Main Menu

Prog 2017 - Bursting through the thrill-barrier!

Started by Colin YNWA, 04 February, 2017, 02:28:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Colin YNWA

The Prog is just on blistering form. A fun and very effective Future Shock takes over from the weakest strip in the current run and that aside we're as you were really.

Dredd superb, Kingmaker supereme, The Order superdoper.

Kingdom get thrill of the week mind though, its such a GREAT thrill and this week shows that its still got twists and turns up its sleeve to suprise and delight. Just a great ending (to the episode).

Oh lovely cover to.

Really when the Prog is this good there's just not much to say here. Massive well done to all involved.

flip-r mk2

   
Cover art by Jake Lynch.

The forum's Steve Austin on art duties for the Rory McConville penned future shock. 

Coming soon to the 40th anniversary special 'Ro-busters: Seeing Red. By Pat Mills and Clint Langley.

filippo
It's all right, that's in every contract.
That's what they call a sanity clause.
You can't fool me, there ain't no sanity clause.

http://flip-r.deviantart.com/

http://forflipssake.blogspot.com

http://weeklythemedartblog.blogspot.com/


Time flies like an arrow, Fruit flies like a banana

A.Cow

Cover:  Nice idea ... but unfortunately the print version comes out a bit too high-contrast & muddy, losing a lot of the subtlety:

       

(In an act of blatant pedant-baiting, Future CopTM Judge Dredd bursts through from the past...)

Dredd:  Brilliant.  Loved the detail with the glasses (although, presumably, that may a Chekov's Gun
thing for a later episode).  Henry Flint is just perfection-on-a-stick. 

King Maker:  Not really doing it for me.  Maybe it needs to be read collected.

The Order:  Maybe I'm just being cynical but maybe they should rename this "John Burns' lovely artwork in search of a plot".

Future Shock:  Good, tight, Future Shock with some great funny lines.

Kingdom:  This can do no wrong!  I don't care how many heavily-padded episodes it takes for them to walk down 3 corridors -- I just know I love it.  Please Tharg can we have a T-shirt with "Your mouth is full of wrong" plastered across the front?

All in all, a cracking prog.

Mattofthespurs

Nice new heavy duty bags too. Don't forget that!

Dandontdare

I'm not a fan of that cover - when I first looked at it it seemed wrong somehow, like Dredd had a freakishly long right arm - then realised it was his belt, but once seen, I can't un-see it.

Everything else is great though, there isn't one strip I/m not enjoying.

Smith

I thought the same thing about the arm.It kinda blends into the belt.
Well,I could say Kingmaker is guilty for writing for a trade,but its not the only one.
Nice Future Shock.[spoiler]Mandalore[/spoiler] sounds familiar.  :)
There is a twist for Kingdom.[spoiler]A cat?[/spoiler]

TordelBack

Kingdom fantastic this week, that twist should have been either completely obvious or downright awful: instead it was genuinely thrilling. Fingers crossed that things get even weirder next week: Rogue Trooper meets [spoiler]Meltdown Man[/spoiler], I'm on for that if you are.

The Order takes some well-earned time to catch its breath,  for about three pages. I'm in awe of how Kek-W juggles his bulging cast, giving them all room to establish themselves, even if it is only a few panels. And nobody draws a nice interdimensional shapeshifter bottom like John Burns, always good to see an artist given a chance to play to their strengths before it's back to the giant wyrms on a buccolic rampage.... This series is so good its ridiculous: sign me up for a collection now, preferably bursting with author's notes and design sketches.

I'd definitely enjoy Kingmaker (and a lot of Edginton's work) more if his character voices didn't swing from cod-medieval to Radio 4 documentary with little in between.  I get that a revisionist history of Orcs and Elves is the current point (although given the satircal-pastiche status of the pre-invasion world I wonder why I should care, but then I have read about 30 Discworld novels so who am I to cast aspersions), but I do draw the line at Orky Mc Scarface coming out with 'it validates their behaviour': not sure even Pat Mills would try shoving that in Ro-Jaw's cakehole. Astounding art and design aside, can we get back to the shooty aliens please?

Enjoyed Dredd being very Dredd this week, and glad Paradox limped away to star in future Carroll tales. The robo-cab sequence was a bit lacking in originality and seemed to eat up unecessary pages, and there seemed to be a lot of technobabble doing likewise, but I am greatly enjoying this story and its cast and intrigued to see where it's going.

