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Another very green cover this week. It's an interesting and well rendered image but it doesn't make much of a statement on the shelf in my opinion.

Dredd was brilliant this week. Emma Beeby writes some excellent lines - the bit about the gun in panel 2 was great and the 'needled where I can see them' was funny and very 'Dredd'. Coupled with John Burns fantastic art the strip reaches a level of quality that the test of the prog can't quite live up to.

Brass Sun was technically very good as always, I just find the pace is too slow. The dialogue is very well written and the art is lovely, I just wish it would move on a bit. Everything that happens in this weeks episode could have been handled on one or two pages.

Flesh was pretty fun. The strip is winding up now and I know there are lots of people that will be glad to see the back of it but I'm quite fond of its old school flavour.

I didn't read Damnation Station as the strip has completely lost my interest and I've skipped it the past few weeks. I still think the pages look lovely but I just can't engage with the story at all.

All these stories end next week and then it'll be time for the Xmas prog. I'm looking forward to that - think it's going to be a good one this year.

A fairly average Prog this week I thought.

We have a nice Dredd cover featuring the imposing monster we saw at the end of the last episode. This is a really nicely rendered image but I'd have liked to have seen a little more colour to make it stand out on the shelf.

Dredd was very fun. It's not going to win any awards for originality, with the dastardly villain telling you his life story and the monster turning out to be a bit of a push-over. None of this stops it from being a very entertaining read and a nice shot of action that the prog needs at the moment.

Brass Sun was okay. More of the same really. The story isn't really engaging me but I can see its a quality strip so I don't begrudge it's place in the prog. The art is as nice as ever.

Flesh was really fun again this week. The action sequences in this story work far better than anything else. More Dino-action and less intrigue please Pat!

The 3riller was entertaining once again and had a nice little twist. I'll be interested to see how this is tied up next week. While it's nice to see Redondo back in the prog I'm not entirely convinced by the artwork in this episode. I think it may have looked better in black and white.

Damnation Station had an interesting twist this week but I think it's too little too late. I just don't care about the universe or the characters I within it. I still think the pages look great but the story doesn't back up the art.

There's a droid life that I forgot t mention too. Fairly amusing but I feel I've read this joke about 20 times by now.

In other news we have a Strontium Dog e-novella by Matt Smith advertised. Looks like it could be very interesting.
We also have an advert for the Slaine:Book of Scars collection. I know many didn't like the story very much but I thought it was good fun. This edition features episode introductions by each artist and the back of the book is a long 'Art of Slaine' feature with every Slaine cover and pin up reproduced along with comments by various creators. 192 pages in all. Sounds like a 'must buy' to me.

4pm and no prog thread? Wow!

Enjoyed Dredd. Decent script and art and we get to see what's been bumping everybody off.

Brass Sun is losing me again. It's very wordy but the plot moves at a snail's pace. I couldn't even be bothered reading it all but I may go back to it.

Flesh was good fun. It starts off with a bit of political satire and then we get some gory action. Really enjoyed this episode.

3rillers is a decent set up. It's not terribly original so far but it definitely has potential to be a fun story. It's written by Robert Murphy who I think is new to the prog? Art is handled by Jesus Redondo - nice to see him back.

I skipped Damnation Station. I just can't be bothered with it. I don't care about any of the characters. I'm still a big fan Simon Davis's art on this though.

There's a nice Slaine Star Scan by Glenn Fabry inside the back cover.

Not a bad prog but I'll be glad when Brass Sun and Damnation Station make room for something else.

Nice Cover. It's action packed and I really like Mark Harrison's art - it looks like it's from an animated film. Nice colours too.

Dredd - The start of a new story called Prey by T C Eglington and Karl Richardson. Richardson's art is as reliable as ever but I'm not sure I totally buy into the set up of the story. I don't see why Dredd would be averse to charitable aid but I also don't believe that Justice Department would allow a charity to work with immunity or to create areas that are beyond their jurisdiction.
Having said that I still quite enjoyed the strip.

Brass Sun continues to grow on me but I fear it's going to disappear for 6 months just as I get into it.

Not a lot happens in Flesh but there are some great insults from Claw Carver!

Aquila is excellent again. Sadly this is the final part. I don't know when it's coming back again - hopefully fairly soon as I think the strip has built up some real momentum with this run.

Damnation Station is a bit of a mess. I really like the art but the story seems very rambling and unfocused to me.


