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Messages - gufnork

#1
Prog / Re: Re: Prog 1812 Trifecta
08 December, 2012, 07:26:29 PM
It wasn't so much that I don't like the anthology format as the fact that I think I was taken in by all the promises of prog 1800 being the prog for new readers to jump on and it was going to be all sugar and spice and stuff for us virtual-virgins but then... They gave me 'Brass soding Sun' and 'Grey Area'. I mean, what was I supposed to think. If you Will promise the world and then produce 'Brass soding Sun' then I'm just gonna think '...meh', hang my head and wander off. I can't even remember what else was in that prog since all I can think of when I look back on it is 'BRASS SODING SUN'.

Still, this prog was good, especially the bit where the clowns little gang of clown-groupies turn up. Heh heh, gotta chuckle at clown groupies :D
#2
Prog / Re: Prog 1812 Trifecta
08 December, 2012, 04:40:27 PM
So, after suffering all I could take of that awful 'Brass Sun' and the almost as bad 'Grey Area' and being a more-or-less new reader to the prog(discounting the odd prog here and there in the '80's) I decided to bug out for a while and come back at some random point a little later and see if things had improved. This is the prog I was lucky enough to pick up. I won't pretend to understand everything or everyone in this prog but it is worlds away from the disappointing stuff back in prog 1800. I really liked the different characters all being merged into one storyline and clown-detective guy really hit the spot and reminded me that I should never shun the prog completely because even though it throws up(literally...?) some real sub-par stuff from time to time(see first sentence), it then comes back numerous progs down the line at some seemingly random point in time and for some seemingly random reason with a wonderous, shiny little nougat like this. If only it could be consistant in this type of brilliance I could see myself buying regularly. But I know from the stinging disappointment that was prog 1800 that that is not going to happen so I shall forever be one of the also rans I'm afraid, simply dipping my toe into the waters from time to time in the hope that I've hit upon one of the good weeks. I did this week. It was extremely enjoyable and almost makes me want to get that big fat special next week(is it next week?) but then again I'm afraid I'll open the prog only to see 'Brass Sun' or 'Grey Area' staring back at me, and I'm really not sure I could take any more of that.

Anyway, well done to all concerned for this prog. Very good indeed. Shame it can't be every week though...!
#3
Film & TV / Re: Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan
30 September, 2012, 02:57:41 PM
Quote from: qtwerk on 30 September, 2012, 12:51:34 PM
No more Amy Pond!

noooooooooooo

Ah well, it was a decent, emotional send-off, only slightly spoiled by the execrable River Fucking Song.

I do agree that the Angels have been overused and get less creepy. I'm not sure I even understand what it is they do - touch you, send you back in time, and feed off.....er, something?

It was certainly a much better episode than the stupid invasion of the Rubik's cubes.

I don't know why people dislike her so much. I think she's great. I wouldn't kick her out of bed either. Always cheers me up when I see her coming. ;)
#4
Film & TV / Re: Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan
30 September, 2012, 10:24:07 AM
Quote from: Tim Tailz on 29 September, 2012, 11:12:13 PM
Apparantly the Melody Malone book (which was featured heavily in this episode) is actually going to be released.

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/09/melody-malone-270912171508.html

Oh man, I am sooo there already.

As for the episode itself, I thought like all the episodes this series that it felt a little rushed, but then maybe that's just a result of my penchant for cliff-hangers. On the whole, yes there were a few liberties taken, what with the Angels and the paradox thing. A little too much deux ex machina to be entirely comfortable with that. Did love the novel part though(see above), very... well, novel! I must say though, the Angels aren't giving me the willy's like they used to and I can't quite work out whether that's to do with the stories getting weaker(don't think it's this) or what really. Anyway, even though I enjoyed this episode, I think the Ponds deserved a little better. Can't believe Moffat claims he re-wrote the script for this 10 times before deciding upon this one. On another site/forum, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81012437&postcount=25, someone comes up with what to my mind would have been a wonderful ending to the Ponds, albeit a lot sadder.

All in all a very good episode with some really nice touches but like all the episodes this series felt rushed and this one in particular really would have benefitted from a double episode.

