Errr I didn't get Droid Life... am i being dumb?
Elsewhere we are doing okay.
Dredd - this story remains a treat as threats to Maitland raise, but friends start to come to her side as well.
Enemy Earth... keeps going...
Devil's Railroad - after weeks of colourful, fun, pantomine we get a really good, powerful ending. I know this one hasn't been popular but I enjoyed it.
Thistlebone of course continues to be a slow burn twist of the knife.
Feral and Foe - end well enough the bridge to the next story suggests that we might be heading to Kingmaker type territory?
So two new stories next week. I'm off to a thread to see what it will be...
I think this may be the first confirmation that Thistlebone is actually set in Scotland and not England, (as the blurb in the Nerve Centre originally had it).
Cover Rufus Dayglo:
(https://dyn.media.forbiddenplanet.com/3dqdZu6S-53Ees9A1EkKvtKerT8=/trim/fit-in/779x1024/filters:format(webp)/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/36/14/3e4d9c610a23a175699ecec165e5afe2ecbe.png)
Droid Life went over my head too, beyond the obvious slapstick mishap.
I also didn't get this weeks Droid Life!
Dredd Still excellent with some disturbing real world parallels. The way this is laid out with all the tight little panels is super cool. Can't wait to see where this goes next.
Enemy Earth Not for me but nothing wrong with it, fast moving adventure strip.
Devil's Railroad Horrible, mean spirited ending to a horrible story. Isaac's wedding suit has a massive cock on it and that feels about right. Please don't bring this one back Tharg.
Thistlebone Beautiful stuff. The scenes of the pub really feel 70s, those dimpled pint glasses! It's amazing how much menace is conveyed by one picture of an owl. Awesome.
Feral and Foe Ends neatly if somewhat lacking in japes. Surprised any of the supporting cast survived as they usually don't! There's some serious 40k vibes off that last panel, but as Colin says, it immediately put me in mind of Kingmaker as its a very similar premise. Also hints that the strip could be taking a change of direction. If this runs similar to old SinDex - daft shorter tales with an overall more sinister plot - I'm all for it.
RIP John M Burns. We were privileged to have him.
Yep. Sorry, Cat. I don't get it either, unless it's just a nod at how social media makes everyone oblivious to everything around them.
Dredd was great. Three episodes in, and I have no idea for sure how this will play out. Anyone know how long this one is? I'm hoping it sticks around for a long while. Nice John Burns obit after that.
Enemy Earth barrels along. Looking forward to seeing how the twist plays out. I suspect this will make for a solid collected edition.
Devil's Railroad was just horrible. This is the closest 2000 AD strip I can recall to torture porn. It's been relentlessly mean-spirited, with one-dimensional characters throughout. The last two pages really rubbed me up the wrong way, because we're just seeing and hearing everything from Palamon's perspective. Are we meant to feel sorry for him, for what's been taken? (Pity the man syndrome.) Or bittersweet that it's enough that his kid will be a citizen of Earth? (While Constance is in a forced 'relationship' with a monster?) I mean, "She'll probably bear his children" is almost sugar-coating it at that point. Why not go the whole hole and say that's actually going to be happening to her?
Urgh.
I get this sort of thing is supposed to hold up a mirror to the world, but this had all the nuance and subtlety of a brick, and was just relentlessly grim. I'll be filing it alongside Grudgefather as a strip I'll never read again. Nice art at least.
Fortunately, the Prog ended well. Thistlebone continues its trademark creeping horror and mystery, and Feral & Foe lobs in a massive twist that could change everything. Abnett really is happy to shake things up in his strips, isn't he? Wonderful stuff, as ever.
So for me this one's four hits and... one of the worst strips in 2000 AD's history. But, hey, anthologies. And some people appear to enjoy Devil's Railroad, so that's something.
Feral & Foe > Dredd > Thistlebone > Enemy Earth >>>>>>> [five days later] >>>>>>> Devil's Railroad
the prog was pretty solid this week
except for devils railroad i will not repeat what indigoprime said as it is pretty much word for word how i felt about it fucking depressing
god i hope we get some indigo prime next week i need some insane nonsense to wipe the taste of that story out of my mouth
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 22 January, 2024, 11:22:12 AMYep. Sorry, Cat. I don't get it either, unless it's just a nod at how social media makes everyone oblivious to everything around them.
