This year's special rather than to focus on smaller stories or specific characters in the AD-verse are presented by one big event story broken-up in 5 parts and wrapping up in a finale. Different artists are used for each section of the special.
The smaller stories are there to support the fact that this is a global event and rather than a localized event. Chopper, Cursed Earth Koburn, Armitage, Devlin Waugh, and Judge Inaba are the support cast, Dredd and Anderson are the leads. As the stories starts to unfold, we realised events occurring over the global has something in common. The common thread is only revealed in the Anderson storyline. Whereas the first story featuring Dredd kick-off the event the Anderson story leads us into the grand finale.
Overall, I liked the special and especially liked the fact that it is one big story. The bigger story gives it much more depth and space to grow. The end is an indication that we might even get more from the "characters" that was introduced.
Positive points
- The art in general was quite good, special mentioned must go to Googe's fine art on the Inaba story
- One big story, can focus on the main theme
- Armitage and Devlin together in one story, this might be a first as well
Negative points
- Well, if you do not like the theme this might be one big let-down
- If you are not a big Dredd-verse fan you will also be let-down
Cover by Neil Roberts:
(https://i0.wp.com/www.comicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screenshot-2021-06-29-17.40.08.png?resize=768%2C1002&ssl=1)
Has anyone who ordered this through the webshop had their copy yet or even had notification of dispatch?
Ta
i usually get notification of despatch a couple of days after i've received the product ...
Cover without logo:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5raCzPWQAEHXIy?format=jpg&name=large)
Quote from: moldovangerbil on 07 July, 2021, 01:25:07 PM
Has anyone who ordered this through the webshop had their copy yet or even had notification of dispatch?
Ta
Yes got mine last week!
My only gripe is my old chestnut:
Once again Anderson is portrayed as a very young, pretty, sexualised woman. Dredd aged, Giant aged, even Hershey aged, but Casandra remains forever half-zipped into her leather onesy
She's a middle aged woman who has seen arguably seenmore than Dredd, been through physical, mental and psychological torture that would have crushed just about anyone else and is surely menopausal by now... and not a line, wrinkle or saggy craggy bit.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 07 July, 2021, 02:33:16 PM
She's a middle aged woman who has seen arguably seenmore than Dredd, been through physical, mental and psychological torture that would have crushed just about anyone else and is surely menopausal by now... and not a line, wrinkle or saggy craggy bit.
Hey, have you seen Carol Vorderman recently?
not without visual support, (her and me)
A pretty enjoyable Sci-Fi Special. Good to see Anderson looking so well...!
*droool* - I get to index a Dreddverse crossover event! :o
Quote from: moldovangerbil on 07 July, 2021, 01:25:07 PM
Has anyone who ordered this through the webshop had their copy yet or even had notification of dispatch?
Ta
Not a peep. Not uncommon for the webstore I think. I pre-order most books via them and usually see them available elsewhere before they dispatch.
Here is interview with some of the creators of the special:
https://2000ad.com/news/interview-drokking-all-over-the-world-matt-smith-maura-mchugh-mike-carroll-talk-2000-ad-sci-fi-special/ (https://2000ad.com/news/interview-drokking-all-over-the-world-matt-smith-maura-mchugh-mike-carroll-talk-2000-ad-sci-fi-special/)
Interesting last question to Matt:
So... if we are looking ahead to 2022 and the 45th anniversary of 2000 AD, what can we look forward to?
MS: What is The Citadel? Find out in a new unmissable Judge Dredd story by John Wagner and Dan Cornwell, starting in the 45th anniversary prog!
I was let down by it. This was a Megazine Summer Special, not a 2000ad one.
It was ok, I wasnt really taken by Tom Foster on Chopper, he's an excellent draftsman but the art didnt have that kinetic pop a Chopper strip should have.
Was nice to see Robin Smith back. Never liked his stuff as a kid but it looked really nice here, a change of style without being totally unrecognisable.
Judging by the prog delivery schedule, I am sure this will hit my central Scotland home by Christmas.
I'm actively put off this through the inclusion of Chopper, but it's part of wider issue for me that Proudhuff mentioned above.
