Prog 1499 shocker!

[House of Usher]

Prog 1499 was only slightly less enjoyable than I hoped it would be.

I had no expectations of Judge Dredd, and what we got was fair enough.

I wasn't expecting Al Ewing's Future Shock, and it was a good one. I was quite saddened to see scheming and treacherous humanity wipe out the aliens so quickly. Had we really nothing else to learn from them, and had they become such a threat already? Did we have to wipe them out 'just because we could'? (answers: no, maybe, and yes, I suppose)

The Red Seas was as excellent as it should have been. You can't spin out an adventure yarn to such a length and have a damp squib ending. A fitting resolution.

Harry Kipling (deceased), Something for Nothing, was disappointing at the end. Part 2 was one of the best single episodes of any 2000ad story so far this year, but part 3 didn't have the same energy. Most of it got used up in the brilliant revelation that the atheists were more fanatical than the cultists in Prog 1498, and all that was left after that was the shooting.

[ThryllSeekyr]

It's not on the front yet.

[House of Usher]

"It's not on the front yet."

ThryllSeekyr, you're so cryptic.

[I, Cosh]

Wake's on holiday...

[Dudley]

Great cover.

What a truly brilliant Dredd.  

That's possibly the best Future Shock in the last 700 Progs.

Red Seas was great, liked the foreboding.

Best episode of Harry Kipling yet, though it still doesn't completely rock my boat.

To manage this in Prog 1499 makes Matt Smith a God-like genius.

[Dog Deever]

Cover is aces. It's nice to see someone else get a crack at Kipling. If Dom Reardon got to do a colour series on this character I might finally be able to actually bother with it. There was a thread sometime about people not liking Kipling, but I didn't post before it disappeared, so I'm throwing my hat in with the dislikers right here. I did try to read earlier stories, but I've stopped bothering now. I just can't take any of it in, the colour is appalling. Sorry. Shame really, coz it seems interesting and funny- just the type I would otherwise enjoy.

Dredd: Didn't have a fucking clue what was going on in most of the story. Unlike someone else- I haven't bothered to go back over it again. Meh.

Future Shock: Haven't read it yet, i will later though.

Red Seas: Cruddy ending to a story which has been great up til now. Totally changed the tone of the whole thing, and not for the better. Plus, New-Jim would have made a fine addition to Dancer's crew of misfits, instead of conveniently deciding to stay behind. And Isabella deserved a better finish than that also. Still, I hope the next story is brewing!

Kipling: Can't comment on the story as i haven't read any of it. As i said- I gave up on this character ages ago, and for the same reasons that I couldn't be arsed trying to decipher Asylum 2 so  long ago. Someone mentioned Boo Cook for Ace Garp's return- if that's gonna happen, please make it in black and white!!!

Mind you, i have little enthusiasm for anything this week, so my black mood may have affected my thrill circuits. I hope I've cheered by next week so I don't piss all over the prog 1500 celebrations!

[Bad Andy]

so my black mood may have affected my thrill circuits

That and the fact you haven't read half the prog!

If I'm not in the mood I tend to skim read it and hardly go back, leaving me thinking it's a poor prog when it aint.

If I were you I would return to this one in a bit. I agree about New-Jim joining the crew though - it would have been great.

[paulvonscott]

The red seas isn't my favourite edginton story, but I do quite like it.  

However (and I trust everyone has read the issue so far, SPOILERS ho!), fun though though the ending was, another war of the worlds reference was one too many for me.  Loved Scarlet Traces, loved War of the Worlds!  But please, something else!  Beyond LOEG/Scarlet Traces and their relatives, I don't want to see any more strips with bloody martians in for a good hundred moons or more.

Oh and very nice FS, Al.

[Dog Deever]

"If I were you I would return to this one in a bit."

I know- i'm still in a shit of a mood over my guitar's demise.
And today I discovered the fookin  dog nicked the strap for it and chewed it in half!
See?
The muses are taking the piss out of me.

Liked Al Ewing's FS- suited my mood to a T, those bastard superheroes deserved it! Read it twice, and it gave me an evil grin both times.

Not even a miraculous instrument recovery will make me read Kipling! I try hard not to look at it every week in case I damage my retina, at least with the old bog paper progs the colour might fade in a few years.

snarl, grump, whinge, moan, swear.

[I, Cosh]

The muses are taking the piss out of me.


Well, Kristin Hersh has always had a sharp tongue in her head...

Link: http://www.50footwave.com/" target="_blank">Throw this muse a bone

[HiEx]

Cover: Bleh!

Dredd: Nice to see Pete Doherty back on Dredd art duties, although somebody needs to tell him that Judges no longer carry the MKI Lawgiver, and haven't done for several years. Also, as others have mentioned, he drew Rico looking as old as Dredd. As for the story, I just thought it didn't really make sense beacause of the timing. Rico has the perp in sight and in is in hot pursuit on his Lawmaster, yet Dredd still has time to go to 3 different locations, beat up and interrorgate several perps and yet despite the time needed for this investigative work,  still gets to the bad guy before Rico.......bleh again!

Future Shock: Great story and art. Best thing i this prog.

Red Seas: Not a bad ending to what has otherwise been a lacklustre tale. I liked seeing the H.G. Wells type martians.

Kipling: Normally I like this, but this episode was a bit unclear about a few points. What where those pink disks that were mentioned once and then promptly forgotten about. And what about the Atheist thingie, It didn't really seem clear what happened to it. there is a brief mention of handcuffs, but nothing is shown or mentioned. Seemed like they tried to cram too much into the ending.

HiEx

[House of Usher]

As I understand it, whereas Rico was pursuing the perp, Dredd was doing detective work to find out where the perp might be headed, and so was able to get there ahead of him and be lying in wait for him there. Presumably this was possible because Dredd was closer to the perp's destination than either the perp or Rico from the word go.

Although it looks as if the judge in the control room was wasting resources by putting two senior judges on the case, it seems to me he was acting quite properly. The bomber was a danger to people and property, and as such it's quite right he should be pursued and not just be allowed to get away with it until Dredd catches him at his lock-up.

Procedure used to be 'all judges in vicinity', not 'one judge per case'. As ever, Justice Department procedure and the details of Mega-City life are rearranged to suit the needs of the story.