Early Paisley Prog to make up for last week's late one.
Great issue for me!
Cover by Dylan Teague is fine but I need something more exceptional if it's not a tier one strip on show - this one for 'The Order' is good but not that memorable.
Dredd is going great with a great reveal this week. My only moan is so much story and back story is being crammed in that it's going to be over too soon!
Gene does what he does in Kingdom, it's fine and looks good but it just seems to go around in circles.
I'm enjoying the retro fun of Ro-Busters - this could have been pulled from the 1978 2000ad annual and I'd be none the wiser. Fun stuff.
The Order isn't really doing it for me but I'll take a few luch John Burns pages in any Prog.
Alpha keeps looking for his brain - I've never really bought into the reboot stories and this isn't changing my mind. OK but just by-the-numbers stuff.
Overall a good and enjoyable Prog with no letters page.
I can't agree with you about Alpha. Repo Men and the previous story have been just like the old-school stories.
No Prog in Sheff... again... :(
Still the still Crickets on, the Rugby starts today & the footy looks quite spicy this weekend... not the same Saturday tho with no proggage!
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/1967_zpsza9gl6li.jpg)
Patrick Goddard. Colours by Dylan Teague
Get in! The Prog was in my local comic shop and I only popped in to buy my convention ticket. Best I read it when I get home :D
Dread's rattling along nicely, but I agree with Buttonman it could have used more room to breathe. Kingdom's great, and I'm enjoying Strontium Dog, but Ro-Busters has pretty much left me. Ret-con + repeat doesn't really float my boat. (How many times can Pat Mills tell certain stories, and from how many angles? Will we see this scene yet again in a decade?)
The Order was mostly enjoyed by my 19-month-old, who decided this morning that 2000 AD was in fact hers. She likes spotting animals in her books, so cheerily pointed at all the horses. She was less interested in Dredd and then started demolishing Duplo.
Cover: Nice enough, but maybe needed some better colouring or something....dunno what it lacks, but it lacks something!
Dredd: Have to agree with Buttonman, looks like this is rampaging towards conclusion....would have liked it to play out a bit longer....but can't complain at the quality art. I would say it seemed a bit rash of DeMarco to do what she did so soon with no apparent need....surely a wee bit of time keeping the head down to get a better opportunity to make her move would have been prudent?
Kingdom: Continues on it's merry way, happy to be along for the ride.
Ro-Busters: As IndigoPrime says....it's reads like a repeat. Art is still engaging...but my interest in the story is waning week on week.
The Order: Continues to be mental, confusing and generally hatstand.
Strontium Dog: I have to admit, as others have said, it isn't the most exciting tale ever, but I'm still enjoying this outing I have to say. It's certainly got possibilities to go for a while, with many ups and downs. We'll see how it goes.
Quote from: Jacqusie on 06 February, 2016, 12:39:21 PM
No Prog in Sheff... again... :(
Well it seems I got lucky cos in these here high parts of Sheff my Prog arrived and its a beaut. The lack of activity in the Prog thread last week is pretty much a sure sign that things are on solid, steady form. We've seen it before when the Prog hits a nice little stride the reviews can dry up as there's not much to say other than 'That's a damned fine Prog,
again.' . So...
...that's a damned fine Prog again today.
As you were and as you were is very good. Including Ro-Busters for the second week on the bounce. Happy subscriber = malnourished review thread.
I've got no idea why Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws swapped heads when they jumped out of the Preying Mantis o_O
Am I the only one that thinks that Ro Busters like a lot of Mr Mills out put in recent times is getting money for old rope.
Let's tell exactly the same story as I told years ago but make it longer.
No, you are not. It's a bit shit too, as when he is on his game, he is great, but he seems to be phoning in the scripts of late.
Quote from: mejustnow on 06 February, 2016, 08:53:14 PM
I've got no idea why Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws swapped heads when they jumped out of the Preying Mantis o_O
In they original story, the robots have standard fittings, and it annoys the supervisors if parts are swapped.
They did it to annoy the supervisor droid, and when he came down to the pod, they overpowered him.
The detail on p1 of Kingdom is staggering! But those secret judges will struggle to run MC1 based on their poor approach to storing heavy aircraft.
Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 06 February, 2016, 08:58:48 PM
No, you are not. It's a bit shit too, as when he is on his game, he is great, but he seems to be phoning in the scripts of late.
