Prog 1778 : Thief, Scoundrel...Tsar

[radiator]

Or just wait for another series or two and collect them as Dino Files 02.

[TordelBack]

Better yet bundle Legend of Shamana and Satanus Unchained (I know, I know) in with Dino Files 2 and just get on with it.  Or go all meta (like the cool kids say) and use XTNCT, Slaughterbowl and hell I don't know, Dinosty.  Your dinosaur comics!  BRING THEM TO ME!

[a chosen rider]

Yay, the digital prog has appeared, after I'd already given up hope on getting it today.  Now I get to ramble about my opinions in an almost timely manner!

Cover - Yeah, I have to agree that something's not quite right there.  Either side of the face looks fine if you cover up the other, but the two halves don't work together.  I don't think the shiny glossy colouring job is doing it many favours either - it just makes that face look far too smooth for a man with grey in his hair.  C-

Dredd - It's a relief to see Logan and Beeny spared the plague.  Which probably means Wagner will run one of them down with a bus sometime later in the storyline.  I liked that the two of them weren't immediately sure whether to believe Miasma's news report.  (I notice Dredd refers to "picking off" the infected one by one rather than picking them "up", shining beacon of hope and optimism that he is.)  It really is genuinely eerie to see Mega-City streets so empty, and hmm, I wonder if that comment about the plague elsewhere in the world is a seed for further developments or just a throwaway?  Fantastic dense and dramatic stuff, as ever.  A+

Age of the Wolf - The opening to this confused me at first; I didn't twig until rereading that Rowan and Ash were supposed to be sleeping(?) - I thought Harry had knocked them out and was wondering why we'd skipped ahead to that point.  (Also, studying the page that closely made me realise that the page layouts in this strip are often a bit boring in their regularity, which is not something I'd normally notice.)  I do like the art overall, though, and I thought this was a solid instalment.  Harry's madness comes across pretty well, erratic without his delusions being too cohesive and logical.  Ending does feel a tad awkward, though.  B-

Flesh - I'm really getting nothing from the storyline of this strip: it seems to lurch around with new elements being introduced all the time while previous developments flap about ignored until it's plot-convenient.  And the T&A depiction of the female characters is getting steadily more grating; 2000AD is usually better about this stuff.  That said, those are some lovely pictures of dinosaurs.  C-

Zaucer of Zilk - This one's not really working for me either.  None of the characters are likeable, the Zaucer least of all, and there's too much of an "anything can happen" vibe to invest in what's going on.  The art is nice, especially in the rare darker panels, but reading the black-on-psychadelic narration text on a computer screen is really hard on my eyes.  Overall, meh.  C

Nikolai Dante - Ah, lovely eye-soothing Burns art.  I'm always glad to see it, but it seems to work on Dante best of all.  Although I do wish someone hadn't pointed out the jarring style of the SFX a couple of progs ago, because I never used to notice before and now it really bugs me.  But that can't spoil what's a classic dose of Dante fun.  Sad to think it's almost over, glad it seems to be going out on a high.  A

Overall, this should probably balance out to an average prog, except that Dredd and Dante are both so good that the inclusion of anything else just seems like bonus material.  I would happily pay full price for the Dredd alone.

[Syne]

Ok, my first prog "review":

Cover - have to agree with the majority here, that is a weird looking Dante. I agree with those who suggest he may have just had a stroke, or be a cast member on a reality tv show. Or maybe he's just off his head on something.

Dredd - fantastic. I love how things just keep getting worse and worse. The destruction of the Big Meg as we know it really does seem on the cards now. I recall people criticising the Chaos virus as being a rehash of Block Mania, but I think by now it's obvious that the strip has taken things in a very different direction.

Age of the Wolf - The two deaths felt odd, especially after the whole "gonna save you from turning into a werewolf whether you like it or not" drama last week. And why aren't the wolves in the bottom of the hole attacking Rowan? Not too enthusiastic about this strip, though the artwork is nice. Maybe being familiar with the first run would make it more engaging, but at the moment, it feels a little bit all over the place.

Flesh - so far so good. Mill's is at his best, I think, when he's turning everything up to 11 (Savage being the exception), and rampaging dinosaurs provide a lot of opportunities for that. Though now we've got eco-terrorists, presumably good-guys, in the mix. I hope things aren't going to get too preachy, as they have been known to do in his strips. . .

Zaucer of Zilk - love the art. The script does seem to be channelling McCarthy's old flame, Milligan, with heavy infusions of Mighty Boosh to boot - anyone else spot a cameo of the Moon?

Dante - entertaining enough, though I think it would have been a good idea to have a break after the last storyline. That was a pretty big event, no, toppling the Tsar and rescuing the girl and winning the thrown and all that? A month or so away from the prog would have allowed this current storyline to make its own mark - as it is, it feels a bit overshadowed by the previous story.

[Mardroid]

Age of the Wolf - The two deaths felt odd, especially after the whole "gonna save you from turning into a werewolf whether you like it or not" drama last week.

