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Prog 2143 - The End

Started by NapalmKev, 03 August, 2019, 02:33:07 PM

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Eamonn Clarke

I hope we get an Absalom epilogue at some point. This felt like a very hasty end to a marvellous series. Is something happening next prog that meant Harry's game had to wrap up in a hurry?

Also is there a word redacted from one of the speech bubbles? What sort of fidler shakes at a Brownie pack meeting?

moly

Also is there a word redacted from one of the speech bubbles? What sort of fidler shakes at a Brownie pack meeting?

Kiddie

MumboJimbo

I was ever-so-slightly disappointed by this week's prog. Once I'd had a flick though and saw that the prog was packed with content (no adverts! - except if you count the Slaine preview at the bottom of the Nerve Centre) I had incredibly high expectations, especially coming on the back of last week's excellent prog - so maybe it was inevitable I'd end up feeling a little underwhelmed after reading it.

Dredd was top notch, no complaints there.

Indigo Prime was the first episode that for me felt like it wasn't really sure where the series was going. We get a page spread of these three Super-Kaiju monsters only them to be dispatched by Redman fairly quickly. I guess it works as a means to demonstrate the powers of Christhulu, but it felt a bit like stalling to me. Still very much enjoying this series and I'm keeping the faith.

The last page of Anderson completely lost me. If I think I've got this right [spoiler]the cult members opened fire on Anderson and Karyn shielded her, so presumably she is impervious to bullets when she's a vampire. And then Karyn tries to kill in the cult members in revenge, but Anderson stops her and because of this Karyn switches her loyalty back to Theo.[/spoiler] If I've got that all right it's done in a confusingly small amount of panels and I'm struggling to understand Karyn's motivations. The Theo flashback didn't really make much sense to me either.

Thistlebone seems to be entering its final act, and the main protagonist meeting the main antagonist with a "I knew you'd come" reveal seems a bit seen-it-all-before. I was far more interested in the cat and mouse between Avril and Seema, and whether one or both of them are acting in bad faith. So this week seems like it could be turn for the worse, although I'll keep reading.

Finally the Absalom finale was satisfying in places, but there was simply not enough space to tie up the 5 or so loose ends all satisfactorily, and for me the reconnection with his grandkids definitely suffered the most. And they really needed to nail that considering the foreshadowing and how central to the plot it was.

Frank


ZenArcade

Nice cover, By Christhulu, I miss John Smith. Z
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

U.S.S.R

I loved the cover front and back, worked brilliantly I try think
Gays into the Fist of Dredd!

Richard

I don't want an Absolom epilogue; it would detract from this week's ending, which was perfect.

MacabreMagpie

That ending to Absalom choked me up. Especially those last three panels (not including the back cover). Superbly done.

broodblik

Absalom comes to a satisfactory conclusion. His story has been told he achieved what he wanted and now it is time to rest. Rennie can always continue in the Cabalistic/Absalom-verse if he feels like.  Excellent cover and last page to end a great story. As Richard said please an epilogue is not needed.

The rest of the prog is great with an excellent Dredd story.

5/5 prog
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

norton canes

Magnificent conclusion to Absalom, no epilogue required. Some people have said it felt a bit hasty but Gordon Rennie has been writing most of this chapter's installments as self-contained 6-page episodes so it feels entirely right this concluding part is done in the same way. To draw a comparison with another medium, too many TV shows these days feature protracted, emotionally-wrought codas which take up the last 20 minutes or so of the running time and add little to the essence of the story - I much prefer a pithy concise, ending. The back page merely makes a superb denouement even more wonderful and of course harks back to the way this chapter opened eight weeks ago. Farewell Harry.

Went back to Dredd after starting with Harry's exit and I have to say, the two strips make for spectacularly grim bookends! Have to admit that I only really skim-read the intervening three strips as they were nowhere near the stellar quality of the other two, though Thistlebone a least looks great.

Geoff

The Cover and back cover are brilliantly done, as was the ending to Absalom.  I agree with Norton, it bucks the current trend of the overly long, overwrought ending.

Dredd is still great, oh that artwork, even though old Joe has once again been captured.  Hopefully he'll find his own way out of this predicament and bring the nefarious Pin to justice, rather than having to be rescued (again).

Thistlebone has reached it's penultimate episode with very little, other than some beautiful artwork, having happened.  Back in the day, all of what's happened so far would probably have happened in the opening episode.  The main characters probably wouldn't be so deathly dull too...

Indigo Prime, complete madness but for some reason I enjoy reading it and looking at it.

Anderson should really be in a fanzine, or not, but it shouldn't be in 2000ad.

A mixed bag then, but the good stuff is strong enough to keep it worthwhile.       

TordelBack

Dredd looks utterly magnificent- highlight was the dead fatty in the Fairlyhyperman t-shirt. Story, ehhhn, it's probably not a great sign that I'm hoping the Sisters are involved somehow.  (I know they aren't).

Indigo Prime. It's entirely Lee Carter's fault that I'm even looking at this now, curse him. I'm biased against the strip's very existence, but at the same timr I'm a big Kek-W fan, so it should be a draw. But it's not. Stop soon, please.

Anderson. Like the art a lot, some great pages this week, and I just love the way Aneke's uniforms work. Something is off about the pacing though, it's somehow simultaneously bogged-down and jumping about, even taking on board Beeby's stylistic choices.

Thistlebone has won me over completely now, I'm entranced and dying to see the denouement. Lovely stuff, would make a great episode of Inside No. 9 or similar.

But Absalom is star baker this week, hasn't put a foot wrong this whole run, and a great cover and perfect ending. This is how you do it. I'll miss this strip a lot.

BPP

Absalom was superb. A real verve on the part of Rennie to end as it did... no sequels, no leaving the audience with a sweetheart deal. The story was told and told brilliantly. And the art - Trevallion was a beast in a series that highlighted his still for character, movement and dark humour. His work really sang.

And on top of that Dredd was great, hadn't seen Pins' origins coming and how fantastically it was rendered. That bit of red spot colouring.. wow. Williams writes Dredd perfectly for me, gritty, hard boiled, fleshed out supporting cast, multiple threads in the air and righteously angry and self destructively self righteous. I love that strays into Dredd clearly not following protocol not thru expediency but a sense that he is the law, the writer of primary rules and that such is his weakness. Williams Dredd seems to think himself as more the embodiment of the law than the Justice department - which he has learnt is prone to corruption and intransigence - and himself as right. He's a loose cannon and has been right back to the post Titan assessment by Gerhart to Hershey. If Williams was to direct the strips future I'd wager that's Dredd next epic - he's something so other to the rest of the department that it's not clear it's sustainable.
If I'd known it was harmless I would have killed it myself.

http://futureshockd.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/FutureShockd

Greg M.

Quote from: Geoff on 08 August, 2019, 06:45:07 PM
Dredd is still great, oh that artwork, even though old Joe has once again been captured.

Contemporary writers seem a little too inclined to kick the absolute shit out of Joe in almost every story (judicial corruption as the second inevitable square in modern Dredd bingo.) It's interesting to note how comparatively rarely John Wagner gives Dredd an absolute pasting to the same extent.

Geoff

Yep, the norm should be Dredd on the front foot and crackin skulls. Him being captured, beaten up out-smarted etc should be an occasional thing.