Prog 1802 - Wanna Confess?

[NapalmKev]

Here's my two-pence (ha, like anyone cares)!

Cover: not bad but I've seen better. A lot better!

Dredd: Great story, really enjoyed it. Would've been better if Dredd bust that guys head open with his Daystick (shut the Drokk up Dredd-cheeky git).

Bobs Twisted Tales: not usually a fan but I quite liked this one. Strange but very different to the Progs usual fare.

Brass Sun: liking this very much. Great story but looks a little bland (artwise) in places. But it's a lot better than...

Grey area: nice artwork, bland storyline that doesn't seem to be doing anything I haven't seen many times before. Will still read it though.

Abc warriors: fantastic/amazing, overdue and welcome return. Quality!

Cheers 

[Tombo]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know where Twisted Tale #14 went?  According to my index Tale #13 was in Prog 1755 and this ones listed as #15 at the front of the Prog.  I know there was one in the Meg but that was a long time ago (2010).

[I, Cosh]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know where Twisted Tale #14 went?  According to my index Tale #13 was in Prog 1755 and this ones listed as #15 at the front of the Prog.  I know there was one in the Meg but that was a long time ago (2010).

#11 was in Meg 294, Prog 1755 was #14.

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=2000AD&choice=twisted

I continue to dislike the Twisted Tales for the same reasons as everyone else who dislikes them but I do still think it would be great to see the other Byrne turn in a Dredd story.

[Robert Frazer]

I wasn't really grabbed by Brass Sun at first, but I have to admit that I'm quite intrigued by the abrupt swerve in the narrative that this story has taken. The bishop is correct - there's a long game being played here, but can anyone discern Cadwaller's strategy and escape its inertia? That would be a supreme irony - the Archimandrite being undone by the clockwork of a mechanism that his predecessor set in motion and ticked on even after his death.

[Taryn Tailz]

This week's prog was never going to do it for me, as it contains a Twisted Tale. Not only do these seldom make any sense to me, they actually sour the rest of the comic.

I agree with that. There hasn't been a single Twisted Tale yet which I actually liked. Apart from that though I thought this weeks Prog was excellent.

Although why is Hershey wearing a cape all of a sudden?

[Tombo]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know where Twisted Tale #14 went?  According to my index Tale #13 was in Prog 1755 and this ones listed as #15 at the front of the Prog.  I know there was one in the Meg but that was a long time ago (2010).

#11 was in Meg 294, Prog 1755 was #14.

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=2000AD&choice=twisted

Cheers.

[The Sherman Kid]

Cover Excellent -a prog that looks you in the eye

Dredd Cracking stuff as the fall-out of DoC continues.Judges in turmoil and recrimination,turning on each other in the aftermath of disaster.Once again though the art is  off -it really looked in one panel Dredd was speaking when it was the General .The eyes of all characterrs in nearly every panel just don't right either.

Twisted Tales Great stuff and very clever, always like these, but apparently not everyones cup of tea.

Brass Sun Continues to live up to expectations, quite stark and chilling this episode.A classic in the making.

ABC Warriors Like the change of style and the ending was most amusing

Grey Area I think I can see where this is going....Lethal Weapon 2 anyone?

Letters Agree that Zoe shouldn't have been given such a dismissive answer, that was a big issue on the forum and whether you agree that they are right or wrong it desrved a better response.

Overall a very strong prog once again.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

The cover is superb and is one of the ones that shout DREDD is inside here, on the shelves of Smiths. It stands out, especially as there is a line of them on display in my town. Yet again I had to move them from the bottom shelf, which is not just out of eye-line but eye-sight, due to the angle of the shelves

I'm loving the political ramifications in Dredd. This is gonna be interesting seeing how it plays out long term. As for Dolman, I thought it was too much of a Rocky ending to be believable. He's just had the shit kicked out of him and it looks like at least one punch in the face with a metal arm and he drags himself off the floor and is victorious. Having just watched the realism of the movie this was a little jarring!

The other strips are enjoyable too and its a great time for new readers to be joining us.

One strange thing I have with Brass Sun, I keep seeing Dirty Frank and its off putting.

[Zarjazzer]

Dredd was fine but a bit of an unbelievable ending. Has Dolman got a healing factor? Anyway twisted Tales not fro me but liked the art, Grey Area was tops this week with chilling alien ambassador and Brass Sun and ABC were both very good indeed. Bit of a shock final panel to both these stories I thought.Excellent cover.

[Mardroid]

Cover- Okay. I don't think I liked it as much as many here, but it wasn't bad. The idea was good.

Dredd- Very good. While I found Dolman's recap a bit far fetched, it was satisfying. A chip off the ol' block, if you forgive the cliché.

Twisted Tales - I, uh, didn't really follow it. I understand that it involved some alien duck things getting squidged, then said duck things changed and got their revenge, it's the stuff in between I had difficulty with.

Brass Sun- Wonderful, with one caveat. They perhaps should have shown the girl run when her grandfather called, because it kind fo looks like she was the only person unaffected by the explosion. Then again, maybe she was, considering the ending...

