2000 AD Online Forum

...the new prog is here, and heres the results..

Droid Life, a classic if ever there was one.

Judge Dredd, as ever lots going on, probably lots of clues but no real resolution, just another chapter in the overall story but what a corker. love the last panel. suttle cliff-hanger but puts you in the mode for more...

Faces, me thinks this is getting better by the week. Still ots of twists and turns to come me thinks.

Lobster Random, afraid this is just treading water, lets move on quickly chaps.

Asylum 2, the final chapter, very very predictable but drawn so well.

Strontium Dog, good solid action with just enough build up to the final part next week, gonna miss this thrill.

Overall a good prog, but suffers from lots of padding and treading water tillthe next prog.

But still a must read...

damn beaten to it ,postie late.
total war continues to raise theexcitement stakes.
will we at the end of 12 episodes be gasping for more or be burnt out???
im lovin flints rendering of mc1 and large crowds,but be careful its just this kind of artwork that put paid to macmahon droid all those years ago.
ASYLUM thank god this has finished,boos  new "style" has grown on me ,but havent got any idea what the story os about,cant see many clammering for this to be collected as a GN.

The theme this week is "genius".

Total War - genius

Faces - very funny, not quite genius

Lobster Random - genius, with 2 laugh-out-loud moments (the first single title and the Indiana Jones 'steal')

Asylum - for one prog only, genius.  It's a bit sad that it took 8 episodes to reach this point, which was clearly the only point of the series.  But wow this was good.  Almost worth episodes 1-7.  Boo Cook's art - best yet.

Strontium Dog - quiet genius.

Droid Life - not quite genius, but still pretty goshdarn funny.

The Sopranos - ends this week and it's been great.

Carnivale - different and engaging - ends in two weeks I think.

SG1 and SG atlantis - not sure why at the minute - SG1 has its moments, but Atlantis is lacking.

Deadzone - series 3 (?) and it's still pretty good.

Simpsons - new episodes on SKY1

King of the Hill - new episodes on what ever channel Carnivale is on - consistently good, but why do they write Peggy as such a loser.

Green Wing - Well I like it.

QI, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks - 2 of these have had me in stiches so far for these runs.  The other one is Have I Got News For You which is OK.

And the new River Cottage program.

Anyone else catching any of the above?  If so, what do you think?  And not that I have the time to watch these, but does anyone else have any recommendations?

I watch too much TV.

Dredd - great stuff as usual 9/10

Faces - getting even better. oh, and more boobies. 8/10

Random - nice, not much happens though. 8/10

Asylum - I really enjoyed all of this. The ending (at least to my unsuspecting mind) was quite surprising. I expected the humans to come out undoubtably on top, but then Buchanan gets thrown off a bridge and Holt gets all evil. Some of you might slap me for this, but I see potential for another series. 9/10

Stront - Thought this might end this week, but no, there's more to come. And great it is too 9/10

love the prog.

Havent read mine yet, just taken it out of the envelope and the covers won me over already, just hope the contents live up to the thrill powered cover.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Yeah - ace cover, and ace first page of Dredd

S

P

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L

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R

S

REALLY didn't expect them to stand down (even if they *are* just bluffing) so soon. Loved the panel showing cits looting stuff as soon as the news breaks. Also - the text at the bottom of the news TV report: "Citizens leaving the city are reminded to fill out the required 72 forms"
And the return of Mongoloid-Dredd!

Droid life - good stuff

Faces - top fun, really getting into this.

Lobster Random - grand! Every panel a masterpiece!

Asylum 2 - good ending to a good series, not sure why people've been complaining about this - okay it's not as good as Total War or Traitor to his Kind but but but but it's still really good.

Yeah, I'd be well up for another series.

And of course - Strontium Dog - BRILLIANT! ACES!

Asylum 2 seemed to me a confused mish-mash of values, rights and wrongs, such that I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from it. Holt kills the entire population of Sydney and this is supposed to be a good thing because it teaches the humans a lesson about not welcoming aliens to their planet? Seems a rather hypocritical and inappropriate response to me.

