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Prog 2211 - Stay Brave. Stay Strange.

Started by Tjm86, 07 December, 2020, 03:44:54 PM

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Tjm86

Monday prog for a change.  At least it's not a 3 week wait.  Last one before the Bumper End / Start of Year Prog with quite a few wrap-ups and an Elson illustrated Future Shock.  The tagline belies a them running through this week's prog ...

So "Simply Normal" wraps up for Dredd this week.  Feels like a bit of an overlap with Beeny over in the Meg but Austin's artwork definitely detracts from any issues here.  Definitely not one for a skim read lest you find yourself thrown.

Visions of Deadworld ramps up the 'creepy quotient'.  This would have been a great Halloween strip.  Hell, it is a great strip.  Perhaps it is the inevitability that makes it so disturbing.  You know something terrible is coming but not what.

Dexter goes for more olde worlde "shoot everything that moves" charm as we continue down the AI inspired rabbit hole.  It does get a bit philosophical mind,  "You think they're gonna kill us and eat us, or kill us by eating us?"   :o

The FS is certainly one of the stronger ones we've seen of late.  Nicely paced, subtly executed, leaving plenty to ponder in the denouement.  Plus ... Elson art!

Which brings us to Fiends.  Closing out Constanta's origin story whilst setting up the next act.  Giving historical context to the tale and pointing neatly to that first tale we had so long ago.  Oh and yet another tale that toys with perception.

A strong prog to be sure.  Sumptuous artwork.  Satisfying endings.  Yet leaving enough to look forward to.

Perhaps an appropriate ending to the year?

broodblik

Some flower-power cover by Steven Austin:

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.

broodblik

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.

McNulty

[spoiler]Re: the ending of the Dredd strip. Judge Dredd was shot through the head by an armour piercing bullet and had the damaged part of his brain regenerated. This was decades ago before Chief Judge Cal. Are we to believe that medical science has not progressed in the intervening years? What was different here? [/spoiler]

Colin YNWA

You'd think I got over the frustrations last time ... but some remain.

Dredd - having got to the end defo feels like it could have done with one less episode overall. As it is good ending though.

Visions of Deadworld - As before wonderful one parter... can we get back please...

Dexter - As before, great short story in and of itself robbed of the impact it might of had by the stop start way this story is being handled... of course I'm assuming this is Tharg's doing, maybe its stylistic choice by Dabnett... who've it is stop it please.

Future Shock - No science isn't like that. Sorry this one didn't work for me. Lovely art mind.

Fiends - Again all goodand setting up much to come. Well done all involved and can't wait for this to be back.

Bit of a stumble across the line these last two for me. Prog 2212 can make it all worthwhile though... well aside the messing with Sinister Dexter, whoever is doing that cut it out!

Richard


broodblik


A bit of a mix-bag here for me but at least both Fiends and Deadworld delivered the punch here.


Dredd – A good story with a semi-happy ending. I still think the story could have been told in 3 rather than 5 parts.

Deadworld - Just plain disturbing with a grotesque sicking ending to the short.  [spoiler]I am not sure, but I think it is the first time that we are introduced to Judge Whisper from the current Dark Judges story running in the meg[/spoiler]. This is still gripping stuff and will tinkle all the Halloween fans senses.

Dexter – Not sure about this one. It continues the main story, but I would rather have it that we get a proper epic run than just these filler ones. The story was itself is okay but nothing we have not seen before.

Future Shock – Great art by Elson and a nice enjoyable short. This does not have a shocking ending but the story itself is well told.

Fiends – This great story comes to an end and as I tough [spoiler]the priest is not whom we believe he is[/spoiler]. The highlight of the prog. Cannot wait for the next chapter. The creative team brought their A+ game here.
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.

Barrington Boots

Quick review from me here.

Dredd – Unexpectedly sad ending to a good story. Big fan of this one: reminded me of older Dredds with the citizens being wacky, the Justice Dept. being basically horrible and the overall take being awfully bleak: reminds me of the story from the 90s where Dredd runs over a deaf woman. I'm happy with this going 5 parts personally: yes it could have gone quicker, but it had time to breathe I'd rather 5 parts of a good Dredd than 3 good and a 2 part clunker.

Deadworld - Just awful, but in a sick and grotesque manner rather than just really terrible like, say,  Outlaw was. Creepy, gory, totally fucked up. More of this series next year please Tharg.

Dexter – Not into this at all. Feels like filler. I think the best days of Sin/Dex are way behind it and the events of the last series looked good to shake things up, but it needs to stop appearing in tiny chunks imo if it's going to do that.

Future Shock – Elson on art! Hurray! Looked great especially the horse. All cool here but not much else to say about this.

Fiends – Bit of a wrap up episode for what has been an absolute highlight of the Prog for the last ten weeks (and I really liked Hookjaw). After speculation about the narrator, [spoiler]it was the dragon all along - didn't see that coming at all. I like how the clues are there with the scarred face, weird eye and so on with the villagers.[/spoiler] This series goes from strength to strength and I am excited to see where it goes next.

I really liked the cover on this one too. Simple but very effective.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

pauljholden

Quote from: McNulty on 07 December, 2020, 10:28:05 PM
[spoiler]Re: the ending of the Dredd strip. Judge Dredd was shot through the head by an armour piercing bullet and had the damaged part of his brain regenerated. This was decades ago before Chief Judge Cal. Are we to believe that medical science has not progressed in the intervening years? What was different here? [/spoiler]
[spoiler]Justice Department are prepared to expend a lot of resources keeping Judges alive?[/spoiler]

TordelBack

Not convinced by the font choice, but other than that it's another striking Cover, and rightly it's by Austin himself.

