Prog 2233:Regened - Ready to face the law?

[Tjm86]

This has to be the strongest Regened prog yet.  A roster of top artists and quality writing definitely help.  Bringing out some of the best strips we’ve seen to date for another outing though, that has to be the real treat.

Cadet Dredd continues the exploration of Rico’s steady fall from grace.  Lynch’s artwork has come a long way from the early Orlok stuff and Boswell’s colours bring out the highlights.  Overall a quality outing for the title.  The same can be said for Scott and Davidson’s take on Anderson.  A potential alien invasion, rookie judge and some misdirection all coming together well.

Future Shocks is a nice topical one as Wall-E Expectation introduces the universe to anti-social media.  The punchline is set up well and delivered with aplomb.  For a FS it works quite well which is no small achievement.

Pandora Perfect and Department K round out the prog with two tales that establish the potential longevity of these two strips.  Plenty of slapstick and confusion for the hapless con-artist take on Mary Poppins.  Interesting to see that Department K decided to skip the whole Sliders rip-off.  Interesting to see what McConville has planned for future outings after this.

I think that it is fair to say that this is truly an ‘all-ages’ prog.  It doesn’t try to force the issue as has been the case with some of the earlier ones.  Possibly on balance it is tilted more toward older readers but not excessively so.  It does seem that it is finally finding its voice properly, building on the strengths of Tooth for a new generation of readers.

[Richard]

Do you mean prog 2233?

[Tjm86]

Yes ...

...  if someone could amend?

[Colin YNWA]

This has to be the strongest Regened prog yet. 

Well if that's not right its damned close. There are a few things that are done really well and most importantly the main one of those is the stories.

Dredd - just a fantastic Cadet Dredd story Liam Johnson has done bits before, but if I'm honest not enough for me to remember the name (sorry!). I will after this. A story that really gets to the core of Joe and Rico. That is surprising exciting given its basically about a trial and pretty moving as well. Just a great story. I'm also pleasently surprised by how well Jake Lynch's art works here. I love his art, but I wouldn't have immediately thought of him as a Regened artist. I was wrong.

Future Shock is wonderfully effective. I mean its not the most original concept but its very well executed and Tom Newell's art has really raised a level.

Anderson is the only missfire for me - its decent, but horribly rushed. Again though nice art.

Pandora Perfect not quite as brilliant as the first one and exposes a big of a problem about the mischief she gets up to and the consequences it may be felt she has to face. BUT facing her off against David Attenborough, not quite as lovely as he would seem is a stroke of genius. The madcap humour is rich and I just smiled throughout. This strip is still a trumph and one I want to see in every Regened.Oh and the art by Brett Parson is sublime.

Department K works really well too. Its hi-jinks and a great self contained story. I'm a little surprised that what I thought was going to be the central concept - a team of tech Judges cast into dimensions, hopping between them - turns out not to be and is wrapped up here BUT I'm cool with that we have a great cast and I'm excited to see what happens next.

And what happens next is the other thing that Jargo and Tharg get absolutely spot on. Firstly by reseting Department K when it ends we get a fantastic 'Next Prog' advert lo and behold Department K is in it. Of course what's great is the story in this issue feels self contained and wraps up nicely for those that don't read on. For those that do you can. The bridge is built between the Regened and the Prog.

On top of that the line-up for next prog feels inviting for readers here ... or could be. Department K continues. Noam Chimpsky's solo story starts (WAYHEY) and that feels like it could be attractive to the audience carrying through. Feral and Foe I can see having appeal and Dredd, well it depends what Dredd we get. Mechastopheles is a surprise and it didn't make enough impact on me to register whether it will work for an audience moving through. Maybe it will, demon giant robots clashing with monsters gotta have some appeal. I mean we gotta see how the tales next time land, but that advert certainly makes the idea of jumping across feel appealing so that's another tick.

Overall the Regenes really seemed to have found their feet. I've been a big fan of the concept from the off. It took a few issues to get the mix of stories right, but the last three have worked well and I'm optimistic about where all this is going. Fingers crossed the trades do good business.

[Jacqusie]

Whilst I'm glad that the latest Regened prog clearly has it's fans, I have to say that as someone who picked the prog up at age 13 around 30 odd years ago and is heading towards middle age, I'm really not one of them.

