A unexpected treat -- the first prog of the New Year arriving in a timely manner.
Cover: hmm ... a bit less striking than the usual Cliff Robinson covers.
Dredd: a pretty typical Michael Carroll scene-setter with the usual (slightly irritating) machine-gun-style introduction of new characters. Anyway, nice to see it building on a half-forgotten plot device from long ago. What is the significance of [spoiler]Cadet Odessa[/spoiler]? Could this link back to Carroll's [spoiler]Dredd tale The Forsaken from roughly 8 years ago[/spoiler]? Lovely to see Will Simpson back.
Durham Red: sorry, not doing it for me.
Slaine: I've long felt that Slaine ran out of steam decades ago. However, there's no denying that the artwork is terrific and Mills' writing is great here.
Proteus Vex: Jake Lynch has done such a good job that I hadn't even noticed the change of artist until someone pointed it out. Enjoyable techno-gibberish!
Hershey: as so many have already stated, this really should have used new characters (leaving Hershey gracefully dead). Beautiful art but not sure where this is going.
Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eqjy-aVXUAESqou?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover plus logo:
(https://i2.wp.com/www.comicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Screenshot-2020-12-16-00.44.14.png?resize=768%2C996&ssl=1)
Proteus Vex and Slaine both look good but the stories leave me cold.
Durham Red is good but slight.
Hershey is the stand out story in this line up.
That Will Simpson art on Dredd? Jesus I wouldn't even run that in my self published PARAGON.
It's a good job I'm a subscriber or I wouldn't be picking this current run up.
Oh its landed on a Monday - so we're pretty much back to normal and everything will be fine any... they what... until when...
...okay lets see how it goes this time hey! Tharg got us through the last one - I'll remember to praise him if he pulls off the same this time!
Anyway this week we're okay.
Dredd - I spend too long trying to work out how I felt about Will Simpson's art and had to read this twice. It was a decent story which sets up a lot to be interest by but does little more. We'll need to see how this one uses the ideas and plot points set up here.
Durham Red - again enjoyed this a great deal - just feel the [spoiler]cool cop[/spoiler] got away with [spoiler]not being dead[/spoiler] or is that going to be a plot point? Still this is great.
Slaine - its okay - defo see why folks go crazy for the art but I'm finding it a bit fussy if technically brilliant. The story, well its developing still so we'll see huh.
Proteus Vex develops it plot nicely but again like Dredd it will all be in how it uses this. Looks fantastic though.
Hershey looks astonishing too and the story is starting to fizz up. This one is the best of both worlds and best thing in the Prog for me.
Decent if not astonishing Prog. Hopefully Tharg will be able to keep it coming.
Colin, your opening Salvo made me laugh out loud. Thanks, much needed good Sir!
I like the cover, with Red looking like she could snap you in two rather than standing there in her pants. The strip itself hasn't yet grabbed me in the manner its predecessor did, but I'm happy to give it a go. The same, to some extent, goes for Proteus Vex, which I think warrants a re-read of the first part.
Dredd is a solid opener for me. I always liked Simpson's art—and especially his South America stuff—and so I'm happy enough to see him return. The last page set the scene for something interesting.
Sláine looks rather nice. Some artists are more clean than others. This feels more like a Fabry than a Bisley, for example. The script is fine so far—part new things; part greatest hits. Either way, I guess this is it unless Mills has a change of heart. Not sure how I feel about that—Sláine has had long periods of running on empty, and SHOUTY ALL CAPS FIGHT still sits in my memory as a recent nadir. But the first book of the previous run was magical, and a lot of the Books of Invasion were solid fare.
Which leaves Hershey. I get why this has pissed people off, but I like it. It's not deep, but it is interesting, gets through a lot in its limited run time, and looks really great. And, whatever else is going on, we have an ageing female lead—a rarity in comics, and almost unheard of in 2000 AD.
A good enough prog to kick-off the year (maybe a slight let-down after the highs of the xmas prog), still a good start to the year.
