A cracking prog, with Dredd coming to a satisfying ending and some fantastic panels from the Higgins droid. Loved the idea of the [spoiler]emp grenade taking Dredd's eyes offline[/spoiler] for a few moments.
Shakara continues to be brilliantly bonkers in every way, and I will weep a tear or two when it finishes.
Flesh is absolutely awesome this week too, and after the discussion last week about Mckay's art - well, for me any tiny doubts have already been forgotten. He really shines this week, with so many memorable pics of Gorehead and Boots McGurk.
The Future Shock was pretty entertaining, and I enjoyedthe greyscale art from Joel Carpenter (not someone I've come across before but one to watch in the future)
And Kingdom... ah, Gene dog. Perfect ending to what has been my favourite run so far. Please come back soon, there's a good dog.
Still waiting for my post.....come on postie. I have a warm bath ready for me and the prog to get into, heh. ;)
Excellent Prog - full of greats strips and a letters page to boot. Tharg also waxes lyrical about celebs getting their letters in but to save you a trawl here is a link to the Andrew Collins letter blog - from from way back in 2007!
http://wherediditallgorightblog.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/comic-britannia/ (http://wherediditallgorightblog.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/comic-britannia/)
The Beast had of course logged the event and it may be that Andrew scored another hit a mere 28 years later but probably not - it's a common enough name.
ANDREW COLLINS UNKNOWN 25 ALIENS MONTAGE 1977
ANDREW COLLINS SOMERSET 1435 ENGLAND 2005
Yet another brilliant prog. A wee bit wet from the postie holding it out in the rain!!! >:(
Nice finish to Dredd.I wont spoil it for anyone.
Shakara just mindblowinglt fantastic.
Flesh Texas just loving this . I am starting to warm to J Mckay 's artwork.
Future shock was good.
Kingdom: farewell to my favourite story of late. Looking forward to him coming back for more.
And a letters page OMG, and the mighty Tharg has printed my 2nd letter of the year.
Mixed prog for me...
Dredd - ok; dramatically good, but [spoiler]unsatisfying if you want lawbreakers punished[/spoiler]; possibly justifiable if [spoiler]Deller appears in the future[/spoiler].
Shakara - awesome; [spoiler]"Message from the Enemy, Sir!" "What is it?"[/spoiler] "SHAKARA!"; Bonkers as ever!
Flesh - Never been a fan but this is quite good.
Future shock - Competent.
Kingdom: - awful; dramatically good, but [spoiler]I didn't see it coming that the bad dog would turn on the master last prog. Sure this particular master was mad as a hatter, but a disobedient dog is a bad dog. Humanity will become extinct and dogs or thems will rule the world.[/spoiler] Now that's what I call a downer ending :(
Quote from: JUDGE BURNS on 12 March, 2011, 01:55:42 PM
And a letters page OMG, and the mighty Tharg has printed my 2nd letter of the year.
Correct. We previously saw the Ayrshire Bard back in Prog 1717 - are you the same James Burns, late of Wishaw, who had the letter of the week in Prog 1515?
Great, fab, brilliant. Yup.
Now the big question. I don't get 'Surfeater Roberts'. I've been pondering this the last few weeks and I still don't get it. Can anyone clarify?
The smaller question is why are so many of the letter writers Scottish? Can the rest of the UK not write any more?
Quote from: Bluecube on 12 March, 2011, 02:31:24 PM
Great, fab, brilliant. Yup.
Now the big question. I don't get 'Surfeater Roberts'. I've been pondering this the last few weeks and I still don't get it. Can anyone clarify?
The smaller question is why are so many of the letter writers Scottish? Can the rest of the UK not write any more?
"servitor robots"
Same reason all the best script droids are Scottish.
Fantastic prog once again. Loved all of it, but thought the Future shock was maybe a wee bit obvious. Still enjoyed it, though and the art on it was nice. :) Also, Flesh is turning into a real 'feast', too. Heh. :-[
Yes Its the Ayrshire Bard here. I was living in Wishaw...once. I had no choice at the time. Moved back to civilisation once I beat my cancer after the transplant.
Quote from: Martin Howe on 12 March, 2011, 02:22:08 PMKingdom: - awful; dramatically good, but [spoiler]I didn't see it coming that the bad dog would turn on the master last prog. Sure this particular master was mad as a hatter, but a disobedient dog is a bad dog. Humanity will become extinct and dogs or thems will rule the world.[/spoiler] Now that's what I call a downer ending :(
I thought it was upbeat. Clearly, nutcase wasn't the only living human of 'importance'—just a bad egg (proven by the existence of astronaut bloke last time). Gene's becoming more independent, but still wants to fight for survival. All good.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 12 March, 2011, 05:21:10 PM
Quote from: Martin Howe on 12 March, 2011, 02:22:08 PMKingdom: - awful; dramatically good, but [spoiler]I didn't see it coming that the bad dog would turn on the master last prog. Sure this particular master was mad as a hatter, but a disobedient dog is a bad dog. Humanity will become extinct and dogs or thems will rule the world.[/spoiler] Now that's what I call a downer ending :(
I thought it was upbeat. Clearly, nutcase wasn't the only living human of 'importance'—just a bad egg (proven by the existence of astronaut bloke last time). Gene's becoming more independent, but still wants to fight for survival. All good.
Most of the humans Gene has met so far have been not worth saving. I think human extinction with Dogs taking on and beating Them would be brilliant. A matter of opinion if you think that is a downer scenario I guess.