2000ad can't have it both ways - either Dreddworld characters age, something we used to be so proud of, or they stay evergreen for all time like Spiderman or Bruce Wayne. Hershey and Dredd getting old is good, but if Anderson doesn't as well, what's the point? Chopper must be how old now, 50? 60? We fudge it on Dredd and Waugh has an excuse, but how old is Armitage for goodness sake?
Now I don't mind if we want to take the stance that these are comic characters and don't age, but if so that should be a blanket decision because to have Beeney growing up and becoming a full judge all whilst Anderson is still in her 20s is stupid.
I'd read a story about Chopper battling to overcome his middle aged male angst and expanding waistline, but not one where he's 'classic' Chopper messing about on his surfboard*. IMO he shouldn't be anywhere near any Dredd stories now**
Anyway, that's my Friday afternoon moan. It sounds like an ambitious idea from the creative team on this and there's some great artists involved so I hope it's a belting read.
* In fairness to the authors this might happen, I haven't read it
** Part of this is because he died in SotS anyway, but let's ignore that for a minute
Yeah, Chopper would be around 50-60, assuming he was in his teens when we first met him in 2103. While he's physically fit in the SFS story (and we can argue that in the future you would be fitter when older, and we can argue that he's been involved with some magic dream-time things that give him more energy - he says this in the strip, actually), his face does look age-appropriate, gaunt and a bit wrinkled:
https://i.imgur.com/qmX143U.png (https://i.imgur.com/qmX143U.png)
Armitage's age is also part of the script provided - he finds it difficult to stand and people ask if his memory's okay. Anderson is also presented as a mature woman, in strip.
The cover doesn't quite reflect the contents, to be fair.
Gargleblast! I meant to actually post the image:
(https://i.imgur.com/qmX143U.png)
Why does the edit-post feature only show up sometimes, and not others, I wonder?
Cheers Funt. I'm delighted to be proved wrong tbh. Disregard my moans everyone!
I'm going to be contrary, though, and also agree with you. 2000 AD does rather have it's cake and eat it. It set up what seemed like an edgy conceit way back in the mists (Dredd ages in real-time), but at a point in time when none of the creators could assume that the comic would survive more than a few years.
Of course, this allows wonderful things like characters who start out as children but then grow up (as with Beeny), but on the flip-side, you don't want to age-out your successful characters, because they're your f*cking IP, man!
Oh, there's no way Mario would still be working as a plumber after all this time. Oh well, then. Never mind that we could release yet another Mario game and make millions - let's just shelve it because it's not realistic. Yeah...not going to happen, is it?
I notice that in Regened, it's clear we have to distinguish between Dredd and Cadet Dredd, but with Anderson - who cares? There's no clear indication with the Regened Anderson that she's any older or younger than most of her regular prog appearances.
I'm not really going to reach a conclusion, here. It's just that popular IP is worth something, and so is having a believable world that moves through time. How long it can be fudged to keep the merry-go-round spinning, I don't know. In all likelihood, it's the long-term readership that's going to age out (in reality) long before the valuable IP gets shelved in favor of consistent fictional world timing.
Totally agree and my original point stands, it just seemed a but churlish of me to moan about it on this thread. I do think a real-time-aging world is a valuable and unique thing in comics but do think its going to be fudged out of existence more or less, which is a shame but as you say, IP. If that is going to happen I'd.prefer full on abandonment than the half life we have now, but I think you're right about the readership.
Excellent point also about Anderson in Regened. Apart from a couple of notable series she's been portrayed as the same age throughout.
Neil Googe has come a long way. His art in this is fantastic.
Totally agree about Robin Smith.
I think the theme and structure of this special is an excellent idea. Might not be suitable for new readers though, since the stories don't really introduce the characters to people who are not familiar with them.
The thing about age in the characters is that they might be using an anti-aging drug or something and someone forgot to mentioned it to us. For some reason I do not care in comics the age/race or even sex of the characters it has always been about the story.
Sci Fi specials have always been mixed bags. A combination of somewhat variable artwork and mediocre stories interspersed with some real gems. Twas ever thus.
The idea of a single story running through the whole special is an interesting one. Some of the critiques are valid, there were parts that did not really seem to move the whole story along in any meaningful sense.
As for setting up future Dreddworld tales, it felt a little like there was the pulling together of threads that we've seen for a while now. The legitimacy of the Judge system, environmental issues, the effect of these issues on everyday folks ...
