After moaning about the last couple of Progs, I was keen to take this one in a more measured manner when it dropped through the letterbox bright and early this morning, and a (reasonably) quiet morning at work meant I've been able to read it. Here we go!
Dredd. Not enjoying this story at all I'm afraid. Everything seems tremendously contrived and it lacks any wackiness or any interesting hook to draw me in. Will Simpson's painted art isn't working for me either - at its best it can be tremendously atmospheric but here I find it awkward and messy and what's more I can't shake the negative connotations it brings back to me of reading terrible 90s comics. Nice bit of graffiti on the side of the shipping container thing Dredd and the others are sealed up in though.
Slaine Dragons attack and [spoiler]Slaines new magic Dad talks them into killing themselves[/spoiler]. Try as I might to appreciate what might be our last take on the character, this is just dreadful. Looking for positives it's far from the worst Slaine story I've read and it still looks just amazing. The dragons themselves are a real highlight.
Durham Red More time for this now I'm understanding the story more as a Precinct-13 style siege. It's one of those episodes where a lot happens, but nothing also happens in terms of moving the plot forward, which is fine because the plot is 'fighting'. I do like Ben Willsher's designs.
Proteus Vex Top thrill again. Once again there is a lot of dialogue but unlike, say, Slaine it feels interesting and fully realised. I haven't got much of a clue what is happening but I assume this is intentional. Little weird touches in the art like the guys on the bridge of the ship are great, and Midnight is becoming the star of this strip: she's a good foil to the stoic Vex.
Hershey Why is anyone training Frank to be a boxer when he only has one eye? Minor niggle but when you're negatively disposed towards the strip anyway these things crop up. Digging a lot of the art, especially the facial expressions , but it all just still feels wrong.
Cool cover though!
Cover by Mark Montague:
If you can remember he won the 2000AD Art Stars competition in 2018:
https://2000ad.com/news/interview-2000-ad-art-stars-winner-mark-montague/ (https://2000ad.com/news/interview-2000-ad-art-stars-winner-mark-montague/)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Err5O_QXUAEf6If?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and logo:
(https://i1.wp.com/downthetubes.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/img_8720.jpg?resize=768%2C1010&ssl=1)
That is especially lovely without the logo etc. Could be on an 80s D&D sourcebook.
I'm going to say something controversial at the start here... I prefer the art on the cover to the art on Slaine the strip. Both are technically really very good. There's something fresher about the colours on the cover that keep the energy and verve of the image. Where the colours on the strip and amount in a similar palette panel to panel can cramp and kill the energy at time in the strip. Clearly one cover image is very different to 7 (plus) pages of strip but the comparison did strike me,
ANYWAY.. that's not why we're here really.
Dredd - you know this is feeling quite average now. I'm not blown away by the art in places and the script just feels like so many old ideas rolled out again. Its not horrible but its not great.
And then the action section of the Prog starts. Durham Red is fun, frisky and energetic. Its is straight forward action but its entirely engaging.
Slaine on the other hand. Well how much dragon riding, axe chopping, side turning, fire breathing action be so... well dull. The comparison between this and Durham Red is striking. Slaine feels overblown and bloated. Durham Red lithe and energetic.
Proteus Vex seems to be continuing the action episode theme with a brisk start but then flips and starts to craft worlds and place. Its a great episode, with a fun, gross ending.
Hershey well what can you say it superb. The balance between to two story strands, the way the interweave their theme which being independent and insightful in and of themselves. The grit of the end. Its sublime. I know some folks seem on the outs with this one on principle but really this should be read in its own right as its fantastic and the art is utterly dynamic.
