Messages

1

Off Topic / Re: Thought Police: Are we allowed to query 'woke'?

« on: 01 July, 2022, 12:50:29 PM »

Before anyone explains how shit she is - please, you don't need to, because I've already heard the arguments. (Aside: if, in order to understand your point, I have to sit through 2.5 hours of Internet naval-gazing, then - well, you're asking too much. Start with a five-minute summary. Seriously.)

If that's criticism directed at me, I'd much rather it was directed at me rather than as an aside on an entirely different thread to the one I was posting on

I'm honestly not expecting people to watch all of those two lengthy videos I linked to but I was kind-of using them as short-hand to avoid turning that thread into a lengthy discussion of all the issues involved in what is a very complex subject. I'm fully aware if you know all this stuff already it's teaching your granny to suck eggs, but I'm thinking of those who aren't aware of the full extent of the insanity of the Gender Critical movement and can't understand why Rowling is suddenly Public Enemy No. 1 in a lot of left-leaning internet  spaces.

I do really think the infiltration of message boards by GC types is a genuine concern, obviously they're much less likely to find willing recruits in a place like this rather than, say, Mumsnet or another site where parents are likely to go looking for advice about trans issues, but it's still disturbing to see that kind of thing appearing here and it needs to be challenged.

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Prog / Re: Prog 2288: Law versus Claw

« on: 30 June, 2022, 11:27:40 PM »

There is something very off about Lowborn High's weirdly blatant plagiarism, especially at a time when we could do without reminding that anti-trans bigot JK Rowling still exists.

Again, I hate to be that guy, but calling Rowling a bigot is defamatory and untrue. She holds views in favour of women's rights to which some militant trans rights activists object. She has expressed these views - which are protected speech under the law and are consistent with both UK equality legislation and the broad character of public opinion - reasonably and compassionately, and for that has been targeted for threats and abuse both online and IRL.

Rowling's child fans have also been targeted for online abuse - including being exposed to sexual threats and paedophile imagery - by these same so-called activists. I find it extraordinarily depressing that so many - including you - are willing to side with such obviously evil thugs who have gone to such appalling lengths to smear, intimidate and silence women they disagree with.

So I am very happy to be reminded that she exists and refuses to be intimidated or silenced by the likes of you. The only bigotry here is yours.

Unfortunately for you I wasn't born yesterday, pal, and I know the tricks the GC mob use to provoke arguments so they can look like they're "winning" against the evil trans activists.

Let me just emphasise this - "Gender Critical" groups are a dangerous and manipulative cult, and if you've been suckered in by them I pity you, but there's nothing I can do for you, and I'm not going to play their games.

All I'll say if anyone is unclear on what the issues actually are here and why posts like the above are a problem, and also really, really concerning to see start appearing out of nowhere on a forum like this, I'd recommend investing some time into watching either of the videos below. You don't have to obviously, but it helps to be informed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwI6py78gsI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pTPuoGjQsI

Anyway, sorry Indigo, if you want to shuttle this off to OT, please do.

3

Prog / Re: Prog 2288: Law versus Claw

« on: 29 June, 2022, 09:18:19 PM »

Honestly surprised that Cadet Dredd strip is getting a pass, I felt like it was easily the weakest one yet.

The story is a bit "meh" and the explanation doesn't make much sense. Why does no-one else in the zoo notice or question the strange new "aliens" appearing? If the perp has at this for some time as it's implied, why is there only one Phearax on display, what happened to the other missing people? Why are the bars on the cages so far apart??

The art was the part I struggled with the most. I actually googled the artist to see if it was their first job or something, but I see Joel Carpenter has plenty of credits including previous Dredd and Tales From The Black Museums, and his older art looks absolutely fine. So I can only assume the colourist took it on themselves to completely ruin it for no good reason.