And lastly but by no means leastly, that was a very solid, fun Future Shock with some snappy dialogue and memorable visuals.

Mild reservations about Kingmaker aside, the prog is in excellent form these days, wish I'd looked as good when I was 40!

TordelBack

D'oh, thicko here only  just copped the tag-line: the prog number matches the year number, just as an aircraft's speed matches the speed of sound at the sound barrier. One for the "things that went over your head" thread there.

dweezil2

With all that DNA sequencer doobrie whatsit shenanigans, you don't think [spoiler]P.J. Maybe[/spoiler] could still be alive, do you?  :o 
Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

The Enigmatic Dr X

Quote from: TordelBack on 08 February, 2017, 10:38:23 PM
D'oh, thicko here only  just copped the tag-line: the prog number matches the year number, just as an aircraft's speed matches the speed of sound at the sound barrier. One for the "things that went over your head" thread there.

That passed my by too.
Lock up your spoons!

Pegasus P Artichoke

The prog continues its great run

Dredd is cracking on and it's a great read. Especially liked Dredds one liners at the start of the strip about how he manipulated the situation

Kingmaker I have been really enjoying and this is another good one and i can't wait to see what it is setting up

Kingdom a bit like kingmaker in that this issue was more about building something up to pay off in the next issue so looking forward to that but still good stuff

The Order almost started to lose me a bit this week but had me back on board by the end so it's still getting the big ticks from me

Future Shock I liked, enjoyed the idea behind it and it worked for me

Another topper for me, Tharg sure is nailing them out the park

We'll give them back their heroes

norton canes

As I posted in the 'Welcome to the board...' section, I bought my first prog since March 1990 (prog 670) last week - so at last I get to write in the review section!

Now obviously I'm coming in part way through the run of all the strips, so excuse me if I'm not quite up to speed...

Looks like the Dredd story has a few twists (liked the trick of his monitor image appearing in certain frames), and a likeable new character in Paradox Vega. Resourceful, disrespectful attitude to Judges, no fear of heights - shades of Chpper? 

Kingmaker – liking the exploration of racial tension in a fantasy setting. Although the trope of the good-looking faction in fact being less principled is a bit hackneyed, as was Crixus's polemic likening his downtrodden species to abused animals. Good stuff, though. The moral aspect has a curiously Doctor Who-ish vibe.

The Order – got the feeling I should definitely have been in at the start with this one. How closely should I be following this? Should I just let the dialogue and imagery wash over me? Should I enjoy what's there and read the lot in one sitting when it's done?

Kingdom – characters are dying. This is always good in a strip. After only two episodes I'm still not entirely able to distinguish between some of the characters. Instinctively liked the last frame though.

The Future Shock – never my favourite things in 2000 AD. Why would the alien race only build one super-soldier? Why not build a few more, assuming they have the raw parts? The 'shock' itself was a bit corny; I prefer endings that are bizarre and unsettling, rather than "Woah! You didn't see that coming!"

Overall the only thing that let this edition down was the cover. A basic grasp of anatomy would have helped..?

Frank

Quote from: norton canes on 10 February, 2017, 03:28:48 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 February, 2017, 11:48:00 AM
... glad Paradox limped away to star in future Carroll tales

... a likeable new character in Paradox Vega. Resourceful, disrespectful attitude to Judges, no fear of heights - shades of Chpper?

The adoring crowds yelling at The Man to lay off their girl reminded me of Dredd leading Marlon Shakespeare off to the cubes. Having the supporting cast urging me to love her was a bit much, but Carroll's due another Dreddverse character of his own now Pax seems to have joined Poochie on the rocket back to their home world.

Her breezy personality means she can replace Anderson as wisecraking foil for grumpy Dredd, and her unlikely criminal skillset (bespoke narcotic manufacture and bank robbery) means she can perform the Max Normal function of Dredd's pal in the underworld, explaining how Tony T's a big name body shark but word is he's moving into the arms trade.

It's a nice character design; it'd be interesting to learn a bit about the process behind her creation. Maybe Michael Carroll and Henry Flint could poke the lethargic Pete Wells into life for a special blog entry. There's your bonus material for the inevitable trade right there, Tharg.



Tiplodocus

Another top prog.

The "twist" in Kingdom was genius stuff. How could it be funny, serious, unexpected and obvious all at the same time?

Keep it up for at least another ten years please Tharg so I can come to the 50th birthday party.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

TordelBack