Prog 2009

[TordelBack]

I've been relaxing in the warm waters of the Christmas Prog for a day-or-so now, and while I'm by no means finished winkling out its hidden treasures, I have a few preliminary thoughts:

Basically, these things are just great, after nearly a decade, still one of the best ideas the House of Tharg ever had.  

Droidlife was a hoot, as it always is at these slightly longer lengths.  

The two other Christmas gag strips were good seasonal fun, with Sin Dex only let down by not being a patch on the two or three  previous year-end stories (the ghost one;  Finny's long dark teatime of the soul; the movie one with Scarlett Johannson Vactor).

Dredd was... hmmm, familiar.  I'm not sure if it's the mince-pies talking, but I found myself imagining this as Wagner's version of Underworld, sadly without only-saving-grace Kate Beckinsale, although I suppose the hapless encubed patsy could have passed for daddy Godpur instead.  It was just a bit too much like a potted version of Total War, or a stretched out version of that excellent Annual story about defusing the nukes that ends with:  "Can't win them all Dredd" - "No, but I like to win the big ones".  That said, excellent art (Rothman's been hitting the gym), and a nice detective story/police procedural that benefitted from a bit of room to breathe.

Strontium Dog was very, very promising - probably my top thrill.  Makes a bit more sense of the 'untold tales of Johnny Alpha' concept if we can wander about in time like this.

Greysuit - cringeworthily leaden dialogue aside (say 'my Primal' one more time and I'll be the one having the breakdown), this was a pretty good read, and I do like the art.

Dante continued its tradition of great end-of-year stories, and this was a nice statement of the new status quo.  I want to strangle the letter writer who complained about Burns' artwork.  I too think of Simon as the definitive Dante artist, but what Burns brings to the strip is irreplacable.  They're a perfect team.

Marauder.  The only thing I didn't like about the strip was the exact same thing I didn't like the first time the Skorps appeared.  MC-1 has a biker gang that have giant rad scorpions welded to their backs that make them psychotic killers.   I appreciate that Roffman has a lot on his plate what with all the gay folk trying to kill each other, but surely someone in PSU could make it their business to keep tabs on these guys?  It's a neat idea, but like Pat's Steamers it's a neat Cursed Earth idea, or an Undercity idea, not a rambling around MC-1 idea.  The rest of the strip met with my approval, but even so I'd have preferred to see Elson hard at work on Kingdom Book III.

I can't take my eyes off SBD's starscan.  So wrong, and yet so right.

Finally, sincere congrats to Buttonman for a fitting capstone to his campaign to be everyone's favourite obsessive nutjob.

[House of Usher]

I liked the way dandon'tdare formatted his reply so much I decided to steal it and cross-fertilize it with jukebox jury.

Droid Life - Quite good that; "weprogwamming" as a quick substitute for genuinely learning a lesson! HIT
Dredd - Not one of Wagner's best. Numerous flaws. MAYBE
Greysuit - Full of bad science. Adrenaline is sufficient to enable a man to jump twice his own height? Secret agents with distracting phobias are effective in the field? Britain is well known as a spider-ridden country? MISS
Marauder - Didn't really interest me. I didn't expect to like it from seeing the teaser. I like it better for the fact he's a reject from the Academy of Law, otherwise the character would've been even more generic that it is. MAYBE
Sinister Dexter - A gag stretched very thinly. MAYBE
Stickleback - Hated it. The rhyme departed from the meter in several important places and it came up with several new meanings for words just to make them fit the rhyme. MISS
Nikolai Dante - Best thing in the Prog, bar none. HIT
Strontium Dog - Beautifully drawn, but kind of badly written. Rubbish villain, weak plot, silly pretty mutant. Why do they accept the girl with the rebellious gene into their army when they're executing norms left, right and centre? Any one of them could be carrying mutant genes, same as the pretty girl, but no-one's tested them normos, have they? Even so, it's Strontium Dog, and that counts for a lot. HIT
Red Seas - Here's a recap; now there's a big wave. But nothing much happened. MAYBE

That's 3 HITS, 2 MISSES and 4 MAYBES. Overall: a qualified thumbs up.

[satchmo]

I liked the bit about the genes in Strontium Dog. You could outlaw any bullshit gene you wanted so you could denounce people you didn't like. Moon is very strange, like Captain Harlock crossed with Ham Tyler off of V

[TordelBack]

You could outlaw any bullshit gene you wanted so you could denounce people you didn't like.

Didn't we already have something similar with Bonny Charley Prince over in Young Middenface?  My own mutated nerd genes are self-destructively hoping that there's some sort of explicit reference to or crossover with characters and events from YM (despite it being low on my list of enjoyable strips) just to see a hint of the old W&G partnership again.

