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Somebody must have this by now, so come ON.  Review the damn thing already.

Cover; Not bad, something different. Nice pun

Dredd: Good fun, comical hick thugs, well illustrated by Cam Kennedy

Caballistics: Fanbloodytastic, just keeps getting better. eeek, what`s going to happen next! Do I detect the influence of LOEG here? Anyway, it`s dead good

Bec n` Kawl; Good fun, if not as good as Dudley thinks it is.   Nice Hellboy parody in one panel

ABC Warriors; lots of action, not so much warriors banter. Brilliant Flint art. I`m enjoying this but I`m completely lost here - what`s with the apes, who are these people. Is this just me?

Strontium Dogs; Alright but beginning to feel a bit stale

Droid Life; there is NO droid life! Damn!

Input; there is no input, obviously Tharg doesn`t get enough letters.

next week I`m off to Australia for three weeks. Who knows if I`ll be able to read 1403, let alone keep up with this board.

take care all

Have a good holiday, then, Floyd.  At least when you get back, there'll be a few weeks of 2000ad to read.

Once you've unpacked and slept for a week, that is.

Do I detect the influence of LOEG here?

*ducks*

*backs slowly away from L.o.E.G. reference*

Cover - nice one. The collaboration works better than the last one, which was by no means bad.

Droidlife - I miss you, little fellah.

Dredd - Fun stuff with a nice ending. Has Dredd ever said that before? And if not how has it been resisted over 27 years?

Cabals - Well worth the wait between series, this is truly the best new strip we have. The story continues apace and the art is just...don't have the words. It's great. And what a twist ending.

Bec and Kawl - I'm really enjoying this. The ending is such an obvious joke (probably made in every rag mag since the late 70's) but I laughed a couple of times whilst reading this, and that's all you can ask from a comedy strip. Here's hoping there's a big death in the real world in the next fortnight to lend this strip some controversy!

A.B.C. - Well drawn and well drawn out. Is anything going to happen. Despite the art I'm losing my goodwill with this.

Stronty - Heh. Good episode with some fun moments and lovely artwork. Long may this revival continue.

P.S. obviously I don't hope she really dies, that would be sad for her family, but it could raise the profile of 2k again. I bet the Mail would try to ban it.

Y'know, if you look at the Cabalistics crew as archetypes of particular comic or movie stereotypes, it could be said that the format itself is just lifted from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

You really are asking for trouble aren't you?

Caballistics is a "team" comic. LOEG is a "team" comic. There endeth the similarities, IMO.

I'm just SAYING, is all...

Hmm. LOEGs big concept was that instead of being a team made up of "types" it wnet ahead and used the real thing. Which is in itself not exceptionally original but it hadn't really been done as a super-hero team comic before.

Direct comparisons between LOEG and Necronauts or Cab Inc or what-have-you that miss that are really missing the point.

Actually, I was just attempting to get a little Grennie-baiting going.  He's Scottish, you know - it's not like it's hard to do, especially now that the pubs have been open for nearly three hours.

Tsk. If you really wanted to do that you should have accused him of ripping off Hellboy.

Personally I fond the irish drink more than us scots :)

Slips

Only when the Irish are abroad do we drink more.  Mainly to make up for the social shortcomings of our inbred racist and homophobic tendancies, I reckon.
My mum has a different theory, though - that when the Irish leave Ireland, they're just 'determined to show themselves up'.
I'd agree with that assessment, also.

I think everyone in this big jumble o'isles drinks a lot to be honest.

Caballistics is about a group of people battling the supernatural, something which covers everythiung from Scooby Doo to Dracula, it isn't something created by Alan Moore.  Alan Moores' LOEG is anyway the superhero team up, but using victorian characters.  Not what's really being used here.

My hellboy knowledge has growing a little and I don't see any obvious connection.  Cabs seems to have more coherant stories and I like it more.  Hellboy may have some nice ideas and piccies, but the stories are usually a bit weak.  And Cabs is British, I like reading stories set in Britain.

Gordons done two stories which you could compare to LOEG.  Necronauts and his Jekyll and Hyde story.  But he, er, did them first so that's a bit of a non-starter.

Obviously when something comes out the first thing people do is look to see where it's come from.

Anyway, I just joined in this discussion to kill some time.  It's dead now.

