Messages

1

Megazine / Re: Meg 444 - Pressure Point!

« on: 20 May, 2022, 12:18:55 PM »

Having been utterly indifferent to Hawk the Slayer, I found that final episode super enjoyable, am super curious to see how this comic does in the wider world. In general I don't get much out of comics follow-ups to film/TV, no matter how good they are, it always feels a bit like a consolation prize.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Low Life vs. Bendatti Vedatta Round 3 Heat 15

« on: 19 May, 2022, 09:13:28 AM »

Nothing wrong with Bendatti, but more or less everything right with Low Life.

So, Low Life!

3

General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Counterfeit Girl vs. Strontium Dogs Round 3 Heat 16

« on: 19 May, 2022, 09:12:18 AM »

Have just read the Hachette collection of the Ennis stuff, and I have to say Nigel Dobbyn's art really was brilliant, far better than I remembered. Steve Pugh's work I did remember as being great, and it still is.

Counterfeit Girl.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Button Man vs. Zenith Round 3 Heat 14

« on: 18 May, 2022, 07:16:22 AM »

Button Man all day. Sure, I've grown to respect Zenith, but never to love it. Button Man has class and suspense and just plain great plotting all the way through. BM vs Stront, now that'd be a tough call...

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Leviathan vs. Tyranny Rex Round 3 Heat 13

« on: 18 May, 2022, 07:14:20 AM »

Not SO hard, this one. Tyranny Rex was ever a great character in search of a suitable story. The first two are fun, the one with the nuns and the god machine was pretty great, the rest not so much.
Leviathan on the other hand was great all around, even including those one-off 'tales of the Leviathan'.

So, following the trend, Leviathan.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - The Dead vs. Lobster Random Round 3 Heat 12

« on: 17 May, 2022, 10:29:26 AM »

Love the weirdness of the Dead concept, got a bit bored with the story as it went on. Lobster Random arguably tries a bit too hard to be as weird and clever as thrills like the Dead, (right down to the irritating name) but every now and then the weirdness lands - looking at you, person with a dinosaur grated to the top of his head.

Lobster Random

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Bogie Man vs. Harlem Heroes (Original) Round 3 Heat 11

« on: 17 May, 2022, 09:39:43 AM »

It's not going to affect my vote, but I thought the Harlem Heroes DID include Inferno, as far as the Tourney is concerned? I don't recall Inferno getting their own separate slot?

Anyway, much as the central gag in Bogie Man is delightful, artwise it's not a patch on Gibbons at his most dynamic (and, if counted, Belardinelli at his usual swoopy heights). But mostly I'm voting for more Artie Gruber* in the Prog!

Harlem Heroes

*Prog 9 is the first all-time great Prog cover, discuss:

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Aquila vs. Necronauts Round 3 Heat 10

« on: 16 May, 2022, 10:26:07 AM »

Got a lot of nostalgic love for Necronauts, but it can't be denied that Rennie has got more sophisticated and I tend to like that in a story. Still, Necronauts deserves respect for being one of the earlier iterations of 'let's throw together a bunch of famous people from the past and put them on a thematically appropriate adventure' - it predates League of Extraorindary Gentlemen, even, doesn't it?

Still, Aquila is better.

9

General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Damnation Station vs. Mazeworld Round 3 Heat 9

« on: 16 May, 2022, 10:11:32 AM »

Look, I'll say that Damnation Station is a VERY clever story that never quite manages to be satisfying, I think mostly because it keeps shifting which character we're following through events.
Mazeworld is trying very hard to be a clever story but doesn't actually, I think, have a satisyfing story to tell.
But, you know, Mazeworld is like 17 kinds of beautiful, and the art provides a big dose of the cleverness that the script is missing. Which is more than enough to win this round - but just to throw it a little bit of love I'm voting Damnation Station - which does, also, have some really spectacular art: horrifically nasty alien design from Simon Davis, beautiful alien landscapes from Book Cook, and some real emotional heft for the ending from Mark Harrison.

10

General / Re: Sideshow Vote: The end of the road

« on: 16 May, 2022, 09:43:54 AM »

Yes please!
Happy to go beyond the Prog fro the sideshow, loving the idea of cruelly cutting down all your opinions on what the best story arc is for each thrill

11

General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Brigand Doom vs. Shadows Round 3 Heat 8

« on: 12 May, 2022, 10:09:31 AM »

Brigand Doom was a great series with stellar art, but remained in search of more than one actually well-conceived plot. Shadows was a very interesting one-off tale with charming art. I guess both are attempting to comment on how unfair it is that there will always be rich people who care not a jot for the plight of the poor. I wish Doom had been better than it actually was, because the bits where the large occiasonally zombified man in 18th century garb delivers poetic justice were neat, but in this team up it's the psychedelic cyber-tramps who win for me. Maybe, if McKenzie had pulled off a Mulholland Drive thing where Investigator Nine turned out to be Doom all along, but in a dream world, I'd give it more credit - but the story never quite got there.

Shadows.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Megatropolis vs. Tribal Memories Round 3 Heat 7

« on: 12 May, 2022, 10:04:56 AM »

Big fan of Dave Taylor's art, bigger fan of Tony Riot. In all honesty, the actual stpory of Tribal Memories doesn't quite build to a satisfying ending. But so far, Megatropolis is all set up, with no real idea where it's leading beyond more, admittedly clever and charming, Judge Dredd references.

Tribal Memories for me, just.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Armoured Gideon vs. Metalzoic Round 3 Heat 6

« on: 11 May, 2022, 08:24:19 AM »

Been trying to justify the part of me that finds Armoured Gideon charming and remembers his strips being more fun than not. But Metalzoic really is a very sophisticated and beautiful story, so I'm not finding it easy. Would be happy if either of these giant robot tales made it through to the next round. Gotta pick a side I guess!

Gonna go with Armoured Gideon, on the strength of Simon Jacob's robot and weird monster designs, which I hoesntly think might just best O'Neill's design work on Metalzoic.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Lenny Zero vs. Max Normal Round 3 Heat 5

« on: 11 May, 2022, 08:19:24 AM »

Gotta be Max Normal - I'll take arch dialogue over smug double-crosses any day.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Leatherjack vs. Hope Round 3 Heat 1

« on: 10 May, 2022, 01:48:50 PM »

Hah! But at least John Smith knows better than to take himself too seriously. Even the weirdy David Lynch version is a bit po-faced.