Yeah, this weeks was better than last, maybe it was just the new year blues or something.
Dredd seemed to get going, Slaine was back on track, Caballistics seems to be definitely working and Dante was excellent :o, best of the four strips.
A pretty good prog really (just watch the Watcher change my mind by the end of the week), which if you just look at the titles on paper you'd expect it to be.
DAMN you Paul. I've still got another six hours before I can see my prog!
[Sobs, then sniffles and blows his nose]
: i just felt the need to admit that; not two years ago, i went to the comic shop twice a month and mindlessly bought every X-title on the shelf. [Group hug and cheerful 'all in it together' song]
i feel so much better now...
Gee whizz paul what dya do mug the postie to get it so early. well Ha ive had tw0 fire call outs & still read mine . nyah;
Cover; Great
judge dredd aliens; brilliant fantastic, "nothing gets out unless its wearing a helmet (or a girlie judge with big hair)"
input; no funny letter. boo.
Caballistics ; great , good
sin/dex; too much bouxtox going on in the lips. plot, er well we'll see.
Dante; great super brill, what a scary bad guy, isn't Dante a honey? good with kids n all. yummie.
Slaine; story a bit muddled & disjointed like its leading into or out of somewhere & not getting there. or like the film that ran out of budget before they'd done the main bit.. but doesn't he look great ? call me superficial, but that last panel is pin up of the year so far. phoarr.(slaine not moloch..men should not wear thongs)
ahhh replete again.
No funny letter, but one of the message board irregulars gets a letter printed, whichis always nice.
Strange, I got Meg 202 today, but no new prog.
When did your Meg arrive?
whos letter whats their board name > was it the main one? surely no boarder would give away their progs ?!
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Quick comments: Dredd terrific fun, Dante sailing along fine, Caballistics still interesting but will probably improve next week when the protagonists actually do something.
But SinDex is just a constant stream of total-lack-of-surprise. Meeting yourself? Air guitar, anyone?
And Slaine is disappointing. After a fine start, its switched back to the usual painted fight scenes and stock phrases.
Pat Mills - tell a f*cking story, will you?
- Trout
Yeah, but it was a pretty good fight scene...
Three episodes of people chatting and ending in scenes of weird horror not enough for you Trouty?
I thought Slaine staggered back to it's feet this week and set off again.
I go away from the board for one day and PVS starts getting positive about the prog? I dunno....:)
This weeks prog definitely improves on last weeks.
Firstly Dredd is more Dredd and less Aliens this week (though will the Judges appear a bit incompetent to those who are reading this cos it Aliens, and dont know Dredd from munce?)
Caballistics - Art improved in terms of the monstery things at the end - much more creepy looking than the jolly flying fellows at the end of part 2.
And Slaine also improved a bit - the very unclear art and repetitive script of last weeks didnt do it any favours (write for the weekly format dammit). This weeks still has a lot of the faults of last weeks, but a bit more variation - Slaine becoming a wanderer again? Now that could work, as being King means all he ever does is fight tedious battles. If thats where this is going then things could be looking up
I suggest Slaine would be improved by the inclusion of characterisation and a bit of variety.
I haven't been able to tell one story from another for years.
Remember that poll asking for our favourite Slaine epic? I was at a bit of a loss, because I thought it was all the same sh*te since Time Killer.
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I'm losing patience with this Goth-appeal Celtic pap. I even liked Langley's art in Prog 2003 and now I've gone off it again.
Slaine needs a radical reinvention, or at least a bit of direction.
Basic formula for all recent stories: Someone attacks. People get killed. Slaine fights back, warps out, greets a wee bit and then it ends again.
Pants, pants, pants. This from someone who can produce Time Killer, the Shoggey Beast, Metalzoic, Marshall Law and all sorts of other great stuff.
Get a grip on Slaine, Pat, because it's what you'll be most remembered for when you finally retire.
- Trout
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Think I spotted Middenface and Hellboy in Sin/Dex; the new artist is starting to appeal a bit more now, he's rendered Billi in quite a Tank Girl stylee... & he's not averse to a visual joke or too.
Prog excellent overall.
Good work Tharg!
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Thought he was quiyte crap, now I know I dislike Sin/Dex but a couple of references (you forgot Pokemon) an artist not make (now I'm talking like Yoda) Plus if the lips on the characters get any bigger they'll explode and take their heads off. Then you have Billi getting younger by the panel, if she gets any younger Pete Townsend will deny reading 2000.