Dredd – I am not always sure what to make off Will Simpson's art. I was never a fan of his colouring and here it is apparent why I do not like it; it gives a very messy, disorganized feel to the art. Story wise the plot is interesting, and we end with a nice what next scene.
Durham Red – The story continues and with Red now "free" and intrigue here is why is she wanted and by whom. Enjoying it with good art by Ben.
Slaine – One thing that was always true about any Slaine story and that is the great art that supported the script. As previous series the art is still great unfortunately the story lacks a little bit of something. It is an action-fest from beginning to end told out off a survivor's perspective.
Proteus Vex – What a wonderful sci-fi world that Mike has created here. Some weird and wacky concepts which I really like. Jake Lynch is not standing back an inch with his art. Great stuff all around.
Hershey – I am interested into where the story is heading. I like this new style of Simon wonderful stuff.
A tale of two read-throughs.
Had a first look late last night. Tired, fed up of another day's lock-down, distracted by the events in the US and suffering from an inflamed chilblain, the dense plots and backstory-heavy narratives of Dredd, Hershey and Proteus Vex went right over my head and my thrill-craving was only sated by the more instant and visceral thrills of Slaine and Durham Red.
This morning, more awake and relatively refreshed, I gave the prog a second read and, able to pay proper attention, found myself more able to appreciate the stories by Carroll and Williams.
So on the whole, taking everything into account and weighing up all sides, what at first seemed an unbalanced prog is in fact satisfying and extremely well-rounded.
And on the subject of Judge Fuertez...
I've only read Dredd, Sláine and Hershey so far. Hershey... well, I've expressed my thoughts on undoing her epic and touching death scene. Not a bad story but I really, really hate that resurrected Hershey is the main character.
Dredd was ok; but as others have said it's far from Will Simpson's best work. I'm not quite sure what I'm meant to be looking at on the last page - [spoiler]are they just bigger rocks, or are they some kind of spaceships[/spoiler]?
Sláine has very nice art and packs a bit of punch storywise; the strip's best years are behind it but this is keeping me entertained.
I think it's supposed to be a whole group of buildings built on one of the larger rocks.
There was a 'death-belt' in one of the early instalments of The Cursed Earth, wasn't there? Sure I can remember giant rats leaping off the rocks to attack the village below. Which obviously explains why Dredd says here that's it's "Been a while since I saw one of those up close".
Is it ever explained how rocks manage to fly through the air (beyond 'gravitational anomalies'?)
Quote from: norton canes on 07 January, 2021, 03:41:56 PM
Is it ever explained how rocks manage to fly through the air (beyond 'gravitational anomalies'?)
Full of helium, obviously. I mean, why do you think the moon doesn't fall on us? Helium. Can't argue with science, man.
Good start to Dredd this week. I got a kick from seeing the Death Belt make a reappearance. Will anyone give me odds on Tweak appearing next week? I have to admit I like this brighter Will Simpson art, in comparison to some of his previous muddy work.
I'm liking Durham Red too. There's something interesting being set up here.
Slaine is engaging me for the first time in a long time. The warp spasm is a lovely take on Berlardinelli's bonkers version.
Watching Mike develop the relationship between Proteus Vex and Midnight Indicating Shame is really enjoyable. MIS is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in the prog.
Quote from: norton canes on 07 January, 2021, 03:41:56 PM
I think it's supposed to be a whole group of buildings built on one of the larger rocks.
There was a 'death-belt' in one of the early instalments of The Cursed Earth, wasn't there? Sure I can remember giant rats leaping off the rocks to attack the village below. Which obviously explains why Dredd says here that's it's "Been a while since I saw one of those up close".
Is it ever explained how rocks manage to fly through the air (beyond 'gravitational anomalies'?)
I've had a good hard look at it, but it's still not clear to me. I really like Will Simpson - his early Ciudad Barranquilla stuff was amazing, and his work on the Rogue Trooper reboot was perfect for the job, but I just can't get my head around this. Kind of reminded me of that Past Imperfect story where it turned out that [spoiler]JFK assassinated Nixon, but it didn't look anything like JFK during the big reveal.[/spoiler]
Quite enjoyed the Durham Red story, now I've read it. She does sound a bit American for a Northern lass, mind you, but then Johnny Alpha sounded more like a cowboy than an Englishman for much of his career.
