Everything comes back after 20 years: The Prog's New Dark Age

[Jacqusie]

Ok my 10 penneth...I've just been reading a stack of progs from 10 years ago and there were some pretty bloody good stories around then. Every age has nostalgia for how it once was, but I sense a collective spirit on this thread (and some other recent ones) of detatchment from the prog at the moment.

10 years ago ABC Warriors was pretty much the same as it is now, same storyline, plot and characters and it was 'fairly' fresh then. Dante was in his pomp, Defoe had just started, Button Man had it's last series, Caballistics Inc was amazing, Wagner was on Dredd with Mandroid, Stickleback was still Stickleback and Cradlegrave was just round the corner.

It's always easy to look back with rose hued spec's, but I'm stuck in the same place as some of you on this thread, do I stay through sheer loyalty of 30 years buying the prog, or do I hold my hands up and say that maybe I've outgrown it rather than the other way round...

I'm not sure I can stand anyore Slaine or ABC Warrior stories where they are about to be 'destroyed' before wonderously coming back to life and beating the bad guys until the next time and Book VXIII

There are the odd bright lights, Absalom is the best thing in the prog and it's a shame old Harry is on his lasts legs now. Hope is wonderful and there maybe more of this. When Rob Williams and Wagner do Dredd, they do it to show me why I fell in love with the character and his world in the first place and it's great that Develin Waugh and Indigo prime have had a new lease of life.

I don't think 2017 was a vintage year for the prog and 2018 hasn't started well either, although we did have Scarlet Traces and the much missed Kingmaker and I think this is where the problem lies for me.

I'm enjoying the odd story here and there and tollerating others (The Alienist, The Order, Brass Sun Zzzzz), whilst having a certain dislike to much of Sin/Dex, Greysuit, ABC / Robusters and very sadly Slaine.

The old feeling of looking forward to the prog on a Saturday is still there, but soon as I open the pages, it pretty much dissapates... so here's hoping with the next run of stories.

It will be great to see David Roach on Anderson as well as Chris Weston on Judge Pin (longer stories please!) and of course having Stronty Dog back, it's been far, far too long... and that's for another thread sometime...

[Goosegash]

One thing I would say the Prog has been missing in recent times is really memorable one-off stories - e.g. Cradlegrave, Chiaroscuro, From Grace, Breathing Space, Leviathan and so on. The kind of story that lasts maybe 6-8 episodes and is over-and-done.

I suspect there are probably sound economic reasons we don't see many of those any more (e.g. they don't produce enough content for a TPB reprint), but I feel like a few of them per year would help break up the cycle of strips a little. Just a thought.

[broodblik]

I must agree that there should be more stores that does not require a sequel.

Another issue I have is that you sometimes have to wait years before you get the next chapter. It becomes difficult to follow when you have not read something in years

[Richard]

Sometimes stories which were written to stand alone end up having sequels anyway. If you read the first books of Kingdom or Zombo, they both work perfectly well as that kind of story, with a satisfying ending which didn't need to be followed up. But they were popular enough that they got sequels.

[Magnetica]

The point that a lot of the strips read like graphic novels arbitrarily chopped up in to weekly segments is made a lot. And to me it's a very valid criticism.

Well what if you could have a strip that both reads really well as weekly episodes and has an ongoing narrative, which includes things being set up in earlier episodes that become important later, that has a set of characters that are distinct and of whom you are never confused as to who they are?

Sounds hard doesn't it and I'm no writer, so I certainly couldn't do it.

But I have just been doing a re-read of a strip that does all of these things.

It seems to me that it couldn't hurt if the modern strips took a leaf out of this one's book.

So what strip am I on about? ...... Halo Jones.

[Big_Dave]

they should just
make erevy story
asgood as halo jones

[TordelBack]

It has to be the hardest thing to do,  though. 5-7 pages, complete satisfying story,  advance overall plot/themes/characters. And unless I'm mistaken, even Alan was told to shove some bloody action into Book II and dial back the futurospeak.

[Richard]

No one said it was easy.

[Jim_Campbell]

Why, yes... Tharg should just hire a team of writers who are all as good as Alan Moore. I'm sure he hasn't thought of that. He's looking now at all the rejected Future Shocks from the slush pile that were as good as Alan Moore's and just kicking himself that he didn't think to commission those writers instead of sending them rejection slips. What a fool he's been...

[TordelBack]

Heh!

I've offered this opinion frequently,  but I reckon part of the problem is that we don't live the prog the way we used to When We Were Kids: endless re-reads each week, over and over again,  and only a few years of continuity to keep track of anyway. Now it's maybe two reads at most and then into the pile,  and 40 years of strips and characters and the odd reboot.

Combine that with the desire for more complex believable stories (try wheeling out an episode of Invasion, MACH 1, Fort Neuro or Football Crazy these days,  see how far you'd get) and it's a virtual  no-win for the weekly format. 

Again I'd argue for Goggans' suggestion, longer residencies.  But then that only works if you like the strip so-presented.

[Magnetica]

Yes well clearly we can't expect every writer to be as good as Alan Moore. That's why I said it was it was hard.

My point was more about structure i.e. here is some evidence that it is possible to serve both the weekly format and the economic reality of the need to write for collections.

[Theblazeuk]

Can I just get a break from Savage, Slaine and ABC Warriors please. One that's not filled by American Reaper. I'm just burned out on em.

Brass Sun, Brink, Scarlet Traces - no dark age.

[Colin Zeal]

I haven't enjoyed all of the recent run of stories but that's what happens with an anthology. Every reader will have a different experience to each other and sometimes you're the person who only enjoys one story in each issue. My only complaint would be about the massive gap between some books of stories in the program - hello Ampney Crucis. And Bix Barton. I think we're due another book of that soon.

[broodblik]

I agree, in some runs I enjoy all the stories then you get a batch where you only enjoy one or two of them.

I can not remember who said it but let us put to a rest that we are in a dark age. The next batch looks prime

[The Adventurer]

I'm curious about what was the 2000 AD 'dark age' anyway? I'm assuming roughly the period between Necropolis/Death of Johnny Alpha/1990ish to Rebellion buying 2000 AD? Or is more specific then that?