Cover - Fantastic. I'd have it tattooed on me if me mutha wouldn't kill me for it.
Dredd - I'm loving the art in this and, getting over the seeming simplicity of Maitland's crime busting computer modelling, I'm loving the story and its working beautifully with Maitland's narrative overlapping the action with Dredd. Great stuff!
Stickleback - I find myself a little bit like I do with The Order here and just enjoyed the ride. Can't quite remember how we got here, but the opening dialogue lets us know where we are and leads into some great action.
Skip Tracer - I'm not realluy a Skip Tracer fan. Despite its setting and use of tech and powers being familar enough to go along with, I couldn't really tell you what the big cube world/ship is called or what Skip does. However, this installment had some great art, whizzed along and left us with a nice cliffhanger for next prog. Quite enjoyed it.
Fiends Of The Eastern Front - some good old, Game Of Thrones style, bastardly and dastardly backstabbing. Gorgeous art. Great tale. But I'm beginning to not entirely trust it's narrator!
Hookjaw - Don't get me wrong, I am VERY intrigued to see what kind of monster we're dealing with but worry that once revealed, my excitement will wane, because I'm not a big fan of the art. The shark on the front cover is WAY scarier.
Overall, enhjoying the new line up
The cover by Simon Coleby and Dylan Teague:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjO8kUHXcAAAlqJ?format=jpg&name=large)
The postal droid seem to have forsaken me, last week's still not turned up and no sign of this week... better check my subbie! :'(
The cover plus logo:
(https://i2.wp.com/www.comicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2000-ad-2002-5.jpg?resize=768%2C999)
And there's a letter page! Dissected right HERE! (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=44810.msg1040707#new). Spoilers if you like reading the letters fresh - and who doesn't?
Well the cover makes it clear that whatever properties Hookjaw has its going to be a jumpy shark and as JimmyNailz says the more we strip away from the mystery the more this story will have to earn our engagement... still I'm getting ahead of myself.
Dredd is superb. This is the Rob Williams Dredd I want. Dark dealings and desperate self serving actions. This is ths Justice Department to reflect our times. I'm genuninely worried about what will happen to Maitland and what will Dredd make of all this. Just fantastic stuff.
Stickleback - New Jersalem what a glowy delight as Stickleback strips away its London cover and enters an even more magical world that's always run deep in the series.
Skip Tracer is soooo close. Its a tale that been told before and Paul Marshal's work gets better and better. But Skipperty is feeling a bit more human a bit less clunky 90s Prog gruff chuff in this one and we could have a good story on our heads. I do believe, I do believe...
Fiends is a saga of family traitory good stuff but how will it move on from the expoistion though? I'm not sure its structured to? Looks stunning.
Hook Jaw - exciting stuff bit as said above and by others careful what you leave us with. There's a lot been built up and we don't want it all just chomped down by chompy jumpy shark. I mean there's jumping the shark and there's jumping sharks and this tale could do with doing neither. Lets see though as so far so good.
Good Prog.
The prog rocked up yesterday. Awesome cover, digging the contents!
Dredd The Justice Department coming across like proper bad guys again and I'm enjoying this one very much, although Dredd vs some punks seems like a formality and the real story is Maitland. Despite her motivations I can't help but feel she's acting like a bit of a chump.
Stickleback - Looks great, not a lot else happening to comment on this week. [spoiler]I cannot for the life for me remember who the guy who shows up at the end is.[/spoiler]
Skip Tracer is ok. I still like the manga art style being used for India and nobody else. I can't help but wonder if this would be better if there was a bit more happening each episode - for an adventure story it sometimes feels a little slow paced sometimes.
Fiends looks amazing, is engaging, already feeling invested in where this is going.
Hook Jaw - definitely my favourite thing in the prog atm. It's really building the creepy horror atmosphere and the artwork has the right mix of gore and menace. The picture on page two [spoiler]with open mouth and the water foaming over the side of the boat whilst the guys pull away[/spoiler] is nightmarish. There's still a reveal to come as no way this is just a big shark gobbling everyone up, there's something more sinister at play and I think [spoiler]it all ties back to the witch from chapter 1[/spoiler].
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 05 October, 2020, 02:54:06 PM
Cover - Fantastic. I'd have it tattooed on me if me mutha wouldn't kill me for it.
You should do this anyway, I'm sure she would come round.
