Messages

[Dredd]

Great wraparound cover. Though it's difficult to see digitally - I have to rapidly switch backwards and forwards between pages. I look forward to seeing it again on Pete Well's blog.

I liked Dredd and the "I faked all those orgasms" is the best line in this week's prog

Also enjoying Savage, especially the artwork. Loved the visual reference to Prog No.1. And I don't mind the political angle either.

Ampney is a delight for the eyes. The story has got me gripped too.

*passes over next story without comment as I have nothing nice to say*

Been reading some P.G.Wodehouse this week which helped me spot the reference in Strontium Dog. Guess what P.G. stands for? Does this mean Wagner hates one of the funniest writers ever to use the English language? Shame on him if it does as "Plum" is one of my all-time favourite authors. You may now be thinking that I'm more interested in some long dead author than I am in the actual story in front of me. Thing is, this story feels long dead to me. I do love Johnny Alpha, but I nae cannae dig thees story at aull... *fades away with embarrassment at awful attempt at a Scottish accent*

Thanks Pete! I found the references to J C Leyendecker very interesting. It explains those halos which I found a bit bizarre initially.

I loved this programme. It was creepy in a clever imaginative way. Instead of scaring you with blood and gore, it would use things like the sound of a heart beating in the walls and a nursery rhyme. Watching it again on DVD does make the programme show its age. My other criticism is that sapphire and steel were never elements...

I bloody love [spoiler]Zygons[/spoiler] me.

Same here. I wish the new series would bring them back

[mididoctors]

Let me add my welcome as well, mididoctors

Like you, I read 2000AD religiously in the early days, losing touch in the early 90s, before coming back on board in 2011. It has been a real pleasure for me catching up on all that lost thrill-power and I can honestly say, even with the rose-tinted nostalgia specs I wear, that 2000AD is currently having one of its best periods ever. 2012 was a cracking year.

Nice tats. I want one myself, but am a bit of a coward about the pain factor. Give me some free bionic stickers to put on instead 

[Cover:]

Cover: I love Simon Davis's painted artwork. But like somebody else who posted earlier, found the two "halos" blocking the logo a strange design layout. Didn't work for me. Fairly confident that this year we'll see better covers than this.

Dredd: [spoiler]I know the corrupt cynical cop vs. straight guy is a cinema archetype, and we all knew that Dredd wouldn't be taken by surprise.[/spoiler] But I'm enjoying this story and the artwork.

Red Seas: Can't wait for this story to finish so I can say "Good riddance!"

Savage: I couldn't help comparing the two black and white stories. I read Colin_YNWA's post earlier on comparing Yeowell's art with Goddard's. He made some good points about the skill of simplicity and I know sometimes "less is more" in comic art. But it looks more like laziness to me. Goddard seems to put more effort into illustrating the story to me. In comparing the two double-page spreads, I prefer Goddard's.

Ampney Crucis: As somebody who has only returned as a regular subscriber to 2000AD in 2011 after a long absence, I didn't like my first taste of an Ampney Crucis story (though I loved the artwork!). TBH I was a little baffled. So I wasn't looking forward to his return, but I've been pleasantly surprised by this story. It's my second favourite after Dredd this week.

Strontium Dog: I'm sorry, but I switched off a little reading this. I find the pacing a little too slow and a nasty voice in my head goes "Same old. Same old." But Alpha is such an iconic character that I'm prepared to persevere...

Yay! Digital version now available 

Still waiting for the digital edition to come out 

So pleased to see this sketch by Colin Wilson. He is one of my favourite artists. I remember doing an art project where I tried to copy a Rogue Trooper's story illustrated by this gifted art droid. I loved the dynamic nature of his inking which looked to me as if it were done quickly and skillfully with a brush.

Anybody else think Edmund Bagwell's cover has shades of Massimo Belardinelli about it?
It's the face, particularly around the eyes.

Yes it does. A great artist.