I also agree that the Future Shock seemed very out of place and I would lay odds it didn't originate as a Regened submission

There is something very off about Lowborn High's weirdly blatant plagiarism, especially at a time when we could do without reminding that anti-trans bigot JK Rowling still exists. The ending where our POV character is saved from actually having to make a moral choice by the intervention of someone else felt like a massive cop-out, but also felt oddly in keeping with the Potter franchise, in which the titular hero is frequently saved from having to make difficult choices by a convenient plot contrivances - could be a meta-comment on how poor the writing is in those books, I suppose...

4

Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 20 June, 2022, 07:57:41 PM »

Things go wrong in Skip Tracer and I realise in the final frame there’s a big reveal, but I’ve no idea who these people are.

I recognise Anime Girl from an earlier story but goodness knows who Pointy Ears is. It says a lot that despite running to so many episodes, Skip Tracer hasn't ever really managed to build a memorable supporting cast, further cementing it's position as a bit of a non-classic.

5

Megazine / Re: Meg 445 - Cass For Questions

« on: 18 June, 2022, 07:09:32 PM »

Seems like Maura McHugh's Anderson stories would benefit from having shorter gaps between them, considering there's enough ongoing plot elements that it needs the reprints to bring the casual reader up to speed at this point. The story from Prog 2250 was completely impenetrable without that background context, I remember reading that at the time and just thinking "...eh?" Knowing now it was half-finished explains a lot.

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Off Topic / Re: RIPs

« on: 23 May, 2022, 07:45:56 PM »

Cathal Coughlan, frontman of Microdisney, The Fatima Mansions, Bubonique and Telefis has passed away aged 61.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/23/cathal-coughlan-frontman-with-irish-indie-bands-microdisney-and-fatima-mansions-dies-aged-61

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Prog / Re: Prog 2282 - Out for Blood

« on: 17 May, 2022, 08:10:19 AM »

Was a bit confused by the final panel of Fiends, should that be someone we recognise (i.e. from the extended Edgiverse)? It didn't ring any bells.

8

Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who Picked.

« on: 09 May, 2022, 01:07:41 PM »

I hope they go beyond visuals. For the post part, I’ve not had problems with how Doctor Who has looked since the reboot. Bar a few CGI horrors, it’s mostly veered between fine and really good. But those other shows hang together because of the writing and the script editing. Doctor Who… doesn’t.

Absolutely, you can often look past low budget effects if the writing is good enough, which unfortunately in the last five years or so hasn't been the case. I really hope Davies can get some good writers on board and restore the show's reputation again.

9

Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who Picked.

« on: 09 May, 2022, 11:12:26 AM »

No idea who he is, since I’ve not seen the shows he’s in. Am not remotely surprised they’ve gone for a black man and someone young. My main hope isn’t about him – from a quick read, he clearly has the acting chops and charisma – but that the direction and scripts are better than the current run and, frankly, better edited than the vast majority of Doctor Who to date. When you’re competing against shows like The Expanse, you can’t be a kitchen sink show that doesn’t make sense.

I suspect one thing it won't be is kitchen sink. This is a brand new production model for the show with a lot of Sony money being thrown at it, I'm sure they're aware that it's got to look as shiny and expensive as possible in order to compete in the same space (no pun intended) as things like The Expanse.

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2022

« on: 29 April, 2022, 12:10:21 AM »

There's something quite bewildering about bringing back Skip Tracer yet again.

Maybe completely off the mark here, but when it started it felt like an experiment in creating another strip to run in semi-regular rotation a la Dante or Sin Dex, but one which failed to earn the love of the readers like either of those, which makes Tharg's devotion to it rather baffling. Especially as it had reached what felt like a natural ending point. And yet, here we are again.

Please let this be the last one, Tharg. It's had it's run, but it was clear from the start it was never going to be in the pantheon of classic 2000AD stories. Let it go.

