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Hurrah! New prog in the post, here's my thoughts...

Dredd - I'm really liking Terror, just really good, classy Dredd action. Keep that Wagner droid all oiled up. Wait, that sounded rude.

Savage - I've been up and down with this story, but it seems to be coming together really nicely, plus a cliffhanger ending! Gah! When's Book 2 due?!

Tyranny Rex - Still warming up, I feel. Early days yet...looks solid enough...is that enough fence-sitting for ya?

Future Shocks - A multi-part Future Shock? Snek! Well, seems good, though, satirical and well drawn by Andy Clarke. It better have a doozy of an ending!

Low Life - Excellent, really dug this story, and the ending...well, just see for yourself. I liked it!

Plus another fantabulous Droid Life! Hurrah!

Four more issues til the Summer Assault...my thrill-circuits are already near frazzled! Curse you Tharg!

I'm in two minds about this - the fact that it?s a short self contain story is generally on of the FSs strengths*, but more flexibility in the kind of short stuff 2K publishes is always welcome. And what happened to those 1 pagers Henry Flint was doing?

Seeing as I'm less than one-percent of the readership who merely likes the sound of his own voice, I can't be bothered to comment on the latest Prog.

M@

"Future Shocks - A multi-part Future Shock?"

Heh.  Steve Moore?

Nah, it's that two-headed Synammon writer again, Paul.

On this week's prog: for me, Savage is the highlight.
Bloody exciting stuff, with a great ending.
Who knew Mills could produce the goods like this? I would have doubted him, I'm ashamed to say, but this is one of the best stories of '04, IMO.

Pure, dark, nasty joy.

Otherwise, I'm still enjoying Dredd, and Low Life, although too bleak lately for my tastes, came to a decent conclusion.

Both the Future Shock and Tyranny Rex are highly derivative, and the sort of "pure SF" I don't usually go for.

I'm not saying they're bad - I love Steve Y art, for example - but they don't hold my attention too well.
I also get a bit hung up on Smith's made up words. I'm not complaining, really, but they do make me shake my head a bit.

Oh, and that's a very nice cover, too, and Droid Life was another LOL moment.

Hooray for a Monday prog, read on the garden swing with a nice cup of tea and cereal-with-banana-on-top!

Overall, a great prog and a nutritious and thrill-powered start to the week!

- All hail banana-topped mornings!

One more thing: "We are the Clench.

"Your narrative distinctiveness will be stolen and added to our own.

"Resistance is futile."

:-p

- Trout

ALREADY?  It's only monday!

I need to start subscribing.

Yes, Boy.

The last two weeks, the progs were in the shops before my sub copy turned up, which was annoying.

But, practically every other week of the year, it's been a Monday or Tuesday.

Thrill power through the letterbox!

Y'can't beat it!

- Trout

For what it's worth, I would have preferred to see this Future Shock published as a story in its own right, rather than buggering about with the Future Shock format.

IMO, FS should be anywhere from 1-6 page self-contained stories. If the story is good enough to be published, but it doesn't fit into this format, then print it as a standalone thrill.

Only one thing wrong with this week's issue - Tyranny Rex. Reckon this might improve if the whole story is read at once, but weekly it is weakly.

Nice finish for Savage. Might get more character development in the next book.

I reckon Terror will end up getting collected - artwork is lovely and story has a nice pace, although it needs to pick up again soon. Loved the Big Brother comment from Dredd too.

Nice mini-twist with Low Life, probably give Nixon's character something to work on in the future. Bit Andersonian though.

Five page multipart Future Shock? I agree with Dirty Frank - call it something else. Why not the sub heading 'The Mainstream' even if it will probably get wrapped up next prog.

Overall good good good. Oh and a special mention to Droid Life too

hurrah!  new prog and meg in post today!  hurrah!  haven't read yet as am about to go out to work!  just thought i'd share the joy with you all.






appologies to logan.........

Two part FS? Interesting, considering that Krypt was pitched as a two part story...

Tom F - hope you don't mind me asking, but are you friendly with Richard Elson & Nigel Kitching or are you involved with the 2K editorial team? You seem to know a lot about the behind-the-scenes stuff on their strips - not that I'm complaining, it makes for interesting reading!

