oh my god i can actually start one of these bless the postal droids!
Dredd: as the cover hints Chimpsky is back and he may face yet his greatest threat. wonderful stuff as ever
survival geeks: i will admit the reference to a certain tv show from my childhood at the end got a chuckle out of me.
i skipped skip tracer its not my bag i am afraid
aquilla and hershey are both fantastic as ever.
(https://i.imgur.com/STCYtZG.jpg)
P J Holden and the greatest ape.
Aside from being a beautiful cover that's a magnificent tagline, truly inspired (I see a T-Shirt in its future), but the font and placement of same... I dunno. I think cover design has been a bit of struggle this past year or so. Still can't wait for Wednesday, mind...
No Prog today 😢. And still not got last week's either. How about everyone else?
No prog this week. Got last week's on Tuesday. No sign of the Meg.
Got the Meg on Ghursday and the Prog on Friday, no postie today though!!
I meant Thursday,. No edit function makes me sad!! :(
Well then that is a cover, a bloody lovely cover. And of course the fact that we have a cover means we have a Prog behind and if we have a Prog behind it we have to
Salute The Phoenix
Salute Tharg the Mighty.
Once again another week and another two glorious comics.
This one starts with a belter to. Dredd sees the return of Noam Chimpsky in a delightful opening episode by the still mysterious Kenneth Neimand and the still delightful PJ Holden. Loved the contrast between the friendly warm opening five pages and the brutal inpersonal introduction of Dredd.
Survival Geeks remains cheeky fun but nothing more.
Skip Tracer remains bland badassery, though the return of Hardy McHardfaces brother gives me hope.
Aquila remains brutally horrific and thrilling.
Hershey remains a visual tour de force and a compelling story.
All in all a good Prog a beckon of thrills in a time so lacking.
I am still grateful for the little pleasures in life and that is weekly prog. The prog continues its solid, good run.
5/5 prog 😊
Still can't get over how great that cover is. Not only is it striking and original in its own right, it's also a poignant image of urban self-isolation, complete with facemask. This'll be one of those covers that I never forget where I was in my life when the prog landed.
Inside, Chimpsky (featuring Judge Dredd (just)) is every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be - one of the strongest first parts in a while. I like that the brilliant language gimmick of the first story isn't re-used (yet), and that PJ deploys his full range of character art in depicting Chimpsky as both 'realistic' talking ape and cartoon chimp as the scene requires. Also, the detailed cityscapes are beautifully designed, automatic bonus points from this jury, setting aside the cheeky ad for a certain artist's podcast.
Interesting that this is the third in a row of Niemand's citizen-centric stories, following on from Mystic Pigeon Lady and Fenster: Process Server (and the preceding Psychic Amateur Paramedic and Imaginary Friends sagas). While I gave out a bit about the passive-Dredd angle to some of those stories, it's good to see the City and Citizens coming back into consistent focus, instead of world-ending crises. globe-trotting missions and corrupt/covert judges. Add that to Carroll's gangland underworld sub-series and things are looking up for my kind of Dredd. Anyway, this is the undoubted highlight of a strong prog.
Survival Geeks continues to amuse, which is its job. I particularly enjoyed the heavily-populated signpost in the Chasm of Failed projects, in the first of this prog's overly-generous two Mind Palace sequences. Not really sure what mechanics are at play in Griefer Clive's takeover, but good to see that their plan to regrow Clone Griefer Sam was successful.
Aquila still doggedly working through the purple ink and Cenobite surpluses that affect us all, while doing that slightly-annoying Rennie thing of resolving previous plots in a two-panel flashback. Why did the Phlaegrean Hags want the Name of God? What were they planning on doing with it? Rude Pompeian Graffiti? Marketing mailing list? Enquiring minds. Much like Absalom before it, this is looking alarmingly like it's moving towards a rapid conclusion, and I'm already missing it. Enjoyable as always.
Hershey. I should really dispense with my hoighty-toity expectations for this strip, because this was a very stylish and engaging action episode, and I enjoyed it. Nice cameo from Lulu and Jenna too! Always welcome.
I dont know who Kenneth Neimand is, but he can write Dredd better than just about anyone save John Wagner himself.
At this point I dont care if he turns out to be a Rebellion work-experience drone who communes with the spirit of Michael Fleisher in his spare time, because however he is doing it, I would strongly advise Tharg to keep him around.
Thisnis the best run of Dredds in ages. I never put the strip at the top of polls because while I've read and liked it my whole life, I'm genuinely not that attached to it. By which i mean that were the prog to go under (and i hope that day is so far off someone will have to channel my spirit to comment upon it) and then strips sold off to other comic companies, I probably wouldn't follow Dredd to Marvel, or DC, or wherever. For me theres always (no, "usually") something better in the pages of 2000AD. But not this week.
That was a perfect episode of Dredd, of the kind that the series once was entirely composed of- back when I was 11.
