Looking back

[paddykafka]

A man sits forlorn in an "I Honked On An ABC Warrior And Lived" t-shirt, his LRD filled with supermarket whiskey. Ragged 1980s progs carpet the floor around him. An old congratulatory letter from Tharg is held in his nerveless hand.
It has all been for nothing.
He has been a fraud all along and now the whole world knows it.

Well on the bright side, at least now I know who's telescope was spying through the window of my new gaff today. Good job I'm getting curtains installed tomorrow. 

[JohnW]

At least now I know whose telescope was spying through the window of my new gaff today. Good job I'm getting curtains installed tomorrow. 

That's not me. I keep myself and my telescope in Cork. It's probably a peeper licensed by Dublin City Council.
Do you have authorisation for those curtains?
What have you got to hide, citizen?

[paddykafka]

At least now I know whose telescope was spying through the window of my new gaff today. Good job I'm getting curtains installed tomorrow. 

That's not me. I keep myself and my telescope in Cork. It's probably a peeper licensed by Dublin City Council.
Do you have authorisation for those curtains?
What have you got to hide, citizen?

The less said about my naked, solo Cha-Cha dance around the flat earlier in the week, the better.

[JohnW]

'Who are these guys?'

You remember how it was when you owned a comic? Back at the start?
You possessed it. You studied it. You pondered long upon it and discussed its import with friends.
Prog 225 was, I think, only the third copy of 2000AD I'd ever owned.
It gave me much to think about.

I could go through that prog story by story, page by page, and generally appreciate the stuffing out of it. Even after all this time I could take it apart, clean its components, and reassemble it in less than six minutes. It's something of a legendary prog, from what is widely regarded as the strongest run in the history of the Galaxy's Greatest.

But I just want to say something about Strontium Dog.
Bloody hell.
Fuck.
Wow.
 



I'd seen bits of 'The Bad Boys Bust'. I'd read at least one episode of 'Portrait of a Mutant'. I knew who Johnny Alpha was and I had a fair idea of what he did. He was the big hero. His mate Wulf was the big sidekick. Johnny was a good man in a bad place. He did what a man had to do while Wulf helped him out and made wisecracks.
But let's cut all that just for the moment. For now, let's just have our heroes step into the frame and kill everyone in the place.
Everyone. Without warning.

'We have you surrounded – drop your guns!' —Nope.
'We have a warrant for your arrest!' —Not that either.
'We're here to bring you to justice!' —Nah.
'We've come to kill you!'
And they have.
And they do.
And they state their names while they do it.

Guy drops his gun and surrenders? No dice.
Guy runs for it? Too late.
One guy gets a chance to send a mayday. We hear it cut off halfway through. Our heroes have been finishing off the wounded.
Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer: I had a better idea of who these guys were now.

You want a good jumping-on issue?
Try Prog 225. It gave me much to think about.

 

[Dash Decent]

I love that the baddie exclaims "Gunplay!" rather than "Gunfire!" or "Shots!" or "Sneck!" or something much less genteel.

[Trooper McFad]

Another great look back - loved the Big bust back in the day even tho I never found the complete run in the local bookstore (2nd hand) where I got my thrill power. I eventually read it as one when I purchased the case files.

[Funt Solo]

Ooh! Can I play? One of my earliest progs was 182 - you can see the cover appeal:




Inside, we're introduced to the concept of inter-block wars - but it's also an episode that resets us back to the city after The Judge Child saga, gives us insight into the Council of Five (as they discuss Dredd's judgement) and harks back to Dredd's heroics during the Cal debacle. With McGruder being the main anti-Dredd voice, it also foreshadows the later dynamics of the strip (post-Apocalypse) - with the more blunt foreshadowing being the kernel of what will later become Block Mania:


Brian Bolland


Jumping forward - the episode of Block Mania where Orlok infiltrates Weather Control provides one of those classic Dredd moments where the villain has the upper hand and the city itself is at stake. It's tempting to opt for either Giant's death scene, or the "I'm with Rowdy Yates" panel, but Orlok's almost poetic half-thought, half-verbalized justification for his killing spree is just amazing comics:


Steve Dillon


When MC-1 has come so close to disaster so many times, there's a sense that the stakes can't be upped - that any villain can't quite make us shiver, because they've all been defeated - whether it's the Sisters of Death, a zombie (or robot) army, or some nuke-happy terrorists. So The Assassination List did things differently and leaned in on our hopes, and then dashed them. The scene where sleeper agent Judge Wile is determined to eliminate the threat posed to his mission by the young pre-cog sisters is the brutal narrative signal that nobody is safe - and that, perhaps, the city is doomed:


Leigh Gallagher & Chris Blythe


That's a 32-year narrative throughline - and one of the reasons why it's the GGC.

[JohnW]

Ooh! Can I play?

The more the effing merrier!

I never saw Bolland's Block War until (I think) an Eagle reprint in the mid-eighties, by which time, of course, I was a veteran of Block Mania (during which I started buying my own progs on the regular).
I also – naturally – knew who McGruder was by the time I read her wonderful, 'Dredd's a good judge – I'm not denying that. But...'

Seminal, foundational, gripping, etc., etc.
I always felt my squaxx-hood was lacking for having missed it first time round.

But as for The Assassination List, I'm afraid I must disqualify. This thread is for first impressions only. The rules clearly state as much ... um, somewhere upthread.
The only stories that may be considered are ones that ran when you had a youthful gleam in your eyes, hope in your heart, and hair on your head that was still its original colour.

[JohnW]

Still though, on reflection, I can't deny that you make a strong case, Funt.
Even though The Assassination List ran – when? – last year or thereabouts, there is a strong echo of the great days of yore. (Certainly, it was around then that FOMO got a proper grip on me and obliged me to buy a subscription.)
I forget how long it took me to notice that Day of Chaos was The Apocalypse War: the Return, so it's helpful to have the clever details pointed out.
As you say, the Galaxy's Greatest Comic can be rather good.

[Funt Solo]

Even though The Assassination List ran – when? – last year or thereabouts

Hardy har! I still think of The Matrix as being quite a modern movie.

I can finagle my way into the first impressions slot by cheating like a politician - y'see, I read The Assassination List after an eight-year hiatus from the prog. So, it was a bit like my second first impressions. Yeah? No?

[JayzusB.Christ]

I hear yez. After nearly 30 years I still think of Sinister Dexter as one of the prog's newer strips.

Lovely write-ups, guys. Keep them coming

[JohnW]

I can finagle my way into the first impressions slot by cheating like a politician - y'see, I read The Assassination List after an eight-year hiatus from the prog. So, it was a bit like my second first impressions. Yeah? No?

Well if that's the game we're playing, let me tell you how a long-ago fit of auld lang's syne* caused me to pick up Total War in TPB after Grud knows how long a hiatus.
Henry Flint ascending to full-fledged flintiness?
A two-fisted tale proving that Wagner was still the undisputed pound-for-pound all-time heavyweight champion?
My verdict was that it wasn't the best Dredd tale I'd ever read, but if I'd read it back in the olden days it would have blown the top clean off my eleven-year-old head.

And thus my long journey back from the wilderness continued.
Gather round, boys, and let me tell you all about it...

*Cultural appropriation. I'm not sorry.

[M.I.K.]

auld lang's syne

I can forgive the cultural appropriation - I cannot forgive the extraneous apostrophe s.

[JohnW]

Well damn.
That puts me in my place.
My apologies to you, to Auld Lang, and to all the Scots nation.
It's not as if you didn't have enough to be putting up with.

[M.I.K.]

Ah should hink sae tae.