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Nice one, thanks!

A pretty good prog, Dredd being the standout - a lovely comic conceit expertly exploited. Anyone else think the holo-Judge on the first page look a bit early-prog old-school? Scarlet Traces seems a very different beast to the previous chapter, which I seem to recall was dominated by nondescript spindly bald men of various planetary origins. Much prefer this iteration. Max Normal has been a delight. It would be even more fantastic if the Adams droid had reigned in the rhyming language a bit. The 3riller looked good but I have to say the plot seemed a bit cliched, still, two episodes to go, so anything could happen. Kingmaker remains a great read and fortunately the presence of a character from episodes of a strip I hadn't read didn't make it any less enjoyable.

<Concludes with amusing pun>

First of all, that cover is just the business. Neil Googe showing there's more to him than the high-jinks of Survival Geeks. Love Rogue's little straight-line frown. Not sure about the 'classic' style logo though - why have they removed all the bevels, edges and shadow-lines? It looks like it's not finished.

The Dredd story was great - I'm not a huge fan of the humorous single-episode Dredds that are slotted in now and again but this one takes a solid idea and runs with it really well. The prog's other big positive is Full Tilt Boogie, which I thought was excellent, it had a real sense of continental strangeness about it, even shades of Brandon Graham's 'Prophet'. The tentacled spacecraft, the explosive-eating cat, Grandma in her spacesuit and coat, the Borrower Bears, all fantastic touches, and the script was intriguingly oblique without being too opaque. It didn't feel in any way like an exclusively 'young readers' strip. Definitely up for more of this.

The Future Shock was pretty nice. Liked the way it built gradually to its twist rather than relying on a final 'shock reveal' panel.

Elsewhere, the strips were less impressive. The Anderson story suffered, I thought, from comparisons with the inspired lunacy of the recent D&D-themed Survival Geeks story. Also the denouement was too on the nose, though, perhaps it would resound with younger readers, who knows? Not me, I'm the wrong side of fifty. Finder & Keeper had none of the engaging inventiveness of Full Tilt Boogie and came across as the story most squarely aimed at younger readers. The Rogue strip was equally ponderous - to be honest, an all-out war story seemed out of place in a comic aimed at today's kids.


As to the question of whether this should have been a regular prog I'm afraid I'm very much in the 'no thanks' camp, though if it turns out Full Tilt Boogie is commissioned for a full series then it hasn't been a wasted experiment. I don't quite get what kids who did enjoy the strips are supposed to do next, except wait a few months for the possibility of the launch of a regular Regened.

Cover: Looks like a 90's throwback... in a good way! The colouring is a bit muddy but I like that the white glare prides a crisp contrast

Well it sure looks muddy now because I spilled coffee all over it this morning.

Cover: Looks like a 90's throwback... in a good way! The colouring is a bit muddy but I like that the white glare prides a crisp contrast.

Dredd: I've really enjoyed Michael Carroll's story. It's been great that though Dredd is rarely there in person he feels like a constant presence and remains germane to the plot. We're clearly destined to hear more from The Kindred and The Parliament. Agree that keeping Dredd alive if you know where he is is a better option than wasting him.

Scarlet Traces: See, this is the problem I have with ST - it's a decently exciting episode but the drama and tension is undermined by the fact that the tone is all over the place. One minute we've got a horrifically burned soldier performing a last heroic deed; the next, the characters are using language like 'Spit-spot!' to hurry each other along. OK, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with mixing the approach but for me, this is too broad.

Max: This has been brilliant, but with a couple of caveats... as mentioned upthread, the anachronistic stylings of the hipsters in future MC-1 is a bit annoying, as is the continual use of rhymes in their hip talk - I know it's what Maxie baby does, but especially in the full-page panel it gets too much!

Future Shock: Promising work from a new brace of script and art droids

Kingmaker: Must admit I haven't read this yet as I was too tired alst night after watching the World Shuggy Championships too late, but I inadvertently skipped to the last page and saw... Donald Sutherland's character from Invasion Of The Body Snatchers..? Oh, it's Kurt Vonnegut. Haven't read the chapters of Brass in which he appears.

The Oxfam bookshop is now on Penny Street - it used to be 'Ear 'Ere records. The bit at the back that used to be behind the counter is part of the shop now (in fact it's where the progs were kept) so if you want, you can stand there and pretend you're serving a customer in 'Ear 'Ere.

They will probably be buying a Milltown Brothers 12".

Just found a goody bag of progs 1201-1220 in a charity shop in Lancaster for £2.49, and yep, 1208 is amongst 'em in pristine condition. So happy I had to come here and immediately resurrect this thread

Kicking myself! I bought half a dozen of those bags the other week - more recent progs, didn't occur to me to look for prog 1208. Good on you! At least I got the complete run of Cradlegrave.

One thing that does strike me about Scarlet Traces - admittedly having only read the last second part of the last chapter (progs 2023-2034) - is that, despite striking images like the one on this week's cover, there seems to be a distinct lack of war-waging Martian tripods

Dear Tharg, next prog can we have Walter The Wobot and Lorna Varn from Death Planet riding Tyranno-Mek out of Ro-Busters through the forest of living trees in chapters 7 and 8 of the Dan Dare lost Worlds saga, while Grobbendonk pelts them with munce?

Before I mention this week's stories - is there a reason why prog 2105 is used on the cover? Am I missing something obvious..?

I used to struggle with Scarlet Traces, finding the plot hard to follow. Then I bought the collected editions and read them in a fairly short period of time. Doing that I found it all hangs together really well and has gone from being a chore to read to one of the top thrills

Cool, I'll put them on my ever-lengthening 'to buy' list.

One thing that does strike me about Scarlet Traces - admittedly having only read the last second part of the last chapter (progs 2023-2034) - is that, despite striking images like the one on this week's cover, there seems to be a distinct lack of war-waging Martian tripods.

[Skip Tracer will return!!]

I always look forward to a Michael Carroll Dredd, he's one of my favourite JD script droids. 'Yes' to more Mark Sexton too (though I did notice that some of his buildings were a bit old-school, like the story was set in the undercity). S-Geeks, Kingmaker and Max Normal flying along again, great reads. Scarlet Traces...

Scarlet Traces, I'm not sure I'm ever going to get to grips with. It seems to be doing too many things at once plot-wise and the tone is all over the place too - at some points a Grey Area-like satire on alien settlers, then suddenly we're off into space battles. It certainly doesn't drag, but I think it just needs to be a bit more focused to click.

Anyway, forget the strips - the big news this week is that Skip Tracer will return!!

Caught up with the rest of the prog now. Don't know what Tharg's been putting in Guy Adams' synthi-caf (extra caf, I guess) but Max Normal really takes off with a brilliantly comic six pages, making for an entertaining double-whammy with S-Geeks. And Kingmaker serves up an excellent one-shot where... hang on! That's not 'Doctor Ravna'! That's patently Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, from the 1965/66 epic 12-part Doctor Who 'The Daleks' Master Plan'! Right down to actor Kevin Stoney's contemptuous sneer! Swipe... or homage..?!

I've literally just noticed the babies.

Si Spurrier (prog 1482), for non-other thread visiting completists.

Barney gives Pat Mills a writing credit for all five strips in prog 1.

Ah, right. Thanks.