Am I the
only one who got it? Social (as in "having a party") + Media (as in "more than one art medium"). It was the "social media" who caused the accident, hence the punchline.
Oh, good grief. I went to art college and so now I feel doubly stupid.
Well, I didn't understand Droid Life either. Glad it wasn't just me!
Great Dredd, feels very packed with plot and characters and I hope it's a good long run. You almost don't need to mention Flint's art. He's just always stupendous.
Enemy Earth does its thing and I'm happy enough, for some reason it doesn't feel quite like 2000ad to me but I don't really see why not. It's pure energy and I genuinely don't know where it will go next.
Part of me was foolishly expecting a 'happy' resolution to Devil's Railroad (if Constance being reunited with that wazzock Palamon could be considered happy). Instead we got a hugely miserable and cruel ending which perfectly fits the rest of this horrible series. Constance has felt reduced to a secondary character throughout and here we don't even get an insight into her thoughts - it's up to Palamon to sum things up for us but because I just don't like him, I don't really enjoy him having the last word. The fact that he's smiling at the end, knowing the abusive family his child and partner will now be trapped with, it's just grim. But it also annoyed me that that grimness actually seems appropriate for the series. In looking at (I won't say 'tackling') the refugee crisis in this strip, it seems Milligan has focused instead on two refugees who ended up in very unlikely and exceptional circumstances. It doesn't therefore really do justice to the typical and, sadly, everyday experience of refugees (and was too cartoonishly written to really do that anyway). The ending left me with very mixed feelings - it suits the theme of the story for it to just keep getting more and more horrible, and maybe it is human nature (sometimes) to find a small positive in almost any circumstance. Maybe not. But I just really, really didn't enjoy this story, and I can't work out if that was the intention.
This is my favourite series of Thistlebone so far (well, three episodes in). I didn't find the Scottish accent very convincing - having lived in in various parts of Scotland all my life I've never heard anyone say 'ye' in the same context as 'let me hold ye handbag while you carry your drinks'. If he's saying 'you' and 'your' in the same sentence, why's he saying 'ye' to mean 'you' as well? Actually now I'm overthinking it and since this series is playing with truth/ artifice / films / reality / myth etc, maybe it was intentionally 'off'. Such is the power of Thistlebone! Anyway, great series so far and it looks sensational.
Feral and Foe - Abnett zooms out to the bigger picture as he often skillfully does. Looking forward to this returning. Apologies if I've said this before but I wonder if Elson regrets giving Wrath chains for hair? Must be such a faff to draw!
And finally, thanks for your incredible work, John M Burns. What a tremendous artist.
Quote from: Blue Cactus on 23 January, 2024, 05:29:41 PMI wonder if Elson regrets giving Wrath chains for hair? Must be such a faff to draw!
I'm sure I've read that he has said this, and that's why she went hooded for much of the previous series!
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 24 January, 2024, 09:12:28 AMQuote from: Blue Cactus on 23 January, 2024, 05:29:41 PMI wonder if Elson regrets giving Wrath chains for hair? Must be such a faff to draw!
I'm sure I've read that he has said this, and that's why she went hooded for much of the previous series!
This will be a challenge when I eventually get round to do a model Wrath 😳. And of course Bode
A good prog and thankfully a certain story ended its run. Not sure what new thrills will start next week.
Dredd – I am fully invested in the story. This is brilliant stuff from the creative team. The cracks in Maitland's plan are starting to emerge.
Enemy Earth – The story continues to speed forward at a hectic pace. Let's see where this is heading as we enter the end game.
Railroad – The thing that always stood out for me about 2000AD is that it can take the current political environment and reflect on it in in a story (in many cases as a dark satire). Railroad was sold on the premises about refugees and their struggles, but the story is more about mean spirit and cruel people than refugees. This was an utterly disappointing series from Pete Milligan. Why was it necessary to have 14 episodes to tell a story which at the end was almost nonsensical. At the most this should have been a 3riller.
Thistlebone – More a talkative episode that focuses more on introducing the characters and setting the scene. Continues to be a good read even if it feels like the plot has not moved forward.
