Prog 2001 - Hungry for Thrills

[user2000]

Postie has just been, nothing for me, as seems to be usual now, bah.

[Satanist]

Remember when you had to have actually read the prog prior to reviewing it? Good times.

[sheridan]

Remember when you had to have actually read the prog prior to reviewing it? Good times.

Once upon a time I'd wait until Wednesday to touch the prog review thread, but as the first few pages are usually subscribers saying "I haven't got my prog yet", I'm safe.

And they said service at Royal Mail would go downhill once it was privatised...

[IndigoPrime]

Got mine.

Dredd is Rob Williams and Trevor Hairsine [spoiler]following on from Enceladus[/spoiler] and starts on fine form. Counterfeit Girl continues to be a breezy, colourful, high-octane future thriller. Flesh was... Flesh. The art's quite nice, but six pages of PREVIOUSLY ON FLESH were dull as anything for a story that should be exciting. TIME TRAVEL! DINOSAURS!

Hunted starts well, with Rennie taking another sideways glance into Rogue Trooper. Hard to know where it'll go, but it feels more action movie than Jaegir's relative introspection. And then there's Savage. I think I may have forgotten what's going on there.

A 40% Mills Prog, and so if you like his stuff, you'll probably be in bits with excitement. For me, it's a solid issue, although very much a comedown after the superb Prog 2000.

[The Amstor Computer]

Flesh was... Flesh. The art's quite nice, but six pages of PREVIOUSLY ON FLESH were dull as anything for a story that should be exciting. TIME TRAVEL! DINOSAURS!

It was interesting contrasting Savage with Flesh. Savage is arguably more convoluted, and certainly longer-running, with what feels like roughly the same gap between "books" (someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they must have both had roughly the same gap?), but it fires straight into what is essentially a cold-open whereas Flesh plods through six pages of recap. I wonder why Pat (I'm assuming it was Pat and not editorial) felt that was necessary? It's certainly a flat note to start a new series on when a "Previously on Flesh"-style half-page/splash could have covered a fair amount of the necessary info to bring fresh readers up to speed and still left plenty of space to get the new tale going.

[TordelBack]

Every time an ongoing thrill returns, there are calls for a detailed recap either in addition to or within the story.  I don't think editorial (or Pat) can win this one.

[The Amstor Computer]

Every time an ongoing thrill returns, there are calls for a detailed recap either in addition to or within the story.  I don't think editorial (or Pat) can win this one.

I

[The Amstor Computer]

Every time an ongoing thrill returns, there are calls for a detailed recap either in addition to or within the story.  I don't think editorial (or Pat) can win this one.

Agh! Bloody lack of an edit function and my clumsy monkey hands! :-)

I think a recap page is a great idea, particularly for thrills which have run in several "books" with large-ish gaps, but a full episode dedicated to it seems a little much. It won't stop me enjoying the rest of the story - I've got a bit of a soft spot for the bonkers Nu-Flesh, warts and all - but it does deflate the opening episode excitement for me a little.

[glassstanley]

This book of Flesh is more likely to be reprinted as the first in a series of glossy Mills/Langley hard-covers. The recap will be for those who buy the GNs as well as the Prog reader.

Savage will likely be re-printed in Vol 4 of the pb range (if the series hasn't stalled) so doesn't need to be as 'newbie' friendly.

[sheridan]

Flesh was... Flesh. The art's quite nice, but six pages of PREVIOUSLY ON FLESH were dull as anything for a story that should be exciting. TIME TRAVEL! DINOSAURS!

It was interesting contrasting Savage with Flesh. Savage is arguably more convoluted, and certainly longer-running, with what feels like roughly the same gap between "books" (someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they must have both had roughly the same gap?), but it fires straight into what is essentially a cold-open whereas Flesh plods through six pages of recap. I wonder why Pat (I'm assuming it was Pat and not editorial) felt that was necessary? It's certainly a flat note to start a new series on when a "Previously on Flesh"-style half-page/splash could have covered a fair amount of the necessary info to bring fresh readers up to speed and still left plenty of space to get the new tale going.

It's been about a year and a half since Grinders, and nearly three years since Badlanders, so there's a lot more of a gap.  Having said that, good points about where they may appear in collected editions also.

[The Amstor Computer]

It's been about a year and a half since Grinders, and nearly three years since Badlanders, so there's a lot more of a gap.  Having said that, good points about where they may appear in collected editions also.

Blimey! Has it really been that long? And none of those tales have been collected yet, have they (I think it's still just "Texas" that was reprinted in the Dino Files book...)?

Good point about collected editions as well. I wouldn't be too shocked if the Mills/Langley Flesh tales were collected ahead of Midnight Cowboys/Badlanders/Grinders - the hardback, more Euro-friendly Slaine/ABC books certainly seem to be successful enough to justify their continued prominence in Rebellion's publishing plans, and I could certainly see this version of Flesh joining them - and in that case a more extensive recap like this would make sense. It definitely still feels a bit too much in the prog though, but I take the point 

[Tjm86]

Dredd was an interesting opener.  Looks like Williams is taking to the wider Dredd conflict world for this run.  Hairsine / Kitson on art duties is an interesting collaboration.  Nice enough set up.  We'll just wait to see where this goes.

Flesh has never been a tale that I've taken to well, other than the Bellardinelli run.  Add in Langley's CGI mud and this is going to be a skimmer for me.  Sorry.

The most interesting new opener for me has got to be Hunted.  Looking at things from the Traitor Generals' perspective certainly has potential.  One thing I've always wondered about was which General from Buzzard Three he was.  That was always my classic cover of the eighties.  Colin Wilson on RT.  Them were the days!

[Richard]

It's been nearly three years since the last series of Flesh, so I don't have a problem with a recap episode.

I like the look of Hunted and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

[JUDGE BURNS]

STILL progless here in Ayrshire......not a happy chappy again today  :-(

[Geoff]

Dredd is all out action and Barry Kitson back in the prog - great stuff!

Counterfeit Girl is going well and whilst I'm not quite sure how Rogue Trooper is back, this looks interesting too.  Flesh isn't my cup of tea in terms of story or art but Savage is enjoyable.

Strong prog, even after the giddy heights of prog 2000.