Prog 1947 - Rider on the Ice Storm

[Fungus]

I'm an old grump but am I the only one wondering where Dredd learned to ride a horse?

Because riding a horse is the greatest of his achievements. Crikey.

No offence Dr X. Can't abide Dr Who and you remain my favourite Dr :-)

[Geoff]

Got home from hols yesterday and no prog in N London for me either.

Hopefully it'll be there when I get in today.

Great cover, favourite of the year for me so far!

[Proudhuff]

No prog in Edinbra, I spy the Hand of Marg!

[8-Ball]

That Judge Dredd, eh? He's a dark horse.

[Hawkmumbler]

Now you all know the pain of digital subscriptions.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Got it,  Review coming later!!!

[Geoff]

The Thrill Suckers have been defeated - mine's here too now!

[Bat King]

Prog arrived today

[Dark Jimbo]

Well, I wasn't quite expecting Dredd to wrap up quite so soon, and to be honest it did feel a little abrupt. The fate of the Titan crew under Enceladus was fantastically creepy, though; the whole of Sam's subplot was great stuff, but it did leave Dredd and Frank feeling a little redundant. Beyond pulling Hershey's fat out of the fire, neither of them actually achieved very much! Perhaps that was the point.

My biggest worry of this whole (largely fantastic) arc is that we won't see any aftermath from such cataclysmic events - that next week we'll get a jarring 'Dredd encounters a wacky new craze' as though this story never even happened, with no mention of the ice, or the thousands of dead, or Maitland, Gerhart, etc. That's probably the most dissatisfying thing about modern Dredd (compared to the Wagner/Grant and solo Wagner era); the big stories don't really feel like they're happening in the same universe.

Finally The Alienist clicks with me this week. I suddenly 'get it,' and as a consequence am enjoying it a lot more than I have been. I'm still doubtful as to how many series the premise could support, going forward, but I don't mind its place in the prog.

There are some Norwhichmas3rillers that are destined to dissapear utterly from my mind almost the moment I've finished reading them. Apocalypse Now, I suspect, is one of them. It spent three weeks just sort of... being there. By this point the 3rillers seem to have fallen into a distinct pattern - they'll either be a punchy, self-contained narrative that uses the extra space (compared to say, a Future Shock) to attempt something a little bit different, or a not-so-subtle pitch for an ongoing series. This was the latter, and not the greatest example - none of the characters made much of an impression, and the premise is far too overfamiliar. The 'dark powers from another dimension trying to break through' has been done to death already, not least in the prog itself. Nice art, though.

The Abnett/Harrison Grey Area run long ago settled into a steady rythym, and trundles on in that same cosy vein this week.

As with The Alienist, Dreams of Deadworld suddenly clicked this week. I really didn't know what to make of the debut offering, even after digesting it for a week. Was it borderline fanwank? Brave experiment? Harmless filler? But I adored this one - nothing but enjoyable. Mortis with a fobwatch and mushroom garden shouldn't work, but by thunder it did! Clever, creepy, compelling - can't wait to see what the team do with Fear next week.

[Colin YNWA]

Quote from: hippynumber1 on Today at 06:27:23 PM
Good news - mine was waiting for me when I got home from work. All is well with the world. 

Same here... except... well the Prog ain't that good this week. Dredd ends pretty weakly. There is certainly enough there to intrigue and it'll be getting a re-read while I hope will stand it in good stead. The problem is as was becoming increasing clear the solution, as someone mentioned the other week (sorry I forget who and I'm too lazy to ask) was a bullet laced off switch, the tale deserved something a little cleverer and maybe when the whole epic is read as one it will actually be so. As it stands tonight a real let down after a cracking story.

The Alienist I've not really bought into and all the twists and turns this week haven't changed that, though again when re-read maybe it'll hold better? The 3riller has been just plain ordinary, which by 2000ad standards translates as poor. Who knew Mortis was such a chatterbox. This Dreams of Deadworld one lacked the menace I thought it would hold.

So Grey Area takes the prize this Prog and to be honest it didn't take much, not the best episode of this story by far... but ya know.

So yeah very disappointing Prog, all the more so due to the tease of the delay. Still good things around the corner one hopes.

[Eamonn Clarke]

Well I thoroughly enjoyed Dredd right up to the fantastic last line which I want to answer in my best Mattie Ross voice.

I also love some Dirty Frank and note that like Delerium in Gaiman's Sandman he gets much more lucid when the chips are really down.

Not had a chance to appreciate the other four thrills yet but they are all looking good.

[Proudhuff]

My biggest worry of this whole (largely fantastic) arc is that we won't see any aftermath from such cataclysmic events -

Tharg says in the Nerve Centre that there will be something in the Xmas issue by this team (not got Prog to hand so that could be misremebered) so maybe there will be a bit then?

And we ain't seen the end/rump of that horse either IMHO

[Colin YNWA]

And we ain't seen the end/rump of that horse either IMHO

Yeah defo not. I reckon that was left wonderful mysterious and the fact that it was explained was one of the things I did like about the ending.

[IndigoPrime]

So I take it Brit-judge [spoiler]ends up marooned and dead[/spoiler]? But, yeah, that really was an abrupt ending. And [spoiler]poor horse[/spoiler]. Boo, hiss, etc.

Still, that Dredd run's been a highlight of the Prog of late, and that remained the case for me here. I am starting to wonder, though, when the intro to Dredd will begin with something like: Mega-City One, home to 187 people...

[Proudhuff]

I am starting to wonder, though, when the intro to Dredd will begin with something like: Mega-City One, home to 187 people...

yeah another couple of sectors down so that population map will need more work  , never got a number for these sectors, but they were along the Atlantic Wall, maybe it was Ape Town? Ape Town when did we last see how that was hanging?

Onyways....

Great cover. almost as good as last week's cover of the year.
Nerve Centre: 'From the pages of Rogue Trooper' is pushing it a bit n'est pas?
Damage Report: Muffins in MC1?


Dredd was great! excellent end to an excellent arc. Charging to a climax, no excess dialogue or clunky explanations, loved the horse/ Flints art and the general off the wall feel.

Alienist: highly enjoyable, fine art penmanship and storytelling

3thiller ; artwork very French BD I thought which is a good thing!, lots of nice elements here but slightly confused me not sure if it was the layout or the story though.

Grey Area: going great guns

Deadworld: I don't like to say this, but I found this totally inappropriate for the Prog, it was disturbing but not in a good way or a way that it should be, was it black humour and I missed the mark? possibly, but for the first time I would question the inclusion of a story in the Prog. I'll be skipping this and anything to do with it in future.