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[US man wins $450k lawsuit after unwanted office birthday party]

This news story made me happy: US man wins $450k lawsuit after unwanted office birthday party.

[Followability]

Okay, I'll use science fact...

Lowest score wins:

Followability - wait, who's that again?
1   Megatropolis
2   Dredd Movie (from the meg)
3   Angelic
4   The Fall of Deadworld

Consistavision - creative team be exclusive.
1e   The Fall of Deadworld
1e   Megatropolis
1e   Angelic
2   Dredd Movie (from the meg)

Artwerk - this art be always not "wait, waz happen now?"
1   Megatropolis
2   The Fall of Deadworld
3   Dredd Movie (from the meg)
4   Angelic

Embroilotion - engagement beats comparison.
1   Megatropolis
2   Angelic
3   The Fall of Deadworld
4   Dredd Movie (from the meg)


FINAL SCORES
4 - 1st place   Megatropolis   
10 - 2nd place [tie]   Angelic
10 - 2nd place [tie]   The Fall of Deadworld
11 - 4th place   Dredd Movie (from the meg)

What is your favorite alternative take on the Dredd-verse:
-   The Fall of Deadworld
-   Megatropolis
-   Dredd Movie (from the meg)
-   Angelic

That's not an easy question to answer. Movie adaptations are always going to be a difficult beast to wrangle - compromises have already been made (find me an example otherwise) in converting something from the comic format to the movie format. Now it's supposed to be shifted back into the comic format. That's compromise squared, mofos!

Given that as a caveat, I thought Dredd [2012 movie meg spin-off version] and Anderson [ditto] did the best job they could - and it was ultimately braver and worthier than the relatively unsupported Lawman of the Future. Mind you - that might just be Stallone-itis coloring my opinion.

So, long story short - the Dredd adaptation is the weakest of the four you listed - but it's still good, and there's no blame attached.

Figuring out an order for the other three is tricksy, my precious - they're all so effing good, but doing their own thing. Megatropolis was the biggest apple carter for me - I thought it was going to be pish but it's astoundingly good. Angelic turns everything up to eleven on the anti-hero dial, and makes the idea of reboots seem like a positive when it's usually a negative. The Fall of Deadworld opens up a can of undead worms on what had become a stale corner of the Dredd mythos.

I love all three of those, but I can't rank them for your today.

[Firekind]

Firekind

[Absalom]

Absalom - great art from Tiernan Trevallion.

I suppose the Tories are doubling down on their Brexit win (a xenophobic policy popular with enough voters to see them comfortably in power) by shutting down safe routes for asylum seekers, blowing the immigration rate out of all proportion, making it terribly difficult for any refugees (be they Ukrainian or from anywhere else) to get here and now deporting people to a country with a terrible record on human rights.

They've found themselves a previously untapped motherlode of cross-class bigotry and they're mining it to stay in power.

Here's hoping that a constant drip-drip of party scandal can do something to outweigh all of that.

[XTNCT]

Tricky choice here between a couple of odd fish. I suppose it's a bit like Blade vs. Near Dark. Blade is fun, but Near Dark has character depth.

So, on that basis ... XTNCT.

Carry the Nine still referenced the after effects. It's a bit like the rad zones from after the Apocalypse War - there was still a massive city, but the writer could pop a rad zone in when they felt like it.

Now, a writer can pop in an old, crumbling Chaos Day block - you can have any mixture you want in the city - new zones, old zones, partially crumbling zones, no-go zones.

Most of the time, though, it just looks like MC-1 looked before Chaos Day. It behaves like it did before Chaos Day. Without a strong editorial or creative hand at the tiller (I'm not dissing Tharg here) of the Dreddverse, you need MC-1 to be malleable - you need each of the creators to be able to carve out their own niche without upsetting the apple cart too much.

Or - you make the decision to have a strong overall requirement for continuity - but that needs someone to be in charge of driving the Pat Wagon.

Nerd thread: JD Writer Donuts

Juliet November was last seen setting fire to psi-compromised Judges in 2005's Lock-In:

[Bato Loco]

Bato Loco

Best in the Prog; Grant Morrison.
Best outside the Prog; Garth Ennis.

Ditto this: Morrison for Zenith and with Ennis I especially rate his various war stories.

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch were okay, I suppose - but didn't do much for comics.

[Banzai Battalion]

I always kind of wish David Bland would die in one of his monotone contrafibularities, so you'd think I'd like Meet Darren Dead - but like any movie with Andie MacDowell in it, it's just not for me.

Banzai Battalion's best joints were hosted by Dredd, but it's an easy win for the garden pest control squaddie-bots.

[Aquila]

The Vigilant has twenty-three main characters, who each get half a frame of screen time in a mash-up that's too mashed up. Potatoes.

Aquila - just when you think religion's got nothing to offer ... along comes a blood-soaked immortal warrior.

[Feral & Foe]

Juliet November's more of a supporting act than anything else.

Feral & Foe's kick ass - the kind of strip that throws shade on claims that the comic's not as good as when teh funneh was Blakee Pentax.

[Tharg's 3rillers]

Strontium Dogs had a good opening with Monsters, but was all downhill from there with a haphazard muddle of characters and stories. Rambo Gronk and the Gronkinator are sort of funny on paper, but then not when you actually publish it.

Tharg's 3rillers, rather than flogging a dead horse, lets various creators have a go at something a bit more meaty than a one-off Shock. There's lots to like in the highlights like Wolves, Gunheadz or The House of Gilded Peak - but of course this has also become a breeding ground for new characters, with repeat offenders like the Intestinauts and Adelphi - and all that's before you consider that it's also the launchpad for the long-form thrills of Mechastopheles, Survival Geeks and Saphir. It's a great addition to the prog.