Messages

1

Megazine / Re: Meg 428: Trail by Fire!

« on: Today at 09:10:16 PM »

Well we are doing okay aren't we. we really arh.

For a change I'll deal with the back matter first. The John Sanders interview is certainly interesting and makes me look forward to getting the book soon. A different perspective is always helpful, even if I suspect I'll disagree with much he says.

Then the Encyclopedia looks like it might have hit its stride. Its weird after craming some entries into one page in previous volumes here everything - even some interestingly obsure choices - gets two pages, often the second used for a full picture - which is great in a comic encyclopedia. There are still some curious gaps and large white spaces - but this is much more like I'd wanted. I wonder if the early volumes will be updated before this gets published as a seperate volume... assuming think this is as much as a success as I did AND it gets a standalone collection at some point... we'll see.

As for the comic content well this continues to be the best line-up - without Lawless I can remember.

For a Dredd that doesn't especially do much its a damned fine read from Neimand and Goddard and looks fantastic.

Megatropolis - the only negative is the habit of dropping a few to many cute nods to established characters that seems to reach a peak here. But some beans this is brilliant.

As is Dreadnoughts - its just hard, bitter and entertaining.

The Returners really opens up the art and has its best episode of this story to day. Its magnificent. 

and the same can be said of Deliverance which has a blinder.

This has been a good line-up and this is the best issue of that fantastic line-up. Welcome to the new year!

2

Books & Comics / Re: Essential Judge Dredd Apocalypse War

« on: Today at 05:44:56 PM »

Mines arrived and have to say its a handsome volume. Decent size, smidge smaller than original Progs, smells good, nice design.

 What's really struck me though is how the colours sits with different artists. Now this is from a flick through and my eyes might adjust. But the colour seems to sit perfectly with the Bolland pages for example. It looks good on the Dillon and to my surprise McMahon pages. It just seems to click in and be natural.

Sadly for this volume its less successful on the Ezquerra pages. Well successful is possibly unfair, it just looks like its been added, like its on top of the line work rather than naturally part of the art. I have no idea why that might be and I'm reasonably sure my eyes may adjust cos is a decent colouring job and on some pages excellent. Just sits better with some of the art more than others.

3

Creative Common / Re: Does my Art look big in this?

« on: Today at 01:35:19 PM »

I've seen the pop up on Facebook but man they are excellent and its nice to see them gathered together here in one place.

4

Prog / Re: Prog 2215: Fire From Above

« on: Today at 01:13:49 PM »

Just read the Damage Report too - very best wishes to CyberMatt and family.

I hear that The Mighty One applied a couple of medical-grade Rigellian Hotshots and told him to get back to work. There's nothing like excrutiating pain and a cut in your oil rations to focus the self-repair circuits, so CyberMatt is now back to working us all like our non-attendance at Mek-Quake's lair depends on it.*


*Which it does, obviously.

That's good to hear and hope all is well in the Nerve Centre. Its depressing that lack of coverage we are getting about the impact of Covid disease on Droids. Its as if the press think these childhood fantasies of 2000ad being produced by robots is a work of fiction deserving of no attention. Scandalous

5

Film & TV / Re: Endlessly Re-watchable

« on: Today at 11:52:50 AM »

I rewatched THE LIGHTHOUSE for the fourth time and the first time on the small screen. It might well be my latest edition to the endlessly rewatchable list. Completely quotable and deliciously perverse.

Never heard of that - that looks very interesting and my God the trailer makes it look like it was made for Willem Defoe! Must track that down...

6

General / Re: Dreddverse Map

« on: Today at 11:28:32 AM »

That’s me just seen the map due to the TalkTalk issues

Great map Funt

This seems to be fixed now with any luck - seen it referenced (my me and others) elsewhere so spread the word!

