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That's Bates in the first panel, isn't it? Deliberately not running

I thought this too and guessed the 'aaargh' was actually her killing off Jordy until we saw him in a later panel, but I still think she's alive and wouldn't be surprised if she ends up in control of the dinosaurs.

[Bendatti Vendetta]

Another one here for Bendatti Vendetta

I agree, but surely that's part of the joke.

I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned [spoiler]Enormo Overdrive[/spoiler] yet, are we all being coy for the benfit of people reading this thread who haven't read the Prog yet, or is it just me who was delighted by this return?

I'm not sure I'm ready for the panel containing HARD ON MEN however!

What a fantastic cover. The depiction of Sensitive Klegg, both on the cover and in the strip, is absolutely perfect.

Definitely this. I really like the way Sensitive Klegg is drawn to be absolutely terrifying throughout. I think his eyes especially make him look like a legit monster which of course makes things all the funnier.

Bogus. I need your positive reviews to balance out mine Colin!

...some very fine writers (and some very average writers) have clearly agreed a template from which they must not veer....

This I think is the crux of it - these guys are writing to a template, and it means very few of the books rise above a sort of bland mush of bolters and serious men banging on about duty.
I've read some of the Primarch books and they're kinda the same too. I'm not sure what the best Black Library book I've read is... Drachenfels is a contender for sure, but where 40k is concerned I can't think of many that stand out.

Haven't had a prog (or indeed, any post) for three weeks now...

Well that sucks. What happened?

[Klegg]

Did nobody get this over the weekend? Mine rocked up this morning.
Anyway..

AMAZING cover from Chris Weston.

Klegg still has no Dredd but who cares when it's this fun. This is fantastic. The art has dozens of nods to old Dredd stories, the conceit is superb and the final page reveal - with it's accompanying dialogue - is superb.
Speaking of dialogue, whilst ace throughout there is an especially great panel here with [spoiler]Walter[/spoiler] on page 3. What a delight this tale is.

Diaboliks I know I don't like this strip, but this ending seemed a bit weak? Another cool character design this episode, but not enough to make me want to read another installment I'm afraid.

Dexter Looks fantastic, some brilliant dinosaurs - the last two pages are lush. As a standalone epsiode this is cool woith some dudes fighting dinosaurs, but having lost interest in the plot and characters ages ago that's it I'm afraid.

Scarlet Traces Difficult to discuss this episode outside of last weeks and whatever happens next week. Whilst at times this hasn't worked as a weekly installment strip, I'm really enjoying it and I'm glad it's moving towards resolution (take note Dexter). Lovely stuff.

The Out This is one of those episodes of The Out that wasn't so much for me as I found the back and forth between Cyd and the bag annoying: I don't really like the snarky bag and I think the story is usually better without it. Two very significant happenings this week however. Admist all the bonkers art, the old WWI style helmet on the Hurangi was a nice touch.

Despite any moans above, I enjoyed this Prog a lot. Every story had a different focus, a different pace and tone and the comic as a whole read beautifully. It helps that Dredd (and the cover) put the reader in a positive mood from the start. Overall, top notch Prog.

Scott Ian isn't the lead singer of Anthrax! For shame!
Otherwise this is cool. Looking forward to the next episode of the story very much.

Totally agree on this. I didn't have many good memories of Flesh, but I also picked up the Hachette volume and enjoyed the McKay drawn era far more than I remembered the first time around. Revisited the Progs for Midnight Cowboys and it's pretty good stuff for the most part and looks awesome.
McKay's art drops off a bit for Badlanders - I'm pretty sure I read that he had some issues during that time? but I would also like to see them collected in some way.

Thats fantastic. Tazio Bettin has some pages from the previous Dexter series on his instagram in black and white and I think they look much smarter - I'd quite like to see him do a full series in b&w, something gritty and violent like Savage or Defoe, which were outstanding without colour.

Dredd looks bad to me - not sure if it's the angle of the picture but his whole head seems totally off and I think he has more than a whiff of Cal's fake Dredds about him. Death looks good though.

I like the look of the ED-209 on the site Colin linked!

Funnily enough I read The Visible Man last night and there is virtually no story there at all.
Not read Tax Consultant so not voting, but it can't be that great if Visible Man is better.

Wow.  I congratulate you!

I have only read seven books from the series in the last eight years.  From what I've read I'd agree with your combined assessments on them.  I haven't even got to the dregs, yet.  That being said, The First Heretic can't be particularly good if I keep forgetting I read it.  The melodrama manages the accomplishment of being simultaneously weak and over-blown.  They are all over-written and bloated.  Most of the ones I read should have been books the third of the length.  There seemed to be a theme of pointless tangents that go on forever.  Frankly, if I wasn't a fan of the setting I wouldn't bother with them.

I intend on reading the Eisenhorn books at some point as I've heard they are the best 40K books.

Cheers Pictsy! I'm afraid First Heretic is edging towards being one of the better books in the series imo - at least in that Aaron Dembski-Bowden can write a decent story. You're 100% right in that it is a bloated book though and that the melodrama doesn't work at all.
The Eisenhorn books are alright - they don't suffer from the need to cram in a load of bland stoic space marines - but the bar isn't set very high!