I'm not sure the anthropomorphisation of the environmental dimension was the best way to go and I wouldn't be too surprised if that aspect was quietly dropped over time. I might be wrong though.
Overall this was one of the better specials though for my money.
Not sure I'd agree that Anderson is 'sexualised' anywhere here. I mean perhaps you could say she was sitting provocatively astride her bike in her first frame in 'All Will Be Judged' but this is comics, characters are allowed a little licence to strike a mildly racy pose now and again. As for the aging thing; well, Anna Morozova's artwork (and the colouring of Pippa Bowland) leaves every characters' face pretty smooth, and Anderson certainly isn't depicted as a juve, so I reckon there's plenty of scope to imagine she's all of her, what, 60-odd years, factoring in some 22nd century anti-aging methods. In fact my main issue with Morozova's depiction is that the long face doesn't make her look quite like Anderson at all... but there you go.
As for the special overall... it's a nice conceit that works well in the first few chapters but loses its way slightly towards the end - 'All Will Be Judged' is a bit by-numbers and 'Apotheosis' perhaps devolves into too much of a slug-fest. The highlights are definitely Tom Foster's brilliantly gangly Chopper (I know), having Robin Smith back, and Neil Googe's turn on Hondo-Cit.
There's an Anderson story where she explains that Psi-Judges can't use anti-aging drugs or techniques because it messes with their psi-powers. (Not that one particular story should necessarily be forever-canon.)
Yeah they shot themselves in the foot a bit with the whole "Psis can't rejuve" thing. My stupid headcanon is that Anderson subconsciously nudges people's perception of her age by a decade or two, depending on her state of mind
My biggest problem with these Rebellion era Sciffy Speshes is that they don't *look* all that special. Being the same size and feel as the regular prog, they kind of get lost on the shelf. If it had been the same dimensions as the Buster & Cor specials over the last couple of years, it would have jumped put a bit more. They also seem to be (excuse me, Mr Carroll) a bit of a tester for upcoming talent- relatively few of which I (speaking personally as very definitely not an editor of a popular and long lived comics anthology) often think could do with a few more pages under their belt before going pro.
This one, with Mr Carroll's hand on the storytelling wheel, felt more 'together' than most, but the different approaches throughout kind of hamstrung it for me. I can't quite put my finger on what felt off, but something did.
Maybe it needed bigger paper, a crossword, a centrespread poster and some pictures of sand castles.
SBT
I do get the point in some respects SBT. Specials of yesteryear were a bit like the annual in that they had all sorts of other bits and pieces in them.
Whether it was something on the latest event in the Space Race or the latest SF / Fantasy film, a smattering of book reviews or (as you say) a puzzle piece, it was always a bit of a mixed bag.
Then again, given how dated most movie information is by the time it hits print or the different audience that Rebellion aims for, ... Would it still work the same way?
As for the talent-testing dimension, again it's worth looking back through some of the older specials at the variability of the artwork.
My big problem is that it didn't quite click until part way through that the special was going for a single story told in multiple 'chapters'. So in some respects the first 'chapter' didn't really do the job of establishing the narrative that clearly.
Adding in, as we've already mentioned, the rather tenuous connection of one or two chapters to the overarching tale further hampered the impact.
The last chapter did a better job of landing the story and pulling the threads together. That plus leaving open the possibilities in future tales. So overall it did a passable job.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 July, 2021, 07:48:02 AM
My big problem is that it didn't quite click until part way through that the special was going for a single story told in multiple 'chapters'. So in some respects the first 'chapter' didn't really do the job of establishing the narrative that clearly.
I think that was the idea or rather how I read it that the first episode was more there for us to ask questions rather the establish what everything is about. For me the narrative was only revealed in the Anderson story which flowed into the finale.
Narratively, it still made each individual story somewhat unsatisfying - a kind of "Meanwhile in Brit/Hondo Cit", which made reading it as a whole a little chewy.
The grand reveal of Nature incarnate was very Alan Grant and we've seen it quite a few ties - not sure how it all fits in with a post that Rob Williams story with the 4 horsemen, which was the Earth reaching a breaking point wasnt it?
The art is pretty variable - Googes is the stand out, while James Newell's art (pretty decent in Space Warp) but doesnt really work here - looks rushed, perhaps? Robin Smith's art doent suit Devlin either, and gives that section a quite static feeling.