I hope that we hear more in the next book from the humans who took the Sower girl off in the shuttlecraft thingy, I reckon we will. I'd love to see the tiny little nutjob genius dog again too
Loved the rest of the prog, not quite as outstanding and shocking as last week but still top notch. Extra points for a full volume "BOOT KNIFE".
Quote from: Martin Howe on 12 March, 2011, 02:22:08 PM
Kingdom: - awful; dramatically good, but [spoiler]I didn't see it coming that the bad dog would turn on the master last prog. Sure this particular master was mad as a hatter, but a disobedient dog is a bad dog. Humanity will become extinct and dogs or thems will rule the world.[/spoiler] Now that's what I call a downer ending :(
Judging by your profile details, that's just cattist propganda!
I remember reading the first episode of Kingdom and thinking "Gene the Hackman?... Puhleeease!", but Gene has grown on me as a really great character.
Good Prog: 8/10.
I like these wraparound covers; I hope they continue. I couldn't work out why a space scene was so yellowy until I opened it out fully to see that the theme of the cover was fire!
I have been largely indifferent to this latest Judge Dredd story, so I've found it quite hard going at eight parts. The EMP grenade bit was good though, and Don Mumbletti's verbal tic is a puzzle solver's treat.
I liked Flesh a lot more this Prog because the plotting made more sense, there was less botched real science and more glorious fantasy science, and the visuals were clearer and prettier: James McKay seems to have used a lighter touch on the artwork. My favourite thing this Prog. I hope it stays that way.
Kingdom was over last week, so this Prog's instalment was not mouch more than a coda. Plenty of potential in the next series now there's a mongrel dog army on the loose led by a pure bred specimen and battle-hardened veteran.
Shakara's giant space bike stalled this week from where I was standing. It just seemed to take a whole Prog to get the world engine moving, and it didn't smash through the armada quick enough for me. This is what it's come to with this strip: I've come to expect more carnage, faster, and I've got hardly any patience for the build-up! Kudos to the Morrison and Flint droids for that.
Tharg's Future Shocks was a winner. I won't say why, so as to preserve the payoff for anyone who is reading a spoilers thread who hasn't read the Prog yet, but it was an elegant and logical twist.
For me this was quite honestly the best Prog I've read in weeks: five distinctly different strips and not one of them is a turd.
Another wonderful one off from the Eglington Droid. Keep it up.
Glad the Dredd story has finally ended.
Sad that Kingdom has ended.
V
Hi guys, I thought I'd post James McKay's website here (I built it for him) so you can see what kind of art he's been producing up to now. Most of the work on the website is in colour, and a lot of it is from his French album series City of Secrets. One thing I can tell you about James is that he knows his stuff when it comes to dinoasurs; you can pretty much guarantee the illustrations in Flesh are accurate to our current knowledge.
http://www.jamesmckay.info/
Yeah, went there last week after episode 1. Lovely stuff and a nice looking site. Well done that man
I'm impressed you found it! It's not showing up on Google yet, it's quite new.
Decent enough Prog with Dredd & Shakara as standouts.
Flesh still isnt doing it for me, in fact try as I might I cant see anything Thrill Powered about it at all.
Quote from: Ben Dickson on 13 March, 2011, 11:48:02 AM
Hi guys, I thought I'd post James McKay's website here (I built it for him) so you can see what kind of art he's been producing up to now. Most of the work on the website is in colour, and a lot of it is from his French album series City of Secrets. One thing I can tell you about James is that he knows his stuff when it comes to dinoasurs; you can pretty much guarantee the illustrations in Flesh are accurate to our current knowledge.
http://www.jamesmckay.info/
Thanks for this, I've been meaning to try and find a website or blog to see more work. You're absolutely right about him knowing his dinos - in fact lining him up for Flesh was a bit of a no-brainer wasn't it? Apart from knowing his dino anatomy though, he's also great at getting the looming perspective of a charging carnosaur too. Very mpressive.
Quote from: Ben Dickson on 13 March, 2011, 12:11:12 PM
I'm impressed you found it! It's not showing up on Google yet, it's quite new.
I was looking at this last week too. Just before the 1st episode of FLESH hit the prog. Some gorgeous stuff on there. The dinos, especially of course! :D
Quote from: W. R. Logan on 13 March, 2011, 12:23:08 PM
Flesh still isnt doing it for me, in fact try as I might I cant see anything Thrill Powered about it at all.
[spoiler]It has a time travelling tyrannosaurus that can sneak up on you when you're not looking.[/spoiler]
I've just had a hideous notion of the kind that would make Robin Low's heart sing.
It's a long time since I've read it, but doesn't the very first episode of Slaine feature a tyrannosaur which has been displaced in time by some unspecified magical force? What if this was that same tyrannosaur?
Anyway, it's about time for a note of discord in this symphony of praise.
For my Galactic Groat the Prog's been deep in the doldrums for the last six months and nothing about this Prog does anything to change that. On a weekly basis, Shakara provides me with an inspired moment of lunatic invention but it's really the only strip I'm actively enjoying.
Regarding the art on Flesh. I agree that the black lines are a bit overpowering at times but, on the whole, I approve. What it reminds me of is that ABC Warriors story Liam Sharp did where he'd alternate insanely detailed panels of Mek Quake's body with stark, magic marker slashed outlines of his face. I loved that.
Having just reread Kingdom, I'm struggling even more with the flashback sequences. I can't figure out whether they're supposed to be real; whether the stylisation suggests they're just Herlocker's attempts to piece together something to live for from fragments of reality and story;whether it calls into question the "reality" of the whole strip; whether I'm overthinking it.
Just after going on about how good last weeks cover was, we get another awesome wraparound this week, can't wait to read Shakara.
Cheers,
Lee
Well they were called Time Monsters...
