Prog 2341 - Kill Shot

[IndigoPrime]

How many times have we had this trope now – surprise! It's a different strip?

- The Dead Man – blew my mind as a youngling, and still has a solid set-up when read today
- Dead Eyes – start way to reboot Indigo Prime that worked pretty well
- The Vort – lovely art, and a quite good way to bring back Lobster Random
- Malone – the one quite a few folks clocked early on, and didn't do anything for me

And now Azimuth. Am I missing any?

Honestly, Azmimuth annoys me on multiple levels. I don't really like Sin/Dex anyway. It's rarely done anything for me throughout its entire length and I kind of wish it would go away. But Azmimuth felt different from everything else I'd seen in 2000 AD, bar the puns/names (which in hindsight... yeah).

I hope Colin's right and this can somehow work. But I fear what we'll end up with is ultimately lots of Sin/Dex shooty bang bang taking the strip back to something resembling a status quo, with all that great worldbuilding tossed out of the window. I hope I'm wrong.

[IndigoPrime]

On the Prog itself, Droid Life might have become in this case a little too convoluted for its own good. Dredd starts well, but Asher's dead, isn't he? Azimuth... I mean, it's still good, but...

Portals has something going on, although it feels quite messy from a storytelling perspective. They'd best not kill the vamp to make the lead all fired up.

Void Runners continues to blaze along at breakneck speed, and Hershey nicely heads back in time before returning to an equally intense present for the protagonist.

A solid prog in all, I thought, and even if nothing quite hits a dizzy high, everything was at least good this week. Dredd > Hershey > Azimuth > Void > Portals

[Goosegash]

Azimuth - I have a feeling there is more going on here and the Sin/Dex cameo is a bit of a...cameo. If this was intended to be a big reveal a la The Dead Man/Malone it would be weird to drop it this early, and if this version of of Finnigan and Ramone are just digital avatars of the real thing that means it doesn't have to be tied into current continuity on the actual strip, which I suspect it might not be.



I PREDICT! they will either disappear after next week or just fade into the background as the story goes on.

[Richard]

I doubt that. Firstly, what would be the point of doing that? And secondly, in an interview someone posted on the forum when the series started, Dan Abnett implied that Tazio Bettin might have not been credited as a co-creator of Azimuth for some reason (but for Dan insisting that he should be), and if the reason isn't that it's a SinDex spin-off then what else could it be?

[Southstreeter]

I was grinning from ear to ear when I turned the page on Azimuth, even if it had always been a possibility. Even if it's not yet clear what's going on, having an AI world in the context of SinDex's ongoing storyline makes complete sense. Plus I worry about Dabnett having too many stories on the go at once (not that he ever compromises on quality) so I'm happy to see this as a SD interlude rather than yet another long running serial that might crowd out more Out, Brink, Kingdom (we can dream!), Grey Area etc.

[Link Prime]

Let me get this straight; you thought that a new strip written by Dan Abnett, drawn by the current artist on Sinister Dexter and full of groan inducing puns was going to be it's own series?

[norton canes]

For me, the most interesting thing about the appearance of Sinister and Dexter is that they're not from where the Bulletopia story is now up to, so it's not like Azimuth is in a straightforward parallel timeline, or is a continuation of the current plot. Can I ask you long-term Squaxx, is it possible to work out where it fits into their history? And if it is from their past (maybe it's from their future!) then it seems like a weird way to drop in a new SinDex storyline. I can't help thinking that the appearance of a plethora of other characters from sci-fi/fantasy universes is telling us this isn't just a SinDex spin-off. It's certainly intriguing - I wonder if we've missed any other clues..?

Felt the storytelling was great throughout the prog this week, which really kept me engaged. Love the jug-themed decor in Asher's apartment and the incongruous rubber duck. Good bit of double jeopardy in Black Goo. The Subjugator task force are the real stars of Void Runners. And come on, it's impossible not to like a strip which includes the line "The joy spiders... they're heading for Antarctic City".

[norton canes]

Let me get this straight; you thought that a new strip written by Dan Abnett, drawn by the current artist on Sinister Dexter and full of groan inducing puns was going to be it's own series?

As others have mentioned, it almost seemed too obvious!

[Colin YNWA]

Let me get this straight; you thought that a new strip written by Dan Abnett, drawn by the current artist on Sinister Dexter and full of groan inducing puns was going to be it's own series?

As others have mentioned, it almost seemed too obvious!

To be fair we didn't assume The Out wasn't its own thing and not a spin off from Grey Area (there's probably obvious reasons why it wasn't but hey that'd undermine my point so I'm not looking for those!)

