Prog 2384 - Urban Legend

[Colin YNWA]

Arh the ebb and flow of a great line up. I'm going to say this is a slight dip in quality BUT when you consider how good last Prog was that's no hardship. This is still great comics, just not as great as last time.

Dredd builds the myth and legend of the Underworld quite wonderfully, but in doing so let's the plot slide a little this week. It felt a little indulgent, great but indulgent.

Intestinauts continues to play with ways to tell it story but a little like Dredd this week missed a bit of that narrative drive and felt a little info dumpy. Again still very fun.

3riller - The Blue Skies over Deathwick oh this is a beaut as we get a switch in our POV and maybe a twist of the old school delivered with guile. We'll see if this one sticks that landing but to this point its all gone wonderfully

Brink - what's left to say. Devine!

Proteus Vex - steady issue by this strips epic standards, or maybe know the penny has dropped with me that this is wrapping up soon my expectations have shifted? Hmm maybe. Either way not quite as strong this week... or maybe I'm just a bit tired and grumpy. Who knows.

So a Prog being  not quite as good as last weeks is not big deal, well except it is, its still great, just not quite as great!

[lincnash]

Prog 2384 - Urban Legend ?
An all movie Dredd, Karl appreciation issue woohoo 

[broodblik]

Cover by Nick Percival:

[A.Cow]

Hmm ... The Dredd dialogue feels more like a Mike Carroll tale than Ken Niemand.  I'm no fan of laboured exposition and excessive use of character names -- so, sorry, this story is not doing it for me.

[Le Fink]

Yes the Dredd is mainly giving us some lore but I don't mind and some great visuals here, particularly the shift into a mainly red palette.

The 3riller also tells us how we got here but does it in a more interesting way, with the shift in perspective as Colin mentioned. Great euro-comic style art. This is a good 'un.

Intestinauts as with the first two strips another explainy one, we find out more about the bizarre Intestinauts company. Bit of experimentation with the art this time, rather than the 'choose your own adventure' of last week. Liking it, fun strip.

Brink nice to see Gita again. And the story's side reason for Lind's presence makes itself known. 7 episodes in and things are building nicely. The recurring theme of golf is pretty funny. Not a lot happens in this episode but it's not happening in a very intriguing and engaging way. There's your strapline!

Proteus Vex another one with mainly exposition. I suppose it's about time we were told what's going on with Vex and it looks like the gang are all going to get together... looking forward to it!

Yeah not quite as good as last week but still good progage. I think the 3riller takes top thrill for me this week.

[broodblik]

Again, another solid prog but it does feel like we are entering the stage where everything is midway. Midway is where you sometimes feel like maybe it is time to just get on with it but still another 5 star prog.

Dredd – This episode gives us some backstory into the folk legends of the Meg, and it pivot the story towards a confrontation between Dredd and IT. Lovely artwork from mister horror himself, Nick Percival.

Intestinauts – We are very much in set up territory here heading for the final battle. Nice touch on the backstory with the old Credits and some B/W.

3riller – The focus changes slightly as we see the story out of the viewpoint of the mechas. The middle landed hopefully the ending will land as well. A very good 3riller one of the best the last few years.

Brink – Brink continues too slowly burn with the second last page being the most interesting. Good stuff as always

Vex – Are we heading for the end game here? More backstory adding some extras layers to the story. Solid thrill as always.

This round I must say no clear favorite, but I will go with Brink this time with the 3riller close on its heels.

[Barrington Boots]

Agree that this is a 'midpoint' Prog where all the thrills focus on moving forward without a big set piece. Difficult to pick a top thrill this week as Dredd aside this is all consistenly cool stuff.

Dredd – Not clicking for me at all, although the urban legend stuff was quite interesting.

Intestinauts – Enjoyably daft stuff as the threat shifts and we learn evil tiny robot can do real damage and Intestinauts UltraMax are deployed. The highlight here has to be the Ro-Jaws tale pastiche: lovely old colours and crazy credits. The storytelling approach in this strip has been really uniuqe and fun, its a delight.

3riller – Superb move to switch up the POV for the middle episode and an excellent way to deliver som exposition. This has been superb so far: looks great, real air of mystery instead of predictability. Can't wait to see the final part.

Brink – Take page 4 out, and this issue Bridget gets a phone call and then speaks to Bonner and Lind without any major revelations. There's a real skill in taking what another strip could have done in a few panels and making it feel interesting and natural. Page 4 is the interesting one however: I'd assumed the unseen victim was the body we saw a couple of episodes ago, but it seems not. Are we seeing those frames as flashback from the sleeper (Regina)? I notice she has heterochromia going on and would guess this is significant.

Vex – More expositiony and less dramatic moments than the last couple of episodes. A little surpried to see Vex and Tiorn ally up so quickly. There's some major plot reveal here and yes, I think we're about to see some old friends reunited.

[broodblik]

Cover without Logo:

[norton canes]

Yeah, The IT Crowd gets a bit self-indulgent this week, at the expense of the plot. I still need to go through the Choose Your Own Adventure pages of Intestinauts, so haven't read the main bit of this instalment yet but loved the little retro one-pager at the end. Lovely twist - well not just twist, a complete volte-face - in Blue Skies Over Deadwick. And with no offence intended to those three stories, the battle of the heavyweights this week saw Proteus Vex come out narrowly on a points decision over Brink. I know the Abnett droid's hab saga is supposed to be a slow burn, but I'm just thinking that seven episode in now, we should be seeing a little more of the freaky stuff; whereas PV, even in an exposition-heavy week, is building up wonderfully to a climactic head of steam.

[Freddychopper]

Cover without Logo:

That's a hell of a cover!

[Magnetica]

I haven't been contributing to the Prog review thread much lately as I've only been getting round to my Progs at the end of the week. But having read this week's, here goes.

These are comments on the current stories, rather than specifically about this week's episodes.

Dredd is perfectly good. Much better than six weeks avoiding getting mauled to death by a bear to no end.

Intestinauts has never been my thing, but this run is ok. The CYOA thing was fun.

The 3hrilleris pretty good, indeed better than most in this format. I can see this leading a to series.

Brink andProteus Vex are now taking their place alongside the best things ever printed in the Prog.

I don't get the "nothing happens in Brink" comments. It's building intrigue and giving clues in every panel. It definitely rewards a complete re-read, which I'm close to completing.

It's an absolute crime that Proteus Vex is ending. This is crying out for a spin-off set in the same universe. Jake Lynch is also now taking his place amongst the greats. I would not have though it possible to not miss Henry Flint, but he's managed to make it happen.