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[Lawmaster]

She turned the bag to study the object. It was actually slightly smaller than a dime, with a flat head and a word stamped across it.

Lawmaster

It was a word familiar to Ballard but she couldn't immediately place it. She pulled her phone so she could plug the word into a search engine.

[...]

Ballard pressed the search button and got two hits on the word. Lawmaster was the name of a motorcycle used by Judge Dredd in a series of comic books and movies. It was also a company that made leather equipment belts and holsters geared toward the law enforcement community.

Two hits?!

[Airhorn.wav] Winner, competition over

Great stuff Bolt-01. I like the details about Kid's mixed-up plumbing and cranial arthritis - no wonder the poor bastard's always in such a bad mood.

1st: The Legendary Shark
2nd: Bolt-01
3rd: Heath C Ackley

Really enjoyed reading them all.

A promising opening chapter, but sometimes I think the names of Mega-City 1 citizens are a bit too silly - I mean, no-one would ever be called "Elon Musk"

Carver Hale, I think? Plus John Constantine casts a pretty long shadow. The 40's Hollywood setting helps Hope stand out though. I'm looking forward to its return too.

[Hunted]

You know, I wasn't looking forward to more Greysuit, but this a brisk, engaging opener. If the villain had actually been carrying a terrified lamb it would have been perfect.

Hunted: nah. The "reveal" was a massive "so what".

Yeah. If the series - or at least an episode - had focussed on those two characters, the betrayal would have had more of an impact. As it is, I can't even name either of them.

Still too many typos slipping through the net, I'm afraid - this week we have "Build a giant temple to the demon space-gods they worship and fill it will [sic] a human population as a sacrificial offering", spoiling a classic slice of Abnett, and, "Nu Earth. Where the answer to an age-old question may about to be discovered." But then, "may be about to be" is pretty clunky anyway.

I'm sure this forum in particular will all agree that the world would be a better place if there were more Frank Millers.

As long as they all retired at the age of 43, sure. But if we're firing up the cloning machine, let's just run off a few more Abnetts and have them write the whole prog like Wagner and Grant used to.

Last time this came up I think I said you had to be a fan of Damon Runyon to enjoy Al's Baby, but on further reflection it stands up well enough on its own - the dialogue and narration are snappy even if you don't know what it's pastiching, and it has a lot of fun with the premise (it breaks water on Junior from a great height).  It's got zero to do with Dredd though.

Banzai Battalion is fun; Insurrection and Lawless are bloody brilliant.

[Prog 2028]

I'm a bit late to the party here (been catching up on progs after letting my print subscription expire and going digital), so I don't know if this has already been covered, but I've translated the Martian language in Cold War Book 2. Feel free to use these in your annotations, Eamonn.

Prog 2028
(The Very Bad Word has been censored as per forum rules but you're big boys and girls, you can figure it out)



Prog 2030
Who knew the Martians were Daphne & Celeste fans?







There's some snippets of Daphne & Celeste in 2031 and 2032 as well.

Was Wagner's real name common knowledge at that point? That's one of a few in-jokes referencing his identity (e.g. Fly's Eyes Wagner, Cadet Wagner's entry on the Honour Roll in Mutie the Pig) which appeared when he and/or Alan Grant were going by John Howard, TB Grover etc. (or uncredited, in the case of MTP)

Yes, Brink and Grey Area are the clear standouts in this prog. I really like the way that Grey Area is going, clearly we're building up to something, but the individual episodes are complete and satisfying on their own.

Defoe seems to have decided to become a 17th century Marshal Law at the end of the series. Hmmm.

He does hunt superior heroes.  I don't think he's found any yet though.

I read Marshall Law recently for the first time and loved it. I wish Mills' recent output was as passionate. Can't say I was particularly affected by the ending to Diehards, and the reveal that young Daniel will grow up to be Daniel Defoe was just cheesy. Lovely work from MacNeil, of course - I didn't think we'd see painted work from him again after Insurrection III.

Hunted is ticking along fine but has yet to really grip me.

In a rare twist, Dredd is the weakest thing in the prog. Like everyone already said, the idea is solid but the story did nothing with it - much like last week's hugely disappointing conclusion to Parental Guidance.

Dan Abnett keeps this prog from being completely forgettable, with a funny/sad Grey Area interlude and a tantalisingly tentacley Brink. As usual, Abnett has all the best lines: I can't choose between "Verging on the non-Euclidian" (Lovecraft references FTW) or "A 'friend' is one of the terms humans use to describe organisms they are obliged to spend time with."

I quite enjoyed the first reappearance but the second was dreadful.

The second one was about how Paedo Priests Are Bad, wasn't it? That was pretty terrible.

1st: MIKE D - Reality TV
2nd: JABISH - FULL EAGLE
3rd: HEATH C ACKLEY - CHANNEL 2000

Good stuff, everyone. I had a stab at writing a sequel to my TV Listings from last year but I'm afraid I didn't get much further than "The One Where Joey and Chandler Accidentally Reactivate a Decommissioned ABC Robot and It Rips Their Arms and Legs Off"

Welcome to the forum! That sounds like one of the closing chapters of Judgement Day - Megazine Vol 2 No 9, reprinted in Case Files 17.

I have the Black Library's hardback editions of Daemonifuge and Lone Wolves and they're lovely. If they give Bloodquest the same treatment I'll be first in the queue to get it.

Daemonifuge is a bit patchy but the first story, by Kev Walker and some feller named Campbell, is glorious. Abnett and Richardson's Lone Wolves is a good read too, despite being lumbered with a title which always reminds me of Airheads: "There's three of you. You're not exactly Lone."