brass Sun - I am starting to worry about this strip. It seems to be dragging on and at the current rate of progress, and what 10 episodes a year it seems like it is going to take another ten years to get to the point.

SinDex - this has been a really great story. Great art too.  Looks like it is back to business as usual back in Downlode after this. There are a couple of things I don't understand about this week's episode:

(i) if the boys identities have been wiped, shouldn't the scanner have said "identify unknown"?
(ii) if their identities haven't been wiped shouldn't the scanner have said the identities they were given by the witness protection service?

Either way I don't understand how it could come up with their real names. But I will trust in Dan Abnett who can do no wrong in my book.

Bad Company - this is beginning to remind me of 1990s post Horned God Slaine.

Anyone else still waiting? I ordered the limited edition (really wanted the Dan Dare Poster Prog and this seemed like a sensible way to get it) and its still to show up. Am I just being impatient and others are still waiting? Have any of the limited editions arrived yet?

I pre-ordered mine pretty much as soon as it was possible to and I also went for the limited edition, but like you Colin I haven't received it yet. I think I will give it till the end of the week and then give them a call to chase it up.

Thanks Eamonn; it's fine.