Hellfire ending......

[the shutdown man]

Loved it, loving this whole new "Sword of the Tsar" arc for Dante, (apart from the crap Amazon women story), after the years of pirate stories, we're finally getting back to dealing the aftermath of the war.

As for the ending of Hellfire, two things are sticking in my head:
1: Anyone else think Dante didn't really kill Lulu? There was all his talk in previous episodes of "Trust me", and then when he stabs her, she seems to remember this. We've seen that Romanovs can survive a mere stab wound, and he maybe intentionally didn't want the Tsar to have the body, because there is no body.

2: That look on Dante's face in the last panel; He recognised Konstantin, methinks.

Anyone....

[Tex Hex]

>>That look on Dante's face in the last panel; He recognised Konstantin, methinks.


also: "remind me never to turn my back on you"

-hex

[Funt Solo]

Yeah, I love this arc on Dante as well.  Makes me want to look out the back progs and do a Dante re-read right from the beginning.

I thought it was great that there was finally a chink in the armour of Konstantin's magic suit - and that he got scared.

I far prefer this style of story to the sort of Carry On Dante one-offs that crop up from time to time.  Even better is when the camp tomfoolery is actually blended in with the more serious stuff.  The one with the bearded women, or that whole poster campaign of Dante with knickers on his head.  I loved the whole light-hearted romance that went on: "Dante, Dante, he's our man", or whatever it was.  But when it's in full-on Carry On mode, I just don't like it - it's as if someone else is writing it for a different audience.

I'm on record as pretty much despising the whole Dante's mother arc.  After such a strong, continuous set-up, it felt like everything had gone on hold - most of the key players stripped away and we were just getting a lot of nothing stretched over a vast amount of time.

Same with Sin Dex.  I shouldn't be moaning - at the moment all is great with the prog.  

[Trout]

Dante is indeed back to its best.

And isn't it great to have Fraser back? Top stuff.

- Trout

[Funt Solo]

No disservice to John Burns (whose art is beautiful), but I'm exceptionally happy that Simon Fraser is back on art duties for Dante, as, for me, he's the definitive artist.

Whilst it was cool to see other artists' take on the strip, in the early days, Fraser has the edge.  Clearly, Burns made his mark during the Tsar Wars arc, and without it we'd be worse off.  

[Byron Virgo]

Thing is about the pirate epic: remember, it wasn't actually as long as it seemed, but it was dragged out across nearly three years in tiny little bursts, and I think that harmed the overall reader impression of it.

Also, remember that Morrison's original pitch for the series (as I understand it) began during the war, so the whole pirate-thing was in fact probably one of the earliest things actually plotted for the series.

I reckon it'll read a lot better once we finally see it all collected.

[I, Cosh]

I read the whole pirate thing just before Sword of the Tsar started and in one go - when you can remember the characters from one story to the next - it's actually alright. As Byron notes, if it had been printed at the same rate as what came before, it would only have lasted about six months or so and been an interesting diversion, clearing up some of the mystery of Dante's background.

I often find it interesting to go back and have a look at the comments on the original Progs and the early parts of this were pretty well receieved.

Nonetheless, this current stuff is a whole order of magnitude better than it's been since Battleship Potemkin.

Regarding the "carry on" Dantes. I find they're good for highlighting the diversity of the strip and bringing out the different sides of the character when read in a TPB, but a bit annoying in the weekly when you just want to get on with the meat of the larger storylines.

[Funt Solo]

I think the big re-read is definitely on:

Nikolai Dante   
~ 1035-1041
The Romanov Dynasty 1042-1049
Russia's Greatest Love Machine 1066
The Gentleman Thief 1067-1070
The Full Dante 1071
Moscow Duellists 1072-1075
The Gulag Apocalyptic 1079-1082
The Trouble With Arbatous 1083
Cruel Britannia   1084
The Great Game 1101-1110
The Octobrianna Seduction 1113-1116
The Masque Of Dante 1125-1127
The Moveable Feast 1128-1130
Tour Of Duty 1131-1133
The Cadre Infernale 1134-1137
The Hunting Party 1139-1140
Fists Of Fury 1141
Last Dance On The Trans-Siberian Express 1142-1143
Cruel Seas 1148-1149
Requiem For Lost Love 1150
The Courtship Of Jena Makarov 1161-1172
Love And War p2000
The Rudinshtein Irregulars 1183-1190
Love And War 1200-1207
Battleship Potemkin 1213-1220
One Last Night In The House Of Sin p2001
The Beguiling 1234-1235
Fiends 1236-1239
The Romanov Empire 1250-1262
The Return Of The Gentleman Thief p2002 / 1273-1274
The Romanov Job   1280-1287
Hell And High Water p2003 / 1322-1328
The Sea Falcon p2004
Agent Of Destruction p2005 / 1420-1427
"How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life" 1428-1431
Primal Screams 1433-1436
Devil's Deal p2006
Usurper   1487-1489
The Depths 1500-1501
Dragon's Island   1502-1507
Sword of the Tsar 1511-1516
The Road Of Bones p2007
Deadlier Than The Male 1518-1520
Hellfire 1526-1531