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Just got mine. Dredd was lovely, Shakara not so much, Slaine was tops as usual. Sad to see Langley go, but it's probably time- im probably alone in quite fancying giving david bircham another go. His storytelling was mostly clear, and hopefully he'll have learnt not to put slaine in purple flairs or give ukko green skin. He has a style i like, and would love to see how he's developed over the last ten years.
What i hope doesnt happen is a kind of 'greatest hits' run, with previous 'masters' coming back for short series. I think that only ever serves to highlight the reasons lightning got bottled in the first place and why it never, ever, strikes twice. So no mcmahon, bisley or fabry, please mr mills and mr smith.
Pat said he didnt 'ever want to see a black line slaine again'- i hope he changes his mind.
Havent read the rest of the prog yet. I'll ration it!
SBT

And on sort of that note- the Chinese Herbalism Center in town here- that specialises in "balancing the body" and all that mystical shit- is shut. "Because of internal problems" says the sign. Which made me laugh.

SBT

Because facebook "privacy settings" are SHIT.

I have now "banned" the same person FOUR TIMES from a group I admin. Each time he eventually just joins again. Despite being banned. He's even there, in the 'people who like this' list- with a little button next to him saying "un-ban him" and a little 'x' that allows me to, er, ban him. If you can make sense of that, you are a better man than I.

Anyway- I've banned him again, and REPORTED his profile for "inappropriate contact"- which is as close as facebook gets to allowing me to complain, ask for help, or do anything about it.

You'd think, after ten years, this psych creepy stalker would just! fuck! off! I swear, if ever I meet him again...

SBT

Like W3bz said in his dulcet tones, we've pretty much got Progs, Megs and GN's planned eventually. Exciting times for the digitally-inclined folks amongst you, although you can rest assured that we will always put priority on the value of the physical on-shelf products.

It'd be interesting to know which particular GN's and the like you folks would be most keen on seeing first. We're secretly spying on you, you know .

If you're secretely spying on me, then you already know that I want the ones with the most breasts in them.

SBT

Yeah, it's a fantastic illustration Kev- like all your stuff. And the best thing about your art is that it doesn't particularly remind me of anyone else. I might, if I squint, see a bit of Richard Elson in there, but that's it. And it's a hefty squint. Why you're not in the prog, or drawing for the British Spidey or Marvel Heroes, I don't know.

I did immediately see some blowjobbery going on though! 

SBT

Is it too much to hope for Olivier LeDroit?

SBT

No, that'll be when they remake The Lost Saucer

Anyone get the feeling that when Sid & Marty came down from the acid of The Banana Slips & scraped out the resin of H.R. Pufnstuf that they thought, "Hey maaaan, let's like totally rip off the premise of this British Doctor How thing that none of the kids have ever heard of but make it you know cooooool"?

That looks BRILLIANT!

And the lead space lady/ android (Ruth Buzzi) looks just like Noel Fielding! excellent!

SBT

Listened to the first half of part one last night at work, while getting ready for bed. Excellent stuff- even though I find Flint's accent massively distracting- I keep thinking "YANK! No, IRISH! No, YANK!" all the way through

No, I was impressed at the chattiness of it- as has been said, "just two blokes talking" was absolutely the way to go. Pertinent stuff from Flint- though I disagreed with a lot of what he (or "you" if you're reading) said- including The Foggy Dew being a "gay bar"... since WHEN? It was always an alternative/ pre-Dominion bar when I lived there, and when I had a New Years Eve fight with the owner in 2002 and got subsequently barred.

Amusingly, Pat sounds EXACTLY like a photographer friend of ours, who takes most of the publicity shots of my wife. EXACTLY- even the inflections and little laughs. Not what I expected- for some reason I was prepared for confrontational almost-Irish. The man himself was a star- open, thoughtful, funny, and absolutely reinforced why he's my favourite comics writer ever.

Can't wait for an opportunity to listen to the rest of part one, and then part two.

Fabulous job!

SBT

Heh. I'm no expert, mr back! merely an enthusiastic amateur.
But one day i shall succeed, and then the great resurrection shall come!
SBT

I would say that you are a reliable witness as well.

Albeit with a pre-existing interest in the rum and uncanny...

But NO belief in ghosts or the supernatural. I think "a pre-existing interest in the rum and uncanny" describes everyone who was once a small boy or a mardy teenager!

SBT

Yeah, it's an odd one. I do remember him being there- i mentioned this on facebook earlier but here i can tell the significant detail that i couldnt on fb (because now i know who he was, i know that some of my fb friends will have known him, and to tell 'ghost stories' about a dead friend of theirs, so soon after his death seems off to me). He was instantly recognisable due to the fact he had a beard, ripped denim, leathers and a tattooed head. I swear he was there, just watching, standing in the front yard, away from everyone else.
I remember being quite upset at the sight of the bodybag coming out- more than i thought i would be in that situation (it's only the third time ive seen this happen)- and at the time put that down to its unexpectedness.
SBT

Not buggered, just unloved. It's all there and all still together. And no one's defaced all the pictures of dredd by drawing huge cocks on them, or hairy fannies and boobs on the female characters... Unlike the copy of #205 (i think it was) that came into my possession the other day.
SBT

Posting this here, because i dont know what to make of it.
A few weeks ago, someone died in one of the flats next door to work. I was having a fag on the steps as they brought the bodybag out of the building, and became one of the usual gawping onlookers.
I've just been told, by someone who lives in the same building to where i work, who the dead person was.
And it was the same person i saw standing in the front yard, watching them bring the body out.
The reason i remember this, is because he was a big, biker type who always struck me as very confident- and as the body was being brought out of his flat, i figured his wife/girlfriend/boyfriend had died and that it was weird no one was comforting or standing with him.
I swear this is true. How utterly bizarre.
SBT

Also, since you brought it up, does anyone want a readable, but not by any stretch of the imagination 'mint', copy of Meg volume 1 #1? I got given it yesterday, and it might as well go to a good home. Free to first person to pm me.
SBT

Superb Meg, with a Dredd that used the rhyming thing to the best advantage since that iso block 666 story, all those years ago. Nice art too. Lily, I want to see more of, Insurrection was groovy and the new thing was splendid. Good interviews, liam shap seems very grounded and pleasant- and having just enjoyed Grandville Mon Amour, the bryan talbot thing was most welcome. Pleasing to note there will be more.

Having appalling memories of stronts, i wasnt even going to bother with this... but the good things said here, and a spare half hour, resulted in me reading it, and blimey, it's a corker. Hugely enjoyable, and quite touching in parts. Looking forward to next month's now.
SBT