Prog 1421 - Non-subbers and latecomers review thread

[Bico]

As mentioned last week, I get my prog later in the week than the subscribers.  Another seperate review thread isn't some kind of us and them thing, just a chance for me to get a review in after the first thread goes off-topic and drops the whole review element sometime on wednesday.
Or something.

Anyhoo...

Cover - Always good to see Burns' stuff.  It's starting to take on a very organic feel lately - he seems to paint out all his linework during the colouring/painting process.  I'm not sure what I make of it so far.  He's still a great artist, but I always thought his linework was fantastic on its own, and I'm uncertain if I prefer this method, or his old one, of producing colour work.

Dredd - Brashill is improving with age as an artist, but I reckon he's still a bit too cartoony for my taste, but the paint is great.  The story seems to be going towards a nice big Dredd-massacre, but the little flashes of precognition hint at a minor twist in the tale.  Still impeccable Wagner storytelling.

Second City Blues - Well, the art's certainly improved some.  Still not overly-engaging storyline yet, though.  At least the sport element has actually started, although it remains to be seen if that's a good or bad thing.  Average.

Slaine - Pat's not right-wing at all, is he?  "Of course she's talking bollocks, Slaine - she's a woman!"  I thought this was a bit stretched, to be honest - probably for the best if you've got Langley on good form and Pat just padding out the pages with storytelling by numbers.  It's plodding a bit, and seems to be harking back to past glories too much, but still looks the nuts.

Cabalistics INC - Backstory ahoy!  At least we know where the bit at the start was going now.  One story seems to dovetail into another while the team is split up.  Is it by accident or design, though?  Solid stuff.

Dante - Always good to see Burns in full flow - I like an artist who isn't shy with the red paint.  It's strange that the knockabout humour isn't quite as missed as you'd think it would be in a strip like this, but Morrison is more than capable of putting together a good tale.  There's more to come, but it reads like the end of a chapter, and I'm not sure if it just seems rushed.  Still good, though.

[Tanky]

Would've done this last night, but there was beer involved and...meh!

No droid life. Not happy.

Dredd: Still verrrrry pretty artwork, and it's nice to see the much argued psi division business getting sorted. I'm enjoying this.

SCB: Still enjoyable. I think i've figured out what's bugging me about the artwork: This is supposed to be a fast paced, action packed future sport, but there's no 'movement' in the way the figures are drawn. They all look as if they could be stood still on ironing boards, posing.

Slaine: I haven't been bothered to read this properly since it started. Once again, fantastic art. Anyone else think Pat Mills has been dumped recently?

Cabs: This seems to be coming together nicely. If i have a complaint (and it's a very small one) it's that the phonetic writing threw me completely and i had to re-read the whole thing once i'd figured out what the character in question was saying.

Dante: Can still do no wrong! Burns rocks! I too think that this story is going to tie up a lot of endings and hopefully provide a basis for a whole new story arc.

Tanky's top tips (or something): Brashill's Dredd artwork and Nikolia Dante (as usual)

Nice!
xTGx

[House of Usher]

I enjoyed the Dredd strip, mostly for the artwork because frankly I didn't think the story was up to much. I know some subscribers thought the cartoon artwork didn't convey the gravity of the murders, but I have to disagree. I thought they were very nasty.

Caballistics Inc was good as usual, but I'm expecting next week's to be even better.

Slaine was dire. Awful, awful, awful. Too much playground banter, and nothing actually happened. And how naff was that explanatory dialogue between those beastmen? "net one of those sacred hares so we can do some sympathetic magic". At least the El Riders stand to liven things up next week.

Nikolai Dante went through the motions a bit. So, that spy turned out to be no-one really at all, and Dante got out of a fix just by er... lying to the crime boss. Genius.

Second City Blues was probably the story I enjoyed most this week, which must make me some sort of twat. (And I agree with most sentiments so far expressed about Mr Ed - even when I was a kid it occurred to me to chop of an Airfix soldier's head and glue on a farmyard horse's head in its place).

[Cthulouis]

Dredd: nice artwork, Brashill used a different style of colouring a while back didn't he? (remembering the Pumpkin Eater cover here). much prefer this style. yes it looks cartoony, but I don't see this as a bad thing.