Anyone know if Charlie Adlard's going to on book 2 of Savage?

Please say yes.

Will

Tom F - are you Richard Elson, and can I claim my ?5?

Tom Frame no less!

p.s - cover rocks!

It's never really Tom Frame, is it?

Hello, Tom, and welcome!

Who's got that Dreddcon pic from when we ambushed Tom when he was pissed and made him get his photograph taken with us?

Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

- Tom Frame's stalker

Ok, from the front...

Cover:  Very nice.  I especially like the way the logo, the "in orbit..." circle and the bar code are integrated into the picture, rather than being plonked on top/obscured.

P14:  Laughed like a small child with a fresh sheet of bubble rap. Bonus marks for the name of the refreshment trolley.

Dredd:  Loving this.  Top quality writing and art.  I?m looking forward to another full page of Dredd musing on life, the universe and extreme violence soon.

Savage:  The politics has been a little heavy handed in this at points, but it?s still been great fun and the best thing Mills has done for a while.  The art is wonderful, even better than Charlie Adland?s work on The Walking Dead.

Tyranny Rex:  I?m new to the character, but I?m getting into this a bit now, and I like the art, so I?ll call it a potential grower.

Future Shock:  I?ll reserve judgment on the story until I?ve seen the all important twist.  The art is pretty good, and a special shout out to Annie Parkhouse for a nice bit of non-standard lettering.

Low Life:  Smashing ending to a great story, backed up by great art.  I really, really want some of those glasses.

Overall, three very good to great stories, one that is growing on me and one on which I?m reserving judgment on, so I?d call that an 8 once the joy that is P14 is taken into account.

Cover was great!

DroidLife - Chortletastic!

Terror's darn good. Some brilliant bits in it.

Savage - a really good episode - the story's been very up & down, but this week's was a doozy.

T-Rex - highly confusing, but I think I'm understanding it. Pretty good, I think, but I might be wrong.

The Mainstream - yeah, I thought that as well; why call it a "Future Shock" when it's a regular 'one-off' tale. So far it's coming along quite interesting (in a The Dark Half kinda way) & I had to laugh at the messageboards bit! "BISON!!" anyone?

Orse!

droidlife - what can i say:  hahahahahahahahaha!

dredd - was unsure about this, questioned whether it was the gem everyone else thought it was, but really warmed to it this week.  really getting into the story now....

savage - a few weeks ago i was looking forward to this ending, but i've warmed to this in the last few weeks as well.  i suppose i need to read book 2 now to see what happens next.

f.s - once again with the 13/snow,tiger/calkutter and his chick lookalike with andy clarke's art, but i liked this.  anyone else pick up on the message board people line....?  not bothered that this is a multi part, but if the ending's crap......

tyranny rex - i think this is still warming up, give it another week or so.

low life was the best thing for me, great ending, likes how nixon did the right thing for the wrong reasons and thank god the bad guy wasn't her dad (she killed him - hurrah!!!).  nixons a bad good guy in a bad place.  she looked fab in her judges uniform, but at the same time it didn't look right on her, like she belonged in the shabby cloths of the low life.  Sequal please!

It's never really Tom Frame, is it?

Checking the database I can tell you that Tom F isn't Tom Frame, nor Richard Elson.

Wake

Awwwwwwww.

Oops, forgot the end of my review:

Low Life - really good ending, looking forward to next weeks story.

Overall: Not a bad prog, but completely overshaddowed by a blinding Megazine.

The trout minion does seem to have a lot of fun on his "missions"...

Poor Tom really does look worried there. Are you goosing him behind his back there Trouty?

No, I stuck to non-sexual stalking.

Perhaps at the next Dreddcon we should have a stalking competition?

- Trout

It's good to be part of the 1 percent!

Great prog. I'm loving Terror, one of the best Dredd strips in recent times. Very very reminesent of America, but I suppose that's the point.

Savage ended pretty well a good strip all in all, shame we've got to wait till next year for the sequel.

T-Rex, enjoying this so far, not sure where it's going or whether it's going to be a great strip or not, but it's good enough. Is it wrong to find a character with a tail attractive?

Droid Life - for once I didn't laugh out loud, shame!

