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It's programme.

yup:

I hadn't realized that was on the very first cover... was it also the last, before shortening it to "prog"?

Thanks, gentlebeings.

Very much looking forward to reading Deadworld, BTW.

It was an alternate timeline, so it and pre-Flashpoint DCU occupy the same physical space.  Flashpoint is a "real" universe only when it exists, but when it doesn't, it isn't.  Basically the Flashpoint universe and the Pre-Flashpoint universe take turns existing, except when a writer decides they exist at the same time.  Because writing.

Why bother going through the motions of trying to baffle people with bullpoop explanations*? Convergence was the same. DC already publishes Scooby-Doo Team-Up, which manages to get by using any version of a character that seems pertinent to the story on the "because it's just a comic book" premise, and doesn't need to invoke any parallel-worlds technobabble. If it doesn't at least have any internal logic, then don't even bother. Hey, I know Marvel's Secret Wars wasn't any less incomprehensible, but you can't go by that yardstick. DC should have just stuck with the all-purpose escape clause of Hypertime.**

*[... other than the obvious excuse of "because it sells comic books"...]
**[If you read about it in a comic book, it exists somewhere out there. "Don't Ask! Just Buy It!!"]

Oh my goodness, my Progress 2029 hasn't been delivered yet - I can't wait to read this!   

This seems like a neophyte question, but I thought I'd read somewhere (or maybe I just assumed it somehow, I can't remember now) that "prog" was diminutive for "programme" (because Tharg channels the thrill-power to us mere earthlets through "script droids" and "art droids"). I used to wonder whether it was "progression" or "programme", but somehow I seem to have gotten the idea that it's the latter. Can someone confirm this one way or the other?

Batman #22,at least we are closer to the Button resolution.Even if we have to suffer Tom King to get there.

Batman #22 was actually written by Josh Williamson (from a plot dictated by Geoff Johns, I hear).

...If there even is any resolution. None of the mysterious goings-on from DC Rebirth #1 ever seem to turn out to have any definite answers, or at least any that make sense.

I guess I can be satisfied if it's just an excuse to bring back Jay Garrick (which of course would be a teaser for a full-blown JSA comeback... that sounds like a Geoff Johns idea).

I'm still not sure what they thought (or think) they're accomplishing by replacing the New 52 Superman with the pre-Flashpoint DCU Superman. That just creates more confusion than before, because this Superman is now living in a universe that never made him [meaning that (except for Lois & Jon) his true relationships (friends and foes) and origins are still tied to the old universe]. It's an unwieldy attempt at a solution to a problem that won't go away easily and can't be fixed by buying a new pair of red underpants. That "Superman Rebirth" multiparter didn't resolve (or explain) anything.

Now "The Button" is telling us that the Flashpoint universe was never really a universe? Then how does the Flash remember it, and how could he return there? If it wasn't a universe, then what was it? (A dream, a hoax, an "imaginary story"? A Hypertime shared hallucination?)  It sure seemed to be a universe as far as that Convergence story treated it. It's like DC comics don't even try to pretend to have any internal logic to their stories any more.

Next on my to-buy list is the first issue of Kim Newman's 'Anno Dracula' comic, though I'm not sure if this is an adaptation of his series of novels, or an entirely new storyline set in the same universe.

It's an entirely new work. Interestingly enough, it contains a chronological timeline which places all the various books in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula universe in order. It's quite good (as a neophyte to this world) and I'd give it my highest recommendation. Both issues #1 and 2 are out now.

We've seen all of the originals I think? Which means that if he becomes a Dark Judge then he's one of the numerous ones (mostly unnamed) that we see Death kill off in the em.. Dreams of Deathworld (was that it's name) series?

I'm glad you brought that story (or should it be stories) up. Has it/have they/ been reprinted in a collection somewhere yet? Dreams of Deadworld, that sounds right doesn't it? I think so.

Zarjaz! I've just learned this series is to be reprinted in a hardback collected edition in Dec. 2017 (unfortunately, no cover preview available as yet): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781086036/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493857158&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+judges

I must admit you have to adjust that perception a little when you consider that as of Prog 30, Dredd might still be being viewed as of less significance to 2000 AD than say, M.A.C.H. 1 or Dan Dare.

Yet there are also flashback sequences that show him with a badge that reads RICO, so someone chose to retcon that appearance in subsequent flashbacks. The original panel makes more sense, so why they didn't leave it that way... is probably what TordelBack says, that it would be too confusing having 2 Judge Dredds who look identical (until Rico's incarceration on Titan).

Hindsight is 20/20, but they could have avoided those problems by just giving both of Judge Fargo's clones different last names.

Of course, but no one thought there'd be lots of debatin' a 'one-off' comic character's name 4 weeks, let alone 40 years, after he met his contemporaneous end.

I read that it was written as a quick fill-in story (Progs 29-30 being all Mills wrote of Dredd until the longer Cursed Earth saga from Progs 61-70, 81-85), so obviously no thought was given to the lasting ramifications, never mind that it would become a cornerstone of the Dredd mythos. This being the very first hint we get of Dredd's origins, though, maybe it ought to have been more foreseeable.