Quote from: The Cosh on 13 March, 2011, 03:14:43 PM
I've just had a hideous notion of the kind that would make Robin Low's heart sing.
It's a long time since I've read it, but doesn't the very first episode of Slaine feature a tyrannosaur which has been displaced in time by some unspecified magical force? What if this was that same tyrannosaur?
Quote from: Steve Green on 13 March, 2011, 03:46:18 PM
Well they were called Time Monsters...
WOW! That is
so cool.
Well stone the crows if last weeks was stonking this weeks is...better than stonking. The main difference is 'Flesh' was just majestic this week. I think my expectations have been adjusted appropriately and therefore I was able to enjoy this weeks episode for what it was a blinding piece of dino chumping good fun. The art has also already taken a step in the right direction and there was a real thunderous sense of movement in the action scenes. Fangtastic.
For the rest I saw it coming and to be honest am a little disappointed that the Dredd story seems to have been there to set up this Deller fella as some kinda exciting future threat. Frankly at this point I just don't buy into him. Still an exciting episode in and of itself and we'll see what the future holds.
The Future Shock didn't reach the highs if last weeks Time Twister for me but was fun enough and nice art.
As ever Shakara and Kingdom are just sublime. I'm already chomping at the bit for Kingdoms return. The series ended so very well while setting up so much more to come. Absolutely perfect 2000ad. As is Shakara which some how managed to live up to all the insane promise it offered last week and the brilliant cover the Prog sits in between.
The trouble is if Dredd picks up next week and everything else remains the same I'm going to run out of superlatives in a mighty hurry.
Near perfect Prog
A Shakara wrap around cover by the Flint - of course it's awesome!
Dredd - Finished up well. It managed to keep me guessing I must say and I like it when the bad guy gets away sometimes. Saying that, 8 parts seems a very long way to tell the yarn, but it did add a whole new character with backstory to Dredd. I know some aren't so keen on the colouring, but for me it was perfect, conveying the underbelly aspect of the villain's world well. Uhn mu mumbluhddi,pluhs.
Shakara - The only way to descibe this is SHAKARA! Utterly magnificent!
Flesh - Yeah, this is building really well. Great!
Future Shock - Great one off, nice art, decent twist. Just what it should be!
Kingdom - Both sad and happy to see this finish. It's been an absolute joy with the creators firing on all cylinders...part of me would love to not see it return, but who'm I kidding? More of this sort of thing!
Excellent prog.
M.
Shakara cover by the Flint wonderful stuff
Dredd -
Not sure about the intro of another got-away baddie very few of whom seem to return to the prog, (isn't the big Meg populated with loads of these guys? maybe they should team up a la Batman ;)) perhaps Mr Ewing is planning to get the Friendz back up to the Narcos era level?
And why the change of helmet with the Cadet? surely Dredd's s eyes were frazzled not the helmet and I didn't understand the lawgiver change over? palm-prints etc? I'm assuming its me being thick as Mr Ewing know his stuff better than I do.
Shakara - wonderful bonkers stuff!!
Flesh - what is that T-rex doing to that tree? Enjoying this dino-fest as a bit of old school guns and gore
Future Shock - fine stuff, is that a Judges helmet on one of the heads mounted on the wall?
Kingdom I'd assumed that the flashbacks were real, but Cosh has got me (over)thinking. Hopefully Kingdom will have a definite arc and not ramble on and on and over stay its warm and deserved welcome
wee mumps aside... an excellent prog.
I'll add that that the panel in Dredd[spoiler]where his eyes go offline[/spoiler] is one of my favourite moments in a long time.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 14 March, 2011, 12:22:52 PM
[Kingdom I'd assumed that the flashbacks were real, but Cosh has got me (over)thinking. Hopefully Kingdom will have a definite arc and not ramble on and on and over stay its warm and deserved welcome
Yeah, it'd be a real shame if Kingdom went a bit Rogue. And I'd still say the flashbacks are real - and a nice way to fill in backstory without a big info dump from Herlocker.
M.
I love the idea of Slaine's Time Monster being this dino! I got quite excited as I was reading this episode as I noticed each pic of the T-rex was from the same side, so we only ever could see ... one eye!
Then I turned over the page and he'd drawn one form the other side, so bollocks to that theory!
I also didn't understand why he needed to swap helmets - the idea of Deredd striding around in a white rookie helemt did amuse me though. As for lawgivers, it seems to vary in different stories as to whether they are palm-printed to be fired by judges only, or by one specific judge only
The time beast in Slaine could be just any t-rex from Flesh. There's a mention of hunting time-unstable raptors in the 23rd century, so there's no reason to assume that Gorehead is the only t-rex that's been exposed to time radiation.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 14 March, 2011, 12:22:52 PM
And why the change of helmet with the Cadet? surely Dredd's s eyes were frazzled not the helmet and I didn't understand the lawgiver change over? palm-prints etc? I'm assuming its me being thick as Mr Ewing know his stuff better than I do.
Helmets have got comms gear and other computer stuff in as do the lawgivers, I assumed they were knocked out by the EMP no? Perhaps they don't come with auto-reboot software like bionic eyes do? ;)
Although, unless cadets guns are not palm printed like full judges he should have had to take the auto destruct out. But he has done that enough times before, maybe he did it off camera?
I seem to remember that senior judges palmprints would work on other judges lawgivers.
