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[Cult of the Thugee]

Do I just have deja vu, or have we previously seen another story where someone was decapitated in exactly the same way as in Alpha?

Maybe Cult of the Thugee from 1991's Judge Dredd Mega-Special?

Great Slaine rendition, Jayzus, and very worthy of your 9,999th post! (He didn't think it too many.)

[++SOMETHING BLUE++]

++SOMETHING BLUE++
   
The Out: Book Three
Script: Dan Abnett, Art: Mark Harrison, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Cyd Finlea (the blue one, when she's wearing her body-condom) has to cope with interrogations by passive-aggressive Machiavellian aliens, grumpy panda-sentries, impending destruction by a time-traveling hegemonising swarm, post-traumatic stress, galactic entrepreneurial lotharios, duplicitous clerics and the death of Bing Bong. All this - and she's trying to save the universe, and maybe reunite with her daughter (who lives in The Sublime). A perfect series for Mark Harrison's epic space-art - it's possible that Cyd could just be shopping and eating (a bit like in the first series) and this would still be fascinating.
      
Where it falls down: at a stretch, one might pick on the character design for Bing Bong and how complicated and distracting it was. But it was also wildly creative and HOOK! HOOK! TOOT! TOOT! "SURPRISE!", so - y'know - that would be churlish. Where do we go from here, though? It is an end, but is it the end? (See the festive prog for an answer!)


   

Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley
Script: Garth Ennis, Art: Patrick Goddard, Letters: Rob Steen
      
The 1980 sci-fi movie The Final Countdown had a modern aircraft carrier travel through a time vortex to before the Japenese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The moral dilemma: should the captain act to change the outcome? Here, Rogue (the blue one) magi-ports to the no man's land of World War I, and tries to figure out if there's a way back to Nu Earth.

Given that the main sequence of Rogue's original run ended in prog 392 (in 1984), this tale wisely brings new readers up to speed on who he is, and why he's having conversations with his helmet. The blend of traditional war comic with Rogue's future-war works very well, and the choice to stick with black and white art helps sell it. There's (naturally) plenty of action on offer, but perhaps the strongest parts of the tale come from getting to know the characters we meet along the way. Why are they fighting? What are their hopes for the future? This thrill wins the Top of the Blues award because it's the best Rogue story since Cinnabar.
      
Where it falls down: it ended, and a sequel would probably cheapen things - but it's so good to see Rogue back in action in a solid tale.



   
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg
Script: Dan Abnett, Art: Richard Elson, Letters: Jim Campbell
   
If the first series was The Odd Couple, and the second was gender-bending LARP, this is a dungeon crawler that wisely separates Burlock Bode and Priya Wrathchilde (the blue one) so that quite a large cast of co-adventurers can be included ... and summarily dispatched. Red-shirts are here played gold-plated, as we hop out of the way of various cantrips and into a collection of Meteor Swarms (Range: 240', Duration: Instantaneous) - all beautifully conveyed by Elson's frame-busting action set-pieces.
      
Where it falls down: this series has strayed a little bit rimward from being an adventure that is meta-aware, to being random dice rolls from the Wandering Monster Table given a twist of the Dabnetts. Spoofs are difficult, because they work best (Airplane!, Top Secret!) when the characters don't realize they're in one.

   


   
++AND BUCKETS OF VENGEANCE - JUST FOR YOU!++

Proteus Vex: Crawlspace
Script: Mike Carroll, Art: Jake Lynch, Colours: Jim Boswell, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
It's brute force against chutzpah and space-smarts as a disparate group of rogue agents try to figure out how to shift the galactic power dynamic in favor of the younger races (as an act both of self-defence and revenge). The set-up is so polished, and the space battles so engagingly fun, you don't even stop to wonder about the bit where the troll-king goes void-surfing. Lynch and Boswell bring everything to life with a wide variety of demands, and some cool character designs: suffice to say that every episode's a masterpiece.
      
