prog 1782 - Release the Hounds

[Darren Stephens]

..... And finally, yes, I too agree that the Owl benefits quite nicely actually from a splash of colour.

I agree, but the colouring here is absolutely the best he's ever been paired with, IMO.

[Buttonman]

I couldn't see buttonmoon in the letters page. I do believe I was though. It seems a bit misplaced now though as I sent it about a month ago.
V

Aww, no Prog no fair! Name the names - the Beast is hungry!

[Mikey]

I am Progless. On a Bank Holiday weekend. On the run up to the Olympics this is making the nation look ridiculous.

M

[James Stacey]

On a re-read I realised how good Chris Blythe's colouring was, Fire especially.

I was going to comment on that. I guess computer colouring has come on a long way since the gruesome threesome have been about last but fires depiction was on err fire. Cracking stuff.

[Hawkmumbler]

Cover- Meh. Stock cover utelising the 'Metalic Villain And Anderson/ Dredd- Specify Hair Lengh' style.
Saying this I do like it. *** and a 1/2

Dredd- I'm not saying anything.
It ISSSSSSSS good though. *****

Flesh: Rapidly loosing patients. Sod off Mills and work on some good scripts.
It pain's me to hate this series but really, jog the fuck on.
Art's still very nice though. ** and a 1/2

Zaucer: Still growing on me after last week's turn around, astounding art as-per.
Tutu round me up the wrong way so not particularly sorry she's ended up as she has. *** and a 1/2

Time Twister: Eh? Oh sod it. **

Anderson: Still really liking this. Beautigul art from Yeowel and the colours are gourges.
Story is still average at best though. *** and a 1/2

Over all, a decent prog. Dredd is the shitz at the moment while both Anderson and Zaucer are really making it for me. The Time twister was simply sodding awful, while flesh continues on a down ward spiral to hell.

[Hawkmumbler]

I just reliazed. What are the chances of the possesd Judge karyn turning up with the possibility of Anderson returning to the strip? They two hated each other, and I dont think the beast has made an appearence since she was possesed.

[Richmond Clements]

WHERE IS THE MERGE MONKEY?

Right here!

[Pete Wells]

Cover: 4 covers from Weston in a couple of months what a treat. Normally from what I hear it takes him like a month to do one.

I REALLY wanna see a Dark Judges cover from Weston!

[Colin YNWA]

A few weeks ago I imagined a mighty battle between the titans of Yeozilla and Flintothra for the world's greatest artistic mega beast. Well over the last couple of weeks MegalmacNeil has joined the titanic battle. It's frightening for us mere mortals to watch the Earth tremble in their mighty wake, but thrilling.

Elsewhere Dredd exposes all my problems with the Dark Judges and left as is they seemed a bit tagged onto things, I do however fully expect for this to be proved entirely wrong soon. Strangle having said that brilliant.

Flesh is great who cares if the science is nonsense, given Pat Mills wonky views on science clearly not him and from a pure entertainment viewpoint I'm happy to role with it. Flesh continues to site next to its perfect partner the superb Zaucer of Zilk, oh as Paula Abdul said Opposites Attract (that was Paula Abdul right?).

Lee Brown sums up the Time Twister perfectly for me. Shame as it looked great.

Really enjoying Anderson and as with Wagner fully expect Grant to have a little twist in the tale to turn things.

[IndigoPrime]

Flesh is great who cares if the science is nonsense

I'm not really concerned about the science being nonsense, more the underlying misogyny, the poor characterisation, the general lack of logic throughout the entire script (beyond the 'science'), lazy, phoning-it-in plot devices (Hey, everyone! Another bunch of characters I'm going to spend a bunch of frames naming one by one!), and so on.

Really, I think it's a crying shame, because the general concept is fantastic, the first run of this reboot had some redeeming qualities, and if McKay can rein in his inner 15-year-old, he can do some decent, gritty art. But: bleh. It's almost like a comic from the 1970s, and while that's in some ways fine (Action! Silliness! Fun!), it's not so great when many of its attitudes remain stuck in the past too.

[Colin YNWA]

Its an interesting point but can a woman not use her sexuality to get what she wants without it being defacto misogyny? Particularly in the context of a character that's been raised by someone like Claw Carver and who very specifically last week confirmed what I thought was being shown for sometime, that Carter had learnt a lot from her father and would use whatever she could, like him, to get what she wants? This is enforced with all the cheesecake art. Look at the way she arts and compare it to the way Claw Carver does in the earlier Flesh books, it makes sense and has been very well done.

In this specific story I really think its good characterisation and for once not cheesecake for cheesecakes sake and I do think this is now been spelled out, where before it was subtly done (the reasons not the tits and ass, there was nowt subtle about that) and I was wondering if I was just trying to justify a strip I enjoyed. Now not so, I do think its any important story and character point and that's been laid out for all to see... in more ways than one!

