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Prog 2183: Regened - Five knockout thrills!

Started by Colin YNWA, 26 May, 2020, 03:29:18 PM

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Colin YNWA

Oh.. oh dear. I really want the Regened thing to work. I'm invested in the idea but the horrible truth of the matter is the material just needs to be better. A lot better. I was a bit muh last time but this one worse I'm afraid.

Cadet Dredd - has some lovely call backs to the John Higgins story where Kraken takes his Route Combat Assessment (check please) and I want to pull out the issue thats in to see cos I think some of the panels are straight lifts. Which is a nice touch for old timers. BUT not the bloomin' point here. Read as it is its sub average filler Dredd with nothing to grip you and a nod to the Robot Wars. Just utterly lacks thrillpower I'm afraid.

Trouble is that might be the best thing here.

Finder and Keeper is flat and uninspiring. Why those rascal ghost kids... and that's it. At times I found the storytelling pretty weak too.

Anderson was actually okay. Middling fare but again nothing to really grab you and shake you awake. Again lacked thrillpower entirely.

Future Shock - well the premise was dodgy, but I let that ride wanting to like something by this stage... but the shock was not that shocking and it lacked.... well you got this by now haven't you.

Strontium Dog - oh look I'm sorry I don't want to just roll out the same whine so ya know just read everything above pretty much I'm afraid to say.

The stories, or most of them where even granted more pages than normal, but felt as if they didn't use them at all with waffer thin tales.

So, so disappointing. As I say I want this to work, but to make it work Joko-Jargo needs to sit down with Tharg, discuss Thrillpower and what provides it and well... to be brutal do better. That said three real bright spots.

One - its here, on time (well as realistically it could be on a bank holiday weekend during lockdown - whatever's left of that) so for all my grumbling

All Hail Joko-Jargo
All Hail The Phoenix

Two the cover is stunning

Three - that advert for next weeks Prog has got me excited - "Dredd! You'll never guess who's coming to Prog 2184' I wonder whose coming to town - I assume this is Dredd and not something unexpected in that Nakka strip... Intriguing.

But alas that's it. Its been a long, long, long time since I've been this disappointed in a Prog.

IndigoPrime

Just got mine, but it's in COVID mail purgatory. A pity if it's not up to snuff. And, yeah, the quality levels really needs to be high if it's going to compete with the likes of The Phoenix.


Tjm86

I have to be honest, up until now I've been slightly more than a little ambivalent about the Regened Progs.  When we were told how many there were going to be this year I was slightly less than impressed.  So I have to be honest this latest effort has gone some way to change my view.

Robinson's cover is his usual sterling standard and the strips stand up well this time round.  Even Finder and Keeper which up 'til now hasn't really clicked for me kept me interested for the duration.  The Future Shock worked reasonably well, a nice little setup and denouement.  Nothing amazing but then again some of the early FS's could be quite unimpressive at times.

The headline strips, Dredd, Strontium Dog and Anderson were far stronger to be sure.  I would have to say that Carrol has definitely established proof of concept for a Young Alpha semi-regular series.  Dredd gives a nice nod to early continuity whilst Scott and Davidson take an interesting concept out for a spin.  A nice little chuckle as well with the "Baxendale's Academy for Young Delinquents."

So all in this has shifted me.  I'm interested in whether this is part of a longer, slower strategy to establish Regened as a more regular offering separate from the Prog.  Certainly it shows the potential for greater regularity and a chance to establish some of the characters whilst fleshing out newer ones.  I'm definitely far more optimistic about the next Regened prog now.

Judge Olde

#4
Regened is prog 2183


<Merged the two threads - Bolt-01>

Judge Olde

The cover & the advert for next week are about the best things about this. Dredd & Anderson were ok, nothing special. The rest really just seems inconsistent. Strontium Dog was poor. I don't like the idea of the take over of the prog. If they were just 'specials' I'd not bother to buy them. I'd be glad if this was the last of these.

broodblik

I do not want to burst your bubble, Judge Olde but there is still two more this year (prog 2196 and 2206)
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Bolt-01

I'm enjoying them - but wish they were 'more' (which is a ridiculous thing to say, I know) separate in terms of content.

The 'hook' for Anderson and the 'twist' for the FS - were very similar. The Cadet Dredd - nicely dovetailed into the the first robot war (though if the droids were harbouring their grudge for over 20 years then that shows just how patient machine scan be).


TordelBack

This was more of a mixed bag than last time. Well put together,  very pretty,  but uneven and repeating the weaker elements of its predecessors.

Aside from the terrific Cover,  the stand-out for me was (again)  Finder & Keeper.  This is a lovely strip, taking an interesting direction within its urban folklore theme, delivered through Tinto's bright and distinctive art. Unfortunately Reppion doesn't do much to define the main characters this time, unless there's a hint of revelation in Meera initially seeing the ghost without her goggles, and the trend of characters somehow not getting chemical burns continues. But I like this, it's quite a complete tale, it feels like there are lots more stories to tell, and I hope that happens.

