Prog 2362 - It’s a 100-Page Festive Mega Blast!

[Magnetica]

I've just noticed the end of Fiends says "Constanta will return in Wilde West- coming soon".

Oh ok, but  we had the prologue to that back in Prog 2310, before last year's Xmas issue. Presumably it was meant to run this year, but got delayed.

[HeidTheBaw]

and dragged the Prog into this culture war crap that it manages to avoid most of the time. 2000ad remains one of the last bastions of escapism from conversations that dominate social media and now a lot of mainstream media, I'd rather it stayed that way.

It's difficult to know what you're actually complaining about here, because you've been quite non-specific. My knee-jerk reaction is to look at the things being attacked in the strip - the most obvious of which are domestic violence and the rise of fascism. The thing is - Strontium Dog has always been a story in which Alpha fights for the underdog against whoever is bullying them, and one of the core themes of the strip has always been prejudice against "the other", and the battle against fascism (see Portrait of a Mutant, for example).

In a wider lens, 2000 AD has most often leaned against authoritarianism or thuggery. For examples, you can read this year's Void Runners, Helium, The Night Shifter, Portals & Black Goo, The Out or Proteus Vex. Going back a ways, there's Nemesis as a core example.

So, I'm a bit confused as to what the actual complaint is. I think, partly, that's a problem of modern language around politics. If someone complains about the "culture war", it's not clear what they're complaining about. If someone dislikes "wokeism", I don't know what they dislike. They're dog whistles.

I doubt very much you are confused as to what I'm referring to. The guy on the stage who is a thinly veiled cipher for your Jordan Peterson types.

Yes, 2000ad has always had a reputation for satire and left leaning anti establishment vibes, part of the reason the comic and it's creators have become such an influence over the course of my lifetime reading - but almost always done skilfully or with high quality wit........ I don't recall anything so heavy handed as seeing Johnny delighted at a guy getting his head caved in because he talked some shit on a stage.

[HeidTheBaw]

For me Strontium Dog read like it was written by someone whom never read any Strontium Dog stories by Wagner/Grant. This is one of my major gripes with most stories these days based upon established IP disregard the history and its lore.

Agreed.

See also Devlin Waugh in recent years

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

...I don't recall anything so heavy handed as seeing Johnny delighted at a guy getting his head caved in because he talked some shit on a stage.

Heavy handed...Really?

*Gestures broadly at Pat Mills entire feckin' oeuvre*

[Jim_Campbell]

See also Devlin Waugh in recent years

Really? I thought Ales Kot's handling of the character in his most recent outings has been excellent.

[Funt Solo]

I doubt very much you are confused as to what I'm referring to. The guy on the stage who is a thinly veiled cipher for your Jordan Peterson types.

Thank you for explaining what you meant. I genuinely was confused because (as mentioned) the phrase "culture war" is often too broad for me to understand - especially in a case where there are various ways it could be used. I wasn't to know if you were referring to the casual domestic violence, the call-to-organized enslavement of women, the general homoerotic undertones of the main characters, the belief in a supreme being or the focus on Sigyn in the tale of Loki. They're all cultural, and potentially controversial.

I take it you're against misogynists, but you would rather that if they were criticized that they be criticized in a more subtle way?

[HeidTheBaw]

See also Devlin Waugh in recent years

Really? I thought Ales Kot's handling of the character in his most recent outings has been excellent.

I feel like Kot's been really one-note with his take on Waugh, it's just one ongoing double entendre veering towards edgelord territory (which is not something I'm against in general, but Smith used that angle more sporadically and the effect was a lot greater to me).

Maybe I just really miss Smith.

[Fortnight]

I take it you're against misogynists, but you would rather that if they were criticized that they be criticized in a more subtle way?

I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but from what I read it seems more like the complaint was over a general malaise with the overt crowbarring into literature, and culture in general, of the so-called culture war phenomena of recent times; your wokeism, formerly social justice warriorism, and before that third-wave feminism tropes intruding into the forefront of public consciousness where it previously hadn't been.

Of course I don't think this is the case, at least not to the extent that it might seem, since social politics has always been a player in culture for as long as there has been culture. It's just that now there so much social change around those aforementioned areas and its extremely rapid adoption by the mainstream is almost a culture shock to some.

We're riding a socio-political pendulum which overswings back and forth at the moment. It'll settle down in time and we'll all look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.

[Richard]

To be fair, it probably wasn't really necessary to show an attempted domestic rape in front of a child just to make the point that misogynists are bad people.

[Richard]

Maybe Cult of the Thugee from 1991's Judge Dredd Mega-Special?

Thanks for finding that, but I'm thinking specifically of one where two hammers falling in opposite directions collide with someone's head between them.

[Link Prime]

Maybe Cult of the Thugee from 1991's Judge Dredd Mega-Special?

Thanks for finding that, but I'm thinking specifically of one where two hammers falling in opposite directions collide with someone's head between them.

Donnie Wahlberg in Saw IV comes to mind.

[Funt Solo]

To be fair, it probably wasn't really necessary to show an attempted domestic rape in front of a child just to make the point that misogynists are bad people.

On the other hand, it did a good job of reflecting back on Alpha's own childhood, which also demonstrates that the complaint that the writer hadn't done their research and wasn't playing true to the characters was a bit of an empty complaint.

If you check statistics, you find that domestic abuse-related crimes are on the rise in the UK, so I'm not sure how it would be helpful to brush it under the carpet. Indeed, that's probably one of the reasons it's on the rise - because it is often a hidden crime, and it's difficult to prosecute. Quite brave of 2000 AD to highlight it. We should probably be lauding them, rather than criticizing them, I'm sure we'd all agree. Unless...

[Richard]

That's a fair point too. I suppose I'm just more used to seeing that sort of thing in the Megazine than in the prog.

[IndigoPrime]

The notion Kot's work is one-note is quite something to me. The character aligns with Smith's, bar chunks of Red Tide (which is relentlessly miserable) and the scripts and strips have been varied in tone. Waugh's cleverness has been played up somewhat, perhaps (what with the manoeuvring of the football team, etc), but this feels like Devlin Waugh to me.

[Le Fink]

Rufus Hound is interviewed in the Meg this month and goes into the inspirations and reasonings for his tale. He did his research (I missed the reference to The Killing at the start, one of my fave Stront tales) and put the work in, starting with a crash course on comics writing from Alex de Campi.

Having re-read the story because of all this debate it has grown on me. The relationship between the two men is sweetly told, and yes the jump between the threatened boy and Alpha as a child is excellent. Kudos to Cornwell too, he has to jump around a lot. And yes on reflection it is brave and timely. It's still a bit on the nose and for me, a bit verbose in places, so maybe fewer words next time please Rufus and perhaps give a regular Search/Destroy adventure a try?