Can't wait for that novel to enter cyberspace now...
#5
Hi and welcome, I'll add my voice to the rogue trooper lot too. Could never get into it myself. Thought it was just me, but apparently not. I'm currently disliking Brass Sun a good deal but I seem to be alone on that one. Anyway, welcome once again.
#6
Welcome to the board / Re: New Readers Start Here!
21 September, 2012, 08:20:15 PM
Is Robo-Hunter still around? When was his last visit to the Prog? I seem to remember loving it.
#7
Off Topic / Re: Re: comic art community
21 September, 2012, 04:55:30 PM
Wow, very nice. So much drool, so little time...
#8
Prog / Re: Prog 1801 Green Death On The Red Planet
21 September, 2012, 02:27:35 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 21 September, 2012, 01:10:06 PM

Short for soviet - a derogatory term for the Russians of East Meg 1 and 2.


Ah, of course. Thanks for that.

Quote

Grey Area ends in 1803, and I think we're getting Low Life and Simping Detective in place of that and the Terror Tales from 1804 onward...

I think the fact that it's an Anthology is why I'm still more likely to continue getting 2000ad than not. The thought of missing some great new story(or new to me at least) may just be too much to bear.
#9
Prog / Re: Prog 1801 Green Death On The Red Planet
21 September, 2012, 02:14:21 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 September, 2012, 01:59:04 PM
Quote from: The Cosh on 21 September, 2012, 01:51:45 PM
Jim mentioned Kev Walker's stripped back style and I don't think this is in anything like the same league.

I wasn't making a comparison between the two, merely observing that Kev had explicitly stated that he thought simplifying his style would save him a lot of time, and that this proved not to be the case. I brought it up to illustrate my point that simpler ≠ easier.

Cheers

Jim

That's a fair point of course but might the time issue be as much to do with lack of familiarity in a more simplistic style as much as anything else? Trying to do anything that you're less familiar with is bound to take longer, isn't it?
#10
Prog / Re: Prog 1801 Green Death On The Red Planet
21 September, 2012, 12:17:31 PM
And once again, not actually blown away by this issue. The cover is fantastic though, another true work of art. Absolutely beautiful stuff here.

Judge Dredd - Wasn't quite so keen on the art this week. Last week's was definitely my favourite art style for Dredd of these two issues. Having said that I am only two issues in and both episodes have been well drawn in their own way. Still preferred last weeks art though if I'm being picky. I'm a great fan of multi-parters so I'm expecting to enjoy this one as it proceeds. Gonna have to look up some acronyms though. What's a SOV? Anyway, am liking the whole struggling to get things back on an even keel after the Day of Chaos(which I haven't read, but looked up the synopsis on wikipedia) kick thing. So, yeah, good but missing the humour of last weeks one off. I like humour. A little more tongue in cheek stuff please.

Brass Sun - No, no, no, no, NO! The story looks like it could actually be tolerable, if not quite good(in the end) but the artwork just doesn't do anything for me except anoy me quite a lot. I could imagine myself, or maybe that 5 year old from next door drawing this kind of stuff and perhaps even that isn't a bad thing for a lot of people, but when I pick up 2000ad I really do want, nay, excpect something a little better, something that I know is beyond the usual plebs abilities and I'm still not convinced this is it. So I say again... NO!

ABC Warriors - Yes, yes and thrice more, YES! Now this is more like it. Fantastic artwork, in fact absolutely stunning artwork, in fact there just aren't words in the English language to describe my love and admiration for the artist and colourist(are they the same person?) in this one. I quite liked the memory/flashback thread running through this episode, just so long as it's not all going to be memories and flashbacks every week. The different speach bubbles, well now... I can see why it's there and I'm really loving the black cloud speach bubble for Deadlock but the others are a little angular for my liking and tend to draw my eye to them a little more than I would like really. But I'm probably being picky there I think. This is just remarkable work all round and deserves all the praise it gets.

Terror Tales - Not sure what the point of this was. If you're going to do these little one off stories then at least make sure they're done right. This would have been fine if it'd been twice or maybe three times as long. They could have really ratcheted up the tension and given the ending the time and space it deserved, but what actually happened was that they miss-timed the whole piece and ended up rushing the ending. It just seemed to a bit too much of a stretch to believe the two of them would simply say, 'oh well, looks like we've been tricked and are going to die now. Not to worry sweetie...'. Just made no sense at all and was entirely unbelievable. If they're going to do this sort of one-shot-short then the timing really does need to be spot on I think.

