Messages

I used to spend all my pocket money on these too. At some point over the years I lost all of them bar Appointment with F.E.A.R - I think my brother inherited and disposed of them when I went to uni.
During the pandemic I picked up a bunch of old ones off ebay and started replaying them. Some of them are SO hard but they're really good. I'm basically addicted to them now. I met Ian Livingstone at an event this year and was totally fanboyish.

Deathtrap Dungeon is my favourite but I really love Trial of Champions and Forest of Doom, which was my first one ever. On the non-FF front I love the Way of the Tiger series.

Anyone up for a forum playthrough of one maybe? See how far we all get individually?

[The Killing]

I'm voting for The Killing too. If I could only read one SD story and it was one of those two, I'd go with that.

Hellraiser 2 is a fantastic film, a direct sequel written by Barker.

It looks great on the whole and it's got some seriously messed up (cool) ideas, but it spends a lot of it's time explaining stuff that didn't need to be explained and trying to humanise the cenobites and make them weirdly ethical. I think all of that makes the first film weaker and that it works best as as stand alone, where it's an extraodinarily good horror.
That said, it's about a thousand times better than any Hellraiser film that came after it and I'm not saying it's crap.

I didn't know there was a reboot coming in 2022.

[Outlaw]

It's either gas or... Outlaw!

It's not an easy choice. Outlaw is the very first long form SD tale I read and has a special place in my heart. Portrait is great, but it doesn't really embody Stront for me - it's war story and whilst Outlaw isn't a bounty hunt tale it's got all the high octane stuff but it's also a bit lighter, a bit more personal. Plus it's got Wulf in it, not to mention just enough Gronk to not be annoying, Stix, the Torso's last stand, the starport coffins / Barrington Boots / gis thae chips bit, a guy called Vince Scampi... that end where the Stronts blow Kreelman to bits is just amazing. So many cool moments! Love it.

David Amess was the MP from my parents neck of the woods. I didn't see eye to eye with him on many subjects but he was passionate about his views and the work he did for the community. Whatever your political views, this is awful.

I haven't decided whether I should revisit the Hellraiser franchise.

Watch the first one and then leave it at that!

[The Dead Don't Die]

The Dead Don't Die

Very Jarmusch-y, perhaps too much so: felt very self indulgent, sort of meandering along with some beautifully realised characters whose almost every action has no significance to the overall plot. I like his films normally but this was a disappointment.
Excellent cast, as you'd expect, most of whom do nothing really of note and seem oddly unenthusiastic throughout. The 4th wall breaking is amusing at the start but felt jarring at the end.There's a few funny / clever bits and a lot of nods to NotLD but overall I found this to be a bit of a waste of time. The 'we're all consumerist zombies' message is pretty tired but I did like the idea that when the world ends it won't be exciting and epic but rather confused people dying undramatically.

[Last Driver]

Just finshed Last Driver by Shaky Kane and Chris Baker...

Picked this up on the basis of this post Colin!

I'm still reading the Horus Heresy. I am on book 52 out of 54. So close! This has been less fun that I thought it would be.

Good review BCB although it's different strokes for different folks as I enjoyed Wizwar and Jump Junior but found Evil Eye and Gums both fell flat. That's the beauty of a comic like this though, there's so much in it.

Disappointing to hear it's being stocked at Smiths alongside 2000ad instead of with the regular comics: I'd have thought that'd be hurting it, distribution wise.

[The Killing]

The Killing for me.
I had Portrait down to win the tourney from the start, and whilst it's a magnificent origin tale and a brilliant read, it's not the Stronty-est of Stronts imo and it's a very grim, serious read throughout as befits the story it's telling. The Killing is neither of these - It's got Wulf, absolutely masses of cool enemies, black humour, bounty hunting and such a great ending. It's one of the top 3 SD for me and it gets my vote here.

[Dredd]

I really like the tagline this week. It's the kind of laboured joke I can get behind. Pretty solid Prog inside.

Dredd Great stuff. Maitland and Dredd are very capable in this story, which is good: the naked futsie assassin fares about as well as you'd think but I hope that isn't the end of Sentienoid who has been my favourite character so far. The assassin reveal at the end could be very interesting depending on how it goes. I don't think we've had enough of this kind of Dredd take for a while. I'm into it. Jake Lynch is killing it on this strip, too.

Diaboliks Reading it every week but nothing in it working for me sadly. The Caravaggio though! Argh!

Pandora Perfect The structure is a lot looser than the single episodes and I think that's to it's detriment. The plot is moving at a real pace though and it's unpredictable and interesting enough to keep me engaged. Just lovely work by Brett Parson throughout.

Scarlet Traces All about the visuals this week. Really beautifully realised. Is the guy on the first page weeping for the loss of his alcohol on the molotov cocktail? Top notch.

The Out Another change of tack, good as ever without being outstanding. However, for me, this strip isn't as as funny as it thinks it is so I'm hoping this will be balanced by a bit more drama. I do like the lack of exposition around anything alien - it makes it so.. alien!

[Outlaw]

Outlaw for me

My experience with watching this franchise has not been fun.  It started fine, but I hoped I'd be enjoying it more as it went on and I just didn't.  I really don't recommend doing this.  The first film was a surprise.  It was amazing, but it did feel like a decent horror film.  Those involved had a good grasp on what they needed to do to build tension.  It's dumb, sure, but I did find it tense for the most part.  After that it's just variations on a theme and that gets really tedious.

Kudos to you for doing this Pictsy. I have a boxset of the Friday films and have on occasion thought about doing this myself, but reason always wins through and reading your reviews reminds me I made the right choice.

I really like the first two films - the first one is definitely the best imo as it was made to stand alone but I really like II. VI is a laugh, and I like the first half of X - the opening with Cronenburg is brilliant, and the scene with the liquid nitrogen - but most of the others are so poor and they really do embody a crap franchise - cheaply made rubbish films with no real plot or ideas churned out one after another.
I always think 'yeah, I love Friday 13th' and I still think classic (Kane Hodder) Jason is probably the gold standard for iconic slasher baddies in terms of look and pure menace, but the franchise as a whole really is pants.

I really enjoyed this. I have a real affection for stuff like Buster, Whizzer & Chips etc and this captures the feel, of those albeit with a modern twist, probably as well as could be done. There's enough strips inside (19 seperate stories) that even if one strip falls flat for you another will delight. There's such a variety of art throughout as well from some excellent artists and the quality is fantastic. There's a few nostalgic nods and some art cameos for older readers but everything can be read 'cold' with no previous knowledge needed, even Leopard which has a quick catch up.

Highlights for me were Grimly Feendish, WizWar, Hire a Horror, Creature Teacher & Jump Junior - my personal  favourite was Scare Salon, by a creative team I was totally unfamiliar with, that absolutely loads up on terrible puns.

The stories are slight and silly but that's kind of the point. I know I'm waaay too old to be the target audience, but I really hope this is a success and that the ongoing title launch is along the same lines, as it is absolutely great.

Very tempted to pick these up in the current sale, given the high praise on here.