I know what you mean, but I quite like it when strips sometimes mirror real life. I.e. you can make all your plans and work hard and boom! All to waste, just like that.

Also, the very fact it was unexpected, to me, is a good thing. I think most of us were expecting the rest of this story to be tinged with her ex's resentment in tattooing him against his will, 'argue, argue, blah, blah, etc, will they won't they get past it and get back together, etc, etc'.  I'm actually glad to be spared that.

However the fact she tattooed him still serves a purpose. She now has to get past the guilt of the fact that her last act with him was an act of violation despite her best intentions. Especially as those best intentions couldn't deflect an ordinary bullet. (If any high velocity piece of metal can be considered 'ordinary'.)

And why aren't the wolves in the bottom of the hole attacking Rowan?

I wondered about that too. I thought maybe the fact she just landed was a factor, i.e. maybe this is a snapshot the fraction of a second after she has landed. However that's not really how the picture looks, does it? She's had time to stand up and both she and the wolves are staring up at the nazi guy. Not to mention strapping on that bear trap thing...

I then thought that maybe the fact she'd been eaten by Fenri in her earlier adventures, or due to having scratches since then, maybe they now regarded her as 'infected' and therefore one of them. I don't think we've seen any other indication that this is the case though.

On the other hand, maybe she just had a rune spell readily prepared for this eventuality making herself a pack leader of sorts.

Hopefully we'll get an explanation this week.

[Syne]

However that's not really how the picture looks, does it? She's had time to stand up and both she and the wolves are staring up at the nazi guy.

I must have Mighty Boosh on the brain, 'cause as soon as I read "wolves" and "nazi guy" I imagined the Crack Fox squealing "It was a Nazi. It was a Nazi Man....ohh danger."

[Aonghus]

Hopefully we'll get an explanation this week.

You did! She [spoiler]grabbed onto a pipe and dangled above the wolves[/spoiler], from the looks of it.

Also the bear trap thing seems to be permanently strapped onto her arm.

[Syne]

Hopefully we'll get an explanation this week.

You did! She [spoiler]grabbed onto a pipe and dangled above the wolves[/spoiler], from the looks of it.

Also the bear trap thing seems to be permanently strapped onto her arm.

I checked again, I can't see her [spoiler]holding onto any pipe (in this prog anyway).

But on close inspection it does look like there's a dirt-coloured bulge on the wall which her beartrap is latched. I didn't see it on my first read: looked like she was just shaking her fist up at the[/spoiler] Nazi man.

[Emperor]

FP's prog reviews roll on and they've had a bit of a revelation over Judge Dredd:

Jez Higgins pointed out last Prog in the comments that I was possibly expecting something from the current Dredd storyline that wasn't necessarily going to happen.

And he's right.  I was always under the impression that this "Eve Of Destruction" storyline was just the first part of the "Day of Chaos" tale. I found out after writing last week's review that this simply wasn't the case, and there's been a fair number of Day Of Chaos storylines prior to this. And that meant Jez was sort of right, and the whole nature of the serial changed for me. This was no longer the prelude to the big everything goes to shit mega epic I was expecting, suddenly it's reconfigured in my mind as John Wagner writing the Dredd world equivalent of a socio-political thriller, a little Cold War spy hunt, a lot of Orwellian nightmare.

And in doing that my eyes opened, and I looked again, and blow me, this issue opens with a staggeringly good couple of pages of simply brilliant writing, great artwork from Flint, and a perfect look at things going wrong, the Sov virus maybe just the beginning, as the people and the media get a handle on what's been going on.

And interestingly, just as I'm getting into this Dredd as a great drama in and of itself, there's a threat that action is just around the corner, what was simmering now threatens to explode. The irony isn't lost on me that all of a sudden I'm thinking i'd rather it didn't kick off so quickly!

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2012/2012-2000ad-pledge/

I checked again.... [spoiler] on close inspection it does look like there's a dirt-coloured bulge on the wall which her beartrap is latched.[/spoiler]

I smell a euphemism.

[Cthulouis]

(if I had one quibble it'd be that they're occasionally a bit too big).

We can put that down to time waste mucking with distance and perspective. They aren't too big, they're just closer than they should have been able to get in the available time.

[Aonghus]

Hopefully we'll get an explanation this week.

You did! She [spoiler]grabbed onto a pipe and dangled above the wolves[/spoiler], from the looks of it.

Also the bear trap thing seems to be permanently strapped onto her arm.

Close enough for me!

I checked again, I can't see her [spoiler]holding onto any pipe (in this prog anyway).

But on close inspection it does look like there's a dirt-coloured bulge on the wall which her beartrap is latched. I didn't see it on my first read: looked like she was just shaking her fist up at the[/spoiler] Nazi man.

[Colm]

Although I could live without Woody Allen making an appearance.  That never ends well.

I like to think of this character as Noam Chomsky. Looking forward to Gorehead being translocated to future then biting off the linguist's head...CHOMPsky.

(NB: this may have already happen, I'm many Progs behind)