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Savage and Defoe completed (up to now) - excellent!

I'm listening to the Lowborn High creator interview. It was commissioned specifically for Regened as "a working class Hogwarts". I was surprised to learn Tharg commissioned those 20 page episodes as 20 page episodes.

[Brink]

Hmm great to see Bridget back in Brink, which looks gorgeous as per. What the hell is going on in that first page? Why was the jumper dress girl giving Raymond the evil eye? Who thinks the shit will hit the fan in Belleholme sooner rather than later? I think Lind makes things up.

The cover gives me Belardinelli Meltdown Man vibes. It's very cool.

I've impulsively bought weekend tickets to Lawless just for me but not sorted out travel or lodgings yet. Thanks for reminding me! I'm mostly a fan of Rebellion's output, and this is my first ever comic-con, so ideal for me.

[Dredd]

A supercool cover by McCrea. All those sharp angles. Love it! Colour scheme also very attractive.

Dredd the tail feels familiar, but executed expertly, great art. The problem I have is surely robot staff would have protocols for Judges? I don't recall if we've met Hives before. Surprised Dredd took so much lip.

Armitage the department has been completely Spectored... this was a fun grumpy old man episode. Is this harking back to an old case we've already seen then? Looks good.

DeMarco I've read each month but not following it too well. I don't get why she hasn't realised her contact is the one behind her problems. Or at least that did seem to occur to her last series, but nothing came of it? Anyway she's coming across as a bit of an eejit at the moment. Still looks good though.

Devlin I didn't get the underlying vibe of doom Colin did... for me this was a sentimental nostalgic tale with Devlin at his most avuncular. Big shift from the last episodes where he came across as a real predator. PJ's lovely art lending the tale a certain sweetness that works very well with the story. A story that boiled down to... Devlin moves house?

Harrower is absolutely fine, bit of horror in there, enjoyable stuff.

As for the reprint I'll take Scream any day of the week, Hookjaw I'm still enjoying, super gory this month!, the very good Dredd reprint tale comes to an end.

An OK Meg with Dreadnaughts returning next time should elevate it a bit.

Another great write-up Colin! Big fan of his characters here, particularly Chimpski. The 'I see nude people' one another funny highlight. He does have range, going from light, high comedy to really gritty stories with grim endings. I think he 'gets' Dredd and particularly the world of MC-1 too.

We've had foreshadowing of a mega-epic what with Rico hallucinating The Dead Man and Fargo, and the death cult nerds. Very much looking forward to it!

That's most excellent JW. The only times I have attempted to give blood I have either fainted, vomited, or fainted and vomited. They managed to extract the blood but it has put me off rather.

Yep I ordered it off their website and it arrived promptly, in a cardboard box

Armoured Gideon
(It's great)

Not wrong, Boots old man.
I've torn off the cellophane and got stuck in.

I've succumbed after the rave reviews and ordered this, despite having little recollection of it from reading it at the time. My copy arrived today, it's quite a tome, especially compared to the Harry 20 volume which arrived in the same delivery. I've read the first B&W story. It's terrific, reads really well, and the art is quite something. I'm not sure why it didn't stick with me first time around. Maybe reading it collected suits it better.

I'd forgotten how this story really found its mojo after the first series. Both script and art sing once things get coloured.

I'm yet to read the colour stories but I feel I have to stand up for the first story! The B&W splash pages featuring Gideon are very striking. The sheer amount of precision cross-hatching is a wonder to behold. Story's all good too! Looking forward to the next ones.

Thanks, me too. That postage though, phew.

... the Dredd Case Files, I recently read Volume 16 (it has its moments but I didn't click with some of Ennis's comedy Dredd stories)

A not uncommon view! I was reading it at the time. Not his best work, although I thought Death Aid was pretty good.

...so thought I'd check out the first Restricted Files and I'm really loving it, some of the stories are extremely silly but it's during a period where I find that quite charming, and I already have a feeling I'll really miss this era when I get round to reading the 17th Case File.

Not read #1 but Restricted Files #2 is great, defo worth picking up as well.

...Bats being more of a detective than the modern ultra-violent version often is, Damian and Dick's relationship, the concept for Batman Inc) but was put off by some of the gorier aspects (Professor Pyg torturing people being the main part)...

Agree with all that. Omnibus 2 started with Batman and Robin, Frank Quitely on art, and it was such an improvement on the (visually and story-wise) dull RIP story from the previous omni. The rest of #2 had its moments but didn't quite live up to the liveliness of those first chapters. I'm not sure about getting omni 3 which has the Batman inc. stuff. I've not read it before. Recommended?

I had a recent order fail with Hachette. I made the mistake of ordering some Rebellion books and Marvel books in the same order. This was obviously a step too far and they only delivered the Rebellion books. To be fair when this was pointed out they didn't argue and sent the marvel books. But they did say they were "resending" them. Yeah, OK guys!

For all the gloom I feel about the future, when I talk to my friends' teenage kids, the fact that they're so fantastically relaxed about their friends who are trans, non-binary, gay or bi, genuinely gives me hope. I honestly want to see them take over the planet, and I'd quite like to see what they make of it.

Yes I find this very positive too. It helps with the increase in positive representation on the TV, with the likes of Sex Education, which is brilliant by the way. Adverts have moved on a lot too.