Also is this the same Jimmy Nailz I met at a Fight Club Pro show in Wolves a few years back? We might have talked about Dredd then.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 06 October, 2020, 11:33:10 AM
Stickleback - Looks great, not a lot else happening to comment on this week. [spoiler]I cannot for the life for me remember who the guy who shows up at the end is.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Same guy — the Ophidian — who turns up as the Three Sisters' henchman at the end of the first episode.[/spoiler]
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 06 October, 2020, 11:36:30 AM
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 05 October, 2020, 02:54:06 PM
Cover - Fantastic. I'd have it tattooed on me if me mutha wouldn't kill me for it.
You should do this anyway, I'm sure she would come round.
Also is this the same Jimmy Nailz I met at a Fight Club Pro show in Wolves a few years back? We might have talked about Dredd then.
The very same! :D
A good solid prog. I really like the different art styles present in the prog.
Dredd – This is becoming quite intriguing and I am enjoying the story so far. I must give credit to Boo cook's art here; this has for me been his bets work to date.
Stickelback – I am already pulled into the story and cannot wait to see how this will play out.
Skip Tracer – At least the story now has taken a more interesting turn.
Fiends – The story is building up quite nicely and ends with an interesting turn of events as new elements are introduced.
Hook Jaw – I am still hooked here, and this is one of those stories where the reveal will make or break the story. Great stuff.
An interview with Ian Edginton And Matt Brooker about the return of Stickleback:
http://www.comicon.com/2020/10/06/talking-to-ian-edginton-and-matt-brooker-about-the-triumphant-return-of-stickleback-to-2000ad/ (http://www.comicon.com/2020/10/06/talking-to-ian-edginton-and-matt-brooker-about-the-triumphant-return-of-stickleback-to-2000ad/)
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 06 October, 2020, 12:35:24 PM
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 06 October, 2020, 11:36:30 AM
Also is this the same Jimmy Nailz I met at a Fight Club Pro show in Wolves a few years back? We might have talked about Dredd then.
The very same! :D
Awesome!
Although I cannot believe you don't like Leigh Gallaghers art on Hookjaw.
Liking it all this week. Not a bum note to be heard.
Art droids going absolutely full-steam on every page, amazing that I find multiple rivals for top visuals in a prog that has D'Israeli on fire.
Hookjaw continues to hold my top thrill spot, and I think the reprise of teleporter/underneath/splices shenanigans actually helps to ground Skip Tracer in a recognisable setting for possibly the first time.
One tiny niggle, which doesn't detract from some glorious Boo art, but still: not enuff skullz on the SJS.
Whole lot of Flash Gordon goggles going on with the SJS.
There seem to be more analysts there than street judges!
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 07 October, 2020, 11:09:14 PM
Whole lot of Flash Gordon goggles going on with the SJS.
There seem to be more analysts there than street judges!
In a authoritarian system you also have more eyes than boots. Everyone watches everyone even the watchers
So. How do the Judges' helmet respirators work?
Also, rather disturbingly - in Skip Tracer, since Paul Marshall draws everyone realistically, India Sumner has presumably had extensive surgery to make her look like a manga character, yes? Including eye enlargements (by the injection of extra fluid? Ew!) and lip removal.
Good strike rate this week. Fiends tops out with a superbly-realised origins tale. Hookjaw is good fun but seems to be floundering a bit (sorry) with a slightly vague concept of what the threat is. Agreed that Skip Tracer is, for an ostensibly action-oriented strip, too leisurely at times. Stickleback is great even though I'm unlikely ever to catch up on the backstory.
A thought - is the concept of the 'one and done' strip dead? Pretty much every new strip I can remember over the last few years has promised (and usually delivered) a book II. I get that if ideas are there, and characters/settings are flexible enough, then strips should continue. Are writers being encouraged to create sufficient content for collected volumes?
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 07 October, 2020, 11:09:14 PM
Whole lot of Flash Gordon goggles going on with the SJS.
There seem to be more analysts there than street judges!
I suppose that makes sense for what's primarily an internal investigative division*. The bikes only roll when there's a corrupt helmet to judge (which is most weeks), I can't imagine much patrolling.
*With a giant space armada fighting interstellar wars, of course.
Aaaaand I just realised the Enigmatic one was comparing the SJS to Street Div, not discussing internal division of labour Must aim for more than 2 hours sleep a night going forward.
Quote from: norton canes on 08 October, 2020, 10:43:20 AM
A thought - is the concept of the 'one and done' strip dead? Pretty much every new strip I can remember over the last few years has promised (and usually delivered) a book II. I get that if ideas are there, and characters/settings are flexible enough, then strips should continue. Are writers being encouraged to create sufficient content for collected volumes?
