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A new Dredd from Mike Carroll kicks off the Prog. I already like where this one is going. Lots of meaty plot, and the promise of action and intrigue.
Durham Red appears to wipe out the sidekick and leave the star in a sticky situation, at the hands of the creepy big bad. Red really should take the advice of her departed comrade next time round. Good stuff.
I've no idea how many parts Enemy Earth has, but it's rattling along at a fair old rate. There's a dollop of false equivalence in the penultimate page, but perhaps we're in redemption arc territory at this point. "Sorry we tried to eat you!" Er, OK. Anyway, I'm warming to this one now.
The Out puts another sting in the tail, which I fear will leave us all on a cliffhanger for far too long, unless someone can lock Anbett and Harrison in a cupboard until the next book is baked.
And then Rogue does a thing that will probably make some people very happy. Nice characterisation of the bio-chips in this one too.
Dredd > Enemy Earth > Rogue > The Out > Durham Red - but all of this one landed for me. 5/5. More, please, Tharg!
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 15 May, 2023, 11:30:43 PMA new Dredd from Mike Carroll kicks off the Prog. I already like where this one is going. Lots of meaty plot, and the promise of action and intrigue.
Agreed. Unfortunately, Mr Carroll's obsession with stuffing speech balloons full of character names can grate somewhat, and this prog was no exception. (Was there really any need for us to know Amos's name before page 4? Likewise, does Wyndham Quint really
need a full name? Surely it would've been easier to go with just "Quint" throughout?)
I read this one Saturday and found it a bit lacking, enjoyed it more on a re-read last night.
Dredd is indeed very dense but looks very promising.
The Out was the highlight for me this week, again very wordy and yet another twist out of nowhere. Always a joy seeing where this is going week on week.
Rogue Trooper remains in that weird space where the art and dialogue are so very good, but I've sort of mentally checked out on it because it's also been a bit boring. Ending promises better but tbh I would have liked to have seen this happen a few weeks ago. However Garth Ennis definitely knows more about comics than me so hoping I'll be more into this in coming weeks and on a reread.
I skipped over Durham Red and Enemy Earth.
Tuesday Prog this week. Its an absolute guessing game BUT given The Phoenix also arrived today (the boy childs away on a residential so I get to read it first!) I'm guessing Royal Mail just couldn't be arsed this week?!?
Anyway more about content less about delivery.
The Dredd is fun once you get past the apparent absolute importance of knowing where Dredd is set up in the last story this is kinda fun... can I get past the wonky premise though... we'll see I guess.
Durham Red is action packed and things go wrong. Pretty good but a bit standard compared to this thrill at its best.
Enemy Earth... am I meant to know what the orange filtered frames are meant to signify? If not they really distract from the already shakey storytelling in the art. Still decent enough episode.
The Out is a little too neat wrap up BUT BANG the end jolts you back. Misses the highs of last week.
Rogue Trooper a quiet talker, but the conversation feels well rehearsed in war strips, then BANG the end jolts you back. What an ending.
So yeah a down turn of a Prog from the current highs. Nothing is bad, in fact far from it but most the strip just seem to be down a notch or too which builds up over the whole comic into a very good, but still disappointing comic. Still only disappointing as this line-up has built up such high expectations so can't really complain.
Is that a Bisley cover?
Toby Willsmer
Blimey! Two stories in, a full-on Justice Department execution spree and possibly 2000 AD's grisliest ever panel - I already need a breather
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 17 May, 2023, 12:52:53 AMToby Willsmer
So it is. Has more than a touch of Biz about it
Really enjoyed this weeks prog! Let out a little gasp at that last Rogue page when I realized what had happened, probably a sign I've gotten really invested in that one. Took me a few pages to figure out what everyone was talking about in Dredd, but could be my bad memory for the previous events.
Highlights of the prog for me at the moment are The Out and Durham Red, they've been right up my alley of late. A friend who has only had a couple of brief dalliances with 2000AD over the years texted me to say it had been popping up on his social media a bit and that those two strips looked great, so Tharg is definitely doing something right at the moment. I doubt it'll be enough to pull him back into buying the prog weekly but means he'll be grabbing those if they're collected (and gives me a gift idea for him if I can get there first :D )
Rogue Trooper remains the highlight, as it has been since Part 1, and I'd have been happy if he just went home on the very last page, as Ennis is the best war comic writer out there today.