7

Film & TV / Re: Endlessly Re-watchable

« on: Today at 11:22:15 AM »

As mentioned elswhere rewatched Withnail and I last night. Though I can almost quote it line for line i and know it inside out - even without having seen it for a few years - it remains a work of genius that is never dull, is hilarious but still breaks my heart.

The almost perfect films... if it only had spaceships and laser guns in it... rather than lighter fuel and piss tubes.

8

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: Today at 11:03:03 AM »

Watched Withnail and I last night. It remains a work of genius... where is that Endlessly Rewatchable thread?

I've not seen it in years but can still almost do the dialogue word for word as I go along. Its never gets dull. Is still hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure and this rewatch reminds me its in my top ten films of all time.

9

General / Re: Favourite CURRENT art droid Round 2 - Phil Winslade or Chris Weston

« on: Today at 08:54:18 AM »

broodblik - those images just go to show while we can draw similalities between these to, certainly on the level of exquisite detail they use - their actual style and end result is very different. I kinda thought this one would be tough but maybe it just come down to a similar decision about stylisit preferences. Also their page design approaches can be very different as well.

10

General / Re: Favourite CURRENT art droid Round 2 - Patrick Goddard or Simon Davis

« on: Today at 06:32:44 AM »

Closing this one in the morning so if you still want to vote do so today.

11

General / Re: Favourite CLASSIC art droid Round 2 - Brett Ewins or David Gibbons

« on: Today at 06:31:43 AM »

Think I know whose pulling most votes here, but its close so please if you haven't yet pop your vote in and I'll count up and annouce the winner in the morning.

12

General / Favourite CURRENT art droid Round 2 - Phil Winslade or Chris Weston

« on: Today at 06:29:12 AM »

Last of Round 2 and we’ve ending with a hammer blow. Two absolute fan favourites here, but only one will progress.

I’ve written 16 of these bloody things in the last couple of weeks so I hope you’ll forgive if I just say forget The Filth, forget Shadowpact or Ant Man’s Big Christmas. Only work for Tharg to be consider, though discuss what you like. BANG

And we’re done - HOOOZZZAAAHHHH

Alas we have to pick our favourite and to do so just pop the name of the art droid you’d most like to go through to the Quarter Finals, but please add anything else you’d like to say as well.

Phil Winslade - more info

OR

Chris Weston - more info

This one will close and be counted on the morning of Friday 22nd January

What the hell is all this? Current state of play Find out more about the Art Droid Tourneys and Round 2

Who made the 32 in both tourneys?

Entrants in the Current Art Droids Tourney

Entrants in the Classic Art Droids Tourney

Rules for what they are worth

Anything else just ask and I’ll make something up.

13

General / Favourite CLASSIC art droid Round 2 - Alan Davis or Simon Harrison

« on: Today at 06:27:53 AM »

Last days for starting Round 2 votes today and we end with a very interesting one in the Classic Tourney.

I think by now we know each other well enough that I can just cut to the chase now, we can be straight with each other, right. So getting right to it, not dilly dallying around, hammering the nail home with the not faffing around hammer. Screwing the screw right in using the blunt and very Yorkshire screwdriver. No messing, dawdling, aimless wondering or nowt like that. See the target and shooting straight for it. Bish bash bosh point made. I’m here to tell you … oh hold on I’ve lost my threa now… something about… errr Excalibur, Outsiders any of that Marvel stuff not counting. Some stuff about errrr not giving a fig about Beckerharrison being your delight… Tharg only… or some such. Arh forget it...

Alas we have to pick our favourite and to do so just pop the name of the art droid you’d most like to go through to the Quarter Finals, but please add anything else you’d like to say as well.

Alan Davis - more info

OR

Simon Harrison - more info

This one will close and be counted on the morning of Saturday 23rd January

What the hell is all this? Current state of play Find out more about the Art Droid Tourneys and Round 2

Who made the 32 in both tourneys?

Entrants in the Current Art Droids Tourney

Entrants in the Classic Art Droids Tourney

Rules for what they are worth

Anything else just ask and I’ll make something up.

