Prog 2347 - Demonised

[Colin YNWA]

The perfect example of the Prog limping into a relaunch. These used to be common even 10 - 15 years ago, but lately Tharg has become much better at keeping things strong to the end. Still we all slip backwards every now and again huh.

Dredd I mean its good, I really want to read the whole Asher storyline in one go BUT read week to week this story feels overlong and each episode feels like its adding very little to what we have and know already.

Portals and blackgoo This just reads like an overlong Future Shock from John Tomlinson in his recent appearances in the Prog. The storytelling in the script is clumsy and confused yet I don't care enough about any of the characters or situations (what I can unpick of them) to make any real effort to dig into to unrevel things. That said it ends so its not all bad!

Hershey Some lovely interchanges here after a rather forced opening page that really lacks the impact I think it wanted as to how insightful it was. Read a bit Kirkman to me! Still after that grating start its very good.

3riller - Die Hoard I mean you have to love the title's pun but this is a little flat opening. Mind given how many 3rillers have great opening and then slip away maybe this one will spin that tread and build to something interesting. Its certainly hints at the potential to do so.

Azimuth best thing in the Prog, thrilling, fun and builds things very nicely.

2000ad Art Stars Winner on the back page, even though I've read it before is pretty damned fine. I was whining about the state of the Regened last week and something like this (maybe with out someone being blugdened with a hammer and their dismembered parts incinerated!) - with the energy and fresh exciting art is just the sort of craft the recent Regened have been lacking. Get Alan Kerr a slot there, or indeed the Prog proper Tharg this is very promising stuff.

[broodblik]

Cover by Stewart K. Moore:

[The Monarch]

yeah an actual saturday prog for me for a change

but i really can't add to what Colin said

[Blue Cactus]

Quite like the cover although something about the way she's sitting makes it look a bit uncomfortable!

Dredd: A Fallen Man keeps plodding along. It's a solid story this and I'm still invested in Asher as a character although the plotting seems a little, I don't know, slow maybe? Looks nice and Blythe's colours suit the mood of the story.

I was interested in the thread for the prog before last when someone posted saying they'd read the whole of Portals and Black Goo in one sitting and found it worked really well. Week on week it hasn't grabbed me - I'm no longer sure how Magister Dain's story relates to the others. The fourth page lost me - who's that in the second panel watching our delivery guy? And why is the last thing we see him say 'hmm.' Also his facial hair is awful. I didn't really get what was happening in the final few panels either. Coveney's art is good though. So yep, maybe this needs read in one sitting in a quick fire burst.

Hershey - I liked this episode. That page with her looking over the city was a beautiful sequence. I wish Dredd had at least greeted Frank though. But 'good boy' I liked. This is a story I think will definitely read well collected.

3arg's Threellers - I really enjoyed this! It felt a little padded - that woman seemed to be explaining why these artifacts are precious for a loong time - but I liked the scenario, and I thought Brokenshire's are was nice too. Reminded me a bit of Paul Marshal and Warren Pleece. I hope this packs some suprises over the remaining two episodes to keep things interesting.

Azimuth... are we going to see Suzi 9mm again? I liked her.  Bettin is one of my favourite of Tharg's artists right now, and this strip has really given him room to show off what he can do. Enjoyed the lettering on this one a lot too. Not sure I want things to go back to Downlode but it seems inevitable. I also kind of wish they'd shown how long Dexter's been on the run by growing his hair and giving him a big straggly beard. As it is he at least suits the goatee a lot more than the Devouroo driver in Portals.

The wee one page Dredd was nice (although the grisly death was maybe less 'Dredd' than if he'd been disposing of something more mundane. Anyway, nice art, clear storytelling. I agree with Colin, some energetic one-pagers like this might brighten up Regened no end.

[The Corinthian]

Turns out I was right about the P&BG guest cameo, though I'm not sure his type of Wheatley-esque horror sits comfortably with the "monsters live among us and they're just like us really" camp on offer here.

Also "Cursitor" is an archaic title, not a name. Unless he and Dain had weird parents.

[IndigoPrime]

Dredd hasn't quite hit the heights of previous entries in this series, but I'm fine with the pace. We often complain when stories are blazed through. Stuff is happening. The net is closing.

I just want Portals to end now. I suspect there are some good ideas in the mix, but I don't care about any of the characters. That in itself isn't enough to put me off (The Boys on TV...), but I'm also not that interested in what's happening either. It all still feels quite messy and directionless. Perhaps it should have been a 3hriller.

Hershey works its way to a conclusion, presumably in every sense as far as the lead goes. Some nice lines here ("What'd you just say?" "Good boy."), although it was odd for Hershey to reference the title of a strip. Shorthand for long-time readers, I guess!

Die Hoard started well. Lots of stuff going on. Solid cliffhanger.

Azimuth moves into its own path towards a conclusion – or at least, I assume so. This is good, but I still wonder what might have been had it been its own thing. There's a big ol' status quo switch on the horizon. Fantastic art, as Blue Cactus said.

And then extra Dredd. Which in all honesty was my favourite thing in the Prog. Tight. Simple. Perfectly executed. Here's hoping Kerr gets more work from the House of Tharg.

Kerr Dredd > Azimuth > Die Hoard > Hershey > Dredd >>>>> Portals

[broodblik]

Portals was a very nonsensical. It felt to me that you read a book and when you halfway you stop and never go back. Maybe it will work better in a single sitting.