Writing wise, I;m not a fan of Anderson and the PSIs being portrayed as "super powered", if that makes sense - I prefer it when these powers are generally lower level and situational
Overall a good idea, but the individual pieces are hampered by being part of the whole, and the whole is hampered by being a bit "off".
Quote from: broodblik on 11 July, 2021, 08:53:20 AM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 July, 2021, 07:48:02 AM
My big problem is that it didn't quite click until part way through that the special was going for a single story told in multiple 'chapters'. So in some respects the first 'chapter' didn't really do the job of establishing the narrative that clearly.
I think that was the idea or rather how I read it that the first episode was more there for us to ask questions rather the establish what everything is about. For me the narrative was only revealed in the Anderson story which flowed into the finale.
Quote from: broodblik on 11 July, 2021, 08:53:20 AM
For me the narrative was only revealed in the Anderson story which flowed into the finale.
Hmmm, given that this is the last few parts of the special ... plus, the editorial suggests that this is all a single "grand narrative" (which admittedly I only read after the special!) ...
I'd also have to agree with Leigh on the grand reveal front. Bad timing possibly?
QuoteSpecials of yesteryear were a bit like the annual in that they had all sorts of other bits and pieces in them.
Nope. I don't want all that guff, when I can have 48 pages of stories instead.
The last few specials start focusing more on longer stories rather than quantity of stories appearing in the specials.
Anyone else still waiting on this? My copy has yet to turn up.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 13 July, 2021, 11:33:37 AM
Anyone else still waiting on this? My copy has yet to turn up.
Me. I don't know why it takes ages for 2K stuff to reach me, but it does. I get a Saturday prog; but it's normally from the previous Saturday!
I got this last week. Its basically the same concept as Trifecta but executed badly. It didn't fuse together properly, im very disappointed.
Quote from: Fenscape on 13 July, 2021, 11:33:16 PM
I got this last week. Its basically the same concept as Trifecta but executed badly. It didn't fuse together properly, im very disappointed.
Exactly how I would describe it as well
Quote from: M.I.K. on 13 July, 2021, 11:33:37 AM
Anyone else still waiting on this?
TBH I make a habit of picking up the specials on the high street. Our local Smiths is pretty good at stocking them and it might be a futile gesture but showing that there is at least some interest hopefully keeps them on the shelves.
As for the prog, well our post around here hasn't so much moved to a 5 day service as to a "we'll get to it when we get to it" service so there is literally no rhyme or reason to when it turns up.
I've noticed online that there's a lot of comments saying this is 2000AD trying to copy Spacewarp by have all the stories loosely intertwined
Quote from: rogue69 on 14 July, 2021, 11:24:50 AM
I've noticed online that there's a lot of comments saying this is 2000AD trying to copy Spacewarp by have all the stories loosely intertwined
Two different methods because Spacewarp is a lot of losing standing stories that I could never get the connection between them whereas the special focus on a big story arc. Both have a shared universe
Having now read it I don't think this was anything like Spacewarp in structure. The Trifecta comparison Fenscape made above is more accurate.
Anyway - this was a cool and ambitious idea, but overall I think it didn't quite work: the story just wan't good enough. After my previous gripe about aging I did like the way Chopper and Armitage were portrayed but I'd still rather not see them anymore in any Dredd strips as I feel their stories are played out. I'm starting to feel the same about Anderson tbh. Highlight for me was Googe's art.
I like the idea of one story continuing through multiple strips and have no issue with the enviromental message....
...HOWEVER....
I thought having the same "I//We" possession thing happen in all the strips made for a boring read. It was the same story told several times, just with a different cast. I cottoned on to the "Mother Earth taking revenge on humanity" plot from the first Dredd strip, so the rest of the Prog//Meg lacked any kind of mystery or intrigue. I think it would have worked better if each strip had a seemingly unconnected event occuring that Anderson then discovered were all linked.
THEN the final Dredd chapter felt very unDredd to me. No one got any come-uppance, Anderson wasn't even given a slap on the wrist for attacking Joe and potentially almost wiping out humanity, the Evil-MegaCorp lady's "yes we've done wrong, but humanity can do better" speech was seemingly out-of-character and so cheesy I wanted to have it on a cracker, AND they then allowed the aforementioned MegaCorp lady, now a potentially dangerous demi-god, to just get on with things with nothing more than a "best keep an eye on her"
The whole thing felt like a clumsy attempt at an all-ages Judge Dredd Megazine to me.
