Messages

1

Off Topic / Re: Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

« on: 06 June, 2021, 07:51:07 AM »

Cheers, Paddy.

And yet,  Hour 50 approaches. I wonder if any of our baton-happy Gardaí would take time off from bating youths to address this ongoing disturbance. To act, as it were, as guardians of the peace.

Despite a mountain of uncompleted work, Bank Holiday crowds filling the hills with badly parked cars, and a pair of headphones now permanently welded to my head, I'm going Out.

2

Prog / Re: Guatemala

« on: 05 June, 2021, 09:00:26 PM »

Nope, all new.

3

General / Re: John Higgins or John Ridgway - Artists Ryder Cup Current vs Classic - Tie 25

« on: 05 June, 2021, 01:40:12 PM »

Two more legends.

Higgins carved out a milestone in the vast cityscapes of the Democracy storyline, and possibly the best ever colour art in an Annual in Message from Marta etc, and is on absolutely flying form on Dreadnoughts currently.

But even so, I think little will ever top The Dead Man, Alzheimer's Block and Summer Magic in my affections.

So it's Ridgway 3 : 2 Higgins.

4

Off Topic / Re: Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

« on: 05 June, 2021, 06:15:50 AM »

The house alarm in the neighbouring apartment enters its 24th hour of Bank Holiday Weekend gone-home-to-Donegal unattended fun. No-one has a key, contact number isn't working, management company's "emergency desk" can't even remember the name of the estate between calls, so I'm not expecting miracles.

When I am Supreme Leader any property with an alarm that rings for more than 1 hour  will be declared abandoned and opened to the pleasure of (a) the homeless and (b) an angry, tired fat man with earplugs and an axe.

5

Suggestions / Re: What if the Megazine had a different remit?

« on: 04 June, 2021, 08:04:55 AM »

Biggest impediment to Meg purchases remains the price. Not much you can do about that, although the digital option helps. Even so, I remain a casual reader, rather than an irredeemable addict. What would change that, I wonder?

Agree that the most interesting Meg stuff has often been non-Dreddworld (and often creator-owned): I'd list Lily MacKenzie, Realm of the Damned, Family, Ordinary, Numbercruncher, Demon Nic as some of my favourites. Replacing any of those with Funny Looking Judge Uniform/Cursed Earth Ensemble Story would be undesirable. The extent to which the appeal of Meg all-timers like Insurrection, Lawless and Devlin Waugh have had any need for the Dredd setting is also debatable, but that might be a self-defeating argument, since telling good, distinct, different stories under the marketable Dredd masthead was surely the goal.

As it is, I often find the actual Judge Dredd (or Anderson, or Dark Judges) strips in the Meg to be of relatively little draw, unless they are Wagner outings or extensions of stories I'm reading in the prog. I'm not in the "retire compulsory Dredd" campaign, but I probably get enough of the big chin week to week.  When I do consciously seek out the Meg, it's something else that's caught my eye, and that's often a favourite creator name (e.g. an all-new new Simon Fraser, Pye Parr, PJ Holden, Dan Abnett etc strip, and I'll find the money).

6

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 03 June, 2021, 08:10:24 PM »

Except... how can you say the third film is awful?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzidu-5iVRk

Best thing thing I've seen all week.

FTR,  I like the Matrix, and think it's a good film, but I don't really love it. At some point the SF underpinning is just too silly (for me) for a movie that takes itself so seriously.

I do however think highly of the second one, I liked the idea and execution of the ghosts and whatnot.

And I'm enjoying all the metaphors being explored on this thread, most of which hadn't occured to me: I confess the trench coats, sunglasses, redpills, and guns, lots of guns, had swamped my perceptions with their veneer of school-shooter cool. May have to re-watch.

7

General / Re: Richard Elson or Carlos Ezquerra - Artists Ryder Cup Current vs Classic - Tie 24

« on: 03 June, 2021, 07:55:25 PM »

Ezquerra is awful.

You're dead to me, Solo.

Erm ... awful as in awfully good?

Creating a generation filled with awe.

8

General / Re: Richard Elson or Carlos Ezquerra - Artists Ryder Cup Current vs Classic - Tie 24

« on: 03 June, 2021, 01:01:18 PM »

Ah well,  it had to happen to someone. It's a measure of the pure joy that Elson's art has always given me, , right from Shadows through Lawcon, Atavar, Marauder,  Kingdom and F&F that he's stealing that single point from the King, he who needs neither introduction nor justification.


