Prog 1820: Sins of The Flesh

[Fisticuffs]

Dredd - Love it all except for a couple of strangely shaped Judges helmets. Look almost Stallone-like with the slimline cheek peices.

Ampney - Good fun.

Red Seas - Have absolutely no idea what's going on here, waiting for it to finish.

Lockheed Martin-sponsored Javelin Advert, sorry I mean Savage - An improvement on previous weeks with the lack of daft dialogue. Loved the art, very nice. Although it should be noted that a Javelin not only does not have a large back blast, its soft launch means it can be fired from within buildings quite safely = research fail. /nerd.

And finally Strontium Dog - after a weak few opening episodes this is starting to get rather good, although I was surprised by the appearance of the S/D agents all dropping in at the end, maybe I missed something earlier. Hope it isn't used as a deus-ex-machina to save the day.

[Dark Jimbo]

...I was surprised by the appearance of the S/D agents all dropping in at the end, maybe I missed something earlier. Hope it isn't used as a deus-ex-machina to save the day.

You mean like the bit in prog 1816 where Middenface phones the Doghouse, telling Kid Knee Jr about the lurgey and that Johnny needs the help of the Dogs; and Kid then rallying the Dogs to arm up for war...? Like that bit, you mean? 

[Fisticuffs]

That's the trouble with weekly installments, you forget stuff like that.

[Hawkmumbler]

That's the trouble with weekly installments, you forget stuff like that.

I seem to remember Dredd indirectly caused Chaos Day by blowing up some city or other. It was such a long time ago and rather unimportant I presume.

[Fisticuffs]

Chaos whut??

[House of Usher]

...it should be noted that a Javelin not only does not have a large back blast, its soft launch means it can be fired from within buildings quite safely = research fail. /nerd.

It's hours since I read it, and I don't have my copy to hand, but I thought the reason they had to fire the missile outdoors was in order to be mobile to avoid the tank's automated targetting system - in the 'blockhouse' they'd have been a sitting duck.

[Proudhuff]

Dredd: Always happy to see Paulie from The Soprano's.

That's the kind of 2k thing I love to see

Dredd: Also do you think that citizen wearing the low cut (and high cut at the other end of things) Judge uniform style out-fit type thing was a comment on the storm his drawing of female Judges coursed last time?

That too!


A fine Prog again...

All stories firing on all cylinders,

only minor gripe is... why does the only strong female in Savage have to be a bullying husband beater? 

[A.Cow]

[...] only minor gripe is... why does the only strong female in Savage have to be a bullying husband beater? 

I think you'll find that domineering women are a (cough) recurring theme (cough) in Pat Mills' work...

[Dark Jimbo]

only minor gripe is... why does the only strong female in Savage have to be a bullying husband beater? 

Because she's not the only strong female. For one there's beret-wearing-single-mum Jan, his pal in the resistance group that took out the bunker, who's been in the past couple of books. You could also count the singer-in-civilian-life Volgan Sergeant who was holding said bunker. There's also Savage's sister, so that's another three in this book alone so far. Or you could just ignore them because they don't conform to the lazy old cliches about Mills' work. 

Always happy to see Paulie from The Sopranos.

But did anyone catch the pop. culture reference in Ampney this week, I wonder? Not seen anyone mention it so far...

[McNulty]

But did anyone catch the pop. culture reference in Ampney this week, I wonder? Not seen anyone mention it so far...

It's from 1951, Dark Jimbo, and so I don't think many of the readers would get it straight away...

[Proudhuff]

Must admit the beret wearing woman hasn't registered with me, while the goodlooking tight-topped singing sarge did take centre stage for a short while, all I remember of his sister was she was left behind to run a cafe or some such, so for me, she and the beret person are chorus line.
 
I think if the sexual roles were reversed, we'd only see that shitty behaviour from a male baddie, so why have one of the good guys gals behave that way?

[Montynero]

Enjoying the prog enormously right now.

DREDD - The wisdom of ending Trifecta with the city still devastated from the Chaos bug means we've still got all these juicy new angles for Dredd stories, which Mike Carroll exploits here with an interesting setup. Little bit too condensed in places to be perfect, though. As with Rob Williams' recent tales I often find myself wishing Tharg would give the Dredd creators an extra episode each to explore these cool ideas. I'd still like lots of single issue stories too, mind you. Greedy!!

SAVAGE - My favourite strip of late: radical, action packed, personal, and fantastic art too. It manages to both tip its hat to classic Action/early tooth while also being the most contemporary story in there. There's a vibrantly anarchic spirit to this that's essential to 2000ad in my humble opinion.

RED SEAS, AMPNEY - some exciting plot shenanigans here, typical of the fine storytelling that's brought something fresh and exciting to the second golden age.

SD - I love Johnny Alpha, John Wagner, and Carlos to bits - but this is underwhelming.

How cool was that Defoe panel tease too? So great to see so much powerful black and white art in the prog. Can't wait!   

[Tombo]

DREDD - As with Rob Williams' recent tales I often find myself wishing Tharg would give the Dredd creators an extra episode each to explore these cool ideas. I'd still like lots of single issue stories too, mind you. Greedy!!

You do know it's a multi-part story.  The "Part One" under the title is a bit of a give away.

[House of Usher]

But did anyone catch the pop. culture reference in Ampney this week, I wonder? Not seen anyone mention it so far...

It's from 1951, Dark Jimbo, and so I don't think many of the readers would get it straight away...

I'm afraid it passed me by; I had to look it up. But there was another pop culture reference not in such tiny letters nor obscured by the title.

For mash get Smash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKt-KR1TsRg

[Colin Zeal]

Top thrill for me this week was Ampney and it has been a cracking run for the strip. The cover was particularly gorgeous. However it was an all-round excellent prog, with Dredd also covering a very interesting part of the Chaos Day fallout.