Prog 2365: Battle for the Planet

[Blue Cactus]

Flint is starting to remind me a bit of McMahon. Not in terms of style, but in terms of his willingness to shake up his style quite dramatically and try new things. And for those new things to be excellent. (D'Israeli of course deserves a mention in that realm.)

As for Judge Dredd, I hope this brings a conclusion to everything Red Queen. But I also hope I'm wrong in how I expect this to turn out for Mega City One and Maitland and that Williams is doing some cunning card tricks, with a strip that will in some way (whatever way) at least challenge the status quo.

One of the things I love about Dredd in terms of the strip and the lead is that things can change. Sure, the lead – as described IIRC by Wagner – moves like a glacier. But he does move. The Dredd we see today is not the same one from the 1980s. Similarly, the city itself has shifted and changed in response not only to major events but also its leaders.

I'm not suggesting I want to see A Better World end and for Tharg to be all: "Well, the judges are gone now. I HOPE YOU'RE ALL HAPPY WITH YOURSELVES!" But it would be great to have a series that has some kind of lasting impact, as per America, Apocalypse War, etc. And that sense of tension and topicality in A Better World is more heightened than I've seen and felt in Judge Dredd for a long while.

Quite what that impact could be, I've no idea. Upending the strip's entire set-up would be a massive risk and arguably unnecessary for future success. So I'll be gobsmacked if the series ends with a return to something resembling current-day democracy, and the judges 'relegated' to being a police force. By the same token, different 'states' operating in different ways might be sustainable, although I imagine a Sector 304 enclave wouldn't quite cut it!

I suppose if nothing else, kudos to Williams for making me care about a MC1 accountant, and not wanting the conclusion that's currently in my head: her plan being destroyed by nefarious types, possibly including her being badly injured or killed, and Dredd rocking up and angrily growling that "at least you tried", before being instrumental in dismissing half the council and possibly the CJ, without taking up a role of responsibility himself. (I do also still wonder what spanner Beeny might be in the works of whatever goes down.)

Anyway: this is all great. Nice to see such a strong Dredd in the prog.

I agree with all this but feel I should point out this story has two writers - Arthur Wyatt is scripting too rather than Williams alone. I like the way 'Robert Glenn' has such an ordinary name, posing as an everyman like he is, but I did find his mention of 'leftie ideas' a bit on the nose - Dredd quite often has some ludicrous future slang term for this kind of thing that allows us to see the contemporary idea it's referring to. Whereas just using the same phrase that gets thrown around on social media in 2024 pulled me out of the story a little. Still, this is great Dredd, I really like Maitland as a character - if her experiment does completely fail I'll be interested to see how she responds in future. Wouldn't be the first time Williams had a character I loved really fall from Grace - I still feel bad about how things ended for poor Aimee Nixon.

Elsewhere Enemy Earth zooms along and I'm happy to zoom with it.

Thistlebone is already oozing that queasy feeling that all isn't right and it is absolutely playing to Davis's strengths - the facial expressions are pretty much the best in comics.

Broodblik upthread really hit the nail on the head for why I don't like Devil's Railroad - it's just people being cruel to each other, week after week, with no hope, no laughs, no glimmer of light, but also no real depth. It's horrible. Dayglo is great and I did want to say that Jose Villarrubia has done an incredible job on Sister White's face in the first panel. He could easily have done her all a blanket green but he's done the lighting on her every wart and crinkle amazingly. Giving her way more dimensions than the paper-thin character itself.

And finally Feral and Foe - this strip has won me over now and this has been my favourite series for it so far. Weird optical illusion on page one panel two where I thought they were fighting their way down stairs rather than up a pyramid! But awesome art and a cracking balance of action and humour. Roll on the next series! (Once this one's done).

Lovely tribute to Ian Gibson from Rufus Dayglo. Oh and a nice cover too. Good prog - very glad Devil's Railroad finishes next issue.

[Woolly]

Glenn himself came across as a cliched Trump parody?

Kingpin parody for me, but I see where you're coming from

[TheGrunk]

I think that there's meant to be a fair bit of Joe Rogan, GB News and the like in there too...

For a 'talking heads' episode this was absolutely spectacular. I'm hoping for long-term impact too; at the moment this feels very significant and like a potential mega-epic, but I'm not getting my hopes up too far. Also just feels nice having more departmental stuff going down; feels like since John W. retired we've seen far less political intrigue from the series, so getting something like this feels pretty refreshing.

That scene in Thistlebone got my eyes widening. Visceral. Something about the textures...

Devil's Railroad I concur with entirely - beautiful artwork. Nothing else really encouraging me to read it.

