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Not sure if it's me or the prog...

Started by Steve Green, 04 July, 2017, 07:04:52 PM

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norton canes

Just to clarify, I'm definitely not considering giving up on the progs - I only got back on board after a 17-year absence with prog 2016, so I think it's a little early for me to come to conclusions about the state of the comic. And I appreciate it must be hellishly difficult for the editorial team, having to cater for all sorts of different tastes. I would just prefer there to be a few more 'impactive' stories, and not quite so many slow burners. 

Michael Knight

The Adventurer mate i too sorely miss Dante, and the recent 40th anniversary made me long for his return. Does anyone know if the writers have ruled out his return?

Steve Green

I think they've talked about doing something in that world.

Michael Knight

Steve Green this would be fantastic. Been sorting out my progs recently having just caught up to date with current issues and I plan to re-read whole Dante saga from the start over the summer.


SuperSurfer

A can of worms, but points have been raised that I've been pondering over for some time.

Not sure if my general apathy towards all comics for the last few years is a result of what comics have become, or if it's just me growing out of them. I've mentioned that in the past round here. Well, it's a combination of all the above plus to a great extent too much other stuff sapping my time, enthusiasm and energy.

I just don't have the mental energy to invest in what seem to be long story arcs and world building. The Dredd format of mainly short self contained stories is what works best for me.

Often I just lose interest and fall behind, thinking I need to go back to the beginning and start again. Or I miss a prog and feel it's pointless reading on until I get a missing back issue. With Dredd I can start again at the beginning of the next story arc. Impossible with some of the other stories. I get the feeling more and more that I'm reading graphic novels broken up into parts, rather than stories written to work in a weekly format. But old style two or three parter stories perhaps won't make the best graphic novels.

Coincidentally, yesterday I was looking on Barney to see when the first episode of Brink appeared to start reading the series from the beginning, in an effort to catch up. So yesterday I read the first episode in full and my plan is to read all of that and then go back and do the same with other stories I haven't read such as The Order and Kingmaker. Not a case of missing progs, just apathy on my part and initial episodes that just didn't grab my increasingly shortening attention span. 

I often think it must be incredibly difficult for a casual reader to dip into the prog.

o1s1n

I stopped buying the prog a couple of years ago myself, had been reading it every week since 1995. A few missed weeks turned into a few missed months and before I knew it, it had fallen off my radar.

Had a leaf through a copy recently and really regret it now as I've completely missed Deadworld, looked really excellent.

Problem now is that if I want to start collecting it again, the competionist in me will need to hunt for all my missed progs in the last two years. :D

Colin YNWA


o1s1n


The Adventurer

I once had to catch up on two years worth of Progs (2009-2010). Thank god for a big Rebellion sale at the time that helped me fill in the gap for only a couple of hundred bucks (mostly overseas shipping, and exchange rate). It was mostly satisfying to finally have that gap filled.

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Richard

Maybe you're all just getting old and jaded. You've seen it all before, and it no longer has the appeal it once held for you. I don't think it's the comic itself (as some of you have said already). But I think it's a bit sad that some are saying that the solution is to just bring back Dante. That series was conceived all along as a finite storyline with a definite end. I'm all for seeing spin-off stories with new characters set in the same world, but I'm not interested in seeing The New Adventures of Nikolai Dante, or Young Dante when he was a kid or some such. Not only would it undermine the original series, but one of 2000AD's strengths is that it doesn't always just churn out the same old stuff like it's predecessors did, it tries to be innovative, and even if not all new stories are successful, enough of them work to keep the publication going forward. Dante himself, when he first appeared, is a fine example of that, but that was in 1997. Going back to a character who is now 20 years old isn't the way to keep up the momentum.

As someone else said earlier, in a five story anthology there is usually one I don't like. But I usually like the rest of them, and that's the strength of an anthology: the variety. And sometimes exposure to something I don't immediately take a liking to broadens my mind and I end up liking it eventually. I didn't like Dante when he first appeared, but The Great Game changed my opinion, and when it went back and re-read the earlier stories I found I liked them too. Recently we've had Hope... For the Future, which is a great series, and Counterfeit Girl, which was daft but good fun, and Hunted, a twist on a long-established series, told from the point of view of the arch-villain of the stories. I'd rather Tharg kept doing this.

I have absolutely no interest in digital comics, and if the paper prog stops then so will I.

The criticism I do agree with is this one by norton canes:

QuoteFor me 2000 AD has always been about  classic characters who can be plunged into a succession of adventures, not epic-length serials.

There have been too many ten-episodes-at-a-time sprawling epics lately, and I'd rather see characters appear in stories with definite endings and then new stories. Strontium Dog does this very well.

Obviously Dredd is always at it's best when JW writes it, but I don't agree that stories by others are not worth buying the prog for. Michael Carroll is establishing himself as a worthy Dredd writer, as did Al Ewing before him. And even if you're a die-hard, only-Wagner-will-do type, then there is still the new Mechanismo storyline coming up in the prog (which I feel certain will be different to the original), and Dominion in the meg. There's still plenty to hang around for. If you've outgrown it then that's fine, it's just one of those things. I'm not judging. But it would be a mistake for Tharg to try to bring back the 1980s just to appease some middle-aged readers.

Smith

So its not just me.These past few weeks I find myself skipping 3 out of 5 stories.Idk,unless something changes in the next 1 or 2 progs,I might be taking a break for the first time in 15 years.

SIP

I would just add to that Richard that, realistically, middle aged readers ARE the readership.

I might be wrong, but I suspect that it is a small minority of readers who aren't at least middle aged. Ignore your market at your own peril!

I want the prog to be inventive, but being inventive at the cost of your readership isn't good business sense.

I'm not suggesting that this is what is happening, but wanted to make the point.

SIP

Quote from: Smith on 05 July, 2017, 06:51:23 PM
So its not just me.These past few weeks I find myself skipping 3 out of 5 stories.Idk,unless something changes in the next 1 or 2 progs,I might be taking a break for the first time in 15 years.

For the first time in 37 years, I'm skipping 5 out of 5 stories.....but do intend to go back and read hunted.

Woolly

This thread has me more than a bit perplexed.
I kinda agree with Steve - there's loads I've not been reading for a while:
Defoe (never been my thing),
The Order (loved the first series, couldn't get with the 2nd series onwards),
Hope (Nope),
Hunted (not clicking with me 2nd time round, for some odd reason)
Savage (again, never been my thang)
Kingmaker (read the first episode only, mean to finish it but.. just haven't)... the list goes on.
I'm not even clicking with Brink this time round, and I was adoring the first series.

I keep telling myself I'm saving them to read in one go, but never get round to reading them  :|
Not even been keeping up with the last couple of Megs, which are on the read pile.

Doesn't help that my favorite read of the year so far has been the Complete Luke Kirby. I think the idea that this marvelous story will never be continued has soured my attitude to the prog a little bit (which is silly and unjustified, but there you go).

Maybe it is the state of the world, I dunno.

That said, I also agree completely with Richard.
Tharg is still on a roll, it's definately not anything to do with the quality of the Prog. It's just an unfortunate run of thrills that don't hit my personal mark. I'm confident that we'll get an unexpected thrill soon enough that reignites the Prog-love. Zombo's coming back for another series, right?

I also have no plans to rethink my subscription. (Admittedly, it's only a month since it renewed, but still..)

And yes, I think I am just feeling a bit old and jaded too!
Sorry, I've added nothing to the argument!

Smith

Well,the triefecta of Brink,Defoe,Grey Area is certanly killing my interest.