Above all F&K feels like it knows what it's doing and that it belongs in this comic, as does the Anderson. Helped along by Davidson's excellent art this has the feel of Casefiles Vol 1 Dredd, with a fun DC Thomson school angle, a Nu-Whoish premise and a believably adult Anderson. The only thing that hampered my enjoyment was mentally screaming 'Leg shot!' at Anderson. Twice.  Don't set these things in MC-1 if you don't want juve perps to at least lose their kneecaps, all-ages or no. But this story was an interesting use of the concept that didn't rely on sticking "Young" in front of the title.

The Future Shock was okay, art a bit vague in places, and it went on a bit long - but the ending was good. This could have been where the comic developed a bit of satirical bite ('at least she's cheaper than the last lot',  or 'after all,  we've been picking unqualified gobby nobodies as PM for years') but it never did.  Still, it held my attention.

The Dredd and the Strontium Dog,  though,  I don't know what to tell you, except that we've seen both stories before, and done far better.

The art from Assirelli on the Dredd was really nice, (more please) but the story was so bland I had to read it twice on the assumption i'd missed a page. Dredd does well in a test,  another judge not so well,  Dredd blasts a robot and there's some heavyhanded foreshadowing of a robot uprising that's what, 20 years in the future. Sorry Tharg, but I think all the thrills leaked out of this one.

Then there's a Strontium Dog apparently starring Young Nolan Blake in an unconvincing story that just drags on, and some quite flat art that in its favour looks a bit like early Alex Ronald, which augurs well for Brokenshire, but is not helped by it being the first time I've ever seen the great John Charles deliver boring colours. I did like General Conda though,  he can stay.

There is just no point in putting these young versions of well-known characters into boring stories. Please stop it. What works in this prog are the strips that know they're all-ages and try to do fun things with that,  not just 'here's a younger version doing things you've seen before'.

All that said,  I got my money's worth (it's ridiculously cheap on the App) and I welcome more of these - they just need to do more of the good stuff, and ditch the bad stuff.  Simple!

Ghost MacRoth

Quote from: TordelBack on 27 May, 2020, 02:39:33 PMDredd blasts a robot and there's some heavyhanded foreshadowing of a robot uprising that's what, 20 years in the future.

Plus the whole don't forget the CPU is in the chest thing.... 'don't forget cadet', ok not directed at Dredd, but he then will forget that when he fights CMK the first time.  A new tale undermining an established tale is kinda what I took from it, and not much else.

Otherwise I have to agree with the general sentiment thus far, some nice art with mostly 'meh' scripts.

I don't have a drinking problem.  I drink, I get drunk, I fall over.  No problem!

Richard

That cover is brilliant. I love the little three-eyed alien birds flying round the concussed alien's head!


Magnetica

Oh dear....I really don't like being critical but...so we get 5 strips - I hesitate to call them stories as they all seem to be lacking in narrative. Stuff just happens for a few pages and then they end. Anderson seem fairly disjointed, jumping into completely different stuff happening at the end of the third page and then later on tied it back to the other stuff that had happened, relying on a massive coincidence to do so (that Anderson just happened to be the nearest Judge to Sandra Morgan at the exact moment she decided she needed their help).

Now I am all for Rebellion doing something to build up the readership; I am just not sure something of this quality is going to do it. All Ages doesn't have to mean totally without thrill power.

Even Ian Kennedy's star scan seems to be well below his usual impeccable standard.

Frankly I'm not looking forward to the full series of Full Tilt Boogie next week.

broodblik

I am quite disappointed in the regen prog maybe I expected more but nothing really stood out for me.  The art of Cadet Dredd was quite nice, and I am sure that Nicola Assirelli will be able to do a good  full-fledged Dredd story. The visuals in the Anderson story was godd as well especially the striking fifth page.

But still thank you mini-Tharg for another prog.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Leigh S

I'll stand up for the Anderson and Stront strips, even if the latter does suffer the curse of Alpha's eyes gaining a power that is a bit like one he has dispalyed, but not quite shown in the same way - the mind control thing being a long lasting effect rather than just sowing temporary confusion - I mean, he can wpe minds with it when he was little, so maybe his power diminished as he went on... but I came here to praise it more than thwup it.  Same with the Anderson and to some degree the Dredd (though I agree with Tordelback's none story comments), they basically seem aimed at old grognards like myself, which I suppose is also a criticism... gah! Tharg can't win  - maybe he should just try changing the logo and seeing if the readers stick around irrespective of the content?

Beaker

Oh deep joy....it's a regened prog....oh goody gum drops...my cup runneth over...

I suppose I'd better read the sodding thing...
"I've got 'em.....I just ain't scratching!'