Prog 2005 - Thrill power overload

[Bad Andy]

Yeah - would have preferred this cover
http://www.2000adonline.com/functions/cover.php?Comic=scans&choice=prog2005">

[Bad Andy]

D'oh. Bad web fu

Link: http://www.2000adonline.com/functions/cover.php?Comic=scans&choice=prog2005" target="_blank">Rogue T - Comin' Atcha!

[farmergeddon]

Great to see Dante back, however, much as I like John Burns, what has happened to Simon Fraser?

[Cthulouis]

Cabalistics:  shows that Hellboy has no excuse for sucking as bad as it does.

Slain: was being read by some of my non comic reading friends, and they thought it was great. which is nice.

Second city blues: the art work here doesn't work for me, the heads are too big and the figures too, something, im not sure, thats why im not an editor. hmmm, imagine Henry Flint drawing this, hmmm, Flinttastic, (though the fact that hes not means hes probably doing better stuff, so yay!)

Cover: I'm going to talk about this in my first letter of the Get More Letters Printed Than Floyd K Campagine. wish me luck!

Dante: yay! yayyayyay! yay! I like. a lot.

[Floyd-the-k]

it`s funny  - I didn`t like the cover on the website, but now it`s in front of me, I like it. Reminds me of the Mad magazines I used to read in the 70s. I guess it helps that I know who the characters are.
 So far;
good Dredd, brilliant art. a little unrealistic, but hey, it`s the Blints. Good to see they didn`t kill too many Aussies
Cabalistics; good fun stuff, very interesting
Alien invasions: not as brilliant as last time but still nice and strange. I`m happy they`re back
Sin/Dex; good fun
Slaine: well, it`s just like the last Slaine innit? It`s growing on me
haven`t read anything else yet

[Jared Katooie]

Hehe. I accidentaly got charged the normal price for this! It was less in Euro than the cost in Pounds! Yes!

Cover - Good idea. Poor execution. 3/10

Judge Dredd - The art wasn't very good on this but the plot helped it out. The story didn't ammount to much really but it was readable. I get the feeling I should have disliked this, but I dont. 5/10

Caballistics - I'm not a huge fan of Caballistics but this was good stuff. Revealing the past of Department Q while revealing significant facts which will be important in the present. The art is consistantly strong now and I like it lots. 7/10

Sin/Dex: Bland and boring. Not as bad as it might have been though. Theres nothing special to be found here. The ending is a non-ending. 3/10

Ace Garp art: Ace trucking Co was one of the best series ever.

Slaine: Same old Slaine. A character is introduced crudely for the purposes of the story and another a ressurected no doubt to be killed again. 3/10

Tales of the Leviathan: Not much but a welcome addition to one of the best series ever.  7/10

Robo - Hunter: Better than people have said. The jokes are more proliferant and better too. It should be better but at the moment its good enough. 6/10

Second-city Blues: This is ridiculous. I might end up liking it but it'll never be a classic. Future sports will aways rule though. 5/10

Dante: This was pretty bad. Dante is dark, dante is carefree. He's crude and unskilled, he's a killing machine. He cant be both. As far as I'm concerned Dante ended with The courtship of Jena Makarov and afterwards became ridiculous and repetitive. 3/10

Tharg's Alien Invasions: Too short too annoy me much. 5/10

Overall: Easily the equal of other end of year progs and better than some of them. 7/10

[Darren Stephens]

A few comments....Liked it mostly, but....

Cover: Utter rubbish! The 'suggested colour scheme' inside the prog would have worked much better.
I thought the strips throughout were very good. The weakest was probably the new one , 'second city', which looks like its gonna suck balls.
Everything else was very enjoyable. Cabs and (i cant believe im saying this) SinDex were highlights for me. Andrew Curries art, although no Jim Murray, was great. He draws very, very sexy ladies! Merry Christmas all.
Darren

[colcool007]

As a nowadays sometimes reader of 2000AD, I thought I would add in my tuppenth worth.

Christmas with the Blints - Classic JD story. Solidly based in the Mega-City story arc. Adds flavour to the ethos of Dredd rather than stating the be-all and end-all of Dredd. 8/10

Caballistics - Intriguing enough to make me reconsider my decision not to buy 2000AD. 9/10

Sin/Dex - Never been a fan, but a decent throwaway story. 6/10

Leviathian - A prequel, I believe. Solid, but not outstanding. 6/10

Slaine - I feel that it is time for Mac Roth to be moved on quietly. I think that the character has been taken as far as he can be taken. Can we not invest time and money into another character? 6/10

2nd City Blues - More humour would help this re-hash. I am torn between trying to figure out if this is a homage to Aeroball or a send-up of Kids TV. 6.5/10

Robo-Hunter - Worked surprisingly well. My first impression when I heard of Samantha Slade was that it would bomb, but the script and the art gelled. 7.5/10

Alien Invasions - Spot on. We both laughed out loud at these short-shorts. Much better than some of the dire humour inflicted on us in the 80's. 8/10

Dante - My Goodness! What a revelation. I have never ever been a fan of Dante, but this makes me regret not buying my weekly copy of 2000AD for the last 6 years. With stories of this calibre, 2000AD cannot fail. 9.9/10

Overall, I don't regret buying this edition, but as time goes on, I find that great art does not keep me buying the comic as it did in earlier days. I have the greatest respect for the poor (as in poor b******s) hard-working artists and writers who are doing their best to come up the goods week in and week out, but I have to put food on the table for my kids and 2000AD comes a poor third in comparison to that reality.

     I can only hope that this is a nadir for 2000AD and that I will, happily, be proven wrong as 2000AD gets better, in my opinion, to the point where I panic if my subscription comes close to running out.

Link: www.26pigs.com

[philt]

Caballistics, Leviathan, Droid Life and the Boo Cook Ace Trucking poster are the highlights.

[swavesey]

I can't believe this issue. Since when do we get a prog 2000 that is so far below the quality of the issue before - and totally without the star artists, suprises, and start of exciting new series that we expect.

That cover was vile, it doesn't work on any level - even as caricatures they are below par.

The dredd story was dull, the artwork lazy (no backgrounds, the worst lawmaster I've ever seen, dredd with a double chin, crappy stars on his helmet, comedy ending without a punchline).

Cabal had an interesting format, but it was impossible to care about any of the characters given a one panel introduction.

Sinister dexter was as bad as ever.

Slaine was the same mix of pointless conversation whilst aimlessly swinging swords, the golamhs just became incredibly camp.

That boarding sport bumph was vaguely attempting to start out as halo jones (street gangs, jive talk, aliens living amongst the populace but barely tolerated) before giving in to the pathetic harlem heroes "kids" tale that it is.

Nikolai dante was beautifully painted (but a total non-story), leviathan was fun as ever (but toothless now we know the ending), and robohunter provided further proof of Alan Grant's odd ability to produce good stories away from his pants Dredd tales.

The fact that Robo-hunter was my favourite story genuinely worries me. I was expecting something great, and for the first time in years, I really don't know if I want to buy the next issue.

Anyone else had a similarly deflating experience?