Cover: Great cover but something off about that helment, a thumb over the face reveals it!
Nerve Centre: TMO threatens to withdraw in Damage report, watch how you vote peeps!the FB
Thrills of the future: The Grennie and PJ droids join forces for Hunted.
Apparently TMO has upset FB lynchmobs... you go Green bounce!
Dredd: Rico, Joyce and Dredd back in the Meg those cowboys better put their wagons in a circle.
Top hole stuff and more from this team please Mighty One!
Brink: has unfortunately not grabbed me, it should: thought great team and involved but sorry for skipping it.
SLAINE: enjoyed this for a change
Black Dug: Enjoyed this too
Overall a great Prog only one skipper and that's my bad not the story's
Who's this 'Judge Lewis' that Dredd is referring to?
Cover: Classic cover
Editorial: you tell 'em Thargy!
Dredd: enjoyable, Dredd I'd always good in the taking back mah citeh storyline. My problem is how underdeveloped the texcits are, as is the city itself. Still here are some spoilers: Dredd kicks arse, wins and everything resets.
Brink: grows on me every week. First3 pages were perfect.
Slaine: stunning, just stunning art work. Action scenes are ok but Slaine doesn't lose, so you know sigh. I'm not sure what you do with a long running character whose main characteristic is fighting when you know he can't lose.
Grey are: enjoyable romp sort of stuff, nice ending err except there's another episode next week? Some stories do seem a bit bloated to me, time to tighten up Thargy!
All the dreadful things that have happened this week and it is that letter accusing 2000Ad of not being patriotic that has really put the wind up me...
Quote from: staticgirl on 18 June, 2016, 03:08:19 PM
All the dreadful things that have happened this week and it is that letter accusing 2000Ad of not being patriotic that has really put the wind up me...
The best bit: "Britain abolished slavery!"
We sure did.......after several centuries of enthusiastically and very lucratively promoting the sale of human beings. There are several British cities pretty much built on slave trade loot.
My attitude towards British history is simple: if you can't acknowledge the terrible things you can't celebrate the good things. Never met a 'patriot' yet who passed that test.
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/d500388a7b73af28325fb29f367288de_zpst8rmqify.jpg)
Cover: Tom Foster has excelled himself with this Bolland-esque beauty.
Dredd: There's a heck of a lot crammed into 6 pages this week. Not sure why Dredd would keep Hershey out of the loop, given that rumours of his return seems to be public knowledge (according to Oswin, at least) -- surely the CJ can keep a secret? Good to see my catchphrase "MOO!" making an appearance.
Brink: Skimmed this; waiting to read it in one go, when it'll hopefully make more sense.
Snooze: The Boretania Chonicles, Book Three: Pyskickpomp (part eight): Part 2 of "Slaine fires some arrows". Four sodding pages of firing sodding arrows. Four!
Slack Butch: Hang on, Mr Monk Haircut doesn't have a beard!? WTF?
Grey Area: Winding up nicely, but I'm not sure where this could go next.
Input: Detachable anatomy? Quality stuff.
Definetly a big Bolland influence, I can see a lot of Cliff Robinson in tje cover as well. Great cover. Z
No Traitor General love? (I assume that's the fellow?)
Quote from: GordonR on 18 June, 2016, 03:31:23 PM
Quote from: staticgirl on 18 June, 2016, 03:08:19 PM
All the dreadful things that have happened this week and it is that letter accusing 2000Ad of not being patriotic that has really put the wind up me...
The best bit: "Britain abolished slavery!"
We sure did.......after several centuries of enthusiastically and very lucratively promoting the sale of human beings. There are several British cities pretty much built on slave trade loot.
What people forget is that we compensated all the slave owners for their "lost property". That meant the plantation owners remained the dominant figures in their colonies. This contrasts with America where the North freed the slaves and told the South to go fuck themselves.
And of course there's the issue of acting all high and mighty about freeing individual Africans when you're about to start stealing their land. Keeping a whole country in bondage is no better or worse than doing it to individuals.
