Aw, feel the love!

I'll miss this site. Maybe the forum was never as jumping as the other one, but the regular reviews, articles and features were more than worth the price of admission, and put the official site to shame. Splundid vur Thrigg one and all!

Late to this news!

Seems a shame, and I'll certainly miss the site, but I can't say it's entirely unexpected. It's certainly been something of a ghost town this summer as ever more of the 2kreview regulars jump ship to the other board. Really enjoyed my time here though and I'm sure I'll continue to see everyone on that 'other' board.

Personally I'd kinda like to see PJ somehow wangle his way into changing places with Sinfield...

That would be amazing!

Well that thar is a link to Prog 1681...

Everything Spaceghost just said! The only thing I wasn't enjoying was Damnation Station, but even that's changed now that Boo Cook's on the scene.

Anyone know which of these are the normal line of trades and which are part of the new line for the US market?

Henry Flint did that lovely Dredd rogue's gallery a while back...

The one from the early annual where Tharg took all the 2k characters to the moon to wish Dredd a merry Christmas, and Dredd arrested himself for taking part in the celebrations.

Nah, just kidding - though that does score points just for the sheer bizzarity of it. I really liked the one with Jim Murray art a few years back, where Dredd went to a Cursed Earth outpost to arrest that doctor who was ministering to the local mutant population.

I'm afraid it does. I'd go as far as to say it couldn't make less sense.

The year 2006, perhaps. All I know is, here in the present, I'm still paying £1.90...

Besides which, we'd need a fifth and final book to give us enough for a second TPB...

Tch. That's what we're led to believe every time Sin/Dex returns. I don't understand how a series with such a high episode count (second only to Dante and Dredd, it seems) can manage to have so little ever actually happen.

Finally got around to reading this. Ho-hum.

Is it any coincedence that last month's Meg (no Tank Girl) was one of the best of the year, and the moment Tank Girl returns we're back in lacklustre territory? Taken at face value, TG isn't the worst thing ever - it's nicely drawn in an old-school Beano kind of way, often quite fun and sometimes funny. But it's ultimately a bit pointless, and more importantly totally out of place in the Meg, in terms of tone, audience, quality... well, everything. And it's been in the bloody magazine for so long now it's just ridiculous. Get rid of it.

Dredd was fun but nothing special, enlivened somewhat by lovely art. Bato Loco, as usual, very inconsequential but great fun, and it's great to see Andrew Currie back. Pity he couldn't also have given us this month's cover (I like Pete Doherty, but that one doesn't really work, does it?) Armitage... wuh? Was it just me or was this last episode bascially just a lot of meaningless technobabble? Where was the climax? And who the hell is that assassin chick cupposed to be?! Are we supposed to know her from a previous story? Comitting to follow a story for six months or more you kinda want a better pay-off than 'I'll be back for you... but not yet. We'll save that for a sequel, shall we?' I was excited to see this strip return originally, but I've lost just about all interest over the course of this run.

I was also going to say Nemesis, probably in Book III or IV - but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't say Torquemada. Nemesis the series is just fantastic; Nemesis the character always remains a bit inscrutble and hard to connect with. Not so Torquemada, an utterly luminous character whose madness leaps off the page.

So I'll plump fpr the mini-series Torquemada the God - a cracking little insight into the mind of the dictator graced by Kev O'Neill's last stint on the character (last episode aside). The Termight Empire is crumbling around his ears - literally - and it looks very much like the End of Days, but Torque is more satisfied than he's ever been because the human race, in its imminent-apocalypse desperation, is finally united behind him against the rest of the universe. It's clear that he's becoming ever more insular and delusional, but just when you think empathy is impossible he goes to visit Candida in the asylum - and the moment when he realises that not only is she lost to him for ever, but that he is the one who drove the only woman he ever truly loved to madness is almost heartbreaking.

Well, if you're going to make me choose, then I suppose I'd have to say Fraser - but the strip without either of them would be unthinkable now, and I wouldn't want to read Dante without knowing Burns had another stint coming up. Also, while Fraser has the edge on things like the tech, the architecture, the crest-face stuff, if a story featured Elena heavily I'd want Burns on the job - Fraser's never seemed able to do a decent job of that character.

Arthur Ransom is a fantastic call! I would literally kill to make that happen! Seriously, who do I have to kill?!

Yeah, but I think he's after the names of the top bods within Rebellion - in which case the answer is Jason and Chris Kingsley. Here's a lovely and not-at-all gay picture of them signing the 2000AD takeover deal...

My main problem with Necrophim, as someone else said on one of the review threads, is that the characters don't so much speak dialogue as shout bits of plot exposition at each other. It reads like one long, constant recap of past events, and a clumsily done one at that.

'Neboron - I haven't seen you since you tried to kill me.'
'Yes, that is right, because I want you dead. I hate you so much I even stole your girlfriend.'
'Yes, I remember. Cythea cheated on me with you, right after Valion died.'
'And now you're back, having killed Jotunheim.'

'Hello Cythea. What are you doing here? Don't you remember that you cheated on me with Neboron?'
'I'm sorry that I cheated on you with Neboron. But things are different now that you have killed Jotunheim.'
'I'm not interested in you any more. Not after Neboron tried to kill me.'
'He shouldn't have done that, not right after Valion died. But things will be different now that you have killed Jotunheim.'

I firggin' know!! I was there, I read all this several progs ago!

Pity, because I still want to like it. The concept is a great one despite being well-worn, and the art is cracking (if murky). But none of the characters feel like characters, just... mouthpieces for the author to convey plot intricacies.

I admit I started to get a little frustrated with it during the second book, (The Confusion). Good stuff but it doesn't half start to meander. I found myself wishing an editor had stepped in to trim a little of the fat off and reign in some of the narrative's digressions. All those fears were forgotten during the rush to the excellent climax, though, and so far the third book has been nothing but a joy.

And then I've got Cryptonomicon to follow!

That's what I love about Neal Stephenson - he writes HUUUUGE books which gaurantee me a proper, meaty read.

Nobody been reading lately?

I've not long caught up with some classic sci-fi in tthe form of H.G. Wells' Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau (both highly recommended, and neither quite what I thought they would be). Also the first Flashman book (can't believe I took so long getting 'round to that!). He's like the anti-Dante, isn't he? The rough-and-tumble with every comely wench who crosses his path is correct and present, but he's a self-confessed poltroon where Dante's a bit of a hero. Ace. Nearly finished The Baroque Cycle, too, inbetween other reads. Awesome stuff - a genuine education in addition to being a great read. I swear I can smell 18th Century London when I'm reading that.

Currently on the graphic novel stack, waiting to be read - Case Files 13, The Goon 4, The Defoe trade, Beast of Ruhdinstein and Lobster Johnson: Iron Prometheus.

Wowzers! Great stuff, particularly like that second page.

I adore Meltdown Man, even though an awful lot of it (the villian, most of the dialogue) is pretty cringeworthy on the face of it.

I also really liked Valkyries, though the relentless T & A was pretty embarassing and probably didn't do it any favours in the long run.