Grey Area - Was ok. Just ok though. The art isn't to my taste but I'm not offended by it either so that's ok. It was nice to see some faces this time rather than just helmets standing around. I liked the look of the Ambassador at the end too. Could become slightly more than ok if we're lucky, but I'll not hold my breath.

In summary, the best of the bunch once again were Dredd and ABC Warriors. The worst was undoubtedly Brass Sun. The rest just seem to be either ok-ish or simply not up to scratch at all. I'm kind of hoping things will pick up a bit as these stories move on because I've gotta tell ya guys, I'm far from being won over at the moment. ABC Warriors(and Dredd to a degree) are the exceptions.

Still, onward and upward(hopefully).
#11
Website and Forum / Re: Re: TapaTalk
18 September, 2012, 04:10:22 PM
I'm posting this from tapatalk right now. Is obviously not a problem that affects everyone then ???
#12
Prog / Re: Prog 1800 - Law Zone!
17 September, 2012, 05:29:10 PM
Hooray, I've just been granted access, so here's my little review. Enjoy!

Well this is my first prog since the 80s. I kid you not. I heard it was going to be a good jumping on point so here I am. I read it in order, resisting the urge to skip and jump around and overall I can honestly say it was a relatively enjoyable experience.The cover was a bit of a surprise given the seemingly endless blog posts(mainly on the rpg blogs I frequent I grant you, but still...) about the terrible scourge of animators that portray woman as sex objects and place them in poses that would test a contorsionist, but to be honest even though it's not the best cover I've seen(thanks Barney), it was ok and it did at least get people talking about it.

Brass Sun - Yeah. Not sure why people are raving about this one. I found the artwork to be lacking that certain something. The story looks like it could be interesting if you like that religio-steampunk kind of vibe that it looks like becoming, but for me, well apart from anything else I just can't get past the minimalist look of it all. Compare the artwork to the Dredd story or ABC Warriors in this prog to see what I mean. It just comes across as a little too simplistic and a little bit lacklustre to my untrained eye.

Judge dredd - This was my favourite which came as a bit of a surprise to me since I remember as a kid I used to enjoy everything but Dredd in the Progs and expected to find the same true here. It looked great and was very humorous which is always a bonus with me. If there's one thing that will win me over above almost anything else it's that tongue-in-cheek kind of humour that I see here. Life's depressing enough as it is thanks all the same so the funny stuff is a definite winner.

ABC Warriors - Looks like it Will be another winner. The colour and overall look of the thing was the clincher here for me. The artwork was just stunning if a little upside-down-y, but with really exceptional detail. It really was a true work of art. We'll see how the storyline moves on though before worshipping it too much.

Grey Area - Didn't grab me at all I'm afraid. I can't see how it's going to become anything particularly special given that this first part of the story was tedious and really just made me wish it could be over faster, which I'm sure isn't the feeling they were going for. It was all just a bit 'meh..' for me.

Overall, it was a prog that probably wouldn't have convinced me to keep buying had I not still had good memories of the 80s progs, but for someone like me who intends to give it a real shot before deciding whether to stay with it permenantly, it certainly hinted at those possible/probable streaks of excellence that might tempt me enough to keep me reading for a while yet.

Brass Sun though, seriously... I'm simply not seeing it.
#13
Website and Forum / Re: It's not fair old chap
17 September, 2012, 05:17:18 PM
Thank you. Am off to the prog forum...  :thumbsup: :wave:
#14
Website and Forum / Re: How long am I new for?
17 September, 2012, 01:54:12 PM
Thanks for the info Jimbo :thumbsup:
#15
Website and Forum / Re: It's not fair old chap
17 September, 2012, 01:53:12 PM
Hi chaps, I just got directed to this thread by Dark Jimbo. I was wondering if you could give me either full access to the forums or even just to the Spoiler/Prog forum please. Wanted to start reviewing. Thanks in advance  ;)