Cabalistics inc is always good, really really good, a fine example of how this sort of thing should be done. A friend of mine asked me yesterday if i wanted to go see hellboy at the student cinima, making me want to punch him, but i digress...

Slaine: Dude! El Riders! sweet! for some of us who are too young to remember the past glories that are apparently being retreded, this is a treat. also, the Deep Ones plan is to threaten to hurt the bunnies if the humans don't give up!!! I love this!

Dante: Love the cover, amused by the purvey look on his face. Love the art, love the story, its all good.

over all, a brilliant issue, and a fine start to the year. The fact that I havent read Second cit blues yet means this prog stands up as a fine example of quality.

[Bolt-01]

You should see Hellboy, top film. Really good fun.

Bolt-01

[Cthulouis]

gah, do not like hell boy, and have heard it is a good addaptaion of the comic, hence lack of interest.

[Bolt-01]

Ah well, horses for courses....

Bolt-01

[Carlsborg Expert.]

 I read it all this morning with an insufferable hangover.IMHO;th coverhas lovely light and shadow play[where it counts doncha know;-}]

Dredd: I agree with the artoon ref from prof, Bear.I also agree with the nastiness of the killings,alongside HoU.My own point is that, the use of colours for diffrent moniters is well used.Its little too, listing, "Things we may have missed." but no less enjoyable story. I only fear it may end all too suddenly.Exellent visuals all the same.

Second city Blues:Mindless fun. Love the arena settings. Drugs in sport! First for tooth innit?

Slaine; THe best thing about Slaine this week, is the incarnation of the earth mother as the dragon. Beautiful amalgamated art. Soth!Or is it the cool dudish looking Morholt? Ah, slaine, your size?

Caballistics; Poes complex world of unsympathetic charactors.It would be difficult not to like this series.Some class pnel work*groin height head;3rd panel;top row 2nd pge*
The gun toting dominican priests.the cliffhanger.t'riffic.

Dante: Hottin up nicely. Hope no irrelevent sub plot comes it to spoil it,tho.

 

[Satanist]

Cover = Alright but then I'm not a Dante fan

Dredd = I like this art. The story is all over the place in a good way. I haven't a clue where its going and that's the way it should be.

2nd City Blues = Its a bit hit and miss for me. I don't know who half the people are couldn't care less. I am looking forward to seeing what the ball does next week though.

Slaine = art good. story pish, utter, utter pish! I don't even mind that its going over old ground, its the fact that its doing it really badly.

Cab Inc = Now this is how you write a story. Do away with Slaine & just give us a double length ep of this instead.

Dante = I don't know the back story so cant get into it. On the evidence of this I'm not sure if I'll bother getting the collection to catch up.

I've got to say this weeks prog left me a bit disappointed. If it wasn't for dredd & cab inc I'd have been well pissed off.

[Lord Running Clam]

Cover.Was o.k,nothing special.

Dredd.I,m really injoying the story.Not to keen on the art.The way the story is cutting the flash-forwards in time into the story is great.

Second City Blues.This is growing on me,but still not something that grabs me.The arts alright,but has no real speed or movement in the sports bits.

Slaine.Not keen on parts of the story this week,but it's speeding along a good pace.The art is great.Both the dragon and El riders look stunning.

Caballistics,inc.The startings a great,what the moment.Both the art and story are great.I think the really good bits are going to come drip-fed in the Brand and Hannah story.

Nikolai Dante.I like Burns art,but would like to see Simon Fraser back again at some point.I think the storys just costing this week,though.

Not as good at last week though still a good read.

[Jared Katooie]

Cover - Skimpily clad woman, knives, Dante.

6/10

Dredd - The art is cartoony but when it's not forcibly injecting comedy into the preceedings I like it a lot. The script elevated this episode over the previous one. Solid stuff.

8/10

Second City Blues - I'm enjoying this. It's unremarkable but it isn't unnecessarily "deep" or complicated. Yet. This could be good or it could be bad. Art is alright in my opinion. The colours aren't very good though the dull shades fit the story.

