Prog 1690 : The Candidate

[Darren Stephens]

Top cover from Greg Staples...reminds me of a certain classic Mcmahon one from years ago. Great to see Dredd coming back to the big meg, too. Wagner really is on fire here. A fairly good prog. Bit dissapointed to see Davis back on Damnation Station, especially after Wilshers great work last time.

[Pete Wells]

Okay then, if no one else is going to do it:

Cover: Holy fucking shit! I gasped when I pulled this out of the envelope, a beautiful Greg Staples cover of [spoiler]Dredd as chief judge![/spoiler] I never thought I'd see that! He looks so grumpy too, it's superb. I'm dreading doing the obligatory vote for best cover at the end of the year as we've had outstanding ones on pretty much every prog so far...

Dredd: Again, outstanding. The scene with Niles and Sinfield had me punching the air as did the beautiful splash page showing Dredd's return to the city. His strategy meeting was hilarious too, I loved how his advisors put spin on every single action he did. Brilliant.

Red Seas: Nice setup with some great dialoge. I loved how the cowardly composer sussed that the massacre at the town was done simply to ramp the drama up for Dancer and his men. Hmmm, regarding that last panel, quite by accident I found the image below while perusing comicartfans.com, have I stumbled onto the inks for a future cover?



Damnation Station: Crikey, another member of the original cast gone before we can get to know them properly (obviously(?) I'm talking about [spoiler]June[/spoiler] here, not [spoiler]Roker[/spoiler].) Gah, I really do like this strip but I've not invested enough in the characters to care enough about them. I really think it needed a longer intro where we could have fully got to know the cast.

Savage: A cool little episode with great artwork from Goddard. Hardliner Littlejohn makes me think of that prick Richard Littlejohn, especially with his zero tollerance on everything, so I just want him to die! Some of the tech speak is jarring (would a trojan download kiddie porn onto your computer?) but it's more than forgivable as the current run of Savage is superb.

Stront: Wow, another amazing revelation this prog and a brilliantly witty script from Wagner. That fat cow is such a bitch and Roberts was horribly detestable! Suprised to see [spoiler]Johnny's eyes were still burned out, if Wagner does bring him back, as we going to have Dredd style robotic jobs?[/spoiler] Absolutely fascinaiting!

A typically superb prog from the house of Tharg.

[nev]

Just opened the envelope, had an enormous nerdgasm at the cover.

[radiator]

quite by accident I found the image below while perusing comicartfans.com, have I stumbled onto the inks for a future cover?

Wow - that's really nice. Is this what Langley's work looks like pre-Photoshop, or is he going back to a leaner, more organic style? Hope it's the latter - that image would look great with some nice delicate ink-wash colours.

[flip-r mk2]

Another amazing prog,just gets better and better.
Radiator Clint's signature is at bottom right hand corner.


filip

[Pete Wells]

looks like pre-Photoshop, or is he going back to a leaner, more organic style?

You can see the piece here Radiator http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=640170&GSub=84384, he says it was finished digitally so maybe a bit of both? I look forward to seeing the final piece to find out!

However, I'm sure in an email he sent when he sent a cover for the blog he said he was considering using more traditional methods. Me? I love his digital art.

[Leigh S]

this weeks stront has got me rereading Final Solution,which is a feat in itself!

Wonder if this new tale will tackle the fact that both Sagan and the more newly introduced Nelson Culliver are both half brothers fo Alpha....

[The Monarch]

I wanna see this cover now!

[Swerty]

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Best. Cover. Ever!!!

[Toni Scandella]

Graet prog once again, though Savage is starting to lose me.  Yes, nonces are bad and should be tortured to death.  We get it. The Daily Mail would love this episode.

[House of Usher]

Another good Prog, but didn't enthuse me as much as last week's. 7/10.

Judge Dredd is good week after week.
Strontium Dog likewise, although it's weird they had to go into space just to talk to one guy and then come back again. 2000ad has had more than 3 decades of vid-phones by now!
Damnation Station was good just for the cheeky alien suicide bomber with what appeared to be a WWII sea mine strapped to its back! Didn't do much for me otherwise.
Savage contained nothing at all that interested me this Prog. 'Littlejohn' may have been a nod to satire, but you can't have it both ways. So many things wrong. You can walk in and out of prisons to carry out a hit even under Volgan occupation. Half a dozen Volgans at a checkpoint can riddle a car with bullets and the occupants can survive despite being unable to duck. We get the added bonus of an inconclusive discussion about whether child molesters should get the death penalty. Can we please get back to tigers, mad teleportation science and unreliable war robots?
The Red Seas moved up a gear with the search for survivors and the giant leaping lobster man ambush.

[Mikey]

Yup - that is a special sort of cover alright. It's really got me juices flowing!

Dredd - Fantastic! I really can't pick the thread from this one. Will Dredd actually become Chief Judge? Will he install someone else if he does? Will the position be dissolved in favour of a 'polit bureau' type affair? Great stuff.

Damnation Station - I'm still liking this a lot, especially

the cheeky alien suicide bomber with what appeared to be a WWII sea mine strapped to its back!

. The rotation of artists helps create a confusion about the predicament they're in if you ask me, and all the art has been fantastic from the get go.

Savage - I feel as if I've missed a book or something, but I'm quite enjoying it nonetheless. I definately prefer Goddard's work in monochrome.

Red Seas - Good. I've been a bit ambivalent about this in the past, but I'm enjoying this run so far.

Alpha - This has a real weight about it already. Look at the creative team, how could it not be great?

I'd give it an 7.5 on the Thrillometer, John.

M.

[Nodders]

Cover: Immense.  Not sure why, but it reminds we of some of the Dredd covers from the Judge Child era - hypothetical and incredibly intriguing.  I imagine anyone who has ever read 2000AD will want to have a little read if they see it - perfect stuff.

Dredd: perfect pace to this story. Incredible balance between progress and building tension.  Favourite strip in the prog for the last few months.

Red Seas:  I don't usually enjoy this (which is strange as I usually love Edginton's stuff), but I'm really getting into this.

Damnation station:  I get a little confused with the artist swapping with the characters.  Have we met Roker before?  Will have to buy the TPB.

Savage: Nice little side story - loving the art.  Something about b&w

Strontium Dog: great story telling, but I'm still fretting.  If this series ends with Johnny alive and well I think I'll despair.  I can't get away from the feeling that that conclusion would be a bit of a sell-out by John and Carlos.  I can't get away from the Dynasty "and it was all a dream" feeling - it may be superbly crafted and told, but it would still be a tad Deus Ex Machina.

Overall: very competent prog.  Dredd is by far and away the highlight with the other stories being well above average - worried about where SD is going though.

[Richard]

it's weird they had to go into space just to talk to one guy and then come back again. 2000ad has had more than 3 decades of vid-phones by now!

At that distance it would be a rather expensive phone call though.