Future Shock - loved the bit about messageboarders and quite enjoyed the strip, we'll see next week how good it is though.

Haven't read the Low Life yet so can't comment.

I haven't really been enjoying the last 2-3 progs as much as I'd enjoyed the previous couple, last week I was quite ill for 3 days so that may account for that. Can't quite put my finger on it, think it's more to do with me that the quality of the progs though.

Dredd - haven't read yet, I'm saving the (probable) best for latest.

Savage - This has been enjoyable and fun with smashing art. can't wait for book 2. 9/10

Tyranny - I was very hard on this last week, but now I can see this shaping up to be an enjoyable (if a little techno-babble-filled) adventure. Good stuff. 8/10

Future Shocks: The Mainstream - Hmm. Very uninteresting from what I read, to be honest, though the messageboard line was amusing. 6/10

Low Life - Great stuff all the way through. And the fact that there's more starting NEXT WEEK was a very nice surprise. 9/10

good prog.

Yet another great Prog!

A lovely cover by Charles Adlard.  Certainly the best recently, and one of the better ones of the year - better than that godawful colouring job by Chris Blythe a few weeks back, too.

So far, the Future Shock is the very antithesis of filler.  Great Andy Clarke art, great dialogue, great pisstake of...someone.  The novel excerpts definitely remind me of...someone.  It's on the tip of my tongue... help me out here.

Droid Life takes a dip by repeating a joke.  That mans it's only 99.999% pure thrillpower.

Judge Dredd: Terror.  Well, I've got no criticisms at all, and Wagner and MacNeil are getting enough praise already.

Savage.  Well, I've got no criticisms at all, and Mills and Adlard are getting enough praise already.

Low Life.  Well, I've got no criticisms at all, and Williams and Flint are getting enough praise already.

Tyranny Rex.  Well, I've got no criticisms at all, and Smith and Yeowell are getting... oh no, hang on, there seem to be the slightest murmerings of discontent.  Look, people, John Smith is the best STYLISTIC writer currently working for 2000AD.  He's the only one who takes language, gives it a good shake, and returns it in forms that NOBODY ELSE COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF.  It's not confusing, it's not babble - you just have to work at it a bit more.  It doesn't get in the way of the action, or characterisation, it enhances them brilliantly.  I've been the first to criticise last year's pisspoor Devlin Waugh and the below-par Meatmonger strip, but so far Tyranny Rex is Smith on top form, and you should be grateful, grateful I tell you, to have the privilege of reading this pure, beautiful, almost abstract writer again...

Stops, panting.  Thinks to self "God, so this is what it's like to be a Mills fan..."

"that godawful colouring job by Chris Blythe a few weeks back, too."

you mean this one down below?

i have to agree, it is a much more striking image in B&W. shortly getting framed and going on the wall.

this is a great prog. only regret that Savage and Low Life are finished, particularly hope to see Charlie doing book 2 and that its not to long to wait.

Well that was nice.

Had been faltering on Savage but the ending gives it an upswing - poor old Bill looks like he might be a tad buggered...

Terror is going lovely - liked the "pain behind your eyes" line - I wonder if there really is a Scorpian Fly, or if covert ops div are busy?

Tyranny rex is looking gorgeous - not sure about the colouring here (give ratty a shot) and agree that it may be a block read belter.

Low Life had a nice ending.  Rather selfish decision tho' what about the other poor buggers who might have been helped by Shades' plan?

Future Shock, always nice to see, but multiparters I'm not sure about...

Anyone up for a Review of LowLife/Savage/Terror/AHAB in their entirity come 1400?

Great news about Low Life being in the next prog.

Wonder if Dirty Frank will appear?

Writing about being a writer...

Enjoyed this prog - even Tyranny Rex for flip sake.

Although if I do have a criticism it's of the Dredd story. I know that the judges have a huge amount of resource and technology that they use to maintain their position. However it strikes me that the pro-dem element within Mega-City One would be more a more er "sophisticated" terrorist than that shown in the strip. I just get the feeling that this story is leading nowhere - the judges will triumph as usual and the Dredd universe will remain unchanged. Unless of course Wagner has a trick or two up his sleeve...