And a lot of British people are denial about just how racist the British Empire was. The West Indies, Kenya, Uganda, Rhodesia were all just as white dominated as South Africa. FFS they wouldn't let a black captain the West Indies until a local campaign forced them to in the 1950s.
And then went round stealing Africans land
Quote from: jannerboyuk on 18 June, 2016, 03:37:48 PM
My attitude towards British history is simple: if you can't acknowledge the terrible things you can't celebrate the good things. Never met a 'patriot' yet who passed that test.
100% this. If you celebrate our role in the world wars you have to be willing to apologies for the bad things we did elsewhere.
Quote from: jannerboyuk on 18 June, 2016, 03:37:48 PM
My attitude towards British history is simple: if you can't acknowledge the terrible things you can't celebrate the good things. Never met a 'patriot' yet who passed that test.
Not met me then.
This country is bathed in blood yet I still love the idiosyncratic nature of the island.
So much variety, so much difference, and yet still the same underneath.
Quote from: Will Cooling on 18 June, 2016, 04:48:13 PM
Quote from: jannerboyuk on 18 June, 2016, 03:37:48 PM
My attitude towards British history is simple: if you can't acknowledge the terrible things you can't celebrate the good things. Never met a 'patriot' yet who passed that test.
100% this. If you celebrate our role in the world wars you have to be willing to apologies for the bad things we did elsewhere.
To be honest this is the thing that seperates us from the rest of the World.
We know we are arseholes, now and in the past, and yet we know that and that is what makes us
pricks great.
Are we really still expected to pay for the sins of our forefathers?
No country in the World is more forward thinking in terms of women's rights and the rights of those in the LBGT movement.
Be proud of this.
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 18 June, 2016, 05:53:00 PM
Are we really still expected to pay for the sins of our forefathers?
No country in the World is more forward thinking in terms of women's rights and the rights of those in the LBGT movement.
Be proud of this.
this is only true as long as you ignore all the other countries that are more forward thinking and then try and forget the regions of the U.K. Like Northern Ireland where forward thinking is the defined as any thing people in the 1950s would do.
There's lots to like about the UK, there's lots to hate about it. It's entirely an accident of birth (and .. Uhm ... Great Britain's remaining vestiges of empire) that make me British. i find any kind of non-ironic national pride a bit weird (and these days a bit scary).
But I haven't read this letter. I assume it praises my recent run on dredd and is, therefore, a good thing.
-PJ
This has been one of the most wretched weeks in British public life that I can remember, culminating in - on the same day - a mainstream political leader unveiling an openly racist poster and an MP being nurdered by a right-wing terrorist.
I'm not sure "three cheers for us wacky Brits!" is the mood most of the rest of us are feeling right now.
I don't want to read anything into the letter being sent from the "Royal" town of Sutton Coldfield, home of Andrew "Plebgate" Mitchell, but when i saw where it came from it did make me laugh.
I'm proud to be a Brummie, because it gave us Sabbath, and there are things I think the UK has done that are marvellous and we can take weird vicarious pride in.... when you start trying to add up all the sins versus all the good stuff, you are probably best assuming that even if one outweighs the other, be drawn to what we did good, and stand up against (and don't deny) what we did badly.
Or else don't go aligning yourself to any identity that you aren't willing to see both sides of
Cmon, someone post a scan of this offensome missive?? Z
Great Prog this week.
Brilliant cover from Tom Foster who did a great Bolland impression on Storm Warning in the Meg recently. Would love to see him do a Dredd story.
Dredd. I think some recently asked if we were in the middle of an epic without it having been announced as an epic. The answer to that must be a resounding yes. Indeed these linked multi parters seem to be the way of it now (and Wagner said as much in the recent Thrillcast). Just top stuff from the Carroll and MacNeil droids.