I think the "It's just like Hellboy!" thing was based on the misapprehension that Mike Mignola and John Byrne invented Occult Nazi weirdness, which is silly because it was invented long before then by, among others, Steven Speilberg and Adolf Hitler.

I'm reading 'Himmler's Crusade: The True Story of the 1938 Nazi Expedition into Tibet' at the moment.  Despite the cacky title, it's a really interesting read.

It also contains my new favourite paragraph in any book, ever.  I quote:


"....It is hard to imagine a more appropriate name, for at higher altitudes the yak is ubiquitous.  These animals, which produce tamer breeds lower down towards China where they have mated with local cattle, are the mainstay of the nomads who still roam these high praries.  Yak-hair tents provide shelter ; yak hair clothes the poor; yak-hair ropes tie yak-hair bags onto yaks; yak bones make glue; yak shoulder blades are used as surfaces on which to write prayers; yak horns make snuff boxes or whisky flasks; yak skin is used to make thongs, thimles, snow goggles, sacks and slings; yak tails decorate horses; a yak's glands are used to cure many kinds of ailment; boiled and roasted yak steaks are usually washed down with yak butter tea; hardened yak cheese and dried yak provide sustenance on the road.  Schafer and Dolan would need to like yak a great deal."

Not forgetting the traditional Mongolian Yak song.

Do do do the funky Yak!
The funky Yak!
We are here to show you how!

Wait a minute...Yak thongs?

Is that anything like a dipthong?

'and his Jekyll and Hyde story. But he, er, did them first '

What do you mean 'er'?
Necronauts might be debateable, but didn't Grennie do 'the curious case of the vanishing villian' about fifteen years ago?  It was a while ago, and I was too young to buy 'those' kinds of comics, but I'm pretty sure it was him.  Sherlock Holmes and Dr Jekyl try to track down mr Hyde in the 'real' world or something like that.  I was just pretentious enough at the time to think it was a pretty poncy idea for a comic, but I still would've liked to have read it.

Yeah ARt, Spielberg, Adolf Hitler and James Herbert (The Spear) and probably countless others.

Well, I'll be honest, my knowledge of both is vague.  Necronauts may have been at about the same time, but Gordon Rennie at least pitched it before LOEG, or something.  He and Frazer have explained it many times before anyway, and I'm a believer.  Perversly I haven't read it as I don't have all the progs.  That and Button Man III.

The Jekyll and Hyde thing (which I also haven't read, as I doubt it's available anymore - worth a meg reprint?) did come before, was set in the Rue Morgue and was read by Alan Moore.

How close is Bec & Kawl to breach of copyright?

Osbourne, Demon Etrigan, Marilyn Manson, Spawn, Hellboy, etc (and last lot's Tim Hunter, Sandman, Constantine, Swamp Thing etc etc)

IIRC, Necronauts was lined up and advertised in an old Speakeasy as one of a number Tundra (?) were going to produce, so this was late 80s, early 90s - way before LOEG. Possibly with Woodrow Phoenix attached as  artist? Anyone want the evidence, I can dig it out and confirm.

Obviously, the comic company in question never got round to most of the advertised comics before going belly up.

Back to the prog then?

Dredd - plenty bang bang shooty shooty Dreddy action, yay! Honestly, do *any* of those bad guys think they can settle this with a poker game, they must all be expecting another shoot out at the end (even if Dredd hadn't turned up).

Caballistics, Inc - bloody amazing.

Bec & Kawl - pretty good - although I didn't like the rhyming couplets page. Then again, I've never been one for mixing poetry/singing with comics.

ABC Warriors - Don't quite know what was going on with the monkeys, but I'm glad they've finally getting around to facing the Robodoc.

Stronty - ticking over nicely, but possibly going on too long - this story could probably have been cut down to a 3 parter, as there wasn't much happening this week & last week that couldn't have been bunched together.

No letters? I've sent at least 3 in during the last month or two.

Monkeys in ABC Warriors, do they have hats on ;)

CU Krestel

Oh, well. After praising Bec & Kawl last week, it's dropped right back down to previous levels. Maybe it works for other people, but I don't find parodies of Etrigan particularly funny ("look, a rhyming demon who's shit at rhyming!") and stuff like that just torpedoes what looked to be quite a fun little story.

Caballistics was truly chilling this week what with the awful horrible ending...being transported to
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FRANCE!!!!!

