Prog 1756: Reality Under Threat?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

COVER:

Oddly Cthulu themed creepy, given it's for Indigo Prime and not Ampnry. Reminds me of a Feral cover from the 700s. By Nick Percival.

DREDD:

PJ does as PJ does. Like the last few weeks. To be honest, I'm getting PJ'd out. In his own way he is as one dimensional as Death. The art is Flintabulous.

AMPNEY:

Bang bang, shooty shooty. This felt like an episode from the last story. A retrograde step for what had been a late bloomer.

INDIGO PRIME:

Eh? Lumped in with a whole load of jargon and no explanation as to what is going on. Stunning art, mind.

ANGEL ZERO:

Same as before, again. In fact, for its first three pages it was just like reading the last two episodes. Then we get a foxy green Star Trek chick from nowhere, in what felt to me like too quick a jump.

LOW LIFE:

A bit talky-heady, with no Frank-esque quipds.


ALL IN ALL

Maybe I'm just grumpy, but a wholly unsatisfying prog for me. It feels like none of the stories seemed to have progressed; you could go from last week's episode to next week's without much fuss. I knoe that's not entirely true, of course, but there was nothing memorable in any of the episodes - nothing to make you say "that was the one in which X did Y".

Bah. This is what comes of not having a coffee.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Forgot to mention:

Dredd finishes with one of the greates "whankkk" shots ever. Dirty boy's using both hands on his pipe!

[Colin_YNWA]

Well there's grabbing the Prog thread and there's grabbing the Prog thread. I mean getting the thread for a prog 1000 issues off is a bit extreme isn't it?

Interesting that it has the same line up as today's Prog too!

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Drokk' I seem to have missed quite a few weeks worth of progs by the look of the thread title. That is unless a mod gives me those 1000 weeks back

[Proudhuff]

time travel?

[SmallBlueThing]

MY "reality" is definately "under threat" it seems! ARGH! A THOUSAND POGS TO TRACK DOWN! (dissolves into pathetic sobs)

SBT

[Buttonman]

Hurrah! I'm still getting letters published in 20 years time!

[Tombo]

Interesting that it has the same line up as today's Prog too!

And STILL no action in Decade of Chaos!

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Hey, I did ask a mod to change it. So eff off!

[Colin_YNWA]

Well I did think about starting a new thread with the correct number... but that seemed very childish... not that it wasn't tempting and not that I'm not capable of great acts of childishness (just ask my wife) but then decided that is you're going to have the wrong Prog number it might as well be with a Prog with the tag line 'Reality Under Threat'. Its like its a tribute to the returning Indigo Prime...

... all of which waffle I'll now use to link to my review... errr by... yes so the Prog may only have slight changes but its a quantum leap from last week. Subtle changes in almost all the strips rise it up another level. I say almost all 'cos Dredd does indeed just plods along. Christ the day a Dredd story by Wagner and Flint is the worst thing in the Prog is a chilling, yet exciting day indeed. Again the Progs title seems more and more apt!

Dredd aside its a blinder however. Angel Zero continues to hurtle along getting us closer and closer to the crunch but its a thrilling ride. Loving this one. Ampney fair flies along too and seems a lot more action packed this time round and strangely that really works. Low Life is just Thrill-powered wonder and in any other Prog would almost certainly have been the standout by a mile.

This however isn't any other Prog, this is a Prog with one of the best starts to a story I can remember for many a long time. Okay so John Smith has kinda cheated by having the new story start just two Progs after the last one but I'm quite sure this fella would have picked up momentum all of its own regardless of riding on the back of what had gone before. As brilliant as John Smith is in this script (and it really is quite brilliant) reality is indeed under threat as its Edward Bagwell that's the star of the show. As Grant Goggans says in a letter in this very Prog if he's been channeling "Jack Kirby's unlimited imagination" this episode he lets Kirby's ghost possess him body and soul and long may the exorcist stay away. The unbridled imagination he invests in every panel, from the set up to the universe hoping is quite staggering. This my learned friends in my ignorant opinion is thrill-power in perfection.

Genius Prog!

[The Cosh]

That was a gorgeous looking episode of Indigo Prime.

[radiator]

That was a gorgeous looking episode of Indigo Prime.

Yep - absolutely stunning, and just keeps getting better. Bagwell is a major talent.

I agreed with something picked up on in the ECBT2000ad podcast - the amount of stuff he's had to design before even starting the strip is mind-blowing. I'm sure he has a ton of sketches and designs - would love to see them one day.

[Colin_YNWA]

I'm sure he has a ton of sketches and designs - would love to see them one day.

I'm not one to get collection editions of stuff I've got in the Prog but when Indigo Prime is collected and if Edward Bagwells designs are included this will indeed become a must buy product.

[Trout]

Yeah, I loved the art on Indigo Prime, too.

Another all-round success for the Prog. It's hard to fault any of it!

- Trout

[Slip de Garcon]

Dredd - I've never liked PJ Maybe, the prog in which Dredd finally blows him away will get framed in Garcon Towers.

Ampney Crucis - continues to baffle me that such a fantastic premise for a character is so wasted.

Indigo Prime - I have absolutely no idea what is going on here, but it does at least look nice.

Angel Zero - I know the Burns droid is very old school but I just love his stuff. Not sure about this story though.

Low Life - as long as there's one example of Dirty Frank getting Japanese wrong a week, I'll keep reading: "Dirty Frank rides the daffodil ointment with great aplomb", lol.