2000 AD Online Forum

Lovely, funny Gibson cover
 Gibson`s style perfectly suits the Dredd story which is quite funny. It`s a variation on* that talking gun story which was done twice before. The Bureau of Creative Bureacracy stuff is brilliant, as is Dredd`s argument with the droid
 adequate but dated and fillerish Terror Tales....feels like it was reprinted from the late seventies
 Slaine is rattling along well...very Braveheart, not too much chat
VC`s was good but I spotted the twist on the first page. Do I read too much sf? Have I watched too many Twilight Zones? Or is it an old device.
  Red Seas keeps getting better, for mine. I really didn`t like it the first time around, thinking it was too juvenile. I`m still not crazy about the art but the story is coming along and there isn`t too much swaggery pirate stuff.
 On and Droid life is quite cute, also getting better

cheers,

Floyd


*polite for "rip-off of"

Opened the envelope and thought it was the eighties all over again. Laughed my arse off at the Gibbo cover- inwardly of course, lest I wake the baby. Such a shame the prog has fully-bled cover art, doesn't have the metal logo and costs ?1.60. Still, can't have everything.

Dredd: Marvellous. Oldskool story with pertinent points and laugh-out-loud funny. Haven't enjoyed a Dredd this much in many months. Curious use of Harold Shipman too, given his recent death. Someone should tell the Daily Mail. ('Kids comic makes fun of dr death' or something. Might add a few thousand readers.)

Terror Tales: Great stuff. I've been waiting for someone to use the (oh-dear-I've-forgotten-the-name) skinned people exhibits as the basis of a story for ages. Good old Steve Moore. Agree with the old FK-er in message above that it seemed transplanted from an earlier decade- but saw that as no bad thing. More please.

Slaine: I'll be reading all of the books of Invasion when they're done- as I think in these bite-sized chunks, I'm missing much of the subtlety. BUT. I have to say that the final double page spread of this episode is probably the most fantastic thing 2000ad has ever printed, and I am utterly blown away.

The VCs. The weakest link in the prog. I just don't care anymore.

The Red Seas: Yeowell's art looked a little rushed this week, but the story continues to enthrall and amuse. I hope Tharg has commissioned many more tales of Jack Dancer and crew.

Droid Life: Bizarre and probably funny. Don't care if others find it not so- it's nice to have a humour strip in the front.

All in all: A top prog, let down by the VCs. maybe best of year so far.

Steev

Cover: Good enough.

Nerve Centre: Useful info for once.

Droid Life: Getting tired of this, but still a good useage of the space.

Dredd: Very good (old style Dredd?)

Terror Tales: Another Moore. Liked this one. Like Phil Winslade's artwork is great I'd like to see more of it in 2000ad.

Slaine: I'm starting to tire of this- when's something going to happen? The artwork wasn't as good this week.

VC's: Artwork is growing on me more this week. Script explains a few things I think. Not sure if this is going to end up being good or not.

Red Seas: WOW! Adventure! This is fast becomming a fave. Artwork still let's it down a little, but overall it's pretty great- and I'm enjoying it more than the first run.

Overall: 7?-8 out of 10 for this one.

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Aieee! VCs in virtual reality prison disgrace.

Heh! Knew it.

It was a little bit obvious even from the last episode it was pretty clear what was going on. Abnett is struggling and it?s pretty obvious.

Jared is disgusted.

Cover:

Nice Gibson artwork - would have liked to see him on the strip itself.

Nerve Centre:

Tharg's editorial is a little more substantial this week. I doubt I'll be buying the book, but it's good to see it getting a bit of a promo in the weekly.

I guess I was wrong about the author of Droid Life: with the references to Alpha last week & Satanus this week, he must have read at least some 2000AD. Still, I don't find it very funny, but some people are enjoying it.

BTW - do you think Pat Mills will be giving Matt Smith a bollocking for letting another writer loose on one of his characters? ;-)

Dredd:

Though the talking weapon idea has been done before, John Wagner handles it well here & what could have been another Dredd-by-numbers turns out to be quite a good one-off. The art was well-done, but not particularly great (and I suspect that Cliff Robinson & Chris Blythe had a large hand in making this strip work as well as it did) but I'd like to see the artist again.