Where it falls down: there's no mention anywhere now of the fact that Proteus Vex has a little man inside his head that drives him - even with the title of this series being "crawlspace". What's it like in there, even? Is Mike Carroll driven by a little man inside his head? Is it the N-AI-mand entity? Squaxx demand answers!



   
Judge Dredd: Poison
Script: Rob Williams, Art: PJ Holden, Colours: Peter Doherty, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Following on thematically from The Cold in the Bones (and thereby demonstrating Tharg's scheduling mightiness), this sees Dredd attempt to solve the case of who infected Hershey with a deadly alien virus. This works as a galaxy-spanning Dreddverse whodunnit, as all the usual suspects enter the frame - from the Sovs to the ghost of PJ Holden Maybe, from the Titan debacle to The Cursed Earth - Dredd tries to piece together the clues with his usual grim determination and single-mindedness. Williams has access to lots of key players, and this star-hopping, globe-trotting puzzler keeps us guessing and second-guessing all the way to the visceral, drooling insanity of the climax.

Holden and Doherty have to jump us around the galaxy and all over future Earth. One stand-out is the opening panel to part two, where Dredd stares up at the stars from the surface of an alien world. This isn't just about the dark vengeance of the antagonist, but also Dredd's as he tries to find justice for the murder of perhaps his closest colleague.
      
Where it falls down: the guy in the cell is basically Stumpy McStumperton, and seems to have no motive capability - and yet when we first enter the cell he has his back turned to us in grim contemplation. The rest of the scene is played out with him facing Dredd. How did he turn around? Was it by thinking about it? Did he have to be trained how to do that by medical staff? When nobody's in there mopping or interrogating him, does he just gently spin (gurgling quietly to himself) like a bizarre subterranean grimmy-go-round?
   



The Fall of Deadworld: Retribution
Script: Kek-W, Art: Dave Kendall, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
War wheels, people! A lesbian Dredd/Rico hybrid kicks the Sovs in the nuts! Judge Fear's a fucking nightmare-Tardis! There's a third Sister of Death - her name is Nasturtium! (Hang on, I have to look it up ... Eunomia!) Anyway, look, it's rambling all over the place but that's because there's a cool, wide, epic, gory, revolting story of grim darkness to tell. Complaining about the meandering is like complaining about Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit. Whinging about artistic clarity? Don't listen to 'em, Dave - the art in this is amaze-balls levels of kick-arsery and I wouldn't change it for the (dead) world. Who else would you get to do a decomposing, flame-lit nightmare? 
      
What about the revenge, Funt, I hear you wail from the dungeons. Mostly, and fittingly, this is about Sidney De'ath taking revenge on the upstart Casey Tweed for, well, killing him. Naturally (or, rather, un) "you cannot kill what does not live", so Casey's demonstrating a youthful ignorance of the powers he's up against. That Sidney inhabits the corpse of his long-dead father (still dressed as a dentist) puts some people off, as the entire Young Death aspect of Death-lore can be controversial - but lore it is, and this leans into it - in much the way that Anderson's Half-Life did. This thrill wins the Coldest Revenge trophy because it's my favorite slice of bleak dystopia, and Dave Kendall's nightmare visions are disturbingly awesome.
      
Where it falls down: the protagonist, Jess, isn't in it. Like, at all. I know - it's a sprawling epic! It's a cast of (mostly dead) thousands! And there's some narrative reason we're not with Jess right now. But c'mon, Kek, you monster! Tell us what happens to Jess. Or maybe it's best you don't...
   

   


*List curated by a dedicated panel of one. Honorable mentions go to Flusher (best call back), El Mestizo (best stealth crossover) and Major Eazy (best inadvertent idea for a new series). Due to time constraints and prog-malaise (like mayonnaise, but you can't have it in a sandwich), I haven't (yet) read some of the thrills this year and therefore could not pass informed comment on them - including Tin Man, Heart of Darkness, Enemy Earth, A Fallen Man, Die Hoard and The Devil's Railroad.  Lastly, I wasn't counting one-offs, Regened or the Megazine for this listing.

