Prog 1914 Crowd Buster

[Skullmo]

For all their powers the Dark Judges are pretty lame. I think it is because they have been given these great powers they have just become lazy and just want to wander around killing people one by one. You think they would learn to fire guns or kung fu or something.

[ZenArcade]

True, extripation would seem the best option. This, however, would mandate the Dark Judges acting honestly and pragmatically on their oft stated convictions. After all they had the option when they wrested control of Mega City One during Necropolis. By this I mean through the Chief Judge Silver they would have had access to the launch codes and authorisation protocols for the city's arsenal of thermo nuclear weapons (enough to destroy the planet many times over). Instead they engaged in a frenzied orgy of brutal, sadistic one on one slaughter of the citizenry. This points an accusing finger at the real motivations behind their existence that being mere ignoble, psycopathic slaughter. Z

[I, Cosh]

Should we have a poll on which is the worst/best Dark Judge in light of Zen's faux pas?

I'd say (strictly in killing terms) it probably goes: Fire>>>Mortis>Death>>>>>Fear.

It's all about proximity. Fire is the only one that can kill you from a distance, It might take a while but Mortis just needs to touch you once, Death at least needs to ssssqueeeze and Fear needs to fanny about opening his hat and even then you can still punch him in the no face.

[ZenArcade]

Ok I'm game.

1. Fire - can kill many at once and at a distance.

2. Death - he is the leader and coordinator of the group, they are less effective without him.

3. Mortis - can kill instantly and in a pretty gruesome fashion.

4. Fear - close run with Mortis as he can kill many at a distance (providing they are looking at him) plus he has various offensive weaponry such as the mantraps. However Mortis is much more unsettling than Fear so he scrapes it.

So have at it folkssssss. Z

[JamesC]

If Fear's face thing works over video it may change things around a bit.

[Steve Green]

I can see a few ways you could expand what they could do.

Mortis can rot/rust material, so he could potentially wreck a reactor or trigger a disaster like power tower. (Not terribly useful on a spaceship though)

Fear over video was explored in Dark Judgement by Rich and Conor (he's also got his grenade heads as well)

I think they just like the personal touch, so a confined city block or a spaceship suits them.

[Greg M.]

In 'Necropolis', they are compared to artists, hiding the city in black mists until they are ready to reveal their masterwork to the world. Death's vision for the city is described as a "beautiful dream." Though they wish to extinguish life, they are, ironically, very creative - they really enjoy their jobs and, as Steve rightly says, they like to express themselves on a personal level.

[IndigoPrime]

DVD EXTRA MISSING SCENE

Dredd: Death and his cronies have escaped into space and will soon be travelling away from Earth at quarter of the speed of light. I want to pursue them.

Hershey: Why the drokk would you want to do that?

Dredd: Because otherwise the story would be really short.

Hershey: *sigh* Fine. Have some rat-catchers and Anderson. I've got some serious stomm to deal with right now, and could do without your vendettas against creatures that are now finally actually out of our hair.

Dredd: *dreddface*

Hershey: *hersheydeathstare*

Dredd: *slinks off*

[Skullmo]

I say they take off and nuke the entire ship from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Colin YNWA]

The Dark Judges are all a bit poo and should have been sacked off sometime ago when they all became pantomine dames.

There, now that arguements resolved

Let's talk about the Prog Baby
Have we all read Prog 1913*
Lets talk about all the good things and the bad things
Are you flip flapping like me

Lets talk about Prog

Dredd this one is slipping from solid to a little drab. I do think it will be a lot better when read as one when I think the pacing will work a bit better. For me its testament to how past their sell by the DJs are that start of their final (is it) campaign read like a tired re-run with a few recycled jokes. I really hope I regret saying that when I re-read it but its honestly how I feel at this point in time.

I over estimated the direction Ulysses Sweet was headed and its become tired already. We'll see.

