Messages

1

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 17 August, 2022, 12:32:56 PM »

The nature of the beast, I guess. We had the same with the Dredd collection and Lawless. But it is a pity that Kingdom at least wasn’t taken through to the current final strip. I’ve since bought the relevant trade. Did the same with Lawless, which was even more frustrating, since the Dredd collection contains the first 1.5 books, and I’m not keen on double dipping.

Hmm. Now wondering about Spink & Thackray again, and if they can ‘match up’ to the UC sizes…

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General / Re: FFT - ROUND of 16 - The Out vs Brink - Heat 02

« on: 16 August, 2022, 11:30:03 AM »

Oh, come on. I love both of these. But I’m going to give it to The Out, by a whisker.

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General / Re: FFT - ROUND of 16 - Lawless vs Firekind - Heat 01

« on: 16 August, 2022, 11:29:16 AM »

Having read them both recently, Lawless takes it. Firekind has a lot going for it, not least its excellent take on ‘alienness’ that is rare in 2000 AD. But Lawless has a great roster of characters and plenty of depth. And, yeah, Nerys had better make it through the latest arc unscathed. 

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Books & Comics / Re: Phoenix comic

« on: 12 August, 2022, 10:24:08 PM »

Yep. I noticed it’s getting increasingly slight. A pity. It’s still just about the only comic my local WHSmith doesn’t stock. Frustrating.

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Off Topic / Re: RIPs

« on: 12 August, 2022, 01:25:38 PM »

Our wonderful dog, Sam the miniature schnauzer, aged 16¼.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Zenith vs. Anderson PSi Division Rd 5 Heat 15

« on: 11 August, 2022, 11:00:15 AM »

Anderson has many great moments – notably Shamballa and the end of Satan. But it, like all long-running thrills, suffers from troughs. It was also short-changed by huge events happening in it that were never even referenced in Dredd – although that’s not Anderson’s fault, obviously. In more recent years, though, I’ve found myself (with exceptions like Half Life) just kind of tired of Anderson, despite attempts to breathe new life into the formula.

Zenith was almost all great moments. It’s a bit self-satisfied at times, but one of those series I can re-read time and time again. There’s no knockout blow, but Zenith wins on points for me.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Brass Sun vs. Savage Rd 5 Heat 14

« on: 11 August, 2022, 10:57:32 AM »

you'd have thought Tharg would have made more of it a priority.

The gist appears to be that Tharg would have it back in an instant, but the people creating the thing need to be in a position to do so.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Nikolai Dante vs. Survival Geeks Rd 5 Heat 16

« on: 11 August, 2022, 10:56:37 AM »

Survival Geeks was a lot of fun and improved a lot as the run went on, but Nikolai Dante is a 2000 AD classic. No contest.

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Off Topic / Re: This is the News!

« on: 10 August, 2022, 12:31:08 PM »

I think/hope that with Murdoch turning on him, he's done for. Of course, with DeSantis in the wings to take up the throne of most despicable Republican/human, I'm in two minds whether this is a good thing.

Turns out, the right can get worse, in one of two ways: we either get someone who’s equally awful but genuinely believes that shit and is potentially competent (USA) or someone who’s equally awful but arguably dumber and seemingly far more rigid in their beliefs (UK).

Meanwhile, the centre and left continue to take chunks out of each other in both countries, talking to themselves and performing risky triangulation that is set to fail (USA) and probably has a 50:50 chance of failure, and a close to 100% chance of failing within a few terms (UK).

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Prog / Re: Prog 2294: East Wired

« on: 10 August, 2022, 12:28:17 PM »

It’s inconsistent. Outwardly, nothing really changed much after Chaos in MC-1. We got the odd story in bits of the city that were in a state of disrepair, but it didn’t have anything like the impact of The Apocalypse War. But it has in some writers’ output driven more political stories.

I’m not sure it really hits the mark, but what’s done is done. MC-1 from a numbers standpoint was always absurd – a real child of the 1970s and plucking big-sounding numbers out of the sky. Even post-Apocalypse War, a city of that size with 400 million people would have been sparse (not least given how many are packed into huge tower blocks). Now, most of the city should be empty.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Brass Sun vs. Savage Rd 5 Heat 14

« on: 10 August, 2022, 10:21:27 AM »

Savage has plenty going for it, but at some point I lost track of what was going on, and I never really could be bothered to go back and find out. (The both-sidesing got a bit too much, and the dovetail into Ro-Busters felt forced.)

Brass Sun’s big problem is that it just stopped, and there’s no knowing if it’ll ever be fired up again. Still, I preferred it at the time, and – as some others have said here – it’s the series I’d most want back in the Prog if I had to choose between the two. So: Brass Sun.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Kingdom vs. Rogue Trooper Rd 5 Heat 13

« on: 10 August, 2022, 08:05:51 AM »

Rogue has its moments but for me was always the least of 2000 AD’s classic characters. Kingdom took a while to click with me but swiftly became one of my favourite strips from 2000 AD’s entire run. It has a classic vibe in many ways but is also modern in terms of its storytelling and art.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Skizz vs. ABC Warriors Rd 5 Heat 12

« on: 09 August, 2022, 02:19:23 PM »

ABC Warriors is so often style over substance. It’s a story on repeat – copy and paste ad infinitum. It doesn’t care about its own reality’s logic, sometimes even in the same strip. I suppose Mills would counter that none of that matters, so long as the kids like it. But I’m voting for me, not anyone else, and I didn’t even really care for the early ABC Warriors stuff that much on a re-read.

Skizz isn’t exactly a top-tier thrill for me either, even in its original incarnation, although it is very, very good. The dreadful Skizz III is best ignored, although the second series has its moments.

Again, for me, it’s down to what I’d like to re-read. If I ever split my UC, I doubt I’d keep any of the ABC Warriors books, except maybe the parts that retain the Black Hole arc. But I know I’ll re-read Skizz at some point.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Journal of Luke Kirby vs. Ampney Crucis Rd 5 Heat 11

« on: 09 August, 2022, 01:57:49 PM »

I liked Crucis, but intentionally bought Luke Kirby in HC (rather than it just rocking up as part of a collection) and I’d sooner reach for the latter than the former for a re-read, so: Luke Kirby.

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Other Reviews / Re: Sandman TV Series

« on: 08 August, 2022, 02:25:03 PM »

We’re four episodes in so far. Mrs IP is very much enjoying it. I like it a lot too. It feels (suitably) very dream-like, although it does also feel a bit detached and empty (in terms of locations), like the entire thing’s been filmed on green screen without any extras. The delivery also often feels more like a stage play than telly, but that’s OK.

Gwendoline Christie was interesting as Lucifer from a casting perspective (and Mazikeen looked superb). I was less convinced with Jenna Coleman as Constantine. She kind of had the right attitude, but seemed a bit fragile, and the visual was just odd to me. Although I imagine newcomers won’t bat an eyelid. (Still, why Joanna Constantine? Surely she should have been a Joan?)