Prog 1614: JUDGEMENT DAY!

[House of Usher]

Must be a bugger finding 72 candles in MC1

I was thinking 'must be a bugger finding candles in pre-Columbian North America'. I was quite puzzled as to what 15th Century Native Americans would even need candles for. Okay, this guy has a definite use for them, but he is just one guy. Maybe they're not candles at all, and the guy was just burning little dishes full of animal fat?

ABC Warriors is just too odd for me, with characters behaving every week as if they're in a Saturday morning cartoon, and mouthing slogans so bad it must be piss-easy write advertising copy for Martian consumers: "Buy More Beans" - hey that's catchy! I'm going to be chanting that every morning as I take the crane to work. "Buy More Beans! Buy More Beans!"

Stalag 666 is over, then. That was a long goodbye. I kept expecting one of the characters to shout "I love you!" before Raider slowly slammed his fighter into the doomsday weapon. Even after he hit it there seemed to be enough time to watch that episode of Hogan's Heroes he taped before the mission. "Dear Mum, I know you won't ever get to read this, but the nose cone of my ship has just smashed into the doomsday weapon, and while I'm watching the impact crease its way along the ship toward me, I thought I would jot down my last thoughts on this bus ticket..."

Ampney Crucis is quite simply the worst strip taking up space in the Prog.

Nikolai Dante is as good as everyone says it is, but it seems to me to have been doing the same thing for 3 weeks now.

[satchmo]

Did Raider really have to ram the bomb, couldn't he have just chucked a tin of peas at it to get the same result? (I'm assuming he had no projectile weapons)

Gunstar Heroes it was not.

[Richard]

The cops would be no less interesting if they didn't float, and ditto the vampire.

Actually yes, they would.

Imagine if when Pat was writing the first book of Nemesis, Tharg had said "hang on, there's too much weirdness in here, tone it down a bit..." Would it have still been the classic it became? I doubt it. Next year when someone posts about Pat's work and mentions this story, you won't remember which one it is and will ask "which one was that again?" And they'll say "the one with the floating cops and vampire guy." And you'll instantly recognise it, because they are most likely the most memorable elements of this 12-episode run.

Somebody said above that Pat Mills' Judge Dredd story didn't have enough going on in it -- something about 2 1/2 pages-worth of story padded out to 6 pages -- and now there is too much happening in ABC Warriors? Come on! I think he has struck the right balance with this story, and if it's hard to keep up or remeber what is going on, it's probably because this story has had to be split up into chunks and spread out over a year or more to give the artist time to draw it. Read it all at once, when it finishes and I expect it might be easier to follow. The Mek-Quake thing will (probably) carry on in due course.

Personally I like that Zippo has had such a big introduction for a new character, instead of just appearing out of nowehere like most of the previous new additions to the team.

As for Steelhorn's change of appearance, I hadn't noticed it, but is it possible that one look is his old appearance in a flashback, before he got melted down, and the other look is how he looks in the "present day" after he was rebuilt? No idea, just a guess.

I'm not an unquestioning Mills fan (I didn't like the last two Blood of Satanus stories for example), but I like what he's doing with this story. I hope there's one more book to round it off, and if there's a satisfactory conclusion then I'm buying the graphic novel.

[Trout]

I've always a bit nervous with nudity in my favourite comic, as it's one of the reasons parents can't really pass their progs on to young children,

Because obviously if a young person sees a drawing of someone with no clothes, on they'll inevitably start smoking crack and raping kittens.

No, because you want to preserve your child's innocence as long as possible. People who show children publications depicted naked women - rightly - get put on the sex offenders register.

- Trout

[Trout]

I feel I should temper my comments a bit. I'm not suggestion 2000AD is obscene, and I don't even want to get into the "2000AD isn't for kids any more" debate. Been there, done that. I like Simon Davies' work and I'm pretty much resigned to the fact we get elements now that mean the comic isn't suitable for children.

I just feel sad, vaguely, that it's not what it was. I have to bear in mind I'm not 10 any more!

- Trout

[TordelBack]

I just feel sad, vaguely, that it's not what it was. I have to bear in mind I'm not 10 any more!

It's a tricky one alright.  I suspect that I woudn't have been allowed (yes folks, my parents controlled my spending) buy 2000AD when I was 10 if it had had naked ladies in it (as opposed to a bodysuited Blanche Tatum, mmmmm, nice), which would have been a shame.  On the other hand, given the enthusiasm with which my father supplied me with Victor, Battle Picture Library and Warlord whenever I was sick abed, there wouldn't have been any problem with the violence, which is the bit I find myself nervous about these days.  