6/10

Slaine - I dont think Pat has a problem with women so much as he has a problem with writing. Slaine is readable but hardly anything remarkable. And yet Tharg clings to him and gives him the best artists available, so he can monopolise them all. Clint Langley is a very good artist like I said but I dont think his art style is very adaptable making him more suited to shorter stories.

4/10

Cabalistics INC - I'm starting to like this quite a bit. It seems like events are moving too fast with regards to certain characters. I would have liked to see Gordon take his time a bit more before certain events and revelations took place. However this criticism could be much more accurately applied to other series. The artist has developed a lot since we first saw his work. Great use of light and shadow, as always.

7/10

Dante - I dont know why I cant like Dante anymore but I just cant. Burns is a great artist but he's not Simon Fraser and there's only so many endless battles and "hilarious" lechery I can witness before I lose interest in it. I rate this lower than Slaine but just barely.

4/10

[UZI 4U]

Hi all. Here I am, jogging along at the back but just ahead of the fat kid.
Cover- like the girl, don't like the treatment of Dantes bio-blades. Not sure what to think about the look on his mug!
Dredd- am getting into this a bit more now. Story kicking in, artwork has grown on me too. Like the detail work( last panel actually has close-up and non-vague looking pic of lawmaster handlebar), like the character expressions and comedy deaths.
SCB- still not fussed about this. Playing game in derelict building makes plot a bit more interesting. Characters facial impressions are still Bunty-standard rather than Tooth.
Slaine- fantastic art. Particularly liked Slaines attempt at smiling, Morholt and his battle shears were cool too. More enjoyable than last weeks strip.
Cabs- never been a fave of mine but am making a serious attempt at getting into this. Want to find out why everyone else raves over it. Managed to get into the plot a bit though I suspect I'm going to struggle with a lack of backstory knowledge. Still not sold on the art style though.
Dante- don't think this deserves a slagging but I'm strangely un-gripped by this up to now.Art seems to work better in some places than others and I frankly don't give a shit about the hostage kiddies. I'd rather see dante in an epic-sized outdoor piratey type battle with a backdrop of techno-weirdy floating cities and vehicles to be honest.
Overall- enjoyed this prog more than last weeks.

[Noisybast]

Wheeze! Wait for me!

Cover: I love John Burns' artwork, but this doesn't do much for me.
Dredd: Story's boiling along nicely. Liking Brashill's art a lot.
2nd City: Can't get into it. Art's pretty good, nothing wrong with the story, but I just don't get it. Maybe it'll work better when I re-read it in one go.
Slaine: Yawn. Story's the same old pap, artwork is technically impressive, quite nice to look at, but doesn't do much to get the story across. A cross between the old Eagle photo-strips and Striker...
Cabs Inc: Building nicely.
Dante: That's more like it! Keep it coming messrs Morrison & Burns!

There - told you I'd start posting on the review threads!

[NecroClown]

Cover: Boring.

Dredd: Great, I'm loving this story far more than Terror which seemed to drag. I prefer the art to Flint's aswell (yes I know, burn the heretic!)

2nd City: Fun for what it is, the prospect of annoying kids losing limbs thanks to exploding balls has me awaiting the next episode.

Slaine: Not even the outstanding art can save this any more. Counting down the days for it to finish.

Cabs: Excellent, easily on par with Dredd in both art and story.

Dante: The story is fun, if a bit to reliant on Dante's history (I've only read bits and pieces) and to be honest I find the art a tad boring, but then I'm just not a fan of the style so fair dinkum really.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

xxxxrkzkzkzzzzxxxx eeep the blue flashes!!

cover, i love burns, but i'm finding this cover twister anatomically impossible, check out the legs, why theyre circus freaks !

dredd, brilliant.

slamboreds, i can't be arsed with the sport thing, tho the olde mall is a nice touch, oh yeah & the trendy townie haircuts annoy me.

dante, great stuff, wish the womens faces didnt transmogrify from pretty to ugly in each panel.

slaine. glorious art detail, serious mysnogyny bollocks again. Can't they just like have an adventure, or tell a bloody story or something, why this constant bikkering about men & women ? jeez , ive been reading the same banter for 20 years now. yawn.