[M.I.K.]

although it was odd for Hershey to reference the title of a strip. Shorthand for long-time readers, I guess!

She's not referencing the title of a strip. She's referencing what he was actually being called by Yassa Povey et al.

[IndigoPrime]

Ha! Good point. Clearly, my memory isn't once it once... er... what was I talking about again?

[Goosegash]

I think the main issue with P&BG is it's over-ambitious if anything, trying to balance multiple separate story threads simultaneously in a relatively short run, which doesn't really give any of them time to breathe. As the introduction to this series I think it would've helped to focus on one of the central characters first to establish the world for the audience, before branching off into separate plot threads all over the shop. As it is, it feels like it's tried to run before it could walk.

That said, I didn't hate it, I think the idea has some promise which could be improved with tighter story-telling. I wouldn't object to seeing this back again, as at least it was flawed in an interesting way rather than a dull, derivative Skip Tracer way.

[Funt Solo]

I was interested in the thread for the prog before last when someone posted saying they'd read the whole of Portals and Black Goo in one sitting and found it worked really well. Week on week it hasn't grabbed me - I'm no longer sure how Magister Dain's story relates to the others. The fourth page lost me - who's that in the second panel watching our delivery guy? And why is the last thing we see him say 'hmm.' Also his facial hair is awful. I didn't really get what was happening in the final few panels either. Coveney's art is good though. So yep, maybe this needs read in one sitting in a quick fire burst.

I can add myself to the group that read P-B-Goo in one sitting, and I ended up getting quite into it. I'm not a fan of London-centric contemporary stories, so it had to overcome my initial put-off. It wasn't too confusing once I'd figured out that we weren't really going beyond the major trio of Kroy (the chief protagonist), Nona (vegan vampire sidekick) and Magister Dain (the mentor).

To attempt to answer the Cacti-Queries:
 - Dain's purpose is to act as a foreshadowing conduit into the next arc, and as part-time mentor to Kroy. He keeps going on about some ancient power that's on the rise - this will no doubt tie into the open aggression we're seeing from the "anti-freak" brigade.
 - the homeless guy following Kroy is only there to answer the question posed by Nona earlier: "do you ever wonder where it comes from?", and to cement the notion that The Dark Store isn't a power for good. Note that same homeless guy gets eaten (by the store itself perhaps) when he tries to order food from it. (I think that's what happened.) More final episode foreshadowing for the second series.
 - Kroy is the one saying "hmm", and it's because he just set up "Dick Turpin" to get attacked by the Onryo (which happens on the last page). I can't help that you don't like his facial hair.

It does seem like the wannabe Helsing (Bliss) is now a zombie. I wasn't sure if the firework going off was just inconvenient or if there was more to that.

I definitely want a second series.

[Blue Cactus]

Thanks for addressing my various Portal and Goo related issues so thoroughly Funt. That does explain some bits I'd missed. The sequence where you say you think that's what happened definitely had me unsure what was going on. Didn't realise that was the same homeless person! I did know it was Kroy saying 'hmm' (although I didn't express that very well), and I still find it an odd thing for him to say at that point.

Appreciate that you can't help me like his facial hair and that's ok. We just haven't been presented with enough information about him to explain his goatee choice (yet). Maybe if we get a second series. I don't like his jacket either to be honest, but I would think it keeps him warm on his bike at least. I'd also like to say if any boarders here have the same facial hair and jacket combo, I'm sure they suit you very well and you look quite the thing about town.

[Funt Solo]

Mini-Solo has a similar jacket to the one demonstrated in Peanut Butter & Goo, but is too young (and, I surmise, genetically disinclined) to sport such a wispy goatee.

[Barrington Boots]

This thread inspired me to give P&BG a one-sitting read and whilst it's certainly more coherent, it's still not very good.
I think I said a few weeks back that any one of the three threads could work as the basis for the story but all three together give it a very disjointed feel, whilst not really giving any depth to any of the protagonists, which just leads to apathy regarding their plights.
Thematically it feels like a mess. It's not funny enough to be a lighthearted strip, but it's not dark enough to be serious either. The racism angle is so terribly handled - everyone is racist against monsters who are actually killing people which seems... justified? I'm not sure I'd like a monster living in my road if it kept killing delivery guys. And then the racist guys are the most over the top caricatures: they're all reminiscent of Tom Thug. Cursitor Doom seems a bit out of place.

One I'd be glad not to see back, tbh.

[Funt Solo]

The racism angle is so terribly handled - everyone is racist against monsters who are actually killing people which seems... justified? I'm not sure I'd like a monster living in my road if it kept killing delivery guys.

I thought the analogy was a mixture of racism and anti-immigration, and it's probably working better than you imagine. I'm guessing you're probably not an anti-immigrant yourself, but without realizing it you've fallen into a bit of a trap whereby you're describing "the other" on the basis of the worst example on offer.

The anti-freak movement doesn't distinguish between a murderous creature like the Onryo and the vegan Nona. The werewolves like meat - so do humans. Magister Dain gets beaten up for no good reason. Yet, somehow, you've argued that it's quite reasonable to be on the anti-freak side of the argument. (Not *quite* what you said, I know, but IRL there are folk who, when engaged on transgender rights, always find themselves talking about sexual assault in bathrooms.)