[Tomwe]

What's the Romita Snr. cover that Foster is aping here?

Anyone interested in the answer to this, I asked Foster on IG:

It's his Amazing Spider-Man 55 cover. It's not a 1/1 homage, but it was probably the biggest influence on the idea.

[broodblik]

B/W Cover:

[Link Prime]

Let me get this straight; you thought that a new strip written by Dan Abnett, drawn by the current artist on Sinister Dexter and full of groan inducing puns was going to be it's own series?

As others have mentioned, it almost seemed too obvious!

To be fair we didn't assume The Out wasn't its own thing and not a spin off from Grey Area (there's probably obvious reasons why it wasn't but hey that'd undermine my point so I'm not looking for those!)

When I first saw the promo piece for Azimuth a few months ago I Googled the word.
Quote from Wiki; "It originates from medieval Arabic السموت (al-sumūt, pronounced as-sumūt), meaning "the directions" (plural of Arabic السمت al-samt = "the direction")".
Directions as in "Right" and "Left"? I smirked, as I slumped back into my office chair like an overweight Ozymandias.

Regardless - your point stands Col!

What's the Romita Snr. cover that Foster is aping here?

Anyone interested in the answer to this, I asked Foster on IG:

It's his Amazing Spider-Man 55 cover. It's not a 1/1 homage, but it was probably the biggest influence on the idea.

Thanks for posting that, poignant timing and all.

[nxylas]

Let me get this straight; you thought that a new strip written by Dan Abnett, drawn by the current artist on Sinister Dexter and full of groan inducing puns was going to be it's own series?

About an assassin in a futuristic, geographically indeterminate city. I always figured it was set in the same universe, but wasn't expecting Finny and Ramone to show up quite so early.

[Funt Solo]

How many times have we had this trope now – surprise! It's a different strip?

- The Dead Man – blew my mind as a youngling, and still has a solid set-up when read today
- Dead Eyes – start way to reboot Indigo Prime that worked pretty well
- The Vort – lovely art, and a quite good way to bring back Lobster Random
- Malone – the one quite a few folks clocked early on, and didn't do anything for me

And now Azimuth. Am I missing any?

I think you got them all. I suppose what sets these apart from a crossover-surprise (like Mek-Quake suddenly showing up in Book III of Nemesis) is that the rug gets pulled entirely, and the stealth thrill gets pushed to one side in favor of the original. With Dead Man, Vort and Malone, there's no story to continue - because the main character was in disguise.

Dead Eyes is *slightly* different, in that the main character now comes with us into a wider universe. And perhaps Azimuth will follow that path - with Suzi Nine surviving into a larger world. Or perhaps Sin & Dex are only visiting hers?

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By the way, this episode of Azimith also features The Mean Machine (Dick Dastardly and Muttley's car from Wacky Races), and an Akira-motorbike.

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Where are we in continuity? Well, Ramone says "creepfakes", which is a reference to the AI-controlled clones with tattoos that are difficult to kill. (A bit like Suzi Nine.) Thing is, I don't recognize the car - they always drive that black one. Maybe these are digitized versions of Sin and Dex that will fit back into the regular continuity with a bit of "how they got here". Maybe they're just wearing Sin and Dex skins, and aren't them at all.

---

Azimuth got me back into reading 2000 AD - I've been off my prog since last Autumn and have only caught up to the most recent Xmas issue. Amazing art, and a creative setting. It's good comics.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

How many times have we had this trope now – surprise! It's a different strip?

- The Dead Man – blew my mind as a youngling, and still has a solid set-up when read today
- Dead Eyes – start way to reboot Indigo Prime that worked pretty well
- The Vort – lovely art, and a quite good way to bring back Lobster Random
- Malone – the one quite a few folks clocked early on, and didn't do anything for me

And now Azimuth. Am I missing any?

Honestly, Azmimuth annoys me on multiple levels. I don't really like Sin/Dex anyway. It's rarely done anything for me throughout its entire length and I kind of wish it would go away. But Azmimuth felt different from everything else I'd seen in 2000 AD, bar the puns/names (which in hindsight... yeah).

I hope Colin's right and this can somehow work. But I fear what we'll end up with is ultimately lots of Sin/Dex shooty bang bang taking the strip back to something resembling a status quo, with all that great worldbuilding tossed out of the window. I hope I'm wrong.

Anyone who has received the recent Thrill-mail will by now know that judging from next week's cover reveal, Azimuth will be similar to the likes of The Dead Man, The Vort & Malone, in that it appears to be a one-shot spinoff story