[IndigoPrime]

I agree with all this but feel I should point out this story has two writers - Arthur Wyatt is scripting too rather than Williams alone.

Ack. Yes. My huge and sincere apologies to Arthur Wyatt for my having omitted him from my praise of this Dredd.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'm really enjoying this Dredd. I'm not always a fan of Williams Dredd but (along with Arthur Wyatt) he's nailed the strip here, partly by making Dredd a background character like so many of the classic Dredd strips.

I kind of miss the absolute bastardy of the Judges - they all seem so nice these days - so I'm not sure I want a new, Maitland flavoured MC1 (much as I think it's a way better political strategy than cracking heads with daysticks in reality).

Thistlebone is a nice slow-burner - I loved that pull-back-and-reveal in the first couple of frames.  Now I must get stuck into my back progs to refresh my Thistlebone memory.

[nxylas]

The Mighty One has spoken.

Imagine getting a reply from Tharg himself, and he's correcting you because you've miscounted the number of pages in a story.

[Funt Solo]

The Mighty One has spoken.

Imagine getting a reply from Tharg himself, and he's correcting you because you've miscounted the number of pages in a story.

Slow day at the Nerve Centre.

[Le Fink]

I kind of miss the absolute bastardy of the Judges - they all seem so nice these days -

There's still bastardary about, though, particularly in Kenny's stories. The recent Shrine and Fallen Man (the corpse incineration, ho ho) stories good examples. Maybe nowadays they seem like outliers and the bastardness in them gets noticed more.

I did find his mention of 'leftie ideas' a bit on the nose - Dredd quite often has some ludicrous future slang term for this kind of thing that allows us to see the contemporary idea it's referring to. Whereas just using the same phrase that gets thrown around on social media in 2024 pulled me out of the story a little.

Just wanted to pick this out and say "good comment". Yes, now you mention it, it did seem anachronistic to me too but as you follow on to say, otherwise really good Dredd.

[IndigoPrime]

Given ongoing shifts in the Overton window, I hate to think what 'leftie' might mean by the time we get to Dredd's timeline in the real world. 

[Blue Cactus]

Given ongoing shifts in the Overton window, I hate to think what 'leftie' might mean by the time we get to Dredd's timeline in the real world. 

That's a disturbing but good point!

[JayzusB.Christ]

I did find his mention of 'leftie ideas' a bit on the nose - Dredd quite often has some ludicrous future slang term for this kind of thing that allows us to see the contemporary idea it's referring to. Whereas just using the same phrase that gets thrown around on social media in 2024 pulled me out of the story a little.

Just wanted to pick this out and say "good comment". Yes, now you mention it, it did seem anachronistic to me too but as you follow on to say, otherwise really good Dredd.

I'll third that - I thought exactly the same thing when I was reading the strip.  'Lefties' are what Trump people call parties that would be further right than most mainstream conservative parties this side of the pond.

Anyway, back to the prog. I skip far too much these days - I stopped reading Devil's Railroad after all the bad reviews here and just started focusing on the lovely artwork.  It's a pity; Pete Milligan's writing for me was an absolute gamechanger in comics but he just doesn't seem to have that spark any more.

[Link Prime]

Can't say the New Year line-up is doing much for me, unfortunately.
I am enjoying the wonderfully disturbing Thistlebone, and Feral & Foe is ok. That's as far as my interest holds, making the Prog quite the swift read.

Henry Flint may be the greatest comic book artist in the world today, but this ain't the first, or even fifth time, in recent years that he's been handed a story that does absolutely nothing for me.

[Link Prime]

It's a pity; Pete Milligan's writing for me was an absolute gamechanger in comics but he just doesn't seem to have that spark any more.

It really is a shame.
I love the guy, but I don't think he even bothered to turn on his phone when phoning this one in.

[Magnetica]

Not a great Prog for me. Can't wait for Azimuth to come back.
Devil's Railroadand Enemy Earth do nothing for me. I'll never skip anything in the Prog but I just read them as fast as possible and move on.

Feral and Foe is a favourite of mine, but the last few episodes have not been as good as the start of this run, or previous series. Which is a bit of a shame. But it remains the best thing in Prog at the moment.

Thistlebone is still setting the scene, but that's kinda how it works.

Dredd is fine. Now I love Henry Flint's work, but no way is this any where near his best work. Sorry - not for me. I much prefer his work on Day of Chaos. And he has always reminded me of McMahon. But crossed with O'Neill. With a hint of Carlos.

But he's not the GOAT.

That's Bolland.

But Flint is top 5. Or there about.

[JayzusB.Christ]

For me, his best work is on that last Nemesis series. My favourite of his Dredds was Total War - I thought Chris Blythe and Henry were the perfect pairing for Dredd mega-epics.