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Prog 1990 - Standing Tall

Started by Colin YNWA, 16 July, 2016, 05:19:30 PM

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Colin YNWA

As the tagline suggests the Prog is indeed Standing Tall, behind a fine cover.

Okay so Black Shuck still looks great but is basically flailing its it hairy teethy story all over the place BUT that aside we're in a happy place.

I'm surprised and happy to have Outlier back and this well realised set-up episode does a very effective job of getting us up to speed and setting up some new threads to explore.

Scarlet Traces continues to be a wonderful read, and okay even if the plucky chap standing up to bullies bit is a little tired its very well done and scripted superbly. Blink is almost flawless - this is perfect thrillery.

Highlight though is Dredd which manages to somehow wrap things up in a very satisfying way in just 6 pages. Suitable ending to a fantastic storyline I can't wait to re-read whenever I get around to that. Brilliant stuff - which it has to be to beat Brink!

Great Prog.

Magnetica

Not sure about this week's Prog.

Jake Lynch does his Kim Raymond impression on the cover.

In the Damage Report Tharg fails to foresee Bojo's resurrection. To be fair so did everyone else apart from the new PM.

Dredd obeys the perceived rule of Michael Carroll endings as in it just sort of ends.

Brink. Best thing this week. Turns the intrigue up to 11.

Black Shuck suffers from too many characters looking the same i.e. long dark hair and beard. So we get to the reveal and it's...no sorry you lost me...who is it?

(Also as someone posted last week I am now really confused - I though Black Shuck became a werewolf after being bitten on his trip to the court of king Ivar but it does imply he was born with it in last week's episode).

Really glad to see Outlier back. Shame it is the last series, but guess that means we will get a decent conclusion.

Scarlet Traces. Oh dear 3 weeks in and it's beginning to lose me already.

The Nerve Centre says the new Meg is now on sale. I didn't get my subscriber copy today and I note no thread has been started for it yet - so has anyone else got theirs yet?

Trent

Dredd wraps up at a rate of knots. Wish it had been half a dozen episodes longer and we had genuinely felt the rise of TC influence more organically.
Love how Carroll has linked in many elements of the established Dreddverse while making it feel unforced (mostly). The use of other characters in larger stories (a la Trifecta) is the way to go with characters naturally interacting as the would do if they lived in the same world.
The contrast with say Helter Skelter or early cross over stories such as True Grit is considerable.


Ghost MacRoth

Cover:  Lovely Lynch art.  Plain to a degree, but still eye catching.

Dredd:  Bit of a sudden end yes, but at least it felt like a proper end, rather than some of the other Carroll endings of late that seemed far more rushed.  The shooting of Dredd was kinda shit though... I mean, she was at point blank range with a frikkin' lawgiver....and still missed Dredd completely??  Also thought Colin's art wasn't up to his usual standards, just in the posing/action area...as Oswin always seemed quite static, even when she was concerned for Tower.... guess it musta been a tight deadline?

Brink:  I'll say it again, I wish they'd given this to a decent artist.

Black Shuck:  Yeah, feeling the same as Magnetica, the reveal lost me entirely, and to be honest, I don't really care.  BS is just a tale that appears in the prog, and I've no strong feelings one way or the other towards it.

Outlier:  Lovely to see Richardson's wonderful art back again.  Quite happy to see the story back as well.

Scarlet Traces:  Yes, yes....WW2 white toff officer stereotypes, giving the working classes a hard time for being blue...or brown.  Yawn.  More lino print art.  ZZZZZzzzzzz
I don't have a drinking problem.  I drink, I get drunk, I fall over.  No problem!

A.Cow

Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 17 July, 2016, 07:45:42 PM
Brink:  I'll say it again, I wish they'd given this to a decent artist.

Having gone from not-caring to very-much-liking Brink, I'm gonna say something controversial...

In my opinion, if it had gone to a more realistic artist -- for example, the excellent Lee Carter -- then it would suffer badly.  Cublard's cartoony art muddies things up nicely, distracting from the fact that the plot is actually less complex than it appears, with more cliches than a Rick Random episode.  I think this is one of those cases where style is necessary to balance content.  And I think it works well.

Echidna

Quote from: Ghost MacRoth on 17 July, 2016, 07:45:42 PM
Brink:  I'll say it again, I wish they'd given this to a decent artist.

As I've said before, I can see why Culbard's not everyone's cup of tea but the idea that he's actually bad is baffling to me.

Quote from: A.Cow on 18 July, 2016, 06:02:21 AM
Cublard's cartoony art muddies things up nicely, distracting from the fact that the plot is actually less complex than it appears, with more cliches than a Rick Random episode.  I think this is one of those cases where style is necessary to balance content.  And I think it works well.

Agreed, up to a point - the reveal of [spoiler]Frannie's evil plan[/spoiler] reeks of cliche, but Culbard makes it believable. I wouldn't describe him as cartoony, though - the poses and facial expressions are incredibly well observed and realistic. Frannie's emotions, from [spoiler]mocking disdain to mischievous glee[/spoiler], are particularly convincing. Culbard said in a podcast interview that, after doing the layouts, he focuses on one character at a time before going back to the start and drawing the next one, to make their personalities more consistent, and I think this episode's a good example of that.

Richard

"It just sort of ends" isn't a fair summary of Dredd. I thought it was a perfect ending. We found out what Dredd's plan really was -- [spoiler]I thought Dolman and Joyce were just going to be snipers, but what they were really up to was much more interesting, and a resolution I didn't see coming. And I liked the unexpected cameo by Armitage.[/spoiler]

Dredd was using that Texan judge as a human shield, and it wasn't exactly point blank range, so Oswin can be forgiven for not getting him. She should have used hi-ex.

I don't think Reclamation needed to be more episodes, it was long enough to show us that the Texans were trying to take over; any longer and it would have dragged on. We would all have been like "yes we get it, the Texans are taking over, cut to the chase." It was about the right pace for me.

Pleased to see Outlier is back. No idea who that was in Black Shuck. And I still like Brink, especially this week because [spoiler]that nice girl we were all supposed to like actually turned out to be a total complete bitch.[/spoiler]

Not sure what I make of Cold War so far, but I'm prepared to give it time to establish itself.

A mostly strong prog.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Richard on 18 July, 2016, 01:08:11 PM
Dredd was using that Texan judge as a human shield, and it wasn't exactly point blank range, so Oswin can be forgiven for not getting him. She should have used hi-ex.

Well seeing as Dredd was carrying an ginormous bag of explosives, probably not a great idea! A great ending to a cracking story, with an equally good cover.

I'm enjoying Scarlet Traces and Brink, not best pleased to see the return of Outlier which did nothing for me last time around, and I can't even muster the strength to read Black Shuck - I'll try it again in one go at the end, but I've skipped that last few after a lacklustre start (and a first series that I've almost completely forgotten)

Ghost MacRoth

Quote from: Echidna on 18 July, 2016, 01:00:15 PM
the idea that he's actually bad is baffling to me.

It's not that complex...I just don't like his style.  Much like Gary Barlow may indeed be a great pianist and writer of music, but I still think what he produces at the end of the process is shite.  Just an opinion, and many would disagree with me on that one too, no big deal. ;)
I don't have a drinking problem.  I drink, I get drunk, I fall over.  No problem!

Hawkmumbler

Cover: Well thats a bit bloody lovely! More interior art from the brilliant Mr.Lynch please!

Dredd: Wraps up nicely, if a little to 'cleanly'. Could maybe have done with another installment but maybe the meg story will cover that...

Black Shuck: I will have to read this upon it's conclusion, sadly it's not doing anything for me.

Brink: Fucking phenomenal. Just one of the best new thrills in a long time, love it to death!

Outlier: Surprised too see this back and rather happy as well! The second series was better than the first, lets see if the power of three is with this one!

Scarlet Traces: Bloody hell i'm loving this! Can't wait to get my hands on that omnibus and get caught up!

TordelBack

So Dallas: the Next Generation comes to an end, and what fun it was! Another oddly communicated kerfuffle with a gun and a goodie-in-disguise at the start, but other than that a snappy wrap-up. Presumably the epilogue in the Meg will explain why all 50,000 Texan judges just packed in their beatings and executions and went home quietly, but damnit I liked the way everything came together. Congrats Mike, your first megaepic was far more successful than the attempts by Ennis, Morrison and Millar: and those are some big scalps.

As to INJC on Brink: MacRoth my boy, taste is subjective, but you are still objectively wrong.

Ghost MacRoth

Quote from: Tordelback on 20 July, 2016, 09:48:42 PM
As to INJC on Brink: MacRoth my boy, taste is subjective, but you are still objectively wrong.

Nah. :D
I don't have a drinking problem.  I drink, I get drunk, I fall over.  No problem!

Proudhuff

Cover:  Lovely art. 

Dredd:  Bit of a sudden end yes some of the best dredd for ages! I think this is what Mr Wagner hoped for when he set up the DoC sandbox.
The shooting of Dredd was I mean, she shot a standard round into and armoured judge and hoped to shot through her and get Dredd: Fail.
Also thought Colin's art way above to his usual standards, great posing/action area... and loved his move into silhouettes.

Brink:  and I've skipped it...

Black Shuck:  Yeah, feeling the same as Magnetica, the reveal lost me entirely, and to be honest, I don't really care but its nice seeing Lemmy in the Prog.

Outlier: gave up on this story a while back as well.

Scarlet Traces:  Yes, yes.... white racist stereotypes getting their comeuppance, more current a storyline you couldn't have.

Two stunners and three mehs, like a mutie female gunslinger....
DDT did a job on me

Proudhuff

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 20 July, 2016, 01:19:01 PM
Dredd: Wraps up nicely, if a little to 'cleanly'. Could maybe have done with another installment but maybe the meg story will cover that...

yes it does!
DDT did a job on me