I ended up sympathising with - and agreeing with - Buchanan, and thinking what a stupid bastard Holt was. Is that right?

What was the moral, whose side was I supposed to be on?

M@

What was the moral, whose side was I supposed to be on?

The moral was - people are generally ***ked up and mean to one another, especially if they're different. There is no "correct" side, everyone's side is valid.

Which side should we, the reader, be on? Whichever side you want. Join the humans, if you're human. Side with the aliens, if you want. Side with half-breed Holt, if you want to be on the side of the only person left alive. There were no goodies & baddies.

But...

The human case was that these aliens were so powerful that they had to be quarantined and guarded.  Killing off the whole of Sydney kinda proves the point, don't it?

Personally, if very strange creatures with the ability to run at lightspeed, kill entire cities and transmute into big glowing invulnerable beings were to crash-land on my planet, I'm not sure I wouldn't send out the army too.  And I'm not sure I wouldn't be right, either.

That's what I'm saying too - Yes, that's the obvious & right way to react.

But, the aliens only killed off Sydney *because* the army attacked them. And remember, they've just come from a concentration camp operating systematic genocide, and then they escape only to face an army.
The aliens were pretty much screwed whatever they did.

Yeah, I thought the whole point of it was that you can't really get a grip on which side is in the right because when pushed hard enough in certain situations anyone is capable of doing terrible things because in the heat of the moment it feels like the right thing to do, but you're really just making bad situations worse, perfectly expressed with the final frame. I for one really really enjoyed this and would love to see a third story, and a GN would be nice. Great issue all round, every story was great and Lobster Random had me pissing myself laughing on several occasions. Great cover too.

I think Boo mentioned at Dreddcon that a GN of Asylums 1 + 2 was going to happen at some point.

What was the moral, whose side was I supposed to be on?

 what shoes should i wear , what books should i be reading? hmmmmm......entertainment that doesn't tell you exactly what to think - not a particularly new concept, but thankfully there's still some folk around (cheers oddboy) who don't live in a world where 'goodies and baddies' are the only people that exist.....so congratulations to anyone who enjoyed this story , you shall all be included in my new world order! just gotta get these spores workin' - ' hhhnnn ...it hurts.....'

boo.

The problem for me wasnt complex shades of grey in the characters motivations, just arbitrary jumps from one thing to another - Holt is happy to shoot Spore, but gets all upset when they shoot Run... Buchanan is alternately bleeding heart liberal and alienist murderer.  This isnt to say characters have to fit "good" and "bad" roles, just that their motivations need to seem logical and -erm- motivated by their experiences, rather than the needs of the plot.

In the end, is the message that we'll all end up taking sides when push comes to shove, and the lines of race are as good as any to take?  Does the ending sees Holt throw his lot in with the aliens, because he is one himself, or because their cause is the right one? By throwing your lot in, does that mean adopting the extreme methods of Spore and Run? Is this actually a good thing, because it's only extreme pressure thats lead the aliens to these actions, so they are justified, or are you perpetuating a cycle of violence? There's a lot of interesting issues raised there, but I'm not really sure the strip even scratches the surface of any of them. Even when it does touch on these issues, it just seemed heavy handed and unconvincing IMO.

Still no prog (was did the latsest EE come in the same envelope?) :-(

That cover does indeed look very good- the type of cover that might get a lapsed reader to pick up and flick through the prog. Alternatively they might think- how many times have we seen something similar- but where it's turned out not to be true? (I'm thinking here of the Dredd helmet cover (post OZ?) and Dredd's badge cover with a sinlge bullethole in it)

Can't yet comment on this weeks prog (not having read it) but my thoughts on the current strips are that they are indeed very good- trying to pick the baddie in them is very hard- the one I'm having most difficulty following is probably Asylum 2, but I just love Boo's artwork on it. The progs are really very very strong for me at the moment (way better than the Meg- and that's saying something!).

Judge Dredd: What a bunch of ungrateful citizens there are in Mega City One. After all the Judges have done for them. It never used to be like this in the old days.
Nice to see the Vienna subplot developing.

