Sensing a bit of a closing of the hive mind against SCB... but why?
So far the art's well up to scratch, the plot (and even the sports scenes) hang together well enough, and we have characters that are a hell of a lot more believable than many other series.
So what is it? Have future sport stories had their time? Is it the curse of the ensemble strip -too many characters, too short a time? Or is it the wierd horse-boy?
It's not too bad. There are certainly some nice elements to the sub-plots.
Maybe the main problem with these sports stories - in any medium - is that you know that against all odds, they're going to win - whatever it takes!
And after Karate Kid, nothing else can really come close(!)
M@
horse-boy.
Personally i'm enjoying this strip. The artwork is a bit stretched at times but overall i like whats happeniing. Time will tell though as the alien ball is unleashed next episode. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhh!!!
I'm not a huge fan of Warren Pleece's artwork. But I am of the opinion, that his artwork started to appeal to me more when he was working on Deadenders for DC- and this is an improvement on that- so that's a good sign.
As to the story itself- It's ok. Not great, but not dire. One thing that worries me, is that when I close up my prog, I can't remember the names of the main characters, although I can picture one or two of them- horsehead chappie, girlie who sold her body to a mutant (I reckon she's gonna turn up preggers at some point) and the nervie-kid who I think has a brother and dad working against him. Am I right? No idea what their names are though!
Don't let that worry you Dane. I'm the same, but with nearly all stories.
Again not a GREAT fan of the art but the storys ok, not earth shattering but ok although the bits with the girl selling herself (?) I thought were abit tacked on to make it more "adult". Mind you I though Mean Area was cool!
I'm really enjoying scb, but have to agree with the rev. The dark stuff is tacked on to stop the whole thing turning into the famous five.
"The dark stuff is tacked on to stop the whole thing turning into the famous five."
hahaha!` well theres that strip completely ruined for me!:)
i suppose the horseboy can be Timmy
Timmy the wonder horse!!
You wonder if he's hung like...
As said elsewhere... never been keen on sports, even less keen on sports in comics, even less keen on future sports, even less keen on future sports in 2000ad.
...and yes, you know they are going to win after a few drawbacks.
The only decent sports story was Alf Tupper, who could save a stranded steeplejack, whlst eating his fish and chips, welded a stray dog to a blind man's cane and hang out his auntie's washing before coming second, all whilst running in a pair of tackity boots belonging to a orphan child.
Grrrrand!
Huff of the Track
If I'm being honest, the artwork on the first episode was damn near appalling (yes, yes, yes, I'm not exactly Frazer Irving, but I can still have an opinion) but it has steadily improved over time. Hopefully, we'll get the full 'whack' by the end.
As for the story, sports stories have never grabbed me in the past and this has yet to make any lasting impression. As with most stories, I'm reserving final judgement on the overall product until the end but it's an interesting experiment in reviving a thought-doomed genre, we shall see if it bears fruit.
I'm finding it kind of ho-hum, although I do really like Pleece's artwork.
I bought every issue of Deadenders and was gutted when it was cancelled.
- Trout
I don't know why I don't like it. Maybe I find that it tries too hard to be believable and hasn't found a balance between wackiness and solemness yet.
I'm enjoying it, despite not being a fan of sports strips (Apart from one :P)
I'm enjoying the art and I liked the feeling that it 'could' have been in the bull-ring, even if there is no pub looking anything like the one in ep 2 near Spagetti.
Bolt-01
I find it rather pedestrian, which is slightly more offensive than something that's outright awful, to be honest. It just doesn't seem to be trying anything new, almost as if the storyline was the result of a checklist.
Not that that would be bad in itself if it was padded out with good characters, interesting ideas, or had something new to offer by way of the interpretation of teenagers in comics, but it just trundles along without so much as a pacy plot, or interesting cliffhangers. Michael Fleischer's Mean Team was at least eventful.
If it's about sport, shouldn't it be something we haven't seen before? If it's about kids, shouldn't they be interesting? It just seems to be filler so far, but then I've only read two episodes, and one of those seemed stretched out for the christmas prog. It might get better.
