Prog 1631 : Stained Glass Frank

[Roger Godpleton]

There were other stories and some of them were all right, but they might as well be daubing their own shite on a cave wall when they're printed alongside these two strips.

POO SENDER

Cover: Love the colours. Great Stuff.

Dredd: I have no idea what next week's episode, which is exactly how it should be. Maybe next week Hershey takes off on a walk around the Cursed Earth, taking with her less than 100 creds and a bottle of Synthi-Scotch. Really Great Stuff.

Necrophum: Really the biggest problem this strip has is that there isn't a more obviously offensive strip running alongside it. It persists in being just there, and is possibly even more just thereier than Stalag, and that didn't have Lee Carter on art. Next Prog: I'M THE JOTUNHEIM BITCH. OK Stuff.

Pasttwistershocktale: Some fainty annoying "insight" at the start (now teh sciencers are the bigots LIEK RICHARD DORKINS IS IN THE REEL WORLD), but otherwise this was very enjoyable. Good Stuff.

Low Life: When Rob Williams is having fun, we all have fun. Very Good Stuff.

Dante: Feels like old-school Dante, and not like a pastiche either. Guessing both Dante and Vlad lose. Great Stuff.

[I, Cosh]

The simple pleasures of contributing to the review thread at 3am after a day on the sesh? Priceless.

Got to say that I reread that Past Imperfect story last night and I really liked it. It's a good example of a script droid using the pages to build up his world slightly out of joint and creating an amusing character to boot without worrying too much about the daft twist at the end. It could seem a bit wordy if you didn't like the protagonist, but I did so found it a good, meaty read. Funny that a story about dandies and highwaymen should  appear so soon after you were all reminiscing about Adam and the Ants.

Another thought about Dante. Specifically Arkady's game, whatever it may be. It came to me that Dmitri's weapons crest could override those of his children. It'll be interesting to see which of the Arkady's siblings will be the first to try and take him on and how they'll get round that in the end.

[McKennsy]

Has anybody in Ireland been able to buy this prog yet?.  This happens every now and again, progs and megs just dont get delivered, it happened 3 megs ago, but it only started happening in the last two years or so.

Does anyone know who I can contact regarding the distribution?. I've been reading for over 15 years and it's annoying to miss out an a prog for no apparent reason.

Thanks.

[Jim_Campbell]

Where.

The.

Fuck.

Is.

My.

PROG!

Gaah! Rrrgh! HULK SMASH![/i]

Cheers

Jim

[Hoagy]

Well its Thursday, Jim is probably watching the letterbox through a hole in his kitchen wall.

What else can be said about the cover then? I love the cherubs as they pinch their noses.

But with Dredd I hads an idea. What if..[spoiler:ikmaykhh]if  its Hershey behind all of the stink up? She looks likes she's going out, what if she wants to, ooh no, how about, PJ MAybe, eh? Eh? He could probably make more money and have more fun killing them in his own story though, maybe.[/spoiler:ikmaykhh] Well its all tre grapel ens.

The art is coming on nicely for Lee Carter in Necrophim.The pictures are levelled up to print perfomance and it gives me a satisfying swell of excitement. Good bit of writing, interimming the penny drop to the build up of the cliffhanger. I love what Jotunhiems wearing, it is dreafully macabre, that cape.

I want to boast that I read Past Imperfect once andinstantly liked it after reading one review from Trilobyte. Exceedingly funny. Especially warmed to it on seeing what the fellow was reading. And after reading I don't see the political connotations of the "liberaters" I thought it was just funny that, "age of reason" studentia was the juxtoposition of most student stereotypes who protest against the too reasonable, too conservative.