Terror Tales:

Steve Moore on form. Recent work for 2000AD been below-par, but this is a nice, fairly topical, creepy short. The art is, as other posters mentioned, almost from another era of British comics, but very welcome in spite of that. My only criticism would be that the art on the final couple of pages is in places very sketchy, almost as though the artist was rushing to complete the strip or the printing was slightly off.

Slaine:

A cracking episode. The scenes with Gael/Odacon are particularly good - Pat Mills has always had a flair for spectacularly nasty villains - and the final sequence, split across the last three pages, is one of the best moments of this series. I've commented before on Clint Langley's artwork, so I'll just say that I still feel that this is the biggest negative in what has otherwise been a decent story.

The V.C.s:

So, Smith is a prisoner - is this only since he alerted the Geeks last episode, or since the first episode? Either way, I'm disappointed to see the "it was all a dream" device trotted out, even if it is dressed in fancy clothes. This strip is still the runt of the litter, and I can't see it going anywhere but down from here.

The Red Seas:

I'm really enjoying this series, and this is another fun episode - in spite of several rough panels from Steve Yeowell. Like Steev, I'd welcome more of this & Ian Edgington has certainly got plenty of room to develop The Red Seas into a great semi-regular series.

A good prog, but I'm a little nervous about Valkyries, which should be starting next week. "Female Nordic space warriors, investigating a male terrorist conspiracy"? It's got the potential for disaster splashed all over it...

"A good prog, but I'm a little nervous about Valkyries, which should be starting next week. "Female Nordic space warriors, investigating a male terrorist conspiracy"? It's got the potential for disaster splashed all over it..."

Heh heh, yes Tharg, let's put this issue to rest eh?

a prision?!?

Kin ell...whats up with you all???..'Female Nordic Space Warriors'..its gold I tell you...Bring em on..
Dredd...7/10

Droid life..5/10

Terror Tales..8/10

Slaine..9/10

VC's..7/10

Red Seas..8/10

Did i read in a meg or a thread on here somewhere that another Leviathon is planned?..

"Did i read in a meg or a thread on here somewhere that another Leviathon is planned?"

Don't think so. IIRC, the only comment on future Leviathan was from D'Israeli & that wasn't too hopeful - I think he said he couldn't see how the story could go anywhere else, unless Ian Edgington wrote a "Further Adventures of Lament" story. Maybe my memory is misfiring, but that's all I can dredge up.

Droid life - ROCKS! The best one yet - laugh out loud funny.

Cover/Dredd - ROCKS!  Cliff's inks really seem to be drowning out Val Semein's art here, so it's hard to tell exactly what his style is.

Terror Tales - SUCKS ROCKS! The artwork is great, really detailed & intricate. The story started well, had some interesting parts, but the final page was just incoherant rubbish.

Sl?ine - ... - just more of the same, getting a bit bored of this endless battle.

The V.C.s - So we find out what's going on with Smith - let's see what happens next.

The Red Seas - ROCKS! gets better 'n' better.

Page 1.
Dredd.
I've worked in a Jobcentre 13 years and it never occured to me that if people are screwed around & they lose benefit the state saves money...

D'oh!

I knew things were complicated for a REASON! lol!
Mind you I'm too busy trying to deal with "Banjo's" (what we call "customers", think of a certain film with Bert Reynolds..woods..."squeal piggy squeal", you get the idea...anyway I digress...) who's grasp of english can only manage to spit "gIrO!" to actually THINK about anything.

Oh I'm on strike Friday for better pay (my total pay-raise this year works out at slighty less than a pound a day), better conditions and more staff (staffing cuts paid for the NEW Jobcentre Plus offices, original budget EACH office .5 million now 6 months in..um...?90k). The punters get 14 days "sick" allowed a year staff get 8, up untill recently I would lose out on a percentage of my annual payrise if off, as anything over 5 days was deducted so if I have paternity leave, a family member dying etc I lose a percentage of my annual "raise". This from the Department of Work and Pensions...supposed to be the governments shining example.

#sigh#

SORRY, loosing the plot. Just pissed off I suppose. Anyone know of any jobs going in the Dartford area? lol....