Dredd: Very nice, EMP gives us a nice bit of depth and it's a good ending
Shakara: Loving it. Great story, great artwork and it's all coming together
Flesh: I'm sorry but this artwork looks utterly bloody awful! I don't think it's the artist atall but the reproduction. Look at Shakara, lovely lines detailed artwork reproduced wonderfully, but why in Flesh is everything all black and blurry? If you look at the penultimate page the Karolos head and the Vegas head look good, so why is the rest of it so bad? Looks like it's been scanned at the wrong resolution or something. For such a big story I'm surprised it's been treated so badly.
Future Shock: Very nice indeed, exactly what a Future Shock should be
Kingdom: I can see why it ended like that but thats weak for me. I did like the summing up from the past though. I can see the next page being 'and they were all killed by a massive swarm of bugs the following day'.
Looking at the link posted earlier, I must confess that I much prefer James McKay's more delicate earlier work. Some of the pages he has done for the Euro market are stunning - and I'd much sooner see that sort of thing in the prog.
Not massively keen on his Flesh stuff so far - it's a bit messy and lacks clarity imo - it feels as if all the shading is smothering the nice drawing underneath.
Surprised nobodies yet mentioned (unless I missed it) the panel in Shakara where [spoiler]one of the egg-head guys gets a 'soldier' dunked in him![/spoiler]. Cracked me up!
Great prog. On a par with last week which is saying a lot.
Ace prog, and I can't really add anything other than all the stories were great, with Flesh being the one I read three times as I enjoyed it so much.
Re Dredd's helmet swap - this also stumped me a bit, but I have some vague notions of the visors having some kind of display in them - and certainly they seem to be capable of receiving radio stuff from Control - so maybe that's why he needed a working one?
Lawgivers... it seems to be up to the individual writer whether they can be fired by only the Judge they are palm printed to, or whether they can be fired by anyone with proper authorisation - it would make sense that another Judge could be authorised to pick up and use a Lawgiver, but the self-destruct explodey trick would happen if a perp tried to fire one - and I have definitely read somewhere that the failsafe is to 'prevent unauthorised use' - it would be nice to have a definitive answer, though - even if only geeky JDRPG gamesmaster reasons...
Quote from: Proudhuff on 14 March, 2011, 12:22:52 PM
Not sure about the intro of another got-away baddie very few of whom seem to return to the prog, (isn't the big Meg populated with loads of these guys?
In a city of 400 million people that covers most of the entire American Eastern seaboard, I'm sure there's room for the odd perp to slip away unoticed from time to time... In fact, I'd say it would be rather unrealistic if they didn't.
Quote from: Toni Scandella on 14 March, 2011, 05:37:50 PM
Lawgivers... it seems to be up to the individual writer whether they can be fired by only the Judge they are palm printed to, or whether they can be fired by anyone with proper authorisation - it would make sense that another Judge could be authorised to pick up and use a Lawgiver, but the self-destruct explodey trick would happen if a perp tried to fire one - and I have definitely read somewhere that the failsafe is to 'prevent unauthorised use' - it would be nice to have a definitive answer, though - even if only geeky JDRPG gamesmaster reasons...
Well Dredd had to take out the self destruct in order to use Judge Hoolihan's Lawgiver in 'Goodnight Kiss' and Kraken got his hand blown off by using a borrowed Lawgiver in 'Necropolis'. So that is canon to me!
Quote from: Dan on 14 March, 2011, 05:01:35 PM
Surprised nobodies yet mentioned (unless I missed it) the panel in Shakara where [spoiler]one of the egg-head guys gets a 'soldier' dunked in him![/spoiler]. Cracked me up!
Oh! Duh. When I saw that all I thought was "ouch - that looks painful." :D
Quote from: House of Usher on 14 March, 2011, 08:54:56 PM
Quote from: Dan on 14 March, 2011, 05:01:35 PM
Surprised nobodies yet mentioned (unless I missed it) the panel in Shakara where [spoiler]one of the egg-head guys gets a 'soldier' dunked in him![/spoiler]. Cracked me up!
Oh! Duh. When I saw that all I thought was "ouch - that looks painful." :D
eggzactly ::)
Maybe all cadet lawgivers are open to all Senior Judges/Council of five members.
V
Cover of the drokking millennium!!!
I mean it, this is one of my favorite comic covers ever! Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!
And Flesh is arsom. So is Shakara. So is Kingdom.
And that is my review :P.
QuoteLawgivers... it seems to be up to the individual writer whether they can be fired by only the Judge they are palm printed to, or whether they can be fired by anyone with proper authorisation - it would make sense that another Judge could be authorised to pick up and use a Lawgiver, but the self-destruct explodey trick would happen if a perp tried to fire one - and I have definitely read somewhere that the failsafe is to 'prevent unauthorised use' - it would be nice to have a definitive answer, though - even if only geeky JDRPG gamesmaster reasons...
I've always been under the impression that it is possible to override/disable the lawgivers self-destruct mechanism, but only senior judges are trained/have the authority to do so - we see Dredd doing it to a fellow judges lawgiver in the story
Dead Reckoning when he needs a quick replacement.
Good prog. I'm rather sad at Kingdom finishing its run. Hurry back Gene dog.
I did wonder about the helmet swap thing. [spoiler]The eyes bit was seriously cool, I'd completely forgotten about those being bionic.[/spoiler]
I'm coming round to the Flesh artwork. I'm not sure I like it yet, but I certainly don't dislike it. It's got the energy and violence of the 70's stuff which seems pretty apporpriate.
I'd imagine ALL Street Judges can override Lawgiver self-destructs - after all, if a Judge can't use it, who can? It's only there to prevent perps from abusing Mega-City One's most deadly handgun. Only Senior Judges have the authority to disarm it, but in emergencies (like the Apocalypse War), it's logical the rule would be dropped.
The ABC Warriors' starscans have been a highlight of recent weeks but Liam Sharp's take on Zippo is simply stunning.
