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FFT - Quarter Final 3 - Strontium Dog vs Halo Jones

Started by Colin YNWA, 31 August, 2022, 06:02:54 AM

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norton canes


The Enigmatic Dr X

Lock up your spoons!

The Mind of Wolfie Smith


maryanddavid


paddykafka


Southstreeter

Strontium Dog. There's just so much of it of top quality that a 3 series thrill is never going to beat it. The only thing that can take it down is a high quality thrill that has run for many years.

Dark Jimbo

I think the highs of Halo top the highs of Stront - the trouble being there are so very many more for Stront. Sorry, Halo - bit if you have to go out, there's no shame in being beaten by the best - Strontium Dog takes it.
@jamesfeistdraws

IndigoPrime

There are several strips I'd happily vote for in favour of Strontium Dog, but Halo Jones isn't one of them. I always like it a lot on a re-read and it's a vitally important strip in several ways; but I don't love it these days. Perhaps it's like an album I've listened to too much, or one that impacted me years back but that no longer has the same clout.

Strontium Dog is a bit like that too, to be fair. As I noted elsewhere, I was surprised when going through it I the UC that I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The earlier stories were weaker than I expected, but the reboot stuff was a little better (bar Life and Death, which I still think was a misfire). So while Strontium Dog does get my vote here, it's not by much. While the strip is probably the tournament favourite, there's a good chance I won't be voting for it again.

Proudhuff

Tougher than Tough!

The Stront has given us so much, including national icon Middenface McNulty,  but Halo broke the mould of what was and is expected of a comic so its Halo Jones for me
DDT did a job on me

Funt Solo

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a great movie (perhaps even in the top ten of rom-coms), but The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is in the top five.

So: The Ballad of Halo Jones is the superior beast in this contest.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Colin YNWA

I find it fascinating that Halo Jones isn't putting up as good a fight against Strontium Dog as Kingdom is against Nemesis.

What I can't work out is that the quality of the favourite in the respective ties OR do folks think Kingdom is better than Halo Jones...

....hmmm...

The idea I've been tinkering with for a bonus round solidifies (and buys me more time!)

Magnetica

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 31 August, 2022, 08:15:34 PM
I find it fascinating that Halo Jones isn't putting up as good a fight against Strontium Dog as Kingdom is against Nemesis.

What I can't work out is that the quality of the favourite in the respective ties OR do folks think Kingdom is better than Halo Jones...

....hmmm...

The idea I've been tinkering with for a bonus round solidifies (and buys me more time!)

Aren't you meant to be watching the football right now, rather than posting on the 2000AD Forum?

Funt Solo

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 31 August, 2022, 08:15:34 PM
I find it fascinating that Halo Jones isn't putting up as good a fight against Strontium Dog as Kingdom is against Nemesis.

Strontium Dog just tips the scales way over - there's a lot of love for it. Halo is old school, Nemesis is old school, Kingdom is new school. SD is both schools. Everyone loves the work of Carlos Ezquerra. Everyone loves the work of John Wagner. SD has both, consistently, with just a few blips. Dabnett's well loved, but not to the same extent, because he doesn't have the extreme pedigree. Moore and Mills are both controversial figures. For everyone who thinks Moore is a comic's wizard of the highest order, there's someone else that just thinks he's a deluded mump. Mills generates his own controversy, and has somewhat made a career of flaying various Thargs with his vitriol.

Also: Strontium Dog is sometimes very good. Personally, I think it spent a lot of time just being okay - whereas Halo Jones did something special. If it was a vote on action storytelling - I'd vote SD. But SD falls down when it tries to get overly dramatic. See: The Moses Incident. And boy does it need some stronger editorial control. Ragnarok doesn't need 21 episodes, and neither does Rage. Even if you disagree, you *know* that Bitch doesn't need 25. Tharg's on vacation here.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Magnetica on 31 August, 2022, 08:24:40 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 31 August, 2022, 08:15:34 PM
I find it fascinating that Halo Jones isn't putting up as good a fight against Strontium Dog as Kingdom is against Nemesis.

What I can't work out is that the quality of the favourite in the respective ties OR do folks think Kingdom is better than Halo Jones...

....hmmm...

The idea I've been tinkering with for a bonus round solidifies (and buys me more time!)

Aren't you meant to be watching the football right now, rather than posting on the 2000AD Forum?

RADDDDDIIOOOOOOOOOOO - come on you RED MEN (fingers crossed no VAR....)

Magnetica

Quote from: Funt Solo on 31 August, 2022, 09:01:57 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 31 August, 2022, 08:15:34 PM
I find it fascinating that Halo Jones isn't putting up as good a fight against Strontium Dog as Kingdom is against Nemesis.

Strontium Dog just tips the scales way over - there's a lot of love for it. Halo is old school, Nemesis is old school, Kingdom is new school. SD is both schools. Everyone loves the work of Carlos Ezquerra. Everyone loves the work of John Wagner. SD has both, consistently, with just a few blips. Dabnett's well loved, but not to the same extent, because he doesn't have the extreme pedigree. Moore and Mills are both controversial figures. For everyone who thinks Moore is a comic's wizard of the highest order, there's someone else that just thinks he's a deluded mump. Mills generates his own controversy, and has somewhat made a career of flaying various Thargs with his vitriol.

Also: Strontium Dog is sometimes very good. Personally, I think it spent a lot of time just being okay - whereas Halo Jones did something special. If it was a vote on action storytelling - I'd vote SD. But SD falls down when it tries to get overly dramatic. See: The Moses Incident. And boy does it need some stronger editorial control. Ragnarok doesn't need 21 episodes, and neither does Rage. Even if you disagree, you *know* that Bitch doesn't need 25. Tharg's on vacation here.

Excellent analysis.

For me the weakest Strontium Dog stories are the epics; I think you have hit the nail on the head it's when they drag on too long. But it's all relative....they are still in the top bracket of 2000AD stories.

As for Dan Abnett - he's putting up the strongest showing of any writer in this tourney with 3 strips still standing and is guaranteed at least one semi-finalist. For me he is pushing Wagner as the best ever 2000AD writer. But as good as his strips are, I'd still put Dredd (hmmm any one remember that one? ) and Stront ahead of his best.