Prog 1610: It's new, it's fresh....

Mardroid · 28 October, 2008, 07:23:23 PM

Quote from: "DavidXBrunt"I think at this stage there's nothing they could pull out of the Stalag Hat to save this strip. Unless it turns out the snakes are all characters from old strips wearing rubber suits. Episode 15 would be them all pulling their masks off to reveal, Deadman/Malone stylee, their true identities.

"Gosh! It was Feek the Freek all along!"
"Yup"
"And Bradley!"
"Yup!"
"And Micheal Cane!"
"Yup"
"And Shako!"
"Roar!"

Heh. That'd be the Scooby-doo ending then?

DavidXBrunt · 28 October, 2008, 07:27:06 PM

Well I'd call it the Dead Eyes ending but I don't want John Smith sulking again...

It was differetnt.

Old Tankie · 29 October, 2008, 08:37:45 AM

I know I'm swimming against the tide here but I, for one, am still enjoying Stalag. I love the clean lines of the artwork and also I'm enjoying the story.

the shutdown man · 29 October, 2008, 09:46:38 AM

The Dredd was hilarious, gotta love the Judge Death-style "judgements" made by the suit.

However.....one thing was niggling at the back of my mind after I read it. And it took me a while to realise but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't at least ask; How could the suit fire Dredd's lawgiver without his hand in it?

Mardroid · 29 October, 2008, 09:54:31 AM

Quote from: "the shutdown man"The Dredd was hilarious, gotta love the Judge Death-style "judgements" made by the suit.

However.....one thing was niggling at the back of my mind after I read it. And it took me a while to realise but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't at least ask; How could the suit fire Dredd's lawgiver without his hand in it?

I'm thinking the mark 4 (I still think that should be mark 3 by the way) lawgiver allows for the suit to operate it. An extra setting etc. Possibly for those few occasions when the judge and suit are separated and the suit is left with the shooter. Maybe it could mount a rescue mission etc....

Incidentally, what did you think of the guns design? I wasn't too keen, looked too machine-pistol-like to me. True lawgivers are essentially machine pistols with their automatic setting but I'm thinking more of the aesthetics. A look less 'army boy' would be nice.

the shutdown man · 29 October, 2008, 10:59:38 AM

Hmmm..... a thoroughly plausible explanation good sir. I suppose a nano-thingamajig suit could mimic a particular Judge's grip in any case.

I'd have to go back and look again, I don't have the prog in front of me right now, but I didn't feel too strongly one way or the other about the Mark 4. It just looked a bit like a beefed-up Mark 3 (or whatever the Judges are carrying these days)from what I can recall, which is no bad thing.

Hoagy · 29 October, 2008, 06:41:46 PM

The artists on Dredd do a good Hershey. Al writes her well.Loved Dredd in casuals.

Loved the art in the Futureshocks. It made me relish the return of said compendium. The writings got premise fault and blame sussed then fuddles a little on the larst panel. [spoiler]Why could they not have been freed from materialistic traps? If it were the case, a bit confusing and if it weren't the case, was it saying what it said just to avoid such a predictable demise.[/spoiler] OR... I missed something through the whole message. Answer to all these was f*** it still enjoyed it.

Just got back to STALAG the Hand of Tharg, HOT, topic on the board. Hotter still, I KNEW IT WERE 'IM!

Lob. I knew it were rr that too. Good to see that annoying so and so got her come uppence. Totally dig CC's rock and roll inking.

Roger Godpleton · 29 October, 2008, 07:35:51 PM

Cover: I had to buy a Magnum to hide the thong. Said ice cream was delicious. Good Stuff

Dredd: Laughed at this in public. Best one off of '08. Great Stuff.

FS/TT/TT: Bit too much flowery language for a 5 page story, kinda made it hard to follow. Liked the art. Good Stuff.

Stalag: Main problem for me is the lead. This has been an ensemble strip for months, and what with the Raider bait n' switch our hero is now some guy in a vest. OK Stuff.

