Prog 1912 - The Thread They Tried to Ban!

[I, Cosh]

Am I allowed to talk about this yet?

[ZenArcade]

Yes please, it is saturday and the embargo should be over (the prog's in the shops on wednesday). Hope eammon gets the cover up soon and someone fills us in on what the stories are....that'd be you Cosh. Z

[Link Prime]

SPOIL ME.

[I, Cosh]

Hope eammon gets the cover up soon and someone fills us in on what the stories are....that'd be you Cosh. Z

Cover's already up on the locked thread and nobody's going to like my opinion of the contents.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Dredd: Dark Justice Part 2.   More of the same tremendous art as last time.  Story still building, the how ans why of thw DJ's heading out on the ship should hopefully come along before too long, but for now, just happy to go over the art again and again!

Savage: Grinders Part 2. The art is ok.....other than that, it's filler.

The Order: Part 2 I knew I wasn't gonna like that head.  Seems a fairly silly crossover of past and present that will be unlikely to grow on me, but I would be happy to be proven wrong. Also has nice art.

Uylsses Sweet: Maybe they could take this, and Reaper, do a special magazine for both, that I then don't have to buy.  That'd be cool.

Orlok Agent of East Meg One: Part 1 Can't think who's style the art puts me in mind of...perhaps it's a combo of artists....but makes me think of progs around the 400's....like it!  Not sure where we're going yet, but keen to find out.

[Dark Jimbo]

Dredd is a class act. Superb art, though that hardly needs saying, and I utterly loved the 'day-in-the-life' journal entries of the expedition leader. Some of the caption-box narration seems a bit clumsy at times though, and I can't help wishing Simon Bowland was lettering this - Annie Parkhouse uses huge balloons which seem a bit intrusive when placed over delicate and detailed art like this or, say, Clint Langley's.

Savage does what Savage does. No surprises but very competent stuff, and excellent draughtsmanship from Goddard. The Volgan surrender fell a bit flat though, considering this is a moment that was being worked towards, on and off, since prog 1! And I still can't reconcile Howard Quartz as he appears here with the Ro-Busters/ABC Warriors incarnation. It might as well be two different characters.

Loving The Order almost without reservation. I love that Kek-W writes these done-in-one thrillers; no angling for ongoing series or multi-part books. Just fresh, frothy fun for eight weeks then that's your lot. It's a joy to have Burns back and working on a script that plays to his strengths.

Ulysses Sweet was a weird episode. It was very funny, but I'm not sure I quite 'got it' - were the colony governors talking to their psyche chips?

Orlok was competently written and drawn but I can't see this one grabbing me in the weeks to come. I don't like flashback stories or revivals of dead lead characters, I prefer not to have two or more Dreddworld strips running in the prog at the same time (Low Life the honourable exception) and the only Orlok story I've read was Block Mania and the one where he died, so I can't say I'm particularly invested in seeing 'how it all started.' Not for me, but willing to be won round.

Basically, really enjoying the colour strips; reading but not yet wowed by the black-and-whites.

[Colin YNWA]

I was good and didn't read this until New Years day and while its a well balanced Prog, with a nice variety to the Thrills alas its not the best.

Dredd is okay but hasn't really grabbed me yet. Ulysses Sweet ain't as funny as Zombo though you kinda get the impression it wants to be, its not bad, mind. I have to be honest I was a little lost with some of the storytelling I artwise in Orlok too many close-ups of things that needed a bit more room to work for me. Stylewise I love Jake Lynch's work here but still some work to be done for it to reach its full potential. Storywise nice nod of the hat to the past aside this still needs to develop some more before I feel I can judge.

Savage is pretty good if Mills is falling back to his old, predictable tropes again, he does do it very well here and I enjoyed the loaded (all be it with cliche) conversation between Bill and Howard. So that leaves The Order as Thrill of the Week. This has classic old skool thrill writ large all over it, which funnily enough the last outing from these two - Angel Zero - did too and I love that story as well. The relationship between our two leds is a delight and we throw in some action to keep it moving along to.Simple but effective fun. Oh and John Burns' art is astonishingly good, best in the Prog by some distance.

So there we have it, not a bad Prog, just not a great Prog, which is a shame given the delights of Prog 2015 may well have had some new readers hanging around (well if that's how it works?).

Oh and am I the one who thought it was an Anthony Williams (what is he up to these days not seen him in the Prog for a while?) cover before investigating and finding it was one of PJ's - absolutely love it.

[Eamonn Clarke]

[A.Cow]

Oh and am I the one who thought it was an Anthony Williams (what is he up to these days not seen him in the Prog for a while?) cover before investigating and finding it was one of PJ's - absolutely love it.

That's precisely my difficulty with it -- it looks like the kind of cover we used to get in the 1990s.  Y'know, the M*rk M*ll*r days.  (Shudder)

Don't get me wrong -- Anthony Williams was a fine artist but I never felt his cartoony style worked on covers.

[ZenArcade]

Sadly I'm not in love with that cover at all. Well hopefully the inside will be better.
As ever thanks to Eamonn for putting the cover up. Roll on Wednesday. Z

[Colin YNWA]

Don't get me wrong -- Anthony Williams was a fine artist but I never felt his cartoony style worked on covers.

Funnily enough that's probably why I like it, the 'simple' style and stark contrasts that creates make it pop out at you from the shelf (well I image) and help it stand out from the crowd.

Many of the more 'detailed', painted portraits that Tharg's current helper seems to like (?) can look a little bland and while the technique is to be admired that doesn't make a great cover for me...

...mind given the way the cover of the year vote is going I'm in a minority. As ever with The Galaxies Greatest vive la difference.

[TordelBack]

Loving that cover myself - crisp and inviting.  Looking forward to the contents too, really enjoyed Ulysses Sweet in Prog 2015 and Orlok in the Winter Special (although I would have thought it a better fit for the Meg).

[Greg M.]

Many of the more 'detailed', painted portraits that Tharg's current helper seems to like (?) can look a little bland and while the technique is to be admired that doesn't make a great cover for me...

I very much agree - the artistic standard of recent covers is very high, but there's been few I've found striking or attention-grabbing. I haven't even managed to vote in the 'Cover of the Year' thread simply because there's little there that makes me think 'that's a great cover'. Plenty of great art, mind, but I much prefer this Orlok cover 'cos it stands out.

[Fungus]

Really like that cover 
I think it's the darkness and precision and attitude of it, I wouldn't call this one 'cartoony' at all.
Agree completely with A Cow on Anthony Willliams, a fine artist on fun Dredds and Robo-Hunter, but not suited to covers.

Also, the chances are that 1913 will be an expansive vista of sci-fi wildebeest, so you get your variety. Variety is good !

Looking forward to Wednesday and some more Ulysses Sweet, et al.

[ZenArcade]

I hadn't considered this aspet of the cover as much as I should have. Yes it probably has more of a stand out impact, I personally like as detailed artwork; but on reflection can see the argument for an impact on the shelf. Z