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The giant end-of-year seasonal 100-page Prog replaces the weekly prog for 2-3 (?) weeks, thus giving Tharg and Mek-Quake a chance to torture the creative droids for their various misdemeanours of the year gone by without being interupted by weekly deadlines.

And that's the Grud's honest truth.

Oddboy's right about that.

"Best end of year Prog since Prog 2000?"

Personally, I think it's the best end of year Prog ever.

Prog 2000 had the disapointing Part 10 Of Nemesis: The Final Conflict, with that poor show from O'Neill, and 13 pages of 'data bytes' filler.

Prog 2006 was near perfect, with even the one potential stinker (2nd Dredd) making me laugh out loud - and there was no text story!  Huzzah.

From a brand new Squaxx:

"on a completely unrelated note, I'm lovin' the comic. The only story I've read so far that I'm not majorly keen on is Nikolia Dante. But I especially like Judge Dredd and Sinister Dexter (even though I don't really know what's going on with them)."

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:: "there were priests wandering around there?!"

Clearly you've never heard of Priest-U-Like.

[Slaine: The Books Of Invasions: Epilogue: Carnival]

ThryllSeekyr, pay attention:

Slaine: The Books Of Invasions: Epilogue: Carnival

It's not as if I made out I was a font of all knowledge on - oh, wait a minute - I did.

I think that Slater is dead, murdered by Ravne when he awoke, but that Gustav & Gretchen weren't part of the murdering spree.  IIRC, we see Ravne's hands reaching up to strangle Slater.

The multiple bodies in the bathroom could be anyone - probably priests, going by the holy crosses (which is what made me question who the bodies were in the first place, because we never see Slater, Gustav or Gretchen wearing big chunky holy crosses around their necks).

Remember, when we first meet Ravne he's in a blood-bath (literally) and surrounded by bits of body - so it's not uncommon for him to be chopping people up for his own nefarious ends.

I think the assumption that G&G bought the big one was due to the multiple bodies (actually two) and them being the only other characters we knew of that were nearby.

Only Gordon Rennie knows for sure.

(I like that things aren't concretely explained in Cabs, though - it is a murder mystery strip, after all.)

:: "How do we know those are the same two 'assistants' in the last panel of Cabals?"

Well, we don't.  

However, we never actually saw Gustav & Gretchen getting killed at any point in the past.  What we saw was Howard Slater opening Ravne's sarcophagus (with Gretchen looking on through a keyhole).  Ravne is later seen in a bathroom, with at least 2 corpses (one beheaded and wearing a holy cross). The walls are painted (in the blood of the victims, I assume) with occult symbology and writing.  

I assumed at the time that he'd murdered Slater, Gustav & Gretchen, but that's all it was:  an assumption.

[Cover]

Quaequam Blag!  This is a kick-ass, no frills, all thrills monster hit of a seasonal prog.


Cover
It's a great treat to see Kev "Mandroid" Walker's take on the current deck of iconic characters.  Note that Sinister Dexter and Nikolai Dante, the two stories that gave the comic a footie-up when it needed it most, are still in the shadows behind the old hands of Johnny "Mushroom Head" Alpha, Judge "Seagulls Nest On My Chin" Dredd and Slaine "Now That's What I Call A Codpiece" Mac Roth.

Having them all standing on a bouncy castle Tharg was a bold choice.


Droid Life
Despite my initial ambivalence, I've started to really enjoy the antics of P14 and the Nerve Centre Posse.  "Cheap mass produced piece of tat":  tis a droid's life.


Judge Dredd: Class Of '79
Gorgeous art from Staples - with real stand-outs being the snow falling on the city and the close-ups on Dredd.  Coupled with a tale that mixes up action, incongruous social scenes, nostalgia and tragedy, this is a fantastic opening strip for the big prog.  

(I didn't like the lawmasters, but that's only because they reminded me of the movie versions.)


Caballistics, Inc: Strange Bedfellows
As has been pointed out, this is doing a few things at once.  A key point is that Ethan Kostabi isn't.  Oh, and there won't be any angels bothering the team again.  And Gustav and Gretchen live!  (Must go and change the ramblings on the fan-site.)

