(https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/fb/bf/f2dfb26b241a2382d50b459f8ec98ed97dd5.jpeg)
Slightly odd feel to this Prog, which has a whiff of wrapping things up more than starting afresh for the new year. A nice (if dark) Steven Austin cover is suitably dark, as is Carroll's Dredd, which is effective if familiar. It's an interesting clash with what might be upcoming in the currently being teased Williams arc.
Helium ends. Bit if a twist. Definitely a set-up. It's been a fantastic run. I look forward to book 3 in 2031.
Devil's Railroad still looks great, but to me still reads like something from Prog 827 or thereabouts. I'll be happy onee this is out of road.
Enemy Earth is still working for me. It won't make my classics list, but I'm happy enough reading it. I do rather wish it had stayed in Regened, though, and bulked out its page count instead of not-Potter.
Feral continues to amused. Lovely last panel. And next week, Thistlebone returns, which means we should be swapping out quality for quality. So that's a good thing.
Helium > Feral > Dredd > Enemy > Devil's
Largely agree with Indigo Prime on this one, very odd feel for the first Prog of the year. Could we not have doubled up on Helium in the X-Mas Prog and got Thistlebone starting this week. They'll be reason but if that'd been possible would have aided this week so much.
Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.
Helium. Well if you are leaving us like that you'd better bloody well be back quicker this time! Bit exposition heavy this week.
Devil's Railroad continues with its patomine fun. Enjoying this still.
Enemy Earth, well I might re-read it sometime...
Feral and Foe fun and good ending.
Decent Prog.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 30 December, 2023, 08:39:08 PMStill as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.
Silvia's first Dredd was prog 2268 (Extraordinary Deaths), her next Dredd was a Cadet Dredd story prog 2306 (Undertow)
Quote from: broodblik on 31 December, 2023, 04:23:14 AMQuote from: Colin YNWA on 30 December, 2023, 08:39:08 PMStill as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.
Silvia's first Dredd was prog 2268 (Extraordinary Deaths), her next Dredd was a Cadet Dredd story prog 2306 (Undertow)
Nice one - my memory is getting shocking!
To echo my fellow readers, bit of a weird new year Prog with a strangely muted feel to it.
Dredd was excellent this week, reminiscent of the Dredd's of my youth where the Justice Department is basically the bad guy, but with a modern twist - the guy claiming the protagonist must be anti-dem because she'd saved a Judge's life but not anyone elses was horribly like a lot of arguments I've read lately. Great stuff.
Helium sad to see it end, hope it's back soon. The politician has an incredibly dislikable face.
Feral and Foe as fun as ever. That last page rules.
And that was my lot. Excited for Thistlebone next week!
B/W Cover:
(https://comicsceneorg.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/img_4449-1.jpg?w=724)
This prog should be building the excitement for the xmas prog with all new stories to kick-off the new year, but I forgot it is already new year and everything will be concluded the next few weeks. So yes, as it has already been stated this feels quite odd and hopefully 2024 scheduling will feel less disjointed (stop that we only 3 days in the new year and we already complaining the year is too long). Besides my complaining it is still a decent prog to kick-off the new year.
Dredd – This story reminds us that the Judges are no heroes, they control the system, they control the outcome. Good start for the year for Dredd.
Helium – A good ending to the series. I see that we have some positive people on the forum believing that the next chapter will be 2031. I am rooting for Brass Sun now to get published next.
Railroad – I dislike this strip and it is all because I really do not care for any of the characters.
Enemy Earth – Not my favorite, still have a huge problem with the art but much more readable.
Feral and Foe – Super fun and with a bonus of great art. Awesome ending with a great panel of our heroes falling into the mouth of doom. This one must get more love from the Abnett fanboys and is steadily becoming a top 3 Abnett work for me. My top thrill of the week.
Talking about the great John Burns we have a Thrills of the Future by him: Nightmare, New York
The oddest thing about this prog is that 'Vox Populi' is clearly an ideal Dredd story for a Christmas or hopping-on prog, detailing succinctly as it does the Judges' brutal, totalitarian nature, with very little need for ay prior knowledge. And the fact it was done with such a lightness of touch and splashes of great humour was a real bonus. (Anyone else think they pay-off was going to be that it was all a con and Jinty in fact pointed the gun at Dredd in an attempt to off him without becoming a suspect?)
Feral & Foe continues to thunder along like a sword n' sorcery juggernaut, and Helium has likewise absolutely zipped along, it's been so good. The prime minister is blatantly based on Stephen Fry, yeah? Random question: can anyone think of other examples of characters in 2000 AD strips whose likenesses are clearly based on real people? I don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.
I reckon in years to come, The Devil's Railroad will be regarded as an interesting curio like - well, other Milligan strips such as The Dead or Freaks. He seems to specialise in strips that aren't immediately recognised as classics, but whose reputation improves. Finally Enemy Earth is great, great Regened material that just doesn't quite sit perfectly in the regular prog.
Quote from: norton canes on 03 January, 2024, 12:21:15 PMRandom question: can anyone think of other examples of characters in 2000 AD strips whose likenesses are clearly based on real people? I don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.
Off the top of my head, Kenny Everett in Terror Tube and the villain in Zenith being very obviously based on Richard Branson. I'm sure there are loads more.
If I can remember correctly one of the presidents in Zombo looks like Trump
Major Eazy / Cursed Earth Koburn / The Stainless Steel Rat - are all based on James Coburn.
David Niven showed up in Ampney:
(https://i.imgur.com/e02Qg71.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/nB1RlmI.jpg)
Quote from: norton canes on 03 January, 2024, 12:21:15 PMI don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.
Quite a lot of the supporting cast of Hope were very deliberately modelled on real people, some of them specifically called out in the script (the cop who looked like Werner Herzog, for example :) ).
Not 2000AD, but can anyone place who the character of "The Collector" from the 80s Eagle looks like. When I first saw it in the 80s it reminded me of an actor, but I've never been able to make the connection to a name. At first I thought someone in the Hammer oeuvre but probably more like someone who appears in the likes of old B&W war films. Maybe.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/britishcomics/images/a/aa/Collector0001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170310175651
There's a long tradition of that kind of thing dating right back to prog 1 with Stanley Baker as Bill Savage and Lee Majors as M.A.C.H. 1.
Quote from: norton canes on 03 January, 2024, 12:21:15 PMlike one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.
I thought that was a bit of a weird one, because you had characters based on classic 1930s/40s actors looking like their real world counterparts, (like Boris Karloff), and then the James Whale, (Frankenstein director), analogue was Ian McKellen, 'cos he'd played him in a film. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120684/)
Is it Michael Gough? Toymaker
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 03 January, 2024, 03:26:05 PMQuite a lot of the supporting cast of Hope were very deliberately modelled on real people, some of them specifically called out in the script (the cop who looked like Werner Herzog, for example :) ).
Oops! Looks like I might have to move this to the 'Things that went over your head...' thread :)
Quote from: Fortnight on 03 January, 2024, 03:35:53 PMNot 2000AD, but can anyone place who the character of "The Collector" from the 80s Eagle looks like. When I first saw it in the 80s it reminded me of an actor, but I've never been able to make the connection to a name. At first I thought someone in the Hammer oeuvre but probably more like someone who appears in the likes of old B&W war films. Maybe.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/britishcomics/images/a/aa/Collector0001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170310175651
This site (https://imagerecognize.com/celebrities/#uploaded-img) reckons it's Boris Barnet, but I'm not convinced.
Quote from: Funt Solo [R] on 03 January, 2024, 05:49:51 PMThis site (https://imagerecognize.com/celebrities/#uploaded-img) reckons it's Boris Barnet, but I'm not convinced
Definitely not who I'm picturing. I got to thinking Paul Freeman (Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark) but he was too young at that time, I think, for the face I can see in my mind. Now I can't get past that! In my head it's a WW2 German officer grinding his teeth behind a square jaw in black & white.
