Prog 1848: Gods and Monsters!

[ChickenStu]

Dredd Really enjoying this Bender story. Quite a decent thriller all round.

The "wolf" thing is not doing it for me. Neither is Slaine or Ten Seconders anymore. Ain't got a clue as to what's going on in the latter anymore. The Darwin thing was quite fun though.

I'm just biding my time till all these get wrapped up and there's a new "jumping on" issue.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Dredd ends with "next prog: til death us parts" (or similar). I'm going with judge death appearing. Just, cos.

[johnnystress]

I'm still heartbroken as the the death of [spoiler]Damage--one of my favourite characters in a long time, beautifully designed...he's not really dead is he? say it ain't so?[/spoiler]

[sheldipez]

We have patches where the prog is great. Others when it isn't.

Such is the joy of an anthology.

Sums it up nicely.

Really liked Dredd - Willsher still my fave modern Dredd artist.
Wolftime - goofy harmless fun. Constantly rolling my eyes, in a good way. They should make cuddly wolves for the 2000 ad store, complete with guts hanging out.
Slaine - utter nonsense from viewpoint of someone that's not familiar with Slaine - As with the previous parts it's best to admire the art and skip the speech bubbles.
Ten Seconders - meh, this part felt like the end of an Avengers arc where everyone is powered up and starts hitting each other.
Future Imperfect tale - amateurish on every level. I've seen more inventive webcomics posted to reddit the last week. Really surprised that this got past the high standard of Tharg and into print.

Without a doubt the weakest prog I've read since starting on my 2000 ad voyage but like Dr X said; it's an anthology so totally nonplussed. 1850 is just around the corner.

[Hawkmumbler]

I try not to be to harsh towards talent that is noticeably superior to my own but I feel I must echo Sheldipez's sentiments on Past Imperfect. It's utter gong to quote Defoe and indeed I have seen better web comic (many on this here forum) that could have fulfilled this role. What a drop from the Simon Fraser penciled Cuben story from March.

Elsewhere, The Biz earns forgiveness for prog 1800 cover, and I'm now hooked on Slaine. Damn you Mr. Mills, this was your plan all along wasn't it!

[SuperSurfer]

Thoroughly enjoying Dredd.  Don't know what people are on about – I think there is a good dose of (but admittedly not over the top) black humour and it's in the pulpy banter. Some of the lines from Bender cracked me up, in particular the way he slipped in "[spoiler]Nice facework[/spoiler]". Wagner is a master when it comes to dialogue. I always liked his talky heavy scripts. No padding out whatsoever.

Also great the way Dredd just pops up in a couple of panels. IIRC Wagner wanted to do that a lot more in the past but editorial back then wouldn't allow it.

Love the art as well.

Really enjoying Ten-Seconders. The inking seems perhaps a tad rushed which I don't have a problem with actually. Kind of adds to the dynamism and energy (apologies to the artist if I am wrong on this). Makes me wonder if Ben Willsher is filling in due to deadline issues.

Yeah, Damage is a great character.

[SuperSurfer]

Oh, by the way, more and more often lately I am picking up the last copy of 2000AD from my thrill merchant. And it comes out on a Tuesday in my area. Has to be a good sign.

[Zarjazzer]

Very good prog  Slaine and Ten Seconders were ace but I still enjoyed the Dredd story even though he's not in it much. Wolfie also fine, haven't read the Past Imperfect yet but it has a giant ape in it -hurrah!

[Richmond Clements]

Yup, I thought the same thing.

[TordelBack]

Suprog!  Yiz are all a crowd of Zraggian boson-swabbers if you didn't enjoy this one.  Now it may just be that 2000AD has recently resumed its occasional role as weekly lifeline for me, but I thought there was an enormous amount of quality material in this issue, with a pleasingly wide range of tone, pace and voice.

Cover:  Your every day, run-of-the-mill, slice of pure effing genius.  Such energy, such character, in just a handful of perfect lines: just look at Slaine's right hand, the shadowed little finger held slightly off Brainbiter's handle, contrasting with the tense cords of his forearm - it's like the image is actually in motion. McMahon is so unbelievably good here that even catching sight of this cover as I pass by makes me grin.  I

Nerve Centre:  So much Flinty goodness! 

Dredd:  I've been enjoying this story so much that I don't want it to end.  Wagner's Dredd works always so well viewed from below as a mission commander, with his harsh but encouraging mentoring a treat to read, a feature going right back to The Judge Child.  Bender and Lock's interaction works so much better than the usual predictable 'bent judge' storyline, especially when set against the background of the Chaos aftermath, with Bender's brand of violent extra-legal judging cleverly echoing Dredd3D.  There are some problems here on the first page in squaring the dialogue with the pace of the action, but they don't detract from a great atmospheric tale.  Others have noted the possible foreshadowing of Death in Lock's crispy face (especially as the helmet stays on), and how I hope they're right, but I'd still be very happy for Bender to represent a new status-quo for current Dredd stories. 'S great.

Age of the Wolf:  As I'd hoped it would, this week delivers a solid pay-off for last week's weaker episode, with an original approach to representing a singularly gruesome boss-fight, and even My Little Werewolf manages to look pretty intimidating.  Keeping me guessing too.  Good.