I've wondered if Pat Mills might have gotten the idea from Rich Man, Poor Man, which would have still been fresh in people's minds at that time.

[BATMAN #22 (The Button, Pt. 3 of 4)FALL & RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM #5 (of 6)BANE CONQUEST #1 (of 12)RICK AND MORTY #25UNCLE SCROOGE #26IRON FIST #3 (of ?)PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: HERO KILLERS #1 (of ?)DOC SAVAGE: THE RING OF FIRE #2 (of 4)EMPOWERED & THE SOLDIER OF LOVE #3 (of 3)PREDATOR: HUNTERS #1 (of ?)VALERIAN (free promo comic)SWORDQUEST #0]

No time to write much of anything on these, but this was this week's crop:

BATMAN #22 (The Button, Pt. 3 of 4)
FALL & RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM #5 (of 6)
BANE CONQUEST #1 (of 12)
RICK AND MORTY #25
UNCLE SCROOGE #26
IRON FIST #3 (of ?)
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: HERO KILLERS #1 (of ?)
DOC SAVAGE: THE RING OF FIRE #2 (of 4)
EMPOWERED & THE SOLDIER OF LOVE #3 (of 3)
PREDATOR: HUNTERS #1 (of ?)
VALERIAN (free promo comic)
SWORDQUEST #0 - Weird but interesting, not what I was expecting. Sort of alternative-y.

Also picked up, but not yet read:
THE COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF COMICS #6
JUDGE DREDD: THE GARTH ENNIS COLLECTION TP
THE ROOK ARCHIVES HC VOL. 01
MARVEL MONSTERBUS HC VOL. 01

I know Mek-Quake has had several body-mods over time, but I question why Kev O'Neill chose to make him quite so unrecognizable upon his reappearance after a long absence.

No matter how he chose to change the rest of his body, he should have at least kept the ribbon-like neck stalk and flat rectangular head dominated by his optic sensors.

TordelBack experienced H2G2 the way it happened. Same here. The radio series came first, then the TV series (good SFX for its time, excepting that unfortunate bit with Zaphod Beeblebrox's head), then the books. I didn't bother with the movie after seeing the previews.

There's a (magazine-sized) Valerian promo comic out this week in comics shops, which begins with an excerpt from "The Ambassador of Shadows". It's got a movie cover, and some few pages in back with more info about the movie, but the bulk of it a comic story.

As it happens, I think this was the very first Valerian story I ever read (in English), probably more than 30 years ago. The promo preview is a big enough chunk of the story to give you the flavor of the series, so there's an easy way to determine whether you'd like it or not before committing money to the hardcover collections.

Am I missing something or is there a bit of overthinking going on here?

Oz. Judge Bruce is a throwaway joke by the writers based on national stereotypes and it being funny to have a forename for a surname.

Judgement Day. "Alright, Lenny?" is a throwaway joke by the character based on the writer's youthful belief in the superiority of his own tastes in popular culture, in this case heavily influenced by Bill Hicks. It's not saying that's the judge's actual name.

It's the same as me being introduced to someone called Mr Marx and saying "Alright, Harpo?"

My thought was that the Judgement Day line was a throwaway line, as you say (though I've not read the panels in question in some time).

The single panel is on page 99 of the trade paperback. After a brief snippet of conversation between Judge Bruce and Judge Joyce, as they're parting, Judge Bruce looks at Judge Joyce and says "Charlie.", and Judge Joyce looks back at Judge Bruce and says "Lenny." That's the whole thing.

Let's not forget that this has been a point of confusion ever since Judge Rico (who technically, should also have been Judge Dredd).

He was, originally.

Yet there are also flashback sequences that show him with a badge that reads RICO, so someone chose to retcon that appearance in subsequent flashbacks. The original panel makes more sense, so why they didn't leave it that way... is probably what TordelBack says, that it would be too confusing having 2 Judge Dredds who look identical (until Rico's incarceration on Titan).

Hindsight is 20/20, but they could have avoided those problems by just giving both of Judge Fargo's clones different last names.

In seeking to collect ABC Warriors in a more 'accessible' order, your revised scheme effectively ignores Mek-Quake's re-introduction (and best ever appearance) in Nemesis Book III, the actual moment at which the two series are revealed to share a universe.  Structuring collections ain't like dusting crops, boy.

You can't really get every bit. At the time, Mek-Quake wasn't a Warrior yet, just a former Ro-Buster (and not much of a team player, either, having spent his time in Ro-Busters threatening to do "Big Jobs" on Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws). You've got to make some decisions like that. Since Nemesis Book 4 was originally intended to be the first Nemesis story, it seems like a better point to start, and it returns the ABC Warriors proper to active duty.

The idea here was to align the collected editions of ABC Warriors and Nemesis so that one could choose to read one or both series, lining up the second volumes of both series so that if you chose to read both, you could just buy Mek-Files 02, and skip buying Nemesis Vol. 2. If your primary interest was in just reading the Warriors, then you could just get the Mek-Files hardcovers and understand how they got from The Mek-nificent Seven to The Black Hole -- that's a big gap that requires some explanation. In the final analysis, Mek-Quake seemed less important to Nemesis recruiting the Warriors to help save the Gothic Empire, overall.