Everything comes to a full stop. Except for the Third Reich!

Cover: A simple yet impactful shot of a hand holding a gun against a blood soaked background. Once again Frazer Irving shows off his sense of design.

Quote of the Week:

The Voice: Harry, listen, it wasn’t my fault. They forced it on me. I was very … content with our arrangement.
Harry: I’m glad to hear that, Steve. I thought it was something like that. Fair enough, no hard feelings then.
The Voice: You-you mean it?
Harry: Sure, am I the kind of man to bear grudges? Oh, by the way, I dropped by your house this morning and strangled your wife.
- Button Man

Spoilers below… (more…)

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Two weeks to Prog 2008, and things are coming to a close (I’ve been saying that for a while now, haven’t I?)

Cover: The mysterious Karel Toten from The Red Seas, as rendered by Steve Yeowell. A dramatic enough image, and Steve Yeowell is on good form at the moment.

Quote of the Week: “Slaughterhouse! The is Dredd! Kitty is dead! The woman you think is your wife is just an empty shell! They tricked you Slaughterhouse!” Judge Dredd (speaking through the cybernetically-controlled corpse that was Slaughterhouse’s wife)

Spoilers (in addition to that one)… (more…)

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A really scrotnig issue as the storylines begin to slot into place.

Cover: A Peter Doherty-drawn montage of the main characters in the current Mandroid storyline. Well drawn and timely if a little underwhelming.

Doherty is currently doing colourist duties on Dredd and in that respect is woefully underutilised. When will he resume artistic duties? He doesn’t seem to have drawn anything of substance in over a decade.

Quote of the Week: “Amassed! The man was a bloody menace! You couldn’t put anything down for a minute without him whipping it! Half the lost treasures of the ancient world ended up stuffed down his trousers!” (Erebus, The Red Seas)

Spoilers below… (more…)

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Face offs galore this week as the new strips start to get going.

Cover: Simon Davis draws Finnegan Sinister John Woo style. Not sure about that gun chain - seems a little taut and impractical. I have visions that he must have something similar for his gloves, bless him. For those new readers wondering why Sinister has such a white face, it’s a Simon Davis thing.

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The Red Seas is back - sort of. And the final showdowns begin in Button Man and Judge Dredd.

Cover: Frazer Irving draws Harry Ex. Effective but quite dark, meaning it doesn’t exactly leap off the shelf at you.

Spoilers ahoy! (more…)

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Best issue in a while as the new strips get into their strides.

Cover: A great painted Dredd by Boo Cook. Boo’s art has been coming on in leaps and bounds in recent years and he really captures Old Stony Face here. It’s all in the chin.

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Three old staples return. Dredd and Button Man are on good form as well.

Cover: Nikolai Dante by Kev Crossley. Competent but nothing to blow you away.

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A return to form for Dredd and Button Man IV, a great send off for A.B.C. Warriors, but the worst was left til last for Stone Island…

Cover: Disappointing. Mek-Quake is a peculiar-looking robot and drawn from this angle just looks rubbish. Clint Langley can’t seem to decide whether to give him a neck backed with hydraulics, as here, or a Bisley-esque snake-like one, as in the strip inside. The guns firing just look like particularly bright torches.

To top it off, the quote from Death Ray magazine (”A very well presented, well-balanced modern comic”) sounds about as inspiring as Iain Duncan Smith. Overall, not great. Still I bought it anyway.

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A slightly disappointing prog this week as the Summer Offensive draws to a close…

Cover: Another great Frazer Irving cover to coincide with Button Man IV. Over the past few weeks we’ve probably seen more pink on the cover of 2000AD than we had over the previous 30 years. Good to see the comic getting in touch with its feminine side.

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A double helping this week due to illness and the conference season.

Cover (1556): A fantastic black, white and pink affair by Frazer Irving of the Hitman’s Daughter. The juxtaposition between the grown up assassin and the frightened child she used to be adds a level of poinancy to the image which might otherwise appear too stylised.

Cover (1557): Dredd, old school style, courtesy of Keeper of the Flame Rufus Dayglo (2000AD was 2.0 before 2.0 was invented - the fans have been the content generators for some time now). An eye-catching image with a slogan with an obvious-but-fun Star Wars reference. (more…)

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