PROG 1570 - Get Whet

[philt]

The joys of getting progs delivered to work..

Details to follow but the lunacy in Shakara continues, although a holding episode Kingdom remains intriguing.

The cover is quality. How Elson has developed as a 'droid is astonishing.

[Noisybast]

The cover in question:

Link: http://www.2000adonline.com/functions/cover.php?Comic=2000ad&choice=1570" target="_blank">Click for bigness!

http://www.2000adonline.com/covers/2000ad/mediumres/1570.jpg">

[Richmond Clements]

That's bloody good.

[Thursday]

COVER: Nice bit of splattery scrapping from the pen of Mr Elson.  Gene looks suitably brutal but Them arguably look even better, picked out in black and red.  Good stuff.

DREDD: Dunno where to start, really.  There's some proper detective work displayed, both from the street judges and their CSI people; it may be less flashy than having Dredd run around shooting at perps, but it does serve as a nice reminder that the Judges are actually police and not just armed bullies in funny hats.  Quite a few plot threads are juggled here - on top of the murder investigation we've got Dredd's relationship to Beeny, the strong possibility of a PJ Maybe copycat, the ongoing mutie issue and PJ's attempts to get at Ambrose's grandfather's fortune... and yet none of this feels rushed or cramped.  

Wagner and MacNeil have basically served up a page of text followed by five pages of people standing around talking, and it's a shining example of how awesomely good they are that this never comes across as even faintly dull or repetitive (no mean feat when you consider that most of the cast are essentially faceless and near-identical judges doing nothing more exciting than standing and talking).  Outstanding stuff.

SHAKARA: There's some plot development and some character stuff or something but frankly who cares about that because that's all just a prelude to the BIG STOMPY CYBORG DINOSAURS!  One brief glance at this page and I was grinning like a loon for the next half an hour.  As-cool-as-things-were-when-you-were-twelve stuff.

KINGDOM: Arr, here be plot stuff.  The urgings are back, talking to Gene, and while it suggests that they know quite a bit about the farm it doesn't shed any more light on the relationship between the Masters and the farmers.  There's the suggestion that there's something more than just the fence and a few guns keeping Them at bay, and no indication as to what that might be... other than the fact that the Urgings don't seem to want Gene thinking about it too much.  Then there's the hydroponic sheds where the meat is grown... My first thought was that this would turn out to be where the dog soldiers like Gene were grown, but if that were the case then the farmers would've recognised what he was.  They could be cloning people and eating the spares, but that seems a little too predictably FutureShock-esque.  I suppose they could even just be growing synthetic meat and it's only off-limits because it needs to be kept sterile, but what're the odds of that?  And Old Man Gary gets a mention.

If this ever gets collected it'd be interesting to see some of Elson's concept sketches for Them; it can't be easy to design what're basically giant bugs without making them look too much like scaled-up insects or cheap Alien copies.  Very, very good stuff indeed.

STICKLEBACK: Hmm, going to have to dig out Red Seas now - pretty certain we've seen the temple of Mithras and Dr Orlando Doyle before (unless I'm thinking of From Hell... but the good doctor does look somewhat like the necromancer chap from the first Red Seas arc).  Plot development and some quite extraordinarily good art from D'Israeli.  Top quality stuff.

STRONTIUM DOG: No major surprises here - Alpha is accused of cheating and kicked out of the casino, and decides to resort to bounty hunting to get the rest of the money they need.  Not quite sure how that'll work out, given that he's now got a huge bounty on his head, but he appears to have a plan.  This tale hasn't displayed the same level of surprise and outright weirdness as the rest of the current crop of thrills (at least, not yet) but it's well done nonetheless.  Good solid stuff.

OVERALL: Another top-grade prog.  I think one of the key elements that makes the current lineup so enjoyable is unpredictability; there's no telling how the mutant issue's going to play out in Dredd, Kingdom's stacking up a fair wodge of mysteries, Stickleback has already thrown big stompy steampunk things, undead cowboys, Chinese vampires and hidden temples at us, and frankly it's anyone's guess as to what Shakara's next slice of gonzo alien bizarreness will be.  The wait for the next prog would be unbearable, were it not for the fact that the art on each strip is gorgeous enough to just stare at for at least a week.  Much more of this and 'Galaxy's Greatest Comic' really won't be doing it justice.

[Mardroid]

Just read it an hour or so ago.
Minor spoilers, but this is a spoilers thread. Still, I won't give much away since some won't get this until Wednesday; usual spoiler tags where I the line is a bit thing...


Dredd- Nice story progression and some genuine mystery here. I like how most of the citzens of Mega City 1 can't spel propurlie... ..yet PJ Maybe somehow still turned it into a trademark.

Shakara- Again, like last week not just the basic hack and slash that we had previously. Interesting to see that Shakara, for all it's/his homicidal tenacity (wow!) does have an ethical code of a sort...

Kingdom- Not an over lot of action this prog, but that's a good thing otherwise it could get one dimensional. Adding a little bit of foreshadowing and mystery too, that things in this idyllic farming community might not be entirely what they seem. Intersting gag about the old man going to a farm somewhere, a bit of reversal between man and dog there.  Assuming that's what it meant!

Stickleback:  I'm really liking this! I like the characters, the old setting and the mixture of Victorian gangsters and mysticism. And a whole twist concerning the jewel that I haven't come across before!

Strontium Dog: I like the mix of SF with western bar antics but it feels a bit been-there-seen-that, even though I haven't read much Strontium Dog. Still good fun though, and if I see this as the weakest part of the prog, it's only comparatively so.

[radiator]

I don't know what all the fuss is about with the new logo. It looks really good on this issue. I love the colour coordination.

[radiator]

Also: thats a good cover for a Kingdom GN, should such a thing ever exist.

Has Kingdom ever been on the cover before?

[Byron Virgo]

"but the good doctor does look somewhat like the necromancer chap from the first Red Seas arc"

Yup, that's Dr. Orlando Doyle from the first Red Seas series, presumably in his spare homunculus body that he previously kept in a big tube back in Oxford.

[Woolly]

Not read the prog yet, but im finally sold on the new logo. Works a treat.

[Goaty]

i dont think Kindgom been on cover before, as there was lots of covers of ABC warriors that time when Kindgom was in series 1?

[ukdane]

No Prog in Daney-land today.

[Proudhuff]

Every thing Thursday said, but s/he mised out the best bit, The letters page!!  

Also got a Driod's life and a damage report where Cyb-matt paints his Warhammer, what an issue!
Phew of to lie doon

Huffski

[vzzbux]

I believe this is the best start to a new year for a long time.

Cover is awsome

Dredd shuffles along at a blistering pace. All future dredd writers need to read this over and over again. Pure Wagner genius with superb art to match.

Shakara still has me hooked.

Kingdom is still top of the prog for me. May this story run and run.

Stickleback has me intregued with the Red Sea's conections. I hope Ian is just using coinkidink rather than marrying the two stories.

I have a theory on alpha, maybe it is a set-up to bring down the station and all who inhabit/use

Droid life had me pissing.

Nice laser addition to the three fingered scissors.





V

[I, Cosh]

What a thoroughly entertaining Prog. Kingdom is dull, but looks nice and I wish Strontium Dog was monochrome but everything else is super-duper.

Is it wrong that I sneaked a peek at the letters page immediately after reading Dredd, then spent the rest of my reading time anticipating the ripping Frame and Proudfoot had coming?

[Richmond Clements]

then spent the rest of my reading time anticipating the ripping Frame and Proudfoot had coming?


Ha! That's just what I thought too!