[Mardroid]

The whole mutant gene apartheid thing is curious. I wonder if these mutant-genes, like the pretty norm-looking girl had were caused by the strontium fall-out like the other mutants, or if these are just natural mutations that crop up in ordinary humans from time to time. I have a floating rib. Would I qualify as a mutant under that system?

The Strontium Dog strip was my favourite in the Christmas prog. I haven't read much of the old stuff, apart from the previous story that appeared (I forget the name, but it was pretty good.) and a couple that were on the old site. I'm considering picking up the first of the collection files to fill in the gaps.

[satchmo]

I think your level of mutation might be determined by your level of support for Nelson Bunker Kreelman

[W. R. Logan]

Take Wagner out of the equation and your left with Dante as the only good thing in the Prog.

With 2009 nigh on upon us I dont have a great deal of interest in whats coming up. It seems as if Pat Mills has multiple, multi book stories coming up and for me even though he is the father of 2000 and and god amongst creators his recent stuff doesnt interest me.

For me 2009 could be the crunch year and the year I bite the bullet.

[Devons Daddy]

i must say once again they did it.
christmas prog outstanding.

i will not go further, THANKYOU. its all that needs to be said the droids behind it.

I STILL WISH WE COULD GET A DREDD CHRISTMAS SPECAILS COLLECTION.
though for my money, they will never beat the turkeys that loved christmas,( that correct title? with daddy real farm and the other mirth.) that was the finest christmas dredd in 31 years.

[TordelBack]

Take Wagner out of the equation and your left with Dante as the only good thing in the Prog.

Hmm, no doubt that those are usually the best things in any given Prog, but for my money there's plenty of strong second stringers.  However, there's no arguing with taste.  Excluding  anything by Wagner and Dante, what would you (Logan) like to see next year?

Personally, I'd be very happy if I saw more series for:

Red Seas
Harry Kipling
Kingdom
Lobster Random
Defoe
Stickleback
The '86ers
Dead Signal
Indigo Prime
Second City Blues (there, I said it).
Sinister Dexter
Blackhawk (he's been in the drawer too long).

So with some exceptions, I'm likely to be a happy squaxx.

I like the current ABC Warriors and Savage, but i probably wouldn't miss them if they didn't hurry back.  Anderson bores me senseless, and only works as a showcase for some great art (Taylor, Cook etc.).

[Richmond Clements]

Take Wagner out of the equation and your left with Dante as the only good thing in the Prog.

If the Wagner Dredd script was more than a shorter retread of the Total War story, I might even be inclined to agree with that.

[jimbo7987]

Only really just got into 2000ad, but I got to say, I'm really enjoying it. The Christmas issue was great, I particularly enjoyed Marauder. I hope Judge Dredd blows his head off soon!

[ThryllSeekyr]

Clint Langley's Anderson is far more sucessful than Si Davis's skinny adolescent Slaine.

Oh yeah, SB Davis's brilliantly odd Slaine painting. That made me laugh out loud.

Slaine Pic - What's not to like about SB Davis' work? It must be great if you're an artist and you get the Star Scan call from Tharg. Do you think they get to choose what they draw/paint or do you think Tharg'll tell 'em? Any droids like to share?

Great Moments in Thrill-Power! Slaine Battles the Shoggey Beast - Oh, my word, this was poor. Simon Davis turns out some interesting stuff from time to time, but this was interesting in all the wrong ways. Seriously, imagine it as a cover. Now imagine taking it to the till to pay for it.

That Slaine pic looks a bit bizarre to me. Nothing at all wrong with the actual painting technique or style. It just looks odd. I looked at it for probably longer than i should have, and it looks a bit like when you see someone's facial features superimposed onto someone elses body, for comical effect. Very strange. But maybe that's just me...

I can't take my eyes off SBD's starscan. So wrong, and yet so right.

Retro Purchase thsi one through Ebay because of the rumor of some Slaine art.

Got it last weeka nd flicked through the entire issue. Only noticing the Clint Lanely's Psi Anderson. Thinking thats not very funny, but then I clapped eyes on the Simon Davis Slaine Starascan.

Considering Slaine was thrown out of the tribe when he was fifteen and that he must have not even been much older when he had to bring down a shoggey beast in one of the earliest stories. It would right for Slaine to have this youthful appaerance. Although thsi new loook is hard to get used to.

He looks softer.....

Not what I'm used to seeing by Simon Davis. Reecalling 'Black Sidderrah' and 'Sinister Dexter' and the prison one.  I could really imagine his version of Slaine reaching a level of realism might have been comparable to Glenn Fabry's Slaine.But this picture looks like his artistic style has taken a more comical direction.

I'm not satring I hate it. it's like your typical youthful rockstar posing as savage.

Perhaps this is a sign of what is to come later.