Overall there are some real highs in this Prog its just not consistent enough to be great.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 January, 2021, 08:34:24 PM
I'm going to say something controversial at the start here... I prefer the art on the cover to the art on Slaine the strip. Both are technically really very good. There's something fresher about the colours on the cover that keep the energy and verve of the image. Where the colours on the strip and amount in a similar palette panel to panel can cramp and kill the energy at time in the strip. Clearly one cover image is very different to 7 (plus) pages of strip but the comparison did strike me,
Not sure what size it was originally painted in, but I think
Manco's glorious art really would really benefit from the oversized hardback treatment when it comes to collecting.
The Prog's dimensions seem just a little to cramped to let the art breath and fulfill its potential. :thumbsup:
A good solid prog with some little bumps on the road.
Dredd – The story for me is the part that keeps the whole thing running. We have a setup, and the last part is where the action is kicking in and we have now one final stretch to the finale.
Durham Red – Action heavy episode with no time to breath but only to absorb Willsher's glorious art.
Slaine – As I was reading this episode, I could not put my finger on it but this whole story has a very déjà vu feeling to it. This is familiar ground we have been here before another Mills story that is repeating itself. Slaine leaves, in his absence his tribes get bullied by (fill in your historical name here), he comes back, he saves the day, he kills the new boss level, load the next level (wait is the final boss?). Art thou are still fantastic, story wise I am not totally bought yet.
Proteus Vex – As the action was heavy the last episode, we now have time to delve deeper into the main story. This is just great sci-fi story and the nice thing is that Lynch's art does not hold back. Lovey stuff all around.
Hershey – An awesome episode, I just like the way how the past storyline interwoven with the present. Can not say how good Simon's art is, fantastic use of the colour palette. This and Vex my highlights of the prog.
Dredd: The art of Dredd, is mostly terrible and it pains me to say it. Was always one of my favourite droids, but this isn't good. The odd bit is great, but overall it feels messy.
Not enjoying my prog, save for Vex. The reasons have been articulated in the last few prog threads by various forumites.
But that's the joy of it. New strips soon enough.
Really struggling with Dredd. The whole thing just feels a bit messy. I think there's an ok story in here somewhere but I'm struggling to follow it.
Durham on the other hand is some nice straightforward action. It's a solid episode.
I really want to like Slaine. Those dragons are stunning. That ending splash page is superb. The story is just a bit naff though. Dragon rider is guilt tripped by magic into killing his comrades and it's all over, meh.
Which brings me to the highlight of the prog Proteus Vex. This is really going from strength to strength. As the action wraps up we get a bit more plot and a gross out ending from Midnight. Surprised not to see a collected edition of this on Thargs list for 2021 - it'll be a must buy from me when it eventually lands.
Hershey looks amazing, Simon's use of colour and panel layouts is masterful. The young Hershey backstory is nicely interwoven with the current plot lines. This one is building up nicely.
Sorry to hear about Matt. I hope he recovers (or recovered) fairly quickly.
Quote from: Anthony Garnon on 20 January, 2021, 12:06:04 PM
Sorry to hear about Matt. I hope he recovers (or recovered) fairly quickly.
Just read the Damage Report too - very best wishes to CyberMatt and family.
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 January, 2021, 12:51:46 PM
Just read the Damage Report too - very best wishes to CyberMatt and family.
I hear that The Mighty One applied a couple of medical-grade Rigellian Hotshots and told him to get back to work. There's nothing like excrutiating pain and a cut in your oil rations to focus the self-repair circuits, so CyberMatt is now back to working us all like our non-attendance at Mek-Quake's lair depends on it.*
*Which it does, obviously.
Confirmed - raw Thrill Power is unfortunately not a vaccine.
Best wishes to TMO & family.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 January, 2021, 01:02:48 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 January, 2021, 12:51:46 PM
Just read the Damage Report too - very best wishes to CyberMatt and family.
I hear that The Mighty One applied a couple of medical-grade Rigellian Hotshots and told him to get back to work. There's nothing like excrutiating pain and a cut in your oil rations to focus the self-repair circuits, so CyberMatt is now back to working us all like our non-attendance at Mek-Quake's lair depends on it.*
*Which it does, obviously.
