Prog 1454 Smoking Keels!

[davidbishop]

Ahh, the joys of living in Scotland - the new prog arrives while the rest of Britain has the day off.

Gotta love the corporate slogan of Zander Bleak: 'The future's bright. The future's Bleak.'

davidbishop

[DavidXBrunt]

Yeah well... at least we in Britain can...erm...

Oh god it's a rainy bank holiday and I've promised I'd redecorate for my mum and I don't have my Prog and life isn't fair!

[Dark Jimbo]

Bank holidays? Bah humbug - I want my prog!!!

[Artificial Idiot]

Considering our postman came at five in the afternoon the other day, I'd say he doesn't deserve a bank holiday...

[The Amstor Computer]

Well, mine left a recorded delivery with ?40 of comics sat on my doorstep in the pouring rain - does that trump your lazy postie?

;-)

[Trout]

I'm in Scotland too, and - hot shit on toast! - it's a great prog!
I feel terrible for you bereft southerners! Honest. :-)

Sadly, however, I have to work. :-( A few thoughts as my lunchbreak ends:

Dredd darker than ever. It's great stuff. It'll end in tears...

Savage is still gripping, as the tension continues to build, while the same could be said about both Leatherjack and Breathing Space.
In all four, we get just a little bit more information about what's going on. This is why serialised storytelling, when it's done well, is so addictive.

Robohunter has a strong cliffhanger ending, although the art's not fantastic.

Overall, the art in this prog is fantastic, especially Adlard and Walker. The cover, however, is a bit... rough.

- Trout

[Funt Solo]

This prog has 4 strong, excellently depicted thrills in the shape of Mandroid, Savage, Leatherjack and Breathing Space.

Unfortunately it's book-ended by the crappest, laziest cover I've seen on the prog in yonks (really awful and actually a bit embaressing) and the only "thrill" in ages that I simply can't be arsed to read anymore.  

Honestly, with the top quality of the first 4 stories, when I turned the page and saw a tonka toy attacking Samantha Slade in an explosion of purple nothingness, I just thought "fuck it, life's too short for this drivel."

Mandroid
At the end of this segment, I thought I must have just read a 12 pager, it's such tightly-packed storytelling.  Kev Walker shows us that you can have quite flatly coloured backgrounds and it needn't detract from the storytelling in the least.

Savage
Bill's not 'angin' abaat, iz he?  This is zipping along at a hell of a pace - multiple action sequences are being set up as others take place.  It's very tense.  Adlard's work, especially on facial expressions, continues to be very impressive.

[Leigh S]

so the cover is the same as the cover on the site?  Yeek.  Thats a shame, as having seen it, I hoped it was some kind of rough version that had got mixed up - It really magnifies Boos weaknesses with some weird angles (Stogie looks to be in front of Sam, yet is shooting out of the page at her) and weird anatomy (Sam's arm is barmy), and has none of his strengths - compare it to the beautifully 'painted' Ace Garp pin up he did.  That said, I'd bet that this was a last minute replacement cover, but if that is the case, they'd be better to have a couple of stock Dredd poses in the vaults than force an artist to have to turn in something that doesn't reflect their usual work.  

[ukdane]

It's not a bank holiday in DK...
... but it IS my birthday!

So where the hell is my prog?

[ukdane]

Ugh! See what you mean.
Sorry, but I don't like it, and find it hard to believe that Tharg used it as a cover.
Sorry Boo, I just don't like it.http://www.2000adonline.com/covers/2000ad/hires/1454.jpg">

[Art]

There's been far worse.

[Buttonman]

Not many worse although the Roger Moore one does spring to mind. The scan on site actually make it look better than it's published - the real one is far darker. I'm no artist but the composition is terrible, the perspective misalligned and what the background coffin? window? doodle?

Glad someone else is having a go at Robo Hunter, I got shouted down when I said it was samey childish drivel.

Dredd and Savage are the pick for me - the futures so bright I'm going to kill myself!

[The Adventurer]

That doesn't look like Gibson.  Did he draw that? because it is rather terrible.

[Tu-plang]

Adventurer: Its Boo Cook.

Not Boo's best work either.  After a run of such brilliant ones lately, however, I think we can take a duff one from time to time.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Worst cover ever