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SMASH! Special May 2020

Started by SmallBlueThing(Reborn), 27 May, 2020, 10:11:59 AM

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SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

I'm surprised we dont appear to have a thread for this- which arrived yesterday as part of Rebellion's very nice "all the specials direct to your door" offer.

This was the one I was most looking forward to this year- and while I was initially somewhat disappointed that it turned out to be US comic sized, and not massive like the Cor/ Buster one, a careful read last night put all those niggles to bed.

This is, in short, one hell of a comic. You may argue that it does at times feel very much like #1 of an ongoing series (much like the 2000AD Action Special did all those years ago, and yes I'm still sore that we never got any more of that), but I have a bit more confidence we may this time see some of the potential realised.

I'm not going to go through all the strips, as most of the readership probably wont even have had the opportunity to buy it yet. But my *favourite* strips were The Spider (which, if it transferred to the prog next week, would make me very happy indeed), Steel Claw, which is utterly hilarious and which I will be rereading just as soon as I get a moment, and Mytek The Mighty- the art job alone is strongly reminiscent of the heyday of Crisis, and I bloody loved it. That the strip is so deeply concerned with politics, and specifically African politics, just enhances what is a silly concept of a giant robot gorilla, turning it into something with the potential to be very special indeed.

Everything in the special was glorious, I thought. But those three were my favourites (the art and final line of Dollmann gets a mention too) and I would absolutely appreciate the chance to buy Smash! on a regular basis, thanks very much.

Though for the size, perhaps it should be called Vulcan?

SBT

Bolt-01

It was indeed a lot of fun, but WTF was going on in the pagination? Some of the text is ridiculously close to the edge of the page - check pg02 of the otherwise excellent Dollmann strip.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 27 May, 2020, 10:11:59 AMI'm surprised we dont appear to have a thread for this- which arrived yesterday
Alas, I don't have mine. The Prog arrived, but this did not yet (and nor did The Beano this week).

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Bolt-01 on 27 May, 2020, 11:10:08 AM
It was indeed a lot of fun, but WTF was going on in the pagination? Some of the text is ridiculously close to the edge of the page - check pg02 of the otherwise excellent Dollmann strip.

Hmm. I'm wondering if that's a printing/finishing SNAFU at the press — my original documents look fine, and the Command Module's pre-press/production droids are usually very reliable.
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broodblik

The digital version has no such issues
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: broodblik on 27 May, 2020, 12:03:39 PM
The digital version has no such issues

Pretty sure the digital editions are prepared from the same PDF that gets sent to print, which would point the finger at a press slip-up. Still a damn shame, though.

(I haven't had comps yet so I haven't seen the finished product.)
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The Monarch

really need to order a copy I am all for some chris weston

TordelBack

Cheap as chips* in digital - €4.50, I'm in! Make sure you get your commission from Tharg, SBT,  that's at least one sale directly down to you.



*well,  Large Curry Chips anyway.

TordelBack

Wow.  That was the best special Rebellion has done to date - at least the equal of Tammy & Jinty.  I want another just like it next month. The art!  My grud the art.

Impossible to single any one contributor out when everything is so good,  but: I don't know what illegal art-steroids John McCrea has injecting, but they are well worth whatever genital atrophy side effects he's potentially suffering. Extraordinary.

More thoughts later. But it was good to see Buffy get into the superheroing line.

broodblik

I was never exposed to any of these characters growing up, so I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised in a sense that this has been my favourite special the last few years. This was a great way of introducing us to the British classic characters.

One think that really stood out for me except the great storytelling is the diversity of the art. I just love John McCrea's take on Spider and who cannot like Chris Weston's art on Dollman.

All I can say is that I want MORE of this. This is how a special should be done.  :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:   
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Magnetica

I agree this was good. I note the cross over with the Vigilant as well with the Thunderbolt strip. Indeed the whole thing had a similar feel to that, and as with that I would be keen for more. In other parallels to the Vigilant this is a whole host of characters that are new to me and the whole thing necessarily has a feel of introducing them to the reader. That is absolutely necessary, but it did result in a some what similar feel to all the strips. I think it would be good move on from that but worry that the frequency of publication will make that a very slow process. For example it is coming up on two years since the first Vigilant comic came out and we are still having a Thunderbolt origins story.

Overall it would be good to see this or similar more frequently. And maybe there is a need to concentrate on fewer strips. I get the feeling Rebellion are testing the market to see which ones will be popular (personally I would like to see more Vigilant, but understand the upcoming story in the Meg will be the last one 😢).


Magnetica

Quick question- off the back of this I have just bought the Scream and Misty special from 2017.  I hadn't realised the Death Man strip in that is effectively a lead into The Vigilant. I noticed in that strip there are two characters called Eva and Hoffman. Does anyone know who they are? Is that Hoffman any relation to the Hoffman  (the German tank commander) who appears in the 2020 Action Special?

Colin YNWA

Has anyonte done this yet... not seeing it, really.. you lot missed a trick ... that was SMASHIN'

Okay when I open my package and slipped it out its size was pretty disappointing. For some reason I was expecting something at least normal sized. I mean don't get me wrong I get a lot of US floppi size stuff but this felt a little disappointing in hand.

Also so many crossed word ballons as letters were given a thankless taste with lots of dialogue in a small space.

The other major disappointment - well a story about a giant robot Ape, which has the following in its text introduction

QuoteOccupation - Vehicle, religious icon

I'm so entirely set up to love this and but Mytek the Mighty was so flat and wishy washy. Unlike most things here all set up but offering nothing more. So disappointing - just like when you gasp something you expect to be over-sized and it turns out to lack the dimensions. The art lacked focus as well, and only at times delivered on the painted guile it seemed to seek.

Okay all the bad out the way then. The good - and it was very good on the whole, very very good. Cursitor Doom and Jason Hyde not only featured a character actually from Smash but was a fun romp, complete and satisfying if a little disposible.

Thunderbolt the Avenger was a fun origin story that felt very nicely grounded.

Johnny Future was a great self contained way to introduce the character, open doors, but leave you happy with that short spurt of frenetic excitment. Looked stunning too.

It could be argued that The Spider was a little too open ended but I thought it was a wonderful intro, had a nice ending and was entirely entertain and he is a great character.

The House of Dolman was superb energetic, glorious on the eye and entirely pleasing on it own.Well done and Man Chris Weston's art just raised it up a notch or two didn't it. Fantastic

Pick of the pops though was The Steel Claw - wow that just had me smiling from beginning end - such entertaining fun. So great infact I didn't mind that it turn Mick Hucknall into a hero. Just ... well if you'll excuse me using this again... smashing.

This was small, but its clearly not the size, rather how you use it that counts. 

Funt Solo

Hrmn ... I'm wanting to like this but I'm finding it a struggle to read. The scripts for Mytek the Mighty and Johnny Future both suffer from just too many words. Some of the panels have ridiculously long back and forth conversations squeezed into them to such an extent that it's really hard work to keep track of who's saying what, with bubble's overlapping each other and switching from left to right. And it's exposition. It's a comic. You can show instead of tell.



After ten pages of blether, all we actually get of Mytek is him opening his eyes. That's it! He does more on the cover. All of these stories seem to be "once there was an exciting comic strip, which we're going to talk about in a historical context - all their greatest adventures are behind them, so we'll be doing something other than great adventures here for you today". [/rant]



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dweezil2

Finished reading the special today and rate it as an unequivocal success, baring the U.S dimensions of the comic-I think the larger 2000AD format would have allowed the art and text to breath.

Despite that one minor quibble, I really hope we get a follow up that continues these initial story openers!  :thumbsup:
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