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[Dredd > The Out > Scarlet Traces > Dexter]

Well. Two strips bow out this issue but two presumably continue in the end-of-year extravaganza. But before then, this is a masterful Prog.

A quality slice of Harrison art on the cover is followed by a two-part Dredd finale that is completely ridiculous in the best possible way. This feels like a modern take on old-school absurdist Dredd—like a love letter to the best strips of the classic era. That Dredd wasn't really in it doesn't matter, because it was so enjoyable.

Then we get some horror in The Out and a YOU CAN'T LEAVE IT THERE cliffhanger (damn you, Abnett), along with a further demand in my head for an oversized Image-style HC of this series. (Please, Tharg.)

Scarlet Traces ends well, [spoiler]except it doesn't, because, well, there's a twist—and I honestly didn't see that one coming[/spoiler].

Which leaves Dexter, bringing up the rear. It's enjoyable nonsense, although very much filler in a Prog of gems.

Full marks though this week. This was great stuff. Dredd > The Out > Scarlet Traces > Dexter, but it's all good.

Dandridge, because objective reality.

I don't remember anything about Hondo, but what I do remember about Junker mean Hondo wins by default.

Although isn't that more or less how children's TV works? I recall Paul Rose talking about that kind of thing in the past.

Regardless, there's not really anything stopping shows from reworking the structure of production and infusing teams with editors that have more power. (This isn't just a problem with British TV, of course; it happens elsewhere. But it's been an element of Doctor Who since the show returned.)

He has no excuse. COVID doesn't mean writing needs to turn to shit and be incomprehensible. COVID isn't the reason we still have little idea what this Doctor stands for, besides being a bit more murdery than I imagine any long-term fan is comfortable with.

Some elements of what he did were interesting. I'm all-in on the gender switch. JW could have been great (and tried her best). A shift in emphasis towards some educational settings was good. The eradication of Moffat's obsession with women as puzzles was desperately overdue. But that last series was—with the exception of the episode Chibnall didn't write alone—ranged from bloody awful to barely OK.

I'm going to miss Whittaker and deeply miss Segun Akinola. (I can't imagine RTD will be able to resist returning to Murray Gold-style OTT bombast with the theme tune and dialogue-drowning incidental music.) But I'm not going to miss Chibnall at all. I just hope RTD doesn't say his run was brilliant and commission him to write a load of whatever's coming next.

Thinking about it, doesn't The Doctor commit genocide by placing the Sontarans in the way of The Flux? Perhaps that's her thing: the murder Doctor. Not the first time during this run she's racked up the body count in a way that's quite eyebrow raising.

PJ nailed it - Chibnall does come up with some excellent ideas, he just needs someone with a firm hand to tell him to calm the fuck down, pick one and refine it, rather than spaffing multiple poorly-developed plot strands everywhere.

Doctor Who, like a lot of modern TV, remains in desperate need of a script editor with real power. Not an all-powerful showrunner, but someone who can do "no, do it again" or someone authorised to take these Billy Half a Scripts and have them make sense. RTD's run had similar problems, as did Moffat's, but this was such a mess that for all its moments and characters it just felt so nothingy. I shouldn't be here, at the end of the sixth episode, not having given a shit about any of that series. Mind you, we're at the end of JW's run and her Doctor is barely beyond a cypher. What a colossal waste.

Still, episode 4 was pretty good, I guess.

I can't stand the Tharg stories. I recall a major WTF moment when 'Best' of 2000 AD monthly 63 was cover-to-cover Tharg stories.

Universal Soldier was no classic, but it was enjoyable enough. So that.

Armoured Gideon, despite that awful arc with the old 2000 AD characters.

Perhaps they can ret-con this mess away by making the entire thing a nefarious Master plot. Although that serves Jo Martin particularly poorly. Bah. Chibnall really has made a horrible mess.

5 wasn't as bad as 1–3, but 4 was the only highlight of this series. Him doubling down on rewriting the entire canon of the show before he buggers off really grates as well. RTD's said he won't revert either.

Bendatti Vendetta!

[Twisted Tales]

For a moment, I thought this was Pandora Perfect, but it isn't. I don't remember much about Pandora (not Perfect), other than Hicklenton's art was up to its usual standards. But Twisted Tales did innovative things. Even if the odd one is borderline incomprehensible, the majority of the tales are solid to the point that strip's an easy win for me.

Sooner or Later.

[Breathing Space]

I thought The Clown was unreadable garbage at the time and an excellent example of 2000 AD's editors not caring, as long as a strip looked good. I've re-read the first series since and didn't change my mind at all. Breathing Space is no classic, but it's good enough to win here, in my view.