Defoe and Savage are about all the original series he's writing right now. Saline has some nice ideas but often wonders into fan wank material.
Sláine's a weird one. I really liked the first book of the current run. It had a kind of oddball mysticism that reminded me of Hellboy, and the art was fantastic. The second book just didn't click. The art remained strong, but the script fell back on the done-to-death tropes that permeate almost everything Mills writes these days. Where's the sense of fun? Everything's buried under so much ideology that it just feels like being repeatedly lectured to.
Quote from: eamonn1961 on 06 February, 2016, 12:41:37 PM
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/1967_zpsza9gl6li.jpg)
Patrick Goddard. Colours by Dylan Teague
I've finally figured out what is actually so 'offesive in the order' and that's putting the font in a crappy slanty angle to go along with the tipping carrage and then putting italics in it to boot!
Arrghh my OCD can't take this run of GCSE design a kit cover lettering much more!
:crazy:
Quote from: Jacqusie on 08 February, 2016, 12:33:00 AM
I've finally figured out what is actually so 'offesive in the order' and that's putting the font in a crappy slanty angle to go along with the tipping carrage and then putting italics in it to boot!
Arrghh my OCD can't take this run of GCSE design a kit cover lettering much more!
:crazy:
You might not like it but there is nothing "GCSE" about that lettering (or OCD).
Why not knock up your own version then, to show how it should be done?
I'm not sure what it is, but I'm really not enjoying The Order at the moment. The first story was great, but this one feels too....unfocused? Also, ABC Warriors has just never grabbed me.
Other than that, fantastic stuff. Really enjoying Ghosts.
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 08 February, 2016, 05:15:36 AM
You might not like it but there is nothing "GCSE" about that lettering (or OCD).
I'm afraid my OCD is very much triggered by the fact that the two slanted text elements have non-parallel baselines.
Cheers
Jim
I'm not a designer but I can see in the last few prog and meg covers what a great job PyeParr did.
That cover text does seem to be a bit, well, unprofessional shall we say?
Damage Report: is running late I think...
Dredd: Have to disagree with Buttonman, no reason except its him.
Kingdom: Great fun, looks like Whet upon whet!
Ro-Busters: my interest in the story is too weak to wane.
The Order: Enjoying this except that Ronald MacDonald hair wigs me out!
Strontium Dog: reads like something from twenty/thirty years ago, not a bad thing, just kinda outa time.
Thanks Ghost :wave:
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 09 February, 2016, 12:39:30 PM
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 08 February, 2016, 05:15:36 AM
You might not like it but there is nothing "GCSE" about that lettering (or OCD).
I'm afraid my OCD is very much triggered by the fact that the two slanted text elements have non-parallel baselines.
Cheers
Jim
Good christ! I thought their was something funny about the text but now I can't unsee it! :-\
Great issue - 4 strong strips & Dredd was stunning. I like the more tricksy type stuff - I hope 2000ad keeps a bit of experimentation on the cover. Mark Sexton is just a great artist. Dredd's assessment of DeMarco was oddly touching!
Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 February, 2016, 06:15:32 PM
Thanks Ghost :wave:
Tsk! He's at it again! He's stealin' ma stuffs! :'( I'm Telling Tharg on you! :p
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 08 February, 2016, 05:15:36 AM
Quote from: Jacqusie on 08 February, 2016, 12:33:00 AM
I've finally figured out what is actually so 'offesive in the order' and that's putting the font in a crappy slanty angle to go along with the tipping carrage and then putting italics in it to boot!
Arrghh my OCD can't take this run of GCSE design a kit cover lettering much more!
:crazy:
You might not like it but there is nothing "GCSE" about that lettering (or OCD).
I have OCD & I have trouble with Italic text being whacked into lines at an angle... lines which Jim points out are not perpendicular to the other text...
I'm not quite sure how you can say I don't have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as it's news to me...
Why not knock up your own version then, to show how it should be done?
[/quote]
From the admittedly very little I know about OCD – hardly anything, I saw a documentary on it recently: BBC Horizon OCD: A Monster in my Mind (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06874cc) – not liking a design, or being particular about a sense of order (ie book spines not matching) is not OCD. Someone has uploaded a video of the BBC programme online but I won't link to it as it's dodgy. Made for interesting viewing as the term is bandied about a lot nowadays. If anyone reading this has been diagnosed with OCD and I am talking nonsense – I apologise. I've come into contact with someone who I believe has the condition. It causes upset not just for the person concerned but for family, so I'm not trying to make light of it. And that's too much detail on that for a prog review thread.
