Prog 1675 - Die Laughing!

[Pete Wells]

A prog of beauty! I actually stopped mid-read to bore Mrs Pete by making her look through it at the wealth of amazing talent on show.

Cover - Brilliant! I really wasn't expecting Zombo to be back this prog so I actually cheered when I got the prog out of the envelope!

Dredd - As you'd expect, very, very cool. PJ is just wonderful this issue, I giggled like a loon when he got his crayons out and his ideas were ace! It was great to see how much Beeny has come on and Dredd's chief judge made me sigh at Wagner's brilliance once more!

The cliffhanger was a shock... but then it wasn't, cos I think I've sussed it. Wonderful stuff from all ('cept the lettering at the bottom of page 1 which I read all out of sync. This did make me appreciate how infrequently this happens in the prog though!)

Stickleback - Blimey, what an episode! So full of tragic drama and a chilling ending. I hope this doesn't end badly. One thing, I was listening to the podcast and the guys were talking about Stickleback's 'mask'. I took that line from a few weeks ago as he wore a metaphorical mask, in terms of he's not who people think he is, not a physical mask as such. What do others think? I know his broken back is a harness so now I'm doubting myself...

ABCs - Loved it. Clint's art was wonderfully horrible this episode and, like Stickleback before, the ending has me genuinely worried about the fate of one of the cast...

Zombo! - Yay, he's back! What a treat it is too. The "It all sounds like harmless fun -- but could it be leading to drugs?" made me spray my cuppa! Such a funny, intelligent story wrapped up in beautiful Henry Flint artwork. What more can we ask? There last page was a hoot too, absolutely crackers.

Dante - I don't wanna spoil any of this. I'll just say I really enjoyed it, the artwork is absolutely beautiful, but I'd liked to have seen a different outcome.

An excellent, excellent prog.

[James Stacey]

For the first time in ages I genuinely can't wait till the next episode of Dredd :0 I didn't see that coming

[Darren Stephens]

Great cover this week. I love Henry Flint, me! 

[Jim_Campbell]

Brilliant, brilliant prog. I have nothing more to say!

Cheers

Jim

[JAMESCOR]

Prog's just dropped through the door

Had a quick flick through and must say it looks like the most exciting prog in ages not only the return of Flint and Zombo but what looks like some of D'Israeli's best and most action orientated art ever. All this and PJ Maybe back in Dredd
james-corcoran.blogspot.com

[Colin_YNWA]

Now that sir is what I call a prog.

I was thinking that the golden age of last summer wouldn't be matched for a couple of weeks yet. As ever I owe Tharg an apology for underestimating him. Just brillant.

This Prog has the perfect balance. I think if I broke it down thrill by thrill (well when I do) there'll have been better progs but this one has a little of everything that makes 2000ad the wonder that makes my having posted here over 2000 times not seem a little weird.

Its got slamming choatic action in the ABC Warriors (even the plastic woman was almost passable this Prog), the glorious imagination of D'Israeli on Stickleback (though I'm not the biggest fan of the strip this episode was a wonderful set up for the finale), brillant dark dark comedy in Zombo "Oh it all sounds like harmless fun -- but could it be leading to drugs?", the genius twisted sophistication of Dredd (speculation I'm betting that's Inga dressed as Hershey bursting in on PJ) and an ending in Dante that made me want to cheer and bunch the air, except I know there's more to come and it'll spin things around again.

Better than great Prog.

[House of Usher]

I've only read ABC Warriors so far. The artwork is beautiful, especially the liquid-metal-gubbins rendering of Steelhorn on page 5. The killing of the alien-hosting President was dramatic and violent, but the Red Peace/Red War line sucked big, hairy yaks' balls. The very literal interpretation of the tarot Death card is a fallacy I cannot believe Pat falling for, after all this time promoting chaos majick gibberish, and Deadlock's introduction yay 30 years ago! Even at the age of 10 I learned that card means 'change,' not death.

All this, even its faults, make a dense little bit of storytelling with plenty of visceral action and grand spectacle. What lets it down most, however, is the plotting. Steelhorn comes to the rescue with his implosion hammer (which, cunningly for a hand-to-hand combat weapon has a directional rather than radius effect), the battle is ended quicker than green zombie gas swirled up the Citadel of Minas Tirith at the end of Peter Jackson's The Return of the King, and the Volgan warriors flee with their tail between their legs, as one side or the other always does in these all too frequent, inconclusive and anti-climactic battles.