But the art is still poor by Pleece's standards - he's normally less 'plain' than this. There have been quite a few board members posting pics on here that displayed more ability at digital colour, too - still, at least he's getting his money's worth out of that 'gradient fill' tool.
I've always liked futuresport, especially if there's freaky designs and life is cheap, but this one's just a bit... uninspiring. A kickabout in the lunarpark.
I can't read all of this thread for fear of spoilers - all I will say is I'm still keeping an open mind until I read part 3.
I quite like it: wasn't sure about first episode, but it seemed to come together after that. It's clearly based on the 'classic' sports strips like Harlem Heroes and 'Mean Arena', and has a nice retro feel to it. Plus, I've always liked Warren Pleece's art.
It's definitely got much better now the actual sport has begun.
The whole thing still seems slightly inadequate though IMHO.
I don't like the artwork, Pleace has done far, far better, but was kind of shocked by last weeks plot with the alien thing and the naked girl, made me squirm, and upped my opinion slighty expecting a darker nature to the story line.
---If it's about kids, shouldn't they be interesting?---
He has a horse's head for god's sake. Seriously though, I'm actually enjoying it, artwork is nice and crisp and the whole thing's moving at a good pace. Not earth shattering or ground breaking entertainment but a good fun story, me likes, but I have to be the first to admit that I'm easily pleased, especially if there's pretty colours.
>is that you know that against all odds, they're going to win - whatever it takes!
Yeah, but then you remember it's 2000AD which can have a habit of turning things on their heads...
I'm enjoying it so far.
Steve
Heh - having just re-read Inferno, you got that right.
I haven{t closed my portion of the hive mind against it, but it seems a bit lame so far.
not sure
its not a gripping wow roller coaster, and horse boy could be better,certainly more orignal. im not not a big fan of the artists style,but in comparison to the current level (which is bloody outstanding) that may not be a fair comparison.
i will give it time to get going. its a bit slow at the moment.needs to pick up the pace for me.
seems to be for a younger reader at this point,
the girl selling herself i agree seems to be an add on.
i feel this could well have been originally written as a pitch for a younger age range title.
then adapted to meet the 2000ad market.
Its not the worst thing ever
No, it's not the worst thing ever. It's not that bad. The writing is OK and the art is nice. I think the problem is future sports. Like writing Rogue Trooper, it looks simple, and fun, but actually probably needs much more thought put into it than an average strip to make it work.
2nd City Blues really reminds me of the updated harlem heroes. The game makes no sense as such, a sort of rollerball with powerboards in a random game zone, in the same way that a lot of future sports games make no sense (e.g. the rollerball remake, gee, that was bad).
And of course, the kids have it tough. I appreciate the game is there just to get them out of the situation they are in, but to me that lack of anything to the game makes it difficult to get involved and enjoy the experience. You need to believe that watching and playing the game is exciting.
What's going to happen, is that they are either going to win and escape, win and it's all a lie, or lose and escape to victory anyway. And wouldn't there be a more interesting way out of their dilemma than a future sports plot? I mean, sure their lives suck, but shouldn't they be much worse?
It's not that it's bad or anything, I just think it's not easy to do these future sports strips well (I had a go and couldn't do it, and 2nd City Blues is better than my attempt). And of course, it could mean we're just watching The Mighty Ducks - The Next Generation. Again, it's not that bad.
Basically Rollerball has a lot to answer for.
Wagner seems to get the daft sports stuff, supersurf, pinboing, eating contests etc. down quite well without getting into any of the specifics of it. Just concentrating on the desires and hopes of the contestants, and having a strange/silly game that fires the imagination.
One thing that bothers me is that the kids don't seem to part of a game culture. We never saw them playing it in the backstreets, talking geeky stuff about the game, adopting a particular attitude that perhaps comes with the game.
Anyway, these kids live in a slightly crappy world, not unlike our own. They presumably want a way out, and their dream is presumably to become some sort of gang of David Beckhams.