Eyes down for a full house -
"uh uhm uhnnuhssuhn, yuh uhnnuhstuhn"
"Death is what made him.Death is what he was made for"
"turning us into vile speedos with the stamp of our secret vices on our faces"(WTF?)
"Fifty says the boss'll skin him and give him a salt bath.It's a classic opener,Lenny"
"What about Debourah Cur and Clawed Raines and JS Bark?
This is why 2000ad Rocks! :D
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
SHAKARA!
[spoiler]Message to the his enemy was classic![/spoiler]
And I thought last week's was good!
Dredd: It all came together in the end. A cracking episode of exactly the type of Dredd I want to read. re the Lawgiver; if ONLY the judge who's palmprinted to it can use it, then what happens if that judge is killed? No, Dredd, as a Senior, of course can reconfigure the defences. Loved that he doesn't give a monkey's about wearing a white helmet too. Though a small complaint: When he took his helmet off, the neck and hairline shown in that panel is NOT how I see Dredd: Way too young a neck, that was. And where were his trademark curls?
Shakara: Marvellous. Funny, exciting, not too scribbly, full of ideas. Yes please, I'll have more. What? It ends in two weeks? Yer avin' a larf!
Flesh: Just perfect. Note perfect script, glorious, nasty, violent, scary, edgy artwork and a final page that made me at once want this already sitting before me in lovely trade or hardback form, and internally excited at the thought of many more weeks of this on a Wednesday.
Future Shock: Boooo for swearing! Yayyy for the rest of it! Liked that.
Kingdom: I weep that this has ended. Do we have actual confirmation that there will be more, because that could have been an ending full stop. Not the ending a series like this deserves, but AN ending. The ending this deserves, of course, is the ending never to be written, because Kingdom should go on forever, as long as Abnett and Elson are doing it. Oh, and I read the flashbacks literally: I like the simple, occam's reading, that Gene just killed his original master, from back when he was just a dog. Which is partly why as I said, it felt like an "ending ending".
Letters, Star Scan, cover- all great.
Can it possibly get even better next week? I genuinely feel sorry for people who don't read the prog.
SBT
While I don't think Kingdom could run forever, I do think that there is scope for plenty more stories - hope Abnett and Elson stick around for a while yet. Kingdom is classic 2000ad, a simple concept and action-packed stories all built around a strong, memorable central character - other 2000ad series could learn a thing or two from it imo and it's one of the few 2000ad properties that I could genuinely see working in another media like a kids animation.
For my tuppeneth worth, I enjoyed this weeks Prog.
Looks as though Deller is going to be bought back at a later date.
Shakara & Flesh were great.
Again, really enjoyed the Future Shocks. The last couple have been top draw!
Kingdom - Even though I enjoyed it, are we not back again to Vol1 but with different characters?
Did anybody else notice that all bar one letter on the input page was written by those celtic near neighbours? Pen to paper or type away all the English amongst us!!
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 16 March, 2011, 10:11:27 PM
Future Shock: Boooo for swearing!
What - "Ignorant pice of shit"?. ANyone else have a problem with that?
Was that the first real 'swear' in the twoth?
Quote from: Alski on 17 March, 2011, 09:38:02 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 16 March, 2011, 10:11:27 PM
Future Shock: Boooo for swearing!
What - "Ignorant pice of shit"?. ANyone else have a problem with that?
Was that the first real 'swear' in the twoth?
No, we've had loads. We even had a shit last week at the start of Flesh. Someone will be along in a minute to give you exact details of the first instance of 2000AD printing a naughty word.
The reason I don't like it, is because the prog is SO GOOD at the moment, I'd love to be able to pass a copy on to my seven year old, as he liked Flesh last week, and was interested in Kingdom- but I hate putting swearwords into the mouths of my children.
SBT
I've been reading 2000AD since 1978-ish.
IMHO Dredd is better now than it's ever been. That said the reason for my post (My first post BTW) is that the whole swopping helmet and lawgiver thing really jarred.
It's always cool for JD to have an opportunity to get his helmet off, but......
* Are Justice Dept helmets and Lawgivers really so badly designed that they fall over at the first bit of EMP? Didn't they learn anything from the Apocalypse War? ::)
* What piece of tech in the helmet is so vital that the toughest street judge of them all can't do without it even for a few moments?
* It is very well established that only the owner of a lawgiver can fire it. If that's different for rookies guns or if Dredd has a special way around it then this should have been explained in the story. IMHO.
*"Htt!" - what? Are his vocal cords rebooting too? :lol:
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 17 March, 2011, 09:42:36 AM
No, we've had loads. We even had a shit last week at the start of Flesh. Someone will be along in a minute to give you exact details of the first instance of 2000AD printing a naughty word.
That would be Bisley sneaking one in among graffiti on Joe Pineapple's gun early on during the ABC warriors'
Black Hole story.
But as far as I know, (and I stand ready to be corrected here) the first time a 'real' swear appears in
dialogue is during Button Man III. It was certinly the first f**k, anyway.
Personally I can do without the swearing. I don't know, I just don't think 2000AD needs it most of the time. I like the made up swear words and all, and I think that's usually enough; however, I will admit that if they are needed to keep the realism of a story - one like Buttonman - then use them by all means. I didn't think the use of the word "shit" was essential to the believability of the Future Shock to justify its use. Oh well.
As for a review, this prog is fantastic overall - and the prog has indeed been fantastic the last couple of weeks. Dredd was okay, but then this entire arc was simply okay for me - not Ewing's best, but still as good as most Dredd writers not named Wagner.