Low LIfe deserves to  be read through again from the Got Milk? get go! D' Isreali is a sublime pictorial story teller.There are some artist/writer combo punchlines being delivered, tre effective. On the whole this was bursting out of the confines of the letting in the weekly but I enjoyed it all the more for it. Being pernickety,[spoiler:ikmaykhh]I wanted to see, bowler hatted one, one last time, the origins of sub boss followed by who pulls his strings and what was with the snowflake..[/spoiler:ikmaykhh]

Dante was very skillfully written this week and there must be some continuity thing I'm missing[spoiler:ikmaykhh]with the public execution[/spoiler:ikmaykhh]..but the Tzar was being exceptionally villainous, ahahah! Arkady's kids are the ones Dante was protecting at his mum's lair, yeah? I don't see Dante becoming a martyr though its just not his style. But saying that S Davis is certainly going for it like it's the last time. Great sequences.

Not read the venting of bile yet, its a lonely read with Buttonman chosing to consolidate his jibes into one chunk in some forseeable future.

[House of Usher]

Good Prog. Stylish cover.

Judge Dredd: Wow. John Wagner's really going in for dense storytelling here. What a contrast with that very linear and extended chase following the trail of that mellow vibes alien Squonge a few weeks back! This story meanders about like it actually takes place in a real city where people react to events and things are interconnected. The customary Wagner 5 or more scene-changes in as many pages really gives his stories a sense of pace and movement. Dynamic!

Necrophim: Best single instalment so far. Away from the dreary confines of plywood and MDF Hell and into some solid action and violence with the neighbours, and the art takes upon itself more room to breathe. The writing in the first two pages is really very good. "Take me to your leader", a chucklesome punctuation point, end fight sequence. Jotunheim ('home of the giants'? - hospitable fellow!) looks mightily impressive, and he is written how he looks, even if I don't much like what he says. Turns out Lucifer's letter to Jotunheim stitched him up, and Uriel never suspected a thing. I was onto Lucifer as soon as I read page 2 of part 3. Anyone else see that coming? You'd have thought he'd learned a thing or two about treachery after spending millennia in Hell, but no matter. Uriel's a gullible prat and a dimwit, but a Hell of a swordsman. It was very sweet of Jotunheim to give Uriel an opportunity to run away, and makes Jotunheim quite likeable. Nice dialogue: "Even your Master..." to "...I'm not Lucifer!", and nice to end on an action panel for a change.

Past Imperfect: That is one very, very wordy script! The story's right out of left field. Edwardian Ghostbusters, with some presumably intentional Ghostbusters nods too. A nicely generic hero (Lord Peter Whimsey; Sebastian O). Reminded me of Jason King. Was his appearance Warren Pleece's idea or Alec's? I iked the robots in the marketplace. Curiously, they made it easier for me to accept the readout on the viewer which wouldn't have been possible without microchips. Burt Guffman looks like a red herring to throw readers off the sent of the true twist ending, itself logical rather than necessary. There were other ways around the debt, but none as ironic or twisty-turny. But murder in broad daylight? Is that sort of thing allowed?? A good strip because it conjured up a fully-realised setting out of nowhere and introduced a well-rounded hero who should have been - perhaps still is - good for a few more adventures than just the one. Hodgson and Dandridge (Deceased)?

Low Life: At last, the payoff; and hats off to Rob Williams for making it work. The words and visuals are a joy too. The cool fight sequence, featuring 'Robo-Wing', is a cunning device to keep the action going through the explainy bit. How good is the explanation? Not nearly as good as the fight! Billboards 'project' nanotechnology. Why's that then? Why not just put the nanotech in the water supply along with the Creation drug?  How do you project nanotech anyway? Isn't it self-replicating? How does it know whose Biblical visions to make real and whose to discard? "Giant flood? I wasn't thinking that! I was thinking about jelly babies!" Perhaps the billboard was telling people what to imagine by showing apocalyptic imagery, but why would anyone even notice when the drug lets them create their own universe in their heads, oblivious to the world around them? The answer to all these 'why' questions is: for dramatic convenience. Genius comic dialogue from Frank acknowledges the ludicrous complexity of the plot ("oldest crime in the book"), so fair play to Rob Williams for that.