But if they haven't put the work in from a young age, they'd be better off trying to become the next S-Club if they want to get somewhere just by winging it. Basically they should be trying to get onto pop-idol and not bother with Future Sports conetests, which presumably you need real skill for.
I'd assume that in their TV world, the game was possibly bullshit anyway. The remake of Rollerball for instance just reminded me of Gladiators and American Wrestling. It's all fake. After all, who is it watching these kids play these games?
It's vauxhall conference league stuff. And I can't believe that's how people get into sport these days. Surely players are graded and racked from the start as opposed to working their way up from the bottom.
They seem like a nice enough bunch of kids, I don't really get their world (other than 'grubby uncaring future'), I don't understand the game they are playing, or really exactly why they are playing it.
So, so far it's leaning more towards Rollerball remake and Bloodsports than Rollerball original and Salute of the Jugger. It's by no means awful, perfectly competently done, and of course, it's only three episodes in.
Excuse the waffle, it's just one of those topics I'm interested in.
I agree with PVs as regards the "fuzziness" of 2ndCB - what is it trying to be? It too often reads like an Eagle strip with some adult content grafted on. Not that thats necessarily a bad thing, if you can integrate the various elements in some alchemical fashion to get more than the sum of its parts. If you can successfully meld the ingredients together and still wear those influences on your sleeve, you can create something bold and interesting. As it is, the various parts dont blend very well, and are not helped by the level of stock "dark future" cliche used to colour the scripts.
The one thing that narks me is that they've chosen to set it in Birmingham, so lets see some semblance of Birmingham there - the Spaghetti Junction doesnt look anything like the current one, so maybe its a new one... but you then have the Bullring, which is pretty much stated to be the current one, and it bears no resemblance? Look at Skizz, and the detail there - the lack of any resemblance just adds to the "genericness" of the script - a proper grounding in a real life city would be a nice unique touch. It needs to play up to the various elements its got with a bit more confidence, and not try to hide behind bog standard sci-fi cliches.
I read Prog 1421 last night, and it doesn't even pain me to say that I thought Second City Blues was the best thing in it.
Well, the Birmingham portrayed in SCB bears only a tangental resemblance to the city I grew up in, but then again that's true of Birmingham in 2005 ;)
I don't mind it, it's ok, nothing earth shattering but certainly not dreadful. The game itself does seem a bit limp so far though. IMO future sports work best when they're either incredibly daft or incredibly violent, neither of which seems to apply to slam-skate-basket-board-ball or whatever it's called. As it is, it's all a bit Grange Hill, if you know what I mean.
btw, it'd also be improved if they came up against a local claret and blue clad rival team, and shat on 'em ;P
And when was it written? when I saw the horse-headed kid in that preview picture, ooh, ages ago, I wondered if he was a sly reference to former Birmingham City striker Geoff Horsfield. ("Feed the horse and he will score!")
"Well, the Birmingham portrayed in SCB bears only a tangental resemblance to the city I grew up in, but then again that's true of Birmingham in 2005"
Thats true enough, but then why bother to call something spaghetti junction and not either show it as it exists today, or show it as some huge extrapolated future version. As it is, we get a version that look a bit like a modern day road, but not like THE modern day road. Similarly, the Bullring is supposed to have suffered an Anthrax attack hundreds of years ago, so thats pretty much suggesting to me its referring to modern day problems...
And thats another thing about the strip - its set almost 300 years in the future, but it doesnt seem that far removed from today in attitudes and fashions - the gangster dad is amazed by the "digital babe".. something tells me that digital babes will be in history museums 300 years from now, not a wonder of modern science. Yet you've also got loads of alien species living amongst the humans with no real change in society. It just doesnt seem thought out, a rag tag of different ideas
It's probably a bit much to ask for accurate depictions of The Floozy in the Jacuzzi or Brindley Place, but it was very cool when Finn depicted very accurate renditions of Plymouth, where I was living at the time it appeared.
M@
And Skizz managed it brilliantly... if your not really going to try and capture the essence or exaggerate whats there, you may as well make up somewhere entirely fictitious