Messages

1

General / Re: Which do you prefer?

« on: 26 January, 2023, 08:32:43 AM »

Another tough call! Instinctively I'd say Walker's later style is my preference; for me his work on the Origins prologue was just superb (basically his Mandroid style but tkane to even greater heights).
But, If I'm honest, I can still call to mind the thrill of seeing those previews for Khronikles of Khaos, and can absilutely remember the emotion of that bit in Childhood's End where Orlok and Anderson are moved to tears.

So I guess what I'm saying is that his painted stuff was more impactufl/impressive, but I relish the idea of reading his pen n' ink work more. I don't have much love for Hellbringer so it might be that the painted sutff gets old, fast, while the ink work is timeless?

2

General / Re: Looking back

« on: 25 January, 2023, 03:27:22 PM »

The Harrison portion of Final Solution ended with Alpha's eyes being burned out and him lying on the ground in a fairly dead-ish pose - maybe that's the imagery you now associate with his actual, later, death?

I'm another that loved FS, up until the Colin Macneil portion. Partly because I didn't like his style at the time as much as Harrisons's, but mostly because the story before then had been quirte a lot about Sagan's take-over of the UK government, which was sort of ignored at the ednign, like Alan Grant had got bored - Alpha destroys the dimension portal, McNulty and crew kind of defeat the bad guys, but there's not really a satisfying 'and then another government took over and they were a bit less horrible to mutants' moment. I remember really hoping that 'Strontium Dogs' would explain a bit more about what Britain was like in that new regime but not to be.

Closest we came to that was decades later when Wagner tackled 'The Life and Death' storyline - in which I HATED the Feral bashing storyline but rather enjoyed the evil government mutant sterilisation storyline.

3

General / Re: Which do you prefer?

« on: 24 January, 2023, 01:27:00 PM »

I prefer Langley's pens to his computers, for sure. I think the current Storm Warning run might be the best thing he's ever done, to be honest. But I really did love his Computer style on the first 2 or 3 ABC Warriors Volgan Wars, something about a photographic-seeming version of something that couldn't possibly exist in real life to be photographed was proper breathtaking.

Obvs this logic applies to a bunch of Slaine stuff, except I'm guessing many of the human faces WERE based partly on photos, and it took Langley a few books' worth to get good at this part of the job (for my money everything he did on Slaine post Books of Invasions, was great).

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General / Re: Best Judge Dredd Meg Stories of 2022

« on: 12 January, 2023, 10:00:35 AM »

Look, this is going to sound like insane recency bias, but for me it's:

1) 2099: Rampage
2) Dollman
3) Babel

-and I confess in all three cases a lot of that is because all creators managed to tap into something Dreddish from yesteryear that tickled me, just some fun sci-fi ideas executed well and drawn beautifully.

5

Megazine / Re: Meg 451 - Scale of Justice

« on: 09 January, 2023, 03:04:24 PM »

I know the point here is really to focus on the new stuff, and indeed it's floating my boat pretty well, but I do want to rise to the defence of 'City of Courts'. The art is gorgeous and not like any other Dredd artist, which I always like. And the basic concept of what a future Califronia might be like, law-wise, is a solid one. I can agree that Wolk doesn't quite nail Dredd's character (although he is working to 2094 Dredd, so in theory has no template to match), but I for one am excited to see what happens when an actual American living his entire life in modern-day America dreams up for a weird sci-fi take on the place.

That Dredd 2099 strip, though, that was next-level 'I get Dredd, even from yesteryear, and can make it sing' comics-making from Neimand, Boyle and Campbell.

6

General / Re: Best Judge Dredd strips of 2022 (prog only)

« on: 06 January, 2023, 01:30:03 PM »

Gotta be honest, I barely remember the details of most of these stories, certainly none stand out as all-time classics but I don't think it was a BAD year for Dredd.

Based on what I do remember...

1) Last Temptation of Joe Dredd, not just because it was only 2 weeks ago but also it's really great!
2) 5 in the Cubes I remember being a fun time, possibly Grinders was better as so many poeple have mentioned it here?
3) Sentientoid's Big Idea is a story I really DO remember, and it felt rather classic too, + super pretty art.

Thanks very much to any and all boarders with the oomph to get these things going, I love to engage with this kind of stuff, don't seem to have the energy to muster new threads myself.

7

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 06 January, 2023, 09:25:12 AM »

Anyone got anything good to say about the second Finn volume? I really like the first two stories, which I've read several times since they first Prog'd, but have yet to re-read any of the strips form the 900s era Or rather, I think I did re-read bits of them once but can barely remember them...

8

General / Re: Best 2000 AD cover of 2022

« on: 05 January, 2023, 09:47:01 AM »

Gotta agree with Tomwe first two choices: that creepy Hope cover really is special, and the scale of the Megaship is an utter marvel.

For my 3rd choice I'm going old-school. I do tend towards covers that I feel I'll be able to remember pretty easily, and I won't tire of a Dredd vs Dredd image anytime soon...

9

General / Re: Best 2000 AD strips of 2022

« on: 04 January, 2023, 12:50:48 PM »

There's a version of this list where I just vote for the three Dan Abnett strips, which have all been great, but reading through the whole list what really gets me excited about the weekly Prog is new and weird stuff, and with that in mind, my votes are:

1) The Out (which is still new and in series 2 still delightfully weird)
2) Saphir, not least becausde it's so damn beatufiul to look at. I typically admire rather than love David Roach's art but on this series he totally clicks.
3) Enemy Earth, which took a while to get going for me but in the end I found myself looking forward to the extremely bizarre art, and wondering just how much more of an emotional wreck the main character would become. I have high hopes for where this story will go, should it return.

10

General / Re: 2022 Advent comments

« on: 21 December, 2022, 08:05:06 AM »

My gosh you are all lovely and talented people

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Music / Re: weird and strange X mas songs

« on: 14 December, 2022, 04:00:34 PM »

Thanks all! That's my drive to my parents sorted for next week.

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General / Re: 2022 Advent comments

« on: 09 December, 2022, 12:09:41 PM »

Colin you're a legend, that's some work fun ethic you've got there.

MIK, that's beyond extraordinary...

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General / Re: BRAND NEW Ace TRucking Strip online

« on: 06 December, 2022, 11:31:25 AM »

Fascinating and delightful, thanks for sharing

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General / Re: 2022 Advent comments

« on: 06 December, 2022, 11:27:48 AM »

Nailed that cheery Phoenix tone!
If you fancy doing a Gorebrah vs Cookie Xmas roast-off...

15

General / Re: 2022 -Message board Advent Calendar dates (list)

« on: 30 November, 2022, 09:27:31 AM »

I think it's literally anything you can share that's 2000AD related and of general interest to us boarders? Doesn't have to be openly festive, even!

At least I hope so, as I rather cluttered things up the last couple of years with rankings of Dredd epics, and then of the end-of-year Specials. I have been working on another of those but it's looking more like an Xmas 2023 job at this point

Failing that, if you can find a way to hand out a choccy to everyone who opens, that'd be super.
NFT Dairy Milks, anyone??