I`m tired of being too late to the new prog review threads. By the time I get there, everything I think about the prog has been said better somewhere.
So, here is my prog 710 review. I just picked this prog up off ebay and I think this is the first review thread for it here! First at last!
If you haven`t read prog 710 and are about to (unlikely as it sounds) there are
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Cover; A bit twee. Tharg covers are often dodgy
Nerve Centre; nice sepia picture of John Smith looking sensitive and haunted. He is profiled in the `Star Spot` and says that he wants to be The Equator when he grows up
Junker; very routine space operaish stuff. The hero is a salvage collector (hence the title, he collects junk, geddit?). Spends all his time running, being angry with women and trading wise cracks with a small green companion.
Future Shock; Tharg is now Santa Claus!
Silo; such is the way of ebay impulse buying, I haven`t read the beginning of this. But I like it; seems very interesting. Two guys are stuck in a missile silo going bonkers. Or are they? I think that`s the gist of it. There`s some interesting chats with the ghost of Bulwer Lytton, inventor of `vril` and author of `the coming race`. Reminds me a bit of Alan Moore`s `From Hell`. Dead interesting.
Dredd; The Revised Macbeth ; wouldn`t it be wacky if they re-wrote Shakespeare`s language in the future? John Wagner thinks so, he`s done this one a few times. Possibly this is the first such tale, but it`s not the best. Hadley draws Dredd as a prune in the final frame. The main joke ripped off from Blackadder (actors don`t like you saying the word `Macbeth`, so Dredd keeps saying it).
Time Flies; I like Ennis a lot. I loved Preacher, and most of his Dredd stuff. I think his Punisher stuff is terrific and I like a lot of the stuff he later rubbished (like the Corps). It`s good to have Time Flies to prevent me from thinking that Ennis is God on wheels. It`s really stupid stuff which is supposed to be wacky and funny but instead makes me wonder how hard up the editor was. Nice art though.
Anderson Shamballa; brilliance from Alan Grant and Arthur Ransome, beautiful spacey story set in Tibet. Anderson goes into a kind of coma to commune with an ancient tibetan monk. I must read the rest of this.
one more thing; size matters. I`m sure 2000 ad will never go back to the large size, but geez it was nice.
oh well, that`s all on this prog.
cheers,
floyd
...prog 711 next please...
I agree with Floyd on this one. I'm sure most squaxx were disappointed with Millar's Robo Hunter treatment, but Silo has the makings of a true classic. Far too many writers these days are just ripping off ideas for stories from movies, and I for one think that Silo will prove once and for all that Millar isn't one of them.
"Far too many writers these days are just ripping off ideas for stories from movies, and I for one think that Silo will prove once and for all that Millar isn't one of them."
This is a joke, right?
I believe the word is 'sarcasm'.
..despite the fact that Millar has admitted that the story is not much more than an amalgamation of scenes from other movies (the glass all over the floor/no boots from Die Hard (?) etc.)?
Actually, I've walked on broken glass - not intentionally, obviously - after someone neglected to mention they'd left a smashed beerglass on my bedroom floor, and I have to admit Millar was closer to the mark than Willis was.
It's been ten YEARS since Silo, maybe we should just let it go and give Millar a break?
On second thoughts, no. Robo Hunter was unforgiveable, too.