FFT - What if? Tie 1 - Stalag 666 vs Dead Men Walking

[Colin YNWA]

Sponsored by 2000ad in Stages - see links below.
Created by Davd Bishop

Stalag 666 - more info

VS

Dead Men Walking - more info

We’ve lavished in glorious thrills in the last few weeks, but to get us back in the mood for a more varied bunch of thrills we’ve got a starter right out of the Round 1 form book.

What if we lived in David Bishop’s nightmare Prog* Two thrills that are much maligned (I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again I like Dead men Walking!) but which thrill most deserves to return as quickly as possible to the lowest draw of Tharg’s thrill Limbo filing cabinet?

*I mean I’m making an assumption here David Bishop may have nominated these as he thinks they are the most under-rated thrills every?

b]To Vote[/b] Just reply in this thread naming your favourite thrill of these two series at the beginning of your post (or use Bold tags so I can spot it easily) and say what you like about these wonderful stories after that.

Match ends early on the morning of Thursday 22nd September and the winner gets a place … well nowt this is just for fun.

What on Earth is ALL of this?

Hold on I thought all this nonsense was over? Well yeah but… see well I’ve explained that

For those that need ‘um and can be bothered to follow ‘um there’s some simple rules

Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN!

[Trooper McFad]

stalag 666

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

I have zero- zero- memory of 'Dead Men Walking'. Nothing online tickles even a ghost of a recollection. You've actually done the impossible and made me want to drag that particular box off the shelf, find and read the thing to satisfy myself it's actually real.

That would be unfair for the purposes of this tourney though, as I didn't do that for everything else, and each decision I have made up til now has been based entirely on my gut and my memory. I'm 52, one of those is more voluminous than the other and I will leave it to you to work out which.

So, I have to go for Stalag 666 (I actually had to flick up to the top of the page there, to double check that was actually the title, which says much)- which I remember for what I now know to be the first attempts of an artist I've come to like an awful lot, and some online horror about the depths "fans" of comics can sink, long before 'Comicsgate'. But at least I do remember it. So- Stalag 666.

SBT

[abelardsnazz]

I haven't read either of these - a situation to be rectified at some point - so will abstain.

[Rogue Judge]

I haven't read either of these - a situation to be rectified at some point - so will abstain.

Ditto. Not a vote, but Stalag sounds interesting.

[Magnetica]

I have zero- zero- memory of 'Dead Men Walking'. Nothing online tickles even a ghost of a recollection. You've actually done the impossible and made me want to drag that particular box off the shelf, find and read the thing to satisfy myself it's actually real.

That would be unfair for the purposes of this tourney though, as I didn't do that for everything else, and each decision I have made up til now has been based entirely on my gut and my memory. I'm 52, one of those is more voluminous than the other and I will leave it to you to work out which.

So, I have to go for Stalag 666 (I actually had to flick up to the top of the page there, to double check that was actually the title, which says much)- which I remember for what I now know to be the first attempts of an artist I've come to like an awful lot, and some online horror about the depths "fans" of comics can sink, long before 'Comicsgate'. But at least I do remember it. So- Stalag 666.

SBT

Yeah I literally have no memory of Dead Men Walking either. And to be honest I was a little unsure at first if we are meant to be voting for which one is worse or better😉.

[Funt Solo]

Stalag 666 - the thrill that nearly closed the forum! (Turns out that Farcebook and Twatter have been much more adept at whittling down the numbers.)

Difficult to pick a winner with two thrills whose only fault was not being very memorable. Turns out that prison dramas are tricky. See GFD for tips.

Dead Men Walking was a bit more original, and I preferred the lively art of Boo Cook.

[Aaron A Aardvark]

Stalag 666 (?)

[rogue69]

Stalag 666

[Dark Jimbo]

I'm not sure what, on the whole of God's green Earth, could convince me to vote for Stalag 666.

Dead Men Walking, while a bit too indebted to Shawshank Redemption, had great art and did at least have the decency to throw in a rampaging army of zombies.

[Barrington Boots]

I'm not sure what, on the whole of God's green Earth, could convince me to vote for Stalag 666.

Dead Men Walking, while a bit too indebted to Shawshank Redemption, had great art and did at least have the decency to throw in a rampaging army of zombies.

100 x this.

[broodblik]

Dead Men Walking

[Colin YNWA]

These two aren't inspiring the crowds, which is probably no surprise but if either rings your bell, or you just want to punish the worst you have today and I'll count up in the morning.

[Magnetica]

If only to keep up (what I think is ) my 100% voting record, I’ll vote for Stalag 666. Even if it had that bizarre “cliff hanger”/ continuity error.

[AlexF]

Genuinely difficult, this. Both stories had perfectly OK premises and one or two decent characters. Dead Men Walking told its tale competently, and Boo Cook is never boring to look at, but as people have said it never quite nudged the needle above 'memorable', even when the zombies broke loose.
Stalag 666 on the other hand was incompetently told, by both writer and artist, who conspired to fill the pages with ordinary-looking humans walking and talking. BUT every now and then you got a smash-hit panel of an evil lizard creature whipping a person in half with a future weapon, and glimpses of the greatness locked inside Jon Davis-Hunt that would emerge in future efforts from him. So it's far more memorable both because it was much worse, and, in odd moments, much better.

If the question is either, 'which thrill would I rather see again', it's Dead Men Walking, 'cos lead character Jude has potential to tell more tales. If it's 'which thrill inherently had the more interesting story', I'd probably go with Stalag 666.

Guess on balance, then, it's Dead Men Walking for me.
Now I'm off to ponder how it compares to that other much-maligned 'person dropped onto a prison planet' story, Universal Soldier...