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I just read MISTY Vol. 1, "Moonchild" and "The Four Faces of Eve". Moonchild was good but it seems to me the art suffered by reduction in size (and, I'm just guessing here, but I suspect some of the fine detail has dropped out). The artwork in Four Faces of Eve fared much better in translation. I enjoyed both stories.

The little biographical sections at the back got me very curious to see Misty (pictured on the cover of the trade, but not inside except for a couple of small spot illo's). I had no idea she was an actual character with a strip of her own, although I guess I would have suspected she might be the comic's host, making some brief appearances, not unlike Tharg in 2000AD. I mention this as a way of leading up to asking what the contents of MISTY Vol. 2 might be (obviously I'm hoping to see some actual stories with Misty, as I'm very curious about the character now). Anyone know?

I guess the other part is that for the longest time, it was ABC Warriors, and not Ro-Busters, that was the returning feature, and they were (except for Khaos stories in the early 1990s) Hammerstein's crew. He's the Sgt. Rock to their Easy Company, or the Sgt. Fury to their Howling Commandos.

Ro-Jaws, being a mere sewer droid designed for garbage disposal and cleaning out sewer drains, and therefore essentially weaponless, couldn't contribute much in the way of being a soldier, even if he did make a fair serviceable first responder in the Ro-Busters disaster squad.

It was only after reading The Complete Nuts and Bolts that I truly appreciated what a great character Ro-Jaws is, and now he's replaced Hammerstein as my favorite mek. Of course I'd read a scattered sampling of the Ro-Busters stories way back when, but never the entire thing.

I particularly enjoyed reading "Ro-Jaws' Memoirs", which told his backstory of how it was he wound up in that used-robot showroom in the first place. Now that he's taken a somewhat more prominent role with the ABC Warriors in the ongoing struggle for robot liberation, I hope he may continue exclaiming "Manky Moses!" until at last cludgie is unclogged.

I think we can all agree that creator ownership is the ideal situation.

But in the specific case that concerns us, 2000AD would not exist without publisher ownership and control of the IP.  You'd have some sporadic Wagner-penned Dredd mini-series and maybe some Slaine albums and that'd  be your lot. For me, it's the lesser of two evils.

Because of its nature as a sci-fi action/adventure comic anthology, I'd argue that 2000AD is better positioned to succeed because the concept of the magazine itself IS the brand. Not even Judge Dredd has appeared in EVERY issue (although pretty close), and readers are adjusted to the idea of constantly rotating features, mixing new strips with familiar favorites.

That's a better working model than American publishers like DC or Marvel who insist on ownership-in-perpetuity as a basic condition of employment, yet don't publish any anthology titles.

In the UK you have 2000AD, but in Japan you have Shonen JUMP, and dozens of other titles. In the US for anthology titles you've got just about jack, because the mainstream readership has been trained under the publishers-own-it-all way of merchandising entertainment properties.

Still, publishers like Image, Dark Horse, IDW and Fantagraphics do okay without having to horde their creators' IPs for themselves, and they'd do even better if DC and Marvel didn't have a 40-50 year head start on accumulating their former employees' ideas.

Ideas flourish better under a system of temporary mutual alliances... or long-term ones, if that's the CHOICE of both creator and publisher.

Hmmm really? I don't think it is that much of a stretch...especially for a pun(???).

I'd say it's a perfect pun. Any less 'stretchy' and it'd be a boring homonym (or just a kid's joke like the one about the shipwrecked survivors of a collision between two ships with cargoes of red and blue paint respectively). The truly great puns require the consumer to do a bit of the legwork.

But not having any official logo, I always thought of them as "Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws", because that's how it tends to work... the take-charge big hero guy gets first billing, followed by "and..." his diminutive, comic-relief buddy. That tends to make the joke much harder to recognize, too.

The older I get the more I think that publishers owning the intellectual properties of writers & artists is a bad idea.

Comic publishers in Japan don't have stables full of company-owned characters, and they seem to have done all right under that system for 70 years. The creators and their estates seem to be able to manage revivals, sequels, spinoffs, and reboots of past favorite comic characters all by themselves without the major comic publishers needing to own everything.

I really enjoyed the Time Traveller / Dredd mash up stories, not least that Edginton and Dizzy work really well together in a marvellous synergy.

I did feel sorry for old Sewell (Wells) though as time after time (ahem) his escape plans were thwarted by mean old Dreddy. I loved his facial expressions each time Dredd put the boot into a new futuristic version.

Maybe one day we shall see the return of him and he will get his opportunity to beat the system and tell Dredd tempus fugit...

...but then there's more chance we will see the resumption of Stickleback/ Holmes malarky than that happening ey?

Stickleback looks REALLY interesting and I can't believe that's all there is to the character, simply a sockpuppet for Holmes. If Stickleback were to (be allowed to) return, then a revelation that all is not as it appeared would be prerequisite... otherwise, it's just a Holmes story in mufti. What if "Holmes" turned out to be Sewell? Or one of them, anyway...

