Prog 2012

[Greg M.]

Ok... apart from Regan, Calhoun and the Irish git, Inspector Trout is from 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' and Charlie Barlow is from 'Z-Cars'

[Toni Scandella]

Can I join in the Dredd love?
[spoiler]I read it three times as a 'game', choosing different paths, all of which clearly ended in death or arrest... I'm spoiler tagging this as it didn't occur to me for a bit that it _needed_ to be read panel by panel in order to complete the story - seriously, seriously well done.[/spoiler]

Enjoyed the Stront, too, and loved the Dante - but am saving the rest to last over Christmas...

[Zarjazzer]

Fine intro to some new stuff especially Grey Area, me likey. Good Dreddy and the cameos in Sin Dex were awesome.

[Ochs]

Like it all. Not sure that I think that it was the best end of year prog ever. It's always nice when there's a strip where something massive happens that is going to have big repurcussions in the coming year. While there's good stuff going on none of it felt that big or surprising if that makes sense.

I liked Dredd, very clever and funny but I'm really enjoying the slow pacing and heavyweight feeling of events in Day of Chaos. I wish we'd had a normal episode of that too like a couple of years back with Tour of Duty. We had the regular Dredd and a Christmas one off. There's big events going down in Dreddworld and this felt like a distraction. Still loved it though and probably would have even more if it hadn't dropped in the middle of one of my favourite Dredd stories for ages.

Wasn't mad on SinDex, felt like an anticlimactic and rushed end to a big story arc. It felt a bit like City of the Damned, like Dabnett just wanted it finished and quickly.

The rest I did really enjoy. I have to say though that along with Aquila which was brilliant, I loved Dandridge. What a throwback. It really reminded me of the old Van Helsing's Terror Tales in the House of Hammer (for those of us old enough to remember). And great to see a good Christmas ghost story too. Very Seasonal. Brilliant.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

My first prog since.... Prog 2011.

Judge Dredd - I found it literally unreadable. I'm sure the idea is funny though.

Absalom - Excellent. Had no idea who anyone was, or what was going on, but picked it up. That's if it's supposed to be a modern-dress verison of Stickleback. Enjoyed it hugely, in any case.

Nikolai Dante - Same old same old. Don't really like it, never have.

Aquila - Oh yeah, this was quite good fun.

Grey Area - Excellent. Could be another Insurrection.

Dandridge - It's the old hand in a jar horror cliche, seen through some sort of "Victorian Spiritualists were right" prism. Needed more of an angle.

Sinister Dexter - I occasionally read one of these and it makes no sense to me at all. I did at least recognise some of the characters in this one. Including a "character" who I know the creator is precious about. Brave Dan Abnett.

Strontium Dog - Yeah, this was excellent too.

Will I buy the next prog? Not sure.

[DoomBot]

Pacing myself. Perhaps a little too much but only just got around to reading Dredd. Clever. Loved the conclusion. Funny. Clever. I think it needs to be read a zillion times. Did I mention I thought it was clever?

[pauljholden]

My first prog since.... Prog 2011.

Judge Dredd - I found it literally unreadable. I'm sure the idea is funny though.

[spoiler]My first read of it was to 'play' it which quickly bored me, I was never a great player of those kinds of games. And I wasn't looking forward to reading every single permutation of what was going on in order to read the entire thing. It wasn't until I saw someone else mention that reading it one panel after the other was a different experience that I tried that, and blimey! It's a revelation. Easily one of the cleverest conceits I've ever seen pulled off in comic book form. If you read it via the captions, then your entire worldview is of the little dude, but if you IGNORE the captions, and read the dialogue alone (starting panel 1 and going through in numerical order), you get a straightforward(ish) Dredd tale of multiple parallel realities. VERY rewarding, worth a reread. And now makes me want to play the game. Brainstonkingly clever.
[/spoiler]

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Thanks PJ

[spoiler]You're absolutely right, reading it that way and the strip is very good indeed. The temptation to do it the "Fighting Fantasy" way is what got me into trouble. I just love Khare - Cityport of Traps too much! [/spoiler]

Had a second try and I now accept the Dredd story is great.

Will be passing the prog to my brother today, be interesting to see what he makes of it...

[Mikey]

I thought I could wait to read my prog someday this week, then I thought I could eke it out, just have a nibble today but no...I opened the cover and just when I thought I was out, it pulled me back in.

Droid Life - Good!

Dredd - oh my dear grud! This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had reading comics in an age! I had a big, stupid grin on me face while I read it, first through the various permutations then as a straight read. Pure fun and a stroke of genius way to do a parallel worlds yarn. All that and it's drawn by John Higgins! Why is there not more Higgins Tharg? Really nice colour job by Sally Hurst too.

Absalom - fantastic. I loved the first run and this just continues the excellence on offer. It feels so grounded, there's a real weight behind this if you know what I mean. That and the references adding another layer of entertainment! Looking forward to more in 2012.

Dante - proved that I only seemd to enjoy it when Fraser's on art. Liked it a lot, but Dante's never won me over totally as I've mentioned before.

Aquila - get the fuck in! I think this was my favourite strip in the prog. Not a word or panel wasted, brilliant set up for the series.

Grey Area - yup, good start there. Plenty of potential and I especially enjoyed Richardson's palette. Good stuff!

Dandridge - Thought it was ok. It didn't really engage me and I thought the ending felt abrupt.

Sin Dex - It was ok too. I'm generally a fan of the series, but this maybe stuck out in the prog as it was a last rather than first installment, so didn't have the excitement factor of the others. Perfectly executed, mind.

Strontium Dog - a look a the creators would suggest I'd like this more than I did. Really liked the baddie SD agents though - some nice design there!

All in all, a superb end of year issue. The prog's in still rude health I'm glad to say and even though I kind of miss the annuals, I reckon this 100 page thing is much more fun!

Good work Tharg, I'm a happy Squaxx today.

M

[James Stacey]

Minor quibble: Aquila- that's never forty yards.

Haha, I thought that too. I must be getting extra nit-picky in my old age! 

i was going to mention that on the pedants thread...

Really enjoyed Aquila. My only gripe was he clearly had his hands open wide during crucifixion which isn't possible with the nails going through the wrist. I tried not to let it spoil the story.

[DoomBot]

Just read Absalom which is My first introduction to this character. Loved it. Great artwork too. Wishing I could read the first series now, especially as judging from the comments it sounds like I missed something special.

[JayzusB.Christ]

The Dredd one - my second favourite Ewing Dredd one-off ever, which is saying something, as The Americans was one of my favourite Dredd one-offs by anyone ever.  Alan Moorishly clever

[Proudhuff]

I read it as a 'straight' story and never tried the Dice-man approach, really top notch stuff, a real classic from Mr E-Wing.

[JayzusB.Christ]

While I realised you had to jump to the next frame at the bit at the end, I hadn't realised you could do it for the whole story till I looked at this message board. Thanks, Squaxx! Thuaxx.

[Satanist]

Just finished this last night and gotta say thats a cracking year end prog!

As said before Dredd was v clever and brought back many a Fighting Fantasy memory. Now wheres that complete Diceman reprint?

My only prob was I really liked both the Grennie strips but neither continue on next issue.

Why do you taunt me so Tharg?