Prog 2372 - Escape Pod!

[Colin YNWA]

i still love me some indigo prime.

He's a very good admin...

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

i still love me some indigo prime.

He's a very good admin...

Hear, hear!!

[Proudhuff]

Great Dredd and Thistlebone.

and a cracking cover, the Alexdroid should be on a retainer and serving up one a month from here on in! ( I did however read that text as Escaped Poo  )

One of the best Dredd's for a long time and last week's double spread was a real jaw dropper, the art has also helped tremendously.
 

[Max Headroom]

I thought this was a rather better instalment of 'Deadworld' - I could almost comprehend everything in this week's storyline. This is due for a complete re-read of the entire thing sooner rather than later. In the meantime, another hardcover would not go amiss.

[norton canes]

Great conclusion to 'A Better World' - I don't envy the droid who had to come up with some light-hearted, single-episode filler (if indeed that's what we get) to follow it next week. I guess if Dredd was a monthly U.S. comic then writers would have a stint for a few years at a time to fashion their vision for the title, rather than have to supply chapters intermittently. The weekly model might not allow it but I'd like to see droids like Williams, Wyatt, Niemand, Carroll et al have a consistent run so we could really lose ourselves in their take on MC-1.

(How much detail is there in that final panel? Insane.)

Elsewhere Full Tilt Boogie and Thistlebone are so, so good. Normally I'd feel a bit short-changed if a story was as light on dialogue as some instalments of Full Tilt Boogie have been this time around, but the artwork delivers such compelling narrative that it doesn't matter. Thistlebone is sick.

Much fun to be had in the Kek-W worlds too, with the usual caveat that the plots of both Deadworld and Indigo Prime have gone way past the point of comprehension.

Oh, the cover. I think I've mentioned in the past that generally, I prefer to see covers illustrated by the strips' current artist. That way, they're like the strip basically has a whole bonus page. Having said that, where would we be without the prog's roster of cover artists? The Ronald droid is one of my absolute favourites and they've done a sterling job here, glorious art... I just don't think it really captures the essence of Full Tilt Boogie, which to me is more whimsical. Also it's not really a great likeness of Tee, and I say that realizing Alex Ronald and Eduardo Ocana have very different styles. So although it's a great piece of art, for me it's only kind of a qualified success.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I really liked the ending of the Dredd story. I mean, it was awful and heartbreaking but so was the end of America.  Took me back to the classic era of the first stirrings of the Democracy storyline in MC1, and a grim reminder that despite the slightly mellower Justice Dept of the present day, this city is a shitty place to live even at the best of times.

Tragedy works for Dredd, and always has done. I suppose the big difference these days is that grandpa Dredd is slightly keener to fight the horror than to dish it out.

[The Monarch]

i still love me some indigo prime.

He's a very good admin...

I was gonna make a "and the strip was pretty good too" joke so i am kinda glad you got to it first

[Funt Solo]

I really liked the ending of the Dredd story. I mean, it was awful and heartbreaking but so was the end of America.  Took me back to the classic era of the first stirrings of the Democracy storyline in MC1, and a grim reminder that despite the slightly mellower Justice Dept of the present day, this city is a shitty place to live even at the best of times.

Tragedy works for Dredd, and always has done. I suppose the big difference these days is that grandpa Dredd is slightly keener to fight the horror than to dish it out.

The Logan as potential antagonist (or, perhaps worse, too weak) is an interesting angle. It was a very good episode.

---

Continuing on my vein of being a bit disappointed with cookie cutter character depictions, I did get genuinely confused this week with the visual representations of the journalist and the man-in-the-coat (thinking they were the same person), to the extent that I was confused as to who shot Maitland, until I unraveled it.

Happy to concede that I'm just being a bit of a loon.

[IndigoPrime]

No, I initially thought the same about the two characters. Not sure who the journo was. Again, has anyone noticed him before? Is he a previous character?

As for "grandpa Dredd is slightly keener to fight the horror than to dish it out", I dunno. It feels like he's happy to just kind of ignore it so he can get on with doing his own thing. And despite his misgivings for Hershey, it's notable that during her time, Dredd was effectively considered council and had the clout to match. Now? Hard to say, but it doesn't look like he has any real influence at this point.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

No, I initially thought the same about the two characters. Not sure who the journo was. Again, has anyone noticed him before? Is he a previous character?

