Prog 1945 - The Long Walk

[JamesC]

What a Prog!

Cover - Love it (looks sore)
Dredd - Love it (confusing at the end though)
The Alienist - Love it
3rillers - Love it
Grey Area - Love it (wonderful art)
Helium - Love it (fantastic, vibrant colours)

Also, 'Thrills of the Future' - more Dan Abnett spacey goodness. 'Next Prog' - looks exciting with great art.

Not much of a review but I don't have much to say other than I loved it.

[Eamonn Clarke]

By Jake Lynch. That's going to leave a mark

[Dark Jimbo]

The prog is currently lacking something for me, but damned if I know what.

I should be loving Dredd, right? This should unequivocally be the best thing since Day of Chaos or Trifecta. It's Rob Williams and Henry Flint, fer chrissakes! And yet I'm not quite buying into it, however hard I try. Maybe it's the diminishing dialogue between the Titan inmates, which reduces them from terrifying, inscrutable alien menace to rather dumb bruisers. Or the continued jokey banter from Judges which clunks against the high stakes of the story. Or the muddled motivations of Aimee Nixon. Or the fact the 'blow up lots of sectors, kill lots of cits, slaughter lots of Judges' plot just feels incredibly tired in the wake of Chaos Day - I know that story was two(three?) years ago now, but it was such a watershed, epoch-defining story that I could probably do without ever reading a similar kind of thing ever again. The stakes were raised so high in that story that nothing similar's ever really going to feel as important. I dunno, can't put my finger on it - just wish I was loving this as much as I want to.

The Alienist has not set my world alight yet, but then it does seem to be a deliberately slow-burn narrative so maybe that's harsh criticism after only two weeks! Trouble is not the pace, but that it reminds me of too many other thrills - Crucis, Dandridge, Necronauts, Cabs, even Defoe. It's got no real identity of its own (yet).

Early days for the Norwichmas3riller so judgement reserved.

Good to see Grey Area back. I'd rather have Abnett writing this than Sin/Dex (but would rather have him working on Kingdom than either!)

Helium sears the retinas with some lovely purples. Didn't realise this was ending - the lack of subtitle made me think it was a one-off, in which case the plot pacing, which I'd been getting critical of in recent weeks, is more forgivable. Trouble is  - much like the Alienist - it all just reminds me far too much of other thrills. Particularly Brass Sun, to the extent that I don't really understand why Edginton is working on two such similar strips at the same time.

So that's all five stories merely eliciting a 'huh' for me - I think the first time that's ever happened.

[esoteric ed]

That's an incredible cover 

Ed

[Tjm86]

The prog is currently lacking something for me, but damned if I know what.

I know what you mean about Dredd.  I'm hoping it will come together at the end but for me the pacing is all out of kilter and it seemed to me that Williams got Maitland and Dread's characters mixed around.  Flint's artwork is amazing as ever which is probably why it isn't quite so obvious what the problems are.

Thanks also for putting a finger on the Elephant in the Room with the Alienist.  That said, the dialogue with his assistant when they were on their own was a nice little touch.  Not quite what we would expect.

Helium ending?  Bugger.  Roll on book two.  With luck Edginton will find enough to set it aside from Brass Sun.  Although the difference in the worlds is enough to keep me interested.  Bring back Kingdom though?  Too damn right!

This has to be far and away the best cover work Lynch has done.  I haven't been overly fussed on his work to date but this one is something special.

I guess we've been spoilt of late.  It's like the British Summer.  Sometimes you need the rain to appreciate the sun.  (not that the current spell is anything like the current British Summer mind!)

[Colin YNWA]

Firstly when the year ends I'll be very surprised if that cover isn't in the mix for cover of the year, very evocative of Prog 85, just wonderful.

Inside Dark Jimbo makes a good point about Dredd, the whole scale of things, city is a deaths door, thousands dead etc etc feels a little tied at this stage, it has before. We need breathing space between these things for them to have impact. That aside though for me this Dredd is living up to its billing and is quite brilliant. The ending this time, well that's a way to get us thinking and wondering. Can't wait to see what's what and how this one will sort itself.

The Alienist is showing signs of promise and grips me a little more, but to be honest the whole set up feels a little tired and well trodden, lets see were we go though.

The  3riller... well its just feels so standard at this point and 2000ad shouldn't feel standard, let's see where we get to as its always good to get new talent in the Prog so pulling for them to succeed.

So far 1 for 3 but luckly the second half of the Prog is a blinder. Grey Area returns with a burst of cheeky fun, resetting the scene wonderfully, while moving things on, loved it.

Helium however is quite superb, quite brilliant, what a way to leave us. Just loved this strip to date and can't wait for its return.

So pretty good Prog over all. Lets hope things hold up as we head towards 1950, there some ackward little gaps coming up, so lets see how Tharg does.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Cover:  Excellent stuff, really stands out.

Dredd:  Yeah, have to agree the banter between the inmates is a bit.....unnecessary?  And then a saddled horse just kinda appears outta no-where.....erm.....ok.  Perhaps it will be explained next week.  Still enjoying it though.

Alienist: Interrelating.  So the alienist and partner are not what they appear to be, one of those in the house is not what he appears to be, and the house ain't what it appears to be.  Is anything what it appears to be?? 

3Rillers: Nice art, hopefully a better run than those previously published.

Grey Area: Nice to see Harrison's art back, and the tale is a welcome return also.  Wonder if this run will see them back to earth eventually?

Helium: More of the same that went before.....so nothing new to say on this.

Looking forward to the Dreams of Deadworld tale.....hope it lives up to expectations.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Spellchecker.....damn you. 

[Steve Green]

The [spoiler]Horse[/spoiler] appeared in [spoiler]An earlier Rob Williams story in the Megazine, 'The man comes around', it is left unsaid whether it's a hallucination, psychic manifestation, or just a horse[/spoiler]

So it's not out of nowhere... if you read the Meg.

[Colin YNWA]

Oh that's interesting. The Johnny Cash song of the same name as the Megazine story has all sorts of references to Biblical stuff and he talks about a man coming to make judgement and alludes to revalations, which of course has four horse men in it (yes I did double check all this on Wikipedia, my memory can't be expected to cope with this stuff, but I had a feeling it was all in there) I'll allow someone smarter than me piece all this together... or of course the horse could just be a Tennessee Stud!

Great song too.

[Richard]

I'm actually quite enjoying The Alienist, even though this genre isn't usually my kind of thing.

I don't usually like Grey Area either, but I enjoyed it this week too.

I agree with Dark Jimbo about the monsters' dialogue in Dredd, but apart from that they're pretty threatening and I'm wondering how they can possibly be beaten.

[Skullmo]

I agree with Dark Jimbo about the monsters' dialogue in Dredd, but apart from that they're pretty threatening and I'm wondering how they can possibly be beaten.

Someone will find a way.

[Fungus]

Wednesday's prog sounds great, and Jake Lynch continues to impress with that cover. White covers have something about them, so much more appealing than something dark, brooding and often 'samey'.

I can't fault Enceladus, the art's chunky and glorious, while the jokey banter sounds well-judged and real, contrasting with the crisis at hand. Fantastic Dredd. "Where did the horse come from...?" It's a long-shot, but the equally wonderful Ichabod (also by Williams)? Does he talk? 
Could just be horse-love on the part of the writer, but Dredd does have precedents for story crossovers. And talking horses.

[Geoff]

Maybe it's one of ol' Henry Ford's off-spring.. 

[Skullmo]

When the horse appeared I couldn't help but think of the Hedgehog in the fog