Here's a link to a great tribute piece Pat Mills did on Belardinelli around the time of his death;

http://www.downthetubes.net/features/tributes/massimo_belardinelli_tribute.html

Thanks for sharing this. I'm currently reading some early 2000AD and Belardinelli artwork on Dan Dare is truly astounding. The quality of his artwork in those early progs is far superior to the other artists IMHO

[Strontium Dog:]

Strontium Dog: I can't help feeling that Pat Mills is stretching the story too thin and what has happened up to now could have been covered in 2/3rds of the space given so far.

Pat Mills gets the blame for everything, doesn't he?

Whoops . My bad. What an embarrassing mistake *slinks away with scaly tail between five legs*

[Red Seas]

My review of Prog 2013 Part 2:

Red Seas I find boring, and I find Yeowell's artwork boring. It looks as if it's just bashed out as quickly as possible. So I'm going to bash out this review just as quickly 

Aquila was a far more entertaining read. I'm beginning to warm to this story and I look forward to the next instalment whenever it appears.

The Behind the Scenes were an interesting extra. Nick Dyer's inks remind me of Cam Kennedy. The sketches are different in composition from the final artwork making me wonder if the scripts were changed.

Henry Flint's artwork in The Visible Man was amazing. I could really imagine the internal organs pumping away and it left me feeling a little queasy - [spoiler]no wonder they wanted make-up & clothes on[/spoiler].

Strontium Dog fulfilled its anchoring role, ensuring that the Prog goes down the final straight to finish strongly. However, I'm not enjoying the recent Johnny Alpha stories as much as I liked the old ones. I can't help feeling that Pat Mills is stretching the story too thin and what has happened up to now could have been covered in 2/3rds of the space given so far.

[Savage]

Reading Savage again, I noticed that the interior of the café where Bill is working (called "Puccelli") is based on a real life café I visited a few years ago in Bethnal Green called Pellicci. Here's a link if you're interested.
http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/Pelliccifeature.htm
It's a fantastic place to eat in if you're ever in the area and feeling peckish.

[Absalom]

I'm reading this Prog in stages to spread out the thrill power.

Immediately I turned to was Absalom as he's my favourite 2000AD character at the moment. And I wasn't disappointed. It was creepy, like one of Roald Dahl's 'Unexpected Tales', playing on contemporary fears with all the hoo-haa about Savile & co. I like the artwork style for Absalom and the little details such as the boy pushing his dad's sunglasses, along with the use of blurry lines to convey the ghostly dimension. BTW did anybody else think that Uncle Charlie looked rather like George Melly?

Now I go back to the beginning and look at Bagwell's cover properly. Seeing the cosmic claw on our viridian polystyrene-chomping editor brings back fond memories when Dan Dare wielded a similar looking mitt.

I like it when a Dredd gives a little seasonal gesture like a sci-fi Scrooge. When Dredd suffers yet another round of severe life-ending-to-anybody-else injuries, I was reminded of what Carolyn Bachmann said to Dredd a couple of progs previously, "Well, you always were good at taking a beating. In many ways, it's what you're best at."

Greg Staples' painted poster of Death is awesome. Reading 2000AD digitally allows me to really zoom in and savour the detail on this painting such as the chipped fingernails.

As a digital subscriber, I also appreciated getting the Behind The Scenes roughs allowing me to see how the art droids turn a blank sheet/screen into the finished artwork we normally see.

The linking up of the Savage and ABC Warriors backstories always surprises me, even though they are both Pat Mills stories. I've always imagined them as different universes, and in this case, I don't see the benefit of joining the two. I've always imagined Savage living in a world like ours, while ABC Warriors lived in a sci-fi universe where talking robots are normal.

Ampney Crucis Investigates is one of those 2000AD characters I haven't warmed to, and nothing in this story changed that. I do love Simon Davis painted artwork though.

I've been aware of new book Ack-Ack Macaque for about a year as I follow Gareth L Powell on Twitter and he regularly shares Ack-Ack Macaque tweets who comes across as an interesting sci-fi character. I didn't realise until last week that Gareth had written a prequel strip for 2000AD so I was pleased for him as he's a true fan of sci-fi.

Now I need to gently calm down my thrill-circuits to prepare them for the second half of this Prog.