Shakara, Flesh and Kingdom are simply amazing. And to think I didn't like any of these series when I first read them. My mouth was full of wrong. I am saddened that Shakara is ending, delighted that Flesh is continuing and excited about where Kingdom is going!
The Future Shock did fine until the last couple of pages. Kind of a twist from out of nowhere. I like Future Shocks written so that once the shock is given I can look back and say, "yeah, should have seen that coming". There were no hints or foreshadowing in this one. Nice dialogue and nice art, though.
Quote from: locustsofdeath! on 17 March, 2011, 01:35:16 PM
The Future Shock did fine until the last couple of pages. Kind of a twist from out of nowhere. I like Future Shocks written so that once the shock is given I can look back and say, "yeah, should have seen that coming". There were no hints or foreshadowing in this one. Nice dialogue and nice art, though.
I was expecting the twist to revolve around the skinned, supposedly mad girlfriend contriving a revenge at the end, or finding that the murdered guy had somehow set the whole thing with his alternative versions up to lure his killer into a trap - but no, the guy just suddenly turned into a demon. Not much of a twist then, but the story was otherwise entertaining enough. While I've not been wowed by any if this guy's Future Shocks there's not been one I haven't enjoyed, and I'm looking forward to what he pulls out of the bag later down the line.
While flicking through some progs last night, I read the Goodnight Kiss Dredd story. This features him removing the self-destruct from a Lawgiver while being talked through the process by his Lawmaster's computer. I'm not sure what, if anything this adds to the discussion but there you go.
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 17 March, 2011, 03:29:14 PM
While flicking through some progs last night, I read the Goodnight Kiss Dredd story. This features him removing the self-destruct from a Lawgiver while being talked through the process by his Lawmaster's computer. I'm not sure what, if anything this adds to the discussion but there you go.
He does something similar in Necropolis.
Quote from: radiator on 16 March, 2011, 10:26:39 PM
While I don't think Kingdom could run forever, I do think that there is scope for plenty more stories - hope Abnett and Elson stick around for a while yet. Kingdom is classic 2000ad, a simple concept and action-packed stories all built around a strong, memorable central character -
That's what they said about Rogue!
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 17 March, 2011, 03:32:35 PM
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 17 March, 2011, 03:29:14 PM
While flicking through some progs last night, I read the Goodnight Kiss Dredd story. This features him removing the self-destruct from a Lawgiver while being talked through the process by his Lawmaster's computer. I'm not sure what, if anything this adds to the discussion but there you go.
He does something similar in Necropolis.
Quote from: Minkyboy on 14 March, 2011, 07:52:28 PM
Well Dredd had to take out the self destruct in order to use Judge Hoolihan's Lawgiver in 'Goodnight Kiss' and Kraken got his hand blown off by using a borrowed Lawgiver in 'Necropolis'. So that is canon to me!
Sigh, why do I bother? :'(
Who said that?
You guys do realize Dredd did something very similar in Necropolis, don't you? I'm shocked no one here has brought that up.
Quote from: Agent Rat on 17 March, 2011, 12:29:32 PM
* Are Justice Dept helmets and Lawgivers really so badly designed that they fall over at the first bit of EMP? Didn't they learn anything from the Apocalypse War? ::)
The man has a point!
Welcome on board BTW...
M.
Just got my Prog. Oh grud but Flesh is just too beautiful for words.
It was the first thing I read, and then I read it again. This was in a Prog with the final episode of a Kingdom run in it. That, friends, is Praise Indeed.
As to the EMP thing in the excellent and surprising Dredd... it wasn't just any EMP, it was Justice Department issue EMP.
You'd expect it to be effective.
Quote from: TordelBack on 18 March, 2011, 04:36:19 PM
As to the EMP thing in the excellent and surprising Dredd... it wasn't just any EMP, it was Justice Department issue EMP.
You'd expect it to be effective.
It was also at very close range.
you'd expect the JDept techs would have done some work n that... 'yes it knocks out electrics, but not our own especially close range' Have I over-thunk this?
most grenades aren't made to be safe to certain parties at close range though :) They are in general fairly indiscriminate when they go off
*Tsk!* you science geeks obsess too much over technical details. It's just stories!
::)
Arsom prog!
Wot Minkyboy said:
Bring back tiny nutjob genius dog!!
Chi
Quote from: House of Usher on 18 March, 2011, 05:29:06 PM
*Tsk!* you science geeks obsess too much over technical details. It's just stories!
::)
#cough#biodiversity in the late Cretaceous#cough# ;)
Wifey is chewing my ear about reading Flesh with The Boy (4) again this week. She offered the opinion that Gorehead, as depicted this week, is 'utterly terrifying - really intense imagery'. I agree entirely. :D
Another stonkingly good prog. Bit of a strange ending for Dredd but I presume we'll be seeing more of da killer later on. Shakara was awesome and Kingdom I'll miss. Flesh is a triumph and the future shock good fun with a neat twist ending.
QuoteAnd why the change of helmet with the Cadet? surely Dredd's s eyes were frazzled not the helmet and I didn't understand the lawgiver change over? palm-prints etc? I'm assuming its me being thick as Mr Ewing know his stuff better than I do.
Made no sense! Dredd doesn't have a heads-up-display on his visor so he could have used his helmet. The rookie's lawgiver palm recognition code would have to be disabled for Dredd to use that lawgiver. But the whole thing about putting on another helmet and using another lawgiver was pointless as Dredd didn't even fire at Deller. :lol: It was the other judges doing the shooting! Dredd wasn't
there. Seemed a bit of needless padding to the story. The overall story was okay but the stuff about the helmet was a bit clueless.