I know this has been discussed before, but I'm not quite sure what age range the stories are being pitched at for an "All ages issue" which I think is clearly aimed at children and not teens, who are now pretty much teenagers at 10 years old. I certainly don't think it's for my generation and beyond.

However the stories and art are all neatly produced (I'm a fan of Paul Davidson's work) and I do realise that 2000AD needs to attract a younger audience, but I just wish that these could be specials to buy seperate, or which might be a better plan, we could opt out on the subscription, as I really don't want to have to keep paying for four of these every year.

[Jim_Campbell]

I just wish that these could be specials to buy seperate, or which might be a better plan, we could opt out on the subscription, as I really don't want to have to keep paying for four of these every year.

Do I really have to paste in the history and explanation of why these aren't being done as specials every single time one of these issues comes out?

So. Again. The first Regened issue was planned as a special, but the distributor nixed the idea. Since then, we've had the high street outlets ravaged by covid lockdowns, forcing Rebellion to drastically cut back the number of specials they're doing every year into the bargain. I have no inside info on this, but I imagine Rebellion would love these to be specials — they'd be additional revenue on top of the prog that way, but it's simply impractical in current market conditions.

If we all agree that 2000AD needs to attract new and younger readers, right now the options are this, or nothing. I appreciate that some people would prefer nothing — they pays their money and they're entitled to moan about issues they're not enjoying, but the reasons these issues aren't specials are entirely beyond Rebellion's control.

[Woolly]

[scrotnig]

And as we are in groundhog mode, I shall post my regular assertion that, as a 2000ad reader since 1982, and a subscriber of many years standing, I love the regnened progs. So there!

[Richard]

I'm happy with anything that (1) prolongs the life of the comic by expanding its audience and (2) promotes the security of the comic by increasing Rebellion's revenue. It's only four times a year, we get extra pages, and some good stories have come out of it, especially Full Tilt Boogie, which found a well-deserved place in the regular prog.

If the price is a few stories that don't appeal to me, well that can happen in normal progs as well (e.g. Skip Tracer).

[Tjm86]

This is where I come from when it comes to Regened.  There have been countless strips down through the years that have left me cold outside of this project.  What is impressive is how quickly it has found its feet. 

I know that I am one of the 'hardcore fans' / 'ancient readers' that Mills rails against at times and perhaps not the audience that this is fully aimed at.  That said, I am warming more and more to the efforts.  It also gives hope that the prog will still be around as it reaches its 50th anniversary in a few (terrifyingly few ...) years time.

[Funt Solo]

I'd be cheered if we could move on a bit from the argument surrounding the method by which the Regened content is published (because previous threads have really explained the why of the matter quite thoroughly) and focus more on the content itself.

I can entirely appreciate that someone might posit that, say, Flubber (1997) is a pile of pants but that Inside Out (2015) is like Citizen Kane for kids. The key thing is, despite their aim at a younger audience, the former might only appeal to the target but the latter clearly goes wider.

And if all that fails to grab you as an argument - and you're still thinking of the Regened prog as a damp squib - do you really not know someone of a younger generation that you can just give it to? A son, a daughter, a non-binary off-spring? A grand-version of the former? A nephew, a niece, a nibling? Twice or thrice removed? A friend of the family? A charity shop?

2000 AD has given us all these many years of boundless creativity (yes - even Dry Run!), so can we not manage a little in return?

[Jim_Campbell]

I'd be cheered if we could move on a bit from the argument surrounding the method by which the Regened content is published (because previous threads have really explained the why of the matter quite thoroughly)

I KNOW.

[Barrington Boots]

Mine's just arrived and I have say: +100 points for including a wordsearch.

[Colin YNWA]

Mine's just arrived and I have say: +100 points for including a wordsearch.

They need to make it a 'Spot the Difference' the word search was way to easy and the boy child and I love doing the Spot the Difference in The Phoenix* together, some of which are devilishly tricky.

Oh or another one of those Henry Flint choice your path things that was in the FCDB version - that Planet of Death thingie (can't remember the title) was absolute genius!


*Obligatory reference to The Phoenix when talking about Regened issues happily ticked off!

[Richard]

that Planet of Death thingie (can't remember the title) was absolute genius!

That was great, it should have been given its own strip!