After praising Bec & Kawl last week, it's dropped right back down to previous levels.

Agreed. A nice start last week, but after the whole character parody in the tooth fairy story a while back, to see exactly the same thing (though done worse) really took things back down to B&K's usual low standards.

Well, presumably - I didn't read past that panel.

A shame.

M@

As usual I'll pipe up and say I enjoyed Prog 1402's B&K, maybe it appeals to my sense of humour.

[YT-2]

Well I generally like it. Not really to teh point of excaliming "That's amazing" or anything, but I'm usually happy to see them turn up.

Maybe it makes it more enjoyable if you don't know it's a parody of something?  I thought it was another tight, fun episode.

"King Hell!"

Is this the first time we've had a cover pun based on a swear word?

"Maybe it makes it more enjoyable if you don't know it's a parody of something?"

Perhaps, though it's difficult for me to say, obviously.

is it just me - and it possibly is as i am ill and weary - but what i've red so far - dredd, cabinc, beckawl, just seems to plod along at a a snails pace



and thatcher!!!   aaahhhhrrrgggg!!!!  nice legs....eeehhhhaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

Dangerous ground WoD...

Tis strange, but I personally can't see why  Stront is getting a bit of a "workmanlike but alrightish" reception...  It's bloody brilliant again.  Sure it plays on the successful riffs of the last series and has a similar Stront meets Ace Trucking vibe.  Maybe it's all too easy to take Strontium Dog too seriously, or want Strontium Dog to be as serious as we (possibly mis)remember from our youth...?  Either way (or neither way!), it's just such good fun I'm surprised people aren't getting it - certainly, there seem to be more people who don't 'get' Stront posting (or are not that taken with it) than don't get Bec And Kawl at the mo, which seems pretty weird to me.

Love this story and will almost certainly love the next story and will cry continously while waiting for the follow up to that one!

I agree with watcher here. The Stront tale is nothing new, won't set the world aright or feed the poor, but it makes me happy.

The expression on Wulf's face this week when headly was goading him was priceless.

The plot may not be testing to many, but thats the deal with Stront, it is pure entertainment.

I listened to 'down to earth' earlier this week and found the mix of action and comedy to be spot-on. This story would fit snugly alongside any from the 'classic' SD era IMHO.

Bolt-01

I feel my comments on Strontium Dog probably sounded harsher then they were meant - I *am* loving the series... it's just that I didn't feel that the story progressed much this last episode. The moments inside it were very good though!

I liked the entire comic again!

The whole thing!

All of it!

Every bit!

This is why 2000AD is well worth buying.

- Trout

Yakkite Yak!

No sign of my Zooad yet! GGGRRR!
But perversely two fridge magnets turned up...

Huffy B

Cabalistics inc - Hellboy?  Don't think so.  It's starting to remind me of that film Waxworks more than anything else.

Apart from that, good prog all round.

I don't see any real similarities between Cabs and anything else. It's totally it's own strip.


Having said that, I'm getting more and more frustrated with the incresing number of things that have bizarre mystical happenings and when pressed for an explanation say 'Oh, the Nazis di it. Naughties'

Bek and KAwl was excellent fun! Quite a few people seem to have been put off by the ensemble of recognisable characters. As I saw that, I knew people wouldn't like it! Well re-read it. They don't appear again after that.

Dredd.... Not much good to say about it I'm afraid. Dredd's quite boring, the story feels a little lacklustre and I'm struggling to stay interested. Not normal for a Wagner tale!!

No funting Droid Life. Psh. No letters either?? What the heee?

ABC Warriors.... Loving it. Really, really good stuff. I've always said that I'm not anti-Mills (despite being accused of it whenever I criticise him) and this should rove it. I've not read ABCs before this, but I've really been drawn in. Unlike Savage, the lines all seem to work for me. Very few (if any) clunkers, which is more than I can say for Dredd right now!

Stronty is a different kettle of fish. I'm not 'just glad to have them back' and this story isn't doing much for me so far. I've enjoyed it, sure, but it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. I'll wait and see with it.

First off the bat...Thargs intro, and I quote
"And once you hold my mighty organ in your hands, how do you go about extracting maximum enjoyment from it?" Fnarr Fnarr!
I swear hes turning into Frankie Howard

Cover : Alright I suppose

Dredd : Story stumbles along but still some great Kennedy art. Oh and Dredd gets to use that line at the end.