Next week we're getting another 3riller. I hope it maintains the level of quality we've seen from these strips in the past. I'm a big fan of the format and I hope for a 3riller collected edition at some point in the future.

Really enjoyed this weeks prog.

Cover - There's a reason why Cliff Robinson is one of my favourite artists and this is it. Even after all this time his Dredd covers are still fresh and inventive.

Thrills of the Future - Yay, Grey Area's coming back. This time with another of my favourite artists - Patrick Goddard - on art.

Dredd - A funny and unexpected conclusion to the tale. This has been my favourite Dredd story for a long time. It's introduced some great new characters, given us some more of the underused under city and had plenty of action and humour. This is what 2000ad is all about.

Brass Sun - This strip is growing on me but I still think it's missing something. I think it will read better in one sitting though.

Flesh - Fun little interlude this week. It had a real Future Shock vibe to it and reads like something that could have appeared in the prog 30 years ago. This is a good or bad thing depending on your point of view - personally I really enjoyed it.

Aquila - This episode is really just a set up for next week. There's a nice little nod to Black Hawk. The art is stunning, particularly on the first page - wonderful colours. I fear Mr Goddard is likely to be snapped up by our colonial cousins very soon.

Damnation Station - I really like the art on this and it's growing on me even more each week. It has a real wow factor and the pages look really vibrant with the high contrast between the blacks and greens. The story isn't really doing much for me unfortunately. It feels like it's always teetering on the edge of becoming a great strip.

Overall a very good prog. I'm a happy customer this week.

Love this shit!














Makes me so nostalgic for my childhood in Great Yarmouth - you wouldn't believe it!

I've just red that after Episode VII comes out, the series of films will alternate between carrying on the main saga and a series of character origin films.

I knew we were going to have some stand alone films. That sounded like a reasonable idea to me - I was hoping we may get something like the Magnificent Seven style episode of The Clone Wars.

Origin films is an idea that fills me with dread for some reason. I really can't think of any existing character in the saga that would benefit from this. We've already had a Vader and Boba Fett origin and both served only to diminish the characters.

Perhaps I'm being unduly pessimistic - it just seems that the original films were written with all the introduction to the characters we ever needed.

Maybe I'm just to old and jaded when it comes to Star Wars. Is anyone seeing potential for greatness in these films and if so can you share some of your enthusiasm with me? I'd love to be excited by Star Wars again!

Cover - It's well drawn but not my cup of tea. I find the face annoying to look at and it blocks too much of the logo - especially for a jumping on prog.

Dredd. I quite liked this although it could have done with a little more action. It's a good set up and Joyce and Catarina are both characters I'm looking forward to seeing more from. The art's pretty good but the Lawmasters are a bit scooter like.

Damnation Station. I found this boring. The art was nice but who are these characters and why should I care about them? Just a load of exposition delivered via a tired talk show format. There was (presumably) some humour written in French and Spanish which I didn't understand.

Flesh. Another boring strip with characters I have no reason to care about. The art is good but the thick black lines make it look ugly. I wish the artist would use a finer pen.

Brass Sun. Yep, you've guessed it, another boring one. Again I don't care about the characters. I just feel like I've seen it all before. I've never thought that characterisation was Edington's strong suit but it's less of a problem on an action strip like Red Seas. On something that's so dialogue heavy and (supposed to be) full of intrigue like Brass Sun it just makes the whole thing such a chore.

Aquila returns next week and I'm a big fan of that so it should help this run of strips pass as painlessly as possible.

I don't usually sound so negative when reviewing the prog but this is a really bad run of strips for me. I think for a jumping on prog it's seriously lacking in 'wow' moments and, for a Sci-Fi, action anthology any sense of action or great Sci Fi ideas (other than Brass Sun's solar system). If I'd picked this up as a new reader I'd probably not come back.

[Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit]

What the thread title says.

What are your top 3 games this generation and why? They don't have to be the most critically acclaimed or technically brilliant, just the games that you've had the most fun with.

Here are mine:

1. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit: I had to put this at number one because I think I've spent more time on it than any other game. It's probably the best arcade racer I've ever played. It's great for a quick five minute blast but also a real challenge if you want to go for the gold medals. It's surprisingly deep and varied too.

2. Assassin's Creed 2: Such a step up from the first game and one of the very few games where I would say that almost everything you do is fun, even getting from A to B. Ezio was a dude.

