Topics

I'm sticking my neck out a bit, especially as I haven't read this week's prog, but does anyone else think that House of Pain is just the latest in a line or Dredd stories where a clone goes bad?

Of course, there's Rico to start with, then the Judda. More recently (when the idea might have fermeneted into something solid in Wagner's mind) we've had the whole Kraken/ Rico/ Dolman sagas, then the Cloned Heart serial killer in the last year and now a mad, clone-happy, chap behind the House of Pain.

More evidence that clones are flawed and all go bad? If so, d'you think this will be "the Connection" or explored in Origins?

Maybe Dredd is a flawed clone, a la Rogue Trooper, and has stayed "good" for longer?

Listen up, citizens! It's been at least two years since the last regular crime swoop on this Block-Board. All citizens are required to confess to their crimes within the last 48 hours, and should then remain by their comp-cubicles until the nearest Manta can pick them up and take them to an Iso-Cube.

Failure to confess is a crime. Failing to incriminate your co-dwellers or boarders is also a crime.

Citizen X has ben found guility of the following:-

Consumption of illegal drugs (caffeine and sugar)
Possession of illegal drugs with intent to supply (the jar of coffee was for my own use, Judge!)
Practising as a Doctor without any qualifications
Reading of banned material (Megazine, FutureQuake)
Jaywalking

I need the help of the Hivemind to name a film.

It would have been from the late 70s/ early 80s and one momorable scene (which makes Mrs X unable to enter caravans) invlolved a family trapped in a caravan while its walls pulsed and melted.

Any help with a title?

Explain this one, Trout - it's your paper!

Link: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/04/28/newsstory8276813t0.asp" target="_blank">Oh shhhhh...

Emailed to me:-


Re:  A Plan to  Save Bankrupt Airlines:

Replace all female flight attendants with some  good-looking' strippers!  What  the hell? The attendants have gotten old and  haggard-looking.  They don't  even serve food anymore, so what's the loss?  
 
The strippers would double, triple, perhaps quadruple the alcohol consumption and get a "party atmosphere" going in the cabin.  
 
And, of course, every  heterosexual businessman in this country would start flying again, hoping to see naked women.
     
Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes  for fear of seeing naked women.  Hijackings would come to a  screeching halt and the airline industry would  see record revenues.

Why  the hell didn't Bush think of this?  Why do I still have to do everything  myself?
 
Sincerely,
 

Bill Clinton

[is]

Go to the BBC's Dr Who page (linked) and click on the episode title for tomorrow's episode (Tooth and Claw).

Notice how the words "Empire of the Wolf" appear, graffiti stylee, across the page as you are re-directed.

I know I am perpetrating the spread of viral marketing, but it looks like the jokey suggestion that RTD might re-run the Bad Wolf thing might not be too far off the mark.

To be fair, the episode is about a werewolf, so I might be wrong. But, then, why have this appear  as a "RTD subliminal" (ie in your face) message?

Thank Grud for Bank HOlidays!Thrill power at 8.10 on a Saturday morning!

Dredd - another "getting on" one parter. Poignant enough. Must be warming up for Origins. Could Dredd face the long walk? Again?

Lobster - really enjoyed this. Some good one liners: "strong like the universe is roomy"; "more notches than a narcoleptic guillotine". Heh.

ABCs - meh. Another episode of fighting. Shock return, though. I thought he was gone.

86rs - not sure about this; the first episode was, to me, very poor. Then it picked up. I'd like to see where it goes now. It has the potential to get better or become horribly derivative.

Low Life - see above. I find this one a bit hit and miss at the best of times. This was... okay.

Still, why can't we get our prog every Saturday, likr the old days?

I might have missed reference to this, but this month's Games TM closes its preview of the Rogue Trooper game by mentioning that a Rogue Trooper film is in production.

Is this right? Is there an actual film being made, or is it just the same option that has been bandied about since about 1986?

Whatever happened to the Devil and Iso-Block 666?

It's well documented that becasue Dredd has a penchant for killing off perps who have the potential to return, there are difficulties in getting returning villains for the strip. Those who do return (Mean Machine and Death) have become over-used.

Despite that problem, I think us readers like to look forward to the "return of a baddie" type stories. Just look at the number of covers with that kind of theme. This is, of course, subject to the caveat that returning baddies are used sparingly.

I'd like to see one story a year that falls into this category. I think that rewards loyal readers and also provides a big hook for lapsed ones. So, who could come back?

It strikes me that, with Dredd, there are two categories of villain: people; and, places and systems.

People villains are obvious. These are the goons we can name: The Dark Judges; Orlok; Stan Lee; and, The Angel Gang. We need more like this, but I accept it is hard for the same bad guy to be trotted out time and time again without becoming repetitive or (as with Mean and Death) destroying what made them popular.

Even so, I think it should be done! Just not frequently - maybe one villain every three years (with a system/place villain in between). Think about it - if there was a Death story every five or six years that would be enough resting time to (a) make us look forward to him coming back; (b) allow Death not to seem stale; (c) give the writers time to work out a way to keep the character from becoming a parody of itself. There isn't even a need to explain where they have been - it could be the cubes!

Place and system villains are more in keeping with Dredd. These are villains that don't oppose Dredd directly, but rather threaten the MC1 judicial system. What I'm thinking of here are things like the Judda, or the Lawlords, or Trapper Hag's people. The benefit of these "baddies" is that, just like judges in MC1, you can kill off as many characters from the system or place as you like but still keep it as a credible threat to Dredd and MC1 for future stories.