I also agree, its a waste not to have Anderson ageing. I feel like there is a great story to be told in her coming to terms with losing her youthful good looks.
I really enjoyed this weeks prog though, so that eased my disappointment with the Summer Special.
Quote from: rogue69 on 14 July, 2021, 11:24:50 AM
I've noticed online that there's a lot of comments saying this is 2000AD trying to copy Spacewarp by have all the stories loosely intertwined
And I suppose that's because Pat "literally God" Mills was the first person to ever try that concept in Spacewarp, and it's never been done in any other comic publication before. Some commenters will do anything to suck up to that guy and slam 2000 AD.
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 11:38:54 AMI also agree, its a waste not to have Anderson ageing. I feel like there is a great story to be told in her coming to terms with losing her youthful good looks.
I would hope if they ever do fully address Anderson's age and actually make her look her age, they'd move beyond the hackneyed and played out angle of a woman losing her looks. I don't recall Anderson as ever having been especially bothered about that anyway.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 14 July, 2021, 11:37:25 AM
I did like the way Chopper and Armitage were portrayed but I'd still rather not see them anymore in any Dredd strips as I feel their stories are played out. I'm starting to feel the same about Anderson tbh.
At least they kept Death's Gang of Four out of it!
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 11:38:54 AMI also agree, its a waste not to have Anderson ageing. I feel like there is a great story to be told in her coming to terms with losing her youthful good looks.
I would hope if they ever do fully address Anderson's age and actually make her look her age, they'd move beyond the hackneyed and played out angle of a woman losing her looks. I don't recall Anderson as ever having been especially bothered about that anyway.
[/quote]
You're quite right. I phrased that badly. I meant, there is a some good stories to be mined from an older/wiser Anderson.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 14 July, 2021, 12:26:33 PM
At least they kept Death's Gang of Four out of it!
Time for the Judge Death / Captain Planet crossover we've all been waiting for!
Mine only landed today and ... well its a case of close, but no cigar. On almost all fronts.
Visually it was very hit and miss, there were some real highs and Neal Googe was the absolute tops here. Dylan Teague's usually palette being perfect for the story too. Love Tom Foster's mad eyes Chopper to.
I'm all for the interlinked story and really don't mind if its more Meg than 2000ad its the natural way to link up stories so worked fine for me. The problem was it fell between its two stalls. The individual chapters were a little weak and felt too much the part of a whole rather than stories in their own right. The overall story felt like the parts where a bit bolted together and crammed into place rather than naturally weaving together.
Add to that after 48 or so pages that sinking feeling that it was also all set up as a bit deflating too.
Like the nod to Father Earth - bit cute but worked for me and when it all hung together... Overall noble effort, but a little short of it potential and while I'll happliy see where it goes I would have liked to be hanker for more after this and I'm not.
Missed opportunity.
I was going to comment, but Colin's pretty much said it all, so I won't bother.
I'm not sure what I made of it. My general thinking is I apparently liked it a lot more than most people posting here. It was quite breezy. Although some of the other chapters were arguably a bit inconsequential, the pace rattled along and felt a bit like a movie in fast forward. If anything, the lack of subsequent crossover from some of the players—along with sine demands on the reader at having remembered things that happened in 2000 AD/The Meg's histories years back—were the problem.
I don't think out stuck the landing though. That last part didn't wrap things up in a way that felt entirely satisfying. It was all a bit neat and quick, but I guess that's the thing when you've a limited page count and have to sprint for the line. In all then, I quite liked it and I enjoyed the special trying something different. If there's a place for experimentation and trying new things, the specials are surely it.
I enjoyed it overall - it was fun to see a lot of underused characters back in the fold. If you're counting, and I am, it's been a while. We last saw Koburn in 2018 - he was a Rennie character, but was used to great effect in Dust to Dust (part of the Every Empire Falls sequence) by Carroll, and in his own five-parter by McConville.
Armitage, you'll recall, had a central part to play during Every Empire Falls' Brit-Cit segments (in 2016), but original writer Dave Stone hasn't done a solo series since 2012.