Faces: General Stunal is looking a lot better than last we saw him. I don't get why Karl would even want to cheat on Kilquo. She can morph into any beautiful babe he could want. What an drunken idiot. Glad he's dead.

Lobster Random: Ho hum.

Aslyum2: As I predicted, this second series ended on a real downer. Everyone dies, including many innocent Aliens and Australians. This story ends with a dawn of death.

Strontium Dog: Another good episode. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

All in all, another great prog, with lots for everyone.  

It had a dangerously vague end did Asylum, please let this be the end of it.

Loved Dredd, Stront was great, and Faces would be doing better on my list if it didn't keep having some really crappy cartoony bits, usually every time Higgins has to do draw something a bit naughty or rude.  Shakey hands?  Someone get that man some tranquilisers.  I do like 90% of the artwork an awful lot.

One thing I didnt get about the (excellent) Dredd story was why, after the opening page shows the announcement that the Judges are standing down, the next page cuts to the Chief Judge debating whether to announce they are standing down ?? Probably i'm a moron and missed something vital, but it seemed like events ran slightly out of order?

IIRC, there was a caption saying "earlier that day...", or something similar.  It was basically a device allowing the episode to begin on a big, eye-opening development, then going chronologically back to explain how it happened and what the *real* score is.  I think.

You're missing an "Earlier..." type box at the start of page 2.

Dan

And the thrills keep comin...

Cover : Good stuff. Simple & eye catching.

Dredd : This is just fantastic! I never know where its going from week to week and the artworks superb. Unless something goes badly wrong in the next few progs this could end up as a classic.

Faces : Im really enjoying this. Its weird that I can accept the t & a in this story as I believe it all adds to the humour. Whereas the stuff in Valkyries just came across as sad.

Lobster : Mental story with mental art. Loving this.

Asylum : Ho-hum, Was that it? Didnt think much of this and from that ending I've a horrible feeling theres a book 3 on the way.

Stronty : Cracking on nicely. Last ep next week though, Id have liked a longer run.

A great time for the prog! 9/10

Great cover.

Dredd: Superb. Is it just me or is Henry Flint?s art actually getting better? Love the remark about the clone not looking like a Dredd ? just in case you?re looking for any clues in his face about Dredd?s appearance.

Faces: Like this, but want to see where it?s going. Best ending making me long for the next issue I?ve read in a while.

Asylum: Love the art ? Boo Cook has gone up in my estimation, but the story just left me cold.

Lobster Random: Great. Getting to like this character more and more and the art is growing on me.

Strontium Dog: The usual quality, with Alpha baiting his hateful sibling nicely.

Overall: Very impressed. Now just bring back Dante for an actual sustained run (can?t believe it?s been a year since his appearance in the Xmas mega-prog) and I might stick around.

Thought last prog was great but this one is even more aces!

Cover - Simple but effective, better than last weeks.

Dredd - Outstanding, I'm really enjoying this especially with the clone plotlines being tied in and the vast technicolour goodness of the Big Meg.

Faces - Didn't rate this at first but anything that has an alien sex kitten pushing people out of windows gets my vote.

Asylum II - Hated it. Glad it's over. Next!

Lobster Random - I'm lovin' it!

Strontium Dog - Second best strip behind Dredd and more than makes up for 'Headly Foot Job'.

Dredd - tip top awesome and then some.

Faces - was doubtful but it's crammed with stuff.

Lobster - if it wasn't for Total War this'd be the pick o' the prog.

Asylum 2 - this, and the previous episode were awesome. Shame the 6 before were a bit tame. I liked the fact it wasn't a clear cut story, and while I wouldn't queue for Asylum 3, I'd still welcome it.

Stront - not been as blistering as it was hyped to be, and probably suffering in my eyes when compared to Total War. But still top dollar.

Strange on this site and everything, only 24 boarders could be arsed commenting/ discussing on last weeks prog...

wonder how this week will do

Huff Didnay

I only got the prog yesreday.

It was good.

I rarely comment on the week's Prog because I never get it before Thursday, and by Friday it seems a bit late to bother adding anything to what's already been said.