La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.
Only the third episode and already you're slagging it? Pah! For what it's worth, the opening frame was truly epic, and Moloch himself has an genuine eerie quality that sets him apart from Elfric, Balor, et al. Though the "taken our hearts" gag (gag as in both joke and choke) has been done before, this is top stuff. More!
Individual pix kept catching my attention. Full marks for the closing page of Cabballistics too. (I would like to see some of the smugness knocked out of Chapter and Verse, and special forces that aren't obvious dead meat, but that's not gonna happen, is it?) And that image of Mina lamenting her mother in Dante was another blinder. Very sad.
Overall, better than last week. Next prog should be even better. Huzzah!
I made a sneaky appearance in Sin/Dex along with Hellboy? I did a double take when I heard that.
And was that a veiled reference to Dr Who in Caballistics (Yetis in the underground)?
Link: The A-Z of Cal-Hab
That was referred to last week as well I think. Quatermass and the Pit were also referenced.
And I think I got a "LEWD" rap from Tharg on the input page for PITCHFEST. Here's the link again just to prove that I can do self-publicity as well.
One thing I did like about CABBALISTIC BUSTERS was that it seemd to cover similar ground to Bec and KAwl (supernatural, pop-culture references etc.) but did it much better. The kokes are better so far than in the whole of B&K and the whole "reference" thing seemed to be woven into the story rather than just photocopied from "SMASH HITS FAVOURITE FILM SCRIPTS".
This Mister Rennie is certainly versatile and knows his onions - he was the only one that got the PAST IMPERFECTs correct (in my opinion).
God what's happened to me... I thought I'd have broken my resolution to be nice to people by now. Especially after what Mister Rennie said about that lovely Henrik chap (and us all been "tw*ts").
I found myself enjoying the issue - still haven't pinned this feeling down yet as:
Dredd/Aliens seems to be heading into familar territory (though I doubt it will actually end up there)
SLAINE: Haven't we seen *exactly* this episode before in some other painted Slaine epic?
CABBALISTICS: See above
DANTE: Loved the story, loved the art apart from another lame monster from Mister Burns and some really lame looking pirates. He can draw but he can't design, I tell ya.
SIN/DEX: I like the artist, I didn't like the artist in-jokes but I love the lips and the way that the ugly one of the pair is now the dude and vice versa.
Link: LEWD? LEWD?
"This Mister Rennie is certainly versatile and knows his onions"
Is an onion similar to a lie detector? (Sorry Gordon, I did try to resist :)).
Late review -
Dredd/Aliens - good stuff, should be an extra good cliff hanger nexxt week as that'll be the end of part one of the Dark Horse version. I'm so impressed that this is reading so well as a weekly strip. Had my doubts, should have known better.
C. Inc - This is good stuff. From what we've seen so far I'm getting the impression that this is being set up as a possible recurring storyy. If the rest of this tale matches the start I'll be all for that.
Slaine - We're getting somewhere, slowly. I guess as this is the start of a three book tale I can handle a slow start, but I'm going off the art, seems to dark for me to see...
Dante - I'm going to miss him when he's gone. Good stuff, but whens Ma Dante going to show?
Sin Dex - The art doesn't appeal to me, but it's not bad as such. The boys are coming across as rather dumb in this tale though. It'll be interesting to see how the changes history works out - will Holy Moses still be alive when (if?) they return home? And therefore will Demi? Looking forwards to the confrontation with Croak, but I think I'm keener for them to return to the Barf arc that seems to be developing...
Cover - ugh. If I didn't buy it I don't think I'd notice it on the shelves, let alone look at it twice.
Anyone think the Kraken might turn out to be Nikolai's half-brother?
ahhhh clever thought there zeep, poor old dante needs to go on Kilroy with his messy family...
Hmmm, I hope not... people turning out to be related to each other is the corniest idea in the world (was it the beard Zeep? :))
Look at those Yankee Doctor Who scripts where the MAster is his brother and Borusa is his grandad or something. Its no surprise the Final Solution featured a hastily invented half brother for Alpha...
funny, I thought it might be his dad.
A good prog, though I can't be bothered with SinDex anymore, and Slaine needs a kick up the plot. Looks nice though.
But how can Tharg accuse Mr Tips of being lewd when he's going on about his throbbing organ?
I also thought it was a good prog.
Except for Sinister Dexter.