Feral and Foe – Great ending to the series with a nice setup of what is to come. Good stuff with excellent art. This is now dislodged Kingdom from the third spot of best Abnett works.
Thistlebone is as brilliant as I was expecting. It oozes atmosphere from every frame. I'm not even sure how you do that. Even the names of the characters are perfect. It's a masterclass.
Feral and For is as great as ever. I don't even get half the references but it still works well if you don't, which is very clever.
Dredd is great as others have pointed out.
I'm not a fan of Enemy Earth or Devil's Railroad, though the art on the latter is stunning (unsurprisingly given who it is).
B/W Cover:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/devil-cover-scan-3-150DPI-705x1024.jpg)
Colour Cover:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DEVIL-COVER-3-TO-SEND-NO-LOGO-150DPI-784x1024.jpg)
Quote from: broodblik on 24 January, 2024, 01:08:05 PMDredd – I am fully invested in the story. This is brilliant stuff from the creative team. The cracks in Maitland's plan are starting to emerge.
Me too, I'm delighted to say. It's a cracker of a Dredd. I'm not usually mad about Williams' Dredd but this is a breath of fresh air. Artwise, it's not my absolute favourite Flint Dredd art - that would be Total War - but he's definitely doing a first class job.
I'm still not completely on board with Dredd's dialogue so I'm kind of glad he's a background character here. (I like my Dredd articulate if often terse - why do so many writers these days make him omit subject pronouns and auxiliary verbs* every single time? It used to be 'You're never too old to enjoy a good fight', but now it's 'Never too old to enjoy a good fight.')
*Sorry, I'm a grammar nerd.
I see that Full Tilt Boogie returns next week
Quote from: broodblik on 25 January, 2024, 02:38:34 AMI see that Full Tilt Boogie returns next week
Yeah this is great news.
I saw on X (previously known as the entity called twitter) that we getting I think a 3riller:
Jet away with Paul Cornell, @illaurastrates, Matt Soffe and Jim Campbell for "The English Astronaut", taking flight 31st January in 2000 AD Prog 2367!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEOHaVQXoAASw_4?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Cool Beans! Nice art.
DREDD is based on a fantastic premise, one that goes against what Dredd himself has rammed home to us readers over the years. Hopefully this will run and reach a conclusion, not splinter like recent Niemand ones.
DEVIL'S RAILROAD finished as depressingly as it has been all along, but I found it compelling, a real change from what we normally get. I don't usually like Milligan too much, but this was a cracker, even if I COMPLETELY get who so many disliked it. I'd like to see a follow up.
FERAL AND FOE is, as usual, the best looking strip by a mile, and it looks like we have a big shake up to come which is never a bad thing.
DROID LIFE is one of the worst, with the pun hard to get and far less clever than it thinks it is. Shame, as I usually love it.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEtA6vhWkAARStY?format=jpg&name=large)
Only time for a short post, which is a shame as there's lots to unpack
- Put me in the 'grimly fascinated' camp when it comes to The Devil's Railroad. Constance gets a whole three balloons of dialogue in this concluding chapter (not including 'AAAHHH!' in the first panel) and has no agency throughout. Almost hoping there is a sequel, because this needs some serious repairing.
- Kind of surprised by Feral & Foe's conclusion - first in a 'Well I didn't expect that!' kind of way, then because yes, it does all start to look very Kingmaker. First thought was that overlap should've been picked up while the two strips were being developed but if there's one thing we know it's trust in Tharg, so I presume TMO will ensure the Abnett and Edginton droids don't step on each other's pedal unit extremities.
- 'A Better World' and Thistlebone were excellent. Love the sign-off in the latter - "Cheery bugger, aren't you?"
- Very much looking forward to Full Tilt Boogie and The English Astronaut next prog.
'A Better World' and Thistlebone were excellent.
The lack of agency for Constance in this episode was something. Maybe that was the point. But I don't want to explore this world further, because everything was so brash and cartoonish. It didn't make me think about the plight of refugees. It just made me annoyed at the writing. I didn't care about what was happening, because everything felt so throwaway.