Brink. This has gone from "it's ok" to "it's great" in the last 3 weeks. Really hope to see this run and run. And has Abnett pulled a double bluff on us [spoiler]- Brinkmann will be a regular character, just as an Edge of Darkness style ghost accompanying Kurtis. hmm not to sure about that, [/spoiler]but Dan Abnett can basically do no wrong in my opinion, so let's see how this pans out.
Slaine - seems to flip flop from a return to form to a bit dull. This week it is return to form country.
Black Shuck. As with Brink I have really started to like this over the last 3 weeks.
Grey Area. More Abnett goodness. I might be in the minority here but I would like to see Karl Richardson or Patrick Goddard back on art duties at some point.
Overall really liking this run of stories, which is much better than the previous set in my opinion.
You know its not you it me...I think... maybe... I'm sorry I've been blowing hot and cold of late. Is it the subtle changes in the way you threat me week to week. The tiny ebbs and the flows of quality magnified by the scale of my love for you. Our is it just me and my moods, my temperamental nature sometimes reacting badly to things, sometimes allowing me to shug my shoulders and allow the little irritations to pass cos you make me such a better person...
... or am I just reflecting on all this cos I'm in the loving after glow of a damned good progging. Bloody hell relationships huh, so complex.
See I loved the Prog this week, were as last week I wasn't so keen. The line-up is exactly the same.
Dredd takes a massive stride forwards as it opens up the final act of this wonderful epic by stealth by firmly placing all its pieces neatly on the board as its final moves are about to start. glorious on every level.
Blink is just comics heaven. Its just supreme storytelling, when you think Abnett is doing this and Lawless at the same time and giving us a nice bit of slap and tickle with Grey Area as well, we really should be glad he keeps coming back to us. This wonderful story present by the genius that INJ Culbard brings to the party. Once again the glorious lighting really sets the atmosphere so perfectly. Its so cinematic and I hate myself for making the comparision between the mediums, but it is.
Slaine really cranks up the quality this week... or is this me... I mean Slaine's supreme bowmanship is a bit there. But its wonderously realised and I just rolled with it. Superb stuff.
Black Shuck still kinda stutters along, I'm not sure I know the difference episode to episode they all read kinda the same BUT I suspect when read back this will all be well.
The aforementioned slap and tickle that is Grey Area is just immense fun.
So there I've read the Prog and loved it and think we should all wait to see if the nation of ours is dumb enough to leave Europe before we slag it off too much. The letter thats course such a storm in an Input is a bit silly mind. All the fun of different opinions.
Great Prog.
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 18 June, 2016, 08:10:51 PM
Blink is just comics heaven. Its just supreme storytelling, when you think Abnett is doing this and Lawless at the same time and giving us a nice bit of slap and tickle with Grey Area as well, we really should be glad he keeps coming back to us. This wonderful story present by the genius that INJ Culbard brings to the party. Once again the glorious lighting really sets the atmosphere so perfectly. Its so cinematic and I hate myself for making the comparision between the mediums, but it is.
Couldn't agree more. I have to admit I was dubious about the absurdly prolific Abnett taking on yet another new story but it's turning into one of the best thrills of the last few years. It's astonishing how much quality work the man churns out. As for Culbard, I can see why he's not to everyone's tastes but I think he's a Goddamn genius. Despite his deceptively simple style, the characters are distinctive, convincing and full of life. He's a consummate storyteller too - I don't think I've ever looked at a panel of his and not known immediately who I'm looking at and what they're doing.
And yeah, the letter from Sutton Colfield is pretty silly. We Brits have many things we can be proud of but our track record regarding slavery and imperialism isn't one of them. 2000 AD is.
Brink is one of the best things to come out of the prog in ages. Stick the landing and we're in instant classic territory here. In fact sod the landing, Annette, we're lucky to have you.
The correspondent bemoaning a lack of patriotism in the prog... I'd be happy if he stopped reading, frankly. That kind of mindless tub thinking force fed garbage is what I understood the great 2000ad inoculated us all against. I feel slightly grubby for realising we share a piece of the pie chart now.
... So Abnett auto corrects to Annette...huh. Sorry Dan.
