Prog 1566 - Endgame

[satchmo]

Just got my prog, a bit soggy but intact. (it's been pissing down for about 3 days now here!)

The cover made me chuckle. "The hardest button to button". Is Tharg a White Stripes fan?!

[TordelBack]

Great Prog.

Cover:  One of my favourites of 2007, and possibly with a double meaning, as it seems it may be the last with the current (excellent) design.

Dredd:  Ho-hum.  This went on  bit too long, and was a bit too depressing, and I feel Critchlow's art slipped slightly this week, with odd proportions and poses.  Still, I imagine it'd read great in one go, and it had the courage of its convictions.  If only Narcos had got hold of that suit.

Time Twister:  Go Mike!  A genuinely fun TT/FS, although since Mammoths died out less than 5000 years ago, I question the Fuhrer's certainty that he is the first man.  

Twisted Tales;  Loved it, long live Bob Byrne, a breath of fresh air.

Button Man:  A perfect ending to a solid tale, and hopefully more to come from either Adele or Harry.  Maybe both?  

Red Seas:  A lovely teaser.

Woo-hoo, Stickleback and Kingdom next week!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Just picked it up. Mandroid and Buttonman - just a bit too long, and both not as good as their respective predecessors.
Have to say, I thought the Adolf and Eva punchline was genius. Has no-one ever spotted the similarity before? Nice work, fella. Especially when coupled with the second punchline of everybody alive being a child of Hitler. (It's bad enough that most European people are suppose to be descendants of Genghis Khan)

[Oddboy]

Yeah - fantastic Time Twister...

Good solid endings to Dredd & Button Man - neither were too long for my liking, it's good to give stories long enough to breath sometimes.

Loved Red Seas, don't know if we'll go back to the piratey times next, or stay in 'the future'...

Didn't really get the ending of Bob's Twisted Tale... was it really 'and then he went home for tea'?!

[Buttonman]

Not worth a thread on it's own but the new issue of Marvel Zombies 2 (issue 2) has a 1 page Dan Abnett interview that mentions 2000ad favourably. As he's not connected with the zombies title it'll probably be in most of this month's Marvel issues.

Happily they include a helpful glossary for those hard to follow British terms.

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Clearly not enough said.

[TordelBack]

Yeah, shouldn't that be 'vacation'?

[satchmo]

Dredd: A tragic end to the tale of Nate Slaughterhouse. When he realised the truth about Kitty he just gave up. Very sad, and all told a black day for Justice Department. But the last page, bloody hell. Wittle is pissed off! Dredd has been breaking his balls since the beginning, and he doesn't like it. Is this the start of a whispering campaign against Dredd from the Street Judges, who have traditionally been his biggest supporters? With one panel John Wagner turns Mandroid into part of the Fargo revelations/ mutant rights storyline.
The best comic strip in the world.

Time Twister: Made me laugh out loud, hugely entertaining story. More time twisters Tharg!
From the same creators if possible!

Bob Byrne: Back on form for Bob, I loved this one. He manages to be funny and horrifying at the same time.

Red Seas: Great ending for this mini series, which is one of my favourites and I hope it's back soon.

Button Man: A satisfying end to a slightly patchy series, but it grew on me a lot towards the end.

Overall a fantastic prog to cap a great years for tooth. Off to re-read Dredd for the fifth time now!

[Banners]

I must be missing something with the Time Twister.

Whilst acknowledging it's fantastic for Mike - who is surely the gentleman of the board - and that the story is a bit of fun, I don't get the influence that the US soldiers have on the plot.

I mean, the only thing the tank smashing through the wall has does is speed things up a little - Eva is committed to joining Adolf in the machine irrespective of their impending attack.

Also, is Wells dead? He just seems to skip off at some point. And if you were in an armoured tank like that last soldier, why would you jump out with your tommy gun and expose yourself?

Finally, imho the change to colour would have worked better if the background was of some arcadian Garden of Eden, rather than the prehistoric landscape. It would also have been cool if the time-jump had stripped Adolf and Eva of their clothes.

(Sorry to nitpick - slow day here...)

M@

[TordelBack]

Nope, not ready for a naked Hitler here.  The Schicklegruber Job is as far as I'm prepared to go.

[Mike Carroll]

M@ writes: I mean, the only thing the tank smashing through the wall has does is speed things up a little - Eva is committed to joining Adolf in the machine irrespective of their impending attack.

:(

That's actually not MY fault! In the script, Hitler is wounded by a flying brick (you can't beat a good flying brick!) when the Americans arrive. Eva automatically rushes to his side and drags him to the relative safety of the time machine, at which point it activates. It's not that she has the intention of using the machine to save him and herself. So the Americans' arrival does have an impact on the outcome, albeit an indirect one.

I was pretty surprised to see this change when the comic arrived, but, hey, I'm not complaining! If Tharg thinks it works better this way, then who am I to argue? He knows a lot more about writing for comics than I do.

And thanks for the comment about me being the gentleman of the board...! So I'm not the hard-bitten, bitter, savage cynic I thought I was, eh?

-- Mike

[Banners]

Cheers Mike,

I guess my post was just a long-winded way of wanting to see whether, indeed, Hitler has a mere one ball.

Looking forward to your next strip. Comic strip that is...(!)

M@

[Al_Ewing]

Since Mike's around to take compliments - very, very good Time Twister. Genius spin on a couple of old favourites, and lovely Erskine art to boot.

[Mike Carroll]

Thanks for all the kind words, you lovely people! :)

As a reward, I've decided to allow everyone here to buy my new book at a special 0% discounted rate of only â?¬10 - which includes postage and packing to anywhere in the world!

-- Mike the Charity Case

Link: http://www.quantumprophecy.com" target="_blank">www.quantumprophecy.com

[paulvonscott]

The brick does make more sense, Mike.  otherwise it wouldn't matter if the Americans were just about to burst in.  Still, enjoyed it a lot.

[Bolt-01]

If you want to read more comic strips by Mike, then you should make sure to keep an eye open for the next proper issue of Zarjaz...

Bolt-01, never miss a pimp...