Therev - I'm with you - I'll be striking Thursady and Friday though... won't you be doing both days?

The big two pissers are the ridiculous new "appraisal" system, (which could very easily have come from the Bureau of Creative Bureacracy!) and not so much the crap pay rise (whats new?), but the fact that they are trying to pretend that it's in actual fact a great payrise (neglecting to mention this 5% figure they talk about is a virtual payrise that you don't actually get in your pay packet)

The clincher for me was the fact they actually told bare faced lies in the propaganda leaflet explaining the (5 months late and imposed) pay rise about not only its value, but other things such as pay progression (removed totally, but told in the literature that their main concern was pay progression - either they don't actually understand the term, or believe that their employees don't!) - I'm actually lower down the payscale this year...

Rant over....for now....

HEY!
Are The Watcher who posts on the M.I.T board on the Disscussion Groups?? I usually post as Tharg!

Yeah to both days, I'm a Branch Organiser. Can't afford it baby due end of March but united we stand and all that..
At the meeting in London too..but (bringing it back to a comic thang) will be visiting Forbidden Planet after!
Pity I have no money to buy anything really...


Back to the latest Prog overall I'd say average.

Slaine almost got interesting but just kept seeing Braveheart...

VC's ok but for some reason kept seeing the art as Baberace 3000 from afew years back (BIG pile of shite) or whatever it was called.

Red Sea's, GREAT! Loved the Aladdin (a-lad-in...a genie HAHAHA..ahem, sorry!)

Dredd, class. Like to see S.A.M 7 back at some point later, amusing!

Can't believe the making of Dredd Vs. Death is 20 squid! 20! I bought the game for full price (OUCH!), not paying ?20 for the book, waaaaaaaay to much. A tenner yes, ?15 possibly but ?20 sorry NO!

LOVE the Droid's life this week...

"VC's ok but for some reason kept seeing the art as Baberace 3000 from afew years back"

Not too surprising - Anthony Williams was the artist on Babe Race 2000.

er...yeah I know thats why I said it!

Meant to say the art (and story) were one of the reason I stopped reading 2000ad.

DIRE!

Mind you it was MAINLY the story...

damn you subscribers!  i won't get 1374 until thursday.


THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

"er...yeah I know thats why I said it!"

Sorry - I read it as you trying to figure out why the art reminded you of Babe Race.

"Meant to say the art (and story) were one of the reason I stopped reading 2000ad."

It was one of the worst periods in 2000AD history, wasn't it? The only story I remember kindly from this period was Firekind (I'm sure there were other worthy strips, but that's the one that stands out).

Wasn't Cyril Lord Block blown up years ago?
("Cyril Lord's a luxury we can't afford!")

I suppose Cyril Lord must have been rebuilt, Richard.


spoilers


spoilers


But if you've read this far and you haven't seen the prog, you've only got yourself to blame, you fool.


spoilers


spoilers


This week's Dredd is terrific fun, even if the out-of-control-psycho-robotic-equipment story is a bit old hat.

I love it - love it! - when Wagner gives us mad Mega City facts, and the Bureau of Creative Bureaucracy is wonderful.

Part of the appeal, as ever, is it genuinely is close to the truth; a clever satire, IMO.
During the year I spent on the dole, I became increasingly convinced the nightmare of gaining enough benefit to live on (mine was stopped several times for all sorts of maddening reasons) was by design, to encourage you to piss off and get a job.

Anyway, this week's Dredd is one of the strongest for months, only topped, IMO, by My Beautiful Career in the latest Meg.

The Red Seas was also terrific fun, and the Terror Tale was an okay filler.

However, Slaine, although still lavish and impressive visually, is really boring me now.

As for the VCs, well, what a cop-out.
I've always disliked this guy's art, and it really just does not appeal to me.
Add it to the weakest of plot twists and you've got a real bucket of dogshit. In space.

Damn. It was going so well. I was being nice about Dabnett stories and everything.

BTW, the cover was great (Hooray for Gibson!) and the Droidlife cartoon is good fun.