[The Grand Polygamy of Squaxx (2023)]

The Grand Polygamy of Squaxx (2023)

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If you were married to the prog this year (as part of The Grand Polygamy of Squaxx) then you will recall receiving a robo-telegram containing the following rhyme:

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and buckets of vengeance - just for you!

With that in mind, witness tell of the fifteen best* thrills of 2023, finely crafted by eleven script droids, fifteen art droids, five colourists and four letterrors. Oh - and, before you feast - let it be known that HERE BE SPOILERS!, although I've tried to keep them non-specific.


++SOMETHING OLD++
   
Judge Dredd: The Night Shifter   
Script: Ken Niemand, Art: Nicolo Assirelli, Colours: Peter Doherty, Letters: Annie Parkhouse
      
You can't get much of an older thrill than Judge Dredd and here the N-AI-mand entity spreads the story twenty years into the past with a dark, disturbing tale of long-term trauma. This is one of those narratives where Dredd's not so much the protagonist, and instead we're following Luna Aguerra - a refugee facing demons from her past. Nicolo Assirelli and Peter Doherty provide a suitably dark, grimy aspect to the city, where permanent night threatens to envelop Luna as she desperately seeks salvation.
      
Where it falls down: that's just a Transit van! What is this - Mega-City Manchester?
   

   

Azimuth
Script: Dan Abnett, Art: Tazio Bettin, Colours: Matt Soffe, Letters: Jim Campbell
      
On the face of it, a brand new thrill, but full of trade-mark pun-names and tattooed, unkillable assassins: it turned out to be a stealth thrill for one of the comic's long-running properties. Tazio Bettin & Matt Soffe produced a wonder-world of sometimes obscure cultural references (from Whacky Races to Zardoz) and architectural clues (with at least one hidden QR code). The stealth reveal doesn't fully explain how we've arrived at this particular version of reality and the series climaxes on a cliffhanger that promises to (at least partially) resolve in this year's festive prog. This thrill wins the Top of the Oldies award because, after a long dry spell, the interest it generated got me back into reading the prog this year.
      
Where it falls down: Suzi Nine Millimetre was such a popular new character, and the setting so interesting, that people were hoping for Mazeworld: Fury Road and found themselves somewhat peeved to discover that they'd been had and were instead reading (from one perspective) Highlander V: Let the Right One In. How they'll feel after getting hit with the meta-stealth-bomb of the festive prog is anyone's guess.
   

   

Helium: Scorched Earth    
Script: Ian Edginton, Art: D'Israeli, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Prog 1945, August, 2015: our heroes crashed in flames, and the tag-line read "Helium will return". Ever patient, the humble Squaxxerati were entirely content to wait quietly without rancour or chuff - and only a short eight years - for this sequel. While much is left shrouded in mystery, we do get back-stories for some of the main players as they are brutally introduced to the flora, fauna (and mega-fauna) of a poisoned world. D'Israeli stands alongside Boo Cook as master at bringing worlds of lights-in-the-darkness to glorious life.
   
Where it falls down: the set-up in the original has three main civilizational players - the under-gas humes, the over-gas humes and the under-gas muties. This (at least initially) pushes two of those groups off-page and introduces the cryptid bubble-dwellers as a fourth hand. It is fun, but given the eight-year gap between series, I may well be dead before we reach any sort of conclusion, and especially if the scope continues to broaden. Have pity on our meagre lifespans, Tharg!
   
   

      
      
++SOMETHING NEW++
   
Void Runners
Script: David Hine, Art: Boo Cook, Letters: Annie Parkhouse
      
An intergalactic trip that answers well the question "what if Ace Trucking Co. took a heroic dose?" or "what if Flynn from Moon Runners crawled through an alien sphincter?" Questions you didn't even know you wanted the answers to are all answered here, in fabulous Boo Cook technicolour. There are hints of Belardinelli's influence  - especially in terms of an agile, sentient, playful merkin (somewhat reminiscent of Garp's scarf). This thrill wins the Top of the Noobs award because it has the most effortless-seeming panache.
      
