Prog 2013

[IndigoPrime]

I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

I think it's fun. Mind you, I remember the 'Men in Black' days.

[Richmond Clements]

I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

I think it's fun. Mind you, I remember the 'Men in Black' days.

I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.
Tharg is real.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Still got to read a couple of strips but up to now everything is mindblowing and I'm sure the unread strips are equally so. The letters page was the best ever selection as well.
As for the cover, made me want to buy it!

[Steve Green]

I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

I think it's fun. Mind you, I remember the 'Men in Black' days.

I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.
Tharg is real.

Commando Forces on the other hand...

[LARF]

Cover - Pity about the uninspiring cover; I guess they didn't want to spoil any of the stories inside, but yet another pic of "Tharg"... yawn. I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

You newbies, you don't know you are born these days. Were you there in the 90's whe it was dark and bleak, Rouge trooper, Strontium Dogs, and the fuckin Balls Brothers. Get real with your comments, you wouldn't know a crap Prog if a thrill sucker came up and bit you on the ass.

And the other guy complaining about the Prog not being around for three weeks, well there's plenty of trades out there to read while you're waiting and you've got a triple Prog in one issue.

Prog 2013. Not brilliant, but certainly not the worst there's ever been and in a year of amazing content it would have taken an amazing Prog to top an amazing year.

[Trout]

I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

Grexnix.

Agreed. Tharg is great.

[Alien Goodness]

I'm reading this Prog in stages to spread out the thrill power.

Immediately I turned to was Absalom as he's my favourite 2000AD character at the moment. And I wasn't disappointed. It was creepy, like one of Roald Dahl's 'Unexpected Tales', playing on contemporary fears with all the hoo-haa about Savile & co. I like the artwork style for Absalom and the little details such as the boy pushing his dad's sunglasses, along with the use of blurry lines to convey the ghostly dimension. BTW did anybody else think that Uncle Charlie looked rather like George Melly?

Now I go back to the beginning and look at Bagwell's cover properly. Seeing the cosmic claw on our viridian polystyrene-chomping editor brings back fond memories when Dan Dare wielded a similar looking mitt.

I like it when a Dredd gives a little seasonal gesture like a sci-fi Scrooge. When Dredd suffers yet another round of severe life-ending-to-anybody-else injuries, I was reminded of what Carolyn Bachmann said to Dredd a couple of progs previously, "Well, you always were good at taking a beating. In many ways, it's what you're best at."

Greg Staples' painted poster of Death is awesome. Reading 2000AD digitally allows me to really zoom in and savour the detail on this painting such as the chipped fingernails.

As a digital subscriber, I also appreciated getting the Behind The Scenes roughs allowing me to see how the art droids turn a blank sheet/screen into the finished artwork we normally see.

The linking up of the Savage and ABC Warriors backstories always surprises me, even though they are both Pat Mills stories. I've always imagined them as different universes, and in this case, I don't see the benefit of joining the two. I've always imagined Savage living in a world like ours, while ABC Warriors lived in a sci-fi universe where talking robots are normal.

Ampney Crucis Investigates is one of those 2000AD characters I haven't warmed to, and nothing in this story changed that. I do love Simon Davis painted artwork though.

I've been aware of new book Ack-Ack Macaque for about a year as I follow Gareth L Powell on Twitter and he regularly shares Ack-Ack Macaque tweets who comes across as an interesting sci-fi character. I didn't realise until last week that Gareth had written a prequel strip for 2000AD so I was pleased for him as he's a true fan of sci-fi.

Now I need to gently calm down my thrill-circuits to prepare them for the second half of this Prog.

[SmallBlueThing]

I'm just going to pop back in and say that while the rest of the prog was aces- not a bad strip therein- it really was Absalom that did it for me. In fact... in a year of Chaos Day, Trifecta, Brass Sun, Dante's end, etc, it might just be this genuinely horrible, creepy and downright brilliant bit of seaside English nastiness that will linger into 2013 for me. Maybe growing up in, and then returning after decades away to, a seaside town almost exactly like the one depicted (if it hadnt been for hastings' mention in the sequence with the burned pier, i'd have sworn the story was set here- the atmosphere of bleak hopelessness is exactly right).

