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Prog 1998 - A Dredd End

Started by Eamonn Clarke, 10 September, 2016, 10:27:52 PM

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Frank

.
Dredd: Who would have guessed it was the beloved [spoiler]Judge Judy Janus[/spoiler] who was for the chop. We will remember her.

Scarlet Traces: Lots of references to TV, film, and pop music from the last five years, and Edginton creates a clever parallel between Ahron and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to advance his intolerant, extreme right wing political agenda. The drawings are rubbish.

Jaegir: Just one long, very detailed shower scene. Who would have guessed that part of her anatomy is where Atalia's monsterism finds its fullest expression?

Outlier: Tight, focused story, told through action and with the minimum of exposition.

Anderson: I have very strong feelings about this one.



Dark Jimbo

@jamesfeistdraws

sheridan

Quote from: Frank on 11 September, 2016, 03:12:25 PM
.
*smirk*

Time for me to resist this thread for when real spoilers start to get posted :-)

The Monarch

kudos to frank i needed a chuckle today :lol:

Geoff


IndigoPrime

I just got my copy and zoomed through it. Given that there are people reading this thread who don't have their 2000 AD yet, spoiler bars time.

Dredd: [spoiler]A fitting end, I thought, if a slightly anti-climatic one. Those who reasoned Vienna had been switched out (i.e. Dredd is not an idiot and understands contingencies) were right, and PJ got his comeuppance. Dredd, I think, was bang-on with his "what have you been reduced to" shtick. But what was the black voice? And is that the 'out' for more Maybe?[/spoiler]

Jaegir: Still for me the best of the Rogue Trooper universe. Relentlessly grim, perhaps, but some top-notch scripting again here.

Scarlet Traces: Some backstory and some action, along with the usual gorgeous art. This series always worked best in collected form, but I'm still enjoying it in bite-sized Prog chunks. I hope it runs and runs.

Outlier: Solid sci-fi fare, although I suspect I've lost some plot strands along the way. This has nor fully clicked with me, but I don't begrudge its existence in the Prog.

Anderson: The strongest Anderson tale for a while, this feels smart and fresh, and the art's rather nice too. It'd be good to see more from this team.

So lots of things finishing next week to clear the decks for 2000. Given the strips currently running, 1999 should be a damn good Prog. 2000's going to have to be a stonker to beat it.

Mattofthespurs

Mine's arrived too.
Saving it for lunchtime.

Proudhuff

Huff mansions currently Prog free... that is all.
DDT did a job on me

Geoff

Prog is here and I've read Dredd. So don't read if you haven't

It's been a while but he's done what comes naturally to him. A short talking to, but no real fanfare and that's that. 'Case closed' - apt and very Dredd.

There is still that voice of course...

Magnetica

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 12 September, 2016, 10:17:13 AM
I just got my copy and zoomed through it. Given that there are people reading this thread who don't have their 2000 AD yet, spoiler bars time.

Dredd: [spoiler]A fitting end, I thought, if a slightly anti-climatic one. Those who reasoned Vienna had been switched out (i.e. Dredd is not an idiot and understands contingencies) were right, and PJ got his comeuppance. Dredd, I think, was bang-on with his "what have you been reduced to" shtick. But what was the black voice? And is that the 'out' for more Maybe?[/spoiler]


Just got home - first thing I did was read  Dredd.

[spoiler]Yes was a bit anti-climatic for me too - given it had been widely predicted on the board. I also noted the lack of explanation of the black voice (and indeed how PJ escaped from the Dark Judges) and so my first thought was that does leave room to bring him back. My theory - it is a PJ clone and the black voice is the real PJ controlling him remotely. Probably well wide of the mark, but you never know.
[/spoiler]




Tjm86

Quote from: Magnetica on 12 September, 2016, 07:03:02 PM

[spoiler]My theory - it is a PJ clone and the black voice is the real PJ controlling him remotely. Probably well wide of the mark, but you never know.
[/spoiler]

NOOOOOOO!  Not the [spoiler]Black PJ Saga[/spoiler]

A.Cow

For me, this week's prog was a bit of a let-down, although the cover was good.