My copy finally rocked up this weekend, a full week late.
Dredd: I'm not a huge fan of Will Simpson's painted art:looks great something nightmarish like War Machine but otherwise I find it a bit loose. That said, it feels like a cool thing to have it back, if that makes sense. Nothing much to the story yet other than setup and 'here's a list of people who will die in this story'
Durham Red: After a cool setup last week this is a very slight episode, plus [spoiler]the cop and the stront survive[/spoiler] so the bad guys already look somewhat like chumps. Momentum lost imo.
Slaine: This looks absolutely immense but again a very slight epsiode and we've heard it all before so it feels like old hat. Sorry.
Proteus Vex: Top thrill this week for me. A dense episode with a lot of crazy ideas, which is what I like about this strip, and Midnight is coming into her own as a foil for the stoic Vex. Right now the story hasn't hooked me, but the ride is enjoyable.
Hershey: Tried hard to get into this but there's so much I find rotten about the concept (recyling of dead characters, daft Enceladus energy plot etc.) I just can't.
All rounded off with the news of another Regened prog coming up :'(
So basically this prog wasn't a winner for me. I'm not really sure why, mlost of it just felt a bit lacking. As someone said above, if I wasn't a subscriber I wouldn't have bought this one. This happens with an anthology comic, hoping as the stories unwind a bit I end up feeling it more.
Great to see Simpson back on Dredd and CB, still as unique and exciting as ever. Not as keen on Carroll's weltenbummler mode (here adding flying shanty-cities to his floating and underground ones), as I am on his gangland/cit-centric stories, so I'm vaguely hoping this ties back to the Kindred etc.
Those still puzzling the Death Belts should note that the concept was previously revisited at more length in Missionary Man, and in a rather good Black Museum short: in essence debris lofted into perpetual low-altitude jet streams created by nuclear blasts, latterly with added magnetic and gravitational anomaly justification. It's all good.
Not sure about precedent for Year 3 cadets going on Hotdog Runs, but this is post-Chaos, so who knows what shape the accelerated curriculum has taken. Interesting that Hershey is also in CB at the minute, maybe we'll see a reprise of the Carroll/Williams soft-collab around Enceladus?
Good rich broth, this.
Durham Red recaptures the stylish freshness of the first reboot story, with Willsher's incredibly sharp art and a nice action-slash-mystery setup. Hope it continues in this, erm, vein.
Sláine. There's no denying Manco's utter brilliance, the zoom function on my tablet is in continual use getting into ever microscopically detailed nook and cranny, each background figure lovingly designed, but... I actually find this style too heavy, with my eye halting on each page, sometimes each panel, while I try to take it all in. And this isn't entirely optional: there are pages both this week and last where I really had to work at it to find out what was going on, and who was doing what to whom where. I prefer my comics to move, rather than be a series of glorious posters at playing-card size. Luckily Pat's script is leisurely if wordy, so the reading experience isn't too disjointed.
If this is really the final Sláine then it's fitting that Manco gives us a version that echoes Gal and Druillet, much as Angie Kincaid's opening chapter did, albeit in a very different way.
Proteus Vex probably takes top spot for me this week, it's busy creating such a fun world with some memorable characters, and Lynch's more fluid take on the Vex-shell is tickling my fancy. If a cosmic interweb based on giant transparent testicles isn't 2000AD I don't know what is.
Hershey I won't be discussing beyond expressing ongoing awe at Fraser's work.
Still trying to keep up with my progs but here are my top 3 for Prog 2213
Maybe if I keep doing this, end of year awards may be easier :)
1st - Slaine. Dragons, great art. Enjoyed this type of Slaine much more than Psychopomp etc
2nd - Durham Red.
3rd - Hershey.