Messages

Yes I'm also surprised by the relative fall of Brink. Maybe it's was due to the focus on a different lead character. Comments on the review thread at the time indicate that might be the case. It didn't really bother me and I can think of a couple of TV series that did that without it harming them.

When I voted for Proteus Vex, I wasn't consciously aware that the bulk of the previous series was actually in 2021 not 2022. I must be mis-remembering as I thought it had started in the Xmas Prog. Oh well maybe not.

[Joe Pineapples]

Joe Pineapples – Three episodes in and suddenly I released all the excitement off having the last Mills strip in the prog is gone.  I was hoping to enjoy this more, but the story is not working for me. I also was surprised that I found Clint's artwork is just so much better than the previous two parts, sorry Simon but that is just the truth of things.

Yes agree with that. Except I'm not sure how much excitement I have left at the prospect of a Mills script any more. On previous threads a few years ago, I defended his right to have stories printed in the Prog and he he written some of my all time favourite thrills, but really they were 30 or 40 plus years ago.

It's got to the point, sadly, that I'm happy not to see any further work from him in the Prog. Which is probably academic anyway.

As for Clint's art - yes it's an improvement but it could probably have been even better if there wasn't a need to do it in the same sort of style as the first two episodes.

My wife yesterday reading this issue: "Is this the same Bisley everyone loves, or a different guy?"

😂

Another Saturday Prog here, albeit one where Tharg forgot to change the black ink cartridge. Alas.

My copy also seems affected. The colours in Dredd, Proteus Vex and the ad on the inside back cover seem washed out and the text is grey not black in those strips. Is that how yours is? Does anyone else have similar issues with their copies?

Late to the review thread, because I'm late to the prog, because after much procrastination I've gone digital. 'New year, new start', as Damage Report suggests.

I'm about to go digital myself. I've not renewed my physical combi sub and am getting my last few Progs and one more Meg before it runs out. Then I'll be taking out digital subs. It's a shame, but I just don't have the room anymore. If I could magically swap my physical collection for a digital one, I would at this point.

Pity you can't get the subscriber gifts with the digital subs, but that's not incentive enough to keep the physical one.

I can see a few other advtanges to going digital as well, such as much quicker and easier access to back Progs. It might mean I'll buy fewer trades in future as well.

Ok dumb question. How do we know that Ken Niemand's name isn't Ken Niemand?

Because he was on a Thrill-cast and literally said it was a pseudonym ...?

Ok good to know....I haven't listened to that one. Hence the question.

Ok dumb question. How do we know that Ken Niemand's name isn't Ken Niemand?

Hmmm....not a great list at all. Finding it hard to pick any.

I'll go with:

1. 2099
2. Zort

because McConville has improved his writing and is actually telling a story now rather than just summarising it at the end

3. Sorry I can't bring myself to vote for any of the others.

[Dollman]

I've finally caught up with the Meg. Like the last poster, I had mistakenly thought Dolman was back, which would have been great. But no it's Dollman with two "l"s. An extra letter makes a big difference. I don't think this one is going to remain in the memory for long. Nor will the bonus Dredd strip.

Storm Warning, Dark Judges and Devin are only ok.  And given that, the Meg for me is not as good as it was when Lawless, Dreadnoughts and Megatropolisnwere running. They can't come back soon enough for my liking.

2099 was fun and very much had a Prog 2 feel about it. So much so that that opening picture of Dredd feels like it should have an "after Carlos Ezquerra" credit attached to it.

Best thing by miles was Surfer. Given the creative team that was to be expected. It's great to still get the occasional piece of Wagner magic.

As to the reprint and the change of format: I had read both IDW strips before, but there is something about having them in the main magazine that encourage me to read them again. If they had been in a floppy I don't think I would have bothered. Especially with Mega City Two. Year One was much closer to normal 2000AD Dredd than I had remembered; I had always though IDW Dredd was a bit "off", but this could easily have been written specifically for the Megazine. I guess being written by Matt Smith helps. As does having art by Simon Coleby.

As for The Steel Claw- it's very much of its time and I'd rather see stuff like this remain in Treasury of British comics volumes. But the seems to be a move to use the reprint as an advert for a trade. I notice there is a Steel Claw Reign of the Brain trade on the 2000AD store right now, which judging by the preview seems to have another story before this. And in 447 there was Feral and Foe, which contained the first part of the trade for that (although I'm not sure which Progs that goes up to).

[The Pitch]

No love for The Pitch?
This single episode has the potential to be so enormously consequential it could change the strip forever.

Yeah forgot about that. It could change the strip, but it hasn't happened yet. And it remains to be seen if other writers incorporate it into their stories or just ignore it; there doesn't seem to be much cross-writer continuity. We've also had stories that should have changed the strip before, that didn't really.

1. An Honest Man
2. Working Girl
3. Troublemaker

1. Brink
2. Proteus Vex
3. Kingmaker

HM: Jaegir.

The art on Joe Pineapples seems quite different from last Prog. And not in a good way. It's not really to my taste, and given who the artist is and how long this strip has taken, it's a bit disappointing so far. Not sure how many Bisley episodes there are before Clint Langley takes over.

Dumb question. If Joe Pineapples has been stranded on that asteroid for a million years (or possibly ten), how come anyone has heard of him, let alone still  consider him a major scalp?

Isn't that bit in flashback?

Is it? I'm just going off the dialogue, where Ro-Jaws asks how long they have been there and  Joe says, "what does your atomic clock say?" To which the answer was "a million years? Ten million years?"

Dumb question. If Joe Pineapples has been stranded on that asteroid for a million years (or possibly ten), how come anyone has heard of him, let alone still  consider him a major scalp?

Ignoring that his power call should have run down ages ago, metal fatigue set in, parts worn out etc.

(I know...it's only a comic 😉 )