The rest of the characters flaunting there stuff is in the context of the environment they all work in. The men are ridiculous testosterone driven beef cakes the women a parallel, which people it seems are finding offensive. It makes sense to me however in the context of the story. Could it do with a bit of counter balance, maybe, but that would be the same for both genders. The humans, in the main, are made cliche and simplistic to make the real stars of the show, the dinosaurs, shine all the more.

The rest of the points you raise I can't defend as specifically, though I do disagree... well some lazy plotting aside, but in that instance I just have to shrug and move on as there's enough good stuff for me to get past it.

[Mudcrab]

I thought to be mysogynistic, it'd have to be McGurk ripping Carter's clothes off and having HIS evil way, Conan style. Why, when it's the other way round is it still mysogyny? Or is it having a female in the story at all that's the problem? Or like American Reaper, the fact that she's good looking? The horror! Once again, strip all this so-called mysogyny away and you've got a plain looking, flat-chested munter using her, er, what, I dunno, just doesn't work. Not in this strip, it's all manly cowboys and tarty women. Both of which exist very much in real world.

Anyway, I'm not defending the story here this time, I agree it's a bit all over the place, but then it seems to me to be like a 70s strip, like someone said. Maybe that's the point. McKay's art's certainly improved this time round.

Not enjoying Yoewell's young Anderson as much as Ezquerra. I guess his one was too mysogynizzzzy though. Sorry, I'm pushing it now.

Time Twister, great stuff, art awesome.

Dredd is amazing. Can't say much more there.

[Spaceghost]

The cover is nice enough. Nothing earth shattering.

And that's the end of the Three Dark Chuckle Brothers in Dredd. Trout is spot on with his post above. They really are thick aren't they? How the hell did they manage to wipe out life on their own world? I don't think we've seen the last of them though and I would suggest that they'll be meeting with a certain ex-mayor in the near future. I love Colin's Dredd and it's great to see an all out action episode like this.

I'm still enjoying Zilk and it's dreamlike, hallucinatory storybook world. Hard to say where the story will go as it's not following an established path. I've been wondering if it'll turn out to be [spoiler]"all a dream!"[/spoiler] or some equivalent. McCarthy's art is beautiful.

With Flesh, I think it's fair to use word 'misogyny'. It's a very dated and hackneyed device to have your attractive female character fuck an ugly man to get what she wants and it doesn't reflect well on either party. It's just so...cheap. It's frustrating to see the glimpses of brilliance in McCay's art because for the most part, he's over egged the pudding in terms of inking. I'd be interested to see some coloured work. On the whole, this story makes no sense, is no fun and needs to go away and never come back.

The Future Shock is interesting. It's a   great central idea that could have been spun into a million different stories. Lee Carter's art looks great here, a vast improvement from his last appearance.

Last but not (only just mind) least we come to Cadet Anderson. I honestly don't understand why people are so fond of Steve Yeowell's art. Is it fondness for past glories? It just seems so dull and lifeless to me. Look at the Judge helmets -- amongst the most poorly rendered I've ever seen. With a better artist I might be enjoying this but as it is, looking about as dynamic as an illustrated government information leaflet, the Thrill Suckers are winning.

Overall, a decent prog. Tentatively looking forward to ABC Warriors in prog 1800. Will it be Good Pat (Defoe) or Bad Pat (Flesh)?

[strontium71]

Thing is with the Dark Judges and Necropolis - they killed so many because Justice Department were under the control of Phobia and Nausea and there was no-one to stop them. The minute the Sister's influence was cut off , the DJ's were quickly brought to heel.
So basically the Sisters need to be brought back again to make Death etc... more formidable. At the end of Necropolis , Dredd did remark that they were only licking their wounds back on Deadworld.
Hopefully , if Wagner and Staples do indeed produce another Death story , they'll go back to Deadworld and sort the buggers out once and for all.

[Dark Jimbo]

And that's the end of the Three Dark Chuckle Brothers in Dredd. Trout is spot on with his post above. They really are thick aren't they? How the hell did they manage to wipe out life on their own world?

If you feel inclined to cast about for an in-universe rationalisation, I'd say they aren't so much thick as arrogant. It bears repeating - these guys wiped out an entire planet; the populace of Deadworld were so broken and browbeaten that they quietly lined up to be killed. The gruesome foursome were able to revel in face-to-face judgement of each and every person (because let's face it, they do enjoy killing.) Genocide on that scale would leave them so drunk on their own prowess that it would take them a while to admit that the methods that worked for them on Deadworld just won't cut it in the Meg.