No prog again. Sigh.
Just not been the same since RM has been privatised (no seriously, it hasn't!)
Hey ho. Just have to indulge in some vicarious gratification courtesy of those who have received theirs on time again.
I enjoyed the Brit-Cit portion of Dredd much more than the Meg side bit, so not really looking forward to the rest. Part of it's been the Texans being so basically sketched, with the TC CJ being so nakedly villainous from the start that I can't see what Hershey possibly thought she had to gain from the merger- hopefully the "alternative solution" will tidy that up. I've found some of the narrative turns made for plot expediency irksome as well, TC CJ just wandering in. on Hershey's private call, for example.
I know it's a holdover from the days of every other city having stupid stereotype judges, but do the Texans really have to keep those fucking hats? They look ridiculous.
Quote from: JPMaybe on 21 June, 2016, 10:36:04 AM
I know it's a holdover from the days of every other city having stupid stereotype judges, but do the Texans really have to keep those fucking hats? They look ridiculous.
It's a small point but, with Texas, this is actually based on the reality of how cops dress now.
Fair enough, I just find the aesthetics of biker fascist and cowboy clash terribly.
Quote from: JPMaybe on 21 June, 2016, 10:50:39 AM
I just find the aesthetics of biker fascist and cowboy clash terribly.
That's basically my wardrobe!
Cheers
Jim
I'm with JP Maybe block....didnt Alex Reynold do them with helmet in that Missionary Man Story? Z
One thing I spotted - the TC Judges have different eagles, but one of the group on the penultimate page has a MC-1 Eagle.
Did he forget his and this the equivalent of doing PE in your pants?
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 June, 2016, 10:22:21 PM
Quote from: JPMaybe on 21 June, 2016, 10:50:39 AM
I just find the aesthetics of biker fascist and cowboy clash terribly.
That's basically my wardrobe!
Cheers
Jim
Rofl I remember you from the Brum Dredd screening a few years back Jim, you can pull it off.
Quote from: JPMaybe on 21 June, 2016, 10:50:39 AM
Fair enough, I just find the aesthetics of biker fascist and cowboy clash terribly.
Ah. You favour the Red Indian/Construction worker combo?
Rofl, there's a mid-nineties Meg story we can be glad.never happened.
Quote from: The Cosh on 22 June, 2016, 10:34:35 AM
Quote from: JPMaybe on 21 June, 2016, 10:50:39 AM
Fair enough, I just find the aesthetics of biker fascist and cowboy clash terribly.
Ah. You favour the Red Indian/Construction worker combo?
Wheren't they members of The Village People?
I think that was the joke, Hawk...!
Hat debate closed:
(http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/article_main_wide_image/public/6/40//rick_grimes_season_1.jpg?itok=VQOZ1kfY)
Hat debate reopened :D
Closed I tell ye!
(http://www.filmdispenser.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/longmire-image-1050x591.png)
lalalalalalala Can't hear you...
(http://www.tvacres.com/images/oath_texas.jpg)
;) :-X
Quote from: JPMaybe on 22 June, 2016, 10:19:47 AM
Rofl I remember you from the Brum Dredd screening a few years back Jim, you can pull it off.
Forum needs a like button. :-)
Everything working for me at the moment, except for Black Shuck, which seems to think I should care about characters and situations and over-written folklore lessons that I truly do not give a toss about. Still, must feel nostalgic for Yeowell to be drawing the Orkney chessmen again.
I wish something would be made of the fact that Rico himself is Texan by birth and education, but other than that I have no complaints about Dredd, which unfolds smoothly.
Brink is simply extraordinary, Grey Area continues to be clearly told and visually interesting fun and Slaine was gorgeous beyond description, a poem in comics form. Cover was ace too.
Quote from: Tordelback on 23 June, 2016, 10:33:46 PM
I wish something would be made of the fact that Rico himself is Texan by birth and education,
I have no memory of this... I thought he was a Dredd clone? Have I misremembered (again)?
D.Oatage.