As for "grandpa Dredd is slightly keener to fight the horror than to dish it out", I dunno. It feels like he's happy to just kind of ignore it so he can get on with doing his own thing. And despite his misgivings for Hershey, it's notable that during her time, Dredd was effectively considered council and had the clout to match. Now? Hard to say, but it doesn't look like he has any real influence at this point.

He was previously seen and later mentioned in "Carry the Nine" by Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt and Boo Cook (Part Two & Four, Prog's 2201 & 2204) back in 2020.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

I meant Prog #2202 & #2304, not #2202.

[Funt Solo]

Hard to say, but it doesn't look like he has any real influence at this point.

It is interesting to reframe him from feared/respected top dog to a still capable but aging figure on the edge of the real power. As he refuses to engage in the political machinations, he's either a help or a hindrance to those choosing to wield managerial power.

I prefer this nuance to that guy in the walls with biscuits and tea thing - although it was cool when he got sliced in half trying to walk through walls.

[JayzusB.Christ]

No, I initially thought the same about the two characters. Not sure who the journo was. Again, has anyone noticed him before? Is he a previous character?

As for "grandpa Dredd is slightly keener to fight the horror than to dish it out", I dunno. It feels like he's happy to just kind of ignore it so he can get on with doing his own thing. And despite his misgivings for Hershey, it's notable that during her time, Dredd was effectively considered council and had the clout to match. Now? Hard to say, but it doesn't look like he has any real influence at this point.

Fair point. I had just listened to the Democracy series audiobook when I posted and was thinking of when Dredd was, a couple of shortlived doubts aside, presented as a complete bastard and an unwavering traditionalist, whereas these days he's very often at least sympathetic to the reformers (if increasingly ineffective, as you say).

[Robin Low]

So much thrill power it ends up even on the back cover. In all, a good Prog, I thought, despite some oddities.

Dredd: Ends on a massive downer. Sets the board up for the next round. I still think it a pity that one of the very few prominent women in the strip was killed, and all the blokes are mostly OK. Perhaps that will be temporary. I don't know.

Questions: Dredd has felt ineffectual to some degree. "We can never do enough." Well, sure, Dredd, but you did fuck all. Perhaps Maitland wouldn't be alive if you'd done more, but you could have done something. But also in his confrontation with Hernandez, that doesn't feel like a Dredd with stature – this feels more like a Dredd marginalised. And, frankly, given that he repeatedly refuses to take up a position of authority, what right does he have to keep trying to steer Justice Department?

My subscription's due to be renewed in a week or two.

I think it's finally time for me to draw the line.

Regards,
Robin

[AlexF]

This Dredd story has pushed to examine what I most want from a longer Dredd tale. I do liek the politic-y tales, and it's definitely the case that I really want to see the Dredd/Beeny/Maitland combo manage to push through some sort of democractic reform onto MC1, because I'm a liberal lefty and seeing that would make me feel good. But of course it would end up breaking 'Judge Dredd' as a strip so it can't/shouldn't actually happen.

Which means we get these downer-ending stories, and when they're as magnificently well-drawn as this one - might be BEST ever art on a Dredd serial, for real - I'm OK with it. But thinking further, for me the truly successful 'downer ending' Dredd tales are the ones where it's Dredd himself who more or less agrees with the 'bad' thing that happens - as in America, for one example. I get that he's becoming more and more anti-fascist as the years go by, but the power of the character is at its strongest when we're reminded that he genuinely believes that being a shouty bully and using violence to solve problems is the best way to keep citizens safe. So mostly all I have to look forward to is Dredd punching out another Judge Grice lookalike at some point.

As for the rest of the Prog, it's definitely a win in the art column for all stories. Kendall's vision of giant arty towers made of human remains is up there with Kev O'Neill's from Nemesis Book 1. And yes, that SB Davis sure can paint trees and dead animals and duffed-up humans real good.

Agree that Full Tilt Boogie doesn't really explain itself in terms of 'how did she get out of that trap' - but with a get-out clause that I think the inside of that weird spaceship is meant to be trippy and dreamlike, in a Stalker/Annihilation sense. In that context it makes sense to me that will-power is enough to help a person escape, and of course we don't yet know what else Tee has brought out of the ship with her, even if it's just a big dose of anxiety/fear. Also it all justifies the cover which is an all-timer!