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It seems to be McConville's style to use exposition to tell the story. He even made a virtue of it in an interview in the Megazine (I think).  I really don't like it - this was slightly better that some of his other Dredd's, but still I would rather have the story told via action and dialogue.

Ah right. Weirdly short-sighted of them even so!

And do they still do these Year Specials, or were they short lived..?

Not weird. When they did Prog 2000, literally no one in the business had had any confidence the comic would make it to the year 2000 at all. The fact that it did is down to John Tomlinson, David Bishop and Andy Diggle. For all the things people can criticise about their various tenures as Tharg, that one fact is incontrovertible and the Squaxx owe them a debt of gratitude.

The tradition of Prog [YEAR] probably continued a bit longer than it should, but now we still get a bumper December prog, just with the normal numbering.

Jim, I think you mean make it to the Prog that would be numbered 2000 according to the sequential scheme. The original year end special Prog 2000 came out in December 1999.

Why not just serialise Eastenders?

Ok I am counting horror in the broader definition of sci-if and fantasy. The recent 3hriller however doesn't fall into any category of this nature.

"Why not do it"...because it's a sci-fi and fantasy comic. That's the proposition.

For me Button Man is an exception. It was by arguably the top 2000AD writer of all time and had already been drawn (series 1).

The thing about Button Man is, it was originally intended for a completely different comic (Toxic) but was rejected. It was then offered to 2000AD and Steve MacManus decided to run it despite acknowledging that it wasn't a good fit with the brief of "future fantasy".  He did so because it was high quality. [Soure - Thrill-Power Overload].

I guess subsequent series got commissioned because it was popular.

In Tooth and Nail, [spoiler]every scene that wasn't of the guy who was tied to a chair and being interrogated was only a depiction of the story that guy was telling his interrogators. He was an "unreliable narrator." He told them he was some harmless guy who met Nail, but he was lying; he himself was Nail all along.[/spoiler]

Thanks for clearing that up. That being the case, there doesn't appear to be any fantasy or sci-fi element to the story at all. Which is fine, except this is 2000AD.

Yes quite... but that seems to be a thing with androids/ robots / computers in sci-if in general.

I guess a backup = immortality = lack of peril = boring story.

I'm pretty much on the same page as Colin:

> Dredd calling them "losers" seemed off to me

> I also thought "ok so was it that the lad was Nail all along...is that it?". Indeed the whole story doesn't seem very 2000AD - he could have just been spinning them a yarn, or was there a transformation I missed?

> talking heads in Grey Area = not boring at all. Actually it's a master class in how to wrap up hanging threads and move the plot along.

I get the point about the C5's actions being a bit sudden but as has been mentioned upthread, I guess Wagner didn't want to hold up the main narrative any. (Love the numeronym 'C5' by the way. Hey, another new word!)

I for one wouldn't pay to get something signed. With reference to the article Tjm linked to, some of the prices being charged seem really high to me. As others have said, it's as much about having a chat with the creator as getting the signature. So giving the book to someone else to get it signed and get a certificate of authenticity- sorry not interested. I'm never going to sell any of my stuff- I'm not collecting anything with a view to a future profit.

I did pay for a sketch by Ben Wilsher at the 40th and had a really long chat with him. A tenner for 20 mins* of his time didn't seem too bad to me.

It might not have been 20 mins - can't remember.

Just to confirm- 2000AD Prog 2130 is effectively the Regened special this year?
Why not just release it as a stand alone special?

Yes I cannot understand why they are doing it or is their something we are missing ?

Must be.
The average age of a 2000AD reader is about 84.

I for one will give it to my 9 year old son to read. There has to be a way to get him into "proper" comics and not just Ultimate Spider-man and Lego Star Wars.

Yes there is definitely an element of that. There are though strips with large casts and lots going on that are still easy to read...like Lawless.

[Zootropolis]

Zootropolis - my 7 year old daughter chose this as a family film for us. I watched the first 5 minutes and then had to take a call for half an hour and then came back to watch the rest.

I was pretty much caught up after 5 minutes and wow it was great. Really looking forward to watching it again, all the way through this time.

Have to admit I didn't think I would like it after that initial 5 mins but it was really entertaining.

[Blunt]

...and the same is true Blunt the key difference is I'm invested enough to really want to know. Like many I'm a bit lost now, unlike those that have said this here I'm really looking forward to reading it as one as I think its a great strip and worth the effort of digging into it.

Is it a great strip? For me part of what makes a strip great is that it flows easily and engages the reader. All of my favourite strips do that and none feel hard to read. That doesn't mean there isn't lot going on in them, but they are written and drawn in a way that enables the story to flow.

Blunt hasn't given me enough to make me go back and re-read it and I have so much else to read at this point that it's just not a priority for me. So that leaves me with a strip I am not engaged with and no longer following. I will still read it as I never skip anything, but I can't say I am looking forward to it.