But yeah, it does look like a top Prog, ABC Warriors included.

[House of Usher]

Apologies in advance, but here I go again. Last night I read Stickleback. What is it these days with writers seeming to go out of their way to address an audience that doesn't like science to intrude on their fiction? I've never studied chemistry, but I would be glad if somebody who has could help me out with the following.

1. We have a constantly smouldering man standing within what we are told is 'a big bag of combustible gas,' yet neither he, nor it, ignites. Isn't Jack, as a source of heat, enough of a hazard?

2. Lighter-than-air flying machines rely upon either hydrogen or helium to provide lift. Helium isn't combustible, so I presume the airship in question is filled with hydrogen. In which case, what are Stickleback and his crew breathing?

3. Hydrogen won't catch fire in the absence of oxygen, so as long as the oxygen content of the balloon is kept low enough for flight, it won't catch fire, and nor will Stickleback and his associates be able to breathe.

Lastly, I should like to say that reference to Robur in a previous chapter was misplaced, and doesn't speak of proper research. Robur scoffed at the idea of balloon travel, and determined that far better, faster and more manoeuvreable airships could be built using propellors to provide lift.

[Jim_Campbell]

Apologies in advance, but here I go again. Last night I read Stickleback. What is it these days with writers seeming to go out of their way to address an audience that doesn't like science to intrude on their fiction? I've never studied chemistry, but I would be glad if somebody who has could help me out with the following.

I was rather under the impression that any zeppelin-style dirigible was not a single large bag of hydrogen, but a large covered frame inside which many smaller bags of hydrogen were contained. As such, the interior of the actual "balloon" would contain walkways between the compartmentalized hydrogen and would indeed have a breathable atmosphere.

The only problem with this is that neither the dialogue nor the artwork support it!

Cheers

Jim

[House of Usher]

Thanks for the insights, Jim. Checking out airship schematics on the internet was on my list of things to do. Funnily enough, following your post here I check it out and it only took a couple of clicks. There was a really choice episode of The lost World (1999-2002) set on board a haunted airship, which had some nice interior sets, but I couldn't keep an accurate picture of it in my head.

[Jim_Campbell]

Checking out airship schematics on the internet was on my list of things to do.

Similar thoughts on my part failed to provide anything useful on a cursory scan, but did throw up a link to possibly the greatest movie never made.

Cheers!

Jim

[TordelBack]

Last night I read Stickleback. What is it these days with writers seeming to go out of their way to address an audience that doesn't like science to intrude on their fiction?

I'm a droning pedant myself ( ), but sometime after the introduction of the afore-mentioned perpetually smouldering man, the zombie guy with the sewn-on arm, the two-headed Peepers-and-Lug, the Chinese dragon and Chittychittybangbang I decided that plausible science was not high on the creators' list of priorities, and decided to revel in the drama and the general beauty instead.

Also, if you cast your mind back to earlier pictures of the Mistral, you'll see the upper surface is literally covered with rotors 'providing lift', hence the Robur reference.  

Oh, and:

 

Even at the age of 10 I learned  from James Bond: Live and Let Die that card means 'change,' not death.

Fixed it for you!

[House of Usher]

Also, if you cast your mind back to earlier pictures of the Mistral, you'll see the upper surface is literally covered with rotors 'providing lift', hence the Robur reference.

So what was the gas-filled interior for? Robur's manifesto was that you could get a lot more lift and manouvreability by opting for rotors and dispensing with balloons altogether, dismissing the latter as a distraction and an encumbrance. The only purpose served here (and elsewhere in contemporary sci-fi) by using lighter-than-air flying machines in preference to heavier-than-air is that the former are more romantic.

[TordelBack]

The only purpose served here (and elsewhere in contemporary sci-fi) by using lighter-than-air flying machines in preference to heavier-than-air is that the former are more romantic.

That's a bad thing?  

It's a belt-and-suspenders approach to romantic.

[House of Usher]

It's a belt-and-suspenders approach to romantic.

I concur. It's an airship designed by Robur, Mors and Rotwang. That's what happens when you get things done by committee. I bet they fell out over it!