It's the first Slaine I've read in over ten years and look, absolutely nothing has changed! All the same characters, and Pat Mills scripts are still dull and he's still trying far too hard to be clever. And although Clint's art is fantastic i've never really thought it suits strips - a bit too static. Although saying that, one of the most interesting covers in months.
We've already met his dad, Pete. Big fellah, glasses, blew his brains out? Ringing any bells?
Hmmm, I hope not... people turning out to be related to each other is the corniest idea in the world (was it the beard Zeep? :))
I suppose it was, also a Nikolaiish cast to the features...we shall see. I may well have it completely wrong as per usual.
I have to say that while im not dissapointed by dredd vs. aliens, it has yet to get really going. I mean chestbursters, acid for blood, facehuggers...we kinda knew all that was coming.
I want to see some real imagination thrown at it.
Still good but.
Hex.
"We've already met his dad"
ah, must have been when I was AWOL
what like during his whole story run Pete ?
yeah, pretty much.
Caballistics Inc- 'Aye Bloody robot yetis' great stuff.
Sin/Dec nice artwork,but too much chat for me,
Slaine: same old insults and messy art, almost back to that mucky 'Dinosty' or whatever it was called.
How good is Dredd!! back on form and the female judges aren't even wearing their high heels (a la Bolland). Good to see a bit diversity in the ethnic makeup of MC1 as well. I've always wondered why MC1 was so white,has that ever been explained? i.e. racist DNA attack? ooops off at a tangent
I was sure I posted this, never mind, my thoughts
judge dredd aliens; I like this and I kinda dont. Like whats ging on so far and Flints art... Wayhaaaay
Caballistics ; Rennie is just to feckin good, no lie detector here, so versatile. I reckon he could probably write a decent Barbie story if he put half a mind to it.
sin/dex; crap plot, arts well different, although sin has a mullet..... can we put them to rest??
Dante; what a great strip this is, whenever a new Dante comes out Im almost always left with a WOW factor. Like whats next. As much as I like Burns' art, can we get Simon Fraser back on it
Slaine; Is it a death for Naimh?? Please not what babe. Slaine need some direction in life again. I hope this si gonna be it....
Yer Slippo
I think I realise that a lot of what I like about Henry Flints art is the fact that he mimics the 'greats' art on each story he does - his Dredd is very Ezquerra (look at the tiny 'slit' mouths they both draw for Dredd) & his VC's was very Cam Kennedy in style.
I think he said much the same himself in that ximoc interview.
Thats not to say he's not a brilliant artist in his own right of course, he & Jock are the bizzo.
Shakara!
"I think he said much the same himself in that ximoc interview."
He did indeed. He said it to me.
He was being self-deprecating and chuckling when he said it, I should perhaps add.
It's certainly an unselfconscious way of working and it seems to produce positive results.
We should look on it, IMO, as unconscious homage to the older greats.
Like Oasis and the Beatles. You can be derivative and still be damn good. :-)
(Except Oasis are a bit shite now.)
- Trout
Somehow he always reminds me of Kevin O'Neil and the Early Simon Bisley ABC Warriors stuff though, even when hes doing a Cam Kennedey or a Carlos Ezsquerra.
i think Cabbalistics is the most promising new story in tooth for a long time, Hobbs End and Robot Yetis, nice. Does the Q in Q department stand foe Quatermass? Good to see that Mr Rennie appears to have escaped the talent destroying Curse of Rogue Trooper.
I thought it stood for Quatermaster (which is what Q. in Bond is short for) but in this context it might well be a development of Quatermasses 'British Rocket Group'.
you wouldn't believe the s*** week i have had running around like a thing running around
shame, not looked for prog yet, the shame.... will go sit in corner, look tomorrow, or mug kids..
Aye loads o quatermass & Dr. Who refs...has anyone pointed out that the military chappie in charge is surely non other than Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart?
I thought that as well. Or at least I'd commented that it's nice to see Nicholas Courtney in 2k.
"Slaine; Is it a death for Naimh??"
Don't worry yersel Slips, she gets reincarnated as a Nun and a Man.
y'know i was thinking the same thing about naimh (supporting character death will affect the series ect)
wooo found it !
wicked and more thrills to come soon
kewl reference to 9 monkeys by thargy babe and some good strips - final page of dredd, top right, chin chin... oh yea chin action again.. had to sneak that one in though didnt ya flint !
on yea, star letter, says leave yer comic in waiting room to spread the thrill power,,,,, when...some time ago i advised for this spreading of thrill power miss boudica said i woz mad.....
mind you, i am