Orlok kinda frustrated me. There's a good story waiting to breakout but I seem to spend too much time checking about to see exactly what happened, thinking I'm missing stuff but I don't think I'm being told stuff. Still this one gives enough to keep me wanting to find out.

So maybe I was just in a grump when reading the Prog this week? Well luckily both The Order and Savage are great I'm enjoying them a great deal.

Phew.

* Yes I know its Prog 1914 but 1913 scanned better. What ya gonna do?

[mejustnow]

Firstly, yes, I meant Fear to go first. My bad.

As far as the modus operandi of the Dark Judges, I think (to coin a phrase) they not only want justice to be served, but to be seen to be served.

Also, they are a bit dim-witted. If you think about their ultimate victory over Deadworld (was that place renamed by them after they one?) I think that's the perfect template for them and one they want to recreate over and over again.

First time out of the gate they took control of the whole infrastructure and had the crime of life added to the statute books. The entire judicial system worked to ex the population, and finally those generals in command had the honour of being killed by the Dark Judges themselves. the final sentences passed on the planet, which then existed for perhaps centuries in "peace".

This model was most closely replicated during Necropolis. I for one get a kick out of their frustrations. It makes me giggle that they continue to be annoyed by the inhabitants of this planet's on-going insistence that life is not a crime. Why don't they just play bloody ball?! It's not fair!! 

[mejustnow]

"won", "one"...nurse, pass the coffee stat!

[Spaceghost]

Has anyone else noticed the new paper stock?  I'm not sure I like it, on the black and white stories you can see the reverse page coming right through!

Most off putting.

Same in the meg, Demarco is all speech balloons showing through the page.

Can't understand why nobody else is in agreement with you on this. The new paper is rubbish, particularly for b/w strips.

[user2000]

Has anyone else noticed the new paper stock?  I'm not sure I like it, on the black and white stories you can see the reverse page coming right through!

Most off putting.

Same in the meg, Demarco is all speech balloons showing through the page.

Can't understand why nobody else is in agreement with you on this. The new paper is rubbish, particularly for b/w strips.

I know!  I thought I might have had a duff prog at first, but when I saw the mess that was Demarco in the Meg I realised that the paper wasn't merely a bit "whiter".  I noticed it right away from reading the nerve centre (I'm a bit anal like that).

This could really call into question my continued print subscription, to me it makes the black and white strips unenjoyable and that's more than half the prog at the moment! - reminds me of some old IPC 70s comics I have (Cheeky, Whoopee etc) where it's the colour pages leeching through for a good few issues because of the paper stock.

Whiter, brighter paper = good.  Transparent pages resulting in reading annoyance = bad.

[Dark Jimbo]

Has Alex Roland given us a bad cover yet?!

Dredd has really picked up now. To put one's self in the shoes of the colonists was genuinely terrifying - for all that we may moan about how pantomime the gruesome foursome have become, you'd proper shit yourself if you ever appeared face-to-face with these lads and that's what Staples' art has really brought home. The script still feels a little 'light' if that makes sense, but that's because Wagner is very much 'doing a Pat Mills' here i.e. providing a script that's first and foremost a showcase for his artist.

I loved the first run, but sorry to say this time out Ulysees Sweet has lost me. It feels a bit tired, and the humour a bit forced. As things stand I won't be sad to see this one end.

Orlok is much improved. I'm quite enjoying this now. The only trouble is that I have no idea what Orlok is up to, or what his end goal is, or why he's in Euro-Cit, or why he betrayed the Sovs, or... or anything, really. I know that's very much the point - that his shadowy motivations are meant to intrigue us - but it makes it hard to have any investment in what's happening. Events are currently just sort of washing over me rather than shocking or surprising me.

The Order is still the pick of the bunch. By turn it's touching, funny, exciting, intriguing, but never gives us too much of any one of those. Just perfectly paced and well-judged, and of course the art is glorious - imagine how bleak the prog would look currently without John Burns' paintbox!

Savage doesn't quite hit the heights of last week but ticks along in solid enough fashion.