Threadjacking!

[Frank]

Also Nero was a weebo.

I had to look up that term, but aye. Probably one of the most incongruous bits of Dredd character design I can think of, and one of the most bland villains too. In terms of the epics, Nero Narcos registers one rung below Grice on the lazy-script-droidometer. At Inferno's bad guy had the so-dumb-it's-funny motivation of really hating Dredd for taking over the city - Narcos instigated his Bond villain plan to take over the world (bwah-ha-ha) just because he was bored.

I spent most of the time wondering whether the two girls who were screwing him were humans or robots, and whether becoming a robot yourself would mean you fancied other robots, whether your libido was fixed with regard to species, and whether having sex with humans now gave Narcos the same kinky thrill as folk who indulge in bestiality. I'm a dirty Philip K Dick, me.

[TordelBack]

Mildly amusing, in a 'look how mainstream geeky things have become' sort of way:  http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/feb/18/ellen-page-has-super-powers-but-why-is-this-newsworthy?CMP=twt_fd

[I, Cosh]

Probably one of the most incongruous bits of Dredd character design I can think of, and one of the most bland villains too. In terms of the epics, Nero Narcos registers one rung below Grice on the lazy-script-droidometer.

Particularly frustrating as the build up to Doomsday was so well done, being spread across Prog and Meg for the four years or so from the start of The Pit and running through all the procedural stuff Wagner got into over that period.

Should read well in the next five Case Files

[Frank]

Mildly amusing, in a 'look how mainstream geeky things have become' sort of way:  http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/feb/18/ellen-page-has-super-powers-but-why-is-this-newsworthy?CMP=twt_fd

"For example, a few responses to Page's confession questioned whether she will be able to play non-mutants, despite the fact that she had to publicly admit to being a mutant before people realised she was one. Some wonder whether it would be "fair" for her to play something she's not, seemingly forgetting that this is the whole point of acting"

I see what the author did there. Singer only made the homosexual nature of the X-Men a metaphor for mutant powers because he's one himself.

[Frank]

(T)he build up to Doomsday was so well done, being spread across Prog and Meg for the four years or so from the start of The Pit and running through all the procedural stuff Wagner got into over that period. Should read well in the next five Case Files

My weekend re-read was the first time I've returned to those stories since they were originally published. I remembered being deeply underwhelmed by Doomsday at the time, so I was surprised to find the early John Burns and Cam Kennedy illustrated episodes quite enjoyable. I barely registered the Megazine episodes originally, but the Philip Marlowe burlesque was more entertaining without a few weeks in-between instalments.

It's only really when the story gets bogged down in the uninvolving and moribund trial sequence that it begins to drag, and the inconsequential destruction of the robots by Dredd's team of undifferentiated characters is notable only for it being the kind of thing Wagner normally does so well, done pretty badly. It doesn't help that the art goes to hell at the same time, and so many different artists doing an episode or two then buggering off does nothing to smooth over any deficiencies in the narrative.

Recent Dredd epics have utilised a varied roster of art talent, but editorial do a good job of assigning certain artists (or artists with sympathetic styles) specific parts of the story - Colin MacNeil seemed to handle a lot of the Cursed Earth sequences of Tour Of Duty, for example, so when the story switched back to MC1 the change to another artist felt much less jarring. I think if Doomsday could have been shared between Burns doing the human drama sequences and Kennedy/Wilson handling the action/battle elements, it would have read much better.

As you say though, it's less of a full stop than a comma delineating the point at which the Team Dredd era begun by The Pit is joined by the Family Dredd sequence of stories which Wagner would shortly embark upon.  Put those storytelling styles and thematic concerns together, and you have modern Dredd.

[Trout]

(T)he build up to Doomsday was so well done, being spread across Prog and Meg for the four years or so from the start of The Pit and running through all the procedural stuff Wagner got into over that period. Should read well in the next five Case Files

My weekend re-read was the first time I've returned to those stories since they were originally published. I remembered being deeply underwhelmed by Doomsday at the time, so I was surprised to find the early John Burns and Cam Kennedy illustrated episodes quite enjoyable. I barely registered the Megazine episodes originally, but the Philip Marlowe burlesque was more entertaining without a few weeks in-between instalments.

It's only really when the story gets bogged down in the uninvolving and moribund trial sequence that it begins to drag, and the inconsequential destruction of the robots by Dredd's team of undifferentiated characters is notable only for it being the kind of thing Wagner normally does so well, done pretty badly. It doesn't help that the art goes to hell at the same time, and so many different artists doing an episode or two then buggering off does nothing to smooth over any deficiencies in the narrative.

Recent Dredd epics have utilised a varied roster of art talent, but editorial do a good job of assigning certain artists (or artists with sympathetic styles) specific parts of the story - Colin MacNeil seemed to handle a lot of the Cursed Earth sequences of Tour Of Duty, for example, so when the story switched back to MC1 the change to another artist felt much less jarring. I think if Doomsday could have been shared between Burns doing the human drama sequences and Kennedy/Wilson handling the action/battle elements, it would have read much better.

As you say though, it's less of a full stop than a comma delineating the point at which the Team Dredd era begun by The Pit is joined by the Family Dredd sequence of stories which Wagner would shortly embark upon.  Put those storytelling styles and thematic concerns together, and you have modern Dredd.

I once got drunk in Alva, then fell over during a walk to Menstrie and woke up covered in blood.

[JamesC]

[von Boom]

I don't even know where to begin with this one...

[vzzbux]

V

[Goaty]

[The Doctor Alt 8]

Aw .. Good old Earth Worm Jim.

[Goaty]

[The Doctor Alt 8]

That could be Akward if you just happen to be doing brain surgery!  ( Or defusing a bomb)

[Trout]

What if you were already over-acting? What if you were impersonating Shatner, and someone yelled "Shatner"? Would you explode?

[The Doctor Alt 8]

No dear... You would IMPLODE... From the anus!