Chopper's a bit more recent (last seen in 2018's Wandering Soul by David Baillie) and clearly ties well into the whole earth-spirit thang.
Inaba (via Hondo City Justice) seemed to be dropped mid-thread by Robbie Morrison back in 2013's Revenge of the 47 Ronin - which had set up a new familial angle to the story. It was great to see both Inaba, and Googe on art duties - as he did such a bang up job on the first Hondo City Justice series in 2010.
---
Plot-wise, as others have said, there didn't seem to be much for the other characters to do once it became an Anderson::Dredd fight to the almost dead - with that one page letting us know that the others were helping variously by playing the stock market, directing some outback clean-up and blessing a tree.
I don't really appreciate the force-of-nature stories. If you know you Dredd history, you'll realize that this is (at least) the third all-powerful thing in charge of the Earth - there's the eternal monk-dude from Shamballa, the magic lodestone from Ennis and now we have a corporate Mother Earth (uh-oh!) to provide us with more End of Days spiritual shenanigans.
There is room for things like End of Days in 2000 AD - but it's really very Marvel / DC stuff. Tell any story you like, however fantastical - with as many character deaths as you like - and then reset when you're done - put all the toys back in the box for the next writer. But that's not 2000 AD, is it? Or is it? Maybe it is now.
---
Final note - I really like Maura McHugh's work on Anderson - she's brought back in Judge Shakta and the Ryan twins, and so we get that sense of continuity stretching all the way back to Half-Life and then Crusade - something other writers have shied away from. (What has happened to all the children who got taken into the Morlock underground in Crusade anyway? All grown up now?)
---
Summary: I loved the idea and the energy and a lot of the content. Not so keen on the supernatural earth spirits being a dominant Dredd theme.
Well, people must have bought into the idea to some degree, because the special's now sold out on the 2000 AD shop.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 21 July, 2021, 01:22:05 PM
Well, people must have bought into the idea to some degree, because the special's now sold out on the 2000 AD shop.
Oh that's very good news. Maybe that's the 400,000 Mike Carroll refered to in the Thrillcast*
*
I know, I know do just imagine one day....!
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 01:25:00 PM
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 11:38:54 AMI also agree, its a waste not to have Anderson ageing. I feel like there is a great story to be told in her coming to terms with losing her youthful good looks.
I would hope if they ever do fully address Anderson's age and actually make her look her age, they'd move beyond the hackneyed and played out angle of a woman losing her looks. I don't recall Anderson as ever having been especially bothered about that anyway.
You're quite right. I phrased that badly. I meant, there is a some good stories to be mined from an older/wiser Anderson.
[/quote]
Just hoping:
Anderson, The menopause years! involves some judicial retribution!
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 21 July, 2021, 01:22:05 PM
Well, people must have bought into the idea to some degree, because the special's now sold out on the 2000 AD shop.
I had quite a bit of trouble tracking this down in the wild, too. Glad I did. I enjoyed it a lot.
I also found it hard to find - hope that means it sold well, rather than just a limited run. The Clifton Smith's didn't have it, even though it always seems to have the current Rebellion special - in fact they still had Black Beth for sale. I went for a rummage in Forbidden Planet on Sunday and they had one copy left, which I snaffled. Haven't read it yet, though.
Decided to grab a print copy of this, because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't. Two newsagents in Fleet. The first had no copies. So I ventured into WHSmith. By the looks of it, our branch might have the UK's entire stock. (They had loads. 2000 ADs and Megs, too, along with Black Beth, Shift #6, a slew of Marvel bookazines, and two Commando comics. Blimey.)
Quote from: Funt Solo on 18 July, 2021, 05:19:41 PM
I enjoyed it overall - it was fun to see a lot of underused characters back in the fold.
Sums it up for me too Funt. Love seeing some of these characters back in action
Finally got around to reading my digital copy of the Sci Fi special after falling behind on my progs and Megs.
Thought it was a good but not great special story wise.
I like the idea of bringing back these wider Dredd-verse characters and was great to see Carroll and McHugh having a crack at at one big story in this special.
Visual highlights for me:
Koburn's version of a lawmaster in Panel 2 background
Crocodile Dundee hat in
Chopper's caravan
Armitage and
Devlin Waugh in the one Brit Cit strip. More Armitage pls
Googe and Teague's work in
Hondo City. Love the HC lawmasters. Teague on fire in 2021.