There's also a really emotional character piece centred on Hannah, all beautifully rendered by Reardon.  

The opening scene was reminiscent of Les Enfants Du Sang from Preacher - which isn't a bad thing.  Next up - Changelings.  Whoop!


Nikolai Dante: Devil's Deal
Hello - my name's Basil Crest Exposition.

Aside from that, the usual accomplished artwork from Burns and a return to the plot from Robbie Morrison.  This is like Sinister Dexter, for me, in that when it veers too far away from the main story arc, I lose interest big-style.  Good to see it seems to be heading back on track, then.


Slaine: The Books Of Invasions: Epilogue: Carnival
Wow!  Wow!  Fuck!  I can't help it - I absolutely love this work from Clint Langley - and coupled with the return of Ukko, the first real showpiece for Kai as a character in his own right and the amazing troupe of weirdoes that make up the carnival, this is just wonderful stuff from start to finish.

Too many high points to mention them all, but special hats off to the widescreen shot of the carnival and the close up on Estella.

Ukko - the mad hatter - welcome back, you greedy, coniving dwarf!


Sinister Dexter: Festive Spirits
Heh.  That's fecked up everyone's expectations.


Low Life: He's Making A List...
This is hysterical, and should definitely nab best quote of the prog - but which one?

I'd go for "Desist from supernatural activity and put your claws or digits in the air where Dirty Frank can see them".

This whole story just shouldn't work - with it's high comedy, self-referential style, how does it manage to also fit pathos in?  

With wonderful art from Rob Williams, this is a strong contender for best thrill in the prog.


Judge Dredd: Straight Eye For The Crooked Guy
Of all the thrills, this one had the capacity to be much of a mehness, with it's light, cartoon premise and art - but it got me with the pay-off line.  "T-they waxed my ass."  Gold.


The Ten Seconders: The American Dream
Oooh!  Cool new thrill!  It's got what I liked about the last series of Synamon:  resistance fighters in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world.  I'm a sucker for that.  Character!  Mystery!  Evil superbeings!  A random cow!

Forget the much dreamed about Zenith Phase V - we've got this, instead.  


Strontium Dog: A Shaggy Dog Story
Whilst there's a lot you could say about this in terms of it's return to the heydey adventures of Johnny and Wulf, really, it's all in the last frame, isn't it?

I wonder what Ezquerra thought when he read the script.  Something like "how the fu...?"

Feature: From Sketch To Shelf
This is a treat - better than a "great covers of the past" or something.  Now, please, Tharg, do the same treatment with some script-to-page stuff.  Please.

Teasers
Button Man IV
(Previous outtings have all been fantastic, so I've high hopes for this.)

Judge Dredd: Origins
(Wagner and Ezquerra.  Sounds like a foregone conclusion.)

Chiaroscuro
(Spurrier and Smudge do zombies.  Groovy!)

A.B.C. Warriors: The Shadow Warriors, Book III
(At last.  Hurry up!)

Gah-gah-gah-gah...

[Thrill-Power Overload]

Even that's got Bradley in it.

For balance, selected turnips from that period:

Junk(er)
Rogue Torpor: The Moldy Box Rebellion
Robo-Hunter [the Millar years]
Bix Barton
Tao De Moto
Dead Meat
Universal Soldier [actually worse than the film of the same name]
Brigand Doom
Kola Kommandos
Kelly's Eye
Purgatory
Maniac 5
Soul Gun Warrior
Dinosty
The Grudge-Father
Mambo

There's always at least one story that kept me reading the prog, week-in, week-out, from the late 100s to the present day.

Even in the period 700-900, there's always been one thrill to keep me reading.  Thrills like:

Anderson Psi Division: Shamballa
Winwood & Cord: Killing Time
The ABC Warriors: Khronicles of Khaos
Button Man
Zenith Phase IV
Firekind

However, it's clear that alongside these classics are a plethora of true turnips, whereas nowadays it's more like 1 turnip out of 5, if any at all.

NUKKKKKKEEE! should be the battle-cry of a giant stompy robot.