Slaine:  If you'd asked me in advance which of the episodes in Book of Scars I wasn't really looking forward to, I might have said the Bisley one.  But I'd have been wrong - this was terrific.  Both Pat and Simon throw themselves into this dense, colourful and funny tale, six bulging pages feeling like twice that number.  I presume stag-centaur willies don't score as a high on the dodgymeter as human ones, but at least Simon Davis's purplers were flaccid - Feg's rejuvenated nethers are violating that Mull of Kintyre rule and then some, and that's before Slaine goes down on him -cough-.  Anyhow, it was great to see Feg in action again, and I loved how Slaine's Lord-of-Beasts head matched the discarded hero-harness on the facing page.  Also thought Ukko and Nest's chat about reprint fees and revised editions was absolutely hilarious, as well as explaining what's actually going on with this story when viewed from outside time.  While I'm not sure how the (inexplicably green) drunes/skullswords following Slaine will affect the imminent Flood, or the future of the Tribes, I'm fascinated to see if we'll find out in the Davis series.

It's a bit early to call it yet, but if I had a criticism of this story, it's that two episodes per artist would have suited it better.  I appreciate that this may have made it unworkable on several levels, but Pat has given himself an almost impossible task in dropping back into the middle of each old story, trying to tell a new one, and wrap it all up in six pages.  A little more room would have allowed some of the themes hinted at to be developed, and other issues addressed.  This isn't to say I haven't enjoyed it massively, because I have: it's been the best Slaine in many, many years.

Past Imperfect:  I call this one entertaining, but a bit sloppy in executing its cleverness.  While a bit stiff the art does work, although I'm not convinced by the depiction of a desolate Simon's Bay (in the mid-19th C a Martelllo tower-defended naval base not far from a town of 20,000 people) or of the Xhosa (at that time in the middle of Hintsa's war with the British).  The story on the other hand drops the ball with its variation on 'and I shall call you... Eve' and its inexplicable use of gorillas (were- or otherwise), which neither live in southern Africa (as lampshaded) nor feature in the Murders in the Rue Morgue.  Add to this the fact that Capetown was by no means the Beagle's last stop, and that she had at least passed close-ish to Sumatra and its Orang Utans en route to the Cocos Islands, and the whole thing seems a bit sillier than intended.  Still, I'm always glad to see Eglinton in this slot, and one-offs in general.  So no harm done.

Ten Seconders:  Who would have believed I'd be so moved by Damage's death, a character I could barely have described prior to this run.  Excellent, powerful stuff, with Willsher admirably filling Bagwell's gigantic shoes.  Fab stuff.

Star Scan:  It's a good image of an older Slaine, and it's right and proper to see Percival getting to contribute to the 30th, but it's not a patch on that McMahon cover. 

All in all, I thought that was an excellent week.

[Alski]

Yucky cover... worst bit of art on the front for a long time. the Star Scan would have been perfect.

Dredd is good, but this story is dragging. Hopefully will have a good twist of some sort at the end.

Slaine was very pretty but quite boring.

Age of The Wolf is very good indeed, certainly the best series of it so far.

ten Seconders lost me ages ago so I skip it now

[TordelBack]

I owe an apology to T. C. Eglinton: the Gorilla versus Orang Utan issue in the Past Imperfect is addressed in the story by the early flagging of Perry's 'vivid red hair', and by the fact that it's not a were-gorilla, it's identified by no-less a man than Darwin a more general were-ape: so when transformed black-haired dark-skinned guys most resemble gorillas, ginger guys look more like orange-furred orangs, at least to the casual terrified observer.  After all, C. Auguste Dupin was no primatologist. 

Clever stuff.  Or just stupid Tordelback, take your pick.

[Eamonn Clarke]

I owe an apology to T. C. Eglinton: the Gorilla versus Orang Utan issue in the Past Imperfect is addressed in the story by the early flagging of Perry's 'vivid red hair', and by the fact that it's not a were-gorilla, it's identified by no-less a man than Darwin a more general were-ape: so when transformed black-haired dark-skinned guys most resemble gorillas, ginger guys look more like orange-furred orangs, at least to the casual terrified observer.  After all, C. Auguste Dupin was no primatologist. 

Clever stuff.  Or just stupid Tordelback, take your pick.

Apology from me as well. I said the same

[Ghastly McNasty]

I jumped on the crazy train that is 2000AD at prog 1740. I've always baulked when someone in these threads says they've skipped reading a story. What a waste, I always thought. It's only 5 or so stories a week. You've paid for them so enjoy them.

Well, for the first time, this week it happened to me. Slaine lost me 2 issues ago but this week's nonsensical text combined with hard to understand pictures made me skip over. I guess it's because I have never read any Slaine before and this story isn't written for noobs like me. Shame because this run started really strong with some stunning art.

Oh, wells, guess it happens. Enjoyed Dredd and Age of the Wolf by much. Others, meh.

[Bat King]

My review is up, 1 day and 3 hours late...

http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/2000ad-prog-1848-general-release-040913-spoilers/