Will have to look it up but did Googe and Teague do the Hondo City art from way back?
now off to to listen to the Thrillcast about this issues creation
I too was late to read this but I really enjoyed it. Especially the Anderson, and the idea of Chopper taunting Judges using Shakespeare quotes. How has nobody tried that before? Great fun!
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 July, 2021, 07:48:02 AM
I do get the point in some respects SBT. Specials of yesteryear were a bit like the annual in that they had all sorts of other bits and pieces in them.
Whether it was something on the latest event in the Space Race or the latest SF / Fantasy film, a smattering of book reviews or (as you say) a puzzle piece, it was always a bit of a mixed bag.
Then again, given how dated most movie information is by the time it hits print or the different audience that Rebellion aims for, ... Would it still work the same way?
That's not all that appeared in specials and annuals - there were interviews with creators (which tends to get covered in the Megazine Interrogation features) but also top covers of the year and articles about the creation of certain pieces of artwork or stories (McMahon, Bolland and Gibson Dredd artwork and Nemesis, Skizz and Halo come to mind). I wouldn't mind seeing this in specials, to differentiate from the prog. In some cases of a lot of the work has already been done - just reformat one of the Wells-bot's covers uncovered posts for print. Though the argument that anything that takes away from story pages is bad is also valid.
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 01:25:00 PM
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 11:38:54 AMI also agree, its a waste not to have Anderson ageing. I feel like there is a great story to be told in her coming to terms with losing her youthful good looks.
I would hope if they ever do fully address Anderson's age and actually make her look her age, they'd move beyond the hackneyed and played out angle of a woman losing her looks. I don't recall Anderson as ever having been especially bothered about that anyway.
You're quite right. I phrased that badly. I meant, there is a some good stories to be mined from an older/wiser Anderson.
In the real world something that ageing women report on is that they don't get the kind of attention they used to - in both good and bad ways. Middle-aged women can be invisible in a way they weren't when they got the unwelcome attention when younger. Might be interesting to see how this plays out when the middle-aged woman in question is a judge...
I have no idea why it didn't quotify the end of the first part of that post.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 16 July, 2021, 09:05:39 PM
I'm all for the interlinked story and really don't mind if its more Meg than 2000ad its the natural way to link up stories so worked fine for me.
The only non-Dredd property that could tie in this number of stories would have to be set in the Rogue Trooper universe with its various spin-offs. Strontium Dog would probably be second though we've not seen too much of all the other Stronts other than Durham Red and those who appear in the main story.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 18 July, 2021, 05:19:41 PM
I enjoyed it overall - it was fun to see a lot of underused characters back in the fold. If you're counting, and I am, it's been a while. We last saw Koburn in 2018 - he was a Rennie character, but was used to great effect in Dust to Dust (part of the Every Empire Falls sequence) by Carroll, and in his own five-parter by McConville.
Armitage, you'll recall, had a central part to play during Every Empire Falls' Brit-Cit segments (in 2016), but original writer Dave Stone hasn't done a solo series since 2012.
Chopper's a bit more recent (last seen in 2018's Wandering Soul by David Baillie) and clearly ties well into the whole earth-spirit thang.
Inaba (via Hondo City Justice) seemed to be dropped mid-thread by Robbie Morrison back in 2013's Revenge of the 47 Ronin - which had set up a new familial angle to the story. It was great to see both Inaba, and Googe on art duties - as he did such a bang up job on the first Hondo City Justice series in 2010.
Thanks for the round-up - didn't realise Wandering Soul was already three years ago! Highlights the two big failings of modern-day 2000AD. First is how many dangling stories and threads there are. Eight years since Inaba's last appearance? That's the entirety of my prog slog to date (currently on the year 1985 so eight years on from launch in 1977). Picking out one story would be unfair (it'd be like asking where Dare had gotten to*) but this has plagued a number of ongoing storylines. Stickleback's relatively recent return gives us hope that they'll eventually return, but still...
Second is that some of the shared universe stories could really do with a show-runner. I know that 21st century Tharg prefers a light touch in editorial style - possibly influenced by tales of more heavy-handed editing by Tharg's gone by - but having multiple but very similar plots supposedly occurring concurrently does push suspension of disbelieve for all but those who don't like to engage brain while reading***.
