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Well, as expected, today's headlines are all of the "?300M spent and not a single WMD found" variety.

I reckon it's about a week before they start redefining what exactly they were looking for and soon Tony will be justifying it all by saying:

"Iraqi children were found playing with small plastic tubes, they were only spitting peas at each other but, given the right mix of chemical agents (and we found some asprin in one house, which when mixed with cyanide could be used to manufacture a poison dart) these could be turned into a quite significant delivery vehicles for mass slaughter"

I say "Well, it's no skin off my chin" on occasion.

I'd echo some of the comments above.  

I never got a sense of involvment or adventure. I got the idea that it's just talking heads on a space station - not particularly exciting for the reader.  

Also I just didn't plain get why it was meant to be shocking either - possibly just me but I couldn't  see the twist.

There are submission guidelines on this very site with a good word or two from DIG-L about how to make sure you have a hook for the reader and drama in the story.

There's also a section where you can bung up your script for critique.

I think these are all in the CREATOR - SUBMISSIONS section.

Well, I wouldn't mind being stuck on a desert island with her.

That's why the wrote LENNY ZERO, wasn't it?

How could I forget about XTINCT.  It was great - slightly ambiguous but very clever way of showing a different world view.

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Annoyingly, my subscription has just run out so I never got both covers.  

I went or the Killing Joke cover myself.

DREDD:  I thought this was an absolutely spot on DREDD.  Funny script, cool characters, great art.

DEATH: Not so fond of this though it does have it's moments.  Odd that injecting "established" characters from the film medium in this story grates whereas inserting an old BATTLE character into DREDD makes me feel all gooey inside.  That last sentence sounds quite rude if you read it right.

DEVLIN: Hope this ends soon so I can reread it. At the moment, I don't care about the seemingly ever changing roster of supporting characters enough. However, there are some premises that intrigue me and I think it may benefit from a second reading.  The fact that I feel compelled to read it again because it wasn't particularly clear is a bad thing by the way (as opposed to WANTING to read it again because it's so rich and dense and I feel I will learn something fresh on rereading).

BENDATTI: Well at last we are learning something about the characters but I fear it's too little, too late for me. And I can't help thinking it's been a bit drawn out.  Compare this to Charley's War where you know lots about the characters after only twenty or so pages. BENDATTI just looks like an excuse for some pastelly art. And was it just me but I thought it was unclear what happens with the gun at the end? Does 'tache give it to Faulkner so that Faulkner can shoot the baddie or shoot himself?  If I understood the characters better, maybe I'd be able to figure it out.

CHARLEY'S WAR - Very good stuff - and challenging not just in subject matter but in the choice of story ideas as well ("Let's have him stuck in a shell hole for a whole episode doing nothing").  I probably read some of this when I was younger but can't remember it.  I like the way that Charley is actually so thick. Does this predate Forrest Gump?  I like the way the Germans have been characterised so far - very differently from the Japanese in Darkie's mob. Odd that they were both products of roughly the same time.

HARRY TWENTY: Enjoyable pulpy reread but I wouldn't want a Meg full of it.  Artwork is lovely and Gerry Finlay Day is just a genius with good bad names - Magnifico 7, indeed. Incidentally, where did the tradition of having people pretending to be Napoleon in asylums start? What do you reckon - useful story telling short cut or lazy clich??

Oh and I quite like Apocolypse Soon even though there's a lot of room for improvement.

Well, this morning I tore open a big white envelope in frenzied anticipation and must admit I was very disappointed.

It wasn't my Meg at all but a contract that'll keep the kids fed and clothed for another few months.  

As well as thinking "That's not fair, where's my Meg?" I also thought "I really have to get my priorities straightened out..."

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The fact that KAITH kept some humans alive and had them stitch their mates faces onto his wings did actually cross my mind as well but I didn't want to mention it in case it was a spoiler for some marvellous twisty thing that was coming.  

Actually, Mr S has done this before  - making you (well, me)  think something was stupid in one issue (e.g. the baddie in Lobster Random saying "Actually it is personal") only for us to find out next week that it WAS personal because it was the janitor all along.

I'm all for the odd bit of willing suspension of disbelief and I'm not going to argue, like that nutter on the letters page, that SNOW/TIGER is crap because you don't get female Muslim SWAT team leaders. DIG-L set that up as the rules of his story and the tale operated within these rules.

Similarly in LEVIATHAN, I'd understood (possibly mistakenly) that the demon could teleport the stokers to the places he wanted, so it seemed logical that he could telport LAMENT to where he wanted.  Seems fine to me.  

But if next issue we discover that LAMENT has not been killed because he's suddenly became immune to bullets (because he'd been in the same room as the demon, even though this hadn't been mention at all), I'd be annoyed.  

Or as in countless bad DREDDs where the baddie is shown to be the ultimate killing machine only to be taken down by one well placed punch from DREDD.
 

Si,

I wasn't complaining about the actions that Kaith took (or the bird from the Scrap), I was just wondering how he managed to physically reach behind his back to make all that exquisite needlework. Or how her little badge was big and tough enough to break the computer (I guess it was so heavy because of all the symbolism attached to it).

I did say they were minor niggles - and I did think the skinned faces on the wings was a marvellous bit of storytelling - had almost the same effect on me as that brilliant scene in that Iain M Banks book where you finally understand what the chair is made of. Trust me, that is praise indeed.

Sorry - was really just being facetious.

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Pretty much enjoyed everything in this prog - Dredd (great idea, well executed just the right quota of Mega City madness thrown in) and Leviathan (who di I believe now?) were my personal favourites.

Quite enjoyed the Future Shock - good to see one that didn't make me want to pull my hair out in desperation.

Agree that Sin/Dex is better for the lack of puns but I'd still rather get shot of it because I'm long since caring about the characters.

"From Grace" is enjoyable enough with a couple of minor niggles on my part.

He's not exactly falling FROM GRACE is he?
Kaith's been a ned with wings since episode one so it's not exactly an interesting character arc for me so far - hopefully something twisty will come along.

Secondly, how on earth did he manage to stitch those faces on to his wings? I have a hard enough time reaching around to scratch my back without having to worry about intricate needle work using human flesh.  

The only plausible explaination that he used the patented "Omnitron". You know, the plot device that allowed Lobster Random to walk through a prison wall just when needed; the device that allowed that bird in SCRAP to destroy an omnipotent city contriolling cyber entity by throwing a badge at it, the device that allowed that young bloke in the future shock to use a radio to conveniently transfer his mind into a flying creature, the device that caused black magic ritual books and hand grenades to turn up in Bek and Kawl, the device that... well, I'm sure you get the picture...  where do you get them from?

Pah!  I couldn't get the demo to load on my PC.  Don't know why - it seemed to think it had installed it but whenever I went to play it the screen blanked out for a few seconds and then returned me to Windows as usual - no sign of a game anywhere.  "It's disgraceful, Rebellion should be made to resign ect etc etc." ;)

Reckon I'll probably buy it come Gamecube release time though, as long as the reviews look good enough.

I did enjoy watching the DVD footage of HalfLife2 though.

Not joining in with the  "Arrrrrr!", Tharg me old Bucko.

e.g.

"So Dude, like it totally sucked that they closed down Napster."

Oh, sorry...

Ahar. I be "Long Necked Paul" an I'll be join in ye on this fine day.

Great Steamin' arses! Mebbes we should be sendin this to Cap'n Quill himself (Ian Edgington).

Ahar!