Prog 1636 : Smile..its the law

Leigh S · 18 May, 2009, 11:04:29 PM

Have to agree with much of this thread. It wouldnt take much searching of my posts to find a very down squaxx bemoaning the state of the comic and coming to terms with the fact he was reading it mostly for the Wagner, with an odd bit of Mills doing the business now and again. However, the current prog is really doing all i could ask of it - non Wagner Dredds that feel "right", and same new writer doing his own (and the artists!) thing just as well. a bit of old school in the mix from Mills and John Smith doing something that earns its place by being very different and so far, decently creepy - even if it doesnt quite pay off for me in the end, I certainly wont begrudge the intention. Indeed, switch out one of the Mills for Stront, and this would be a strong contender for best lineup we've seen this century.

I still have concerns about just how long this can go on, and in some ways I am seeing a perfect storm of strips that are all decent reads at worst... but well done Tharg. For this rnu at the very least, I stand corrected.

James Stacey · 19 May, 2009, 08:15:52 AM

I was away for last week so that leaves me 2 weeks behind on the progs. Finally caught up and agree with most of what has been posted here re them. Also ... finally something looks like it is happening with Cradlegrave! I'm all for a big build up and character fleshing out but looking at it logically we dont really know a lot more about them than the start nor care about them any more. I'm trying to enjoy it but the characters are all pretty unlikeable.

Richmond Clements · 19 May, 2009, 08:28:10 AM

Cradlegrave is an astonishing piece of writing (and art).
I've been readin ti, then reading it again slowly, then looking at it again, and I can't figure out just where that feeling of dread is seeping from. Yes, this latest episode has the first 'incident' as it where, but up until then it was just creepy for no apparent reason.

Brilliant stuff.

James Stacey · 19 May, 2009, 08:48:50 AM

Is that not because you know there has to be a payoff due to the fact its in 2000ad and the fact little has been revealed. There are some small happenings that can be taken as sinister or mundane depending on your expectation. I'd expect watching Corrie fully expecting it to explode in a Cthulu-esqe explosion of tenticles would have the same effect

Roger Godpleton · 20 May, 2009, 06:37:31 PM

Cover: Beautiful in its own strange fashion. Great Stuff.

Dredd: I actually had to put this down at one point because it was so funny. I also love the fact that it still has a sad ending and that the creators know to respect this. Great Stuff.

Zombo: Slightly more sedate than previous weeks, but still Thrill of the Year. Great Stuff.

Slaine: Yes Pat, this is all very nice. Satires on property booms? That Pat sure can surf that zeitgeist! OK Stuff.

Cradlegrave: Well it looks like we'll be getting the money shot next week, I just hope it's not some silly copout "It was just some cakes" or something. Great Stuff.

Savage: So how about that monster, eh? Oh, he's ill. Well, he can always be resolved in Book Kajillion. To make up for it we'll just bung in some stupid made-up espionage-y dialogue and everything will be copacetic. Now let's get some hookers and some coke. OK Stuff.

SmallBlueThing · 20 May, 2009, 07:33:18 PM

Cover: Yay! Mr Robinson, I salute you. Always a pleasure to have you up the front.

Dreddy: Again, I'm not overly fond of this- but it didn't read "wrong", just not to my taste.

Zombo: Right. I want a whole series set in this universe of humans exploring worlds that just try to kill them, with no intelligent aliens. A nihilistic Star Trek. That's such a pefect, encapsulated, pitch for an ongoing series that I haven't been quite so impressed by anything in 2000AD for a very long time. This is magnificent stuff. The pages detailing Zombo's backstory are among my favourite bits in the comic, ever- and I only read it today. Glorious.

Slaine: Art's a bit fusty this week, I thought- but this has pleasing echoes of those early Bellardinelli stories, where Ukko would get Slaine into all sorts of trouble each week. Again, top stuff.

Cradlegrave: More build-up, though this week it seemed to be going somewhere. Ordinarily I'd've given up on a strip wherein four episodes go by and nothing really happens... but this... but this... there's menace in the pages. I look forward to watching it unfold over the rest of its run. Mr Smith hasn't let me down yet.

Savage: Gawd bless it, I love it. And the art is exemplery.

Back cover: Heh. I can still remember buying that prog. It was a random purchase, back during a period where I wasn't actively getting 2000AD every week. I remember being disgusted with the thinness and paper-stock, and not buying again for ages.

So,

Top Thrill: Zombo.

Best Bit: Zombo's origin.

Splundigs!

Steev

Kerrin · 20 May, 2009, 08:51:24 PM

Cover - A one panel story. Brilliant.

Dredd - Stonking finish. Give Al some more Dredd jobs please Mighty One. <simpergrovelbreakwindnervouslysimper>

Zombo - Favourite thing in the prog. Awesome art again. Flinty's alien flora and fauna are beautifully done, there's almost a Moebius feel about some of it. Al Ewing and Henry Flint are my new dream team. And now we've got inbred cannibals too. Perfect.

Slaine - What the f*ck. I actually read a slaine and didn't think "what a load of old monkeyspunk". No ancient boring bollocks, it's just daft. Much better than I'd expected.

Cradlegrave - Creeping. Me. Out. Skin crawlingly atmospheric in story and art.

Savage - Was good. Jeez.

Back cover - Who wears the wig? Well in the old day's it would have been a Wogan caricature of some type. But nowadays it could be any kind of craziness.

Another great prog, even Slaine and Savage, which is kinda weird considering how I've felt about them for years now.

I think we could do with a decent space opera story. We haven't had a decent one of those for a while.

vzzbux · 20 May, 2009, 09:00:13 PM

Just a little gripe about the cover.

