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[Ulysses Sweet]

Another vote here for Ulysses Sweet. Very hit and miss but I think when it hit, it hit. The first story is surprisingly funny and I was very amused by the callback where the bloke got squashed by a whale in the first Guy Adams tale.

[Diaboliks]

Diaboliks for me too.

Top man Wolfie and good luck! Great summary there that sums things up far better than I could. There's a lot of terrible things happen in these books, but very little emotional impact or depth, to the point where very few things have much impact or depth. How far have you got?
I too am a Virgo btw.

[Horus Heresy]

Whilst awaiting a delayed train this morning I finally finished the Horus Heresy. That's a whopping 54 books (I know the series morphs into The Siege of Terra at this point, but I need a break to read other things so that'd where I'm stopping)

I thought this would be a fun challenge at the start of lockdown last March to read them all - obviously I failed at getting them all done during lockdown, but I could have got a lot closer had I not stopped for a few breaks due to it becoming such a relentless slog, at one point pausing to read six Harry Harrison books. In fairness the series isn't meant to be read back to back, but it does highlight the flaws in the series - overlong, stuffed with bland characters and needless descriptions of fighting and some very dubious plotting. The main failing is simply the quality of writing: of the 54 books I'd say about a third were good, a third average and the remainder a mix of lacklustre to outright dreadful.

That said the 40k lore is really good, and the overall arc is a good one. The characters of the Primarchs have this pseudo-Shakesperean setup where they're super awesome but possessed of a fatal flaw that brings them down, giving the series as a whole the feel of tragedy, just one a bit ineptly handled. In the downside, almost everyone is the series is a truly terrible person, so it's pretty unrelenting stuff.

I'd liken the experience to eating one of those man vs food style meal challenges where you get a certificate or a prize at the end: at the start it looks fun and full of delicious stuff you enjoy, but the reality of it is one monster slog of unenjoyment and at the end you feel tired and bloated and sluggish from it all.

Anyway, I'm off to read something that doesn't have any chainswords in it.

[SKIP TRACER]

Just when you think Skip Tracer was bad, this vote crops up. Brit Cit Brute is appalling.
Let's go SKIP TRACER!

[Dredd]

Finished the Prog over lunch and here's my quick thoughts. First off, this is a fantastic cover although the Jurassic Shark text has gone for a slightly transparent yellow (as opposed to the images above where it's opaque) and I don't think it looks good. Great image though and I'd really like to see more Bettin in the Prog.

Dredd  has no Dredd at all but it does have Sensitive Klegg. Hugely enjoyable opener with a ridiculous premise and the promise of stuff going terribly wrong. There's a lot of easter eggs / nods to things both real world and Dreddworld in the art - it's lovely.

Diaboliks Hateful people fight each other, moving on...

Dexter The dinosaur stuff is great but it has the drag factor of a story which no longer engages me. Less talking and more fighting would be an improvement here. Tazio Bettin's dinos look fantastic and there's a frame here at the top of the second page that just awesomely captures the movement of the attack.

Scarlet Traces All talking this episode, not a huge amount to comment on beyond that as it's all about what came before and comes after.

The Out The story gets serious - it's all talk again and it seriously shakes things up, once again in an unpredictable fashion. This is excellent all the way through.

Good Prog!

Is anybody buying a hideous Dredd Christmas jumper?

My best purchase of the weekend:

I've ordered some of this online, is it any good?

I got the riff on the Bodycount album cover but couldn't get the other one. Lovely artwork!

My Prog just arrived and that Bodycount album cover is fantastic, right down to his little Klegg abs. Put this on a poster or a shirt please Tharg!*

The other pastiche is Public Enemys Fear of a Black Planet.

*I'm sure there's a target audience of ten or maybe even twelve other people who love Kleggs and Bodycount and would also buy this!

Looks like thats me back on the Meg for 2022 then.

Sheridan, sorry to hear of your zombie demise. Skill 6 is a death sentence!

Loved these playthroughs of Citadel. I haven't tackled it yet due to unexpected bogosity at the weekend but I'll have a bash this weekend instead. I remember liking this one apart from the stupid Ganjees. Forest of Doom up after that?

[Death Planet]

Death Planet

Physical copy of this rocked up today. Whilst the fact that it's getting a general release makes it probably not worth the postage and it's slightly smaller than anticipated, it is a nice book overall. plus with my temporary tattoo I can pretend I'm Billy Idol.

I appear to have two of the same 'trading card' if anyone wants one.

[Realm of the Damned]

Given it's format, TotBM can be a bit hit and miss and although Realm of the Damned didn't initially hit it off with me - it's use of swearing seemed puerile rather than edgy, and I wasn't keen on some of it's adaptations of BM tropes - but it really grew on me. Some genuinely interesting ideas, nihilistic and nasty with some stunning artwork and great character designs by Pye Parr. It's a shame the second volume never made it to the Meg. It gets my vote!

Budget is a good point. There's more willingness to take a creative risk on a comic when, at most, you'll lose thousands of dollars, not tens or hundreds of millions if you fail. The dead hand of committees and executives will stifle creativity.

This probably hits closer to the truth.  They are viewed as Intellectual Property... emphasis on Property.  It's an asset to make money from.  It's viewed in terms of risk and reward.  Creativity is hardly a consideration or a necessity because a name can get bums on seats.  Let's face it, plenty of cinematic masterpieces have been flops and plenty of creatively-devoid piles of garbage have been blockbuster hits.  So why would it matter if they keep pumping out piles of garbage if it's still making them money?

Definitely this. There's more bad than good films in all three francises nowdays, but with such marketable IPs they'll keep churning out the cinematic equivalent of McDonalds burgers.

Agree re. the old Dark Horse comics, I've still got a bunch of these somewhere plus a reprint where all the film characters names have been changed because at that time these weren't huge franchises.

[Storm Warning]

Beautifully put AlexF on both tales. Storm Warning for me too!