Prog 1700: Cooking Up A Thrill-Storm!

[Emperor]

Dredd was brilliant!

Including the art... ?

[Emperor]

I STILL think that on issue one's of things, especially on a jumping on issue like this one, they should put a one page "Story so far" at the beginning.

They used to, but people got irritated as it was seen as a cheeky way of filling pages. There are little recaps for each current story on the front page every week, but there's not really enough space to be thorough - I would suggest adding a link to each of these to a page on this site that summarises the plot in more detail.

See my proposed solution here:

http://www.2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,29896.msg541857.html#msg541857

In fact this would be the perfect opportunity to get this rolling...

[Mardroid]

Cover - Brilliant... although the price rise is a bit soon after the last one. If they're all this paper quality that wouldn't be a bad thing though.(And it's still cheaper than most other comics.)

Droid's Life: Dear me.

Dredd: Good start. That last bit with the 'Buffalo Bill' character was presented in an interesting chilling way. We are the victim... but we never hear our own voice. He's in control from the start... Brrrr.

Defoe: Okay start. Crocodiles in the moat outside the tower of London? Heh. Why not. This is getting a bit repetitive with the introduction of characters every new series, but as this is designed to be accessible for new readers that is understandable. (I think it could be done differently though.

Age of the Wolf: Great start! I was a tad confused by the passage of time. First panel, we see the full moon. Then we read references tot the fact that there is going to be a full moon tonight (i.e. future tense). So... what's that then? Then there was the jump from the veterinary service to the train. At first I thought that might be a flashback, but then I realised they'd moved on from the surgery. I guess they must have moved on quickly without checking the place out properly for Carol. Actually, considering how people are in the real world, that isn't too far-fetched. It's not that they're expecting her to be dead after all. (I'm assuming things are starting to heat up but until recently most people are still living normal lives.)

I'm wondering about the werewolf rules for this strip. Did Maria get bitten before the events of this strip? Or can anyone be effectively 'possessed by the moon' at any time? Is it like an Evil Dead situation? Hopefully the next episodes will make things clearer. This is very enjoyable.

Low Life: Ha, ha! Some great comedy as normal. Another strange time jump though, but I'd imagine things will become clear next episode.

Dante- Good start. And Konstantin looks a lot like a slightly chunkier Dante when he's wearing a beard. (Well they're half brothers after all.)

[Mikey]

That was some fuckin prog-not a beat missed from cover to cover. Highlights for me were Low Life and Gary Caldwell's colouring on Dante! Beautiful stuff there Gaz!

And the moon does have an atmosphere, mostly Sodium from outgassing iirc.

M

[Emperor]

Judge Dredd: Loving that last page and Dredd's Thoughts (The FIFTH Judge on the CoF is named as Judge Vass!!)

This raises further questions, not helped by an excursion to the Council of Five Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Five

• When did he first pop up?
• Any relation of Judges Vassal or Vasser?
• The blonde with the trouser obsession is Judge Stalker, who seems to have risen from being a judge in charge of PR (#1691) to the Council of Five (#1693, presumably with the other Judge being Vass) but somewhere along the line changed her hair colour.
• Don't members of the Council of Five tend to represent the different divisions? Often including the heads of PSU, Psi or Tek-division, if so what role do they have? They seem to have relatively ordinary pages but no eagles on the shoulder.

More seriously, I do like the way John Wagner is happy to drop a Judge in without having to give their name right away and then drip feeds the information in later as it fits in naturally. You can compare that with the infodumps from Pat, like the one at the start of the recent Savage and in this prog's Defoe and, while I think they are both valid methods (especially when you get so few pages), Pat's way could be clunky in the hand's of a less experienced writer (he seems to have nailed the one-off panel with the introduction, a nugget of background and an amusing/intriguing info-nugget). So I might err on the side of confusing the reader for a few issues and letting them fill in the blanks. Nice to have a bit of a masterclass in such matters from two of the Greats.

[The Cosh]

Stalker was the producer of Streets of Dan Francisco. She was on his council initially but got bumped by Sinfield.

[George Dread]

The problem I had with prog this good is , I stumble through it missing stuff, rushing to grab all the hits of all the stories.