Onto the design. I'm not saying I like the cover or if that's the best typographical treatment. Some of the secondary text is lacking in boldness on recent prog covers for my eye. I do like the way the reins cover up the main text. The designer(s) seem to be tackling integrating text into the cover illustrations using a different style to that of the previous design droid. I'm not saying they are always pulling it off but it's an interesting approach. Perhaps it's easier and safer to plaster the text over the illustrations and no one would say a word.
I don't know why the two sets of text aren't parallel. Perhaps the designer(s) tried that and it didn't sit right. Perhaps it was an oversight. But I don't think that's a deal breaker for the layout. And I just don't think its on to say the design is unprofessional or GCSE standard because it isn't. If that was the case, Rebellion might as well take on school leavers. Would be much cheaper and they could invest their saving into more colour comic strips and less crappy black and white (that last bit is a joke).
Mr Parr btw was exceptionally good.
And I've figured out why I don't like the illustration: I can't ride a horse.
The cover text didn't bother me at all. Don't see what the fuss is about! Also, I'm really enjoying this run of ABCs. Much prefer Langley's black and white line art, especially for strip work.
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 10 February, 2016, 04:25:01 AM
I don't know why the two sets of text aren't parallel. Perhaps the designer(s) tried that and it didn't sit right. Perhaps it was an oversight. But I don't think that's a deal breaker for the layout.
I'll be honest, I'm sorry I even mentioned it. It's not like it spoiled my enjoyment of a perfectly fine prog — I only looked at long enough to spot the problem because other people mentioned the design which, other than the odd mis-match of angles, I have no problem with.
(It's not as if I've never let something go to print because I meant to go back and change it but the deadline overtook me, or never been so enamoured with a design concept that I've let it blind me to the fact that the execution leaves something to be desired...)
Cheers
Jim
Not the best of covers, but I can't say the misaligned text bothered me! I feel sorry for the poor design droid if he ever stumble across this thread.
A good solid episode of Dredd and it's been a painfully long time since Demarco returned to Dredd proper as a supporting character (we don't count the dollybird who appeared in Trifecta, do we?) This being a Carroll script, the real success or failure of this strip is all going to hinge on next week's climax. It's definately been one of his better efforts so far, not least in part to that incredible artwork!
Kingdom feels a bit familiar now - we've been here before with the Bug King and a horde of Them beseiging a group of Aux. Continues to look gorgeous, though.
This ABC Warriors outing has been huge fun - both creators are obviously enjoying themselves no end. Hopefully we're about to step beyond the original ending of Ro-Busters (where Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein walked off into the sunset) to find out a bit more about what happened to them next.
I'm really enjoying the oblique, non-linear storytelling approach of The Order. We're being given all the who/what/where info we need but in an unusual, roundabout way. I'm also hoping that a third series is on the cards for the same set of characters (rather than skipping forward in time again); what's not to love about a displaced Aztec Queen striding angrily about Elizabethan London in hot pink leather catsuit...? Much like the first series I have no real idea where this is going and love that! A strip that I'll be re-reading in one go at the end, not because I got lost or forgot too much, but simply because I know I'll pick up on so much that I missed the first time through!
Strontium Dog is trundling a bit, but it's never less than enjoyable.
Thought Ro-Busters was great fun, framing familiar events in light of the current story very neatly, with the definite promise of a resolution for that cliffhanger, which is surely up there with Blackhawk and Dan Dare in the record for leaving us hanging. Seems Pat can't really win here though - he's caught between Squaxx who complain because they're expected to remember what happened last week, and Squaxx who complain because he's reprising events from over 35 years ago before moving forward. We're a tough room sometimes.
Quote from: SuperSurfer on 10 February, 2016, 04:25:01 AM
not liking a design, or being particular about a sense of order (ie book spines not matching) is not OCD.
There are many symptoms of OCD and I work with patients who have a wide range of behaviours and thought processes linked to it, some of which I share. It can sometimes make for quite an empathic relationship between us & I am always open to what may cause them vearying degrees of distress.
As you say, this is getting a little deep for a prog review, but always good to be talking about mental health in the 2000AD community.