I checked out D'Israeli's art on the link to his blog you provided, and it looks really different in Stickleback, compared to Scarlet Traces. It almost looks a little influenced by artists like Richard Sala and Peter Kuper (which is a very good thing).

I guess the real question would be whether the apparent reveal/ending of the series has poisoned the well as far as the potential audience is concerned.

To be technically accurate... I just can't believe that a battle droid would strike up a friendship with a sewer droid. The whole thing's a bit far-fetched if you ask me.

Mills addressed that, though. In the original Ro-Busters, they seemed like a bickering odd couple, but then in the later Return Trilogy [spoiler]we learned some things about Hammerstein that explain why he wasn't acting like his usual sober warbot self, and even got a rationale explaining Ro-Jaws' "faulty obedience and courtesy circuits".[/spoiler] In other words, Ro-Jaws is not a typical sewer droid any more than Hammerstein is a typical ABC Warrior, or even a typical Hammerstein Mk III warbot.

I have a harder time believing that a sewer droid and a warbot would have even the most minimal levels of musical song-and-dance routines programmed into them. 

I'm nearly 50 and only now thanks to the Forum do I get "Rogers & Hammerstein". Perhaps that's what happens when you grow up listening to The Clash and Joy Division...or I'm just a lot dimmer than I realize.

"Rogers" = "RO-Jaws" is a bit stretchy, even for a pun. Especially since to be technically accurate it's "RoDgers & Hammerstein"... which sounds even less alike. Although now that you mention it, now their song-and-dance duet on the stage at Greasy Gracie's does make make more sense in context.

I think its the Dredd in this Prog your thinking of

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=1390

If that's right all hail Barney, if not all hell to me.

That WAS the one. I blinked and missed it at first when the cover threw me off. I felt sure the Dredd story would be on the cover of that issue. In fact none of the 3 H.G. Sewell/Dredd stories was featured on a cover, which disappoints me a little.

[Tempus Fugitive]

Okay, I've found it now. Just the three stories, and quite spaced apart.

Tempus Fugitive 1 episode (Prog 1390) 6 pages
Script: Ian Edginton, Artist: D'Israeli, Colour: Len O'Grady, Letters: Tom Frame
Featuring: Judge Lola, Herbert George Sewell (H.G. Wells)

Time and Again 1 episode (Prog 1475) 6 pages
Script: Ian Edginton, Artist: D'Israeli, Colour: Chris Blythe, Letters: Tom Frame
Featuring: Herbert George Sewell (H.G. Wells)

Time's Squared 1 episode (Prog 1551) 6 pages
Script: Ian Edginton, Artist: D'Israeli, Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Featuring: Herbert George Sewell (H.G. Wells)

The link is to a reprint of Time Flies, which is nothing to do with Dredd or HGS.

I know that's what's featured on the cover, and presumably the first (and probably the longer) of the two stories reprinted.

I didn't know if they sometimes filled out those Extreme Edition reprints with some other thematically-related story (the second story is "Tempus Fugitive", which is a pretty obvious pun, so it was a long shot), just to make the page count add up correctly.

But of course since Edginton wasn't credited, I already suspected as much... it's just what showed up when I searched the 2000AD shop for "Tempus Fugitive". I'll have a look at Barney and try to find the title as a Judge Dredd story.

[EDIT]

I vaguely recall reading something about a Time Traveler (Wells' chronic argonaut) strip in 2000AD somewhere, not sure if that was IE.

You could be thinking of Dredd here.  Wells travels to future MC1 and gets locked up.  In a follow up multiple Wells' from different points in time try to off him IIRC with the usual results.

I might be getting those stories confused with Edginton's H.G. Seward stories... I got the impression it was implied (if not stated in so many words) that "Seward" and Wells were one and the same, although obviously from the sound of it, there are in fact two completely separate sets of stories, one by Edginton, and one not. I think it's the Edginton stories I'm looking for, though.

EDIT - Sorry, I meant "Sewell", not "Seward"... I guess the character from Stoker's Dracula must have popped into my head at that moment. Now that I think about it, "Sewell" is an anagram for Welles, not Wells, or maybe Edginton's intent was to have him as an amalgam of both?

I vaguely recall reading something about a Time Traveler (Wells' chronic argonaut) strip in 2000AD somewhere, not sure if that was IE.

You could be thinking of Dredd here.  Wells travels to future MC1 and gets locked up.  In a follow up multiple Wells' from different points in time try to off him IIRC with the usual results.

I might be getting those stories confused with Edginton's H.G. Seward stories... I got the impression it was implied (if not stated in so many words) that "Seward" and Wells were one and the same, although obviously from the sound of it, there are in fact two completely separate sets of stories, one by Edginton, and one not. I think it's the Edginton stories I'm looking for, though.

I vaguely recall reading something about a Time Traveler (Wells' chronic argonaut) strip in 2000AD somewhere, not sure if that was IE.