Quote from: manwiththeplan on 21 March, 2011, 09:14:13 PMThe overall story was okay but the stuff about the helmet was a bit clueless.
I strongly disagree - it's actually an example of attention to detail in a clever story that's built on it.
Dredd was using the helmet radio to coordinate the operation, as we see in the very panel that he puts the Rookie's replacement on. What's more, check out the judge in the following panel overleaf - Higgins deliberately (and unusually) highlights the fact that he's using his helmet mic. Ewing has introduced the device of a Justice Dept. EMPG powerful enough to put Dredd's (presumably hardened) bionics and lawgiver out of action - he follows through on this by having the comm system fried too, but uses the show-don't-tell principle rather than adding to an already exposition-heavy finale.
Anything less and pedants like your humble correspondent would either be griping about how come his radio is still working when all the other electronics are shot, or why we can't see Higgins' lovely art through all the needless waffle.
Gold Star for Al in my book.
EDIT: Oh, and Dredd's helmet does have a HUD.
QuoteEDIT: Oh, and Dredd's helmet does have a HUD.
Story, prog number, please?
I've been reading Dredd for a long time, I've never seen Dredd use a HUD on his helmet visor. I thought he only had infra-red capability.
The notion Dredd would stop the investigation just so he can borrow a rookie's helmet strikes of vanity, something Dredd is not known for. He's gone with a damaged helmet before, you know!
As mentioned in my previous post, getting a new helmet made no sense because Dredd didn't shoot Deller in the final encounter, it was other Judges, so why did Mr Ewing even bother wasting a panel or two showing us Dredd getting another helmet and lawgiver. Dredd didn't use the lawgiver. Pointless plotting.
The end was a tad cliché too. Deller, who magically wasn't even Deller, but a clone that Justice Dept conveniently didn't realize was a clone. I'm not saying the story was bad but it was cliché plotting. In Dredd's world a lot of perps end up dead, even Wagner admitted to that years back in an interview. It's why he regretted killing off the Angel gang. Now we get
"hee hee, I've escaped, stupid Justice Dept, they'll never catch me!"Bit bleh. :D Story was fine but so predictable.
Quote from: TordelBack on 21 March, 2011, 10:45:19 PM
EDIT: Oh, and Dredd's helmet does have a HUD.
Are you sure that isn't his eyes?
Let's see if TordelBack can provide some proof of Dredd's HUD helmet. :D I can't recall seeing it. If it does exist it hasn't been used a lot!
I bet Dredd does get a lot of use out of his helmet.
Quote from: manwiththeplan on 22 March, 2011, 12:01:59 AM
Story, prog number, please?
Yes, sorry, I'll just pop over to my handy index of which Prog everything ever appeared in. I'll get right back to you. It was reasonably recently, we saw text etc. overlaid on Dredd's POV. Yes, it
could have been specific to Dredd's eyes, but if a helmet can overlay infrared on command, isn't that evidence of a heads-up display capacity?
Which anyway had absolutely nothing to so with the following, since it was the radio that Dredd was using in that very panel...
Quote from: manwiththeplan on 22 March, 2011, 12:01:59 AM
The notion Dredd would stop the investigation just so he can borrow a rookie's helmet strikes of vanity, something Dredd is not known for. He's gone with a damaged helmet before, you know!
Did you even read the post above?
Quote from: manwiththeplan on 22 March, 2011, 12:01:59 AM
Bit bleh. :D Story was fine but so predictable.
Go on, really? You predicted the Devil Island's escape was the work of Ryder's second-in-command, using Deller to take out his louche demanding boss? You predicted that he would be waiting in Ryder's panic room with the corpse of a clone to pull a switch on Dredd?
It might be a bad night's sleep talking, but you are either an ignorant twat or fucking Scott Nestel again. I'm not sure I care which.
TB, it's patently Scott. Or someone who's been studying his phraseology and sentence structure.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 22 March, 2011, 07:49:20 AM
TB, it's patently Scott. Or someone who's been studying his phraseology and sentence structure.
...And ability to annoy the ever-living fuck out of me.
Fine, when I have a spare hour or two I'll trawl through the last few years of Progs to find the image in question.
However, given that the visor offers the option of an infrared view, and can provide magnification of 10X (as seen in the Wagner-penned 'Mutie Block', somewhere in the early 1600's), as well as a radio, mic and a camera, I don't think it's going too far to argue that the helmet offers a head-up display i.e. one that doesn't require the user to look down. I can also vaguely recall a situation where block floorplans are sent to the helmet, but for the life of me I can't recall the story.
...and now it looks like I'm arguing with myself. Which is apt.
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 March, 2011, 11:54:06 AM
...and now it looks like I'm arguing with myself. Which is apt.
Yeah- sorry about that!
Not at all, your prompt purging is much appreciated. My humours were getting dangerously out of balance.
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 March, 2011, 12:15:51 PM
Not at all, your prompt purging is much appreciated. My humours were getting dangerously out of balance.
Take a couple of leeches and see me in the morning.
I'm really liking the artist on Flesh. I don't know if he's new to the comic but it's the first time I've seen him.
It's brilliant old school B/W art and it's rocking my boat.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 17 March, 2011, 01:04:10 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 17 March, 2011, 09:42:36 AM
No, we've had loads. We even had a shit last week at the start of Flesh. Someone will be along in a minute to give you exact details of the first instance of 2000AD printing a naughty word.
That would be Bisley sneaking one in among graffiti on Joe Pineapple's gun early on during the ABC warriors' Black Hole story.
But as far as I know, (and I stand ready to be corrected here) the first time a 'real' swear appears in dialogue is during Button Man III. It was certinly the first f**k, anyway.
