Prog1575 The Creeping Terror

[Proudhuff]

Yeasss!

Great cover, pity about the wee one disappearing thro'

Letters page full of boarders and the correct Pop' number for MC1! and a monkey in a hat

JD: More great stuff, looks like the Academy is behind Dredd, a coffesshun and jelly!!

Sticleback: More great refs to Stickback's past and a question about his appearence! The plot thickens and the artwork continues to impress. Quote of the week: 'Boo-Hoo L'amour?'

Kingdom: Gene Genie knews clever stuff, don't understand what he blows up though?

Terror tales... take it or leave it, not much or a horror fan so I'll leave it to the experts

SD: Glum takes a dump and no homo erotica? pah!



Yip another great prog

[Dark Jimbo]

Kingdom good, Stront good, Dredd fantastic.

Stickleback, now - that's a strange one. Adored the first series, wanted badly to like this one too but largely found it impenetrable. Whatever magic had been present in the first outing was well and truly missing, and the various components were failing to click.

Having loved this week's episode, though, I've finally put my finger on when it works and when it doesn't. When Stickle is a cackling Victorian arch-villian double-crossing and manipulating the London Underworld, he's aces - dark and creepy - but when (as he has been most of this series) he's not in control of the situation or has as little idea what's going on as the rest of the characters, he just becomes an unlikeable twat with an odd backbone - petty and annoying. His power is all in his... er, well, power, it seems.

Did that make any sense? Anyone else know what I mean?

[nofuture]

yup, definately.  He's the sort of character that works as an enigma - mysterious, in the shadows and in control.

[Roger Godpleton]

It was the same with the last Cab Inc. story, I find it difficult to care what happens when all the lead characters are so irredeemable. I like a good evil-off, just not every week, OK?

[Mardroid]

Cover, pretty good.

Dredd- nice finale. I'd like to know how they broke JP though rather than just skipping over that with a "it didn't take them long to break him, he was no PJ Maybe."  An especially dark episode this week especially finding out what happened to the Morrison baby! That's a real shame too, as I hoped they'd return to that character later. I'm assuming it's the telekinetic baby with the strange eyes?


I like Dredd strips as a rule, but when the ending comes it sometimes feels a bit rushed to me.

Kingdom:  Nice continuation albeit a bit predictable. I don't think he was actually blowing anything up. I think the point was he used the electric cable to set the tick things all ablaze. Not sure why they were so flamable though, maybe it's the other matterial beneath them.

Terror Tales:  I quite liked this one.  Not sure how the girl was able to pursuade the monsters to show her to Lucani though. I thought she'd established that they tear the flesh off your bones if you don't have the talisman.  Maybe it was just the idea that they wanted to be free of his rule and claim him as one of them.  

Nice little clue at the start though when he killed the old man and the old man turned toothy when they snipped the medallion. I thought it was something to do with the knife before I got to that bit... since that belonged to him and had a talismanic look too.

Stickleback: I thought that was a huge tentacled demon they got the little guy to climb, but I take it it was just a huge building of demonic design. Nice cameo of Sharpe. So that's how he eventually goes out. Hee hee.

I didn't quite understand the part with the resurrection bullet though. The way I understood the explanation from the start, the bullet essentially kills the person (as you'd expect) then brings them back under your control as a zombie. If that's the case why did a male zombie rapture out of the cowgirl's body?

Apart from that niggle it was a good continuation of an interesting strip.

Strontium Dog:  A good episode albeit a little predictable. Concerning Johnny's eyes, I know he can see through objects and see brainwave patterns but how does the telekinesis work- assuming that's how he triggered the door. Since his power all seems through his eyes, does it involve emmitting and manipulating beams from his eyes? I'm assuming it's not the usual straight psychokinetic variety via direct mind manipulation.

[Trout]

What a great cliffhanger in Stickleback! I can't wait for next week.

I enjoyed the whole prog again, especially everything about the Dredd story, and I laughed out loud at the star letter.

- Trout

[Proudhuff]

The bullet landed inside her then the zombie came out of the bullet, through her, was how I saw it

Huff

[I, Cosh]

Bah! No bleedin' Prog.

[numanti]

No prog here either.  I shouldn't reaad the threads about progs i do not have.  I know I shouldn't.

So - wait - Dredd and Kingdom are on thier final parts?

[Mardroid]

I think it was just Dredd that was on it's last part.


I think the other current multipart strips have one more episode to go.

[McNulty]

And now if I may, my comments...

Judge Dredd: It's not often that PJ is twarted in his murderous intentions. I just wonder if the cubes will actually be safe for JP Buwick. I think the author's death was certainly to be treated as suspicious! And it's nice to see that the Yanks have finally started to speak properly (no more referring to Jelly as "Jello!")

Stickleback: Once again, Stickleback shows a lack of care for his minions. And he killed Richard Sharpe as well. What a B*st*rd! But then, I suppose that is the point. That last revelation certainly does raise questions - If his isn't really deformed, then why in the name of the wee man does he wear that thing on his back???

Kingdom: More great fighting and artwork in this week's episode. I just don't see how that tick thing on Leezee is going to be resolved. It's not like he can tear it off her, can he?

Terror Tales: A nice enough story here with a good twist at the end.

Strontium Dog: I did actually think that Faceache couldn't be trusted. After all, I remember when Johnny and Wulf were last declared outlaws; most of their fellow Dogs went after them. It's a pity they didn't run into Middenface - he would have played fair with them :) ! I still can't see how this story is going to resolve itself. We know that Johnny, Wulf and Billy Glumm do not remain outlaws, so in theory they need to clear their names - which is difficult as Johnny and Wulf did spring Billy from jail.
Maybe King Clarkie will issue a royal pardon???

All in all a great prog - one of a great run!

[I, Cosh]

Well my Prog did arrive today. Mostly good stuff but what on Earth is this rubbish with Johnny suddenly being able to manipulate objects with his eyes? An already lackadaisical story takes a turn for the worse.

[Pete Wells]

My heart absolutely sank and a lump almost came to my throat when I read in Dredd:

'His days, and the days of those like him, were drawing to a close. There was a new generation coming in.

His duty was to ensure the city remained in safe hands.'

I honestly thought that Wagner was directly speaking to us; about Dredd, about the city but more importantly about himself and perhaps some of the other founding members of 2000ad. Thankfully, I've just read Logan's comment in the 'Mutant Storyline' thread and feel much better! Can anyone let me know where the quote about Wagner having the next four years of dredd plotted out comes from?

[Leigh S]

Alphas done that kind of thing before I think - indeed, the history of the Stront strip is Alpha suddenly using his eyes for strange and additional purposes!

[Mardroid]

I've read that he can use his eyes to do minor telekinesis. How far does that power extend since it's not a power he seems to use that often?