I actually really like the cover and I think the Goddard/Teague pairing do some sterling work (more Mr Teague drawing please!) I just get a bit funky when the lovely art gets a bit of a raw deal by a bit of poor design work really...
I'm loving the Dredd story, something of shape of sinister things to come maybe? There are a few characters cropping up which might just be in the frame later in the year for the big spanish archer.
Stronty Dog, as people have aluded to feels and reads much better than some of the recent ressurection stories, it's enjoyable to read and Johnny is getting on with the job in hand rather than brooding & I like seeing some of the old Outlaw gang back in action.
I'm really looking forward to the new Indigo Prime crazyness soon!
Si
Prog is a bit weird for me just now, as it's not quite firing me up from cover to cover the way it generally does.
The highlights are Dredd (absolutely loving this story and the art is cracking) and Kingdom (it's just a big chase/fight, but damn it's a great chase/fight and again the artwork is gorgeous).
Elsewhere though just not feeling it for some reason. I enjoyed the first series of The Order but I have to confess to not really having much grasp (if any) of what's going on with this one, and I don't think I have the nostalgia for Ro-Busters that is maybe necessary to get into that strip (the whole ABC Warriors history has become a bit of a blob to me, what with every story these days being Hammerstein 'remembering his time as...' etc.).
Strontium Dog is pretty fun though, and looks great.
Probably just a taste thing with the other strips not clicking with me, but it means at the moment I'm buzzing for Dredd and Kingdom and then the rest of the prog takes a bit of a slide for me.
Got the Prog a day late this week, not because it wasn't in the shops but because I was working elsewhere yesterday. I wasn't going to bother commenting, but actually there was loads that interested me this week.
Dredd. Just great. I really like the fact that this has now picked up from a previous story. Indeed this to me is one of the great things about modern Dredd, that the way of telling the major stories is to break them down into chunks...so although disappointed this is finishing next week, I am assuming it is only the end of this chapter and we will definitely see Sector Zero again. To those who say Michael Carroll's Dredd is "dull", I say "are you kidding me?".
Kingdom. Great to see a name check for the producer of my all time favourite album.
ABC / Ro-busters. Ok..a tricky one ...now I like Pat Mill's stuff I really do, after all he is responsible for 3 out of my top 5 thrills of all time...but what we have here is basically most of the Fall and Rise of Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein in 5 pages. We have seen these kind of recaps before - in Slaine (e.g. the Wickerman and the death of Slaine's mother) and ABC Warriors (in the Black Hole recapping previous events in Nemesis) - and each time I have been thinking "yeah yeah we know all this...get on with it". But and I can defo see what Tordlelback is saying and in this case it is redeemed by the last page which promises to take this in an new an interesting direction. Anyway that is what I am hoping for.
(Funny thing about those top 5 thrills though - the 3 by Mills are in that list purely on the strength of their early books, where as the other 2 are, IMHO, as good as they have ever been),
The Order. Need to get the last few weeks Progs out and re-read.
Strontium Dog. Best thing in the Prog, by a short head from Dredd. Those two miles ahead of the rest (you know the other 2 top thrills I was referring to...take a wild guess).
The non-parallel baselines of the cover text look like a deliberate choice. The top of the word HARD runs parallel to the top of the coach and the first line of the subheading is flush with the bottom of the coach (and continues on through the deliberately aligned leg joints of both horses).
'Jean Luc' Goddard has exaggerated the angles of the coach to create a more dynamic image*, and the designer** has chosen to place the text in a manner sympathetic to the artist's image and intent, rather than impose themselves upon the work. That fits with the new ethos of integrating text within the cover image.
Mike Carroll's Bodymorph machine and implantation of "just enough" memory to include exactly the obscure detail Cheyenne would use to test whether DeMarco was really her sister are all a little too much like magic for me, but I'm enjoying the story so I'm not bothered.
Hopefully the last time we read about a secret group of hidden super judges in black trying to take over the city for a while, though. Ditto old judges tasked with guarding against disaster, who've always been there in the background - Trifecta & Smiley weren't long ago. The level of design work Sexton's putting into this on week 5 is astonishing.
Whatever's happening in Robusters is much less important than the interaction between the characters - it's a weekly gag strip. Things happen so Rojaws can make a shite joke, Hammerstein can bash something, and Mek-Quake can be a psychotic moron. Any plot's a bonus, & a chance for Uncle Pat to tell us about chemtrails, or whatever else he's read about on the internet.
