Prog 2370 - Fire it up!

[AlexF]

I get that J Depp is not a person one wants to give airtime to - but I confess I couldn't resist the charm of Kek-W taking the absurd premise of the Sauvage Ad (which I had to endure a LOT this XMas season for some reason), and turning it into a Indigo Prime story hook. Fun!
And the whole use of actual(ish) famous people does take me right back to that first Tyranny Rex story in which Prince was basically co-lead.

[IndigoPrime]

I'm fine with the premise, FWIW. And, yes, it does feel like a callback to those early strips. It's just... almost any other famous actor...

[JayzusB.Christ]

I get that J Depp is not a person one wants to give airtime to - but I confess I couldn't resist the charm of Kek-W taking the absurd premise of the Sauvage Ad (which I had to endure a LOT this XMas season for some reason), and turning it into a Indigo Prime story hook. Fun!

Aha! I'd never seen that ad before but now I get it.  The guy at the end is Christian Bale, isn't he?

I really liked Dredd this week, and Thistlebone is smoldering away nicely with a truly horrible flashback scene - I was genuinely grateful for the kids'-drawing style sparing me the full horror.

Deadworld is fine, though like others I've lost track a bit of what's happening.  Also, having effectively re-mystified the Dark Judges, I feel that Kek is in danger of undoing his good work by giving Death's generals the fairly bland personalities they had in Young Death. The artwork remains outstanding, though.

[Barrington Boots]

Can't agree more on Deadworld. Some sterling work was done in making these guys horrific again in the early days of this strip but Death is in full on Skeletor mode by this episode, being driven away by a henchman shaking his fist. "I'll get you next time, Eastwood!"

Let us not forget he was reduced to this state when he got outfoxed and replaced as top dog by a goofy tech nerd.

It feels like we've moved from Hellraiser to Hellraiser 3.

[IndigoPrime]

Perhaps there's an inevitability about the dark judges, in that the horror becomes overwhelming or tedious and so writers always feel the need to head back to comedy. Wagner has in the past talked of his trouble with the characters.

But, yeah, the tonal shift here feels off. And it undermines the earlier series. Perhaps it's also a matter of focus. Kek-W doesn't strike me as the most disciplined of writers, in the sense his work quite often turns into sprawling universes packed with ideas. But they quite often meander and lack narrative coherence. I do wonder how strong Deadworld could have been had it wrapped up in that third collection, say. (And I do bristle a little about his interest in the Elseworlds angle. The thing he's keen on is my least favourite bit. Oh well.)

[broodblik]

What I understood from the interview with Kek-W is that their is only 2 more series left but you never know

[JayzusB.Christ]

Perhaps there's an inevitability about the dark judges, in that the horror becomes overwhelming or tedious and so writers always feel the need to head back to comedy. Wagner has in the past talked of his trouble with the characters.
 Oh well.)

Seems to be the way it often goes with horror characters in general when they get well known - Freddy Kruger was once a genuinely disturbing onscreen presence but is pretty much a pantomime villain now.

John Wagner showed in My Name Is Death that the balance could be redressed, but then showed with its sequel in the Megazine (where Frazer Irving's creepy artwork was completely unsuited to the comedy plot) that maybe it couldn't after all.

[broodblik]

Rob says A Better World is nine episodes. So BIG THING in 2371 and presumably fallout and/or wrap-up and/or "to be continued" in 2372. Fingers crossed, eh?

From Rob's X (the entity formally called Twitter): We're enormously proud of all of JUDGE DREDD: A BETTER WORLD which has come out far better than we could've hoped - but these final two episodes are a bit special, I think.

[Le Fink]

Aha! I'd never seen that ad before but now I get it.  The guy at the end is Christian Bale, isn't he?

Yep - in American Psycho, a film I used to appreciate, but struggle to get through now. The characters are so vile!

I really liked Dredd this week, and Thistlebone is smoldering away nicely with a truly horrible flashback scene - I was genuinely grateful for the kids'-drawing style sparing me the full horror.

Agree - I liked it a lot more this week than the last couple. Didn't mind the cartoon style, I think it's a good device.

Deadworld is fine, though like others I've lost track a bit of what's happening.  Also, having effectively re-mystified the Dark Judges, I feel that Kek is in danger of undoing his good work by giving Death's generals the fairly bland personalities they had in Young Death. The artwork remains outstanding, though.

Yup, well said.

[Richard]

I completely agree with everything people have said above about Deadworld. Good art though.

Wasn't Jonny Depp exonerated? Or was there some other scandal which I've missed?

[IndigoPrime]

Lost a libel case in the UK; won a case in Virginia. The New Yorker offered a lengthy take that outlined the... 'issues' with the latter verdict, let's say.

[Vector14]

Denis Rodman has Kim Jong Un. Segal has Putin and now Johnny is best buds with Bin Salman https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/johnny-depp-mbs-saudi-arabia

[Funt Solo]

Lost a libel case in the UK; won a case in Virginia. The New Yorker offered a lengthy take that outlined the... 'issues' with the latter verdict, let's say.

Summary, just in case tl;dr (or you can't hack your browser through the sub-wall): older man gets paid $13 million for drunkenly raging and beating on a much younger woman. Then scores a perfume commercial as a troubled, sympathetic loner.

(All: allegedly.)

[broodblik]

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