* the pages of Eagle **
** sort of
*** seems like an insult, but those who have pointed out inconsistencies on social media have garnered responses about "overthinking" things, "it's not real" and similar, so I'm not sure how else to phrase that.
Quote from: sheridan on 13 September, 2021, 12:50:42 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 16 July, 2021, 09:05:39 PM
I'm all for the interlinked story and really don't mind if its more Meg than 2000ad its the natural way to link up stories so worked fine for me.
The only non-Dredd property that could tie in this number of stories would have to be set in the Rogue Trooper universe with its various spin-offs. Strontium Dog would probably be second though we've not seen too much of all the other Stronts other than Durham Red and those who appear in the main story.
Pat Mills could manage this with his various inter-linked creations, but there obviously is little chance of that happening.
Would be an interesting way for Ian Edginton to cement the Edgverse as well?
I was completely forgetting the Millsverses and Edgverses :-)
Kurt Vonnegut showing up in Kingmaker was pretty jarring, though. It works in Brass Sun because the story has hinted before at the idea that this is our solar system in the far future - so the idea of Kurt as the avatar of a god is valid for the milieu.
With Kingmaker, it was way less clear that we could be in our own future, or even a shared universe, that would make Kurt the obvious choice as another god spirit. It felt more like an intrusion, and I felt it weakened things. I feel the same way about Gideon in The Order.
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Marlon quoting Shakespeare goes against the original depiction of the character as someone who is entirely disillusioned with education and turns him into a peppy go-getter, instead of an anti-establishment rogue. It's just a completely different character borrowing the name.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 13 September, 2021, 06:48:56 PM
Marlon quoting Shakespeare goes against the original depiction of the character as someone who is entirely disillusioned with education and turns him into a peppy go-getter, instead of an anti-establishment rogue. It's just a completely different character borrowing the name.
I did think when reading it that it wasn't true to what we'd seen before. I guess being familiar with the character since I was about ten years old means that it didn't even occur to me that Marlon might have taken special interest in the Bard's works because they share the same surname!* I think I can rationalise Marlon quoting Shakespeare in the same what that Alex likes the Ludwig Van...
* yep, I didn't make the connection until reading this thread!
Quote from: sheridan link=topic=47682.msg1067994#msg10 I think I can rationalise Marlon quoting Shakespeare in the same what that Alex likes the Ludwig Van...
/quote]
That should be "the same way that Alex likes the Ludwig Van". And as I didn't make it clear, I'm referring to the antagonist of A Clockwork Orange, for those not familiar.
Isn't there a law of programming that every time you try to correct an error you introduce two more?
Quote from: sheridan on 13 September, 2021, 07:41:25 PM
Isn't there a law of programming that every time you try to correct an error you introduce two more?
99 programming bugs in the code
99 programming bugs
You take one down and troubleshoot
1534881384351 bugs in the code
Quote from: JimmyNailz on 14 July, 2021, 11:38:54 AM
The whole thing felt like a clumsy attempt at an all-ages Judge Dredd Megazine to me.
Good shout, clumsy is the word, although I'm not sure why the opening Dredd had to be so hard to read in that respect. Lovely to look at though, but the plot?. On the whole I thought it was a series of events lacking in any real story and pretty clunky dialogue.
The ending with Anderson floating about (from where did she come?) prior to which she states I can't do this anymore, had me agreeing with her. The last story was just bobbins in it's narrative and dialogue and failed to tie all the many lose ends. Dredds characterisation just didn't sound or look right and don't get me started on Develin Waugh...
Quote from: sheridan on 13 September, 2021, 07:30:03 PM
I think I can rationalise Marlon quoting Shakespeare in the same way that Alex likes the Ludwig Van...
Good point.
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(First year programming challenge: make the most compilation errors with the fewest mistakes.)
We're talking about Clockwork Orange Alex here, yes, not me? Nothing against LVB, but I'm more of a synth pop kinda guy.
And I agree with both of you! This version of Chopper was a bit more peppy than rougelike, but I think there's something in the idea that he'd take something he was force-fed by the establoishment (in this case, the works of Shakespeare), and then throw it back in their faces. I'll admit it doesn't work alongside his status as 'man of the people', though.