Prog 2309 - Cold Snap!

[Barrington Boots]

Cunning work by Royal Mail, delivering a Prog on a Saturday just as my subscription commitment was wavering, and reminding me how awesome that is.

Lengthy final episodes for a couple of Thrills this week which means no Hope stodging up the middle of the Prog and makes it a much better reading experience. All behind a fantastic, eye-catching Simon Fraser cover! There's also a Kevin O'Neill obituary

Dredd - Wraps up. I enjoyed the first couple of parts of this tale but it went quickly off the rails for me - the ending is a bit of a mess ([spoiler]if the clone insta-kills all the Sov psychics, why is Anderson still here?[/spoiler]) and it all feels a bit pointless but the last couple of pages are great with Dredd at his hardline horrible best. Henry Flint's art is the business though - I do like the design on Vasilisa, Dredd's insane, staring mechanical eye is the creepiest thing here, and whilst technically not into a return to youthful Anderson, she's got an ethereal, almost fey look in this story.

Enemy Earth - I read this this week. It's ok. I don't like the artwork but I just figure this tale isn't for me. For a Regened tale it's pretty dark, which is what we've all been asking for, so it's a shame it hasn't really hit it off with the bulk of the commentators.

Chimpsky - Takes a dark turn with it's conclusion. This Chimpsky story has been terrific. Chimpsky having a secret psi-dampening prison room feels a bit of a stretch in a story about a super-intelligent ape in a future city but the story is great so it's easy to accept. Having been desperate to see these kids get their comeuppance, Chimpsky's decision - and his self-admonishment - is 100% in line with his character and a wider arc is set up. Really enjoyed everything about this.

Hershey - Really enjoyed this too. I keep saying this story is quite cinematic and I think it has been - the chase, the fights have all been done perfectly. The page this week where the spider-plant things come through the wall / window is brilliant. The story has been simpler than the boxing one and it's worked better for it.

Not a brilliant, but perfectly enjoyable Prog.

[broodblik]

Cover by Simon Fraser:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[Colin YNWA]

That Simon Frasers a bit good isn't he!

[Goosegash]

Dredd - Wraps up. I enjoyed the first couple of parts of this tale but it went quickly off the rails for me - the ending is a bit of a mess ([spoiler]if the clone insta-kills all the Sov psychics, why is Anderson still here?[/spoiler]) and it all feels a bit pointless but the last couple of pages are great with Dredd at his hardline horrible best. Henry Flint's art is the business though - I do like the design on Vasilisa, Dredd's insane, staring mechanical eye is the creepiest thing here, and whilst technically not into a return to youthful Anderson, she's got an ethereal, almost fey look in this story.

The problem with this story for me was Dredd lacked agency to the point where it felt like he was a bystander in his own story. We didn't even get to see him take any decisive action in the final episode since he was being controlled by Burratino, just felt like a very damp squib of a conclusion.

[Colin YNWA]

What a lovely cover... I mean it not exactly lovely is it, but it is great.

Inside there is a mighty lesson. One I need to preface. I enjoy both Dredd and Hershey... well the later has a pretty fine ending, given an ending can be a tantilising teaser to lead you into the next part of the story. Its a great way to do that. Dredd is a little more... standard... I mean its fun and the art is astonishing (as I should note it is in Hershey), but it does feel a little like 'look at all the cleaver things I've been building too' without any of the cleaver things really being rooted in anything I massively care about and so the feel a bit empty, if entertaining. I mean at least Rob Williams resisted having Dredd beaten and broken to within a inch of his life. The whole broken, maddened eye thing makes it look like he really had to rein in the temptation to smash Dredd up again... but since he was a little incidential there was just not need, nor justification...

... my beef however is another things with no real need or justification. Which leads to the lesson. Rob Williams is indulged here with two extra length episodes to wrap up his two stories. At the cost of Hope for a week. And I use the word indulged deliberately. Why... why do this. There is nothing here to make those pages feel earnt, there is no sense that either story was special enough - Hershey certainly gets closest - to make the bonus feel worth it. It feels like an indulgience that strangely makes the endings feel a little dragged and lacklustre, certainly for Dredd, Hershey is stronger, but still feels indulged.

This is emphasised all the more by the lesson Chimpsky dishes out on how to pack so much more into 6 pages to wrap something up. Its just brilliant. Packs so much more in than either Dredd or Hershey. Its thrilling, chilling, full of pathos, while being exciting, character driven and emotional AND has that quite magnificent last page to pull you into the next story, in a single page, crafted by PJ Holden, oozes character, foreboding and makes you beg for more. That page alone is a lesson to the two Rob Williams stories... though to be fair its a lesson to almost all creators, both art and Niemand's script working in perfect unison to craft perfection. Wonderful.

Too be fair cliche though it is Enemy Earth does a great job of showing how to use a 'regular' page count to achieve a lot. A fantastic, less frantic episode, the elements of which are well rehearsed maybe, but done very well here. Fantastic episode.

So yeah a Prog of two good ending I honestly did enjoy, even as they were indulged. But whipped into shape by the stupendous Chimpsky which was just monstrously good. Enemy Earth has its best episode so no complaints overall, shame Hope was lost as it added a lovely balance to the line up. Hey how if you've going to have a problem when a comics this good you're doing okay!

[Richard]

Maybe Anderson survived because she was temporarily absorbed by the Proletariat when the spoiler-tagged event happened?

[Barrington Boots]

Didn't that Proletariat dude die last week? I assumed so but it's not clear.
I guess, when you're enjoying a story (like I have the recent Chimpsky) stuff like that is easy to not worry about, but when you're not then it sort of sticks out and drags it down.

Nicely out Colin re. the extra page count (even if I disagree about Hope!)

[Richard]

It did die last week, but hadn't the other psi-judges died by then? I may have to go back and check.

[broodblik]

A good prog with a nice cover

Dredd – Well as we all expected we know the outcome. I enjoyed this spin-off and I especially enjoyed that last few Dredd jewels of wisdom. This still feel that we might get more out of this storyline in the future. Flint's art as always is a joy to watch.

Chimpsky – This was a joy to read the last few weeks and with the promise of more to come. A request to Ken and PJ: I would like a new tale under my Christmas tree, pretty please.

Enemy Earth – The story suffers due to weak visual presentation, character wise the classic superhero tv show problem of it is all my fault, everything, everywhere will continue to make stupid choices and lastly do we need another Walking Dead wannabee. Sorry, this is just not for me but continue reading it in the hope of something better tomorrow

Hershey – A good ending and we will hopefully soon get the next chapter in Hershey's revenge tale and some justice. Just a word to Simon his artwork and style for this series was quite phenomenal.

[The Corinthian]

Homophone alert! Unless Vasilisa's plan was to enhance or physically lift Mega-City One above its current level, I think she meant to say "I will not rest until I raze this, your adopted city..."

Unless it's just a bad translation from the Sov.

[broodblik]

B/W Cover:



Cover more inline with the art in the story:

[JohnW]

Homophone alert! Unless Vasilisa's plan was to enhance or physically lift Mega-City One above its current level, I think she meant to say "I will not rest until I raze this, your adopted city..."

Seams fine to me.

[IndigoPrime]

A great cover. A sobering read about Kevin O'Neill.

As for the strips, Dredd is an oddball. The entire strip is starting to feel like a Marvel one now. So much big stuff happens that in isolation is fine, but that lacks impact on a wider narrative. Perhaps I've rose-tinted memories, but Dredd as a whole used to feel a bit more coherent. Certainly, it used to feel consequential. So what we got here was the Dredd equivalent of a blockbuster movie. It was BIG. It was LOUD. It had great set pieces. But I don't know how much of it will matter, bar the creeping sensation Dredd has that this Sov is ultimately neither friend nor foe. Great last page, mind.

Chimpsky strained hard against suspension of disbelief regarding what he did to the kid. I also find those dome 'prisons' odd in any media. I mean, where does the kid now go to the loo? What does he eat? How does he exercise? Hrmm. Other than that, the strip ended well and continues to set Chimpsky up as being his own thing, rather than a bit-player in a Dredd strip. Good.

Enemy Earth is an oddball. Like broodblik, I do hope the lead will get over herself at some point. I don't want another Walking Dead either, with people being massive idiots all the time. I thought the twist was pretty good. I'm still struggling with the art. It certainly feels very different from anything else out there, in terms of tone. (It's much darker than almost anything else aimed at this age range.) I quite like it. Whether I'll want to see more of it depends on how this arc wraps up.

Hershey was top-notch. I'm really enjoying this. And although it's another Dreddworld strip (have we ever seen another multi-strip Prog where 75% of the strips were that), it's differentiated enough. The only question I have is the longevity. Hershey's dying. How many series do we have?

Hershey > Chimpsky > Enemy Earth = Dredd

[broodblik]

....have we ever seen another multi-strip Prog where 75% of the strips were that

I think we had a 100% Dredd-verse prog twice Trifecta and many years ago where Rogue was in the Dredd strip