Nikolai Dante: Lovely, beautiful, thrilling, uplifting. Possibly. But I'm quite unmoved by it. It's nice to see the good guys win a few, and so far so good; but I'm not really caring. Then Dante meets a guy who seems to be able to generate replicas of himself like Multiple Man (X-Men), Multi-Paul and Dupli-Kate (Invincible), and suddenly I'm hooked again.

Smashing Prog. More like this, please!  = 7/10.

[Funt Solo]

Toot-ta-toot-TOOOOT!  [Trumpets proclaiming a fantastic prog hitting five for five with no sign of letting up.]

Excellent cover - very special indeed (that's the first stained-glass logo, for those who are counting), and loved the nose-pinching cherubs.

Judge Dredd: leaves you hungry for more.  Kind of ironic (or maybe just annoying) that the pro-Dan camp are noticing that he was attacked by muties but ignoring that he was saved by Dredd (the ultimate pro-mutie Judge).  It's a clever indication of the blindness of prejudice.  This story actually has me genuinely worried for the muties, and what might happen to them if there is a grand reverse. Surely Dredd wouldn't stand for it?  Surely, it must mean civil war!  Ooh, I've wet me pants.  Far too exciting.

Necrophim: the last page ("I'm not Lucifer!") made me start double-thinking everyone's motives.  Is Lucifer really blatantly sacrificing Uriel, or does he know how good he is, and reckons he's got a better chance against Jotunheim than he ever had?  Was Jotenheim's offer to let Uriel go based on kindness (in Hell?) or from a sense of self-preservation?  Despite his outward confidence, is he really scared of Uriel's ability?  I'm *really* enjoying this story - it's one of my favourite new thrills in a long time. I kind of like this portrayal of a lonely hell - sparsely populated and with non-grand buildings and architecture.  I mean - shouldn't hell be lonely, and rather dull?  The hell of grand demonic castles and screaming victims is perhaps just a demon's desire of what their life could be like.

Past Imperfect: a surprise hit - when I saw the logo, I inwardly groaned (an echo from my childhood at seeing that it was a Future Shock instead of something ongoing, despite the fact that lots of them are great) - but this was great fun, and the only downside is the suggestion that it really is a one-off.  Say it ain't so.  Please, Tharg, can we have some more (specifically starring this character, and this world, I mean)?

Low Life: what a joy!  I loved when he turned into Super-Frank, and it led up to a fantastic punchline.  Sure, the entire plot was predicated on ridiculous bendy-holdy techno-babble, but that really wasn't the point.  How about more from the early years of Frank?  Apocalypse War flashbacks?  Hrmn...

Nikolai Dante: this has slowed down a touch, which is good - I don't want it to end (having made loud calls for it to get to the point when it was drifting, and listing, in previous years).  So, with that in mind, he should spend a few progs fighting the french clone-dude.  The real meat this week was how badly in thrall to Arkady the Tsar is.  He's blind to the threat standing right beside him, manipulating him into executing his most trusted staff.  It can't end well.

[Jim_Campbell]

Prog here. Prog good.

Hulk happy.[/i]

Jim

[Kerrin]

Cover - Well what can I say? I like it. A lot.

Dredd - This is getting twistier than a contortionists colon. Excellent. HoU makes a very good point about this story feeling pivotal to the lives of the citizenry at large, a nicely realised sense of citywide anticipation in the writing and art. This is the best Dredd storyline for a good while.

Necrophim - Now we're getting somewhere. If this is the prologue though, what is it leading to? Is the main series going to be set in the realms of the underworld? Or are we going to be off somewhere else with the same character? I'm finding some of the panels to be lacking in contrast, great drawing but most of the tonality is in the midrange so the panel becomes quite murky. Very atmospheric though.

Past Imperfect - Not bad at all. Nicely constructed little story with plenty of good ideas. I enjoyed it. Not too fussed about it being developed further but I enjoyed it.

