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It's probably just as well as it stopped me from a drunken impulse buy, but... I followed the link from latest thrill e-mail but when trying to buy a Nemesis the "add to basket" button doesn't seem to work.

I've had this bug buying the digital progs: the "add to basket" buttons on the main index pages give me a 404 error, but if you click the image link to go through to the page for a specific item, the "add" button on there seems to work.  (It also seems that you can't remove things from the basket via the x in the sidebar, only if you click through to the actual basket page and do it from there.)

Thought it was a nice touch that Dredd gave DeMarco an important task ahead of Point.

Me too.  It's been a good fifteen years since she was kicked out of the Judges, but he automatically trusts her competence to handle it.  It's a neat touch in terms of his relationship with DeMarco, but it's also kind of interesting in the larger context of how Dredd's operating in this storyline: working with members of Wally squad and an off-the-books black ops guy, not seeking Hershey's approval even though she points out that he could have brought her in without Bachmann knowing... he's pretty much gone rogue and started acting on his own initiative instead of following procedures and chain of command.  Could be fascinating to see how his relationship with Justice Department develops from here.

Tough to review something this awesome without resorting to sounds and exclamation marks.  So, not so much a proper review as a scattering of random thoughts.

* Critchlow's art works well as a melding of styles, and some of those big splash panels of the godcity are amazing.  Props to Simon Bowland for the complicated lettering job tying all the strips together, too.

* Dirty Frank still gets all the best lines "Behold friendliness" cracked me up.  And "Dirty Frank embraces the collaborative spirit."  And of course.... [spoiler]"Justice."[/spoiler]

* Interesting to hear Smiley referring to Dredd as 'Joseph', after discussion over use of that name in the IDW Dredd.  Smiley using it somehow conjures images of Dredd as a child clone, perhaps because it's the only time we've seen it used is on the clone tanks.  I don't really think Smiley's old enough to have known him back then, but it's hard to tell.

* The awkward encounter between [spoiler]Dredd and DeMarco[/spoiler] is fun, though I'm greedy for more.  Also, [spoiler]continued first name terms from Dredd?  Ooh.  Still some feelings there...[/spoiler]  I actually didn't mind the [spoiler]Point/DeMarco stuff in this issue, maybe because she seemed more like her old self than generic noir dame in what few panels she had[/spoiler].  I can definitely see this being a final wrap-up for Simping Detective, and I think it works pretty well that way.

* Fascinated to see where things go with Dredd and Hershey's relationship from here.  Plus I hope there's more of Smiley to come in both Low Life and Dredd.  More Maitland wouldn't go amiss, either.  (And more DeMarco, obviously, but I am entirely predictable on that front.)

Right, come on, 2013, let's see you go ahead and top that lot, then.

It seems like Point is the one who could be killed off with least impact on the ongoing Dreddverse, which is an argument both for and against it being him that gets the chop.  If anyone does; no reason to assume that they can't all survive this, though I'm definitely going to be disappointed if Dredd's back on the streets like nothing happened without at least a few progs spent in recovery.  I hope the Christmas prog Dredd is going to be set after Cold Deck rather than being an unrelated one-off.

Really don't want to see Hershey killed off just as her relationship with Dredd has been getting really interesting.  I desperately want more scenes of her bawling him out for his inability to play well with others.  And there needs to be long-term fallout from him running this whole sting operation without her knowledge or permission.

I would be happy to see an injured Dredd take a temporary stint in the big chair until he's street-ready again, though.

[1812]

Spoilers for next weeks prog? Just seen in my inbox that this weeks thrill mail offers a sneak peak of 1812, so is it best avoided?

The sneak peek is small image of a double page splash from 1812, without any text included.  (Frustratingly small!  I kept clicking in the hope it would magically turn into a high res image.)  I wouldn't call it too much of a spoiler for the story if you've read as far as 1811 - it's a relatively predictable development rather than a big twist - but on the other hand it did make me say, "Holy crap!" in terms of visual spectacle.  So I guess it depends how spoiler averse you are.

[Cover]

Cover: Whoa.  Dude.

Dredd: The "two mistakes" line delights me.  [spoiler]"You underestimated me... and you picked an office next to accounts."[/spoiler]  Genius.  Is [spoiler]Smiley the head of accounts division[/spoiler], then?  That makes a frightening amount of sense.  And yow, that cliffhanger... *bites nails*  The art and moody colouring are surpassing themselves this episode, as good if not better than the heights of Day of Chaos.  Dredd at its very best.

Brass Sun - More twists.  I like this and I'll be interested to read book two, but I hope the plot starts coming together more next time around.  It all looks lovely, but I've been finding it hard to get into the story when it keeps throwing in new elements without a clear sense of the overall direction.

ABC Warriors - Huh, I'd almost forgotten the flashback story started out framed by a modern-day Mars sequence.  Bit of a jolt to go back to it, really.  I usually like Langley's digital art on this, but it suffers from the direct comparison to his b/w linework: I'm conscious of a lack of depth to the art that I don't usually notice.  And the dialogue here is pure as-you-know-Bob exposition; I feel like this story would have ended stronger if it bowed out two weeks ago on the introduction of Mek-Quake.

Low Life - Those are some amazing panels of Frank at the bottom of page two.  And on page three... okay, this story is just full of amazing panels of Frank.  And the 'of Frank' bit may well be extraneous.  I love how this story underscores the unlikely parallels between Dredd and Frank, the thing that makes them both such good Judges under their completely different exteriors: their empathy for the people and love for the city they protect.  And that heroic leap into space... amazing.

Simping Detective - 'End Slightly Nigh!' is genius.  The censored swearing gag is cute, too.  This strip benefits from the accelerating pace, I think, with the narration pared down instead of having room to get overindulgent.  And I love that panel of Dredd and Frank - all of a sudden I'm jonesing for a Coleby-illustrated Dredd strip.  Great reveal at the end as well.