Where it falls down: it's probably designed as a one-off, so it would be strange criticism to suggest that it's slight - but it is. I suppose there are some characters (Harry Kipling, say) where less is more, and it's baked in. (This is one way of saying this is a neat little parcel that it's difficult to fault. Cue series two...)
   

   

Portals & Black Goo   
Script: John Tomlinson, Art: Eoin Coveney, Colours: Jim Boswell, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Peanut Butter & Goo is one of those "London - it takes all sorts" tales that has magic and monsters (werewolves, wizards, vampires and such) living side-by-side with regular humanity. It pushes pretty strongly as an immigration allegory (throwing up a mirror to people who feel all thuggish about "the other"), but also manages to fit in victim-blaming from the police when a woman is assaulted in her own home. It's starting to sound a bit kitchen sink and preachy, but has a happy-go-lucky vibe about it with a hapless delivery driver getting into and out of scrapes with various occult threats. In other words, there's sugar to help with the medicine. It's also very much a set-up for a second series, which should be along anytime now - although perhaps this sort of thing will be made illegal by new Tory legislation against allegorical criticisms, or otherwise just sucked into a dark void.
      
Where it falls down: some have questioned the protagonist's goatee as a poor sartorial choice, and complained about too many spinning plates and not enough resolution. A bit like being a delivery driver.


      

Tharg's 3rillers: Maxwell's Demon
Script: David Barnett, Art: Lee Milmore, Colours: Quinton Winter, Letters: Annie Parkhouse
      
Not brand new (but new enough for a forty-six year old comic): this is a sequel to The Crawly Man from last year. There we first met Herne and (his dog) Shuck - a couple of roving demon-battlers in otherwise contemporary Britain. This time we're up against a very Black Mirror-y threat, and have joined forces with Caris (the demon-dreaming girl rescued from the wickerman in the previous tale). A spanner enters the works in the form of Durham Ex Jordy Coquet! She's a goth punk pirate with a taste for revenge! Extra points here for trying to have various British accents work in comic-form.
      
Where it falls down: Coquet? Like, how do we even say that? Also, shouldn't Caris be going to school?


      
      
      
++SOMETHING BORROWED++
   
Judge Dredd: The Disciples of Death
Script: Ken Niemand, Art: Neil Googe, Colours: Gary Caldwell, Letters: Annie Parkhouse
      
If there's one thing the N-AI-mand entity does well, it's absorb and reflect the existing lore of the Dreddverse. The borrowings here run from the obvious (Dark Judges lore), to the general milieu (Mechanismo working cases), to Scottish cultural artefacts ("help ma boab!") and even the meta (with zombies teleported in from Survival Geeks). The story moves along an overarching plot that seems to suggest the possible return of the Dark Judges to Mega-City One, but it's the trip there that provides all of the fun.
      
Where it falls down: it disnae, ye bams. (Although that does look a little like Cadet Dredd.)


   
   
Hershey: The Cold in the Bones   
Script: Rob Williams, Art: Simon Fraser, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Hershey, in deep cover, has tracked Smiley's Enceladus spiders out to Antarctic City, where she tries to contain a potential global infestation. As her body increasingly succumbs to the alien virus that is poisoning her, she looks back over her life and starts to think of how it might end. Simon Fraser does a masterful job of taking us back to key moments from Hershey's past as she fights for survival in the frozen wastes. This thrill wins the Top of the Borrowers award because it gets under the skin of the players. This series, more than any other, has humanized Hershey as a character.
      
Where it falls down: probably just the "stop sniffing your own ass" joke, contextually. Otherwise, this was frozen gold.


