PROG 1810: RoBusters The Disaster Squad of Distinction - Assemble

[chuffsteruk]

It's all kicking off!

[A.Cow]

BUT ... BUT ... BUT ....

Nobody has yet mentioned the teaser for Prog 2013 -- with Tharg wearing [spoiler]Dan Dare's glove, er, gauntlet thingy[/spoiler]!!!!

[vzzbux]

Klegg in the door made me laugh. Good use of the X for the eye.



V

[Dark Jimbo]

Dredd - Blimey! It's Prog 1749 all over again! This is just... just... there are no superlatives to do justice to this arc.

ABC Warriros - I inwardly groaned when Pat mentioned this imminent fight on his blog a few weeks back, but in context it actually works really well in what has, after all, been quite a politicised outing from the get-go. Nice to find out who that 'Dedan' bloke actually was after all this time and it acts as a nice 'coda' to Hammerstein's successful mission. The Mau-mau stuff does feel a bit shoehorned in, as though Pat was reading a book about it at the time and was determined to make us aware, but I can let that go. This is probably because Mek-Quake is in it this week, as usual getting all the best lines, and he's my fave character from Tharg's stable, so I'm feelin' especially charitable.
[continuitynerd]So if Quartz robotics now made Hammerstein and Mek-Quake... does that mean that those two are no longer made by Rover and Ford, respectively? Has that been completely retconned, or is there a case to be made that Rover and Ford could have since been bought up by, and become subsidaries of, Quartz's empire?[/continuitynerd]

Low Life - Great stuff.

Brass Sun - The wheels are starting to come off a bit now with some of the laziest writing yet (though the art maintains the quality of previous weeks). Panels 1 and 2 and Steerpike - sorry, Ramkin - is understandably scornful of our hero's bizarre story. 'Do I look like a child to you? Do you think me so gullible? Life on other worlds? A tramway through the stars?' He's no less contemptous come panel 4, saying that Wren could be any manner of denzien from anywhere in his world. 'But we're not,' she says. And that's as much as it takes to sway him. Panel 5 - 'Then take me with you when you leave.'
It's a really unnatural exchange, and just feels as though Edginton's hurriedly trying to get his ducks in order before the end of the strip next week and build Wren a wacky supporting cast as quickly as possible. I forsee quite a bit of this every time they go to a new world - 'You're not from here? Cool, take me with you.' I mean, this guy's just come face to face with - to all intents and purposes - alien life! He's just had the existence of other worlds confirmed! That's massive! If it happened to me I'd like to think the exchange would be a bit more lively than 'Hi, we're aliens from another planet.' 'Really? Because you just look like humans.' 'We're not.' 'Great. Take me with you.'
I think I'd have liked to have seen the drama on Wren's world play out over the course of the whole first book really, culminating in the reveal of the spar/orrery reveal and the setting-up of her quest. I wanted to know more about her Grandfather and the Archimandrite and the cog-worshipping religion, which was all really interesting and could have had legs. I understand the rush to show a variety of different worlds as soon as possible but in trying to hook readers I think overall it's suffered a bit for that. The weak link for me this week.

Simping Detective - Hmm. Love this strip, but it always staggers a bit when Demarco's in it. Her declaration of love rings a bit insincerely given that the two characters have shared very little actual panel time together in this or previous adventures. I can see why Jack would fall for her, but why would she be so head over heels for him? That aside it's good stuff, and Coleby continues to play a blinder. Been great to have Jack back after too long away.

[Fisticuffs]

6 weeks into my subscription and this is the first time I haven't had the prog by 10am saturday morning. Shame, but if it's only late 1 week in every 7 I'll be happy.

[Kerrin]

Dirty Frank didn't see that coming? Well I did. But then I'm a smartarse.

Great prog!

Oh, and according to Ian Culbard, Brass Sun is going to be a massively long story with Dizzy taking over art duties in the second book.

[Colin YNWA]

Oh, and according to Ian Culbard, Brass Sun is going to be a massively long story with Dizzy taking over art duties in the second book.

He also said that he'd then be back for the third book WAYHEY!

[Kerrin]

Cool!

