Prog 1761: Fighting Dirty!

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Another super prog. How consistently good is it these days? Not that anyone will be reading this - you'll all have hangovers from Thought Bubble. Anyway-

DREDD:
Oooh. Just, oooh. Wagner doing epic at his best. Loads of exposition. Ending with Dredd lrsving to go to Russia, as predicted. You know what, I ate this up - read it, then went back and considered the dashed fab art by Leigh Gallagher. And yet this is the weakest story in the prog, as the use of the precog device seems a little thin.


SINDEX:
I like SinDex, especially now that there is a bit of an over-arching story rather than little murder tales. A nice combination of murder fatigue, ultra violence and a good old fashioned cliffhanger.


INDIGO PRIME:
Rattles along. Who are the Overseers? Are they human(ish)? They seem like bad eggs to me.


ANGEL ZERO:
Actually, forgot about this when I said Dredd was the weakest entry. Again, I like this. But it suffers from being the old school meat sandwhiched between Indigo Prime and Dirty Frank's meta-mixed insanity.


LOW LIFE:
Ends. "He was alive and he was Dirty Frank. He knew this. Not many of us can say the same." I am not sure if this will come back. It feels like an line being drawn but I'd be happy for it to return. At the same time, if it is the end then what a way to go.

No letters.

Ooh. "The Project" gets a plug. This starts in Prog 2012. What is it, you ask? Why, it's only the second part of the The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha.


DAMAGE REPORT:
Tharg, real men are comfortable with their sexuality. And/or would be soooo drunk last night that they collapse fully dressed.

[The Cosh]

Bah! Do you live next door to the bloody sorting office?

Pretty much agree with everything the Dr said. Definitely going to be digging out Lowlife: the D'Israeli Years for a full reread this week as it really does finish off more than just this story. This episode has just bumped up the price of the trade collection though.

I think the Overseers are the enigmatic ultradimensional entities that wouldn't fit into Danny's primitive perceptual framework the other week.

[Trout]

I'm excited about the new Stront story, not least because John Wagner is really happy with it. He said as much when he visited Dundee a few weeks ago, although the rest of what he said was drowned out by me shouting, "NA NA NAAAAA! NO SPOILERS! NOT LISTENING!"

Dredd is building nicely, too. With a Wagner story, it's all about the pace. The sense of impending disaster, of the inevitability of it all despite Dredd's best efforts, is overwhelming. This is a masterclass in serialised fiction. Nobody does it better.

Gorgeous art, too, especially Dredd's helmet. *snigger*

I enjoyed the rest of the comic, especially - and this surprised me - Sinister Dexter. I never used to like it but the cross-dimensional story has given it nice direction. There's also lots of weirdness in the other stories. I want to make special mention of Edmund Bagwell's art on Indigo Prime, which has the level of detail that comics tend to lack these days.

Overall: top prog again, with a promise of a great Christmas prog to come. We 2000AD fans are happy to say, "Winter is coming."

- Trout

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Bah! Do you live next door to the bloody sorting office?

No. But my house is the second one visited by the postie when he starts his round. I get my mail at the same time every day: just after noon on a weekday, and at 7.30am (ish) on a Saturday. So, n'yer.

[Tim Tailz]

Ooh. Sin/Dex back this week and Strontium Dog back in Prog 2012. Call me excited. 

[Colin_YNWA]

Right so I couldn't attend Thought Bubble as I'm meant to be on a stag do (wasn't sure I could make it anyway but when I checked my dates it was all confirmed). Not on the stag cos I've been in bed almost continually since leaving work early on Friday with the very definition of man flu. Got up for an abortive attempt to make myself eat something. Well if I couldn't eat at least I'd make myself read something (not really been managing that either, I think my wife is very worried when I'm so poorly that I don't have a comic in my hand.).

Do you need to hear all this pitiful background nonsense? Am I just here to elicit a bit of pity. No I'm here to let you know that 2000ad makes it all better.

What a fantastic Prog. I'll get the negatives out the way first.

Dredd.

My God this is brilliantly crafted lines like

"I'm sure we'll come to an understanding"

Are just classic Wagner at his best. Its just I'm not invested in the plot. I defo see the points King Trout raises about the pacing and build of tension and there's no denying that its there. It just feels so tired. Like half of Woody Allen's film I appreciate it rather than enjoy it.

That aside the Prog is a blast Angel Zero continues in much the same thrilling vein. Indigo Prime was hard to read in my pity filled, man flued state but my God its so worth the effort its simply sublime. Low Life wraps up really well. I hope that Rob Williams' increasing work in America doesn't mean we're done here. Tharg's Nerve Centre certainly suggests so. The ending is certainly a good place to leave. Its just it makes it clear there are more things that could be explored. Still brilliant stuff.

Any of those I'd be waxing lyrical about as the best thing in the Prog but this week even Indigo Prime can't claim that as Sinister Dexter is back and with a particularly superb episode. The first page is just the very definition of the series. Its just wonderful wonderful stuff... okay so you know what Sinister Dexter possibly isn't the best thing here but I do love this strip and just like the Prog doesn't really make it all better (I'd be going back to bed if a 2 year old and a wife 8 months pregnant mean I can't really)  but for a while when reading it, it sure felt like it.

[Trout]

In the style of Roger:

I'm a whiny big jessie and I don't deserve thrill power. I'm also very, very wrong about that Dredd story.

 

[Colin_YNWA]

In the style of Roger:

I'm a whiny big jessie and I don't deserve thrill power. I'm also very, very wrong about that Dredd story.

 

The horrible truth is with my normal spelling and grammar that might have been what I was actually trying to type!

[vzzbux]

Dredd. Generals and Judges specifically trained as soldiers. A first from Wagner's storytelling as far as I can remember. Big thumbs up here.






V

[The Cosh]

John Wagner came to my house and I loved him and hugged him and fed him lovely sugarlumps but then my mum said he had to go home and I was sad 

Haw haw!

[Trout]

No, Cosh, I believe that was you. You ate all the sugar and we couldn't get you to leave.

 

[Roger Godpleton]

Bruno Mars is my favourite rapper.

[DoomBot]

Great prog. Really great. The only way it could be greater is if it came with free money. And beer. No free beer in the prog. That's my only criticism. Tharg take note for next week.

[The Cosh]

Bruno Mars is my favourite rapper.

BusLOL.

[M.I.K.]

Great prog. Really great. The only way it could be greater is if it came with free money. And beer. No free beer in the prog. That's my only criticism. Tharg take note for next week.

Free beer in the prog would make the pages soggy. Free money would be good, but he's done that before...

http://www.2000ad.nu/termight/freegifts/prog33.jpg