Cab Inc : Superb. This cant put a foot wrong as far as I'm concerned

B & K : Totally annoying. I mean it was bad enough when Moore did the rhyming but this can just f*ck right off.

ABC Warriors : I really enjoy the art in this but wish the story would get going. Are we going to have to wait till book 3 before the Shadow Warriors make a move?

Stronty : Fun throwaway stuff. Im enjoying this but wont return to read it in a few years.

No Droid life or letters but still a cracking prog.

"Dredd : Story stumbles along but still some great Kennedy art. Oh and Dredd gets to use that line at the end."

Ah knew you'd say dat?

I think the line is horrible and cheesey myself Still be interesting if Dredd joins in and plays.

NO-ONE will beat that poker face.

Just got this

Judge Dredd - pretty standard sort of Dredd story that I'll have completely forgotten reading in a couple of months

Caballistics - best thing in the Comic by a country mile

Bec And Krawl - what is the policy about swearing on this board? Well this is utter utter s**t. And relevant too with Maggie going to privatise hell (ho ho ho)

ABC Warriors - don't care. nice art though - get Flint on Dredd.

Strontium Dog - Is this treading water or covering old ground - nice art again but a story that is...well about nothing.


So Caballistics is the best this issue - the rest?  Well if I was TMO neither Bec And Krawl nor ABC Warriors would ever "grace" 2000ad with their presence again - Bec And Krawl is infested with thrill suckers - not as bad as Chronos Carnival but not as good as Zippy Couriers. The ABC Warriors are just completely worn thin caught up in a contunity that is "confused" to say the least...

I am really pleased to be reading 2000ad at the moment. I like everything in it. Even Bec & Kawl. I was a bit surprised to see Thatcher turning up (after all, she's in Hell but she's not even dead yet, and it's hardly topical), but then I thought "what the heck - she's a bastard and I hate her". It was off the wall enough to liven up a strip I don't have much fondness for as a rule, so good luck to it.

As far Caballistics Inc., I think the reason it bears comparison to Hellboy (and for that matter, Scooby Doo) more than League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is that Hellboy works for a US government occult investigation agency (the BPRD).

One thing that makes League of Extraordinary Gentlemen really clever, and which is hardly ever commented on, is that Alan Moore doesn't appear to have ever given any indication that novels and works of fiction exist in the League's world.

It appears to rest on two premises: 1) that in the world of LoXG, every single work of fiction is more or less true simultaneously, and 2) the authors of those works of fiction, and the works themselves, do not exist in this world along with their characters and situations.

The Scoobie Gang is a branch of the Us Goverment?

Um... no. But they like to dabble in occult investigation. Well, okay - mysteries.

Whereas the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are a government agency dealing with military and quasi-military threats to the British Empire, and are not particularly interested in occult phenomena, hauntings etc. (except when they are leads that are helpful for recruitment).

So, by way of comparison, I'd say that Hellboy (BPRD) and Caballistics Inc. have most in common, both being elite teams of hired hands concerned with supernatural meances. In contast to the Scooby Doo gang, which deals with supernatural menaces (okay, mysteries); and LoXG which are an elite team of hired hands.

Very laboured, but I got there in the end.

I was hoping for grainy black and white footage of freakish and inhumane vivisection experiments in US Goveremnt facilities, leading to the creation of lumpy CGI talking dogs...

CGI talking dogs??? Have you gone mad?!!

Mind you, I was quite fond of Mark Millar's Spooky Doo gang - they were corporate sellouts: elite hired hands in the pay of the East Meg 2 government, and not just teenagers with a nose for a mystery (and there was something a bit CGI about that pooch with the dollar sign wallpaper for a shiny coat).

What I'm about to say may be tantamount to blasphemy but I was never too bothered about Strontium Dog in the past.Thought it was good obviously but nothing special,it wasn't actually until the audio progs that I got quite into it, mainly I think because I skimmed over it before and never noticed it was actually really funny so enjoying it now. Caballistics is great,one panel I think the art's amazing and the next I think it's awful though, can't quite make my mind up. ABC warriors is fun but there's not really anything memorable going on and I find Bec And Kawl really entertaining. Some of it is mince indeed but when it's good it makes me laugh more than anything else in the comic.

Link: PAIGE