   
   
Durham Red: Mad Dogs
Script: Alec Worley, Art: Ben Willsher, Letters: Simon Bowland
      
Worley's take on the Strontium Dog universe seems steeped in action movie set-ups (which is no bad thing). Born Bad (from 2018) is an angel-of-vengeance western and Served Cold (2021) played out like an Alamo-style actioner (think Assault on Precinct 13 but with the setting of John Carpenter's The Thing). Durham's no longer an S/D agent, though, and has found herself on the wrong side of the law. In this series she gets hired by a shady spy organization to carry out an infil-and-kill mission against a galactic drug-pusher. It's Mission: Impossible ... in space!

To lighten the mood, and provide a third hand, she gets a sidekick for this mission in a (likeable) mash-up of Janus (of Psi-Division fame) and Mantis (from Guardians of the Galaxy). Ben Willsher does a stupendous job of depicting not only the modern Red's action-packed adventure, but also in flashing us back to the Ezquerra-design, replete with the trademark foreground-outline technique. It's masterful homage-work.
      
Where it falls down: the bit where Durham manages to neatly amputate a man's second pair of arms, then clench them somehow in her armpits without blood getting all over the place, drives back to base with the bad guys as if she's their four-armed buddy, hangs out there for a while trying to look natural and then, much later - after dinner and a movie - suddenly drops the gruff voice put-on and surprises everyone (to death). It's Hannibal Lecter turned up to eleventy-stupid, so one has to salute it, but it's difficult without squinting. We can be thankful it's not scratch 'n' sniff.
   



Continued in next post...   

Now I'm waiting until my house renovations are out the way.

I turned a life-corner a few years ago and stopped thinking about life being endless (in which there'll always be time to paint that Warhammer mini, or to read that pile of comics) and started realizing that I have a finite amount of things like time and eye-sight and that, at some point, because I'm an avid collector of nerd-things, I will have so many nerd-things that there simply isn't enough lifespan left to experience them all.

[Reflecting pleasantly now on the construction of a long sentence.]

Always baffling when people thank Grud for having survived a natural disaster, but don't blame Grud for having sent the disaster their way in the first place. Why is Grud juggling babies anyway?

Baby found alive in tree after Tennessee tornado

On the face of it that sounds like some bullshit (from your ex-employers). I suppose if it was happening to me I'd be doing two things - one is checking my facts and the other is contacting the Citizen's Advice Bureau (if that's still a thing). Probably the CAB would also want to know the facts, which is why that's first in the list.

When I worked in hotels, I'd often be in situations where they were underpaying me and I had to have my data all straight before I confronted them because otherwise they'd just bullshit me.

(24 quid is such a small amount for a company of nearly any size - I'm surprised that they're even bringing it up, to be honest. )

The uniform, however, appeared in 'Satan'

Oh, shit! Well spotted, Jim.

+++AZIMUTH SPOILERS++

Sorry to double-post, and it's probably not relevant - but the Cassandra in Azimuth is bald. The last time I recall seeing a bald Anderson was when she was comatose during Half-Life.

Anderson using psychic magic to cross dimensions has been done a few times too

When she bonded with an angel during End of Days she seemed capable of dimension-hopping and perhaps time travel. (How she transformed back from angel-Anderson to normal Anderson was hand-waved away between the pages.)

###### MASSIVE SPOILERS #######

There is actually precedence for this sort of malarkey in Sin Dex. See "Now & Again" from capital-P Prog 2012. They dimension-hop from MC-1 to Flesh to Nu Earth to Dante to Strontium Dog to Kingdom to nowhere at all.

I thought it was the final Sin Dex story, and it could have been.

On the other hand, this could be (as you said) something else entirely.

Yes - these will be available on mugs ... and tea towels!

20 more volumes? So there's still hope for that Soul Sisters, Straitjacket Fits and Space Girls volume? 

Crossover opportunity here for Space Sisters Fit, where an intergalactic nunnery for wayward...

[gets coat, leaves]

Flat earthers - they so lame! Witness the truth:

The French are really good at protesting:

Rural France turned upside-down by farmers