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[Dredd]

Tuesday Prog!

Dredd – This was an alright Dredd - interesting concept, but not especially funny or exciting in its presentation. Not bad, but not up to the usual Niemand standard imo. 

It was a bit clunky for sure. I'm really scratching my head as to why 4 judges would kick down the door, fire all their guns at once (at what?) whilst telling the perps to put down their weapons or face erm, the Judges opening fire on their perhaps now injured or already deceased arses...

PAGE 1: Joe Pineapples moping because he'll never see the ABC Warrior again.

SUBSEQUENT PAGES: Inconsequential flashbacks showing us stuff the ABC Warriors did in more consequential, less mopey stories.

Or money for old rope... someones royaly taking us for a ride with this story and the way it's been written. It shouldn't have been published really, I realised I used the word 'story' then, my apologies...

Still we have that wondeful cover, a thing of greatness indeed. It's amazing how Cliff & Ken can still come up with new concepts to delight and keep Dredd's world looking fresh, no recycling of hackneyed & tired old ideas here thankfully...

JOE PINEAPPLES - this should never have been in the prog.

My thoughts too, it's dire. Would a new writer who delivered this godawful script get a run like this I wonder? Sue Banana's Tharg?

Why did the artist change after only 2 weeks and the big roll out with the return of the Biz? Did he get taken off it?

I know this is a tad strong, but the editor has made a mistake (you win some you lose some) and it's a bit of an insult to serve this up to the readership.

If this is the last Pat Mills wants to write for 2000AD it certainly shows and it's all a bit sad really

Question is... will the Christmas prog arrive before Christmas?

...at this rate, 2 progs behind I wouldn't bet my house on it.

I reckon the subs progs are still in Oxford, in some great ark boxed up in miles of warehouse racking...

[Hope]

Hope – At last Mallory escape the nightmare house as we head into a mini-break. We will soon see the price that Mallory had to pay to free him and his unlikely companions.

"HOPE's back in Prog 23101"


Blimey, we are used to some long gaps between stories in the prog, but that's a stretching it abit!

See, now that attitude I don't really understand.

Which is why I suppose there's only a handful of the same people who ever really post on here...

Ulysses Sweet was dire, it was just like something out of the Beano. If I wanted to read that, I wouldn't be looking for it in 2000AD. I couldn't finish it.

I couldn't even finish Chopper either. I loathe the talking to the reader thing, and his insufferable cheerfulness.  That's not Chopper, that's an imposter.

I couldn't agree more, I usually get pelters if I dare criticise the Regend Prog, but I'm glad it wasn't just me opening the prog and thinking "what the actual... ?"

I say open, rather than read as that would have asked me to go back to when I was 8 years old with a Beano in one hand and Whizzer and Chips in the other....

Interview here about Special Relationship with Rob and Patrick:


https://2000ad.com/news/interview-exploring-the-special-relationship-with-rob-williams-and-patrick-goddard/


It's interesting Rob says:

For my sins, I thought it'd be fun, and more dramatically compelling, to tell this story out of sequence. Sometimes you need your head seeing to, as it makes for a bit of a headtwist as a writer making sure you have the timeline correct.

A major head twist for the reader too!

['Special Relationship']

Yeah, don't know if my thrill interpretation circuits have been scrambled by the recent heatwave but 'Special Relationship' has been a real effort to follow, with the time frames constantly shifting, Brit-Cit characters I'm sure I should know more about, and events to remember from 'The Hard Way'. I feel the Williams droid is just trying a little too hard to obfuscate the storyline in an attempt to generate mystery, and there's in fact a simpler and much more enjoyable tale lurking there.

I'm glad it's not just me!

I do so love Rob Williams stories and his writing, but you summed it up well about how trying to read this is hard work and the enjoyment factor wanes slightly due to that.

Cover and Logo:

What a great cover and really pleased Jagir is back with the bio-wire

Whilst Rob Williams back on Dredd is very much welcome, I do feel I am missing chunks of this story, which is a shame as it's a good premise.

It's got no rhythm, dances with two left feet and it's like listening to that bloke who used to pretend his microphone was broken and you'd only hear every other word, like a bad connection on a zoom meeting where you're not sure who anyone is, or indeed if you are in the right meeting...

Yes I was reading the Special Relationship today and, oh yeah confused!

Looks nice, but I have enough in my life to confound and addle my brain without the need for flashbacks and huge gaps in the story missing.

Can't we just have a proper story to enjoy rather then endure, y'know prologue, middle and epilogue all in the same place please?

Actually the Red Queen series started and ran mostly in the meg. It was only the  story "The Hard Way" which ran in the prog (2250-2255)

I suppose the question still stands, why the switch back and forth?

Why bother putting the "The Hard Way", in the prog? If like me you read this and probably wonder why there is no sequel to the Atlantis saga...

...which is happening back over at the Meg

[Judge Dredd: Regicide]

Judge Dredd: Regicide
This manages to sneak fourth place by dint of having a Battle Royale plot that's quite fun to watch. Beyond that, I'm just not a fan of the Red Queen arc at all. This plot has taken a great character that existed sensibly in Dredd's world (Orlok) and (by endlessly cloning him) made him a joke of a threat. Whack-A-Mole Orlok. And the Red Queen isn't even a character - she's just a super-villain template. Having Dredd be in exactly the place required by the story just as Maitland launches her sting feels contrived. Can't we have a villain with an actual name? And have it not be Orlok? Why is an Acc-Div Judge launching all-out military assaults anyway? Quimby wouldn't approve etc.

Can I ask why they switched the story to the Meg halfway through? Some people who only read the prog won't ever get to read this and the conclusion of a story arc which started there.

If it's a cynical ploy to get people buying both in these cash strapped times, it's in pretty bad taste

I'm sticking up for the likes of Hope and Fiends that have both had a bit of flack. So if I had a choice of Regened in the shiny happy kids club and Hope, I think I know which I'd choose.

Not many comment on the art in Hope and I think it's what's needed in the prog, a gritty, textured black and white noir gumshoe which admittedly hasn't hit the heights of previous, but looks fabulous. I suppose there will be those who want Pandora Perfect level of giggles and easy to follow chunky lines, colours and script, but I don't particually buy 2000AD for a regened Minnie the Minx.

I don't mind Brink, I just don't think it's the amazing, wonderous peice of work that others do and I have to wonder with a good script editor, does it really need to be 24 episodes? It's quite repetitive and not the tightest thing that's ever appeared in the prog.

Fiends is a fight scene and as such it delivers the goods but again I've lost the actual plot line here. New baddies keep turning up and fighting Costanta but I can't remember why? Would be good seeing him do some Cold War spy stuff with a vampiric twist.

From the first episode, that's where I thought this run of Fiends was going and it's taken a very different turn from the set up. Big Things fighting Big Things has never really done it for me, I think quickly got bored of Godzilla back in the 80's and never recovered from Slaine's multiple fighty / talky scenes.

Shame as this era of the saga had some really decent potential with ipcress file / spycatcher plot twists, but at least the evergreen Tiernen Trevallion's art has been a delight, even though I'm still not to sure about the Crocodile bear-bat chap, I bet he has a few issues with his sense of self...