Thought I’d give some comments on Prog 1700 from a Returner’s point of view. I’ve been back for a meagre few progs, ever since the Strontium Dog story, and will confess to having been rather lost in regards to Sin/Dex, Savage and Red Seas, none of which I was ever a massive fan of (the latter two had maybe had a series each when I stopped reading. Savage I didn’t enjoy, Red Seas was all right, but is now completely incomprehensible to me.) So...
Dredd – makes me feel happy to be back and right at home. Wagner’s characterisation of Joe is as wonderful as ever – I can hugely sympathise with his reaction to being stuck in a meeting when you’d rather just be doing the parts of the job you love. It also reminds me of that story when CJ Volt forced every Judge to have a mandatory 24 hrs downtime, and Joe couldn’t handle it.
Defoe – Hard to say at this stage. Some of the Mills-isms are very endearing, others a bit irritating, but it’s definitely accessible enough for me, so a cautious thumbs-up.
Age of the Wolf – Again, hard to tell, it’s not hooked me so far but I’ll give it a few issues before I make up my mind – visually, the design of the werewolves will probably swing it one way or another.
Low Life – This strip baffled me completely, I dimly remember it when it was about a female judge with a bionic arm, but I couldn’t make head nor tail of this. Looked it up on Wikipedia – didn’t help much. I really would have appreciated much more of an introduction here, since this is supposed to be a ‘jumping on point’ prog.
Nikolai Dante – About as sharp a contrast as possible with Low Life – absolutely written in such a way that I can get right back into my favourite strip of ‘modern’ era 2000AD. I have been picking up the trades to bring me up to speed on what I’ve missed, but while there is a gap between the end of Dante trade No. 9 and this, it’s all readily understandable. This strip makes me wish I’d never been away at all – just wonderful. So much has obviously happened in Dante in the last 5 years, but it’s so recognisably the same great story and I’m 100% on board.