As for Constance, this all to me felt a hair's breadth from fridging and full-fat male-gaze comics. However, had the script been flipped, it might have worked better. Palamon just... disappears. He's absent from those last two pages. Constance knows he's alive, but just gone. She knows she'll never see him again. The conclusion then all comes from her standpoint. Her life is now awful. She asks whether this sacrifice of her life, agency, health, autonomy, and more, was worth it, even if her daughter will be an Earth citizen. And how her daughter raised in that environment will end up being, worried that she will be a very different person or also repressed (due to the toxic environment of everyone but Constance).
That would still be horrible. But it feels better than "Poor Palamon. He's lost everything. Constance? Shhh. This is about Palamon now! And, hey, at least he's content that his wife is alive and kid is a citizen of Earth!"
I also feel no need to explore the Railroad further. It reach the end of the track and steam engines were decommissioned paving the way for something better
Railroad was horrible. I hope they never bring it back because I might have to give up on 2000AD. The female character is abandoned to marital rape and abuse for the rest of her probably short life and that's the ending? I was hoping for some focused political rage and an actual look at the migrant issues but what we got was look! Rapey monsters! It made me feel sick and took the shine off the rest of it.
Dredd/Maitland is superb I am glad I read it before the other stories. Feral & Foe is a bit too much like Kingmaker with this twist. I hope something surprising happens. I might go and read the rest of it again because I didn't really take them in as I was too pissed off.
QuoteThe female character is abandoned to marital rape and abuse for the rest of her probably short life and that's the ending? [...] It made me feel sick
And that this was all framed as somehow bittersweet and from the man's perspective, without really acknowledging what you say above. I'm going to have to try and forget this story. Because the more I think about it, the more I dislike it.
(Another route that could have been take: some kind of resolution that has the cartoon baddies ended. The protagonists escape but know they are forever changed. They also find Earth no paradise. They have nothing more there than they'd have had at home. But maybe the child will have more hope. And at least they are free and alive. Many others weren't so lucky, which they spell out.
That would have been grim but with a touch of bittersweet and an acknowledgement that no-one – even the most fortunate – survives these experiences unscathed and many don't survive at all.)
I was all for giving Railroad the benefit of the doubt for the majority of it's run. Yes, it was ugly, and meanspirited, and crass, and it knew exactly how repulsive it was trying to be. But that final instalment, as others have pointed out, has tipped it into an almost pornographic obsession with misery and spitefulness.
I'll echo the sentiment, can do without another go around, thanks.
^ Yep. Pretty much that. ^
I saw a couple of people on Twitter asking for a Devil's Railroad collected edition. Generally I understand some people like some stories and other prefer ones that aren't my favourites, but I just don't see the appeal here, other than the artwork. Hardcore Milligan fans maybe?
Hard to say. Also Rufus fans maybe? (And I had no issues with the art myself. Always liked his work. Would happily see more in the Prog, although I wish he'd get a proper crack at a new multi-part Dredd.)
I've seen some positive feedback online too, and so the responses here (which aren't universally but are primarily negative) always need to be taken as not necessarily being representative to any great extent. But I don't get the appeal myself.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 24 January, 2024, 02:58:49 PM(I like my Dredd articulate if often terse - why do so many writers these days make him omit subject pronouns and auxiliary verbs* every single time? It used to be 'You're never too old to enjoy a good fight', but now it's 'Never too old to enjoy a good fight.')
Taciturn, innit?
Yeah, maybe I'm being too pedantic about it. It's not a grammar issue for me - I see Dredd, who is after all both a writer and a teacher, as clearly spoken and articulate even when he is, without a doubt, taciturn. It's when he starts throwing in 'drokkin''s and talking like some street juve I feel something is off.
Talking of pedantry (not that you were being) - why isn't Maitland wearing her cool Acc-Div shoulder pads?
(https://2kstages.github.io/AtoZ/Judge/Maitland.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/fdfuPD6.png)
Quote from: Blue Cactus on 23 January, 2024, 05:29:41 PMI didn't find the Scottish accent very convincing - having lived in in various parts of Scotland all my life I've never heard anyone say 'ye' in the same context as 'let me hold ye handbag while you carry your drinks'. If he's saying 'you' and 'your' in the same sentence, why's he saying 'ye' to mean 'you' as well?
