Prog 1675 - Die Laughing!

[House of Usher]

I thought for a minute that Bob and Tonga might land in the Thames, but apparently not.

Fixed that for you.

[Mikey]

Well, after a couple of weeks of more or less indifference, the thrill power is back chez Mikey.

It all starts with the cover; a return of Zombo and a cover to boot are two reasons for celebrating. The story doesn't disappoint either, 'I foff you were fomone elf' Haw!

Dredd - yup. I thought maybe the Judge bust could be genuine? But one of Sinfield's goons, but I like the Inga idea

Stickleback - worked for me. Stop worrying about the gas! Perhaps Stickles knows that it doesn't matter, but his foe maybe isn't so sharp? He had him on the back foot after all, or maybe the mirrors are cavorite?

ABCs - Enjoyed, but over too quickly.

Dante - Well, look at that! Jena survived! 

M.

[nev]

The words talk about the Santa guy's legs being sliced off, but the pictures clearly show the guy being crushed to death by spiked rollers. That is all. He died in some ghastly and spectacular fashion for our entertainment, and that's all the matters.

As long as I can be assured it was both gruesome and painful, I'm happy.

[The monarch]

best thing about zombo: people die quite nastily, Its funny that when characters die in strip like zombo it makes me smile but when certain characters die in american comics it pisses me off to no end

[vzzbux]

I agree with Rac on this, when I read V's remark of Konstantin being dispatched easily. He had the whole episode in last weeks prog where he was hammered on all rides by a continual onslaught from he variety of top adversaries.

I was thinking along the lines of him taking out at least one of the main characters i.e. Dante's Mongolian Whore.




V

[House of Usher]

Stickleback - worked for me. Stop worrying about the gas! Perhaps Stickles knows that it doesn't matter, but his foe maybe isn't so sharp? He had him on the back foot after all, or maybe the mirrors are cavorite?

I have stopped worrying about it already. But I don't think Stickleback did hoodwink Jack, since Jack, being a traitor, would have been acquainted with the ship's inflamable hazards by his new boss, the Countess, and in any case Jack held back from incinerating Bob before Stickleback even mentioned gas. And if the mirrors were cavorite (Grud forbid!), then that'd be a LOEG lift too far. I don't think the writer of Stickleback would stoop so low, and D'Israeli made no such claim in hos B'log.

[Mikey]

Heh! Thought cavorite would get the juices flowing! What about plastic mirrors? With aluminium rotors? 

I've been thinking about why the current prog floated the old boat much more than the previous few weeks - it's all about the blend, isn't it? This one had a good mix of intrigue, plot, artwork and thrills. Plus someone getting minced. I'm now wondering if a lot of strips I recall liking were just a good fit with the other strips that ran with them...

M.

[JamesC]

More 'waxwork' art on Dredd. It's starting to annoy me now because it's detracting from the brilliant script.
Apart from that, all good again (although I do find Stickleback hard to follow).

[Bolt-01]

JamesC, what do you mean, 'Waxwork art'?

[JamesC]

I mean everyone in it looks like a waxwork to me - there's just no movement in it and all the poses of the characters look unnatural.
Maybe it's just me not 'getting' John Higgins art, but in Greysuit, even with motion blur effects the characters still looked like they were standing still the whole time.

[Pete Wells]

Just sitting on the crapper having my midweek re-read of the prog and was once again blown away by the potential for Judge Beaney. It gives me goosebumps to think about her mother in that first America story and particularly how Dredd was portrayed in it, compared to how he is now. Just imagine if Dredd was instrumental in getting Ami to the post of Chief Judge, a new CJ that would shape a fairer, more democratic Justice System. It'd be like America Senior's horrible murder in the first place would almost have been worth it.

Crikey, I dunno if you lot have noticed but that Wagner guy's really rather good.

[George Dread]

What he Ami is keeping a whole load of breaking down the present judical system from within to herself?   

[Roger Godpleton]

Cover: Really stood out on the shelves. Or rather it would have done if some old fart reading some Photoshop magazine hadn't been stood right in front of it. (That isn't a clever metaphor BTW.) Great Stuff.

Dredd: Slightly bemused by the subtext, which seems to be "Those politicians, they're all bastards, eh! Even the good ones are probably dyslexic narcissist serial killers when they're not playing to the cameras!" Seems a bit lazy, IMO. At least we're not being bludgeoned with it like we would be if this was written by Pat. I still reckon the vaudevillian Maybe gets taken down by no-nonsense Sinfield. The Judge at the end is Inga dressed as Hershey. Great Stuff.

Stickleback: They all died. At the very least the creators seem determined to stop this from becoming formulaic. Very Good Stuff.

Zombo: This appears to be some sort of masterpiece. A "vintage" 2000 AD tale that seems determined not to resort to an insular and frankly philistine fetishism. WAR ON CHRISTMAS. Great Stuff.

ABC: Pat shocks us all with his Deus ex Hammina. His flying monkey attempts to subdue us with some hommina but surely only the most drooling of mongoloids must still be pretending to enjoy this? Bad Stuff.

Dante: Guessing they all have to put their differences aside to defeat Arkady and Konnie. Do we get Frazer yet? Good Stuff.

[Proudhuff]

I thought for a minute that Bob and Tonga might land in the Thames, but apparently not.

Fixed that for you.

Eh?

[JayzusB.Christ]

"Those politicians, they're all bastards, eh! Even the good ones are probably dyslexic narcissist serial killers when they're not playing to the cameras!" Seems a bit lazy, IMO.

I always thought it was a great move to have PJ as mayor; I often wondered how Wagner could ever top having a Dave the Orang-Utan situation in the post-democratic-reforms era of MC1 but he's come pretty close to it.  After the 'PJ Maybe commits murders then escapes capture' scenario was getting dangerously close to being boring, the mayor thing was a beautiful twist. 

I agree about Pat Mills, though, I can just picture it now: 'And I, though a serial killer, am NO DIFFERENT from ANY OTHER POLITICIAN.  Am I more evil? NO, I AM NOT.  They are ALL as evil as me. THEIR evil simply TAKES A DIFFERENT FORM, but nevertheless is EVERY BIT AS BAD.'   That said, he did write one of 2000ad's best ever satires, 'You Are Ronald Reagan'.

ANyway, good prog all round, highlights being Dredd (and my money's on the judge being a jealous Inga in a Hershey suit) and Dante, which was once one of my least favourite strips, but now one of my favourite.  I'll always be a John Burns man though, never got into Si Fraser's stuff.