Prog 1592 - Liberty or Death!

Dark Jimbo · 25 June, 2008, 10:29:08 AM

*First post on the new board, so bear with me if I arse it up...*

Someone once said that it's hard to review a prog when almost everything's going right, and the past few progs have proven the truth of that maxim. I can't say enough good things about Dredd, Defoe and Dante - you're on the way to a fairly perfect prog for me with those three - and the Vort is only struggling to make the same sort of impact becasue it's up against such stiff competiton.

Sin/Dex is, inevitably, the weak link, but even that's managed to get me interested for the first time in a long while.

Go Tharg!

Wake · 25 June, 2008, 11:16:49 AM

test?

nameuser · 25 June, 2008, 12:45:19 PM

Test working.

Leigh S · 26 June, 2008, 10:11:59 AM

For em, this is a near perfect prog.

you have Wagner advancing the Dreddworld.

you have Mills being crazily inventive

you (seemingly!) have an interesting new writer on the block

you have an ongoing "new" success story in Dante, again hopefully advancing the refreshingly finite narrative

The only weak link is Sin Dex, which seems to be developing stuff, but feels to me as if its just rearranging the furniture once again "they don't want change, just the illusion of change"- the Pulp Fiction style missing at close range thing just hammered home to me how the strip seems to be caught in a loop - maybe it is changing, but bizarrely, it almost as if it has the illusion of no change for me even when things have moved on.

Replace sin dex with either stront or a new strip, and it'd be as near 10 out 10 for me as its been for a good while.

Dark Jimbo · 26 June, 2008, 10:35:52 AM

Quote from: "Leigh Shepherd"The only weak link is Sin Dex, which seems to be developing stuff, but feels to me as if its just rearranging the furniture once again "they don't want change, just the illusion of change"- the Pulp Fiction style missing at close range thing just hammered home to me how the strip seems to be caught in a loop - maybe it is changing, but bizarrely, it almost as if it has the illusion of no change for me even when things have moved on.

I genuinely can't understand how something can have so many episodes and yet there be so little ever really happen.

How long ago was ...No Dumb Minions?

Since then we've seen Billy leave; Finny lose (and then regain) his memory; Dexter 'die', be brought back to life, lose (and then regain) the use of his legs; the Mover and Croak endlessly threaten and cajole Cal and Isobel to no visible end; Tracy's defection and hints of coming betrayal; the Mover and Apellido endlessly gathering forces and moving pieces into position for what seems to be a big face-off; Cal work for the Mover, and then betray him, but then change his mind and work for him again, and then betray him again, and then be forced to work for him again... and yet what's really changed?

This new story could just as easily have happened at any point in the last three or so years. The boys are just doing the same old sorts of jobs as they always do, the only real difference being Ray's loss of accuracy. Exactly how long can a strip build up to big events and go through the illusion of world-shattering change without ever actually making good on any of it?

Baffling.

nameuser · 26 June, 2008, 11:36:25 AM

The popularity of Sin/Dex must be stronger than people think. The characters have been in 2000AD for over a decade which proves how popular they are.

Dark Jimbo · 26 June, 2008, 11:59:11 AM

Quote from: "nameuser"The popularity of Sin/Dex must be stronger than people think. The characters have been in 2000AD for over a decade which proves how popular they are.

I don't dislike it as much as that post makes it sound like I do.

It used to be one of my favourites, slipping gradually from that position as I realised there was not much more to it than whacking and wordplay, bouyed again by the Moses/No Dumb Minions/Malone stuff, then slipping once more as things like Ray's paralyis were backtracked on to get it all back to square one.

mogzilla · 26 June, 2008, 09:38:08 PM

just hope marvel uk realise the humourous homage to cappy is just that! WAIT! im reading dante!!!!! :shock:

mogzilla · 26 June, 2008, 09:39:25 PM

hang on.... whats with the tea bot wotsits?

Jared Katooie · 26 June, 2008, 10:40:50 PM

Quiet or I'll anihilate you with my heavy weaponry!

I enjoyed the prog but Dredd was pretty much a hundred times better than anything else. Mr Goddard's art did confuse me a little on the last page however.

"you (seemingly!) have an interesting new writer on the block"

I'm almost certain that it's Dave Bishop.

JK.

Leigh S · 26 June, 2008, 11:57:50 PM

Quote from: "Jared Katooie"Quiet or I'll anihilate you with my heavy weaponry!

I enjoyed the prog but Dredd was pretty much a hundred times better than anything else. Mr Goddard's art did confuse me a little on the last page however.

"you (seemingly!) have an interesting new writer on the block"

I'm almost certain that it's Dave Bishop.

JK.

Hmm interesting theory - at first i dismissed it but...

on the plus side, he's no stranger to pseudonyms, and there is the futuro swearing thing, that I think might be the big giveaway - did he use "shiv" and "frikk" in that Dead Man Walking? Did someone else use them before him... darn the database being down! If G. Powell is made up, it'll be the shivs that reveal the truth!

M.I.K. · 27 June, 2008, 01:09:14 PM

Quote from: "mogzilla"hang on.... whats with the tea bot wotsits?

You think you've got problems...

Goaty · 27 June, 2008, 02:42:27 PM

Oh wonder what mine is?

Enjoy this Prog!! Big question, is White Army, good or reallly bad???? as Dante working for Tsar?

Goaty · 27 June, 2008, 02:43:38 PM

oh yeah it based on how many you has posts!

oh crap, as 1,000 sounds like posting room???

Jim_Campbell · 28 June, 2008, 08:26:17 AM

Quote from: "Leigh Shepherd"Hmm interesting theory - at first i dismissed it but...

on the plus side, he's no stranger to pseudonyms, and there is the futuro swearing thing, that I think might be the big giveaway - did he use "shiv" and "frikk" in that Dead Man Walking? Did someone else use them before him... darn the database being down! If G. Powell is made up, it'll be the shivs that reveal the truth!

Interesting. I think you're right about there being "shiv"s in Dead Man Walking, but a couple of Mr Brooker's comments lead me to believe it's not David B.

In fact, I'm increasingly convinced it's D'israeli himself, if only for his sly comment that the scripts came accompanied by page layout guides*. I can't think of an existing script droid who works this way, and I simply cannot imagine Matt Smith allowing an untried writer to get a multi-part series and then to exert such level of control over one of the title's regular (and top, IMO) artists.

Cheers

Jim

* See here: //http://disraeli-demon.blogspot.com/2008/05/vort-preview.html