Prog 1963: Bugsplat

[sheridan]

And he also put nice little Dredd easter egg there:

What?  We've got to wait 122 years for the sequel?

[inkymonkey]

And he also put nice little Dredd easter egg there:

What?  We've got to wait 122 years for the sequel?

Well, there is the tag on the poster... "Judgement is FINALLY coming".

[jacob g]

Year 2138? Wait, what?

[DrRocka]

Almost a perfect prog for me, with pretty much my dream lineup. Only the Order is a touch pedestrian for my liking, but it's far from bad, just not what I'd turn to straight away. Not mad on the cover but I reckon the artist would be awesome on Slaine!
Overall though, this is the best start to a new year I've had for about 20 odd years, prog wise. Only my idols being recalled to their home planets is marring it all for me right now.

[TordelBack]

Chrono-anomaly detected! Chrono-anomaly detected! Daniel Calhoun, the current Ritterstahl host body,is most unlikely to be from 'County Offaly', since no such place existed in 1580. Indeed King's County, which wouldn't become County Offaly until the 20th C, had itself only been created from part of the Kingdom of Ui Failghe a few decades earlier. The Order needs to be more careful, I fear their battle with the Wyrms is destabilising time itself. /tiresome pedantry

[Fungus]

Cover:  A huge fan of Ryan's work, and technically this is nice....but I'm not liking it.  Think he's got a far too human look going on for Gene.

Agree with this. The teeth need to be more ... canine.

He's drawn Gene as per the strip, can't fault the cover artist. He's also channelling Fabry in ultra-realistic color mode, grand stuff. Tremendous work.

[Dark Jimbo]

Cover:  A huge fan of Ryan's work, and technically this is nice....but I'm not liking it.  Think he's got a far too human look going on for Gene.

Agree with this. The teeth need to be more ... canine.

He's drawn Gene as per the strip...

Not really. Look at the wee full-figure Gene in the buggy - he's a weed! Elson has always made Gene's sheer bulk one of his defining features.

Still an amazing piece of art, though, and always interesting to see interpretations of characters by other artists than their creators (even when the results are mixed).

[Link Prime]

Chrono-anomaly detected! Chrono-anomaly detected! Daniel Calhoun, the current Ritterstahl host body,is most unlikely to be from 'County Offaly', since no such place existed in 1580. Indeed King's County, which wouldn't become County Offaly until the 20th C, had itself only been created from part of the Kingdom of Ui Failghe a few decades earlier. The Order needs to be more careful, I fear their battle with the Wyrms is destabilising time itself. /tiresome pedantry

You do realise that no one is even going to cross-check this?
We just believe it cause it's you!

[Link Prime]

always interesting to see interpretations of characters by other artists than their creators

Key point for me Jimbo.

I like the cover by the way- it's a constipated Apocalypse, right? (kidding)

[Fungus]

Quite right Jimbo. Hadn't looked at the Gene figure in the beach-buggy... that figure is full of wrong. Such a great cover otherwise.

[TordelBack]

So, another top Prog for me, in what's proving to be a very strong start to the year. 

Cover: It's certainly good art, but for me it's a poor Kingdom cover. Pretty good Slaine one, though!

Dredd: Great opener from Carroll, faint echoes of Bonnie Crickle twist neatly into something else entirely. Carroll's multi-parters usually start well, but are not always as successfully resolved as his shorts (oo-err) - I have high hopes for this one. Great art, love the Mark Buckingham vibe.

The Order: imagine the irony of someone nitpicking historical geography in a story that features a 16th C motorbike babe rescuing the parasitic wyrm-possessing consciousness of a robot knight.  The Order was my favourite strip of 2015, and I was rather nervous about how a second run might work. No longer.

Kingdom: so much to love in this most old-skool of modern delights! When will Numan & Co re-enter the tale?

Ro-Busters: Langley was born to draw this, he's magnificent. Really liked the dialogue too.

Strontium Dog: I make it twice we see Kid without his eye patch. Maybe he just wears it as a conversation piece? I find myself eyeing Middenface's stump, just in case. Good fun story, without the niggling aspects of the Jing Jong Job, while still playing with the consequences of Johnny's post-death antics.

[sheridan]

Cover:  A huge fan of Ryan's work, and technically this is nice....but I'm not liking it.  Think he's got a far too human look going on for Gene.

Agree with this. The teeth need to be more ... canine.

He's drawn Gene as per the strip, can't fault the cover artist. He's also channelling Fabry in ultra-realistic color mode, grand stuff. Tremendous work.

It's weird, because I thought Gene didn't look enough like a dog on the front cover, but comparing to the strip itself the only (non-artistic style) difference is in muscular bulk.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I really liked the cover - yeah, it's not quite Gene, but it's first-class painted art.

Dredd was OK, great artwork but let down a bit by Len O'Grady's colouring (and I don't like saying it, because he's a friend of a friend, but he's never done it for me).

Kingdom - entertaining action stuff with a total Mad Max vibe.

The Order - to be honest I didn't really read the last one properly, so will have to reread it to appreciate this.  The Ronald McDonald hair is a bit distracting.

Ro-busters - still loving Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws' old-school comedy banter, but it's a bit light on story.

Stront - I never really liked the fact that Johnny was resurrected (it was the best death scene ever) but this is great.  Stronts doing what they do best - boozing, laughing, scheming, preparing to do something mental.

[James Stacey]

Cover:  A huge fan of Ryan's work, and technically this is nice....but I'm not liking it.  Think he's got a far too human look going on for Gene.

Agree with this. The teeth need to be more ... canine.

He's drawn Gene as per the strip, can't fault the cover artist. He's also channelling Fabry in ultra-realistic color mode, grand stuff. Tremendous work.

It's weird, because I thought Gene didn't look enough like a dog on the front cover, but comparing to the strip itself the only (non-artistic style) difference is in muscular bulk.

Its the brows and the nose too, brows are deeper, nose is higher and wider. Less human, more canine. Having said that its a cracking piece of work and I struggle with drawing a stick man so what do I know

[ZenArcade]

Ryan's cover is at his usual high standard. (I'm not angling for a signed copy for one of the girls at work btw). The Dredd is excellent, well paced and a crisp feel to the art. The rest if the prog is offally (snigger) good as well. Strontium Dog for the first time in long, long years is getting back to its original inventive self. A happy Z.