Prog 1998 - A Dredd End

[Dandontdare]

[spoiler]That death had more "outs" than a Brexit battlebus. Was that really a bomb as PJ claimed? Look how often they mention it and how Carlos devotes a whole panel to his gripping it before the fatal shot.Could be a dark judge artifact (a little tin of Sisters' magic); could be a short range teleport switcheroo; could be a whole new darkly-telepathic accomplice as yet unrevealed. Would they introduce that voice in the last of many PJ stories and then not explain it? That means we're coming back.

so nah - no body, no death (and even then I'd be sceptical!)[/spoiler]

[oshii]

. Just what is that black voice (maybe its the one from Johnny's head!)

Did we ever find out what that was?  I really can't remember.

[Trent]

No, and tying into what several sceptics have voiced about this not being the end of PJ it does seem truly bizarre that Wagner would make a significant change to the established PJ character with the black voice and effectively ignore it on killing him off. Really? Will we never know what it was or how PJ escaped from the Dark Judges.
Way too many unresolved plot points for this to genuinely be the end.
If Wagner has actually killed off PJ and there are no more stories then it's a pigging mess as far as I'm concerned and the character deserved better.

[Proudhuff]

[spoiler][spoiler]PJ's dead baby PJ dead...[/spoiler] get over it.

The black voice was proof[spoiler] that he was losing it, hence all the mistakes the full functioning Psycho PJ wouldn't have made.

The shooting, explosion and blood splat should be enough  but having said that Anderson survived a shot to the badge ...[/spoiler][/spoiler]
Everything else in the Prog top notch too, except Outthere which I skip so couldn't tell you 

[Trent]

I can just about go with that Huff. Certainly if we never hear from PJ again your reading of the black voice etc has to be the case.
Perhaps it is the medium that causes confusion; in a tv show or film the mental deterioration of a character is more obvious and past use of voices in heads didn't help. PJ has been Dredd's stand out nemesis for decades and I just felt that his decline and subsequent demise could have been better told. Much as I enjoyed Serial Serial it didn't even feature the main man and we suddenly jump to PJ in a full on psychotic break.
A fumbled opportunity in my view if indeed, it is case closed.

[Magnetica]

I'm hoping for an epilogue next Prog to tie up the perceived loose ends.

[Proudhuff]

I'm hoping for an epilogue next Prog to tie up the perceived loose ends.

I think 'Case Closed' deals with that...

[SIP]

I'm hoping for an epilogue next Prog to tie up the perceived loose ends.

I can't help feeling that there is going to be an epilogue episode to this, regardless of "case closed". I don't think the character of PJ felt right throughout the whole story, something was off. I also don't buy that the black voice is just him losing his mind.

If this was the end of PJ then it would be an incredibly unsatisfying conclusion of a previously formidable and intelligent adversary.

[Richard]

Did we ever find out what that was?  I really can't remember.

It was a baby demon left in his head by the Stone Wizards. He tricked it into jumping into a Kreeler general's head and then got rid of it with a time bomb.

This was something else. Proudhuff might be right with his psychosis theory, and it's just unfortunate that the black speech bubbles remind us of another story.

Or it might be the result of whatever happened with the Dark Judges. It seems odd that we wouldn't find out what happened there, which is why I can't be 100% sure we've seen the last of PJ. As someone else said above, [spoiler]that "bomb" might have been a teleporter.[/spoiler]

[Hawkmumbler]

[spoiler]No body, no evidence he's NOT still out there, i'm afraid.[/spoiler]

[Steve Green]

I would be astonished if he's back - the whole DJ thing was never important, it said as much in the dialogue in Dark Justice.

PJ eluded Dredd many times, it's not a stretch to imagine how he could do the same to to 3 of them in spirit form and one possessing a regular citizen.

As for the black dialogue, I just read it as internal conflict between his more rational self and his emotional side. He's been adopting dual identities for a while and first names split between genders, it's just another facet to that side.

[oshii]

Did we ever find out what that was?  I really can't remember.

It was a baby demon left in his head by the Stone Wizards. He tricked it into jumping into a Kreeler general's head and then got rid of it with a time bomb.

I remembered the time bomb bit, but not what it was.  Ta very much.

[Jacqusie]

I can't help feeling that there is going to be an epilogue episode to this, regardless of "case closed". I don't think the character of PJ felt right throughout the whole story, something was off. I also don't buy that the black voice is just him losing his mind.

If this was the end of PJ then it would be an incredibly unsatisfying conclusion of a previously formidable and intelligent adversary.

I couldn't agree more, you've hit the nail on the head with every point there SIP. There has been some great build up writing by Wagner for PJ and it's clear the former had fun with this character evading Dredd and changing not just his features, but his steadily bizzare and psychopathic games over time.

This story saw PJ pretty much loose the plot (he often had some great ones well thought out) and these were actions of PJ clearly not thinking straight. Gone was the calculated and maniplative traits, replaced by rage and unreasoning and with an unkown element thrown in for good measure (the black voice) - there ARE too many questions for Wagner to close this case for good...

...my guess for what it's worth is that yes, Wagner did promise to kill off a major character - which he has done, but as we know - you can't kill that which does not live...

Hmmmm...   

[robert_ellis]

John Wagner pulled a face at NICE when I said how great it was to see PJ Maybe back in the prog. He teased something else and said an artists name. I don't want to say anything in case Tharg gets angry. I'm just glad Wagner is still on Dredd and planning big things! I really wish Rok of the Reds was in the prog!

[Geoff]

I really wish Rok of the Reds was in the prog!

Or the Meg for that matter!