Prog 1973 - You Wanna Argue With Him?

[TordelBack]

Kek-W and Kendall.  Doesn't get much better than that for me. As I must have said before about the Deadworld strips, I don't like this kind of fill-in-the-gaps story, I don't really care for the Dark Judges anymore, I don't even like this style of art... But I love, love, love this!

[Arkady]

Cover: Nice, clean and bright.

Dredd: I love Colin Macneil's art on Dredd, great last panel. The story was quite set up heavy, I was bit confused which Judges are out in the Cursed Earth.

I suspect there's a swaperoo going on with Rico and Dredd to deceive Brit Cit. Tempting to read stuff into that if so.

[Citi-Def_Joe]

Cover: Nice, clean and bright.

Dredd: I love Colin Macneil's art on Dredd, great last panel. The story was quite set up heavy, I was bit confused which Judges are out in the Cursed Earth.

I suspect there's a swaperoo going on with Rico and Dredd to deceive Brit Cit. Tempting to read stuff into that if so.

Ah hadn't thought of that but I am now 

[Skullmo]

I hope that doesnt mean [spoiler]it is Rico that is going to die[/spoiler]

[Muon]

Kek-W and Kendall.  Doesn't get much better than that for me. As I must have said before about the Deadworld strips, I don't like this kind of fill-in-the-gaps story, I don't really care for the Dark Judges anymore, I don't even like this style of art... But I love, love, love this!

Inclined to agree with all of that. I wasn't a big fan of the first Deadworld outing but this one is already tickling my fancy. I like the suggestions that the place is Earth in another dimension and I'm enjoying the apocalyptic dread that's been built up already with a couple of pages. The tone of this episode reminded me a bit of Chris Nolan's Interstellar but something tells me we're going to be in Hellraiser territory pretty soon.

I also liked the 3riller. I always enjoy these when they come along. I don't know if listening to the John Wagner interview on the podcast made me think this but something about the 3rillers reminds me of the old days of "mature" comics like Crisis and Revolver. I guess it's the contemporary settings that does it. I know the accepted wisdom is that that kind of thing was a failed experiment or at best of its time, but I kind of like the earnestness and kitchen sink realism that comes with that kind of comics storytelling. It's nice for a bit of a change, anyway. And then the plastic monster comes in from the window and kills everyone.

Aside from that, Survival Geeks is looking intriguing and it's great to see Colin Macneil back on Dredd duties. I miss Leigh Gallagher on Aquila but this outing looks promising nevertheless.

I'm thinking I'm going to enjoy this run of stories a bit more than the recent one.

[Frank]

CACTUS JACK-OFF: is this the first time Colin MacNeil has drawn the classic cock and balls design in 2000ad?


Gorgeous. Best use of Cursed Earth colour since John Higgins's Last Of The Bad Guys [1]. There are a couple of panels on the next page where O'Grady renders everything in pure red, which is the kind of thing that distinguishes the radioactive wastelands outside MC1 from the Universal backlot Western planets where every Strontium Dog story takes place.

To be honest, I'd rather art as great as MacNeil, Willsher, and Flint's wasn't coloured at all [2], but restrained work like this is very sympathetic to the Macdaddy's bold and spare style. I love everything about this episode, from the profile shot of Hershey so immense you can see her crow's feet to the characterisation in the face of the bandit Rookie Lorenzo relieves of his jewellery.

You know you've got an art crush when you take ages to click on the next page because you're enjoying the way Hershey's nose seems a little larger than usual.


[1]1988 Judge Dredd Annual

[2] A monochrome edition of Day Of Chaos sounds like a great idea for Tharg's next oversized art book, or at least a Megazine floppy when there's no more nineties filler to reprint

[ZenArcade]

Cover: Not to my taste...but sure.

Dredd: excellent multi pronged approach. The art and colouring is to die for.

3riller(less)

Survival Geeks:  normally G Rennie's biggest fan. But this has never impacted with me. Too 90's ish I guess.

Tainted: thrill of the week. Well set up storyline (how did he put that much info into a few pages). The art is wonderful....reminiscent of  our Will's fine work on War Machine, back in the day.

Aquilla: this is the G Rennie I admire. The action, humour and verve is something else.

A good prog. Hey three excellent stories is hard to whack. The other two, well it's the price I'm happy to pay. Z

[Verence]

It's not his debut. He has done at least one 4 or 5 part Dredd in the Prog (the one set in the undercity with Gideon Dallas or whatever his name was) and a Megazine Dredd (I think it was anyway), the one where a Psi Judge was experiencing echos of people from DoC, and possibly others. Granted the art looks a little different. Striking thing for me about his Dredd were the massive shoulder pads.

Could that be Suicide Watch co-written by Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby??

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45867

http://2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=PAULDA

[JUDGE BURNS]

this is about prog 1974.  I didn't want to start a thread but has ANYONE at all had delivery of prog 1974 today??

    Nothing here in cal-hab west district  AGAIN  :-(

[Geoff]

Droids must be frazzled by the flash sale..

Nothing in N London

[Skullmo]

nOthing here - I expect it will be Tuesday

[Ghost MacRoth]

Wee weekend back from Belfast, so now I get to steal 'Huffs review! :p

Cover: cracking except CF showing us his 7 link oddity too....great cover with a nasty blemish!

Damage Report: WTF is all that about...no, wait....it doesn't really matter, never has, unlikely ever will.

Monster Ad: Loved that when it was first published...may well pick that one up!

Dredd: The  MacNeil droid was one of my fav Dredd artists, but the less is more style of late while nice....is always gonna be but a pale shadow when compared to his more detailed work of the past. I expect this is what Mr Yeowell had always tried to achieve, and while he was successful in the past, the new stuff (DeMarco in the meg) doesn't quite make it....c'mon Tharg....give them more time to get the work in! The story no idea yet, so look forward to my next return home when I'll get a few progs worth in a single hit!

3riller: got a classic vibe about it, but I think I prefer Lynch in B&W.....not sure.

Survival Geeks: Fun and frolic, more to it than meets the eye, and what meets the eye is rather lovely to behold.  Ok, some folks can't go the tale itself....but that art is so nice.  That minimalist/clean style discussed in the Dredd review above applies here also....but on this occasion is spot on. 

Deadworld: We know how this ends don't we? Well...yeah....but it's more about the journey than the destination on occasion eh? I'm totally a fan of the art though hopefully not heading back to the Progs murky nadir of the nineties with this tale, much as we have just done with 'The Gyre' in the meg.  Looking forward to seeing this unfold.

Aquila: Looks like it should be in The Dandy, not digging the artist change at all, so that's whats not to like for me at least.

Overall I'd agree, a greeeat bit of proggage, but room to improve still.

[SuperSurfer]

Excellent cover. (Bit of a LLoyd's building thing going on there on the left). I'd never have guessed it was from the viewpoint of a perp, but I don't think the reader needs to. The artist mentioned his starting point and the result is a striking cover. That's all that's needed. The smoke merging into the logo is a good touch. No it doesn't need to be more obvious. Why would it? 

Fave strip is Tainted. Let's not get snooty now about "murky 90s" artwork, chaps. We're on glossy paper now, you know.

Not all the art in this prog is to my tastes but that's quite a range of styles we've got there.

[Muon]

I wonder if the price of Venusian lube has anything to do with the lateness of the prog.

[Magnetica]

The post has just arrived.  Sadly still no Prog.