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Messages - fireandforget

#1
General / Re: JULY ART COMP - BEYOND DREDD 3D
18 July, 2012, 10:36:57 AM
Those Bane-style Dark Judges look immense, good work!
#2
General / Re: Durham Red Tattoo
11 December, 2008, 02:05:07 PM
Quote from: "starman-2112"

had this done about 5 years ago scott

I remember that, it was a Trainspotting parody with 2000AD characters. Great stuff.

Tattoos are like everything: when they're good they're good, when they're bad they're bad. Doesn't matter if you get it or not. I've got one and I have the itch to get more: I'm thinking of geeking out and getting Dredd, Jesse Custer, Jenny Sparks and Rorschach down my arm...
#3
Prog / Re: Prog 1614: JUDGEMENT DAY!
27 November, 2008, 08:10:13 PM
Cover was good, nice details.

Dredd: Haven't got a problem with Locke's artwork, somewhere between Steve Dillon and John Ridgway, but Dredd's face is all wrong - what's going on with his mouth in the last panel? And Mills' script is terrible. I love ABC Warriors right now even though it's incomprehensible, because it's just so breakneck, scattershot and full of ideas. Dredd reads like how not to write a police procedural: we know whodunnit, why he dunnit, and where he dunnit. No following clues, no suspense, nothing. Really flat (which is the same reason I hated Greyshirt)

Stalag 666: Not bad. Should have been shorter.

Ampney Crucis: Bit flat - follow from one place to another without much sense of resolution.

Dante: Peerless. Incredible stuff.
#4
General / Re: Jamie hewlett's Phoo Action on BBC3
27 November, 2008, 07:41:02 PM
Apparently they realised at the last minute that Phoo Action was just rubbish:

//http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/17/bbc3-phoo-action
Quotethe series had been dogged by script problems, with the actors frequently seeming embarrassed by lines they were asked to read.

Being Human has a series, which is good. Bit more energy would be nice though
#5
General / Re: Legendary Heroes Dredd
27 November, 2008, 07:34:00 PM
That looks cool - way to sex up a pretty ropy action figure. The colouring's wrong and his face is proper pony. I much preferred the Reaction figures, even if I do have to keep blu-tacking the shoulder pads back on.
#6
General / Re: What would you tolerate in a Dredd film?
27 November, 2008, 07:12:34 PM
The changes in the original post (Lawgiver with ordinary bullets etc) sound like taking the sci-fi out of the concept. What's the point? It's the years of layers of detail (the swearwords, the Mega-City crazes, the Judicial kit) that make it unique. Take all that stuff out it'd stop being interesting, let alone stop being Dredd.

Might be inviting ridicule, but I thought the design of the 95 movie was the best thing about it. Apart from the codpieces (and the spandex), the uniforms did a pretty good job of balancing the ludicrously oversized elements of the outfit with practical consideration. I thought the Lawgiver and the SJS and the ABC Warrior looked ace, and even the Lawmaster would have been OK if it hadn't had those gimpy little tires (apparently they tried aeroplane tires but it wouldn't steer).

One thing that the new Batman movies have proved is that you can change all the superficial details as long as you stay true to the core character. Look at the armour or the brightly-lit new Batcave or the tank-like Batmobile, but it's OK because we still have tortured Bruce, we still have the relationships between him and Alfred or Jim Gordon, we still have the core concept of the lone avenger. See also the design in the new Punisher movie: I love how the skull logo is ghosted onto his body armour, looks awesome. The problem with the 95 movie Dredd wasn't the design, or even the casting (apart from Schneider) - Stallone could have made a perfectly good Dredd if the script had stuck to the core concept of a heartless bastard who's the unflinching agent of the law: no kissing, no joking around, and no going up against the law.

That was my biggest complaint with the movie. It's a bit hackneyed to show a flawed judicial system by having your protagonist getting stuck on the wrong side of it. The comic shows up the flawed system by having Dredd be at the centre of it.

At the BFI panel a while back, Robbie Morrison said something that made the comic suddenly come into focus for me: that Dredd is the straight man amid the insanity of Mega-City One. If a film sticks to that, there's no need to make him more accessible by seeing his face and kissing girls. Just make him the only thing that makes sense (even if his unbending principles are scary) in a crazy world and people will get him.

Also, no Judge Death and psis and such. Supernatural elements don't work as well in sci-fi films because films 'look real' where comics never do - they're always creating a world through the art so we buy fantastic stuff, where film suggests that we're watching something happen in the real world. That's why I think they were smart to cut the supernatural/sci-fi elements from the X-Men movies and ground all the fantasy elements in one vaguely scientific explanation.

Oh, and on casting: bit long in the tooth but still nails hard, big chin, scary-looking... Danny Trejo, anyone?
#7
Prog / Re: Prog 1608: Knot's Landing
11 October, 2008, 12:17:16 PM
Gah, mine hasn't come yet - 1607 only arrived on Thursday!
#8
Prog / Re: Prog 1607 Rule of Law
10 October, 2008, 10:14:16 AM
Cover: very Greg Staples, 90's-style painting, like it, although it is a bit static - maybe a BOK! sound effect is needed...