It felt good. Looked good. Smelt good.


Droid Life finally had me laughing out loud in a cafe. My eyes had already jumped to the punchline, before I'd read the feed. So, from confusion to, checking the reveal to be sure there was no mistake. A quick reread and, the audacity of Cat was too much for my inhibitors.

Dredd was polished comic gold. Supremely thrown deep into the councils chambers to find Dredd, if he weren't so dignified picking his nose and flicking it at the solidly boring proceedings. I like Ben's translation of Fransisco. Tough looking, pretty-boy with heaps of experience to offset any naivety that could be misconstrued by his charming features. His council demeanour serious with intent with his public face neatly hidden at the ready for any negotiations outside the sanctum. This is after the opening with the Miltonesque disposal of Sinfield.

I felt a bit sickened, on behalf of curious passers by as I read through the Ed Gain comic tribute that followed. Personally I was loving the in your face-ness Wagner had all of a sudden decided to engage. Wow!

I then wanted to smooth my face on the artwork on Defoe. Like a teddy that'd returned. But I remembered those curious passers by and kissing pictures of walking corpses and crocodiles stopped me. Yeah, Pat Mills is writing in a cleverly frustrating way, leaving a hanging limb off at the end that is neither pulse racing or without intrigue.

Low Life has a Madman as the central character, a big stompy robot doing bank jobs, and left, right hook break off. What's not to like?

Dante is extremely close to the bone. Without ever being condescending it spills a few home truths of the darkness of human capitulation and the bottom feeding the soul can stoop to.

The jagged story opening of Age of the Wolf threw my head around and I don't know if its a good thing, yet.

[leebrown1990]

Just busted my ass packing about a 1000 Progs into the loft as I'm about to leave for Uni. A sad occasion despite Sound Garden blasting in the background. When just as I fisnished I hear the letter box slam. 2 back issues of the Meg and 1700 finnaly!   

I think I've said this a million times before, but this is one gorgeous cover. Another price increase is pretty painful but I was paying 2.20 an issue when Spider-man was weekly for a smaller page count and adverts mid story. So on the scale of things it's still good value for money.

Dredd: Ben Willsher for me; finnaly matching the qaulity of his covers with his strip work now. This is flawless. The scene in first person persepctive was really unerving; for a moment I wasn't sure if I was in the killers or the victims boots.

Defoe: I deifntley want to pick up the first trade and see if it helps me enjoy Defoe without having to try too hard. That said I think it has all the ingredients for a classic Mills story, and I did quite enjoy this. I think Leigh Gallagher grows as an artist with every part and the brief re-introduction to the characters was handy, even if I am still confused as to what some of it is referring too.

Age of the Wolf: I think this was the strip I was most excited for after seeing the beautiful teaser of the London Undeground. And the art defintley doesn't dissapoint, but I didn't love the story. I thought it was going to have more of a classic horror vibe to it, I wasn't expecting to see so much of the beast so early, or it to be so dailogue heavy. I was expecting more of a Gradlegrave style pacing. Still I think like Cradlegrave this could evolve into something totally unexpected and blow me away, so I am excited for more.

Low Life: Didn't get the ending, but other than that it was pretty easy to follow, and got a few laughs out of me. Disraeli art is always a treat. Sure thigns will get crazier and awesomer with time.

Nikolai: Found it a little hard to follow in places, I think it all should have been resonating with me, not just the final page. But that final page gave me goosebumps. I prefer Simon Fraser's art when it's a little crsiper, but I guess this suits the tone of the story more.

Qaulity Prog. Dredd being the top thrill for me.

[George Dread]

Does anyone else see this new set of stories as having a decidedly Horror genre, stratagem?

It'd be real good if they were all 8 episodes long ending around Halloween.

[TordelBack]

So late to this there's little enough to say except:

GREAT PROG.

Loved the art on Age of the Wolf, very Terry Moore in a good way.  The only way the moon could be full for 9 days (short of stopping stopping dead in its orbit, causing much bigger problems than werewolves) is if it glowed with its own light, so the government's explanation isn't a bad one.  Also enjoyed the authenticity of the archaeologist's monlogue, and the set dressing in the pet kennels, both very well judged by Alec and Jon respectively.  

