Prog 1518 - Go Atomic!

[House of Usher]

What meat?

I read mine last night. Good Prog...

Dredd plods along just fine. Seems a bit sad to me though that Dredd's history has somewhat less of a mythic quality now it's revealed in every detail.

Stickleback is lost on me, like I've gone to the theatre to see a melodrama but I can't help thinking about which pocket my keys are in or if I've left the oven on, and then suddenly I can't remember what play I've come to see or why.

ABC Warriors is okay. Volgan robots are pretty pathetic if they can be defeated by flamethrowers though. I remember one of the selling points of Hammerstein was that he could survive an inferno. What is the point of robot troops if they're as vulnerable as human ones? And I don't think that's Mongrol. I can't see any parts that match: certainly not the head. Isn't it a bit tricky calling your cigarette lighter droid 'Zippo'? Can we look forward to mek troopers called Hoover, Dyson, Lexmark and Moulinex also? I thought lessons had been learned since Tharg pissed off that other 'jolly green giant'...

Kingdom was a bit boring this Prog. The first two parts were a lot better. Hopefully part four will be as well.

Nikolai Dante has to be my Thrill of the Week. It's a good change of pace, this. Taking Dante once again out of any long-winded storyline that matters and putting him in an interlude where he goes to some backwater region of the Tsarist world and gets in a scrape for the sake of a few laughs shows the versatility of both the character and the series. This reminds me of both the Octobriana story and the jungle casino one. I love Wonder Woman parodies more than I love Wonder Woman!

I rate this Prog 7/10.

[JOE SOAP]

+++Dredd plods along just fine. Seems a bit sad to me though that Dredd's history has somewhat less of a mythic quality now it's revealed in every detail.

The one thought that sticks in my mind over all else through this whole story is Fargo himself, the way everyone seems to look to him as either a figure for guidance, aspiration or conflict. His personality dominates the story even when he's not in it -America itself seems to fall apart when he's in slumber- and when he is in the story you don't pay attention to anything else.

That's what I think this story will be remembered for most and not just as the history of America & the judges. So it really is more Fargo's story than anything else's, Joe & America itself even seems diminshed by him.

Fargo is the myth.


I'm lovin' the ABCs too. The dialogue's great and so is the action. Zippo does resemble Mongrol, albeit a slimmer model, but the cigar, the eyes, the mouth and some of the quips are unmistakably Mongrol. Maybe he'll eventually be rebuilt.

Finally we have an explanation of who the Volgans really are.

Dante's enjoyable too with them wonder woman amazonians.

[radiator]

Cover - Awesome. Really captures Booth, like a photo real version of Carlos' stylings.

Dredd - Once again, awesome. I suppose that telling all Dredd's history might have a sort of 'Boba/Jango Fett effect' (in that sometimes things are better left to the imagination), but so far I think it's been handled extremely well.
Besides, next weeks episode is likely to rock hard, I can just picture judges advancing up the white house lawn......

Did anyone else, on first read of the episode in prog 2007 think the presidential advisor was called Mr. Unt? Just me then.

Stickleback - Can't really get into this in weekly installments, may wait and read it in full, think it'll work better that way. Nice cameo by Russell from Gorillaz. Is anyone else finding the artwork a little 'cluttered'?

Kingdom - I'm actually really enjoying this, mostly because it reminds me of Atavar, which I loved, and because Elson's art is great. Proof that Abnett should drop Sin Dex and focus on creating something fresh.

ABC Warriors - Seems okay. I can't really understand all the fuss about the artwork. No doubting his talent, but it's way too fussy for me. I prefer bolder, more dynamic styles. I've always found Langley's stuff a bit stiff.

Dante - Fluff, and more than a bit predictable. Get back to the White army plot (and Si Fraser art) please.

[radiator]

Oh, forgot to say that I'm enjoying this line up a lot more than the pre-prog2007 one.

[Tiplodocus]

I'll go out on a limb here and say that ORIGINS has faltered somewhat for me of late.  It seems like there's too much dull basil going on - we should be seeing more of DREDD and his gang on little adventures each of which add a bit to ORIGINS rather than everyone sat in a cave hearing a story.

And in that story, I want to see the GREAT ATOM WAR and the GERM WAR (that comes after) and the Judges taking power - I don't need to see every nook and cranny of why BOOTH was bad and corrupt especially when he is a pretty poorly realised stereotype of an American President*.

I'm a bit spoiled because I've been reading CASE FILES 02 at the moment and this covers quite a bit of similar ground in, and I feel I must say it, a much more entertaining manner.  I preferred the unfinished jigsaw left by MILLS and WAGNER from the CURSED EARTH than I do this.

ORIGINS is definitely a "could do better" for me.

* I could be wrong here but I think MILLS may have done the original Bad Bob Booth thing in which case, apologies to Mister Wagner who is trying to polish a turd with this character.


Oh and the cover was rubbish, STICKLEBACK was fun, KINGDOM slightly dull fight (predictably not getting to an end), DANTE enjoyable enough - I prefer these episodic ones (even though the Jungle casino one was dreadful) and ABC Warriors was fun but the art is too murky in places.

[Leigh S]

Mills doesnt really paint any much of a picture of Booth - other than him being the man who started the war - we dont really "see him in action" that much, if at all, so chalk that one up to Wagner methinks (not that I mind the Booth we're seeing here at all!)

[judge dreddd]

not got mine yet :(

got something extremely crud though...

[I, Cosh]

I love to be a pedant so can anyone answer me this? In the security tape from before the election, why does Booth's aide address him as "Mr. President"?

[paulvonscott]

He was seeking a second term...

[I, Cosh]

He was seeking a second term...

D'oh!

[JOE SOAP]

Any bets on Booth being alive?

Is he the cursed earth contact Linus, Robert Linus Booth?

[radiator]

I've heard that theory. He is called Bob 'L' Booth isn't he?

You could be on to something there, but it's worth remembering that a few weeks ago that I thought that Fargo's 'evil' twin would be the baddie!

[JOE SOAP]

Well there's a lot to clear up in the next several weeks, around 40 pages or so. Will the whole Ephram question come back, wheteher he's real or if he's Fargo or other Judd shennanigans.

But Fargo does eventually walk again as we've seen in the OZ flashbacks, so maybe he does takes the long walk in the end, hence the missing body.

[TordelBack]

First off, I am thoroughly enjoying Origins, and it has to be said that this is the first time that Joe has ever sat in a cave telling tales to his buddies (and they pretty much are hi sbuddies (well, Renga, Sanchez and Logan anyhow, Giant Jr, Rico Jr and Guth suspiciously aside) for episode after episode - and after 30 years of action that's a twist I really like.  I for one want to know what the big man has to say, pure and simple, without distraction.

I get a shiver every time the murderous L'il Dredds appear in a panel, the portryal of the city during the war is truly gripping, and I'm enjoying seeing Goodman, Solomon and Judd strutting their stuff.  How much more impact does the opening of The Day the Law Died have now we know so much more about Clarence? It's different, but I like it.

I agree that Booth is behind all this, far too much time has been spent on the ins and outs of a President who should really be a cipher or an every-Prez for him not to have a larger role in the story.  I however am a little dubious about him doing dirty deals in an Oval Office that has a security camera - damn sloppy, that.  Can't wait to see Fargo's Declaration of Independence!

Nope, I never want Origins to end.

[pauljholden]

I however am a little dubious about him doing dirty deals in an Oval Office that has a security camera - damn sloppy, that

http://www.whitehousetapes.org/pages/tapes_rmn.htm'>Good enough for Nixon, good enough for booth

-pj