3. Vanquish: Definitely not everyone's cup of tea but I think it did what it set out to do perfectly. I can't really think of any way that this game could have been improved. It's not about depth or characters and you probably won't 'get it' until halfway through your first play-through but I love it. Really satisfying shooting too. When you shoot them down they f**king stay down!

I've just realised that Sean Connery is 83 and Joan Collins is 80! The thing is, people still go on about how lovely they are and how they're sex symbols.

I want to know what other old biddies used to be sexy.I watched Quatermass last night and saw that Thora Herd was credited and was quite interested to see if she was sexy. It turned out that she was still old and played a bag lady! I also watched The Young Ones though and Una Stubbs was a babe!

Maybe I should have put this in the Posting Drunk thread.

I was wondering whether, as they are effectively derived from punctuation marks, emoticons remove the need for punctuation at the end of a sentence.

For example, could a confused emoticon render a question mark pointless or should you use both the question mark and the emoticon?

I've just read this article on IGN:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/06/johnny-depp-blames-critics-for-lone-ranger-debacle

I can't believe what an unprofessional load of bollocks has come out of the mouths of Depp, Bruckheimer and Hammer.

I'm taking this with a pinch of salt at the moment but if they really said this it's a sad day for Hollywood.

They seem to think that critics reviewed the film before seeing it. If this is true then they haven't done their jobs properly and they deserve criticism but there doesn't seem to be any evidence to support this.
Apparently they were gunning for the film because the budget had spiraled out of control. Well if the producers can't do their jobs and control the budget surely some criticism is warranted? And if the film has cost over $250 million the critics are surely going to look into how that transfers to the screen and whether it was all worth it.

I didn't go to see The Lone Ranger. It wasn't because of critics (in fact I don't think I've read a review) it was because the trailers were awful, the whole thing, including the logo, seemed to be based around Tonto and I'm sick of Johnny Depp's wacky shtick.

The sad thing is, if Dredd had made as much as this rubbish we'd already have had a green-light for a sequel!

[Dredd]

A fantastic cover this week - quite reminiscent of something we may have seen back in the 80s. It wouldn't look out of place with the old logo and a 'Win a Raliegh Burner' strap across the corner!
If this doesn't get a few kids to pick up the prog then nothing will.

Dredd is really good - a great opener with some funny lines by Rob Williams. Carl Critchlow's art is stunning - lovely colours too.

Defoe is really good this week - a nice action packed episode with a cliff hangar ending.

Age of the Wolf is a strip I'm still not sure about but this weeks episode is much better than last week's.

Sinister Dexter is hotting up. Simon Davis's art suits the strip well but I do wish someone would take his purple paint away!

Ten Seconders is really good this week. We get a nice bit of flashback and things take a surprising turn. As ever, Edmund Bagwell's art is astonishingly good.

Top prog overall. There's a Thrills Of The Future ad for 'Ulysses Sweet'. I recognise the name but haven't read the previous stories - was he a Grant Morrison creation? This time it will be written by Guy Adams with art by Paul Marshall.

Great cover this week - it's the same as the next prog advert from last week. Should definitely persuade a few horror heads to pick up the prog.

Dredd was a nice little one off with ominous overtones for the future. Brilliant artwork by Trevor Hairsine.

Anderson takes a bit of a turn this prog. It doesn't seem like very much has happened in this story yet but it seems as though things may step up a gear next week.


There's an absolutely stunning double page spread in Defoe but other than that not much happens.

Sin Dex has a bit of a twist that I wasn't expecting and Some very funny bits.

The Terror Tale is good fun but I could guess what would happen from the first page. The art is lovely and is by a guy named Will Morris who I don't think we've seen in the prog before.

There's a very exciting next prog advertisement that I'll let you discover for yourselves.

A good solid prog overall!

Cover - Here we have an image of a couple of Victorian freaks fighting off a group of dinosaur men. Unfortunately it's so hard to make out that all the impact is lost. Certainly wouldn't make me pick up the prog if I wasn't a regular reader.

Dredd - really enjoyed the final episode of this story. There's a nice little twist at the end and I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr Carroll has in store for us next.

There's an advert for the complete Zenith which is now available to pre-order at the Future Shop. Exciting!

Anderson - Another enjoyable episode. Not much more to say about this really.

