Topics

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Prog / Prog 2225 - Justice Served

« on: 27 March, 2021, 06:00:16 PM »

First time in a long time I’ve read the Prog on a Saturday.

A new Dredd thriller “ A Penitent Man” starts. And it’s absolutely cracking. Great art by Tom Foster - we really need to see him in the Prog much more often. The story is intriguing and a nice introduction, plus there is a mini twist at the end. Really looking forward to this.

I really like Thistlebone and think it will be worth re-reading the first series just to make sure I have got all the plot points. It seems to be building nicely.

A Deadworld spin off called Visions of Deadworld starts. It’s kinda ok, but I long ago lost track of what I’d going on in this series. But this can be read as a stand alone terror tale set in that world.

Speaking of Terror Tales, there is one of those as well. It’s not really my kind of thing, but is was ok.

Rounding off the Prog is another of my favourites - Feral and Foe. Just the usual excellence from Dan Abnett and Richard Elson.

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Prog / Prog 2199 - Death Becomes Him!

« on: 14 September, 2020, 11:29:12 AM »

Postie has just been, handing me Prog 2199, the Battle of Britain special, The77 issues 1 and 2, and the Meg 30th anniversary issue.

That should keep me going for a while.

Only read Dredd so far. All I can say is hmmm.

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Prog / Prog 2194 - Smokin’ Bacon!

« on: 08 August, 2020, 06:36:22 PM »

First time I have read the Prog on a Saturday in a long time, and what a good one it is.

Dredd moves into an interesting new phase in End of Days.

Full Tilt Boogie wraps up leaving me wanting more, which is not something I would have thought ten weeks ago.

SinDex is back and sets ups the next chapter of Bulletopia nicely. And there is an intriguing exchange between Finny and Carrie, which I hope we see continued.

Just as a think I am understanding The Order, a character is mentioned who I have no idea who they are referring to it. Which is par for the course. But I am enjoying it and am even contemplating a complete re-read - especially if Tordels continues with his guide.

All of which pales compared to The Out, which has a major “you what?” moment. Just top stuff. Another Abnett instant classic. He is really spoiling us this year. Let’s hope he gets well soon.

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General / Judge Dredd Case File 5 Free download

« on: 19 March, 2020, 02:34:59 PM »

The Thrillmail is advising of a free download of Judge Dredd case files 5, to give us all something to read whilst cooped up at home.

I just want to say what a great gesture this is from Rebellion in these difficult times for everyone.

Especially as this is the very definition of premium content: Block Mania, the Apocalypse War, Judge De’ath Lives, The Mega Rackets, the Hotdog Run and a few more.

It’s got me dipping my toes into the digital experience having been a confirmed paper only collector up to now. It will be interesting to see how I get on with it.

I can see the convenience factor but still think you cant beat a physical comic.

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Film & TV / Star Trek: Picard

« on: 28 December, 2019, 09:55:58 AM »

Not sure if anyone else saw this, but at half time in the Wolves - Man City game last night Amazon Prime we’re plugging the new Picard series which they are going to start showing on 24th January.

Can’t wait....

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Other Reviews / The Vigilant Legacy.

« on: 18 August, 2019, 10:28:24 AM »

Surprised there is no review thread for this yet(?).

This follows on where it left off last year for more of the same. The art by Simon Coleby is really good and suits it very well.

The additional Dr Sin tale really adds to the intrigue and there are some nice background pieces in the back. Loved the bit about Mary’s watch too.

The main problem for me is this is currently being done at yearly intervals. At that rate I’m guessing it will be cancelled before it completes which will be a real shame. It needs to be at least quarterly IMO.

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Prog / Prog 2124 - The New Normal

« on: 23 March, 2019, 03:09:54 PM »

A new Dredd thriller starts with Rob Williams and Chris Weston on script duties. Not sure if this is the first time the Weston bot has had a writing credit in 2000AD. The episode starts and ends well, setting up the next part well. I found the middle bit to be a bit odd, and was a bit disappointing but it soon recovered from that.

Now I do like Kingmaker, but it’s going a bit too much Lord of the Rings with a bit of Game of Thrones thrown in.

There is a new Max Normal story by Guy Adams and Dan Cornwell. The opening episode is a mostly set up and I think I will reserve judgement.

Grey Area hurtles towards the series finale. Unfortunately I didn’t think this week’s episode (and last week’s for that matter) quite hit the usual very high standard. Oh and there is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, but the way it is drawn leaves enough room for Kymm to survive.

I agree with NA Parry’s letter that current thrills are as good as “classic” ones and that it is nostalgia that makes one think otherwise.