Lowlife - Well DUH! Obviously it was the nanotechnology emitting billboards in conjunction with the creatively adulterated water supply that caused all this hullabaloo. A gloriously daft ending to what has been an absolute pleasure of a story to read. There's so much potential backstory for Frank it's wonderful. Who would have imagined that the noisome shambling pseud's alter ego was going to be a luminescent masked superhero? Awesome.

Nikolai Dante - Slowly but surely building towards a crescendo. Great stuff. Is it just me though or is there something weird going on with Dante's arms on that first page? It just doesn't look like his left arm's connected to the rest of him. It's probably me. I still don't think Dante or the Tsar are going to be with us for much longer.

Great Prog. If Rebellion do a large poster of that cover I'll buy one.

[I, Cosh]

Past Imperfect: That is one very, very wordy script! The story's right out of left field. Edwardian Ghostbusters, with some presumably intentional Ghostbusters nods too. A nicely generic hero (Lord Peter Whimsey; Sebastian O). Reminded me of Jason King. Was his appearance Warren Pleece's idea or Alec's? I iked the robots in the marketplace. Curiously, they made it easier for me to accept the readout on the viewer which wouldn't have been possible without microchips. Burt Guffman looks like a red herring to throw readers off the sent of the true twist ending, itself logical rather than necessary. There were other ways around the debt, but none as ironic or twisty-turny. But murder in broad daylight? Is that sort of thing allowed?? A good strip because it conjured up a fully-realised setting out of nowhere and introduced a well-rounded hero who should have been - perhaps still is - good for a few more adventures than just the one. Hodgson and Dandridge (Deceased)?

Sebastian O was my thought. With a side order of Mr Six's moustache if we're following the Morrison. In fact, I think I might dig Sebastian out this evening.

Dante was very skillfully written this week and there must be some continuity thing I'm missing with the public execution ..but the Tzar was being exceptionally villainous, ahahah! Arkady's kids are the ones Dante was protecting at his mum's lair, yeah? I don't see Dante becoming a martyr though its just not his style. But saying that S Davis is certainly going for it like it's the last time. Great sequences.

Don't think Arkady has any kids. Those were the half-children of the Kraken and some woman. Dante found them floating around when he was on his boat for all those years.

[Paul faplad Finch]

I've enjoyed all four of the stories I've read this week. Magic.

A slight shame that one of the most important Dredd tales for donkeys yonks is being let down by dodgy art - yes, I know I'm in the minority on that one - but the script is pure Wagner gold. While I wasn't thinking you-know-who for the assassin I am now. Cheers Radiator, connections like that rarely occur to me untl someone else points them out.

Low Life continues to be great and will continue to be great so long as all involved remember that Frank is the only lead we need and recognise the Aimee Nixon tales for the awful misstep they were.

The Past Imperfect tale surprised me by actually being good. The only problem was the finish. Would the twist have lost anythng f the murder hadn't occured in front of a gazzllion witnesses in broad daylght. I think not. It seemed daft and took me out of the moment a little.

Dante on form is nigh untouchable and he's on form here. Class. Still the wrong artst though. First isn't always best. I'm just saying.

Tharg announces two new series next week. Something by Al Ewng (yay) and Henry Flint (meh) which has got me interested and something by. . . nooooooo. Still, he's been away longer than he usually is so fair play, I can live with it. And truth be known, this series is probably the least rubbish of his current output. Does that count as a compliment? I may be going soft.

[radiator]

[spoiler:mtmouozq]Well, Roffman does appear in this week's (prog 1632) Dredd, just not in the way I'd imagined![/spoiler:mtmouozq]

[Paul faplad Finch]

Very intriguing Radiator but you do know that's going to be eating at my brain now till wednesday don't you.

[DavidXBrunt]

Preening, moustachiod, verbose, egotistical  occultist and no mentions of Devlin Waugh?

[House of Usher]

No, but we were all thinking of him.