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BTW Midsommer is the murder capital of the world that you are somehow overlooking

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[Fleisher]

I liked that one panel of Harlem heroes where Slice spits a toothpick into some dude's eyeball.

< Fleisher hooks the leg, and the referee slides in for a fast count, 1-2-3 >

Fleisher 5 / Peaty 0

[Morrison]

I'm tempted to throw young McConville a bone, but Morrison has delivered the goods time and again over the decades.

Morrison 5 / McConville 0

That's a great cover.
Hopefully a sign that Stewart K. Moore will continue working for the Galaxy's Greatest.

[The "Brian Skuter" theory]

Aside from the Occam's Razor reality that Niemand is a very accomplished and prolific Dredd writer, I have it on good authority that the open secret rumour is in fact true.

Why keep it going?

The "Brian Skuter" theory: 2000AD has had known writers use pseudonyms in the past, albeit generally employed as a ruse to help convince the reader they were not in fact reading a Sinister Dexter / Lobster Random / Indigo Prime story. Not to mention that our old pal T.B. Grover wrote most of our favorite early Dredd stories.
The "It's only a prank, Bro" theory: Relax, Earthlet.
The "I said I was going to eat my shoe - and I will!" theory: I can't recall exactly, but I remember it was mentioned previously that the Rennie Droid would be stepping down from writing Dredd stories after his (superb) collaboration with Ezquerra on 'El Maldito'.
The "Too Mannie Rennie" theory: The Rennie Droid has always had a prolific presence in both 2000AD and The Megazine - having so many stories written by him in recent years could give the impression of a creative monopoly, as there has been in the past with both Abnett and Mills to various degrees.

Any or none of the above reasons could be why TMO has agreed to continuing the pretense. No skin off my shin - I generally enjoy his stuff quite a lot.

Anyway, that's just my 2 Creds.

[Abnett]

Hebden had a few gudduns, but I don't want to even contemplate where we'd be without The Abnett Droid.

Abnett 4 / Hebden 1

If not its a lot of faff to go to for a pretty needless joke?

A lot of faff? You mean fake social media accounts and one of your mates recording a fake interview while drinking a gifted bottle of Macallan whiskey?

Jayses Colin, I could probably Catfish you if I started a new Forum account under the pseudonym "Pink Lime".

But that last act was mad, like the producers had accidentally found fifty million under the bed and had to spend it by midnight.

Now you're making me want to watch the feckin thing.

[Scrooged]

Huge fan here too, his work left an indelible mark.
Of all his superb films I return to Scrooged most often - I think I have watched it every Christmas for at least 20 years in a row, and a few more sporadically before that.

RIP Dick.

I abstain.

I have to as well.

It feels like this is a Monty Python sketch wherein I'm either the only person who realizes it or the only person who doesn't.

[When Eight Bells Toll.]

When Eight Bells Toll.

Never heard of this, but will keep an eye out for it.

A combo of a killer hangover and crap weather had me planted on the couch yesterday.
There was only one thing for it - Coca Cola & TEE-VEE:

I Trapped The Devil - I'm normally a sucker for these conceptual horror's and was happy to stumble across this. A strong start and even paced build-up led to a flabby and confusing middle act which drained any goodwill or enthusiasm. There just wasn't enough substance to justify a full movie run time. Did that guy really have The Devil trapped in his basement? Whatever you expect the answer to be, you'll be underwhelmed by what was presented.

Broil - Incredibly uneven, some poor acting, needlessly confusing, dreadful sound mixing - and yet I kinda liked it. The elevator pitch; an autistic 25 year old assassin (who happens to be a renowned chef) is hired by Dracula's daughter to prepare a meal and poison her Da (a magnetic Timothy V. Murphy) during the annual family get together. One grotesque twist in particular caught me by surprise, and nudged this up slightly out of the 6/10 mire.

Fear St Part 1: 1994 - Ahhha...no. I was somehow tricked into giving 20 minutes of my life to this before moderately sobering up.

The Neighbour - A leisurely paced drama about a not very sympathetic middle / old aged man becoming obsessed with the better half of a 30 something year old newlywed couple that move in next door. It had its moments though, and I really liked William Fichtner's understated and measured performance. Worth a look.

[Lucid]

I don't know about a third Sister, but the Alan Grant story Lucid (Megs 238-241) added Dementia, Ephermera and Pustula to their ranks.

If a Cartel assassination squad had a gun to the temple of each of my immediate family members, demanding I recall one scintilla of the plot of Lucid or Half Life, I would simply close my eyes and cry.

[Batman: Reptilian 1]

A whiff of dissatisfaction this week, unfortunately:

Batman: Reptilian 1. Stellar art from Sharp, but the script left me cold blooded. Ennis did a cool version of Batman, once, in a few panels of Hitman, a lifetime ago. Here it falls flat. I have read very little of this kinda stuff in recent years, and have to give it to SGM for setting a new gold standard with 'White Knight', against which this is outmatched by leagues. I'm out for the remainder of the series, but will keep an eye on reviews over the next few months - if word of mouth picks up I will get the collection at some stage.

Grendel: Devils Odyssey 7. A Grendel comic I didn't enjoy? Say it ain't so, ma. This was clearly written a year or two ago when such acidulous Trump Derangement Syndrome would have been rewarded with a chuckle, but now - in July 2021 - it elicits no more than a minor shudder of cringe. Bit of a waste of an issue, but faultless artwork, as per the Wagnerian standard.

BRZRKR 3. Alright I suppose, but I seemed to blast through it in about 4 minutes, and it was a little bit of a let down compared to the previous two instalments. I will round up with the now cliched "nice artwork, though" comment.

I'm starving for a decent read this weekend, but I note that Barry Windsor Smith's Monsters has reached the top of the pile. Face it Tiger - you might have just hit the jackpot.

[Tomlinson 1 / Rennie 4]

For Armoured Gideon and Tor Cyan, I want to give Tomlinson 2, but the sheer weight of Rennie's quality output makes that impossible. So:

Tomlinson 1 / Rennie 4

Exactly the same for me - Rennie's overall high quality output must be considered.

Rennie 4 / Tomlinson 1


It just occurred to me that this entire 'Writers Solhiem Cup' bollocks is just a ruse Colin cooked up to present quantum physicists with the Rennie v Niemand equation.

[Hine]

Hine 4 / Robinson 1