Reading some of the points raised by you lot about this prog I tend to agree with most of them...It IS great to see John Smith back even if it is with my least favorite character, but the story doesnt suck like I thought it would and is growing on me..

That Adlard cover is stunning in B&w but I think it works better with the blue colour job that Blythe gave it..the only cover colour job by Blythe that I remember not liking was the T-Rex one with the flaming background..bit shoddy that one..

I was delighted to see Lowlife get another run on the back of this one too..

Bring it on Broochbonce!!

Terror - even if the Dredd world remains unchanged by this, it's positively buzzing with excellence.

Savage - great, great cliffhanger ending to one of my thrills of the year. Wait till 2005 for part 2? You funks!

Low Life - People often harp on about MC-1 being just as much of a character as Dredd, and in Low Life you really got a feel of the city oppressing people. Nixon's dark side makes her a judge at odds with the system in a way more interesting than that of Anderson. And a follow up next week - class act.

Tyranny Rex - I'm sure it'll make more sense the further in we get, but so far it's just been exposition and dullness.

Future Shock - Andy Clarke really needs to stop drawing the same character in different thrills. It's grating on my tits now.

I've got to say it - the final episode of Savage was really, really bad. This isn't a comic strip drawn for the purposes of entertainment - it's a soapbox for Pat Mill's bland political views.

One panel contains what is perhaps the most ridiculous (not to mention unsubtle) piece of dialogue I have ever seen. It reads "They claimed they were here to save us - but it was the same as EVERY war... they just wanted the oil". Yeah, just like Kosovo & Sierra Leone. We were after the OIL! Just like in EVERY war!

Just when did Piers Morgan become the editor of 2000AD? I must have missed the announcement. Newsflash people: This isn't 'intelligent commentary' or insightful metaphor. A twelve year old could have written this rubbish. There's no thought in it, it doesn't tell us anything new. Nothing we couldn't read in the Daily Mirror.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, the opening editorial claims that Savage is bringing the original Invasion! story into 'intelligent and increasingly pertinent new waters'. If this is intelligent, I'd hate to think what their idea of an unintelligent, knee-jerk reactionary strip would be like.

I don't have anything against Pat Mills. His stuff has always been simplistic (perhaps even childish), but I used to enjoy a lot of it when I was younger and I don't have a problem with him personally. In fact, until Savage, I have not had any particular dislike for any of his stuff.

Rant over.

Rest of the issue was average. Terror isn't bad at all. Low Life had a very poor ending - this whole 'people are better off living in poverty' idea grates with me. It reminds me of Mother Teresa's  vacuous statement that 'the world benefits greatly from the suffering of the poor'. No, don't think so. Cop-out ending.

'Low Life had a very poor ending - this whole 'people are better off living in poverty' idea grates with me.'

If you didn't like the ending, fair enough, that's your opinion.

But at no point did the strip say or promote the fact that people are better off living in poverty. One character said she needed the Low Life for her own reasons.

Rob

Fair enough, she needed people to live in squalor for her own reasons. But... er... why? All the ending serves to do is make Nixon a rather unsympathetic character.

Maybe I'm over-reacting to it, but I just didn't really like the way it was resolved. I did like the earlier episodes though.

Really, just to Clarify, I'm not an idiot.

I don't think Chris Blythe's colouring is bad generally: just that particular cover: the image was a great B&W one and the addition of colour was just over-egging the pudding.

i wish to say this.

SORRY PAT. I WAS WRONG.
BRINGING BACK BILL WAS A STROKE OF A MASTER.

all is forgiven i shall once again throw rose petals as you walk.

the prog was excellent overall.

Very, very good Prog indeed if you ask me. Which, of course, you didn't.

Dredd - I would say that even if Terror doesn't change the face of Mega City One it'll still be a classic. In fact if it changed things too much it'd be weaker. What it's doing, wonderfully, is really let us into Dredds thought processes when dealing with terrorists. I think that's much more interesting and significant than an event that changes the status quo.

Savage - It was going so well - and then the baddy disguised himself as a tramp for no apparant reason. Just a bit too 'Invasion' for my liking.

Tyranny Rex - The blue border is really effective and a great idea. For the first time ever I'm a smidge disappointed with Stevie Owl's art work which looks a little rushed. Still better than most artists, just not as good as he can be.