Lob: Loved the twist(s). Brilliant art as ever. The whole reboot (?) has been the highlight of the year for me. Please make this a regular strip Tharg! Great Stuff.

Goaty · 29 October, 2008, 08:33:32 PM

Not see this prog at any shops!!! even whsmith tonight where Gordon F**king Ramsay is signed some books!

JOE SOAP · 29 October, 2008, 08:51:49 PM

Best Future Shock in terms of writing and art in a long time. A classic.

Are the writer and artist creds pseudonyms?

JOE SOAP · 29 October, 2008, 08:55:12 PM

Quote from: "Dark Jimbo"That Future Shock was a Tale of Telguuth in all but name. Odd that it wasn't labelled as one.

Cracking art, though.

the aliens aren't aliens.

Trout · 29 October, 2008, 11:29:46 PM

David, I demand you turn your fantastic idea into a Stalag 666 fan strip now!
Failing that, Tony, please re-write your story to make DavidXBrunt's idea the real ending. I don't know what you've got planned, but I can't see how anything could be better than that!
;-)

Seriously, I must admit I can't see anything saving the strip now. I appreciate the effort, I love the mad snakemen baddies and I commend the writer for his refreshingly open attitude to writing - but I can't stand the strip. It simply hasn't excited me. I've found it a bit formulaic. Sorry.
But it's far from the worst story in 2000AD and I say good for you for writing it. I've never been published in comics, so you're well ahead of me!

- Trout

Tiplodocus · 29 October, 2008, 11:57:29 PM

Yep, I still can't find any space in my huge sauropd heart to love Stalag 666 yet I can find plenty of room in my tiny brain to pick at plot inconsistencies that Funt has elaborated on and when a big old slow dinosaur like myself guesses who the traitor was (and I never get any of these right) it's a bad sign.

DREDD was good and I'm willing to forgive the odd bit of clunky dialogue because, well, even the best Dredd writers use clunky dialogue every now and again. It was funny and made me laugh which should surely be the point of most one off Dredd's these days. (Or should it? Discuss?)

Oh and a good cover by the way - it actually read like the first panel of the strip (I'm sure that's deliberate because otherwise the first view you get of the uniform is from the back as Dredd dodges - that can't be right).

Enjoyed the Teleguth Shock and particularly liked the art and the [spoiler]double double[/spoiler]twist. You knew it was coming but it was enjoyable execution. And some nice writing as well - not just perfunctory exposition.

Lobster Random finished in fine style but I'll confess I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the direction this is now taking. Surely, [spoiler]galaxy eating demons being released to threaten all life is the sort of massive space opera concept that Durham Red did so badly (sorry if there are any DR fans out there).[/spoiler]I'm not sure that's what I want from Lobster Random - it's the one on one interactions that make the strip for me so I feel a little uneasy. I found myself enjoying despite.

Roger Godpleton · 30 October, 2008, 12:20:48 AM

I think the ending to S666 should be that he's actually a cat.

Kerrin · 30 October, 2008, 09:16:21 PM

Cover - Should have just had Dredd in the uniform front and centre, but still good. Though that Lawgiver looks like some crappy water pistol version of a Kalashnikov. Nasty. Kev Walker does the best Lawgiver in my nonhumble opinion.

Dredd - A good one, nice piece of writing from the Ewing droid. So WOW...so NOW!

Future Shocks - Love the artwork, reckon he'd do a good Dante.

Stalag 666 - I thought it was going to turn out to be [spoiler]Raider[/spoiler] that was the traitor, hey ho.

Lobster Random - Ooh, he's a shitbag.....He's not a shitbag!.....no...no it turns out that he's just a very, very unlucky shitbag. And I will be using big piggies "I humbly submit..." line in conversation in the very near future.

New Thrills - Is that the Frasier droid on Dredd duties next week? Ampney Crucis looks like it might be a bit too scary for me.