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General / Munce is here

« on: 19 March, 2019, 07:52:00 AM »

Just heard a piece on the radio about growing plant based meat in a lab.

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Prog / Prog 2108 - Germ Warfare

« on: 17 November, 2018, 01:42:40 PM »

The Small House moves towards the end game. As has been the norm with this particular story, there is another shock towards the end of this episode and fans of Dirty Frank might want to look away.

Skip Tracer wraps up and will return. For me it's an ok thrill, but is over shadowed by what else is in the Prog.

Brink has an even more talky episode than usual, if that is possible. And as with Dredd ,things come to ahead at the end of the episode. As others had speculated Curtis had been trailed and now that is going to come home to roost.

Infestinauts is not my sort of thing. Its ok, but not sure I bother with a re-read.

Never thought I would say it, but I found Kingdom a little disappointing. The nuke from the end of last week's episode seems somehow incidental; surely it should have more of an impact?

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Other Reviews / The Rat Pack

« on: 15 November, 2018, 01:21:32 PM »

Just received my copy of the hardback.

I was never a Battle reader, so this is all new to me. The main reason I bought it, was because it contains art by Carlos Ezquerra - which I have not seen before.

Having said that, his art in this looks very different to what I am used to. I am really surprised - I thought I could spot an Ezquerra piece in 2 nano seconds, but I wouldn't have guessed this was his if I hadn't been told.

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Prog / Prog 2107 - Hostile Takeover!

« on: 10 November, 2018, 12:33:48 PM »

Top billing as usual in this run is Dredd followed by Brink then Kingdom.

In Dredd we get a flash back from file 2103 whichs fils in a bit more backstory for Frank and his early dealing with Smiley and then ends with yet another major revelation, but this time one that you can kinda see coming.

Brink does what it does best, in others words a really atmospheric episode with loads of talking. And the good news is it won't be wrapping up before the Xmas Prog and will continue into the new year.

With Kingdom I made the mistake of flicking  to the back of the Prog before reading it. We knew that was coming, but it wasn't meant to be so soon. Not sure where that leaves Gene.

Oh yeah Skip Tracer and Infestinauts were in the Prog too. Skip Tracer continues on its way as before. I am sure Infestinauts is meant to be funny, but I'm just not into it - may be a re-read once it concludes nest week is in order, but for now it is totally over shadowed by the big 3.

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Other Reviews / Judge Dredd - Toxic.

« on: 31 October, 2018, 08:25:15 PM »

Just read this. It was ok for an IDW Dredd effort. I do think Dredd doesn’t suit the American format comics - it just works better in 6 page chunks. But that seems strange given the longer stories in the Megazine.

Anyway I thought Dredd’s character is a little off; he seem more brusque and authoritarian than he is in the Prog these days. More of a throwback to very early Progs. Also Anderson seemed a bit off too, answering him back, but not in the jokey way she used to (indeed she doesn’t seem to do that in the Prog anymore).

As to the story, the alien symbiotes seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance, both in appearance and function to the Goa’uld.

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Film & TV / The Apprentice - comics

« on: 11 October, 2018, 11:15:20 AM »

Did anyone watch The Apprentice last night? The challenge was to create a comic for 8 to 12 year olds.

What they came up with was a far cry from 2000AD or even what I imagine a modern version aimed at that age group would be.

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General / How old is Johnny Alpha?

« on: 08 September, 2018, 08:47:48 AM »

So we all know Dredd is meant to age in real time, but how old do we think Johnny Alpha is meant to be?

Strontium Dog, whilst being a strip that had appeared frequently, has not appeared anything like weekly, there were big gaps between the publication of books of the “Life and Death of Johnny Alpha” where the action followed on from the same point in the story, and he actually spent a big chunk of time being “dead”*.

So how much is he meant to have aged since his first appearance 40 or so years ago? I guess it is actually much less than 40 years.

*(Bizarrely supporting characters like Middenface don’t seem to have aged any more, despite having lived through the whole period).

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Other Reviews / Last Comic Read

« on: 20 August, 2018, 05:57:25 PM »

Does any one else find it strange there isn’t a “last comic read” thread in a similar vein to the last movie watched or box set obsession one? I.e. somewhere to witter on about what you have just read without having to start a whole thread dedicated to it.

Anyway I wanted to comment on The Last American without resurrecting the old threads on it. I finally got round to reading my special edition hardback, having owned it for over a year and having brought it on last year’s summer holiday and not ever having read it before.

Given the creative team (Wagner, Grant and McMahon) and the comments on the old thread (“ absolute classic” ) I had high expectations. But I have to same to say I was disappointed. The outcome was telegraphed from pretty early on i.e. it was obvious there was no-one else around and McMahon’s art was after what I view as his classic period.