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Prog 2279 - Past Crimes

Started by Magnetica, 23 April, 2022, 12:40:03 PM

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Goosegash

Having now read the finale of The Citadel, I think in isolation it was a perfectly satisfying ending to a story which was possibly mis-sold to us as something much significant than it ended up being. In the end neither narrator is reliable as each could be spinning the truth to serve their own ends, and the real story may never be known.

If nothing else the self-contained nature of this tale has led me to reflect on how relatively static the world of Dredd and MC1 is now, compared to, say, fifteen years ago. There was a time when it felt things were constantly in flux and moving forward, even apart from the big event storylines you had things going on like PJ Maybe scheming to become mayor, Dan Francisco's ascension from TV star to Chief Judge, Dredd's efforts to reform mutant rights, etc. I think it comes back again to that issue of there not being an overall authorial voice for the strip, and all the regulars writers having their own individual ideas which don't necessarily coincide with each other.

Colin YNWA

So I guess its a it easy this week to get distracted by the big... well is it really big... story, but really its not even the star of the show.

Dredd - well I discussed it earlier in the thread but suffice to say its a good story lost in its own hype.

Hope is a great story avoiding getting lost in its own darkness.

Brink is a magnificent story some how manging not to lose us in its layers of slowly building intrigue.

Future Shock is a great story - even if it took me two reads not to get lost in the magnificent to look at art.

Fiends is a good story managing not to get lost in it mid story pivot.

Only real problem is the cover. Its a fine cover BUT if you look at it quickly (or quint) the colouring makes Dredd shoulder pad look like his chin and he appears to have a Desperate Dan jaw. Once seen it can't be unseen I'm afraid.

The timing, breaking 3 tales in full tilt might suck but it appears absense makes the heart grow fonder and I'm really looking forward to next weeks Regened. It feels like an age and I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what innovations it comes up with.

For the now great Prog.


broodblik

The prog this year has been a steady supply of good stories and this week the trend continues. Unfortunately or fortunately we will have to wait a bit as the first regen is launch next week.

Dredd – Overall I enjoyed the Dredd story but to be honest the whole "truth" just feels a little bit blunt. Still a good Wagner tale with Cornwell becoming a very good Dredd artist.

Hope – More intrigue as new players to the game is introduced and more is revealed by the known players. The dark twisted story continues good stuff so far.

Brink – This is like a game of chess when pieces are put in place and systematically waiting to strike at the right time. As ever Abnett's script is wordy but keeps the tension high as we jump between different scenes.

Shock – A good story by the new team especially impressed by the art.

Fiends – Another cliffhanger of an ending as our favorite vampire seeks the answers but gets no reward.
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

Three progs arrived all at once yesterday so I've had a bit of catching up. I'm not sure if it's the frustration from the delay and the inevitable minor spoilers I've had, or just reading them all at once, but I'm less high on this current run than some. It's all good, but also all a little flawed.

Dredd – Have to agree with others that this was extremely climatic in the context of the hype: nothing changed and Dredd's actions were nowhere near as shocking as loads of the other stuff he did during the war. Out of the context of that, this was a a fast moving, brutal little story with absolutely fantastic artwork. Just not the gamechanger it was made out to be.
I stick by the concept of the unreliable narrator at play - both Winterton and Chopra could be spinning the tale their own way, even though Winterton's behaviour points to him being legit nuts - but Dredd's actions aren't really that shocking in context, so it's not really a big deal.
One thing that did confuse / misdirect me is that in the first episode there's an attack on the iso-block which I assumed was connected to Winterton in some way - guys trying to bust him out or silence him or whatever - that turned out to have no further relevance. I'm assuming now that this was the plot reason to have the priest alone with Winterton but it also felt like a bit of an anticlimax there.
It's hard to view the story outside of the big hype it got. Some of Dan Cornwell's best stuff yet, but the story itself seems a bit throwaway really.

Hope – I've struggled to engage with this so far. The pace seems very slow, not helped by some of the page layouts, and the characters don't yet feel all that realised, unlike..

Brink – where the glacial pace isn't an issue because the dialogue is building layer upon layer of menace of tension. Sinister elements of the tale are dismissed as mundane, except we know they aren't, and Broodblik's chess analogy is a good one as it feels like things are lining up for something awful to strike. The return of previous characters, now we have some foreknowledge of who they are, is ominous.

