Prog 2363: Lawman of the people!

[IndigoPrime]

Slightly odd feel to this Prog, which has a whiff of wrapping things up more than starting afresh for the new year. A nice (if dark) Steven Austin cover is suitably dark, as is Carroll's Dredd, which is effective if familiar. It's an interesting clash with what might be upcoming in the currently being teased Williams arc.

Helium ends. Bit if a twist. Definitely a set-up. It's been a fantastic run. I look forward to book 3 in 2031.

Devil's Railroad still looks great, but to me still reads like something from Prog 827 or thereabouts. I'll be happy onee this is out of road.

Enemy Earth is still working for me. It won't make my classics list, but I'm happy enough reading it. I do rather wish it had stayed in Regened, though, and bulked out its page count instead of not-Potter.

Feral continues to amused. Lovely last panel. And next week, Thistlebone returns, which means we should be swapping out quality for quality. So that's a good thing.

Helium > Feral > Dredd > Enemy > Devil's

[Colin YNWA]

Largely agree with Indigo Prime on this one, very odd feel for the first Prog of the year. Could we not have doubled up on Helium in the X-Mas Prog and got Thistlebone starting this week. They'll be reason but if that'd been possible would have aided this week so much.

Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.

Helium. Well if you are leaving us like that you'd better bloody well be back quicker this time! Bit exposition heavy this week.

Devil's Railroad continues with its patomine fun. Enjoying this still.

Enemy Earth, well I might re-read it sometime...

Feral and Foe fun and good ending.

Decent Prog.

[broodblik]

Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.

Silvia's first Dredd was prog 2268 (Extraordinary Deaths), her next Dredd was a Cadet Dredd story prog 2306 (Undertow)
 

[Colin YNWA]

Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.

Silvia's first Dredd was prog 2268 (Extraordinary Deaths), her next Dredd was a Cadet Dredd story prog 2306 (Undertow)
 

Nice one - my memory is getting shocking!

[Barrington Boots]

To echo my fellow readers, bit of a weird new year Prog with a strangely muted feel to it.

Dredd was excellent this week, reminiscent of the Dredd's of my youth where the Justice Department is basically the bad guy, but with a modern twist - the guy claiming the protagonist must be anti-dem because she'd saved a Judge's life but not anyone elses was horribly like a lot of arguments I've read lately. Great stuff.

Helium sad to see it end, hope it's back soon. The politician has an incredibly dislikable face.

Feral and Foe as fun as ever. That last page rules.

And that was my lot. Excited for Thistlebone next week!

[broodblik]

B/W Cover:

[broodblik]

This prog should be building the excitement for the xmas prog with all new stories to kick-off the new year, but I forgot it is already new year and everything will be concluded the next few weeks. So yes, as it has already been stated this feels quite odd and hopefully 2024 scheduling will feel less disjointed (stop that we only 3 days in the new year and we already complaining the year is too long). Besides my complaining it is still a decent prog to kick-off the new year.

Dredd – This story reminds us that the Judges are no heroes, they control the system, they control the outcome. Good start for the year for Dredd.

Helium – A good ending to the series. I see that we have some positive people on the forum believing that the next chapter will be 2031. I am rooting for Brass Sun now to get published next.

Railroad – I dislike this strip and it is all because I really do not care for any of the characters.

Enemy Earth – Not my favorite, still have a huge problem with the art but much more readable.

Feral and Foe – Super fun and with a bonus of great art. Awesome ending with a great panel of our heroes falling into the mouth of doom. This one must get more love from the Abnett fanboys and is steadily becoming a top 3  Abnett work for me. My top thrill of the week.

[broodblik]

Talking about the great John Burns we have a Thrills of the Future by him: Nightmare, New York

[norton canes]

The oddest thing about this prog is that 'Vox Populi' is clearly an ideal Dredd story for a Christmas or hopping-on prog, detailing succinctly as it does the Judges' brutal, totalitarian nature, with very little need for ay prior knowledge. And the fact it was done with such a lightness of touch and splashes of great humour was a real bonus. (Anyone else think they pay-off was going to be that it was all a con and Jinty in fact pointed the gun at Dredd in an attempt to off him without becoming a suspect?)

Feral & Foe continues to thunder along like a sword n' sorcery juggernaut, and Helium has likewise absolutely zipped along, it's been so good. The prime minister is blatantly based on Stephen Fry, yeah? Random question: can anyone think of other examples of characters in 2000 AD strips whose likenesses are clearly based on real people? I don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.

I reckon in years to come, The Devil's Railroad will be regarded as an interesting curio like - well, other Milligan strips such as The Dead or Freaks. He seems to specialise in strips that aren't immediately recognised as classics, but whose reputation improves. Finally Enemy Earth is great, great Regened material that just doesn't quite sit perfectly in the regular prog.

[nxylas]

Random question: can anyone think of other examples of characters in 2000 AD strips whose likenesses are clearly based on real people? I don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.

Off the top of my head, Kenny Everett in Terror Tube and the villain in Zenith being very obviously based on Richard Branson. I'm sure there are loads more.

[broodblik]

If I can remember correctly one of the presidents in Zombo looks like Trump

[Funt Solo]

Major Eazy / Cursed Earth Koburn / The Stainless Steel Rat - are all based on James Coburn.

David Niven showed up in Ampney:

[Jim_Campbell]

I don't mean when they're supposed to be a satirical take on that person, more random stuff like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.

Quite a lot of the supporting cast of Hope were very deliberately modelled on real people, some of them specifically called out in the script (the cop who looked like Werner Herzog, for example ).

[Fortnight]

Not 2000AD, but can anyone place who the character of "The Collector" from the 80s Eagle looks like. When I first saw it in the 80s it reminded me of an actor, but I've never been able to make the connection to a name. At first I thought someone in the Hammer oeuvre but probably more like someone who appears in the likes of old B&W war films. Maybe.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/britishcomics/images/a/aa/Collector0001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170310175651

[M.I.K.]

There's a long tradition of that kind of thing dating right back to prog 1 with Stanley Baker as Bill Savage and Lee Majors as M.A.C.H. 1.

like one of the protagonists in the last book of Hope very obviously being Ian McKellen.

I thought that was a bit of a weird one, because you had characters based on classic 1930s/40s actors looking like their real world counterparts, (like Boris Karloff), and then the James Whale, (Frankenstein director), analogue was Ian McKellen, 'cos he'd played him in a film.