I'm sure I read somewhere that Bill Savage was based on 1950s action hero Stanley Baker.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRGAgTuxdfqUtYZbNDAM-g1FiDYsfqV7PZOU3li1E9RrpBu2xbVYdyno7kDeTAs1mQVNTE&usqp=CAU) (https://www.silversirens.co.uk/pictures/stanley-baker-welsh-actor-photo-1.jpg)
Loved Silvia Califano's work on Dredd. Ol'Stoney Face isn't always the easiest character to make expressive, something I think a lot of other artists struggle with a bit. Her rendition was loaded with personality.
Pat Mills has said that Slaine was modelled on a young Jack Nicholson.
Quote from: nxylas on 04 January, 2024, 02:53:20 PMPat Mills has said that Slaine was modelled on a young Jack Nicholson.
As soon as you said it, I saw it:
(https://i.imgur.com/fzcpwqD.png)
Quote from: nxylas on 04 January, 2024, 02:53:20 PMPat Mills has said that Slaine was modelled on a young Jack Nicholson.
Words out of my mouth. I've been binge-reading Sláine (probably for the hundredth time) of late. Was it Glenn Fabry's idea to make him look like Jack Nicholson? If so, he did it while staying faithful to Angie Kincaid's first depiction of Sláine. Incredible as McMahon and Belardinelli were, they veered away from the first story wildly in terms of Sláine's phizzog.
Andrew Currie very often uses real actors to 'play' his characters, without disguising them at all. The Sov agent Pasha looked like Vin Diesel pre-face-change, and George Clooney post (or was it the other way round?). Morgan Freeman appeared as some kind of Judge once too.
Judge Cal was based on John Hurt in I, Claudius, in both appearance and character. That is, until Brian Bolland drew him and he looked exactly like Pat Mills.
Quote from: norton canes on 03 January, 2024, 12:21:15 PMThe prime minister is blatantly based on Stephen Fry, yeah?
I thought it might be Nick Griffin.
That helmetless, face-changed Dredd from the very early progs was based on some actor too, iirc? Can't remember who though, or find the image.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 January, 2024, 09:28:00 PMThat helmetless, face-changed Dredd from the very early progs was based on some actor too, iirc? Can't remember who though, or find the image.
Rondo Hatton.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 January, 2024, 09:28:00 PMThat helmetless, face-changed Dredd from the very early progs was based on some actor too, iirc? Can't remember who though, or find the image.
In Luna Wars (prog 52):
(https://i.imgur.com/ufycG4z.png)
[It was reprinted in the Games Workshop JD RPG - which is where I first saw it.]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 January, 2024, 06:32:02 PMWas it Glenn Fabry's idea to make him look like Jack Nicholson? If so, he did it while staying faithful to Angie Kincaid's first depiction of Sláine.
i think it was actually Angie's idea, or maybe Pat asked her to draw him that way.
Thanks, guys.
Just looked at Rondo Hatton's Wikipedia page - seems he had been quite a handsome young man, but was disfigured by the effects of acromegaly. Seems very rough but it didn't hurt his horror movie career.
And thanks for filling me in about Sláine too. I seem to remember that Pat's original idea was to have him wearing a helmet, but either he changed his mind or Angie suggested the helmetless, handsome look. (Glenn made him look about 17 years older than Angie's version, sickeningly brilliant as Fabry was.
Anyway, back to the prog: I've only read Dredd so far. Mike Carroll is really on fire these days - this is quality, old-school Dredd. And yeah, I was expecting some kind of publicity-seeking media set-up, so my expectations were nicely confounded.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 05 January, 2024, 09:28:26 AMGlenn made him look about 17 years older than Angie's version, sickeningly brilliant as Fabry was.
I suspect it may have been a case of Glenn interpreting the statement "his appearance is based on Jack Nicholson's" rather more literally than Angie did.