I think simply more a case that it's labour-saving for the creators. Why would you do the heavy lifting of creating new settings, characters, plotlines and designs
each and every time you appear in the prog - particularly when you won't own the rights to the same - when you could do that just the once and spend time exploring the same in greater detail?
Plus they'll have a chance to grow, to gain a following, and as you touch on - more material means more commercial oppurtunities. There's lots of good one-and-done stuff from the House of Tharg that's struggled to get a reprint owing to a really short length.
Quote from: norton canes on 08 October, 2020, 10:43:20 AM
A thought - is the concept of the 'one and done' strip dead? Pretty much every new strip I can remember over the last few years has promised (and usually delivered) a book II.
Well, there was Ulysses Sweet, if you count that as one and done.
It's a long time ago now, but there was also
Cradlegrave, which must not ever have a sequel.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 08 October, 2020, 01:23:54 PM
Quote from: norton canes on 08 October, 2020, 10:43:20 AM
A thought - is the concept of the 'one and done' strip dead? Pretty much every new strip I can remember over the last few years has promised (and usually delivered) a book II.
Well, there was Ulysses Sweet, if you count that as one and done.
Two Future Shocks and two multi-part series? Er... I can't say I would!
I'm pretty sure Skip Tracer is published just so we have a base line and can see how awesome the other strips are in comparison. It's really not doing it for me.
I like it.
I liked Synamon. I genuinely did. And this feels similar.
Good all round proggage for me!
I think Skip Tracer has found its feet this time. Part of this is the extra oomph Marshall has injected into the art, and part is because we're going back over elements that have already been established, which helps create a setting.
My main gripe with the first few runs was that I could think of nothing that made the world distinct from every other overcrowded multi-species environment with militaristic government, space-colonial tensions and good/evil psychics.
By this time, we know Nolan is a grumpy ex-military bounty-hunter-slash-private-investigator, he has the Shining, there's a regular supporting cast, known minor threats in the eugees splices, established technologies (gateways, teleportation) and locations (the Cube, its Underneath, noodle bars). I'm still a bit vague on the broader factions beyond the regrettably-named Consociation, but on the whole I think it's becoming its own thing now.
It's definitely taken its time finding its feet, but I think Tharg's unusual patience may well have paid off here.
Awesome cover and a selection of really good strips, but......Fiends is a bit special, isn't it?
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 08 October, 2020, 03:12:46 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 08 October, 2020, 01:23:54 PM
Quote from: norton canes on 08 October, 2020, 10:43:20 AM
A thought - is the concept of the 'one and done' strip dead? Pretty much every new strip I can remember over the last few years has promised (and usually delivered) a book II.
Well, there was Ulysses Sweet, if you count that as one and done.
Ah. Fair point. I'd forgotten about the other, Grant Morrison, multi-part series.
Two Future Shocks and two multi-part series? Er... I can't say I would!
Quote from: norton canes on 08 October, 2020, 10:43:20 AM
Stickleback is great even though I'm unlikely ever to catch up on the backstory.
Oh I really would if you can, for me it's been gloriously the best strip in the prog over the last 12 years or so, apart from Absalom, which coincidently was also a modern take on the Black & White strip.
Quote from: broodblik on 08 October, 2020, 03:47:43 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 07 October, 2020, 11:09:14 PM
Whole lot of Flash Gordon goggles going on with the SJS.
There seem to be more analysts there than street judges!
In a authoritarian system you also have more eyes than boots. Everyone watches everyone even the watchers
For once I'm way behind on my progage: delivered late and I was away for a few days, so just read this Prog.
I was a bit confused by the sheer number of SJS Judges in that one panel, I put it down to dramatic/artistic license Given the number of bent helmets (!), secret ninja factions, Judge conspiracies we've seen over the years, they really aren't earning their keep are they?
I prefer to, and will continue to, think of the SJS as a kind of spartan Sweeny Todd (TV series), but with tighter boots than anyone else.
Elsewhere this Prog is flying, near perfect in the balance or great stories (Loving the Maitland/Dredd arc) and art, each story beautifully rendered especially Mr Booker's chiaroscuro.
The only misstep I feel is Skip Tracer: what was the elevator pitch? Harry 20 on the High Rock meets Bladerunner? really not working for me, but skipping one story is the price you pay!