I didn't flag it up on first reading, because my mind was still doing a sort of
any-old-yokel-will-do. But, you're quite right - as a Scottish accent that second "ye" doesn't really work very well. It could work as "yer", and still have the later "your", without being odd. Like this (my bold on the alteration):
"Dinnae be like that. I'm only joking with ye, pal. But let me hold
yer handbag while you carry your drinks, aye?"
With "let me hold ye handbag", it's more like Yorkshire. Vet'nary.
One of tne great thing about Ian Rankin's Rebus novels is that the dialogue isn't written in horrible phonetic Scots. It doesn't need to be - the atmosphere reeks (if you'll pardon the pun) of Edinburgh, so much that you can't help reading the dialogue in the accent.
Quote from: Funt Solo [R] on 28 January, 2024, 01:15:38 AMQuote from: Blue Cactus on 23 January, 2024, 05:29:41 PMI didn't find the Scottish accent very convincing - having lived in in various parts of Scotland all my life I've never heard anyone say 'ye' in the same context as 'let me hold ye handbag while you carry your drinks'. If he's saying 'you' and 'your' in the same sentence, why's he saying 'ye' to mean 'you' as well?
I didn't flag it up on first reading, because my mind was still doing a sort of any-old-yokel-will-do. But, you're quite right - as a Scottish accent that second "ye" doesn't really work very well. It could work as "yer", and still have the later "your", without being odd. Like this (my bold on the alteration):
"Dinnae be like that. I'm only joking with ye, pal. But let me hold yer handbag while you carry your drinks, aye?"
With "let me hold ye handbag", it's more like Yorkshire. Vet'nary.
Glad it wasn't just me being pedantic!
Quote from: Blue Cactus on 27 January, 2024, 02:43:03 PM[...] but I just don't see the appeal here, other than the artwork. Hardcore Milligan fans maybe?
Therein lies the problem. Personally, I found
Sooner or Later and
Hewligan's Haircut to be annoying, plotless, art-school indulgence. Not my cup of tea at all (despite the XTC references). Maybe some people just love his work regardless.
I
hope he's better than this, and that we've all misunderstood
Railroad. I've not read any of Milligan's DC stuff. I can only hope it's better than this torture-porn we've had to wade through in recent progs.
I think a lot of us will rate his Bad Company highly and that is why he has a following. Both him and Ennis's name will be used to sell progs so why not use them? But back to the point I agree I cannot see the appeal for Railroad
Tank Girl was always fun - I loved the later stint in the Megazine. The first Bad Company was Top of the Progs for that era of the comic, and the Bewilderness / Krool Heart follow-up was no shirker. (I think it went off-piste after that, but it seemed deliberate and Colin should be along at some point to tell you it's utterly genius.)
I'm very fond of both Sooner or Later and Hewligan's Haircut (despite the XTC references). I mean, if you can't indulge yourself at art-school, then what's the point?
I suppose I should read Devil's Railroad so that I can form an opinion on it. Erm ... Jimmy!
I re-read Hewligan recently. I still really like it. Sure, it's not that deep, and, yes, it kind of noodles about. But it doesn't outstay its welcome, it's fun, and it's imaginative.
Milligans's written lots of really good comics, for Tharg and elsewhere. I usually enjoy his work a lot, although I've not read much of his recent output. Every now and then I think about trying his Hellblazer run.
I liked Counterfeit Girl. I don't enjoy the Devil's Railroad, although I don't hate it as much as some people. I liked the original Bad Company but not the new ones. I loved The Dead.
On balance, I think the prog is better off with Peter Milligan contributing to it, because for everything I don't like, he does something else I enjoy. In an anthology I don't expect to like everything.
I agree. I certainly don't want the Prog to be closed to more Peter Milligan. I just hope whatever he contributes next is something else.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 29 January, 2024, 04:24:12 PMI certainly don't want the Prog to be closed to more Peter Milligan.
Absolutely, 100%.
May be the reason why I am more critical of him than I would be other Script Droids- it's only cause
I know he's an erstwhile bona fide genius.
Quote from: Link Prime on 29 January, 2024, 09:25:22 PMMaybe the reason why I am more critical of him than I would be other Script Droids- it's only cause I know he's an erstwhile bona fide genius.
I wouldn't even say erstwhile.
The Devil's Railroad wasn't
bad, just relentlessly grim. I can see the argument that the subject matter perhaps justified the approach.