Dredd: well-told by Morrison, not that keen on Marshall's artwork, I was never a Cam Kennedy fan the first time round. Why do all the gangsters have weird noses? Should surely make Dredd's job easier - arrest everyone with a weird nose, job done. Good to see Shaggy in the Big Meg, where's Scooby?

Future Shocks: wasn't impressed. Westerns in space, come on... and with the artwork feeling a bit '80s, reminded me of Colin Wilson, the whole thing feels a bit dated. Actually I'm probably just bitter, because I got rejected with an FS updating Stagecoach to the future (the story, not the imagery - I didn't have any bloody stetsons and laser guns). Liked the gun coming out of the coffin on it's own, though, nice twist on Django.

Lobster Random: love Spurrier's way with words. Still feel a bit like nothing's actually happened for about three weeks. And Critchlow's scratchy art is still a real let-down after the lushness of Disraeli's work on the Vort. Last panel is brilliantly menacing, though.

Stalag 666: as mentioned elsewhere: that's more like it! (What does it take to get some frickin' snakemen with rocket launchers on quad-bikes around here?!) Particularly like the last panels on page two and three. Although some Akira-style speed lines rather than some haphazardly applied background motion blur would really kick things into gear.

Red Seas: initially underwhelmed (not aware of the back story) but the dialogue has really drawn me in. I really like the sense of foreboding in the last couple of panels. But the art doesn't do anything for me: I just don't think Yeowell's linework is evocative enough to be that sparse. I never get a sense of backgrounds from his work (what was that mecha thing he drew a while back, with the pastel robots and the environmental theme? Detonator X. Awful) The third panel on page 2 is the first time I've seen him draw a proper face for ages, everyone else seems to be walking around looking pained with their eyes closed.

Finally, the classic T-shirts. Was never a Shakara fan, but that is a wicked shirt. No arguments with Bad Company and Dante, although I would be more likely to shell out for an O'Neill Nemesis and Chopper shirt without all the crowd noise. What I wouldn't give for a shirt with the Supersurf logos and kneepad stickers from the Song of the Surfer GN -- to the interwebs!

**Batman music**
#9
Megazine / Re: Lawmaster = Big pants?
10 October, 2008, 09:41:01 AM
Pzzooo!!
#10
Megazine / Re: Meg 276 : Rat Attack
21 September, 2008, 12:33:47 PM
Cover is dreadful, although I do like the colouring on Dredd's jumpsuit. Really enjoying Ratfink - the silent creeping through the caves is so tense, glad it was given enough space. I've come round to Docherty since the old days but I don't like his helmets.

Enjoying the British comics history, as a mini-Squaxx at the time I didn't know all this was going on. New Tank Girl is great, although I'm not keen on the single colour scheme. Dayglo's art has more of the madcap energy required than Ashley Wood's (still wicked) recent miniseries. Great sound effects, definitely - I love a good "boot!"

Black Atlantic looks like it could be fun. Diverse cast, gothic oil rigs and a couple of nice Abnett puns (flintshock, sharpoon). Text articles were all interesting, personally I like them.

Anderson was pretty good, didn't outstay it's welcome, but Cook's style isn't for me. Anderson looks good (for her age - how old is she these days anyway?) but the assorted 'splodey/meltey heads look half-finished.

And I have to say, I loved Snow/Tiger. There's no character development to speak of, but it moves at such a breakneck pace I didn't mind. Clarke's art reminds me of Travis Charest on WildCATs, which I also loved. And is it wrong to really fancy Snow?
#11
Prog / Re: Prog 1605 - Caged Heat
21 September, 2008, 12:17:58 PM
Loved the cover (certainly better than this month's cartoonish Meg).

Dredd: Not bad. I agree it feels a bit old-fashioned. Lately Morrison seems to be delivering high-concept action Dredds: Blindside was Die Hard with no eyes instead of no shoes, and Firestorm is Die Hard on a spaceship, perhaps to balance out Wagner's more thoughtful mutie stuff. Although Mutie Block was a bit Die Hard an' all.

Red Seas: I just don't get Red Seas. The stuff with the gods was a great bit of misdirection, but I can't shake the feeling the characters are just pottering from situation to situation. It all feels like  bag of really interesting ideas in need of a bit of some dramatic oomph.

ABC Warriors: Never having got into ABC Warriors as young Squaxx, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. But the art is amazing. On the writing front, I like the little character vignette with the obnoxious soldiers. And if Termight Replicas want to make one of those little peaked caps I'd buy that for a dollar.

Stalag 666: Cool title, cool concept, hasn't quite done it for me yet. Apart from the setting, it's too entrenched in POW tropes: couldn't they do something a little more sci-fi than digging a tunnel? And I'd have like a bit more wider context than a bunch of expositional captions in the first part, which I hate.

Lobster Random: Awesome writing. Funny, tense, suspenseful, excellent. Although Critchlow's scratchy art is bit of a disappointment after Disraeli's lush, gorgeous Vort.

All-in-all, got through it way too fast.
#12
General / Re: JUDGE DREDD LEGO
11 September, 2008, 09:55:58 PM
Three words: Judge Dredd Guess Who.

"Do you have a moustache?"

"No."

"Do you have a helmet?"