Super Squirrel 4, Son of El 1.

9

General / Re: Things that went over your head...

« on: 02 June, 2021, 08:36:59 PM »

I certainly never noticed this until just now but check out the badge names on those judges in this Fabry Dredd panel... 

Won't somebody think of the children!

Great spot, I never would have seen this.

10

Prog / Re: Prog 2234: Plummet of the Ape

« on: 02 June, 2021, 06:44:47 PM »

Love the cover image, but drokk me that lettering does it no favours. Turns something stylish into a cheap mess.

11

General / Re: Clint Langley or Glenn Fabry - Artists Ryder Cup Current vs Classic - Tie 23

« on: 02 June, 2021, 06:39:55 PM »

Glenn then, Clint now?

Fabry's Sláine was a revelation, at least by the time we'd reached Tomb of Grimnismal, and still that first run of The King, with Niamh, "Megrim" and all the personalities of the Sessair was like nothing we'd ever seen before. In a strip defined by the most magnificent variety of art, it remains breathtaking.

Unfortunately, I feel his incredible detail led Sláine down a specific path just as much as Bisley's paints did, so that in the post-Horned God era we were tied to ever more elaborate, exquisite densely-worked art (its apotheosis being his own Demon Killer), a standard that slowed the strip down to a visual pace that would have seemed impossible when McMahon and Bellardinelli were breezing along at the easel.

I don't like his Dredd much, and beyond that, there's not a massive amount for the HoT, although I've enjoyed his recent short stuff.

Langley has a similar obsession with hyper detail, and while I've disliked an unhealthy proportion of his stuff, so much of it is absolutely sublime, and brother there is a hell of a lot of it. I like him best when he hasan ink pen in his hand, and his ABC Warriors/RoBusters, Sexy Ostriches, Books of Invasions and particularly Lord of Misrule are all extraordinary. The less said about my thoughts on Flesh and some of his later Sláine the better, but I'm really looking forward to his work on Joe Pineapples.

It's a hard call for me, but I think Sláine's inauguration episode carries the day, even against the amazing world of colour that Books of Invasions created.

So Glenn 3, Clint 2.

12

Off Topic / Re: Things that went over your head (non-prog-related)

« on: 02 June, 2021, 04:59:14 PM »

It's just occurred to me that Cruella DeVil's surname is a play on 'devil'.  In my defence, I've never seen any film with her in it.

Never copped that one myself.

13

Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 01 June, 2021, 02:24:19 PM »

Finally ground my way to the end of King's Hearts in Atlantis, which I found to be a bit of a mess,  and far from "the great novel of the Boomer generation" I've seen it presented as.

What it actually is are some very strong short stories pointlessly hacked-about and stitched together to make them fit into a book-length spin-off from The Dark Tower series. The problem is that some sections are compelling non- or just-maybe-supernatural tales of the Vietnam era, and others are full-on inter-dimensional superfiend territory. The linking thread is a Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants-style baseball glove , but even its otherwise-prosaic journey between the characters is gazumped by an unexplained event where it literally falls out of the sky, having last been seen as the begging prop of a penitent Vet.

Perhaps this all makes sense if you've read all of Dark Tower, I'll be fecked if I care. Annoyingly I'd have really enjoyed most of these stories as standalones, or loosely overlapping like in his magnificent Different Seasons, it's the bodging and the dribbly conclusion that lets it down for me.  King has observed that no-one wants to buy his novellas or collections, so here we are. Can't win 'em all.

14

General / Re: Now I Know My ABCs...

« on: 01 June, 2021, 01:53:49 PM »

Let there be no mistake: this is stonkingly good resource. It's just eaten my entire lunch,   if you get my meaning.

15

General / Re: Simon Fraser or Carl Critchlow - Artists Ryder Cup Current vs Classic - Tie 22

« on: 01 June, 2021, 10:12:15 AM »

Fraser 4, Critchlow 1.

I love Critchlow's ever-evolving work,  and have done for (checks notes) almost 40 years (Pre-2000AD work acknowledged but not considered)  but Fraser gives me the best architecture, exciting page layouts and the most believable people. I was reading Family last night, and Simon has been this consistently good for years now.