I don't for a minute think that what I'm saying is news to the editorial team. My criticism, however, is that there has been a reliance on the same "person" villains (Death and Mean) and the same "system/place" villains (Total War/ the Democracy movement).

What made Dredd great in the early 80s was the diversity of threat Dredd faced. I think some effort must be made to recover this. I'm not talking about a nostalgia-fest, but rather the re-introduction over the next few years of things like:-

The Judda (perfect villains; the antithesis of Judges, but still Judges);

The Starborn Thing (you know it makes sense!)

Organised Glija-Munja

To be fair, it seems that Kazan has been re-introduced with this kind of thing in mind. Is there anything else you'd like to see make a comeback?

The Rogue threads, and my recent post about Nemesis and Strontium Dog, got me thinking about 2000ad in the 90s.

Maybe it's been documented elsewhere, and if so then I apologise for missing it, but was there an editorial decision taken to wind up strips that had been popular in the 80s?

Nemesis and Rogue Trooper were given rushed and, frankly, unceremonious conclusions that barely made sense. Rogue Trooper, for example, had a five or six page story in a summer special to tie up over a decade of loose threads! Then there was the (wrong, in retrospect) decision to kill of Alpha.

Why was this? Is it as simple as saying that, at the time, comics seemed destined to become all grown up and these characters were seen as anachronistic throw backs? Were they doomed just becasue they were popular in the early 80s, when the comic was mostly read by schooldboys (ie us!)?

If so, why were they killed off rather than updated for an older audience? That's what happened with the US comic icons like Batman and Superman. What was the thinking behind the cull of 80s mainstays? Surely someone, somewhere, must have recognised their value both as stories and as merchandisng opportunities?

Surely killing these strips off was just throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

Thought I'd start (just to show LMS how easy it is)

Dredd - nice to see a nasty Dredd. Very nasty.

ABC Warriors - gives snakebite a new meaning, but otherwise so so. You just know Mek Quake knows something and I am not a fan of "Eastenders" type writing where the reveal is delayed becasue of other characters' blatant stupidity. Spit it out Mek Quake!

10 Seconders - ends. Seemed a bit rushed to me, and it must have been edited.

Bek & Kawl/ Rogue - ususal filler fare. Instantly forgettable.

Just read on the US Sci-Fi channel website that two new Nightmare on Elm Street films have been commissioned. The first is a prequel, about the original killings I guess. The second is Freddy vs Jason vs Michael Myers

Why make it? How can stuff like this get commissioned but not anything worthwhile (eg the Halo Jones movie)

Just voted on the poll for the funniest Stront story. My vote was:

"The one with the guy who kept apologising for making bad stuff happen (to nice people)"

What was its name? A Sorry Case?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/images/main_promo/food/valentines_ia_wt_r_1.jpg">

Just bought this from Tesco. It's fully articulated and great fun to build. They had two models and I'm gonna get the other tomorrow.

Mrs X has already had her fill of me crying out "Launch Missiles" and "Get her with the anti-wife gun... brrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Link: http://exoforce.lego.com/buildinginstructions/7708/default.aspx" target="_blank">It's a story of conflict...

http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/ExoforceBuildingInstructions/images/1033/pic99A7B950-2AAF-41FB-B0B3-64373BB0159E.jpg">

My mind seems to have gone. Despite reading every issue of 2K and the Meg, I seem to have forgotten stuff. It seems to just leak out of my head.

What is Dredd doing in the jungle in Mandroids? Is he on Earth?

How did the last Red Seas end? (I only realised I didn't know when I looked for it in this week's prog)

I thought Dexter was still alive.

Why wasn't Ukko suprised to see Slaine?

What is Cabbalistics actually about? Everytime I read an episode or story, it's like catching the last 10 minutes of something on the Sci-Fi channel - I quite like it but wish I knew what it was about. The only other thing to make me feel this pleasantly confused was the Phantasm series.

So, what's happening? Is it early dementia? I can remember plot lines from any 2K strip in the 80s as if I read them yesterday. Or is it simply thrill power overload?

Got one today and am terribly disappointed.

Not the best ad, I realise, but does anyone want it?

Premium Xbox (comes with Hard Drive, head set and DVD remote)
Extra pad
Charger for pad
Perfect Dark
Project Gotham

Cost me ?430 - which is what I would look for.

This assumes the shop won't take it all back.

It weighs a tonne so no idea about postage.

Sorry for sounding like eBay.

My birthday is 26th December.

I remember getting an Evil Kenivel bike one year and, about 10am, being told to keep it down (the bike made a vrrrrrrrm noise) because my parents had a hangover.

I was ecstatic that year. I woke up to find the box at the end of my bed and started playing with it, then got shouted down.

I remember, in later years, getting no present. (ie getting the first three fighting fantasy books in a box set, only to have volume three removed and wrapped as a separate present to be given the next day  - guaranteeing double disappointement). Or else the 2000ad annual one day, them the Dredd 24 hours later. Imagine the joy of a 9 year wondering on Christmas if you had the Dredd annual.

Anyway, happy birthday to me. No one else wishes it. No one else will get ne a card. Except Mrs X, whose (genuine) birthday 27/12.

Starting slightly earlier this year, but this is my last working day. So...

I spy with my little eye something beginning with...

B