Messages

1. Trifecta
2. Mechanismo
3. The Small House

[Dredd]

Agree with all about this great cover.
This was a fairly light hearted prog I thought, with three strips leaning more towards fun with Thistlebone lurking between them.

Dredd – This Chimpsky fell flat for me and I've been mulling over why. I think in the main the story wasn't much of a story: Chimpsky immediately found the killer, invented some gas and defeated the bad guys and it all wrapped up without any real twists or peril. Dredd was peripheral, which I don't mind in Cit-based tales, but here as others say his behaviour isn't quite right. I think also i'm a bit chimped out, so whilst I'm looking forward to solo Chimpsky, there's mild monkey fatigue settling in.
Aside from that plot, the stuff with the statue was nicely done and I think this would have been better as the focus of the strip - on ideas, the supression of them in MC1 and Chimpskys own moral compass.
Art as ever was magnificent. BOPP!

Thistlebone – Super slow but that's ok because it's building and the weekly breaks between episides enhance that. Something awful has happened and is going to happen. Digging it.

Nakka – Wraps up nicely. No suspense, as the culprit was telegraphed last week, and surprisingly low levels of peril which if anything made this all the better. Unlike Bix Barton, which had a cynical and sometimes nasty streak, this is completely straight and hugely enjoyable and I would love to see it back.

Feral and Foe – Absolutely loved this series the first time around. The change in status quo is interesting but I'm not sure about the [spoiler]wank joke[/spoiler] - I'm not adverse to this kind of thing but here it felt a bit.. off? Dunno. Otherwise this great as ever, characters, setting, dialogue all rules - I much prefer the profanity-laden dialogue here than I do when it crops up in Sindex - nothing feels tired and it's a joy to read. Richard Elson is brilliant.

Also Mechastopheles is back and with Boo Cook? Looking forward to that.

Agreed. CGI often seems a lazy solution, which is a shame when you think about the ingenious ideas that special effects dudes used to come up with in older films, but I'm not a filmmaker so I'm sure there's more at play than someone just cba.

Yep, the blood looks awful but having actors gobbing out blood packets wouldn't have worked for the zero-G setting.
I'm not sure how they'd have done it other than use CGI, it's just that the CGI looks crappy, as it almost inevitably does.

[Life]

Based off the mainly mediocre reviews yesterday I watched Life last night and I thought it was alright. Less splattery and more peril-y than your average Alien knockoff, but still enjoyably tense and reasonably engaging.
The only thing I'd knock was the CGI - the Alien itself was decent but the blood effects etc were really bad.

I really didn't like Free Fire. In fact, it's in my 'DVDs to give away' pile, so if anyone who fancies it is in the Midlands, they're welcome to have it. Perhaps in cold war spy type exchange where I leave it on a bench in a used newspaper.

[Necropolis]

First time for ages I've been conflicted on a vote as there's some real crackers here.

1. Necropolis. I was a kid reading this in the weekly prog and it was the greatest thing ever at the time. The Dead Man reveal, the tying up of so many subplots, and then the amazing sequence with the city under the thrall of the dark judges all drawn by Carlos... it's immense. I'm sure there's some nostalgia in play but I feel this and Zenith redefined comics for me.
2. The Pit. Another landmark Dredd for me, having binned off the Prog after I went to university, with occasional purchases finding it full of rot like Outlaw, I acquired the Hamlyn collected edition and was hooked. As IP says this redefined Dredd, and I think this could potentially be my favourite Dredd story. Only let down by some shonky art changes.
3. Tour of Duty. Already discussed, still great.

Hurts to leave out Oz, and that's before I even get to Small House (or Trifecta)

1. Every Empire Falls
2. Block Judge
3. Beyond the Call of Duty

Block Judge gets my vote here over Beyond.. because although it's not an epic, I liked it more.
Fetish I've never been a fan of, personally. Dark Justice looks great, but it's a bit light, isn't it? Starts off so well, and then bleh.

I also think Alpha probably would have killed this version of Durham Red.

Legend is awful. Complete snoozefest although it does look really good.
I've watched absolutely tons of fantasy movies and its hard to recommend many. Of the 80s ones the ones aimed atva younger audience do tend to have weathered the test of time better - a lot of the remainder are a bit nasty. The treatment of women in them is generally appalling. The ones I like do tend to be unintentionally awful. I rate Beastmaster but its a bad film objectively and it's tough to go anywhere from there if you don't like it. Within the field Conan is immense - the score alone is just incredible - but there's a huge gap between that and secind tier stuff like Red Sonja and an even bigger gap between that and the b movie crowd. You're probably looking at stuff like Willow maybe?

Hmm, sounds like it is the rapey film I remembered it was originally. I'll avoid it too.

It is by them Bolt, and agreed.

It's very much a pastiche of the likes of Action, or at least that's how I read it. For example, one of the stories is called 'Sherrif of Nottingham' about a Texan policeman in the 1973 Midlands with everyone speaking in dialect. I think if the comic were more straight up I'd not have been into it.

What's not to enjoy about that?

I suspect it more depends on if you saw the film in 1982, an experience which could leave you with strange feelings about Tanya Roberts and nightmares about being liquified by bird monsters.*


* speculating for a friend

I enjoyed Blazer but aside from Dan Cornwell the art is pretty bad. Dan Cornwell's art is great, ofc.
Otherwise it's a great concept and I hope we get issue 2.

[Beastmaster]

Beastmaster
...Not to the extent that I can say it was fun to watch.

Booo

The pacing is plodding and the plot is somewhat a jumbled mess of repeating itself.

This is totally true however

Sorry you didn't enjoy it!