Dang, well remembered Tordels. He was one of the cloned foetuses of MC1's great and good given to Texas City, who Dredd recovered from the cursed earth in Dredd Angel. How old was he when he came to the Meg?
Thanks JP I have no memory of that, which is well scary. :o
Quote from: JPMaybe on 24 June, 2016, 11:58:48 AM
How old was he when he came to the Meg?
Well that's always the questions with Dredd's isn't it? Dredd delivered his unborn fetus to Texas City in 2106, and met him as final year cadet in 2122 (so notionally as young as 15 or 16, but potentially '20'). Not sure how long previously he'd been returned to the Big Meg for having an incompatible attitude, but not too long. So one might infer an excellent knowledge of Texan law and a distinct accent, as well as possible enemies in the Dept.
I'm kinda hoping the Carr-Roll droid remembered all this cause I didn't :-[
Quote from: Tordelback on 24 June, 2016, 02:23:32 PMSo one might infer an excellent knowledge of Texan law and a distinct accent, as well as possible enemies in the Dept.
Wonder what a Texan accent 122 years in the future would sound like?
What would a Texan's hat look like 122 years into the future?
A talking one.
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 24 June, 2016, 03:59:46 PM
What would a Texan's hat look like 122 years into the future?
(http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/31/32/50/6662663/6/920x920.jpg)
Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 June, 2016, 04:43:04 PM
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 24 June, 2016, 03:59:46 PM
What would a Texan's hat look like 122 years into the future?
(http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/31/32/50/6662663/6/920x920.jpg)
Is that the new Stogie model?
The Texan hat of the 2130's probably wouldn't be massively different. The one they have now was introduced in the mid to late 19th century and has changed little in over 130 years since. Z
Sorry about sparking the off topic discussion of patriotism - to be clear it wasn't the patriotism itself I objected to it was the 'satirical sci-fi magazine being attacked for not being patriotic' aspect which scared me. This is the sort of thing that happened in totalitarian states in the years before censorship, gulags and camps.
Anyway, back to this issue I really like Blink. It's kind of hardboiled and bleak and yet the art is anything but.
erm and also:
(http://alternative-zine.com/images2/bands_photos/fields_of_the_nephilim/Fields_Of_The_Nephilim_02.jpg)
Cover: Cracking. Eye catching and iconic. I'd agree that you could easily think it a Bolland or Robinson. Brilliant stuff.
Dredd: Getting a bit 'the day the law died', but in a good way I'd say.
Brink: I really wish they'd gave this to a different artist.
Slaine: I think I'm just done with Slaine. A sad thing to have to admit to myself, as you can tell by my moniker, I've been a big fan in the past. But it's just dull now, and even Davis' lovely art can't reignite my fondness for the character. :(
Black Shuck: Yeowell shows how minimal art should be done, with the help of Blythe, but the tale itself is yet to really grab my interest. Nowt wrong with it, just not feeling drawn in yet.
Grey Area: Nice. Love the art for the most part, and nice to see they will be going home. This displacement period has been fun, but I'd quite like to see them back at the day job, with the larger story arcs playing out over the top of the more day to day shit they do.
Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 25 June, 2016, 03:11:26 AM
Brink: I really wish they'd gave this to a different artist.
Sorry you think that. To me Culbard's stuff is engrossing and a joy to behold, especially here in a story which started slowly but is now hugely engrossing.
Quote from: Banners on 25 June, 2016, 07:32:01 AM
Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 25 June, 2016, 03:11:26 AM
Brink: I really wish they'd gave this to a different artist.
Sorry you think that. To me Culbard's stuff is engrossing and a joy to behold, especially here in a story which started slowly but is now hugely engrossing.
Yeah completely agree with this, art is of course always very, very subjective but for me Culbard's art is supreme on this story. He 'acting' he does with his characters, the sense of place he provides with his 'extras' and the atmosphere he generates with his 'lighting'. I hate when comics are compared with cinema, as they aren't, but in this case I'll make an exception his art is so wonderfully cinematic.
