Prog 2366 - End of the Road

[Colin YNWA]

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...

[M.I.K.]

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).

[broodblik]

Cover Rufus Dayglo:

[Anthony Garnon]

Droid Life went over my head too, beyond the obvious slapstick mishap.

[Barrington Boots]

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.

[IndigoPrime]

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 Monarch]

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

[A.Cow]

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.

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.

[IndigoPrime]

Oh, good grief. I went to art college and so now I feel doubly stupid.

[Blue Cactus]

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.

[Barrington Boots]

I 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!

[Trooper McFad]

I 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

[broodblik]

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.

[scrotnig]

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).

[broodblik]

B/W Cover:



Colour Cover: