PROG1759 IN FOR THE KILL

[blixab]

Can't believe that it is almost 2pm and I have bagged the thread - a first for me!

Dredd - New start to the Day Of Chaos story arc in The Assassination List - back to the Yurges again and biological warfare. If this is going where Hennessy and her sister believe Day of Chaos is heading then bring it on. I am liking Dredd more than ever and I for one can't wait to read on. A solid opener.

Ampney Crucis - doesn't do anything for me but for fans of it, then it is drawing to a big finish.

Indigo Prime - more weird and wonderful pages of art in this instalment - very trippy feel to it - LSD users amongst you, beware!!

Angel Zero - another decent instalment, building up to it's logical conclusion. One hell of a killing machine is our Maggie.

Finally and by no means last - Low Life - my pick of this weeks thrills. I suspect that Dirty Frank may well have experimented with a number of the low lifes narcotics whilst being undercover when seeing all the various animals he has for company. Sounds like he is also into those Brazilian experimental rockers CSS with his line "Lets make love - death from above" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7agPOt1XZz8

Oh and a full letters page again.

A top Prog

[radiator]

Gorgeous cover - hard to believe this is the same Clint Langley who does the art on American Reaper, which I don't care for at all.

Tharg hints at ominous things to come in Dredd....

[DrJomster]

What's going on? It's Sunday night and I'm only post nr. 3 on this thread? Shocking!

Anyway, I loved this prog. Brilliant stuff.

Day of Chaos is an interesting beast. Slow burn, worries about overuse of Mr Maybe interspersed with progs like this one and the "Nadia attacks" episode. This week was a monumental shift in tone from all that PJ stuff and all the better for it. It wouldn't have worked as well at all if we'd launched straight into something of thus tone, so I was one happy reader. Page 1 was a bit full on and worked very well indeed.

Leigh draws his Dredd craggy, doesn't he?  . Great art.

I enjoyed everything this prog, even Angel Zero. A very 70's looking spaceship shot in there btw.

Did I spot David Niven as a fighter pilot in Ampney? Why yes, I believe I did.

Indigo is just rocking on the art and I'm really interested to see how the story goes.

Low Life continues to be The Awesome too.

Tough call between Dredd and Low Life this week. Going with Dredd though for the Switch-Into-High-Gear Awesomeness! 

[DoomBot]

What's going on? It's Sunday night and I'm only post nr. 3 on this thread?

Strangely quiet indeed.

Cover by clint langley is superb. Best in a while IMHO

Happy that PJ has gone off and the tone has become darker and more ominous. Best dredd (iPad stupid spell checker thought I meant dress - lol) in a while.

Loving the rest. AZ I thought was superb.

Oh and Droid Life was also great. so easy to overlook in a good prog....

[The Cosh]

Can't speak for anyone else, but I've only just stopped celebrating my appearance on LettersUsEntertainYou for long enough to type coherently. Stark contrast to a dismal Meg as I thought every strip was quality this week. Even Angel Zero, which hasn't sparked for me at all, was enlivened by the old "narration at odds with action" switch.

DrJ has already picked up on a couple of things that struck me this week. First page of Dredd was seriously brutal but it actually looked to me like Leigh Gallagher had toned down how grizzled his depiction of Dredd is after that Meg outing a while back. One thing I'm slightly turned off by at the moment is the use Chris Blythe's colouring to give the stories in overarching sequence a more uniform look. Personally, I want a Henry Flint story to look radically different from a Leigh Gallagher one.

Everything else was great. Neck and neck between Low Life and Indigo Prime for story of the week, but I think Dirty Frank steals it by a turtle's head.

[Proudhuff]

Dredd - I'm kinda glad PJ has sloped off for now, and we're back to the (posioned) meat of the story, Sov guy a proper nasty bit o work, artwork excellent too

Ampney Crucis - great action and little chat, spot on old chap!

Indigo Prime - I tried really I did, but I find this like being the new guy amongst a group of people who have know each other for years: the references, names, events, are all shorthand and you can't be arsed asking who/what/where every other minute but just nodd and agree

Angel Zero - Now that's just silly, i thought 'The Spy who shagged me' trumped that chat then jump the guard thing years ago. This feels as though its been at the back of the filing cabinet since the seventies and recently found and slung in to fill a gap.


Low Life: mad, brilliant wonderful stuff, if ever there was a great comic 'contrast and compare' its this with Angel Zero.

A bit of a spam sandwich this prog, but that's the nature of the beastie...

[James Stacey]

Indigo Prime - I tried really I did, but I find this like being the new guy amongst a group of people who have know each other for years: the references, names, events, are all shorthand and you can't be arsed asking who/what/where every other minute but just nodd and agree

I feel the same. Admittedly I haven't read IP since the last time it was in the prog and Dead Eyes or whatever occurred during my wilderness years, but I can't make head nor tail (beautiful though the art is). Am I that dense or is it really that convoluted and / or random. And speaking of Random, we really should petition hard for more Lob. Mr Critchlow has been out of the prog for too long.