- Trout

Quick and dirty

Cover - OK, Im not gibsons biggest fan
Dredd - Like a lot
Terror Tale - Id prefer this as filler to say Sin Dex
Red Seas - Swashbuckling fun and nice intro to new player
Slaine - Langleys art annoys me, mills' script is bland and uninteresting
VC's - I was pulled in and interested.  Now Im annoyed.

Yer Slips

Cover: Good old school Gibson. No problems with that!

Droidlife: Does this class as "fan-fiction"? Anyway, nice laugh, seting us up nicely for the veritable feast that awaits us (Or they just couldn't work out what to put in that little corner now that they've gotten rid of the background crap).

Dredd: Fanstastic bit of satire, like the Trout, I love it when Wagner shows us these mad  corners of life in the big meg.

Terror-Tale: Interesting but that last panel was slightly... dodgy.

Slaine: How many charge have there been in this battle so far? The use of photoshop on the Chief golamh bloke was seriously weird, I was just drawn to that bit where they join together... speaking of photoshop, is anyone else mildly disturbed by the way Langley sticks real eyes on his character's faces?

VCs: Blah. Dabnett's obviously spending his time concentrating on his D.C stuff rather than anything with 2000AD.

Red Seas: Fantastic, really good swashbuckler. Although it does rip a bit from "the Golden Voyage of Sinbad"...Never mind, it's great and I an't wait for the next episode.

apropos the Bureau of Creative Bureaucracy, I`ve just read that Charles Dickens invented something called The Circumlocution Office. Probably a coincidence,

yours
Spectator readingly,

Floyd

>Wasn't Cyril Lord Block blown up years ago?



The ruins of Cyril Lord Block was where Arnold Stodgman won the 27th world eating championship in 2105.
He did the magic ton, then keeled over and died.



La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

That strike's been cancelled. Back to work for the Watcher and therev.

Er, wasn't this last weeks Slaine, only now its had the smudge tool applied?

got mine yesterday.
BACK ON TOP!!!!!!!

dredd cover fun. story excellent and irrelevant.plenty of fun and dredd getting annoyed with such a waste of time.SAM 21 has got to make a come back. such madness cannot be left used.for brillance.

red seas
WOW, this is getting better and better.nice twist,and still a subplot can alladin realy be trusted.

VCs,
ok old plot twist,but still worth throwing it in the mix, though i saw it coming i have to admit.art not the finest, but story wise still doing it for me.

TERROR TALE
having seen the real exhibition very recently i was very impressed with the whole thing. good old future shock quality and decent art. great.

SLaine. for a long time it has been the last thing i would read. after reading everything else over and over, but the art is so good i am now drawn to it and enjoying the whole thing.
its good,its just repetive i find.

overall. i was left with a ,
feeling of THRILL POWER. no other description for it.

ACE

especially the vc

what am i saying...the dredd story..perfect...short..punchy...real dredd attitude

TOP WORK

Yup, really enjoyable prog. Red Seas and the gloriously contrived Terror Tale were the most fun, with the Dredd diluted a bit from reading the script beforehand.

VC's was poor, but I can see now the VR cop-out may have been a logical excuse to have the old characters in the flesh for once, as it were.

Did anyone spot the Sl?ine graphic novel preview? There was about five pages, you couldn't miss it really.

Enjoyed Dredd, liked the art team pair up a lot.  Story was a good un'

Lovely cover.

Slaine is Slaine really.  It's become this big epic tale composed of all the over the top bits of Slaine that used to thrill in small doses, but I enjoy it in my own way.

Terror Tale, well I quite like Steve Moore's stuff (I'm a bit of a convert to tales of Telguuth) it's a bit old fashioned, but then that makes it feel like a proper old future shock.

VC's - Virtual Confinement.  No, no, even the ripping the faces off the nurses was ripped off, this is awful.  I thought this was going to be a really gripping series as well.  I'm probably going to give up on this one.

Red Seas or the League of Extraordinairy Ray Harryhausen Movies is an odd one isn't it?  But it's okay.

Enthusiasm... drooping... nah, it's okay, but VC's has turned and I miss Robo-hunter.  

Is it Valkyries next week?

It'll be a double Slaine next week, in all likelyhood.

Double Slaine?

Noooooooo!

Please, no.

Someone tell me it's a joke...

- Trout