I'm thinking it was ZENITH: Phase III. The Archer couldn't say a bloody thing without bloody-well throwing in a several bloodies for those of us who were rapidly losing interest. That, or in BIX BARTON when someone says "Let's get the bugger".
You want nipples? I got nipples(!) . . .
Judge Dredd is a stunning climax this week.
So too for Kingdom.
Flesh Texas gets on its roll!
Shakara ripped right across the front page and continues through the Armada at lightening pace.
Future Shock uses age old revenge story to distract reader from twist. Not a bad one. Not life changing either.
Shocked to hear Shakara's done his time in 2000ad. Glad he's earned his stripes to move on to the great galactic archive in the stars, without over playing his hand.
Damage Reporters are feeling neglected down there in the basement. Hi fellas! No red nose day shenanigans to report? Shame on you all. Too busy, blah blargh!
Liam Sharp's Zippo has me tentatively holding the back page for fear of burning its so hot.
And letters from scroungers. How good to see grown men prostrate themselves before he of green. ;)
Been a while, a quick review:
Cover - brilliant. This, and Liam Sharp's Flesh cover, set the bar high for the cover of the year.
Dredd - a suitably slow-burning noiry feel that I worked nicely (although the last page was a little... expositiony), plus you can never go wrong with John Higgins on art duties, never. I know it might not need saying but I'm with TB on the HUD - it seems to be clearly alluded to in the way the visor blackens (both the lightning bolts and the usually clear lower edge). Now I can't put my finger on a specific mention of this but Al is a continuity junkie so wouldn't get caught out by this, plus he is one of the main Dredd writers, so if it wasn't canon (which is fanwankery anyway) it seems to be now. I wouldn't be surprised if there is further mentions of this, or there is an earlier allusion to it.
Shakara - still bonkers after all these year. I do worry about the Flint droid though, I worry I might wake up one night with him calmly sitting beside me in bed wiggling the end of the screwdriver he has jammed in my brain. His art here has a similar effect.
Flesh - I'm not having a problem with the art here it is big, black and chunky (like a Yorkie bar, in poor lighting conditions), that central panel on the third page is rammed to the gills with movement and tension, plus that final scene... well you can just taste the dinosaur sweat and dung mixed in with the dust (go on lick the page. I dare you). My one complaint - VBF: Visible Bra Frills. I can't imagine a women in position of authority would have their shirt unbuttoned quite so far and would, in all the action and mayhem, manage to have the top couple of centimetres of bra showing at all times. Not a great way to get respect from the blokes... under her. Granted it would be hot as Hell and some of the chaps let it all hang out, but if McGurk can button his shirt up all the way, so can she. I do hope she has a high SPF sun cream or she is in for major cleavage burn.
Future Shock - I'm with locusts and Dark Jimbo here, the twist wasn't foreshadowed, he might as well have had a sword for a dick.
Kingdom - I have enjoyed this run but I still get a feeling of diminishing returns from the series. I loved the first one, liked the second one, the third one was fine and this was OK. I'm sure that, if it is coming back (and it must do because there are thread left dangling), that Dan Abnett will have some great plan and I hope that, now we have got all the background out of the way, the previous 4 stories can act as a foundation to build something big and long-running. However, if the next one doesn't knock it out of the park (and then chase the ball down and carry it back looking awfully pleased with itself) I will wonder if it might have been better to go out on a high.
Star Scan - been loving these and this is a cracker, a fire cracker perhaps. Sorry :-[ it wasn't deliberate.
Quote from: mygrimmbrother on 12 March, 2011, 08:50:59 AM
The Future Shock was pretty entertaining, and I enjoyedthe greyscale art from Joel Carpenter (not someone I've come across before but one to watch in the future)
#cough# apart from his early Future Shock in prog 1711 ;)
http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=30433
Here is his DeviantArt page (probably should be added to the list now he is an official droid):
http://inkoutofthebox.deviantart.com
Which has a tasty Dredd sample, making me think it'd be worth throwing one his way with Chris Blythe or Dylan Teague on colours:
http://inkoutofthebox.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2qs40a
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 17 March, 2011, 09:42:36 AMWe even had a shit last week at the start of Flesh.
Only those of us who read the prog in the "smallest room".
Finally! my genius for squeezing in a filthy one is sorely unappreciated here.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 25 March, 2011, 09:25:04 PM
Finally! my genius for squeezing in a filthy one is sorely unappreciated here.
I know, I was nosing on through and I thought "surely someone has... nope" then I had to cobble a quick review together to stop people from thinking I was somehow obsessed with poo.
Quote from: Emperor on 26 March, 2011, 12:47:52 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 25 March, 2011, 09:25:04 PM
Finally! my genius for squeezing in a filthy one is sorely unappreciated here.
I know, I was nosing on through and I thought "surely someone has... nope" then I had to cobble a quick review together to stop people from thinking I was somehow obsessed with poo.
What did you think of Stalag 666?
He asked innocently
Quote from: Proudhuff on 26 March, 2011, 12:53:04 PM
Quote from: Emperor on 26 March, 2011, 12:47:52 AM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 25 March, 2011, 09:25:04 PM
Finally! my genius for squeezing in a filthy one is sorely unappreciated here.
I know, I was nosing on through and I thought "surely someone has... nope" then I had to cobble a quick review together to stop people from thinking I was somehow obsessed with poo.
What did you think of Stalag 666? He asked innocently
Well.... I... urm.... hmmmm...
M'learned colleague appears to have set a fiendish trap, from which there is no easy escape. All I can say is that everything Buttonman says about you is right :P