2000 AD Online Forum

Spoilers => Prog => Topic started by: Darren Stephens on 11 January, 2020, 01:19:16 PM

Title: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Darren Stephens on 11 January, 2020, 01:19:16 PM
Wow, that cover was a LOVELY surprise!
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Leigh S on 11 January, 2020, 01:41:56 PM
Well I don't care if the Dredd is written by Matt Smith,Gordon Rennie, Al Ewing or Mrs Brown's Boys... it is marvellous!  Bring on part 3

Havent read the rest, but my News REsolution is to read ALL the stories week by week, so looking forward to the rest!
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Bolt-01 on 11 January, 2020, 02:49:31 PM
I've just gorged myself on both prog and Meg - need to have a sleep!
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Darren Stephens on 11 January, 2020, 03:17:40 PM
Excuse the one sentence review, didn't think it had posted! I think the cover had me a little shook!


Loving all the strips to varying degrees, but have to say Dredd, Zilk and Vex are all top top thrills. Feral and Foe is shaping up nicely and I'll be reading Brink in one go at the end, as I'm a bit lost as far as that strip goes. I've enjoyed the previous series, so I am looking forward to savoring this one in its entirety.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 11 January, 2020, 05:01:03 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/54S2IF6.jpg)

Will Simpson
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Magnetica on 12 January, 2020, 04:59:47 PM
Simply a great Prog.

I'll pick out Dredd as the highlight this week. Loved the twist at the end.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Proudhuff on 14 January, 2020, 06:19:55 PM

Dredd dealing with imaginary friends and not so imaginary assassins in Kill Bloopy where [spoiler]Walter [/spoiler]almost makes an appearance

Proteus Vex: seems to be where Dr Who would like to go if it had the budget
Zaucer of Zilk, full of fabby coloured fruity fun and music from the last century!
Feral & Foe seems a bit dark in the printed form, I know they're inside but my old diodes are straining here,
Brink: Hate Box the investigation take a turn and they keep on digging, deserving of its top spot in the readers poll.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Colin YNWA on 14 January, 2020, 09:20:28 PM
Well, well, well just when you think it can't happen the Prog finds a way to get better.

Firstly what's not changed. Dredd is still brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The only let down is I think they've played the PSi card a little too clearly... mind I could be wrong?!? And Dan Cornwell just gets better and better.

Brink is just plain fried thrill gold. It won thrill of 2019 by some margin and if it keeps up form like this it'll get it this year too!

Mind with new thrill like Proteus Vex who knows what will happen. Mike 'Michael' Carroll is really letting the full Flint out the bag. Having seen some of Mr Henry's sketches you have to think this is the thrill that has truly let him off the lease. Just sublime.

Zaucer of Zilk might not be that good, but it is bloody good. Was it just me or did final page turn into classic Strontium Dog! Just fantastic.

The way the Prog managed to squeeze and improvement out of it already juice thrill melon was to make Feral and Foe not just a good promising new thrill but blooming fantastic. The introduction of 'Tank' has turned this solid thrill into a comedic gem and the interplay between character was Dabnett at his best. And as we know Dabnett at his best is 2000ad at his very best.

All this wrapped in a Will Simpson cover that had it not been a generic Dredd shooting out the page would have been an early contender for cover of the year, the execution is just so good. Tharg I double dare you to improve on this one! Go on prove me wrong and show me its possible!
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: broodblik on 15 January, 2020, 03:10:54 PM

(https://comicsceneorg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/img_8998.jpg?w=723)
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: norton canes on 16 January, 2020, 10:01:08 AM
Despite having bought the prog yesterday, admired that phenomenal cover, seen it again on this thread and admired it plenty more, I have literally only just this very second noticed the even bigger gun Dredd has slung over his shoulder. I swear it wasn't there before.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: norton canes on 16 January, 2020, 11:12:27 AM
Anyhoo, Dredd's the star of the inside as well as the outside of this prog. Some lovely flourishes in both Call-Me-Niemand's script ('Walter' was a stroke of genius, but an you imagine of it had been 'Rico'?) and the Cornwell Droid's art - who's 'Dunc'? And just why is that apartment so cold?