Don't get me wrong it is a great cover but why cant they be topical to stories inside. these can be assigned to star scans.

Gripe over.

V

Dandontdare · 20 May, 2009, 09:06:40 PM

What can I say that's not been said? Fine prog.

Didn't care for the cover much - I appreciate the joke, and I love Cliff's Dredd usually, but this doesn't work somehow for me. Thought I should get any negativity out the way early doors, cos the rest of it's a corker!

Judge Dredd - it's got crazy future sports, Mega City Vid-jocks getting threatened, homicidal priests, Dredd handing out harsh sentences, all overlayed with a uniquely British sense of smutty innuendo. What more can you ask? Ewing scores another hit, and the Marshall & Blythe combo don't put a foot wrong. They are shaping up to be a really good team on Dredd. I still wouldn't let John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra fly on the same plane though.

I think Zombo is just a masterpiece. I'm seriously going to start having nightmares about them birds. "I'm dead. RWWARRRK"

Slaine looks pretty as always. [spoiler:38ujz86s]I'm not sure I buy either the coincidence of running into each other, Ukko's denial of the obvious dangers (implausible for such a smart career coward), or Slaine being so easily manipulated into beating the gong.[/spoiler:38ujz86s]Frankly, Slaine became meaningless for me plot-wise after the first few sagas (time travel was the 'jumping the shark' moment I think), but I've always appreciated it as a vehicle to tell great celtic/fantasy type stories with lush artwork, and this doesn't disappoint on that level.

Cradlegrave continues to ramp up the menace. [spoiler:38ujz86s]Going to the old guy's house after a hit and run seems a bit unlikely,[/spoiler:38ujz86s] but the characters remain believable. I really hope this doesn't disappoint, but I really can't say where it's going at this stage - which is good really, but if it later turns out to be pants, can I go on record as saying I knew it deep down all along (similarly if it turns out to be a classic)? Absolutely love the art by Bagwell - the palette of reds browns and mauves is suitably grim.

Still liking Savage. Is that last panel a blatant homage to Ashes to Ashes with the chequerboard ceiling tiles, moustachioed cops and shootahs?

I find I'm waking up on a Saturday and wondering if the postie's been like I haven't done for a good while, and that's a good thing.

Paul faplad Finch · 20 May, 2009, 09:48:52 PM

I'm not going to comment on Slaine after this week because it really is absolutely terrible stuff and I can't muster the energy for it. Savage on the other hand is bearable and showing signs of developing into something that's 'not completely shit', which has taken me by surprise somewhat.

Now for the good stuff. Dredd was aces. Al Ewing is working wonders with the character in his brief spells and a longer run is surely coming although maybe not quite yet. Bringing him on slowly may be the best bet for long term success.

Cradlegrave has creeped me out since it started so I can't wait to see what it has in store now that the plot proper looks like it's kicked in. The old woman really amped up the weirdness this week didn't she?

Zombo needs to run and run. The sheer invention in this short run has been off the scale and deserves a much broader canvas. And I too was freaked by the birds. Seriously creepy, and all the more so for appearing in an otherwise quite breezy series. If breezy is the right word for a series that killed almost it's entire cast in the first two episodes.

And the cover was tops too.

Leigh S · 20 May, 2009, 11:25:48 PM

Forgot to add: If Edmund Bagwell is the same chap who did the "Juves n the hood" strip in a Dredd special all those years back, then he has to be seconded back there pronto! I always loved that take on Dredd, and hoped to see more of the artist. His lack of a return gig was especially annoying given the genreal level of art back in the meg and prog was much lower than it is now, but even in this age of much improved art, that strips seemed to capture something that very few can...

ThryllSeekyr · 21 May, 2009, 12:17:04 AM

QuoteI'm not sure I buy either the coincidence of running into each other,

(Referring to Slaine and Ukko!)

I have always assumed that they were 'fated' to be adventuring companions. Cathbad predicted this arrangement himself in "Warriors Dawn". Sort of like a Geas. I think Slaine's livelihood rests on this. So, it's more than a coinincidence that they meet again. Don't take my word for it though. It's just one of those things that I've assumed.

zombemybabynow · 22 May, 2009, 03:07:03 PM

Loving Zombo, the art, story and ideas eg. clone lovers, sentient deathworlds etc.

I'd love this to come out as a hardback T(p)B like that Lobster Random arc did.

mygrimmbrother · 22 May, 2009, 08:40:49 PM

Overall, loved it.

Dredd - not been disappointed by Ewing yet. Paul Marshall's Dredd is not my favourite but it's perfectly serviceable.

Zombo - great, lightweight, classic 2000AD strip - again, Ewing delivers the goods again. Flint - a joy, as always.

Slaine - BOOOOOOOORING. Enough was enough a long time ago. Langley's art is too dense, too un-comic-ey, doesn't flow; Mills' script lazy, on autopilot.

Cradlegrave - still intriguing, agree with other posters - it might go down the paranormal route or it might just be hinting at it, either way I wanna know.

Savage - enjoyable.

I have just got back from the pub and I've had 5 pints, so bear with me if I seem overly critical.

Funt Solo · 23 May, 2009, 05:54:55 AM

Class progage from the thrill-meisters.

Little Shop of Cradlegravers is a standout - it's so overbearingly tense due to a masterful fusion of art and script.

Dredd v. funny - loved the commentary tying into the gun battle.

Zombo - bonkers and loving it.

Slaine - hurrah! It's Ukko!

Savage - a sort of cross between The Sweeney, Life on Mars and Generation Kill - which makes it not 'alf bad.

Cover - special mention for this - it's a story all it's own - why not make more cover story type covers, seeings as Star Scans are seemingly a thing of the past. G'arn.