Prog 1992: The Dunwich Horror!

[Dunk!]

So a comic frame that Mike McMahon stated in a recent Thrillcast haunts him as his worst work- a manic Cal holding aloft Judge Fish - is now the image chosen to advertise the The Mega Collection edition of The Day The Law Died on the back cover.

Odd.

[Frank]

Shuck - no, sorry this lost me weeks ago. The bad guys just run away?

After he punched a man off his horse! Also, the US Cavalry Black Shuck's Viking navy turned up without warning, for a single panel, to scare them all away without an actual fight or anything predictably visual like that. Someone must have mentioned Black Shuck had sent for his longboat fleet in a previous episode, since everything else in this landmark series has been so tightly plotted.

There was another panel this week where Black Shuck says his own name, so you know it's supposed to be him, rather than the other six characters who look exactly like him. There was one week where Black Shuck was fighting himself, then it cut to Black Shuck watching the two Black Shucks fighting ... who then turned to speak to Black Shuck, who was watching the fight alongside Black Shuck!

Then it cut to the villain, who looks like Black Shuck! Visually suggesting a duality between the hero and villain is old hat, but Reppion, Moore and Yeowell totally ripped up the rule book by populating the cast entirely with averagely built men sporting tunics and long, straight, dark hair and beards, thereby suggesting a kind of six pointed duality - what's that, a sextuality?!

The narrative wastes no time with showy transformation sequences, depicting the hero's torture as he transforms. One panel he has the same head as everyone else in the strip, then POP!, next panel he's got the head of a vicious teddy bear or a snarling Labrador.

Perfectly suits the tone of a story where the hero enjoys having superhero powers, so he can do good and protect everyone, yet the whole story was about him making sure his kids don't have his superhero powers and the exorcised spirits that would have given his kids the same superhero powers are demons who murder everyone when they're released. Mrs Shuck couldn't just have had a Caesarean.

[Muon]

So a comic frame that Mike McMahon stated in a recent Thrillcast haunts him as his worst work- a manic Cal holding aloft Judge Fish - is now the image chosen to advertise the The Mega Collection edition of The Day The Law Died on the back cover.

Odd.

I noticed that! It really is quite a bizarre image, as McMahon himself said. My first reaction on seeing it was that it was a bit of an in-joke playing on the image's funniness and notoriety. My second thought was that, although the artist himself says the panel is his worst work, it's actually kind of cool-looking on its own.

Elsewhere, Brink came to a really satisfying conclusion. Now Book 1 is over I can appreciate how well-paced the whole thing was. The whole thing has been great fun and quite thought-provoking in parts. And I really enjoyed the art (except perhaps the gunfight in last week's episode, in which I wasn't really sure what was happening). The art and script both really convey what a horrible, claustrophobic environment the world of Brink is. Really looking forward to Book 2.

Dredd was kick-ass, as you would expect from Wagner writing a P.J. Maybe story. Having not only Wagner but also Carlos on storytelling duties gives me a sense that this might turn out to be one of those game-changing stories...

Scarlet Traces is great fun. I'm new to the series but I don't feel lost at all. Love D'Israeli's colourful art.

[CalHab]

That evisceration description of Black Shuck is brilliant, Butch! You've perfectly summed up the problems with this utterly baffling story.

[James Stacey]

There was another panel this week where Black Shuck says his own name, so you know it's supposed to be him, rather than the other six characters who look exactly like him. There was one week where Black Shuck was fighting himself, then it cut to Black Shuck watching the two Black Shucks fighting ... who then turned to speak to Black Shuck, who was watching the fight alongside Black Shuck!

This was my favorite bit of the story. Not at all confusing. Yeowell is a great artist and the superb colouring job elevates this even further (Imagine Red Seas with this colour treatment - we'd have collected editions coming out of the wazoo), but the total inability of any character to have any distinguishing features hampers what is already a confusing narrative.

[Goaty]

Sorry but I think Blink series was meh.

[sheridan]

So a comic frame that Mike McMahon stated in a recent Thrillcast haunts him as his worst work- a manic Cal holding aloft Judge Fish - is now the image chosen to advertise the The Mega Collection edition of The Day The Law Died on the back cover.

It did cross my mind that McMahon would be covering his eyes when he found out which image was chosen for this one...

[Frank]

I was trying to be funny with my Black Shuck review; if I don't like something I generally tend not to mention it at all. The tone of Black Shuck is so wobbly I'd believe the creators if they said we were supposed to enjoy it as a Holy Grail type parody of genre cliches.

It would have been great if the end of this book had been the only partially seen chronicler of the Black Shuck mythos putting down his real ale and battered paperback, turning to the camera, and announcing 'I know all this is true, for it is I, Black Shuck, and I live yet still!'.

This series has been a washout, for me, but I'd be okay with the strip coming back for the third run they need to get a trade paperback out of it. Maybe Reppion and Moore need to rethink their method of writing alternate episodes, or at least take a second pass at what they've come up with, to gee up the pacing and iron out inconsistencies ...

... I was sure Shuck became a doggy after sharing a boat with Lon Chaney Jr in Book 1, rather than being born A Scandinavian Werewolf In Dunwich.

[Dandontdare]

Maybe Reppion and Moore need to rethink their method of writing alternate episodes, or at least take a second pass at what they've come up with, to gee up the pacing and iron out inconsistencies ...

Is that how they do it? Well, no wonder it reads so badly. what a strange way of working, can't see why anyone would consider that a good idea.

[Hawkmumbler]

Yeah Black Shuck has been all kinds of underwhelming.

[petesbeats]

I may be a sucker for punishment but I've just reread Black Shuck and it made far more sense in one sitting.  I still had no idea who the person that turned into the one eyed wolf was though?  Can anyone enlighten me?  I wasn't sure if it was someone from the first arc or not?

Cheers

[mejustnow]

It would have been great if the end of this book had been the only partially seen chronicler of the Black Shuck mythos putting down his real ale and battered paperback, turning to the camera, and announcing 'I know all this is true, for it is I, Black Shuck, and I live yet still!'.

This is EXACTLY what I thought was going to happen.

[IndigoPrime]

Is that how they do it? Well, no wonder it reads so badly. what a strange way of working, can't see why anyone would consider that a good idea.

It's actually really commonplace with writing partnerships. You hear of this being doing with TV shows all the time. (Of course, the co-writers will then switch scripts, discuss anomalies, and so on.)

[Frank]

Maybe Reppion and Moore need to rethink their method of writing alternate episodes

Is that how they do it?

Actually, I think I'm confusing them with Tharg's other Mr and Mrs contestants, Rennie and Beeby. In mitigation, I was eating my lunch when I typed that and couldn't be bothered checking my source ...

[GordonR]

Maybe Reppion and Moore need to rethink their method of writing alternate episodes

Is that how they do it?

Actually, I think I'm confusing them with Tharg's other Mr and Mrs contestants, Rennie and Beeby. In mitigation, I was eating my lunch when I typed that and couldn't be bothered checking my source ...

Then you'd be wrong there too, unsurprisingly.