Also on the positive side, Brink Brinks Brinkily along and Feral & Foe taps into Spinal Tap for great comic effect. The story-weaver conceit remains the best thing about Zaucer Of Zilk but I can't say the scenes without him are gripping me as much; and Proteus Vex suffers a little from having something of a character vacuum at its core, but there's plenty of time for it to grow.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Bolt-01 on 16 January, 2020, 11:18:05 AM
Norton - re the cold apt - Wrex and Patsy mention the name of the imaginary friend earlier in the strip.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: norton canes on 16 January, 2020, 03:00:53 PM
Ah yes, thanks. Memory span of a frog, me.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: TordelBack on 16 January, 2020, 03:32:38 PM
That cover is just full-on scrotnig, such energy!

Haven't got beyond Dredd during a cheeky teabreak shufti, but it has all the hallmarks of a minor classic. The '[spoiler]Walter[/spoiler]' gag was great, but as Norton observes, I had already heard 'Rico' in my head before I got to the speech balloon. Then I thought 'Eustace' might have been good, or even (sniff) 'Barbara'... but '[spoiler]Walter[/spoiler]' works better in this tale. Cornwell may be the droid most perfectly-suited to this variety of Dredd strip to come along in several years: every page feels like its full to bursting.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: DrJomster on 16 January, 2020, 10:37:15 PM
Very strong prog this, very strong indeed! What a great start to the year we're having. Whoever's writing Dredd, well done that droid, keep up the good work! But basically, everything's top class, it really is!
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: broodblik on 18 January, 2020, 01:37:49 PM
A good prog wrapped around by a very good cover.

Dredd is just a plain silly concept, but it works so well with the art by Cornwell growing on me as he creates more pages in the prog.

Brink continues from last year doing what it does best a slow burner. We only have a few more episodes left in this arc, but it can just as well run for another 15 weeks.

Proteus Vex allows Flint to use his magic wand and paint is an awesome looking strip. I like they way that Carroll uses the flashbacks to complement the story.

The Zaucer is McCarthy's playground.

The wordplay in Feral & Foe just works so well in the strip.  Dabnett brings us another superb story.


Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: MumboJimbo on 19 January, 2020, 06:37:04 PM
Getting back to reading the prog in a more orthodox front-to-back manner, after my failed experiment of waiting until each story had been concluded. The reason I mention this is that 2000 AD, for me, is at its strongest when each of the 5 contained stories are not only great, but vastly divergent from both artistic and story telling aspects, and the breadth for get for your weekly read must be unparalleled in comics.

Just flicking though the prog at the moment and the sheer diversity in artistic style and colour pallet is breathtaking. And, importantly, the stories themselves are equal to the task.

Neimand's Dredd is as good as his Dredd always is, which is to say superb.

I'm going to have to draw myself an organisational chart for Brink as I'm forgetting who's in Gang and who's in Narcotics and which gang (with a small g) is each department in the pocket of. Great stuff though.

Proteus Vex's world reminds me a little of various cultures rubbing shoulders in an Iain M Banks novel. Very different to anything in the prog since I resubbed and that's a good thing.

Feral and Foe has slight echoes of Firefly in that is takes a sardonic look at the what the ex-soldiers of the defeated army do, after the war. It's certainly lighter in tone than Grey Area and Brink, and I think going forward  it will be light on plot and heavy on gallows humour. As it's Dan Abnett I'm sure it will be great.

Finally, Zaucer of Zilk is the quickest read in the prog, and I was initially worried it may be a insubstantial. But it has a unique charm and reminds me a little of past stories like Sooner or Later or Hewligans's Haircut with its dreamlike whimsy.

Loving the prog at the mo - it's been on fire since Thistlebone, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Prog 2164 : The law is a battlefield!
Post by: Fungus on 22 January, 2020, 05:12:13 PM
Grand form at the moment, even the worrying F & F turns out to be a fun romp 😀. Z of Z isn't really to my taste and the psychedelia... but in an anthology it's fine.