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To add to what I said before. Fair critical comments can help. Look at Hinkleton's artwork on BoS III. Unlike Pat Mill's script, the art does improve.

Watcher,
When it comes to the spines, if you offer me a slighty larger typeface on the spine or the spines all the same size and design, but I'll have to wait for the next book for the last seven episodes of The Apocalypse War, I'll take the larger typeface and to hell with how it looks on the shelf. (They've done a good job as it is.)

As to the Comic Book Guy comments, you're right in that there aren't many here. But they are out there, maybe on other boards, or at conventions. I remember being told about what you might call the 'uber-geek'. The git who needs a copy that's only 'his' hands have touched. They hog the pace, finally finding that one copy that's perfect and they put it aside to check the others. They know the creative teams underwear sizes. The story zeroed in on those. Again I have to mention he who shall be not named here. Look at the DC Comics boards and a thread where Frank Miller is being condemned for completely destroying Batman by have him swear (saying "Goddamn" a lot) and acting more like Dirty Harry. Some people there are upset because Batman the hero wouldn't swear!

Besides, you had to laugh at the line "If it didn't come from a Lawgiver mark I, the shot didn't happen!".....

The problem is that for every piece of well-thought out, constructive criticism there are 99 pieces of Comic-Book-Guy type criticism. I read Rennie's story as getting at that. And we have all met total sados like the ones in the story. Remember a sad twat who's name started with an S and ended in an O? The ones who moaned about the spine design not being uniform, or how a new artist has completely ruined Dredd because the Uniform colour or lawgiver design looks wrong, etc,etc..... We do have our own section of Comic Book Guy nuts out there.

It's like the twats who claim that the true Batman is 1960's version and Frank Miller and Tim Burton destroyed the morally righteous hero and replaced him with a psycho, or the gits who dress up as Klingons and can speak klingonese (even providing you with an official piece of paper saying they passed a test in it!). I remember reading one guy who denounced everything after season two of TNG and Star Trek the motion picture because Roddenberry wasn't involved. It wasn't 'true Trek' and the rest were all desecrations by people who should be shot. And I count Pat Mills in this group because of his holier-that-thou attitude that says you don't re-write his work (despite him doing  that to other writers), and you don't allow fan-fiction of 'his' characters.

And that is why it can be a great story.

We first saw Hershey as Dredd did - a rookie judge in The Judge Child Quest. We saw her as a firm but fair street judge. She becomes a senior judge then gets onto Council. Then she becomes Chief Judge. She one of the characters Dredd trusted and respected, could even call a friend.

He could put his doubts about the system aside because she was the Chief Judge. He trusted her to do things for the good of the city. And the city is still there, still running. It ain't perfect but it works. They have pretty much been side by side all the way until now.

Then Fargo returns. And he effectively tells Dredd that the Judges have become as bad as Booth in that as Booth corrupted democracy, the Judges have corrupted their own system by being too hardline. They got too used to the power. The tantalising thing is what did Fargo say to Hershey? It's obvious she didn't like what she heard. There are so many ripples that can come from this.

It's the old adage - be careful about looking your God in the eye, you might not like what you see.They looked and he told them they wrong.

Correction: Fargo botching his suicide.

I'm blaming the keyboard. The wrong letters in the right place.

Not buying the Hershey having him killed angle.

Look at what she said. She lied. It's the standard bullshit a politician comes out with when they don't want to admit they didn't like what they heard. The great father of justice turns out to be conservative democrat.

You tie this into Rennie's 'Kazan' clone storyline and you have the makings of something that could be as long as the democracy storyline. And that still has an effect today with Total War and America.

Remember the office of Chief Judge seems to be cursed. Volt shot himself, MacGruder became more paranoid as she contracted Alzhiemer's. Silver's zombie form tried to reclaim it until Dredd shot him. Griffin, likewise, died at the hands of Dredd during the Apocalypse War, Cal....'Nuff said, Goodman was assasinated by Cal.....

Add in Fargo botching his assassination, and you have an position I'm suprise anyone wants. But maybe this is the start of a long run up to a conflict between Hershey and Dredd. She has been getting more hardline recently. And this is Fargo who said the sytem is wrong. This ain't a little girl who's been sliced up while she was posting a letter with difficult questions. These questions are from the man who created what Dredd has believed in.

Can you imagine Blue Peter doing Dredd. It'd be worse than the movie!

Imagine it. The scene is the production meeting.
A producer looks through the pile of the latest issues.

Producer: Origins? very political, isn't it? Might be a bit over our audience heads. But we can have one of the presenters dressed up as Dredd arresting the others. You know, marching about the studio, shouting 'I am the Law!'. That should be fun. But with the recent shootings, maybe lose the gun? And the nightstick and the knife, too.  You know what parents are like. And who's this Devlin waugh?

Researcher: Eh...A homosexual exorcist who fights demons for the Vatican.

Producer (looking up): Homosexual? Very modern. Very understanding. (Thinks of the potential for complaints.) Don't need to mention him. (Picks up very recent issue). Best stay with Dredd, I think. This story, for instance. What's a sexmeks?

(Producer's eyes widen as she sees a pair of realises it's a story about prostitution and a serial slasher. She puts down comic and picks up the newest Beano instead.)

Producer: You know what, we'll stick with these.

Harry Hill's TV Burp
Fantasy Football League (poached from the BBC)
Spitting Image
Rising Damp

Er...that's it.

Cracker

If you go as far back as Rising Damp then you have to add -

The Sweeney
Minder

This could turn into the Romas gag from Monty Python.

Nah. Tommy Cooper died on stage. I also remember seeing it. His feet weren't covered. They kept running as they thought it was part of his act until he didn't get up. It was Eric Morecambe who died in his dressing room after doing a show.

I'm with Byron on this.

The stories have more holes in them then swiss cheese made by Jeffrey Archer. And the pacing is dreadful. You want to cure insomnia, then show the patient The Sixth Sense.

I mean, Signs, has aliens invading a water-based world. And the aliens major weakness is WATER!!!

A five-year-old could tell you the problem with this twist.

Seeing as there's a new Dredd figure on the horizon (which I'm still not sold on, it just looks wrong somehow) Try some of these blasts from the past.

Check part 3 for the child friendly version of Russian Roulette, which he'd probably want for real after getting some of the Love Boat action figures! I shit you not.....

Link: http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/stupid-toys/default.php" target="_blank">http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/stupid-toys/defaul

No idea on plot, but I loved the question in front of a class about shooting someone in head in the spot to make the head explode.

Empire have the trailers for Hot Fuzz up. It might just trailers but it looks like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have delivered the goods again.

Link: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=19749" target="_blank">If The Bill could only be like this...

Have you looked at the annuals? They've got them on the discs in PDF files.

Given some of the content of the episodes (violence, swearing, racism...and that's just from Reagan and Carter) it'd be like The Sopranos putting out aa annual today. The adventures of Tony in comic strip format, character profiles, prose stories and fun puzzle games like helping Adriana find her way through the maze to her coke stash or can you find the grave of the FBI informer in a picture of some woodland. Open up a two page board game where you have to have to get Michael through a day without his smack habit being found out. Lose and he gets a bullet through the back of his head.

Come to think of it it does sound fun....

Finally they've reviewed The DaVinci Code!

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/davincicode-the.htm

Had to include this one, Sin City. Go on and take a guess of the rating....

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/sincity.htm

And on the subject of the Left Behind stories, no comes the game.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959