That's good to hear and hope all is well in the Nerve Centre. Its depressing that lack of coverage we are getting about the impact of Covid disease on Droids. Its as if the press think these childhood fantasies of 2000ad being produced by robots is a work of fiction deserving of no attention. Scandalous
Best wishes CyberMatt
Hoping CyberMatt has fully recovered.
The prog is in one of those middling phases for me at the moment- with Slaine being sensational to look at, but a bit wobbly on the story. Durham Red is probably the best strip (if one were to apply a points system based on clarity and skill across the various disciplines), with Hershey being either absolutely brilliant or shockingly bad, depending on your point of view. The shifting shoulder pads this week- as pointed out elsewhere by eagle eyed Albion were distressing.
Vex was clear and easy to follow this week, but I still have absolutely no idea what it's about. I really should go back and read the first series again. And Dredd is... well, sorry, but it's not great. The first page this week briefly made me think things had improved, but then the constant wash of purples and lack of definition between characters and backgrounds just lost me. Maybe it's the printing, he says hopefully.
Beautiful cover though.
SBT
I seem to be in a contrary mood this week, because I rather liked both Dredd and Sláine.
While I suffered some jet-packer confusion, and sighed a bit as Competent New Sidekick released perennially helpless Dredd, voted "Justice Dept Officer most likely to be incapacitated in the line of duty 10 years running" I'm actually finding the colourful gory action to be a lot of fun. Very old-school styles from both Carroll and Simpson, no doubt about it, but entertaining.
Sláine ticked my boxes, lovely action and design, and this is the first episode where I've seen any sign of Manco having even a hint of Bisley in his work (which has thus far been closer to Power or even Staples to my eye), coinciding with much clearer storytelling.
I don't really understand how or why Duban is manifesting the way he is (using Sláine as a sort of conduit?), or why Sláine seems obsessed with his paternal line when he's been busily asserting Macha's primacy in his origins. I also wonder is Duban even dead. The last thing we learnt about him is that he took his family away from the now-lost lands of the Sessair to live in Albion. Either way, it's an interesting development.
As to the rest of the plot, I don't think it is particularly repetitive, or unoriginal. New Troy and Brutus were introduced way back in Books of Invasion I: Moloch (2003) as providing the Formorians with a foothold in Albion, way back when the Tuatha de Dannan still existed in 'this' dimension. It's outside New Troy that he takes revenge on Moloch.
Since Sláine left Ireland to Gael's people, he's been bumming around Albion as an independent contractor doing random things, mourning Niamh and his people, and generally moping about rudderless, until in Brutannia Chronicles he again finds the Trojans enabling the Drunes with their foothold on Monadh, and finally decides to get a shave and take action against them. So Dragontamer represents Sláine's return to the role of liberator of the Goddess' land in fulfillment of plot threads that go back almost 20 years. It's less a 'Slaine fights another set of baddies' redskins, and more a culmination of the long 5th phase of his story (Outcast, High King/Horned God, Warrior in Time, Defender of Ireland, Wanderer).
As a final thought, what are these "sacs" Sláine is going on about? I initially thought they might be bags that would go over the dragons' heads to calm (tame?) them, but then I started wondering if this might also be the 'Bolg' (usually translated as either bag or stomach) that gave the Fir Bolg their name, one of the invading tribes of the actual Book of Invasions (the Lebor Gabála) that IIRC haven't yet shown up by name in Sláine*.
Perhaps tellingly the current story is apparently set in Mayo and Sligo, the putative locations of the Battles of Magh Tuireadh, at one of which the Tuatha Dé fought the Fir Bolg.
So as you can see, I'm getting a lot of fun out of it!
*Although many of the tribes of the Goddess we have met would technically be their descendants or members, most notably King Sláine himself, the order of things in Sláine is... novel.
Sheesh, for 'redskins' read 're-skin'. Pat's no Robert E Howard.