LowLife - I think we have a potential long running series on our hands. Great to see it's potential followed on so quickly. Now that we know Aimee it'll be fun to see her in action again. Throwing in Fatties is spoiling us. Henry Flint Fatties are something to look forwards to.

Future Shock - Hmmm. Struggled through 5 pages. The 'internet' comments seem drawn from life, so is the rest of the tale similarly inspired? Have elements from the writers previous works ended up in reality? Does that involve a W.P.C. who was playing the Crying Game? Enquiring minds need to know?

Droid Life - It's funny because it's true.

Cover - Nicely executed but not to my taste.

Ah, I was still wincing at the thought of aliens, even fictional ones called 'The Clench'* when this gem came up:

"Those fans on the web are less than one percent of the readership.  They just like the sound of their own voices..."

Ha-ha-haaa...

Anyway... Dredd was great, Savage and Tyranny were okay, but Tyranny ended really well when they put all the distracting gobbledigook away and just got on with some drama.  Nothing wrong with the two part future shock really, nothing wrong with the story really, but it gave me such a laugh I probably enjoyed it more than I should.

Not a bad prog, again, looks great.

*Clench (v.) The action of a pair of buttocks (see Bison)

Yep definatly like the sound of my own voice ;)

Anyhoo

Dredd: excellent as always

Savage: Best thing Pat has written in a long long time

Lowlife: still not 100% on this but will welcome a sequal

rex: should have stayed dead to be honest

future shock: enjoyed it

I dont agree that Pat Mills is BACK on top form..to me he never lost it!...Cant wait for the new ABC story with Flint...Its getting really exiting now in prog and meg

Have you ever met a terrorist? They're not all brilliant misunderstood geniuses that are experts in the latest technological advances. Some of them are a bit thick.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

>Wait till 2005 for part 2? You funks!

And even that will be too soon.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Tyranny Rex: Me and Dud nearly used Ice-9 in big freeze, but decided to be obvious and call it Insta-freeze instead.

Bolt-01

Unfortunately all the ones in Judge Dredd are a bit thick... But then isn't that true of all the villians in Dredd - appear,plot their fiendish plots, cackle manically, twirl their moustaches and then get arrested / killed or whatever. Which is fine - Dredd's the "hero" but every so often it would be nice to put the charactor in jeopardy
As for ever meeting a terrorist? No. Living in the same place as terrorists? Yes.

Bolt -

I hadn't even seen that!  Glad to see John Smith reads the same books.

For those who haven't got a clue what Bolt's referring to, it's the strip linked below, he said self-promotingly.

Link: The Big Freeze

all is good;
Yeowell`s art leaves me cold, but the Tyranny Rex story could be good. I think Dud has been reading too much Eng Lit stuff, the babble in John Smith`s writing is just babble
Terror is terrific, I only worry it`ll finish too soon
Droid Life was very funny
Savage brilliant. How does he know that the Volg`s are perverts? Same way he knew about the soap, I suppose
Future Shock; looks good. that message board where people just love to hear the sound of their own voices sounds bad. I`m glad I`m on this message board.
the cover was pretty impressive

BAH!  
I only just got this today, and it was along with a stack of bobbins american comics, too (guess what got read first).
Reviewing it seems a tad redundant, since everyone above has pretty much articulated my feelings on the prog, though I WILL miss loveable, right-wing, mass-murderer Bill Savage until book 2 appears - in 2005.  Homophobic subtexts don't write themselves overnight, I suppose.  I really am sorry to see Bill go.
Great prog all round, but the jury's out on Tyranny Rex, which has yet to grab me.  

BTW - this prog looked especially good after I'd read the latest issue of JMS's Spidey.  Some Robert De Niro lookalike gives Mary-Jane acting tips and I nearly pissed myself laughing.  Is this the same JMS who wrote and directed a sizeable chunk of the acting tour de force that was Babylon 5?  After that, I can easily forgive Mills his unsubtle 'war for oil' line.  
(AND John Romita jr isn't drawing it any more - that didn't help matters)

I was a bit disappointed. Seeing the strapline, I was well up for a comic adaptation of the Sunday evening adventures of Blackwall's Blue Watch.