I would draw a subtle but distinct line between the questionable innocence corrupting power of naked people versus that of naked people in a sexual context, to justify dragging my son through the art galleries, swimming pool changing rooms and nudist beaches of this wide world, but it's probably the case that the majority of nudies in 2000AD are in the service of mild titillation.

[House of Usher]

People who show children publications depicted naked women - rightly - get put on the sex offenders register.

Bloody Hell, Trout! It certainly shows that you're a journalist. I'm glad you softened your stance very quickly after posting that.

[Mardroid]

if it's hard to keep up or remeber what is going on, it's probably because this story has had to be split up into chunks and spread out over a year or more to give the artist time to draw it. Read it all at once, when it finishes and I expect it might be easier to follow. The Mek-Quake thing will (probably) carry on in due course.

I agree. I didn't have any trouble following it, and I agree it's probably the length of time in between.  The strange new characters, G-Men etc, threw me a bit in that I find myself wondering if they're from a past story thread I haven't read. However I suspect now, they're just wacky characters included for the crack, as the Irish would say. (Not to suggest Irish are dopeheads. Not that kind of crack. )

Personally I like that Zippo has had such a big introduction for a new character, instead of just appearing out of nowehere like most of the previous new additions to the team.

I like Zippo. (EDIT Oops, don't highlight if you haven't read prog 1615): [spoiler]The part where he drops in the furnace was a bit silly. I understand that Blackblood having done a runner means that Mongrol wasn't able to swing the crane in time, but I can't help wondering why... Mage Mek (his name hs suddenly skipped my memory, and I've got him (with a different face) as my avatar too, shame on me) didn't check the position first before freeing Zippo. Or is he being intentionally contrary due to his Khaos beliefs?[/spoiler]

As for Steelhorn's change of appearance, I hadn't noticed it, but is it possible that one look is his old appearance in a flashback, before he got melted down, and the other look is how he looks in the "present day" after he was rebuilt? No idea, just a guess.

No, he was changed in his back-flash story too.  I didn't notice the change during the tale though, but as others have said, he spent a lot of the earlier part of this arc in shadow.

[House of Usher]

Personally I like that Zippo has had such a big introduction for a new character, instead of just appearing out of nowehere like most of the previous new additions to the team.

I think it was justified, the previous new additions just appearing out of nowhere, for two reasons. 1) they were not all veterans of the Volgan War, so could have been knocking around in the Termight era universe for milliennia, and 2) even if they were veterans of the Volgan War, there's no reason the other ABC Warriors should ever have encountered them during that conflict.

The Volgan War involved presumably hundreds of thousands of robots. Add to them all the domestic and commercial robots knocking around after the war (see Ro-Busters), and you've got millions. Every home should have one. Then the world ends, and the Termight Empire is created from the ruins. The skill of making robot brains is lost forever, so there are no new robots to be had, and the number of robots diminishes as time goes by. Hence there are antique war robots like Hammerstein, Ronn, the skeleton one and the samurai one, veterans of old, long-forgotten wars, and the demolition robot Mek-Quake, fighting for Termight in the far future. In this far future there are presumably only hundreds of robots still working spread across the galaxy. Eventually the few remaining robots (Hammerstein, Ronn, Morrigun) are going to cross paths for the first time, without a detailed knowledge of one another's backstory. Most will have the same backstory anyway: built for a purpose they've long outlived, knocked around for hundreds of years, replaced numerous components from salvaged spare parts, "Hi, pleased/indifferent to meet you; I've been living on the other side of the galaxy for 600 years digging ditches, felling trees, servicing starships and killing anyone I'm told to. How about you?"

[TordelBack]

Im sure you've been told before House of Usher, but your Earth-logic has no place here.

[JayzusB.Christ]

but it's probably the case that the majority of nudies in 2000AD are in the service of mild titillation.

I loved mild titillation as a kid. I remember a q and a session in Ireland with Tharg himself (or some bloke calling himself Matt anyway) where he pointed out that '10-year-olds love tits', and i agree with him. I certainly did as a 10-year-old. Is it a bad thing? Why does 'knowledge of sex' or 'sexual feelings' have to be the opposite of 'innocence' anyway - What's so 'guilty' about sex and titillation? Just a thought.

[TordelBack]

Why does 'knowledge of sex' or 'sexual feelings' have to be the opposite of 'innocence' anyway

Sex Crime!  Sex Crime!  Trained citizen operatives are on their way, please stand in front of your telescreen with your hands away from your body, and remain calm.  The re-education process will be relatively painless, dependent on your level of co-operation.

[House of Usher]

One of my favourite Fry and Laurie moments:
//http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wwo8qxUit00