Intestinauts – Loved this although the finale seemed a but abrupt with everything suddenly wrapping up: feels like we could have had another episode of this. I hope this tale keeps coming back. Pye Parr's bright, kinetic artwork is perfect here.

Future Shock – Really liked this too. Superb artwork, neat little tale.

Fiends – Another one that's not quite hitting the mark for me when compared to previous runs of Fiends. Awesome old haircuts aside, the cold war setting has faded into the background and whilst I was delighted to see Baba Yaga's house, I guess I was expecting more than a fight and escape (and subsequent villain reveal). Conscious this may have more to come however. I did like the speech about having multiple vampires working on the espionage payroll and as ever, the art is brilliant - digging the grotesque, inhuman smiles and snarls from Costanza especially - he's a monster!
You're a dark horse, Boots.

Bad City Blue

The Future Shock looked great, and the story was good, I'm just confused as to why that mouse has lived for so long, as it's not explained.
Writer of SENTINEL, the best little indie out there

broodblik

Quote from: Bad City Blue on 27 April, 2022, 11:25:13 AM
The Future Shock looked great, and the story was good, I'm just confused as to why that mouse has lived for so long, as it's not explained.

It is not explicitly explained but I gathered that it was due to the experiments that was done on the mouse that gave him the longevity
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.

Timothy

What is it with chins in HSD? Bringer is almost as chinny as Brinkman.

Timothy

Quote from: Timothy on 27 April, 2022, 12:14:21 PM
What is it with chins in HSD? Bringer is almost as chinny as Brinkman.

Where has the edit function gone?* I meant Beringer, of course.


*Perhaps it's time for Elon to put in a bid for the forum too. He's give us an edit function.

IndigoPrime

I'm not sure we ever had one. Admins can edit, but I don't remember whether anyone else can – and certainly not beyond a short timeframe of a few minutes. (Limitations were imposed on editing due to a few people posting unacceptable content.)

I, Cosh

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 27 April, 2022, 12:52:22 PM
I'm not sure we ever had one.
We did, but it's only available in some sub-forums.
We never really die.

M.I.K.

Best Future Shock in years, (which isn't a criticism of any of the other ones).

"Contemporaries" is spelt wrong, though.

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.

broodblik

One thing I have now noticed for the first time is that one of the bubbles represents a Hammer and Sickle from the Soviet Union flag
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.

norton canes

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 April, 2022, 08:58:09 PM
Only real problem is the cover. Its a fine cover BUT if you look at it quickly (or quint) the colouring makes Dredd shoulder pad look like his chin and he appears to have a Desperate Dan jaw. Once seen it can't be unseen I'm afraid

Heh, true.

So, 'The Citadel' ends. Obviously lots of discussion here and on Tjm86's excellent dedicated thread, don't really have time to comprehensively collect my thoughts on it, so excuse the bullet points


  • I'll go along with the consensus that it's been a great story which maybe hasn't lived up to its game-changer billing
  • Wait - Semper's tracking device was designed to "warn the Sovs off"? Even when they had the real Dredd in their sights?
  • Why wouldn't the Judges want the people to know that the Sovs were producing Dredd clones? You'd think it would be a priority to get that knowledge out there. And why such a problem that Dredd killed one?
  • Despite John Wagner's claims that it's a one-and-done, I'm guessing it's the start of a big theme for 2000 AD's 50th. Watch me get proved spectacularly wrong!
Lovely stuff in Brink - the close-up on Bardot's eye, obviously, but my favourite panel is the one with the passers-by on the second page - artists enjoy portraying future fashions but what I love about this is that different characters are all sporting the same scale pattern tattoo. Obviously the current trend on Ludmilla habitat!

More noir freakiness in Hope, though it is slightly disconcerting that Tiff Crize is morphing into Ian McKellen. It's about time we had a Hope cover, isn't it? Fiends is an agreeable read, with some lovely expression work from the Trevallion droid.

TOP THRILL though without a doubt is 'Relict' (n. - "a thing which has survived from an earlier period or in a primitive form", didn't know that!), which really harks back (ironically) to the creepy, unsettling Future Shocks of the very early progs, proving that a discomforting denouement is more satisfying than a trite twist. Although it's not quite as good as my Thought Bubble idea. Oh well.

Richard

QuoteAnd why such a problem that Dredd killed one?

I think Winterton's point was that the clone wasn't a Sov, or at least Dredd had no evidence that he was, which would mean that he murdered a Mega-City judge.