Prog 1997 - got that back to school feeling?

[sheridan]

The idea that PJ becomes a DJ is delicious, to me. Wagner is of course possibly misdirecting readers with the 'black voice', but if this conversion does pan out, he will have fulfilled his 'major character death' promise too. While upping the ante further, losing none of the cast. Grud, this is a great story.

Perhaps he could become a (musical) DJ at the Rabbit Hutch...

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Bah. Where is that dratted postie?

[Proudhuff]

[TordelBack]

We have seen them transform corpses into hosts that they can inhabit and IIRC have influenced others to carry out tasks on their behalf, but we haven't seen them leave people alive long term to do their bidding or appear as a voice in their heads.

Actually we've seen exactly that happen, starting with Xena Lowther during their second Mega-City One rampage; then there was luckless radlander Malachi, who encountered Death during his Cursed Earth wanderings. And we could count the six or seven actors from Mrs Gunderson's House of Horrors...

Good memory Jimbo.
And how long did they influence Kraken before he became a full Dark Judge?

Of course the 'Black voice' has to be related to the Dark Judges.

Generally agree. The Terrible Three let PJ off on the basis that he would use his twisted genius to bring down Dredd.  The voice is a Dark PJ personna they have instilled, focused on the kill rather than the game, but unable to take over completely a la Kraken because PJ is already a twisted drokk. 

In other news, no way is that Vienna. Note weasely sentence referring to 'the mark' and 'Vienna's own vehicle'. Not 'her own vehicle ', or 'the mark's vehicle'.

Grud, what a fun tale though!

[TordelBack]

Bah, missed Magnetica's identical conclusion. Further evidence: Dredd isn't that stupid.

[Frank]

.
Parsley the lion! No idea who his panther pal is though - if only someone on this board was obsessively cataloguing all the pop culture references in Scarlet Traces. Dr Clarke, Dr Clarke, stop what you're doing and come right awa ...awaark?

I haven't read everything D'Israeli's drawn, but I'd be amazed if he's ever done anything as accomplished and gorgeous as this. It's the perfect synthesis of the many styles he's deployed elsewhere; the way he switches between techniques - sometimes from panel to panel - depending on which best suits the tone, is masterful.

It's not often you realise you're reading an artist's masterwork while you're reading it - MacNeil on America, Kennedy on Midnight Surfer? - but that's what it feels like with D'Israeli, here. Fuck your multi-hued Mezco pish; this is what Dredd's original Black Horse looks like:

[TordelBack]

Yeah, that panel just exploded off the page. Absolutely, peerlessly, perfect image, the apex of decads of one artist's craft.  Dibs on the t-shirt.

[dweezil2]

Oh yeah!

That Dredd panel was all kinds of sexy time!!! 

[ZenArcade]

A sublime panel. Z

[M.I.K.]

Parsley the lion! No idea who his panther pal is though

It's a displacer beast from Dungeons & Dragons, (which I only know 'cos I thought it looked familiar and googled "panther with tentacles").

[Eamonn Clarke]

Parsley the lion! No idea who his panther pal is though

It's a displacer beast from Dungeons & Dragons, (which I only know 'cos I thought it looked familiar and googled "panther with tentacles").

Which before D&D was the Black Destroyer from the A.E.Van Vogt stitched together novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle

[Frank]

.
Can't argue with that level of service! I was trying to think of other cuddly, teatime, animated favourites - I should have known The Edge wouldn't be so predictable.

Put me down for another of Tordelback's t-shirts.

[Jim_Campbell]

No, I haven't 'got that back to school feeling', because my bloody prog still hasn't turned up! Bah!

[TordelBack]

Parsley the lion! No idea who his panther pal is though

It's a displacer beast from Dungeons & Dragons, (which I only know 'cos I thought it looked familiar and googled "panther with tentacles").

Which before D&D was the Black Destroyer from the A.E.Van Vogt stitched together novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle

Bah, beaten to the punch(es).

[Rackle]

So glad I'm not the only one that spotted Parsley the Lion making a special appearance in this Prog with his friend the octopussy.   

I loved the cover of this prog. It only occurred to me that lots of kids were back to school in the real world this week after seeing the cover and then realising why everyone on FB seemed to be posting pics of their kiddies in school uniform. Ahhh the joys of being child free ....