Excellent cover - I'd be more than happy to see Mark Montague put on regular cover duty.
The ruse pulled by Duban on the dragon commander is a nice conceit and a better alternative than two further pages of hack-and-slay, though I'm not quite sure it convinces us the guy is a family-loving man at heart. Also, I don't think knowing that tyrants 'secretly lose' is much consolation (or that it's true at all). When it comes to tyrants I'd greatly prefer that they very publicly, comprehensively and unambiguously lose - every time, no exceptions.
Elsewhere Vex and Red are rattling along brilliantly, with Jake Lynch particularly putting in some excellent work. Does Commander Tross have one leg on backwards? Superb stuff. It's a shame Mike Carroll hasn't brought any of Vex's lightness of touch to his current Dredd story, which I'm afraid is lumbering along somewhat. Hershey is a good read, the Academy backstory adding interest to the still slightly underwhelming boxing plot. I know pugilism has always made for gritty subject matter but you'd have perhaps thought that with 2000 AD being sci-fi and all that, Frank might have been involved in a more fantastical gladiatorial endeavour..?
Wishing Matt a full and speedy recovery.
Quote from: norton canes on 21 January, 2021, 11:40:43 AM
. Does Commander Tross have one leg on backwards?
I think she has three legs, one of which indeed points backwards. I wonder is this an indication that she too, and maybe all of Vex's people, just inhabit custom-made bodies as vehicles?
Quote from: TordelBack on 21 January, 2021, 11:51:38 AM
Quote from: norton canes on 21 January, 2021, 11:40:43 AM
. Does Commander Tross have one leg on backwards?
I think she has three legs, one of which indeed points backwards. I wonder is this an indication that she too, and maybe all of Vex's people, just inhabit custom-made bodies as vehicles?
Yes, she has three legs as stated by Tordel. I like your theory related to the bodies are custom-made or something like Alter Carbon where you can re-sleeve or in this case take it for a ride (so on home planet these bodies are maybe coin-operated)
Im going to have to dig out Series 1 for a re-read, get a sense of the rules for the little pilot-guy that is Vex himself.
This is my habitual definition of success for a strip: I want to re-read the previous series because the current run has me engaged. Otherwise I tend to shrug, and just assume I've missed something.
Vex is a flesh-pilot. The term is used in the end of the episode 5, prog 2166 and then in beginning of episode 6 more is revealed about them.
I'm enjoying this Dredd story. Will Simpson does good chaos. His combat scenes on the last two pages are particularly energetic and frenetic. Compare that with Ben Wilshire's Durham Red art work which is at the opposite end of the spectrum: tightly choreographed and beautifully draughted.
It sums up what I love about the prog that only a page turn separates these two styles. Both of these stories are working for me for different reasons.
Slaine is thoroughly enjoyable. Pat Mills is on a roll here, and Manco's art is fantastic. I love his full page bleed with floating panels.
Proteus Vex has to be top thrill for me at the moment: a bonkers storyline, brilliant characters, great dialogue, lovely art.
This is the first prog of the year that's starting firing on most cylinders for me. I wasn't sure why at first but think it's because Dredd has picked up and that crucial first thrill slot sets the tone. That seque-ing into Durham Red, with its excellent Willsher action art and we're into a good momentum.
How long though did it take Manco to do some of this Slaine? It must have been ABSOLUTELY AGES. Some of its stunningly detailed, it really is. This will make a gorgeous collected edition.
Proteus Vex is getting easier to follow for my addled old brain, which is nice. Plus it looks totally bonkers which is always great. And the Hershey flashbacks worked well*.
*I'm still not sure we needed her back though, but's let not re-open that old chestnut again.
Same ratings order as last prog for me
1st - Proteus Vex - Enjoyable series will have to go back and reread series 1
2nd - Hershey - Flashbacks were cool
3rd - Slaine - insane art
Durham Red also going well.
Hope CyberMatt is fully back on deck by now
also wow!! what a cover