14

Other Reviews / Re: The completely self absorbed 2000ad re-read thread

« on: 19 January, 2021, 09:12:39 PM »

Book 3 is the magic number

As we run into 1850 two books with checked pasts (for different reasons) hit there third and final books. Both of which are by far the best of the series to date. Age of the Wolf III - Wolfworld is solid. Its not great, but its continues well what this series has done of flipping to completely different points of the tale. In fact its structured like Ghostship Mathematica. Each element feels fresh and its own. Just each book of Age of the Wolf hasn't felt entirely successful. I'm not quite sure why, there's nothing wrong with it persay it just feels a little loose and uninspiring. Which given its ingrediants of a post apocolyptic werewolve horror is pretty surprising. I have to be honest while John Davis-Hunt art is the best its been, but it doesn't sell things to me. It doesn't feel whole and convincing. I do worry that detracts from the story.

Ten-seconders - Godsend on the other hand is an almost perfect ending. After a decent start, a very rocky middle the ending - with the stakes in this superheroes as impossibly powerful and violent alien invaders, somehow raised up and then some. It feels like an entirely superlative, meladramatic, hyper-reality ending to it all. Rob Williams manages to do what Jack Kirby did so very well in the work he wrote himself. He blasts your imagination apart with his ultra-reality mindbending concepts. Yet manages to ground it all with down to earth with gritty and seemingly real characters who make all the God spinning cosmicness feel important and human.

The real star though is Edmund Bagwell in what I think tragically is his last work for Tharg. He managers to convey all that. All the mindbending Kirbyesque Hyper-reality uberwonder and he grounds it with real, tight, earthed characters. Rob Williams might give him the stuff to draw in the script, but I simply can't imagine almost any, if any artist who could deliver it quite as well as Bagwell. Its one of 2000ad's most astonishing art jobs. Yet we don't talk about it. I'm not sure why. We talk about Cradlegrave and the brilliance of his world there - quite rightly. We talk about Indigo Prime and the brilliance of his inter-dimenions there - quite rightly. We really should, absolutely talk about this strip where he, to my absolute amazement, manages to perfectly combine his brillance on both those very different strips here.

Oh of course this is Ten-Seconders so there are artistic hiccups - see you book 2 - as Ben Wilsher does a solid job of keeping the train moving for two episodes towards the end. But Edmund Bagwell's work here - even given that - is some of the best ever to grace the Prog.

15

Prog / Re: Prog 2215: Fire From Above

« on: 19 January, 2021, 08:34:24 PM »

I'm going to say something controversial at the start here... I prefer the art on the cover to the art on Slaine the strip. Both are technically really very good. There's something fresher about the colours on the cover that keep the energy and verve of the image. Where the colours on the strip and amount in a similar palette panel to panel can cramp and kill the energy at time in the strip. Clearly one cover image is very different to 7 (plus) pages of strip but the comparison did strike me,

ANYWAY.. that's not why we're here really.

Dredd - you know this is feeling quite average now. I'm not blown away by the art in places and the script just feels like so many old ideas rolled out again. Its  not horrible but its not great.

And then the action section of the Prog starts. Durham Red is fun, frisky and energetic. Its is straight forward action but its entirely engaging.

Slaine on the other hand. Well how much dragon riding, axe chopping, side turning, fire breathing action be so... well dull. The comparison between this and Durham Red is striking. Slaine feels overblown and bloated. Durham Red lithe and energetic.

Proteus Vex seems to be continuing the action episode theme with a brisk start but then flips and starts to craft worlds and place. Its a great episode, with a fun, gross ending.

Hershey well what can you say it superb. The balance between to two story strands, the way the interweave their theme which being independent and insightful in and of themselves. The grit of the end. Its sublime. I know some folks seem on the outs with this one on principle but really this should be read in its own right as its fantastic and the art is utterly dynamic.

Overall there are some real highs in this Prog its just not consistent enough to be great.