In the first glimpse of the Nerve Centre's Thrills of the Future, I was momentarily seized by hope for the Return of the Return of the Chap, but alas, it was a dandy-free zone. Not that an Eglington/Pleece Time Twister is to be sneezed at either.

So I'm still not convinced Dredd: Simply Normal needed all 5 parts, but there's no denying that it stuck the landing and used these last pages well. Getting both a [spoiler]happy Simp-appropriate ending and a grim Dredd-appropriate ending in the same story was a nice move.  I liked the way that none of this week's part was 'real', right up to Patsy's VO, rather than having some kind of last-minute coma fantasy: Daisy had been shot between episodes, she never did rescue Pansy, even briefly.  That's proper bleak, that is. 

On the other hand, it wasn't Our Joe what done da deed, leaving the guilt in this homo-/transphobia analogy to sit with the conversion conmen and the families. Further wafffer-theen hope for the future is offered by the fact that neither lover is actually dead and despite Patsy-not-a-doctor's prognosis, they are heading for a 22nd C med-unit, not Resyk. It's practically a Christmas miracle by Dredd standards[/spoiler].

Is that the Pat Wagon Mk I from the Mongoose Dredd Miniatures Kickstarter that Barry Normal is being loaded into? Why I think it is! That and the medi-drones are nice final art touches to round out what has been the most auspicious of Dredd debuts.  "So yeah, this one counts as a win".  And Seasonal Chimpsky next week!

Well, even if I could find some positives in the despair of this week's Dredd, I've no chance with the next offering. The crime isss Visions of Deadworld, the sentence isss so drokked-up it should be illegal.  Good on Kek-W for tying his epic to current DJ Adventures elsewhere in time and space, but Dave Kendall you ought to be ashamed of the vile images you drop into my brain.  Horrific stuff, in the very best way.

Sinister Dexter enjoys a stronger second-and-for-feck's-sake-Tharg-final part of this slice of the current Death of A Thousand Interruptions storyline.  Yeowell, an artist who can conjure up an entire Hollow World full of dinosaurs or the lobby of a vast crystal fortress packed with gossiping superheroes with just a few brushstokes seems unwilling to give us even a hint of an abandoned shopping mall, and even John Charles can't seem to magic one out of basically nothing. I can't help thinking this is because it's obvious to all involved that this is a  pointless detour designed to fill up a small scheduling hole, and once the story re-focuses on the characters and their very real dilemmas, the art comes alive again. The treatment of this strip better improve in the New Year, its potential is being frittered away.

The Future Shock on the other hand is exactly right for its role. Elliott-Coleman sets up a distinct little world, a challenge, some action, a reveal and some pathos, all lovingly detailed by Elson.  It reminds me a bit of Cherryh's Gate of Ivrel, and in 5 pages that's no bad thing.

Fiends wins the Thrill Trophy with a revelation that I doubt anyone saw coming, despite it being bleeding obvious after the fact: the best kind! What a treasure this run has been, injecting weekly novelty while at the same time stitching together and enriching the earlier series, and all beautifully,originally, illustrated.  My advice to Tharg is to double the guard on that Trevallion droid's cubicle, lesser publications with deeper pockets are surely on the prowl.

JimmyNailz

I did NOT understand the Futureshock at all, but seem to be the only person who didn't. Could someone take pity and explain what happened pleeeease?

TordelBack

It's just a bit of a play on Clarke's 3rd Law,  "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". [spoiler]We see a knight questing after a werewolf, who turns out to be her daughter accidentally transformed in an experiment. However the details are all technological: e.g. the horse has eye lenses, the helmet has earpieces and a HUD, the sword is 'charged' with the same yellow energies from the floating "candles" etc.

So it's all either tech indistinguishable from magic,  or magic indistinguishable from tech. Both are interchangeable and measurable -  but the love of a parent for their child isn't. [/spoiler]

norton canes

It may not be midwinter just yet, but that is one bleak prog. Dredd kicks it off by going all Brazil on us (albeit with the protagonist the rescuer, rather then the rescued) before Deadworld makes it a desolate double-whammy with some gruesome post-natal horror. As for Dexter...

"I haven't liked where this is going since about, uh, FIVE YEARS ago".

Bless you, Mr Abnett.

'Indistinguishable From...' is one of those nice Future Shocks which impresses with its overall weirdness rather than trying to sucker us with a cliched twist. And having the Elson droid on art duties is never a hindrance, of course, though I hope this will be equally remembered as Joseph Elliott-Coleman's entry into the Mighty one's pantheon.

Finally, that is one masterful reveal in Fiends and one that rounds off the tale very nicely. Actually a shame we can't have more tales of mediaeval Constanta.

Anyway... don't know about you but I'm about ready for some Christmas cheer!

Barrington Boots

Quote from: norton canes on 10 December, 2020, 12:05:43 PM
"I haven't liked where this is going since about, uh, FIVE YEARS ago".

I missed this on first read but the perfect analogy for Sin/Dex nowdays.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

broodblik

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 10 December, 2020, 01:13:35 PM
Quote from: norton canes on 10 December, 2020, 12:05:43 PM
"I haven't liked where this is going since about, uh, FIVE YEARS ago".

I missed this on first read but the perfect analogy for Sin/Dex nowdays.

Maybe it is time to give this strip one big Hoorah. It has now replaced the Future Shocks as a filler. I just find it frustrating to read these small chunks every-now-and-then
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.