Great to see you Saturday Colin. Roll on the next one!

[Dodsy]

Picked this up early (and very cheaply) at Thoought Bubble but only had chance to read Dredd so far. Top stuff, can't believe I'm having to wait over a week to find out what happens though. I'm really going to have to get a subscription.
Am I also right in thinking that at least ABC Warrors and Brass Sun must be ending next week? If 1812 is a complete Dredd story (and by the looks of these past weeks Point and Frank might be turning up) and the week after would be the end of year special.

[Fisticuffs]

Mine finally turned up. And WOW Dredd has kicked up a gear, fanastic stuff, and a brilliant final panel. Also loved the bottom left panel of Dredd on his Lawmaster, with his lower head hidden by his arm, looks totally badass.

Must say I prefer the Simp' depiction of the Black Ops personnel to the fly-eyed ones from Dredd, but it's a minor quibble.

[Mardroid]

I was a tad confused by the blurb on the on the main site concerning this Prog. You have a big cover of the Ro-busters team... then no menton of ABC Warriors inside. Instead there's a bit about Grey Area.

From this thread, I take it that's an error? (Don't mind me, I buy the Prog on Friday the digital route. No need to answer really as I'll find out then...)

[Mardroid]

What I'm referring to above.

Guess that should be in the web/errors section really (if it's not already) but it's not big deal.

[a chosen rider]

Cover - Love it.  Amazing colours!

Dredd - Called it about the list swap!  Love the "Never underestimate Mega-City One" line; I feel like that encapsulates something very important about Dredd and his philosophy.  One of the key differences between him and so many other Judges is that he never feels contempt for the citizens the way that others do - he may not particularly like them, but he never dismisses them as beneath his attention.  Credit to art and writing both here that you hardly even really notice it's a "talking heads" episode for much of it.  There are some great faces pulled by Bachmann and Estrella as the revelations come out.  And damn, what an ending!  Top stuff.

ABC Warriors - Feel like this is starting to outstay its welcome a tad.  Last week's ending felt like a strong finish to tie back into Ro-Busters; this episode seems like it's mostly an excuse to infodump some politics without revealing anything particularly new or necessary about the past.  Some nice Mek-Quake art, though.

Low Life - Frank's face in the "Evidence, yum," panel.  Awesome.  Love that he seems to be getting such a kick out of doing Judge stuff here: you can actually see how he could kinda function as a uniformed Judge, unlike Point, who you just can't picture in that role at all.  (Well, I can, actually, but it's as exactly the kind of corrupt Judge who gets busted by Dredd and sent to the cubes.)  Also love the twist in suddenly making the fact Overdrive has a shark head go from comedy to actually quite menacing.  And another great ending - definitely a sense of everything ramping up towards the big finale in this prog.

Brass Sun - Maybe it's just that the Dreddverse stuff is so good, but I'm sorry to say I'm kinda losing patience with this.  It's still beautiful to look at, but I feel like the story's just moving and moving without actually progressing.  Things happen, stuff is introduced, but I don't get much of a sense that it's going anywhere fast.

Simping Detective - Gah, bad start.  Sorry, I want to love this series, and I mostly do, but the depiction of DeMarco is so far from the Wagner character I fell in love with that I have to chant "Unreliable narrator, unreliable narrator" to myself every time she appears on the page.  Really disheartening to see my absolute favourite supporting character get stamped into a cliché noir dame role that doesn't fit her.    ...Anyway, moving on from that wrench in the narrative works: nice tie-back to Folger, and a clever way for Point to figure out how to break his brainwashing.  Great use of colour in this strip again.  And excellent unexpected twist with the [spoiler]sleep machines[/spoiler] - who do we know who's exposed to those more than anybody else?

More gripes with individual strips than last week, but all strands of the Dreddverse story are on fire.  ...Is it time for prog 1811 yet?

[Goaty]

Sorry but what the hell gonna on in Simping Detective?

Dredd & Low Life = Perfect.

[Spikes]

Not been back home long so only had chance to read Dredd.

[spoiler]STOMM, DROKK, UNFF! and indeed, BLAM x 4[/spoiler] I need to put aside a quiet moment and re-read all this..