Every other strip was enjoyable as well, obviously. Even Skip Tracer, which had been peeking up for two weeks but now seems to be going back to sleep. Still, it was readable and in a prog that didnt have that Dredd, Aquila and Hershey, would have seemed a whole lot better in comparison.
The further we go into Covid-19, the harder it is becoming for me to buy the prog in a shop. I *could* sit it out and buy them all from the web shop "when this is all over". But I dont want to- it's just too good at present.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 22 April, 2020, 01:55:51 PM
I dont know who Kenneth Neimand is, but he can write Dredd better than just about anyone save John Wagner himself.
Personally, I like the idea he's... Kenneth Neimand (and a bit perplexed people think his name is a pseudonym). But, yeah, his writing is excellent. His Dredds feel like a mix of Wagner's past and present, and are to my mind in that very top tier, along with Wagner himself and Al Ewing. (I'm also generally very fond of the work of several other Dredd writers, most notably Rob Williams and Michael Carroll, but there's something extra special about Neimand's scripts that just click. For me, they
are Dredd.)
I sincerely hope Neimand is Neimand. It would be lovely to see a talent like that "come from nowhere", without doing the rounds in the "small press" and other comics first. And would further cement my respect for the current incarnation of Tharg as an editor with his eye on the ball.
Whoever he (or she?) is, I really want to read more.
SBT
I'm going to take five minutes to point stupidly at similarities between Aquila and Blackhawk as I see them right now.
One is a Roman citizen plucked from his circumstances and plunged into working for an unearthly force and the other is Aquila.
One has an annoying sidekick that comes in handy in a fight while the other has Ursa & Zog.
One goes on a quest to recover his soul and the other has to deal with space pirates.
One is in a doomed city when he meets up with a character who seems to know everything and the other one meets a wizard from Rome.
These are off the top of my head, but it seems that Aquila, like Blackhawk before him, is off to meet his maker. I only hope that Aquila gets a happy ending as the ending of Blackhawk makes my eyes leak something fierce.
Congrats to Gordon & Patrick for a superb series.
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 22 April, 2020, 02:58:08 PM
These are off the top of my head, but it seems that Aquila, like Blackhawk before him, is off to meet his maker. I only hope that Aquila gets a happy ending as the ending of Blackhawk makes my eyes leak something fierce.
Double rations for Rennie if the Devourer's lair looks like the inside of a desk drawer.
Aquila and Blackhawk even share the same look. I loved both these strips and hopefully this is not end of Aquila.
Hopefully Aquila gets kidnapped by aliens at the end!
SBT
Quote from: TordelBack on 18 April, 2020, 04:46:32 PM
Aside from being a beautiful cover that's a magnificent tagline, truly inspired (I see a T-Shirt in its future)
I've just renewed my subscription on the basis of this cover, and yes I would very much like a tshirt with this on can I please it would be awesome thank you very much.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 22 April, 2020, 02:33:14 PM
Personally, I like the idea he's... Kenneth Neimand (and a bit perplexed people think his name is a pseudonym).
Arh but we all like a bit of mystery and he certainly sprang fully formed out of the ether. Which isn't to say that he's not just someone call Kenneth Neimand - but I love the idea its someone else teasing us.
Then of course there's the name itself lest we forget. Neimand being German for nobody, no one, no man or if you punch it around a bit you get to
Quotesag das niemand(em)! don't tell anyone
Which gets us to ... kind... work with me... Kenneth (Kenny) Who?
Oh I just love the fun of it all - and judging by the straight bat they play on Twitter - so do they!
Kenneth Niemand's stories take me back to when I first started reading Dredd and the world of Mega-city One seemed huge and heaving with possibilities. There's something in the way whoever it is revels in the world of the city that makes the stories a joy to read. It also makes me think it's a long-time fan. I reckon it's Frank from this forum.
Great Prog, we'll soon have to have 'The Grennie doid presents' written above the logo on the front page...
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 April, 2020, 04:33:02 PM
Oh I just love the fun of it all - and judging by the straight bat they play on Twitter - so do they!
I've been largely convinced by one popular theory, supported by hearsay-slash-testimony and stylistic parallels, but the Twitter account is so resolutely out of character for that suspect that it makes me doubt everything. If it is a well-known droid, I have to hand it them - it's the best mind-f**k yet.
I think it's fair to say that the Niemand entity can tell a story, and has the tone, substance and oh-so-tricky voice of both MC-1 and Dredd himself down pat, and long may these tales continue (they're exactly what I want from the strip most of the time, a modern Casefiles 7). The next big hurdle will be if it (or he or she or they or them) can write a Dredd-focused action thriller with Dredd doing important stuff that doesn't involve him either being incapacitated for most of it, saved by another character or endlessly consulting with the Chief Judge. That I'd very much like to see. I have every faith that it's possible.
My money would be on Wagner himself, seeing if he "has still got it" and can tell popular, engaging, Dredd stories without all the heavy continuity that he seems to have attached to his name.
