Prog 2159 - The Thrill Of It All

[Link Prime]

Top class cover by Rob Davis - in both forms.

Hope we see more of him.

[norton canes]

A strip written and illustrated by Rob would be fantastic. He seems like he'd rather publish his stuff in one volume though. Oh well, fingers crossed - at least a 3riller, perhaps..?

As for this week's prog: a faint yet tangible sense of sadness washes over me as I realise the current set of strips is going to conclude in a couple of weeks. Except Brink obviously, of which this chapter has another 23 or so installments to run. Though this week it takes a huge upswing with the mention of a certain word that I won't mention as it actually does make me feel a bit nauseous now, just like in the story. Funny how that happens. Defoe is bonkers and I've really enjoyed this chapter. The Moore droid's art isn't completely my taste but there's no denying its finesse. And I love the phrase 'superior hero', it's just perfect. Hope has completely caught fire over the last two or three weeks after a slightly rambling first few episodes. Deadworld looks like it's building to a climax - kind of hoping the next chapter is the last, not because I'm not enjoying it (I am, very much) but I wouldn't want it to drag on too long. And I want to find out how it ends, dammit!

[TordelBack]

Good well-matured prog under a spectacular cover. 

Guatemala was always going to be a hard act to follow, and so far this Dredd isn't doing it for me, unlike all of the Carroll droid's other Dredds this past year. There are a lot of well-worn elements vying for space here and I hope Mike has some plan for twisting them into something fresh before the end. I'd draw particular attention to the obstructive receptionist - the Judges have been in power for what, 60 years now, and yet every other story has some flunky telling Dredd their boss is too busy to be disturbed like they were dealing with a visit from Columbo and not a violent all-powerful fascist.  The iso-cubes must be overflowing with office temps.

Hope is bloody outstanding this week, visually and viscerally powerful. If I was the publishing-division-previously-known-as-Vertigo I'd be grabbing those two boys and shackling them into one mother of an exclusive contract.

Reeks in Space continues to be terrific, doing what it does best and ladling one dollop of high-concept crazy on top of on another. Has Mills found a second Hicklenton with whom he can wreak madness on the world?

Brink is sublime.  I'm almost sorry to see a certain name make an appearance, I think I could happily have followed Bridge just navigating the ins and outs of ass-covering in the HSD for several months more.

While nothing less than terrifc, Deadworld this week gives me pause.  Ava Eastwood is so blatantly the Dredd figure of this blighted bizarro world that it makes me reappraise the idea of Death as Dredd's opposite/alternative/evolution in a way nothing since Young Death has. If Deadworld can boast its own quasi-righteous lawgiving fossils  who is Death's actual MC-1 equivalent? Is he really the twisted ideologue he presents himself as, or is he just another power-mad creep?

[Proudhuff]

Judge Cal? 

[Bolt-01]

Ah, but it was the Sisters who elevated Sid et al to full-on fiend status, so unless there are Sisters analogues over in our universe too, maybe we'll never get a full on Death analogue.

[TordelBack]

Mmm, good point Bolt. One of the best aspects of the previous book of Deadworld was the conflict between Sidney and the Sisters, resulting in Casey becoming Chief Cheez. On one level this supports Bolt's argument, with the Sisters as the real power, but as we know Death must return I suspect he'll be putting the gruesome twosome in their place shortly, and showing us why it's him using them, and not vice versa.

[broodblik]

Another good prog