Stunning stuff.  Okay, both ABC and Brass Sun sort of meander towards their respective endings, but the full-throttle Dreddworld stuff is so good that's barely a blip in the quality of the prog.  I am genuinely expecting at least one of the leads to die, and I'm only seventy percent convinced that it's not Dredd.  Is prog 1812 here yet?

Also, what's that [spoiler]"I am 2" badge[/spoiler] about?

That's worn by [spoiler]Dirty Frank[/spoiler].

In that case, the [spoiler]bullet hole[/spoiler] is worrying...  Argh.  Angst!  I'm not that worried about Dredd's survival, but everybody else... [bites nails]

Bleeding Cool has another Cold Deck teaser for prog 1812.  (Some possibly spoilery implications.)

I love that Frank's card is from a Happy Families set instead of a standard deck.  Also, given that Dredd's card has [spoiler]bullet holes to match his shooting[/spoiler], I'm a bit concerned [spoiler]about what the damage to Frank and Jack's cards may mean[/spoiler].  Speculation?

Also, what's that [spoiler]"I am 2" badge[/spoiler] about?

I seem to remember the baby was born and adopted/or the foetus transferred (abortion being illegal in the Meg - well outside of mutant terminations).

Aye, adopted. Blimey, the baby would already be six years old! The only mention of that plot-thread to date is in prog 1452, but I hope they haven't dropped it completely. It'd be nice for the kid to turn up out of the blue one day ala Vienna and turn the Dredd family's world upside down.

Hmm.  You know, after Day of Chaos, the Judges are going to be on the lookout for freshly orphaned kids to recruit.  And if they're wary of Sov sleeper agents, that kid's DNA test would surely raise all sorts of high-level alarm bells...

going to check som book shops tomorrow but if i dont have any luck will order the amazon one and hope that its the brittish version an not the yank cover shown on the site. will report back with my findings.

Check the ISBN.  The British and American editions will have different ISBN codes.

EDIT: Oh wait, there is a editor's note here that says the Kazan clone was the mastermind behind the Blood Trails mini-epic.

If there was ever an excuse to get that reprinted in a Meg Floppy... now would be a good time.

Qué? When was this published?

Just after Total War; "Blood Trails" ran in progs 1440-1449, though you also want the one-offs in 1423 and 1452 to get the complete story.  I hunted it down in back issue form in my efforts to collect all the "Dredd family" stories, and it's pretty good stuff.  Definitely deserves reprinting as a Meg floppy.  (Or better yet, as part of a larger Gordon Rennie Dredd collection.)  It'll be ages before the case files get that far.

The main strip is actually pretty good- and i will continue with the comic based solely upon it. It's not great by any means, but if it had turned up in a summer special or wotnot, i wouldnt complain.

Yeah, that's about where I'm at with it.  Personally I really like the art style on the main story, and while the writing's not setting my world on fire, it's pretty much of a quality with Meg Dredds I've read by script droids new to the writing for the character, so I'll stick with it for the next couple of months and see how it progresses.

Yeah, not only is that a great uniform, but he's really got the Dredd scowl down in all the pictures.

[Cover]

Cover - Love it.  Amazing colours!

Dredd - Called it about the list swap!  Love the "Never underestimate Mega-City One" line; I feel like that encapsulates something very important about Dredd and his philosophy.  One of the key differences between him and so many other Judges is that he never feels contempt for the citizens the way that others do - he may not particularly like them, but he never dismisses them as beneath his attention.  Credit to art and writing both here that you hardly even really notice it's a "talking heads" episode for much of it.  There are some great faces pulled by Bachmann and Estrella as the revelations come out.  And damn, what an ending!  Top stuff.

ABC Warriors - Feel like this is starting to outstay its welcome a tad.  Last week's ending felt like a strong finish to tie back into Ro-Busters; this episode seems like it's mostly an excuse to infodump some politics without revealing anything particularly new or necessary about the past.  Some nice Mek-Quake art, though.

Low Life - Frank's face in the "Evidence, yum," panel.  Awesome.  Love that he seems to be getting such a kick out of doing Judge stuff here: you can actually see how he could kinda function as a uniformed Judge, unlike Point, who you just can't picture in that role at all.  (Well, I can, actually, but it's as exactly the kind of corrupt Judge who gets busted by Dredd and sent to the cubes.)  Also love the twist in suddenly making the fact Overdrive has a shark head go from comedy to actually quite menacing.  And another great ending - definitely a sense of everything ramping up towards the big finale in this prog.

Brass Sun - Maybe it's just that the Dreddverse stuff is so good, but I'm sorry to say I'm kinda losing patience with this.  It's still beautiful to look at, but I feel like the story's just moving and moving without actually progressing.  Things happen, stuff is introduced, but I don't get much of a sense that it's going anywhere fast.

Simping Detective - Gah, bad start.  Sorry, I want to love this series, and I mostly do, but the depiction of DeMarco is so far from the Wagner character I fell in love with that I have to chant "Unreliable narrator, unreliable narrator" to myself every time she appears on the page.  Really disheartening to see my absolute favourite supporting character get stamped into a cliché noir dame role that doesn't fit her.    ...Anyway, moving on from that wrench in the narrative works: nice tie-back to Folger, and a clever way for Point to figure out how to break his brainwashing.  Great use of colour in this strip again.  And excellent unexpected twist with the [spoiler]sleep machines[/spoiler] - who do we know who's exposed to those more than anybody else?

More gripes with individual strips than last week, but all strands of the Dreddverse story are on fire.  ...Is it time for prog 1811 yet?