A bit like Stephen King did successfully with "Richard Bachman" and J K Rowling attempted with, weirdly, "Robbert Galbraith". Weirdly, because I have a very old friend of that name.
SBT
Fair Prog for me. The colours on the cover are outstanding and it's a fun opener to
Dredd. A slight quibble with the scheduling as three sympathetic cit stories in a row is pushing it but I'm generally enjoying these.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 22 April, 2020, 02:33:14 PM
Personally, I like the idea he's... Kenneth Niemand (and a bit perplexed people think his name is a pseudonym).
Really? It's not quite Amanda Hugenkiss but it's certainly getting there.
Also worth bearing in mind that the first strip to credit our man was that Starlord pisstake from the 2018 Christmas Prog. Both an unusual place to blood a new writer and the type of story which could just as easily appear under a TMO or Alec Trench pseudonymous byline. In fact, the hope of clarification is the main reason that strip isn't listed on Barney.
Quote from: broodblik on 22 April, 2020, 03:31:30 PM
Aquila and Blackhawk even share the same look.
There's even a bit of a clue in the name. Although it has enough of a Roman connection to make that seem coincidental.
It does seem like this is heading for an end to
Aquila too, rushing through untold stories in a page or two of flashback. But who knows?
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 22 April, 2020, 02:58:08 PM
These are off the top of my head, but it seems that Aquila, like Blackhawk before him, is off to meet his maker. I only hope that Aquila gets a happy ending as the ending of Blackhawk makes my eyes leak something fierce.
Congrats to Gordon & Patrick for a superb series.
But Blackhawk ended [spoiler]with the Warrior and his mates only being sucked into a Black Hole, while they were in a safe and secure in Kwark's Ark : "A mysterious construction built to conform to advanced mathematical principles - but built from the only materials available." (Which in this case appeared to be wood and rope, but still and all...)[/spoiler]
So they're fine, right?
Right?
I agree with everything being said about Kenneth Niemand's old school Dredd (It's always a good sign when Dredd doesn't turn up until the end of part one): but also a shout out for the art. PJ Holden seems to have taken it to another level recently: I'm no expert, but that last panel looks a tricky angle to pull off, and it's wonderfully dramatic.
It's stuff like this that should be in the Regened progs...
Comeo on, we all know Niemand is Mark Millar :D
Excuse my ignorance - I only returned to 2000 AD a few years ago, so this is the first run of Aquila I've seen - but isn't the point that it is essentially a reworking of the original Tornado-era Blackhawk saga, with added mythical/sorcery elements? As I said last week, the silver eyes are another nice callback. Loving this chapter but like most of the Rennie droid's output it does seem to come in frustratingly short instalments then return to dormancy for too long. Ah well, you can't rush quality.
Unless you're Kenneth Neimand, it appears, from whose prolific mind Dredd stories of the highest calibre fly like startled pheasants (sorry, lost for a decent metaphor there). You just know that when an episode starts almost immediately with the phrase "tween-block ped-over", the script droid is one that inherently gets Dredd. The droid in question has also clearly had its sensitivity circuits augmented, generating a string of whimsical tales focussed firmly on the little people of the Big Meg trying to do right. We could all do with a little more of the Neimand algorithm.
All round the prog continues to sing sweetly, with a set of stories well into their flow. Another week in confinement is made vastly more bearable by the House of Tharg, to which I once again proffer the most grabundaest of florixes.
Quote from: Andy B on 23 April, 2020, 01:48:44 AM
I agree with everything being said about Kenneth Niemand's old school Dredd (It's always a good sign when Dredd doesn't turn up until the end of part one): but also a shout out for the art. PJ Holden seems to have taken it to another level recently: I'm no expert, but that last panel looks a tricky angle to pull off, and it's wonderfully dramatic.
It's stuff like this that should be in the Regened progs...
Completely agree with the art - nicely the right side of cartoony and the last panel was a masterpiece in setting up an ominous lead in to the next episode.
Yeah that last DREDD panel was perfect.
I read this last week ( the last Saturday delivery for a while ?? )
and it was pretty good -
Dredd - I also really liked the new story featuring Noam Chimpsky . Good solid fun
Survival Geeks - for me me its all right , but I won't miss it when its gone -
if it gets me more Jaegir , then its all good
Skip Tracer - I also can't really get a grip on this one and although the artwork is fine
it just is so-so - I would place this in the same league as THE ORDER - a series that has seen its best days
Aquila - I am really enjoying this other Gordon Rennie serial - its sublime -
and did I mention the artist
is top rate ?
Hershey - not too bad and as others state nice to see a new city
( note - for some reason ,,my review got in the wrong Prog page ) :o
Quote from: 73north on 05 May, 2020, 06:56:36 PM
Skip Tracer - I also can't really get a grip on this one and although the artwork is fine
it just is so-so - I would place this in the same league as THE ORDER - a series that has seen its best days
Sorry for being a couple of weeks late, as I have been catching up on my Progs. Did I miss something? When was this "golden age" of Skip Tracer of which you speak? Did I miss a series?