[IndigoPrime]

Indigo Prime - I tried really I did, but I find this like being the new guy amongst a group of people who have know each other for years: the references, names, events, are all shorthand and you can't be arsed asking who/what/where every other minute but just nodd and agree

The thing is, it's not like Smith's always referencing stuff that's been in 2000 AD. Me, I see it more like peeking into a fully fleshed-out world, which is something that quite often happens on TV shows. You're dropped into a universe that's already there, rather than it being built in front of you. It's perhaps more challenging, but I really like what Smith does with Indigo Prime, and I'm desperately hoping it won't be another fleeting run, not least because the story has so much scope.

[Proudhuff]

Indigo Prime - I tried really I did, but I find this like being the new guy amongst a group of people who have know each other for years: the references, names, events, are all shorthand and you can't be arsed asking who/what/where every other minute but just nodd and agree

The thing is, it's not like Smith's always referencing stuff that's been in 2000 AD. Me, I see it more like peeking into a fully fleshed-out world, which is something that quite often happens on TV shows. You're dropped into a universe that's already there, rather than it being built in front of you. It's perhaps more challenging, but I really like what Smith does with Indigo Prime, and I'm desperately hoping it won't be another fleeting run, not least because the story has so much scope.

I can understand that and how it could pull you in, however that works well with an hour long episode of say The Wire, but a five pager in a weekly comic is too much for an addled old noggin like mine

[Colin_YNWA]

I personally love the way he (John Smith) drops in this information as IndigoPrime say he drops you into a fully formed world. He also helps you work it out. I find it brilliant that he manages to weave in all the 'clues' you need to suss out what's going on, what all the dialogue refers to without it all getting very expositiony. He makes it all seem so natural and therefore so real. I do have to work at it but comics are often berated for taking such a short time to get through for so much pay out. So I for one don't mind the fact that his writing may take me a couple of goes to get (or at least reach a reading of that I'm happy with and feel I understand). The reward for this is a much richer, more real (in his very unreal worlds) experience.

Compare what he does to say what Ian Edgington does in Ampney. So often he'll have two characters actually discussing straight out for a good page or two what exactly the big snake demon beastie is and what its up to. He does it entertainingly enough but with none of the subtly that Smith employees. Smith leds the reader to almost being the second party in the conversation. To ask the questions and find the answers, which I think are all there.

[Mikey]

Dredd - a great opener to this section of the story. I was a bit jaded with PJ too, so this feels like it's starting to get momentum. As Cosh mentioned, despite the fantastic job Chris Blythe always does, and it's a nice approach for continuity/collection, I like seeing different artists palettes. So minor though - Blythe has really given MC1 a great consistency IMO,which is important for these multi strand epics, beyond the collection appearance.

Ampney Crucis - is a rip roaring fun beast. Loving it!

Indigo Prime - another top thrill. Like some fella said in the letters page, just letting the story wash over you is the way to read this. I love being carried along in this ker-azy rollercoaster of mental! I recall the first IP stories confused me to the point I gave up until the strip had finished and a re read opened my eyes to it's wonders. Great stuff! And some superb art on this run so far - methinks someone is enjoying illustrating it!

Angel Zero - whereas this is my favourite! that Burns fella's a bit good isn't he? As for the story...well, I like it but it's not my favourite.

Low Life - top thrill again. Just absolutely love everything about it. Low Life has been consistently strong since it began and who the Jovus would have anticipated where it is now? This, fellow Squaxx, is why I read this here comic!

A fantastic prog there, Tharg. Keep it up!

M.

[radiator]

Don't often write reviews at the moment, but that's only because I'm very content with the current line-up. Everything is at the least solid. Nothing I actively don't like.

Great stuff!

This week's cover and that of 1743 would make great matching covers for the Day of Chaos volume 1 & 2 trades (presuming there will be two volumes).

[Colin_YNWA]

Delayed review this week due to the folly of Royal Mailing meaning I only read this in bed last night.

Having read the Prog its hard the comments I made earlier about John Smith's writing and Ampney seem really out of place and inaccurate this week. Ampney is a bit of a action blockbuster and Indigo Prime does more of what I 'accused' Ampney of doing normally. Ho hum such is life. Still feel the same overall about the strips Ampney is getting on fine Indigo Prime is stella, if a little down from its usual heights.

Dredd has moved from one story I was finding a bit of a drag back to ... well alas another story I was finding a bit of a drag. Still as ever fantastic execution. Worth noting that I can't remember Dredd looking quite this old and battered since the post Necropolois day. In a good way by the way. Fair play to the Gallagher Droid for his rendition.

The other two thrills are as strong as they ever are. Loving Angel Zero but with Indigo Prime on the slightest of down turns it leaves the door open for Low Life to get the thrill of the week. What f**king brilliant stuff.

Oh and Droid Life was very good this week.

[Mikey]

whereas this is my favourite!...

...Low Life

Just thought I'd clear that up. Don't know why that fave comment ended up at Angel Zero 

M.

[Dandontdare]

Grrr - Monday came and went and still no prog or meg