Low Life:  Nixon's depression at being a glorified hooker deepens, so the Christmas story wasn't just S.A.D.  A great opener, with dangly teasing tassles all over and oh the art! The glorious art!  

Dante: Anyone who complains that this run is hard to follow after that opener will be getting a "Must Try Harder" on their Christmas report card.

Defoe:  I love Defoe so much that I can even forgive Pat another bloody roll-call.  At least this one was brief.  Meanwhile, crocodiles eat fat zombies in the moat of the Tower of London!  Glee!

Dredd:  Judge Dilbert, who'd have thought it

[kossori]

My turn...

1700 came out on Clickwheel this week and I finally had a chance to sit and read it...

The cover- Very nice. Loved the machine. Would've liked to see the characters from the story on the cover but Tharg made a great cover this issue so I wasn't disappointed.

Judge Dredd - We have three things going on: Sinfield being put on Titan with other prisoners, Dredd finding a way to get out of council meetings and Mr. Skinner luring hapless chaps to make... well, chaps. I was actually expecting something else when I read Mr. Skinner's intro. I figured he was a pervert that liked to rape guys or something like that. Very interesting. Loved the art and the first person view at Skinner's was really good.

Defoe - I really couldn't get into. The art was good enough. As others have said the intros were a bit overdone (it covered two pages with mostly headshots) but at the same time I would've been lost without it. Nevertheless, I wasn't all that concerned about Bodie's fate on the last panel.

Age of the Wolf - Don't know why but it reminded me a bit of Route 666. The introduction episode did well I think in setting up the story. However, although I see Age of the Wolf becoming a great story for 2000 AD, I'm not so sure about the staying power of the protagonist. Will she be able to carry another story later? I will say that I loved the allusion of Rowan being a sacrifice on page two. Nice bit of foreshadowing if the story delivers later. I was also surprised that a) they did not see the body in the chair, and b) they didn't take the van (but they kept the dog). This one has potential but too early to tell. I think the art was great, btw... but it didn't "feel" like 2000 AD to me.

Low-Life - Loved the transvestite robot. Hell, if you're the only one who can deliver a giant robot for someone, you may as well make them accept them by your rules. :-) Makes you wonder who's in charge. Loved the art on the last two pages. I have no idea who Thora is, so she won't be missed.

Nikolai Dante - I was actually confused through most of this as I've only read bits of Dante's previous stories before and never enough to get a grasp on things. I was actually thinking that the naked guy was Dante and was being called by another name. All the way up to the last few pages where it became clear that Dante was someone else.

Couple of questions:
1. Are all the stories planned to be 13 episodes? Isn't that going to lock out new readers for the next three months? Why not have one be shorter?
2. The pdf version had the teaser for next issue on page two. I'm assuming that was an error and that it should be the last page. Or was the last page of Dante on the back cover?

All in all, a good prog and I sit patiently waiting for 1701 next week.

[The Cosh]

Couple of questions:
1. Are all the stories planned to be 13 episodes? Isn't that going to lock out new readers for the next three months? Why not have one be shorter?
2. The pdf version had the teaser for next issue on page two. I'm assuming that was an error and that it should be the last page. Or was the last page of Dante on the back cover?

1. No. Dante and Low Life will be definitely be shorter. Dont' know about Age of the Wolf. Defoe will probably be 10 or 12.

[kossori]

Couple of questions:
1. Are all the stories planned to be 13 episodes? Isn't that going to lock out new readers for the next three months? Why not have one be shorter?
2. The pdf version had the teaser for next issue on page two. I'm assuming that was an error and that it should be the last page. Or was the last page of Dante on the back cover?

1. No. Dante and Low Life will be definitely be shorter. Dont' know about Age of the Wolf. Defoe will probably be 10 or 12.

Ah... Cool. The website had listed them all as 13-parters.

[The Cosh]

Ah... Cool. The website had listed them all as 13-parters.

Ah... and 200 pages I see. Must just be the default until they know.