I was disappointed when I saw Culbard on art on Brink, it looked like it was going to be a hard SF thing and I find his geometric designs for space stuff and lack of detail a bit dull for that sort of strip. Plus, we already had Brass Sun and that 3Riller.
Boys oh boys, was I wrong. Not only are Culbard's characters, page layouts and angles brilliant, but his SF backgrounds are beautifully designed and wholly convincing. It's one of those magnificent strips where art and script are each equally precise and focused and every single panel delivers.
(http://www.rockabilly.net/articles/hank3a.jpg)
There's always the HW III option too
Americans are nuts... https://www.google.com/search?q=texas+state+troopers&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1238&bih=693&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIqMLszsrNAhWBIMAKHa65BEgQ_AUIBygC
(http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/phpthumb/phpThumb.php?src=/files/entryimages/_KCA9035_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg&w=295&f=jpg&aoe=1&q=100)
Go git em Floyd!
Pop Culture Bandit Review - Prog 1986 (http://www.popculturebandit.co.uk/2016/06/2000ad-prog-1986.html)
- Great start to the presumably final act of this Judge Dredd mega-epic with the impeccable Colin MacNeil on art duties
- Brink continues to go from strength to strength, thanks to Abnett and Culbard's masterful storytelling
- Grey Area is heading towards a happy ending for the characters and a return to the series' status quo
- Both Slaine and Black Shuck are beginning to warm up, after a lukewarm start
Cover: Davis knocks out some stunning covers for Slaine, i'd hang this on my wall!
Dredd: Magnificent, simply superb. Particularly love the the dumbfounded look on the TC judges face when they get a beat down. Script and art is on point.
Brink: Also magnificent, a whole instalment being a small chase sequence? Oh theres going to be a hell of a twist next week i'm sure!
Slaine: Same old.
Black Shuck: Kind of interesting from a mythological POV but a lot of the men sugfer from a bad case of same face making it difficult for me to tell WHO everyone is supposed to be.
Grey Area: A fine, heartfelt conclusion to the AltGA arc, loved every moment of it. [spoiler]And IT WILL RETURN! YAAAY!!![/spoiler]
Oh, and Scarlet Traces next week? Hell yes! And The Order Book III on the way? HELL YESSSSS!!!!
(http://i.imgur.com/sZU6ctN.png?1)
If Brink wasn't such a compelling model of narrative economy, I'd think the feeling that the rest of the comic is running in slow motion was just temporary dissatisfaction with the weekly serialisation format.
Like Officer Resting Bitch Face, I'm actually on board with what's happening in Sláine. Presenting the mission to save Zana as analogous to rescuing the memory of his mother, and a counterpoint to all the psychodrama about his dad(s) and Slough Gododin's dad, falls just on the right side of building a theme, rather than laying it on with a trowel [1].
It's just that, like Judge Dredd: Reclamation, it feels like it's taking an age to tell a story where not very much happens. The repetition of the trope of Sláine literally being brought to his knees by the psychological weight of his past (and figuratively disarmed) has taken the shine off what I thought was a great way to end the first book of this story.
Some other clunky moments, like the line THAT WHICH CANNOT BE REMEMBERED CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN and the way Sinéad seems to know what Gododin is saying inside Sláine's heid, don't outweigh the genius, creepy touch of Gododin's wee, sharp, pointy teeth appearing in Sláine's eyes when he's twisting MacRoth's melon, man.
Embarrassingly, I've realised I'm now really interested in the doubt cast on Slaine's paternity, in a soap opera or Jeremy Kyle kind of way. The line-up of possible candidates reminded me of Pat's classic storytelling, cramming lots of explanatory captions onto a page (like Brink's orange boxes), while still giving the artist the opportunity to do what they do best.
[1] In the 1989 Judge Dredd annual, Mills says he based Sláine on a brickie he knew
Quote from: Butch on 29 June, 2016, 12:58:02 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/sZU6ctN.png?1)
:D Like button request Tharg!