The seaside has been a source of constant horror to me my whole life, anive read an awful lot of fiction that dwells on the hollow windswept loneliness and perverted nastiness that places like my hometown barely conceal- but this one got closer than most. Im going to read it again right now.

SBT

[jannerboyuk]

I'm just going to pop back in and say that while the rest of the prog was aces- not a bad strip therein- it really was Absalom that did it for me. In fact... in a year of Chaos Day, Trifecta, Brass Sun, Dante's end, etc, it might just be this genuinely horrible, creepy and downright brilliant bit of seaside English nastiness that will linger into 2013 for me. Maybe growing up in, and then returning after decades away to, a seaside town almost exactly like the one depicted (if it hadnt been for hastings' mention in the sequence with the burned pier, i'd have sworn the story was set here- the atmosphere of bleak hopelessness is exactly right).

The seaside has been a source of constant horror to me my whole life, anive read an awful lot of fiction that dwells on the hollow windswept loneliness and perverted nastiness that places like my hometown barely conceal- but this one got closer than most. Im going to read it again right now.

SBT

funny I come from a sea side town but I love all that stuff, mind you we have the bonus of nuclear waste being dumped in the river so maybe I've mutated

[COMMANDO FORCES]

While we are at it, I come from a seaside town and the nuclear power station never scared me!

[SmallBlueThing]

Dont get me wrong- i couldnt live without it, and it's as good a reason as any as to why ive always completely failed at living in cities like london and dublin, despite my liking of the street-history of those places. My love of penny arcades, ice cream stalls, pebbles, popweed, cuttlefish, stormy seas and deserted funfairs in october is a huge part of my life. But it all scares me shitless as well- and that is exactly the split that rennie and trevallion eloquently captured. I wish the next series of Absalom was set entirely in this locale- but whatever, i hope we get the next series damn quick.

SBT

[Hawkmumbler]

Just want get these across.
Loved the prog, and agree with SBT that Absalom this week may well be the highlight of the 2000AD year. However I have very different (and much less complimenatory) opinions on such 'tacky-fair' locations.
Also, where are people getting the Jimmy Savile inuendo's from in said strip? The clown demon calling the captures kid's 'his little darlings'?

Also, Tharg is almighty, when the rapture come's all other faith's will be crushed. Literaly.

[TordelBack]

...and the fuckin Balls Brothers.

I didn't appreciate them at the time, but the Meg Floppy GN from a few years back completely changed my mind - amusing stuff with simply incredible art.

[SmallBlueThing]

Page two panel two: "Show some respect son. Places like this are where all things English and Evil eventually come to rest. Old Crowley spent his last years in a Hastings guest house, and is nibs Sir Clunk-Click had himself buried up Scarborough way."

Annoyingly, i do have to point out that Crowley didnt rent a room in a guest house that was anywhere near to the type of location shown here- while technically Hastings, it was well out in the sticks on the edge of town and inland.

SBT

[Mabs]

Cover - Pity about the uninspiring cover; I guess they didn't want to spoil any of the stories inside, but yet another pic of "Tharg"... yawn. I really think this "WTF OMFG Tehe 3d1tor is an 4L13N 111!!!oneoneone" stuff has gone too far and has run its course.

You newbies, you don't know you are born these days. Were you there in the 90's whe it was dark and bleak, Rouge trooper, Strontium Dogs, and the fuckin Balls Brothers. Get real with your comments, you wouldn't know a crap Prog if a thrill sucker came up and bit you on the ass.

And the other guy complaining about the Prog not being around for three weeks, well there's plenty of trades out there to read while you're waiting and you've got a triple Prog in one issue.

Prog 2013. Not brilliant, but certainly not the worst there's ever been and in a year of amazing content it would have taken an amazing Prog to top an amazing year.

I concur. In fact after re-reading it again i enjoyed it more. As for the three week gap, i'm not too bothered if i'm honest. I've  got the Meg coming out on Wednesday, so looking forward to that. And once i'm done with that i think i'll re-read the whole Trifecta storyline again.