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You missed Shakey Kane off of the list.

So I'm pretty much the only one who likes Siku, then?

Jim, you are quite right. It's the man they call somethingfishy that has gone on his hols.

Trout was overthrown in a bloody revolution led by Eggsonlegs, hence the new people democratic republic of messageboard.

He's gone on his hols to the North coast of Cornwall. He'll be back in due course.

I was always under the impression that 'The Burning Man' was a prequal to 'Meltdown Man' and they comprised the first two thirds of a yet to be completed trilogy, last part 'Pile of Ashes Man'.

Oh, what a crap joke.

Answering what I can, and only vaguely even then, Pat Mills (and Marshall Law) were involved in 'Cool Beans World' so that will have been taking up a lot of his time recently. The 'about the author' section in the recent hardbacks of 'Slaine the King' and 'Cursed Earth' say that he is currently working on a new Slaine story...

Been to two comic shops today. It wasn't out in either of them. Maybe next week.

I'm glad to hear you're getting your moneys worth. The next one should be a good one, yes, it is the Titan one.

Happy Birthday!

Just out of interest Devon, did you subscribe, because they do an offer where if you subscribe you pay for 5 and get 6, so if you've payed for 5 you might want to e-mail them and check on this...

Argh! I'm really embarassed now!

SPOILERS. Duh!

Sifting through the mail today, looking for the latest 'Doctor Who' C.D. and spotted the tell-tale package. Popped the kettle on and without looking at the case took the disc and popped it in the player. And then realised that it wasn't the due Who but an early Dredd.

In the latest adventure Dredd has to 'babysit' a visiting V.I.P. film director in order to protect him from a mysterious assassin

So, 'The Big Shot'. It's more overtly humourous than the previous Dredds and it works nicely. The comedy isn't too as to overshow the plot but works nicely alongside it. Dredd gets sidelined to the job of minding a pain in the ass, while Steel gets on with the investigating, the two plot threads meeting and being resolved in the climax.

Overall it works, it's perhaps the plot best suited to audio of the Dredds we've had so far, and the newsbeats are used to an interesting affect as well, with Enigma Smith being able to interact with events for once, so that element doesn't seem quite so bolted on.

There's also a plot twist at the end that gives the story a bit more depth than the story would have otherwise. It's a little soapy, but there are examples of similar things in Wagners Dredd (as recently as 'Sin City') although whether it would be possible for Steel to keep her secrets is another matter.

The disc ends by directly setting up a future adventure but in such a way as to leave this as a story that can be heard on it's own and presumably the later story can still stand alone. It's nice to see some links between C.D.s, it makes them feel more like a series rather than a sequence of individual stories.

Toby Longworth has settled into the role well and plays the humour straight - and there'd be nothing worse than Dredd knowing he was being funny. Claire Buckfield is getting better as Steel. Her role in the plot requires her to be less of a sidekick which helps greatly. Regina Reagan has got Enigma Smith down pat and Teresa Gallagher is more commanding as Hershey this time around.

Of the guest cast Peter Sowerbutts and Nick Briggs are every bit as annoying as they should be but are also convincing when the play takes on a darker tone. Good stuff.

It's also as well directed and produced as you'd expect. David Bishop has clearly learned from the earlier scripts and the next couple of discs look like they should be quite good. There's a Dredd from Jonathon Clements who wrote the ranges only certified hit 'Down to Earth', and then it's the story that has been set up in this C.D.

Overall I'm going to have to say that disc shows signs of promise for the range. It's an improvement on the first discs and worth a solid Seven out of Ten. Better script, nicely realised.

Sorry, I didn't mean to waffle on, but it gets it out of my system so I won't have to bore you all about it later!

Different Strokes. The Citizen Kane references made the strip for me, and I thought the art was okay. Especially that one panel in part one where one of the uglies looks exactly like a Ron Smith drawing. Nice toouch.

Oh, have I said that before.

Rang a bell.

I'm heartened by your support.