Dredd was a nice set up, let's see how it goes, but blimey it was a dark set up!
The Out has always been brilliant if rather odd.
Durham Red looks great and continues to impress.
A prog full of shocks, even if no Future Shocks
- The 'executioner' aspect of the Judges being 'judge, jury and executioner' has, right from the unpublished first episode, been the most controversial element of their duty, so I was was surprised to see them systematically mowing down perps rather than arresting them . Cheaper than a cube, sure - but even so we usually see them preferring to reserve take-down shots for the heat of the action
- Burt's demise is still making me a bit queasy. I think what disturbs me most is the idea that Ben Willsher might have had to use genuine photos as reference. Ew
- Counting this as a shock: this latest phase of The Out (by which I mean Cyd's trial, not the whole book) just isn't totally grabbing me. I can see it's objectively good, though, and am glad others are still enjoying it
- I love that while we've all been postulating what might happen as 'Blighty Valley' unfolds, no-one suggested this week's shock development
I get what you sating about The Out and I think the "problem" is that the story has complete moved away from its original premises. It feels like the story lost its innocence with a much darker theme driving the core of the story now. I still love it but would like creative team going back to its origins with the next book.
You could say the exact same thing about Halo Jones and Nikolai Dante. Those both turned out just fine.
Quote from: broodblik on 18 May, 2023, 06:42:52 PMI get what you sating about The Out and I think the "problem" is that the story has complete moved away from its original premises. It feels like the story lost its innocence with a much darker theme driving the core of the story now. I still love it but would like creative team going back to its origins with the next book.
Quote from: broodblik on 18 May, 2023, 06:42:52 PMI get what you sating about The Out and I think the "problem" is that the story has complete moved away from its original premises. It feels like the story lost its innocence with a much darker theme driving the core of the story now. I still love it but would like creative team going back to its origins with the next book.
Think is we have the first two books and the story and character have to move onto new things otherwise it will stagnate. I love the way its expanding its world and ideas - what more suitable story for that is there. The core of Cyd's ongoing struggle to come to terms with the loose of her child and her refusal to let got and explore and keep looking for hope, whatever horrors that throws at you is just amazing.
Long may it continue to go out there and explore new things.
I have full faith in Abnett/Harrison and whatever they cook-up next The Out is excellent.
Good to see The Kindred back. As encouraged by Tharg, I reread the previous story first. The best thing about it was Mark Sexton's art. It's a real shame we don't get more of his work in the Prog.
As for this week's episode, as fine an artist as Paul Marshall is, all I could think looking at it, was "Skip Tracer".
Which isn't his fault, but was unfortunate nonetheless.
Especially when it has a character called B. Nolan.
There was a Paul Marshall cityscape in this prog that I loved as it felt like the classic MegaCity 1 of weird shaped buildings looming over everyone. I'm all for different artistic interpretations in Dredd but sometimes the more conventional tower blocks we see lack the magic of the bizarre (often logic-defying) looking buildings from the 70s and 80s strip.
Quote from: broodblik on 18 May, 2023, 06:42:52 PMI get what you sating about The Out and I think the "problem" is that the story has complete moved away from its original premises. It feels like the story lost its innocence with a much darker theme driving the core of the story now. I still love it but would like creative team going back to its origins with the next book.
It's probably a bit of a cliche by now to compare
The Out to
Halo Jones. But here goes. Halo Book 1 was about a teenager going shopping, and Book 2 was about a waitress on a fancy spaceship.
You see where I'm going, of course: arguably the Book showed Halo as a washed-up alcoholic who became a killer, as all her friends died along with her innocence.
Anyway, good prog. Rogue is probably the pick of the bunch for me; I really hope Garth finds time to write more Rogue stories in future.
*arguably the best book
Can I just add a word of praise for "Next Slice Please" in The Out?
Made me laugh far more than it should have done.