11

Books & Comics / Re: Spacewarp Presents Hellbreaker

« on: 28 April, 2022, 11:39:34 PM »

Wow. The inference that mainstream British comics (which means, what, 2000 AD and maybe The Phoenix?) has “fast food” thinking and “cut corners”. Hrnggg. (Also, apparently Spacewarp #1 was effectively a sampler; I thought it was originally mooted as an ongoing title.)

I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's financially risky to produce an anthology at the moment hence focussing on individual stories, but...I'm also sceptical the first issue was as a much of a success as he's claiming it was. Who's buying it, exactly? Is it all middle-aged 2000AD fans or has it actually found the intended younger audience? I remain to be convinced of the latter.

It's definitely possible there may've been a bit of a drastic rethink to the publishing model and he's covering his arse a bit.

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Prog / Re: Prog 2279 - Past Crimes

« on: 28 April, 2022, 05:56:27 PM »

I can only add to the approval for the Future Shock, a really strong script and the art is reminiscent of Bryan Talbot, which is high praise for newcomer.

According to their website interview Honor Vincent has already got another story due to appear in the Regened Issue, which is great news. Clearly a talent Tharg is cultivating.

https://2000ad.com/news/interview-honor-vincent-lee-milmore-the-thought-bubble-talent-search-winners-unveil-relict/

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Prog / Re: Prog 2279 - Past Crimes

« on: 25 April, 2022, 08:25:36 PM »

Having now read the finale of The Citadel, I think in isolation it was a perfectly satisfying ending to a story which was possibly mis-sold to us as something much significant than it ended up being. In the end neither narrator is reliable as each could be spinning the truth to serve their own ends, and the real story may never be known.

If nothing else the self-contained nature of this tale has led me to reflect on how relatively static the world of Dredd and MC1 is now, compared to, say, fifteen years ago. There was a time when it felt things were constantly in flux and moving forward, even apart from the big event storylines you had things going on like PJ Maybe scheming to become mayor, Dan Francisco's ascension from TV star to Chief Judge, Dredd's efforts to reform mutant rights, etc. I think it comes back again to that issue of there not being an overall authorial voice for the strip, and all the regulars writers having their own individual ideas which don't necessarily coincide with each other.

14

Megazine / Meg 443: Rough Rider!

« on: 21 April, 2022, 08:52:10 AM »

Guess I should start this one since no-one else has.

Dredd: Praise Zort! comes to an end with a tease for future developments.

Deathcap: Goya's in a bit of a pickle as her condition has lead to a literal loss of identity, not to mention her arm, although since the same episode sets up that the shroomers can regrow body parts within a short space of time it's not really that much of a loss

Diamond Dogs: A surprise reverse heel turn for one of the baddies, which would be more shocking if we actually knew anything about them or their motivations. It amused me that the other two members of Jones's crew are so unimportant that their fate doesn't even warrant a passing mention, so I guess they just got killed off-page somewhere?

Lawless: This is pretty much Metta hitting rock-bottom, having thrown away her job on a rigged election and with any attempt to investigate electoral fraud stonewalled by the SJS. Remains to be seen where this is heading but there are so many things in play it's anyone's guess at this point.

Surfer:  The chase continues with our hero pulling some tricky moves to evade capture. My only criticism of this story is it probably should've run in the weekly, as it's a bit too fast-paced for a monthly read.

I haven't read Hawk yet as I've still got the last couple of issues to catch up on.

15

Prog / Re: Prog 2278 - Descend Into The Dark...

« on: 20 April, 2022, 06:00:33 PM »

I can’t believe that Dredd offing a clone is the big reveal. He does that on an annual basis!

I know, I keep thinking surely there has to be something more to it than that, but there's only one part left, so  unless there's a really massive rug pull coming it's all starting to feel like a bit of a damp fart.

The latest part of Brink makes me a bit sad that the 2000AD audiobooks project seemed to die a lonely death, as I could imagine the The Unreach being realised incredibly well in that format with some decent sound design. Guess we'll never get to hear that though.