Sin/Dex - The story progresses quite a bit in this episode and I like the look of where it's going. I always enjoy this strip and I like John Burns art but I just wish he'd put something in to show that this is taking place in the future, on another planet! At the moment it looks like the lost artwork from a Kojak strip or something.

Stickleback - Haven't been reading it but it ends with a double length episode this week.

There's a beautifully designed advert for Defoe inside the back cover. This strip returns next week along with a Terror Tale.


Overall not a bad prog at all and it looks like things will pick up even more next week. Pleased to see that Zenith is going to see the light of day again too.

Rather a strange cover on this week's prog - not sure I like it. I think it needs some background or brighter colours to make it stand out.

Dredd was really good with a twist at the end. I'm enjoying the art on this although Dolman's beard and hairstyle really annoy me!

Anderson was good this week with more 'invisible Hauser'. A solid if unremarkable action strip - I'm hoping for some revelations or deeper insights into Anderson's character in later episodes.

Sin Dex carries on much the same as last week. I'm enjoying it and I'm getting used to the artwork but it frustrates me that there is absolutely nothing in the artwork to suggest that this story takes place in the future, let alone on an alien world - something that may be confusing to new readers, I think.

I'm still skipping Zombo and Stickleback.
Zombo ends this issue though so we'll get something new next week.

There's a letters page too. Lots of talk about the retro logo.

[Cover]

Lovely Cover this week and it uses the old logo! I think I prefer the original logo to the current one - it makes everything look more exciting.

Dredd was really good. Michael Carroll continues his storyline of the Sovs in MC2 but it goes in an unexpected direction. A great set up to what I think is going to be a really strong Dredd story.

Gunheadz was fun and a very intriguing opener. Lovely art too. I think this run of 3rillers has been bloody great - it's a really successful formula that allows creators the space to develop some brilliant material. I'd be interested in a collected edition if one is ever produced.

Dandridge is as fun and silly as ever but it feels as though it needs to wrap up now.

Still not reading Stickleback or Zombo.

There's a fun little Droid Life and a letters page too.

Not your GP!

If you were casting for a replacement lead in Doctor Who, which actor would you like to see replace Matt Smith and why?


He's already played the doctor once (for about 2 minutes) but I'd really like to see Rowan Atkinson in the role. I think his full-on 'Blackadder 2' scheming smarm mode would be a treat on Doctor Who.

I also think that Richard O'Brian would make a good time lord ( mainly because that's pretty much what he did on The Crystal Maze). Maybe he could be the Master or something.


Another more left field suggestion would be Tony Curran (aka Van Gogh and Pete Twamley in Ultimate Force). Mainly because he's ace in everything and has wild eyes.

[Cover]

Cover - I'm not sure about this one. I can't quite work out the anatomy of the monster. I think there's a bit too much empty black space too.

Dredd - A satisfying end to this creepy Dredd tale. I definitely like to see more of Paul Davidson's art in the prog.

Dandridge - As fun as ever although it feels like this should perhaps have been the last episode.

3riller - LOVED IT. The art is really brilliant and this has been the best thing in the prog for the last three weeks. I'd really like to see this story continued - I'm sure there's plenty of scope for more stories with these characters.

I skipped Zombo and Stickleback. Neither of these strips have been doing it for me I'm afraid.

A solid prog overall. I don't mind Zombo and Stickleback being included as I know they're both quality strips, they're just not my cup of tea. Looking forward to the new Dredd story next week.

[Cover]

Cover - Rather an odd one but it's pretty striking and I think it would appeal to teenage boys that like gorey stuff (which is probably a good thing).

Dredd - Fantastic episode. Really enjoyed this. A nice creepy, suspenseful script and the art is absolutely ace. It's like a mash up of McMahon and McNeill with a bit of Anthony Williams thrown in. The storytelling is really clear but the action is still dramatic. Top quality.

Dandridge - Still a good fun romp - very enjoyable.

3Riller - Absolutely loved this. It's a really fun adventure strip and the art is brilliant. Not a massive fan of Inaki Miranda's art on Dredd but it suits this strip down to the ground. The character designs are wonderful.

Stickleback - I'm still finding it difficult to care. Great art as ever though.

Zombo - I'm finding this pretty much unreadable and so didn't make it all the way through this episode. It just doesn't appeal to my sense of humour. It's too self consciously wacky. I find the art really ugly too. I know it's a quality strip and so don't begrudge its inclusion in the prog at all, it's just not for me.