ABC Warriors - While I liked it overall, I'm undecided on the artwork. Don't get me wrong, it's nicely detailed. I just found the line-work a bit scruffy I suppose. (Which is a decent art style all off it's own, to be fair.) By that, I mean, it looked like the first draft when the artist sketches things out before going over it with clean lines. It is still good though. I guess I was hoping for something of the cleaner style we saw in the Meknificent Seven, but  that would do the artist a disservice as he has his own style(s).

Please note, when I say 'undecided' I mean just that, rather than another way of saying 'disliked'. I did like how the style seemed to drift from one to to the other, i.e. the colour at the start isn't quite the style we've saw last week. At least not to my eyes. It certainly did the job in conveying the story. Incidentally was it a Hammerstein later head type that had the removable helmet?

Grey Area - Lethal Weapon 2 seems spot on! And not bad for that.

[TheMightyOne]

Can anyone give me any background on this whole germ war, sov situation? I only picked up on 1800

[Dark Jimbo]

Can anyone give me any background on this whole germ war, sov situation? I only picked up on 1800

Here's what you just missed out on - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Chaos

[Dandontdare]

Can anyone give me any background on this whole germ war, sov situation? I only picked up on 1800

okay here's about as basic as it gets:

30 years ago during the Apocalypse War, Dredd nukes East Meg One off the face of the planet.
About six months ago, vengeful Sovs hit Mega City One with a combined terrorist uprising, plus a virus that turned people into enraged murderous psychopaths before death. They also engineered the release of the imprisoned Dark Judges. The Academy of Law and Statue of Judgement (including the all-powerful Public Surveillance Unit) were destroyed. A city of 400 million has been reduced to 50 million.
destroyed

EDIT: wouldn't have bothered typing all that...

[Spikes]

Really enjoyed the prog this week.
Just a lovely cover, and a top Dredd episode to go with it. Liked the 'now and then' comparison between the Apoc War and Day of Chaos, and how the 'just exactly who do we now fight, when wars are not waged by nations' vibe, nicely echoed modern times.
But, just how much body hair does Dolman have?!? It puts a Sam Keith drawn Wolverine to shame, 
Cant fault any of the other strips - all really truckin' along more than nicely, though Twisted Tales took a few re-reads.


Only sour note, in a top-notch prog, was the response that reader Zoe got from Tharg....

[TordelBack]

I'm currently working on a report on work I did in 1996, so the lateness of this review is as nothing...

Cover:  Nothing new in the composition, but boy is it purdy, and striking to boot.  Shows oce again teh versatility of the current cover dress.  Never would have guessed ol' Ben 'Dover' Willsher was behind the stylus, great stuff.

Dredd: Payback Part 2.  I'd love to know the origins of this lovely little strip.  Did Mike pitch a longer version of Debris that included these scenes, and Tharg told him to spilt it to run either side of 1800?  Or did TMO commission this essential coda on the strength of the first story?  Either way, it was a damn good idea.  Holden and Carroll have some corkers in their back catalogues but this is some the very best work we've seen from either of them. 

Carroll's interleaving and (Moore-ish) overlapping of the two narratives is masterful, the tone is perfect, and the situation itself intriguing.  It's not often we get apparently meaningful introspection from Dredd in a non-Wagner script, but here it is, and its wholely convincing in its execution. 

Meanwhile, PJ gives us a lovely image in Gilmore's reflected face on the back of Dredd's helmet, some brutal face slams, and a near-definitive older Hershey. I wasn't bothered about last week's pixellation, feeling PJ's work was strong enough to survive it, but seeing this week's lovely art I'm a bit miffed at the loss. 

I wonder how much of the Corps has been pulled back to Earth, and what the implications for the colonies are?  Could we see mass immigration filling the empty blocks as undefended worlds fall to the Kleggs or whoever today's boojums are?  Or are we looking at a wider independence movement as per Insurrection? Oh what larks lie ahead!  And to think, it all started with a one-off about blood donations that read a lot like a lead-in for the original version of Bad Company.

Anyway, this was excellent tale,giving the earlier fun of Debris some much-needed gravity (uh-huh-huh), and Top Thrill for me this week, just ahead by a nose of... 

Twisted Tales: It's no secret that I'm in love with Bob Byrne and want to host his insectoid Lego larvae, and this strip shows you exactly why. Outstanding, beyond freaky in terms of design, and as good a one-off as has ever appeared in the prog, even if the final revelation was a wee bit obvious. No. 2 Thrill this week, just ahead of...

Brass Sun:  Why am I so completely emotionally engaged with this story after only three weeks?  Culbard, that's why.  His facial expressions are peerless, pulling you right into the hearts and minds of every character. Breakout strip of 2012.

ABC Warriors: Fresh off a re-read of early Warriors and in the middle of Ro-Busters, this is a continuitastic treat.  Love the colours on the splash, love Langley's B&W, which I elsewhere described as 'good' Bisley, and I'll stick to that.  Superior stuff.

Grey Area:  On the Chat last night I was whining about this strip, and one of my all-time favourite scripters (not you, Sharky) asserted that he was sure that Grey Area was going somewhere interesting.  I hope he's right, because this is doing nothing for me, and every pointless 'shit' and clanging line of dialogue makes me regret that Lee Carter is obviously sweating blood on this one. Abnett is an amazingly smart writer, and I wouldn't put it past him to pull the rug out, but as it stands this has lost me completely.

Overall: So, aside from my puzzlement over what I'm missing about Grey Area, that was a superb Prog.