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For people who used to like quality games mags, do check out Wireframe.

Cheers! I've download the most recent issue, if I dig it I will support with a physical purchase!

I also used to read a shedload of magazines and now don't read any. When I was at university I was reading masses, which is mad because I never had any money.
I occasionally pick them up for train journeys and usually end up unsatisfied by the brevity of the articles - if it's something I'm interested in they never really go into enough detail, which I know is kind of the point of a magazine, and if I'm not interested in it then... I'm not interested. Because the content is curated, if you're not on the zeitgeist then it's start to seem like a lot of filler and I'm old now so that's definitely me.

I used to use them for reviews - music, video / board games etc - but the internet's definitely changed all that because for the latter I can find reviews online quickly and for the former I can now usually listen to stuff myself and make my own decision. Music reviews in particular were a big bugbear of mine as they nearly all say something like 'this record is so heavy it's like being crushed by an elephant in a steamroller' which tells me absolutely nothing about it.
The internet also replaced the news aspect of magazines: it used to be really hard to find out news about, say, US wrestling and now it's easy.
I would read a magazine a bit like Dragon or how the old White Dwarf used to be where there's a bunch of new content for stuff I'm interested in, but I'm not sure there's anything like that on the UK Newsagent shelves.

[Dredd]

Saturday Prog for me! Joyous.

Dredd - after a good start last week everything wraps up quickly in a trite and uninteresting fashion. Lovely art from Dan Cornwell, otherwise didn't enjoy this at all. Sorry. Also Dredd himself is totally useless in this story.

Stickleback - Mainly a talky setup episode. Looks great at ever. Having re-read all the previous story I'm really into this again now.

Skip Tracer - Still think this is the best Skip Tracer outing yet and I think the pacing is key here. It's starting to feel more like an old school thrill to me.

Fiends - Gets better every week. Best thing in the Prog atm for me, both for art and writing. I like the guy questioning the existence of [spoiler]trolls[/spoiler] and dragons and talking wolves yet happily accepting vampires. More and more I am doubting the veracity of the narrator but this is terrific.

Hookjaw - Suitably gory but not sure how I feel about the reveal in this episode. Reserving judgement.

Great cover by Dylan Teague.

...a rat of incredible knots...

Rat King hail!
I totally fail.

Yeah, the first few Gotrek & Felix books are good - I quite like the Warhemmer fiction from that period: Drachenfels, Beasts in Velvet and so on - where the writers were exploring the setting and coming up with cool ideas (lets not talk about Konrad though)
The more into the series you get the more you can see the death of WHFRP and the influence of WHFB: there almost seems to be a mandatory requirement to include a pitched battle per book, there's always reference to whatever new models GW were looking to push at the time, and the storytelling starts to take a backseat to showcasing stuff people could buy. A bit like White Dwarf really. It doesn't help that the concept is stretched to breaking point.. stuff repeats and becomes trite. If I have to read about Gotrek running his finger down the blade of his axe one more time...

I quite like the HH stuff because, in a really ham-fisted way, there's almost a Shakespearan quality to the Primarchs in that they're all totally awesome dudes but one terrible flaw brings about their downfall. There's a lot of 'what ifs' hinted at - what if Magnus had been a little less hubristic? What if the Emperor had been less of a bellend to Angron? and so on. I would say though of the 30 books I've done so far I'd guess 10 are essential, 10 have plot-but-are-a-bit-boring and the other 10 are basically rubbish. I feel I've come this far though so I should finish.

Ian Watson is a total nutter. I think I have read Space Marine!

I've quickly looked up both Execution Hour and Shadowpoint and stuck them onto my 'to read' list - in the correct order of course - after Stainless Steel Rat...

I have a couple of the William King Spacewolf books and it's been a while since I read them but I have to say I found them pretty risible - I know they were written in the time when the lore wasn't so established / tightly controlled but I seem to recall a scene where some Space Marines disguise themselves as Orks by wearing their hats and then end up in an ork race? I'm not a huge fan of William King as a writer based on his Gotrek stuff which starts off nicely and goes downhill at a rat of incredible knots so it may be a personal thing.

I've only dipped very sporadically into the post-HH stuff as I find the quality in Black Library very variable indeed. Aside from the Night Lords stuff I quite enjoyed what I read of Ciaphas Cain despite it being a complete Flashman homage. Storm of Iron, of course. The Gaunts Ghosts stuff starts off nicely but again the decline soon sets in - Dan Abnett can really write a tense battle but imo there's a lack of individual voices amongst the cast that steadily increases as they start to get killed off. I also find he has a tendency to write the old 'character A, character B and <2 blokes you've never heard of before> break cover. Unknown bloke 1 was suddenly killed! Then unknown bloke 2 was killed as well!' trope a little too often. I think the first couple of omnibus's are all you need there.

The amount of BL fiction is vast though to it's really good to get a personal recommendation. Cheers!

Bogus. I really did not enjoy the latest Slaine and Hershey series whatsoever.
Looks a bit bleak for January then as far as I'm concerned, but very willing to have my mind changed.

Massive undertaking. I would suggest jumping around a bit and not doing the whole HH. Legion,Betrayer,Master of Mankind,First Heretic...hit the high points.

I also went waay back and tried to catch up with all the WH40k game changers. Lord of the Night and Rennies Gothic War duology still hold up remarkably well.

Wise words, but I had already read all the high points, more or less! I cherrypicked them over the years. Reading the whole lot in order seemed a good idea at the time...
There's some right turkeys in there as well as a good story, but overall the series is a bit of a drag. I suppose it was never intended to be read in this way!
High points - definitely First Heretic, Betrayer, Legion. Prospero Burns / Thousand Sons, Know No Fear (first half of it at any rate....)

Outside of the HH I think the Night Lords trilogy is the absolute best. Not read the Rennie stuff.

Not sure how I've never read much the Stainless Steel Rat... one book in my early teens I think? Veyr much looking forward to them.

I started reading GW's Horus Heresy series around the start of lockdown. I've just started book 30 and I'm questioning the wisdom of the endevour, as I'm feeling pretty ground down by the relentless grimdark of the whole thing (not to mention the often ponderous writing!)

However I just picked up 8 second hand Stainless Steel Rat books on eBay for a song, which should be a lovely change of pace.

It's not on to call them scum, yet there they are voting to see children go hungry.
What a failure of the state.
Good on you for doing this dude.

Wayfarer - A Romance with Violence

It's basically a black / folk metal album, but being a US band the folk elements are old west instruments and melodies. Like RDR2 mixed with BM.

https://wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com/album/a-romance-with-violence

Are those judges in the centre top panel?

Not as such but they do bear a very striking resemblance!

I've also just finished this. Good summary Broodblik. I'm guessing the move to Eagle drove the change in tone away from the horror elements but this nowhere near as good as the first volume, although it picks up a bit near the end. The art, as ever, is excellent but I thought all the spy stuff was dire and Max himself seems a bit neutered.
Still enjoyable but not essential imo.

Pepperoni pizza is also what I really miss since I became veggie. There's no substitute for all that grease. I still think it's the right decision though.

Hello!