M@

Quote:

>Yeowell`s art leaves me cold, but the Tyranny Rex story could be good. I think Dud has been reading too much Eng Lit stuff, the babble in John Smith`s writing is just babble

John Smith in interview:

"I research everything I write – though obviously a story about something like dragons is a lot harder to research than one about serial killers or dinosaurs or whatever... For this last Devlin series I've learned all kinds of groovy stuff – not just about magick and conspiracy theories and UFOs, which have interested me since I was a kid – but stuff about the Earth's atmosphere and geophysics and the electromagnetic effects on man. Believe it or not, a lot of the "wanky techno-babble" in 'Devlin' does actually mean something if you have the same abstruse interests I have."

I doubt that he's accidentally hit on the combination Ice-9, Floyd... especially when it comes from one of the better-known books by one of the best-known sci-fi writers ever.

Link: Class of 79 interview

dont know about the book, only know Ice 9 as a Joe "god on six strings" Satriani tune from Surfing with the Alien.

Well, yeah, I haven't read much Kurt Vonnegut, but I still picked up the Ice-9 reference. Alan Moore alluded to it too in Halo Jones, where Ludy's band was called Ice-10.

I thought it was a splendid Prog. Hurrah! But it was full of glitches nevertheless.

Dredd: Why wasn't the bomber at all suspicious anout the scorpion fly attack? He's a terrorist living in a mass-surveillance police state, and he's not totally paranoid? Good fun, though.

Tyranny Rex: she can now have any body she wants, but she still favours a lizardy one with a big tail? I presume this mission doesn't call for anonymity. I just think it detracts from the credibility of the story if we know the character could look like anything she wants, but clings to her original form out of habit. Good fun, though.

Savage: calling the state of unrest "The Problems"? Very subtle, Pat. (Not). Oh my God, it's you, that Volgan pervert secret policeman who killed Tommy - either Savage's intelligence is right on the money, or he reads 2000ad.

They're after our oil, see? Because we've got so much of it! Good fun, though.

I reckon about 8/10 overall.

Ooops! Sorry for any confusion. I forgot I'd posted in this thread.

I'm not Tom Frame, as I've previously said (I should have been more thoughtful when I picked this username). Not Richard Elson either. I'm nobody. I have dialogue with Richard and Nigel (of whom I am fan), and then, occasionally, completely inappropriately, and without any permission, repost some of it on here.

Never mind, I won't post here again.

Hmmmm...

 I picked up on the Ice-9 reference. Where did I say that that was accidental? That`s from Kurt Vonnegut Jnr`s Cat`s Cradle, I think.
  It`s nice that it meant something to him, but that doesn`t make the writing in the last Devlin series less wanky. or babblish. that interview quote shows that there`s more to writing than research.

yours reversing the polarity of the neutron flow

Tom Frame never did tell me what his favourite letter was (or maybe he did and I was just a bit pissed and giggling).


Savage is good but I do wish Pat Mills would write a story that didn't span three fucking books for once in his life. It really is getting annoying.

Low Life - was OK - I actually thought some of Flint's art looked a bit too ragged and rough for my tastes.  No suprises in the tale though.  It is a bit of a set up for "She's a Judge on the edge..." type tales.

FUTURE SHOCK - I'll reserve judgement until I see the end.  At least the writers have the common sense to treat us message boarders with the contempt we so rightly deserve.  

Judge Dredd - Terror: You've just gotta love the conceit of taking the blokes eyes out and replacing them with spy cameras. Brilliant. And then forgetting to switch on the autofocus.  And then Dredd walking in on the "soap opera".   Top tale by two droids on top form.

Tyranny Rex - I think this is still finding it's feet. I'd be most annoyed if the first episode was nothing more than a very long way of saying "We built her a new body".  And what exactly is the difference between this and SYNAMMON?  

Cover was a bit bland for my tastes but a pretty good prog with just a few things that annoyed me.

In the first part of Tyranny Rex, they refer to some Bockanovski procedure or other when growing her a new body. Bockanovskification was something invented by Aldous Huxley for Brave New World, in which it's not precisely cloning, but something similar. It involves artificially splitting an embryo to make up to forty identical babies.