From D'Israeli's Blog:

"HG Sewell's pocket-watch shaped time machine from Ian Edginton's and my Tempus Fugitive stories in Judge Dredd (2004-2007). Sewell himself has made brief cameos in Stickleback as an inmate of Bedlam"

Some great details here:

http://disraeli-demon.blogspot.co.uk/



I miss Stickleback, it were great...

Yeah, H.G. Sewell, that rings a bell, I think that might be it. I don't think the Case Files have got that far yet, but... is it this? (Might be another story with the same title, though... no credit there for Ian Edginton.) Is it reprinted anywhere else?

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/DD19

[WEEK OF 05-24-17:JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS: THE APOCALYPSE WAR HC]

WEEK OF 05-24-17:
JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS: THE APOCALYPSE WAR HC - What a great classic, now all in colour!
THE ARCHIES #1 (one-shot)
GARTH ENNIS RED TEAM DOUBLE TAP #9 (of 9) - Great ending to a great series.
MICKEY MOUSE #329
POWERPUFF GIRLS: TIME TIE #1 (of 3)
SAVAGE DRAGON #224
DETECTIVE COMICS #957
WONDER WOMAN #23
X-MEN BLUE #4
WONDERLAND: BIRTH OF MADNESS #1 (one-shot)
THE GARDEN OF FLESH by Gilbert Hernandez HC
KAMANDI CHALLENGE #5 (of 12)
BATMAN/THE SHADOW #2 (of 6) -- I dunno... meh...
BATMAN '66 MEETS WONDER WOMAN 77 #5 (of 6) - Continues to be BIG big fun.
SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #26 (guest-starring Hong Kong Phooey)
BLACK HAMMER #9 - Jeff Lemire has really, really impressed me with this series. Nothing I've ever read of his has ever blown me away like this.
THE GREATEST ADVENTURE #2 (of 6)
DIE KITTY DIE: HOLLYWOOD OR BUST #3 (of 4) [digital] - Dan Parent is a trip! Doing his own thing, stuff that Archie Comics would never let him do.

A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE VOLGAN WAR HC VOL. 1
A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE VOLGAN WAR HC VOL. 2
A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE VOLGAN WAR HC VOL. 3
A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE VOLGAN WAR HC VOL. 4
A.B.C. WARRIORS: RETURN TO EARTH HC
A.B.C. WARRIORS: RETURN TO MARS HC
A.B.C. WARRIORS: RETURN TO RO-BUSTERS HC -- Mr. Mills has impressed the gosh-darned heck out of me with these. It SO holds everything together, and enhances every Mars (and Ro-Busters) story that went before it and re-contextualizes what we thought we knew about the characters! Why isn't THIS a movie franchise instead of something dopey like TRANSFORMERS? LOVE, love, love the artwork of Clint Langley. Yeah, the digital painting makes it look un-natural, but that's perfect for a series that's all about robots. It's probably exactly how things appear to them.

WORLD OF ARCHIE COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #68
SHAOLIN COWBOY: WHO'LL STOP THE REIGN #2 (of 4) - WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU READING THIS!?! It's pure genius!!
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA/ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #1-6 (of 6) - Has fun with Kurt Russell's movie personas!
STREET FIGHTER VS. DARKSTALKERS #1 (of 8)
JUGHEAD #9-14 (re-read)
KONG OF SKULL ISLAND #11 (of 12) - Can't believe there's only one issue left. It feels like there's tons of stuff to wrap up here.
ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #78 & 81


WEEK OF 05-30-17:
KILL OR BE KILLED #9 - I've ceased to be impressed. Not that the book has ceased to be excellent; far from it. It's just that Brubaker has been so 100% consistent with every single comic. He's just that good, and has been for years and years now.
THANOS #7 - Well, it's no Black Hammer, but for a Marvel comic it's pretty good.
DONALD DUCK #387
WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES #738
LOONEY TUNES #237
DC SUPER HERO GIRLS WONDER WOMAN DAY SPECIAL ED #1
WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #1
MAN-THING #4 (of 5)
CABLE #1
DOLLFACE #5
JUDGE DREDD: FUNKO UNIVERSE #1 (one-shot)
KISS FOREVER 48-PAGE SPECIAL (one-shot)
ALIENS: DEAD ORBIT #2 (of 4) - Enjoyable, but not blown away or anything.
LOBSTER JOHNSON: THE PIRATES GHOST #3 (of 3) - The ending left me baffled. What does it all mean?
DOC SAVAGE: THE RING OF FIRE #3 (of 4)
ANNO DRACULA #3 (of 5) - I love this. It may be the best thing Titan's ever done.
MICRONAUTS: WRATH OF KARZA #2 (of 5)
STAR TREK: WAYPOINT #5 (of 6)
TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE MOVIE ADAPTATION
CARTOONS MAGAZINE #9 - I guess they just started publishing this again, after a few decades. Fun retro-toons about kustom kulture and Rockabilly/Surf vibes; cartooning with a 'Rat Fink' sensibility. Probably for old dudes only.  Pretty cool.