* if you extend the lines of the top of the coach and the baseline of the subheading, they'd meet at some point past the far left of the page, forming an enormous Dairylea triangle, the base of which is formed by the handle of the pistol, the hat of the falling goon, his outstretched hand, and the top of the barcode box ** either SAM 2.0 or OZ-BRN-1
Quote from: Butch on 11 February, 2016, 11:15:17 PM
Whatever's happening in Robusters is much less important than the interaction between the characters - it's a weekly gag strip. Things happen so Rojaws can make a shite joke, Hammerstein can bash something, and Mek-Quake can be a psychotic moron.
Just as true as it was for the original Ro-Busters run - all but the first of the 2k stories merrily ditch the disaster-solving premise and play entirely off the characters instead. You could say the same about a lot of ABC Warriors stories, too (and I speak as a big fan). From Hellbringer onwards the plot's usually secondary to the banter and interplay.
Quote from: Butch on 11 February, 2016, 11:15:17 PM
Mike Carroll's Bodymorph machine and implantation of "just enough" memory to include exactly the obscure detail Cheyenne would use to test whether DeMarco was really her sister are all a little too much like magic for me, but I'm enjoying the story so I'm not bothered.
I assumed the bodymorph uses the same principle as face changing and that you would need to be of roughly the same height and bone structure build for it to work. Using this and the memory implant to me is just trying to have more credibility in being able to pass as some-one else with just a face change, which we have had numerous times (e.g. Dredd, PJ as Byron Ambrose etc).
When I thought about it, I had more trouble with being able to easily extract some-one's memories, but that has also been well established in the strip with bio-chips e.g. from the Judge Child.
Yep, bodymorph technology has been around for a good while: Thora and Mortal over in Low Life being dramatic examples - and Aimee herself was morphed into a fatty at one stage. I think we'd have to try pretty hard to out-nerd Carroll.
Speaking of which...
Given that Gideon Dallas is revealed to be an operative of Sector Zero (albeit a detached one), doesn't that mean that they almost brought the Lawlords down on MC-1? That doesn't seem in keeping with their stated aims.
Similarly, while I can accept that they were a relatively young organization during Cal's coup, where were they during Doomsday (when their non-booby-trapped guns would have been really useful), or Inferno, or even Trifecta? All scenarios where a secret unit operating 'above' Justice Dept would have been very handy. I'll give them a pass for Block Mania/Apocalypse War, Judgement Day and Day of Chaos, because those were all largely numbers games, and Sector Zero would have been as badly hit as anyone.
This is not meant to be nitpicking, I'm genuinely interested.
Quote from: Tordelback on 13 February, 2016, 02:26:40 PM
Given that Gideon Dallas is revealed to be an operative of Sector Zero (albeit a detached one), doesn't that mean that they almost brought the Lawlords down on MC-1? That doesn't seem in keeping with their stated aims.
Dallas' story never made much sense anyway - I'm not sure if it's helped or hindered by this revelation.
Yeah, I have a hard time linking the Law Lords story into this one. That being said, didn't Gideons story end with a tentative statement that the LL's might make another shot at invasion?
Quote from: Tordelback on 13 February, 2016, 02:26:40 PM
Speaking of which...
Given that Gideon Dallas is revealed to be an operative of Sector Zero (albeit a detached one), doesn't that mean that they almost brought the Lawlords down on MC-1? That doesn't seem in keeping with their stated aims.
Similarly, while I can accept that they were a relatively young organization during Cal's coup, where were they during Doomsday (when their non-booby-trapped guns would have been really useful), or Inferno, or even Trifecta? All scenarios where a secret unit operating 'above' Justice Dept would have been very handy. I'll give them a pass for Block Mania/Apocalypse War, Judgement Day and Day of Chaos, because those were all largely numbers games, and Sector Zero would have been as badly hit as anyone.
This is not meant to be nitpicking, I'm genuinely interested.
That's always the problem with retro-fitting stories, there are bits that don't quite fit, I'm sure we could showhorn them in with enough time (and drink in a pub)
I'd just throw in: perhaps they
were there operating during those crisis, but in the shadows, they may even explain some of the quick/easy wins when it was a handful of Judges against massive odds :D
Hey, do you reckon Sector Zero were under the control of the Sisters during the Big Nec?