Dredd: As some have stated, a trifle anti-climactic.  I think weekly episodes acted against this story -- it would have worked much better as an all-at-once dedicated prog; certainly the significance of the story would have justified such a rare exception.

Jaegir: I find that the Rennie droid's wordy dialogue combines badly with Simon Bowland's lettering style, leaving each speech balloon looking like a solid block of Greeking.  Compare with Annie Parkhouse's copious whitespace on Dredd.  It may sound like a minor complaint, but it turns Jaegir into a slog rather than the joy it should be.

Scarlet Traces: I loved the previous stories, and I liked the start of this one ... but it's beginning to lose its way a bit for me.  The [spoiler]all-too-expected treachery[/spoiler] doesn't help.

Outlier: I no longer have a clue who any of the characters are and what's going on.

Anderson: This has turned into a bit of a mess.  The only saving grace is the art.


Colin YNWA

Seriously the post Prog 2000 has a lot to live up to. This current run of stories has a fantastic balance and each one has wonderful merit to it.

Let's start with the biggie Dredd wasn't anti-climatic for me at all, I'm not sure what else it could have been BUT I've also a strong feeling its not that climatic. The much lauded death is just too underlined. We are left in no doubt there is no coming back from that. I mean [spoiler]shot, exploded AND a fatal (one assumes he's so dead by this point we don't know) fall [/spoiler]for good measure. Its like Wagner is trying to make sure we are absolutely sure of the death, there's no comeback from that. He's underlined it in red biro TWICE and used a highlighter pen... so I call bluff*. Just what is that black voice (maybe its the one from Johnny's head!), why was PJ quite so manical and palid at Death's door? What's coming next? I'm not sure, but I adored those closing lines from Dredd calling for mop it. Business as usual. Very interesting conclusion.

Scarlet Traces gives us a fantastic violent penultimate part, not too dissimilar to Outlier, we get the back ground, we get the reveal, we get the promise of a big old climax. Both great. Jaegir is relentlessly grim in that wonderful character filled way. Its not playing it for laughs is it. 'Grimdark' done well.

Anderson was a bit of a highlight though. Great action sequence which even though it was relatively easy to call was played out superbly and the story is left on a fantastic conundrum. Superb stuff.

Watch it Tharg your setting your bar marvelously high!

*Or is it a glorious double bluff, leaving me hanging, waiting, thinking there's more to come when really that is the end. Maybe [spoiler]PJ is so palid as he's been shot and knows its his end, maybe he's so manical cos he's finally lost it and the voice[/spoiler] is just the manifestation of this. The genius is I think the former but I'd so admire the latter!

Frank

Quote from: A.Cow on 12 September, 2016, 07:14:41 PM
Dredd: ... I think weekly episodes acted against this story -- it would have worked much better as an all-at-once dedicated prog

Maybe*, but each week's episode has been greeted here with frothing superlatives spurting copiously and crusting in the hair around our belly buttons. Difficult to argue the last two months of total fan service were a mistake because week 8 came to an abrupt halt ...

... especially when that ending seems less An American Werewolf In London than Empire Strikes Back. Wagner prefaced his announcement that he was going to kill a major character by saying he'd learned his lesson that killing major characters was a bad idea.

He's dropped enough hints that this is only the end of PJ Maybe's story if he wants it to be - and can change his mind about that later without resorting to PJ Maybe being caught in a net by happy faced aliens who place him in suspended animation.


* See what I did there?

Magnetica

Yep got to agree with that from Sauchie / Butch / Frank.

And yes Colin it's clear Dredd killed him*, the only question is, is it actually PJ?


* But we didn't see a body did we?  :lol: