In the original format, no resizing, no recolouring.
This is a huge hardback collection of tales of the Meknificent Seven from the start.
Classic artists include Dave Gibbons and Brett Ewins. I'm reviewing from a PDF but it certainly looks very good, if the paper stock is good quality it'll be a very nice book.
Review in the normal place. (http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/abc-warriors-mek-files-1-out-8th-may/)
Gonna be another month before I can aford to order this. Bah!
Any extras in this beyond the Meknificent Seven & Black Hole strips?
Good point I didn't list all the strips. I should have. I'm eating tea at the mo. Will edit the article for future views n pop the details straight in to this thread.
Lovely.
I've ordered this today.
Quote from: Bat King on 22 April, 2014, 01:53:49 AM
In the original format, no resizing
When you say 'no resizing', do you mean the book is basically the same height & width as an old school prog?
Yes, no resizing at all. This from the press release I received from the cLanky one:
Quote from: Molch-RStarting from the series' very beginning, these stories from the golden age
of British comics in the 1970s and '80s are presented in a stunning hardback
volume at the same over-size format as the they were first printed. It also
includes, for the first time, the original colour centre spreads - lovingly restored
and brought back to their full glory.
Similar to the IDW Judge Dredd Treasury Edition (http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/judge-dredd-treasury-edition-from-idw-spoiler-light/), though they decolourised the centre spreads, which was a soft cover and shorter and cheaper. I love the IDW Treasury, picked it up for £6.99 at OK Comics. Well worth it.
Surely there must be some resizing as the earliest ABC would have been in the old pre-500 'square' prog size and the Black Hole came at the start of the modern 'envelope' shape? (Around prog 520 on if memory serves).
Well the pages look pretty much right to me... but I am reviewing from pdf as I say. (that's what previews always are of course).
Molch-R says 'over-size format as the they were first printed' and that's what it looks like. Till the physical proves me right or wrong we won't know I guess.
Keep us posted BK, I'm fairly curious about the printed format myself.
Quote from: BPP on 25 April, 2014, 12:43:20 AM
Surely there must be some resizing as the earliest ABC would have been in the old pre-500 'square' prog size and the Black Hole came at the start of the modern 'envelope' shape? (Around prog 520 on if memory serves)
Prog 555, so well after The Narrowing. I honestly hadn't considered that until now.
I meant the shape change was around prog 520 - the 500th issue was the great grid sketches by all the big name artists (and robin smith (!)) then the 10th Ann was the change-over white the John Higgens 'space station cake' oddness.
I remember at the time wishing they'd kept the old size but gone with the slick paper quality on the cover that 500 had.
Quote from: BPP on 25 April, 2014, 11:39:50 PM
I remember at the time wishing they'd kept the old size but gone with the slick paper quality on the cover that 500 had
Yep. Those dimensions look fantastic and seem much better suited to the purposes of storytelling than the pinched-in pages of the US format. If I had to guess, I'd say it was because, when your eyes are scanning left-to-right, square or horizontal oblong images feel more natural and expansive than lots of tall, narrow panels crowded together. Here's hoping
The Mek Files are as
square as Hammerstein's head when McMahon draws him.
Well if you've seen the IDW Treasury Edition you'll see that on the outside it looks standard shape of modern comics. But inside it is printed in ORIGINAL dimensions - hence big white areas below each printed page. I'm thinking this was due to the printing machines... easy to scale up the standard dimension not so easy to alter the ratio of the paper (just a guess)
Size wise, it's the same size as the current prog (well the hardback cover is a little larger)
It looks great - the original colour spreads from the short run of good paper quality are great to see again - the other spreads feel a little pastelly, but that's just a matter of personal taste, and reflect the original printing.
A lovely collection overall.
I wish the artwork hadn't been cropped to remove the Next Prog boxes, though.
It's a pretty nice book for the reasons pointed out in previous posts.
My sole complaint, however, is that when there's word balloons or boxes in the centre of the colour spreads, well, um, good look reading what they say in some cases, or making out bits of the art fully. The pages are sewn like any other Rebellion book using glossy pages, so it does get better and for the most part, only a few are difficult to read (you can use your imagination obviously); but the gutter loss is there alas. Probably unavoidable in those most noticeable cases, but a shame nonetheless.
Otherwise, it's a well put together book, and pretty much as I hoped it'd be. Now let us all join hands and pray that, when the second arrives, we won't find that the spine doesn't match with the first for some inexplicable reason of sheer insanity.
Saw this book in the wild yesterday and had a flick through - bugger me, but it's gorgeous! Wasn't sure if I was going to take the plunge just for the colour spreads (this would be the fifth time I've bought
Meknificent Seven in some form) but my mind was made up the minute I held it in my hands. Everything's a winner, from those searing yellow endpapers with blown-up panels to the lovely cover collection at the back which even includes the map of Olympia from prog 129.
Also found this interview with Mills regarding this release - it's a short one, but he divulges lots of interesting facts about the Warrior's creation (and future) - http://www.comicbooknews.co.uk/article/431-Blog-abc-warriors-mek-files-01-pat-mills-interview.html
All I need now are matching Ro-Busters/Nemesis volumes to go along with these.
Quote from: J.Smith on 10 May, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Now let us all join hands and pray that, when the second arrives, we won't find that the spine doesn't match with the first for some inexplicable reason of sheer insanity.
Don't even joke about that!
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 May, 2014, 03:59:38 PM
Also found this interview with Mills regarding this release - it's a short one, but he divulges lots of interesting facts about the Warrior's creation (and future) - http://www.comicbooknews.co.uk/article/431-Blog-abc-warriors-mek-files-01-pat-mills-interview.html
Cheers, Jim-Bob! I'd always felt there was a parallel between Joe Pinapples and Joe Dredd (beyond the same forename) and now I know why. Bill
Savage,
Claw Carver, John
Probe ... I see what Mills did there. I believe the full name of Eve from
Third World War was Eve
Dictatorshipoftheproletariat.
Quote from: sauchie on 15 May, 2014, 06:20:11 PM
Cheers, Jim-Bob! I'd always felt there was a parallel between Joe Pinapples and Joe Dredd (beyond the same forename) and now I know why.
Women's lacy undercrackers beneath all the macho black leather?
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 May, 2014, 06:41:10 PM
Quote from: sauchie on 15 May, 2014, 06:20:11 PM
Cheers, Jim-Bob! I'd always felt there was a parallel between Joe Pinapples and Joe Dredd (beyond the same forename) and now I know why.
Women's lacy undercrackers beneath all the macho black leather?
Sometimes the tight boots just aren't enough.
I shouldn't read these threads when I'm quoting for jobs. I find myself dropping my rates further and further as I grow ever more desperate to get the work so I can buy some damn comic book. Then if I get the job, I feel remorse for not charging enough to make it worthwhile, never mind buying gorgeous ABC Warriors collections.
But I won't let that stop me. Oh no. Tender limbo, here we go...
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 May, 2014, 03:59:38 PM
Quote from: J.Smith on 10 May, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Now let us all join hands and pray that, when the second arrives, we won't find that the spine doesn't match with the first for some inexplicable reason of sheer insanity.
Don't even joke about that!
Ye gods, I may have jinxed it! The spines are a funny / aggravating thing. It's only something I noticed a few years ago when I became a more serious collector and bought loads of books, but I was delighted to find a whole thread on these forums about the damnable things when I re-subscribed a few months ago, knowing that I'm not the only person who got all his books in order and was taken aback by what he saw in the 2000AD section of his shelf.
Somewhat more on topic, I recently won several large lots of the comic's older days, and finding the Warriors earliest outings was a real treat to behold, particularly since the first appearance of them I came across going through one of the piles was in Prog 130, the cover of which was amazing to find because the first cover I saw of the characters shortly after I first started collecting the comic myself was Henry Flint's variant covers for Prog 1476, which I now realise was a take on this McMahon one. Bloody awesome.
Can't wait to get round to the Simon Bisley section of the book - some especially jaw dropping stuff there.
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 May, 2014, 07:27:03 PM
I shouldn't read these threads when I'm quoting for jobs. I find myself dropping my rates further and further as I grow ever more desperate to get the work so I can buy some damn comic book.
Only £16.75 from Forbidden planet, Tord! http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/abc-warriors-mek-files-volume-1-hardcover#.U3fjCSg1CVZ
Just got my copy through from FP this morning. It is beautiful!
I second Dark Jimbo's call to give Robusters and Nemesis the same treatment! Please do it for us Rebellion!
Anyway, must go now and spend some quality time reading this!
Is there going to be a US edition of this?
So far it looks like the only way I'll be able to get a copy is via Amazon.co.uk...
Likewise the Dante reissues...
Quote from: J.Smith on 15 May, 2014, 09:38:18 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 15 May, 2014, 03:59:38 PM
Quote from: J.Smith on 10 May, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Now let us all join hands and pray that, when the second arrives, we won't find that the spine doesn't match with the first for some inexplicable reason of sheer insanity.
Don't even joke about that!
Ye gods, I may have jinxed it! The spines are a funny / aggravating thing. It's only something I noticed a few years ago when I became a more serious collector and bought loads of books, but I was delighted to find a whole thread on these forums about the damnable things when I re-subscribed a few months ago, knowing that I'm not the only person who got all his books in order and was taken aback by what he saw in the 2000AD section of his shelf.
Somewhat more on topic, I recently won several large lots of the comic's older days, and finding the Warriors earliest outings was a real treat to behold, particularly since the first appearance of them I came across going through one of the piles was in Prog 130, the cover of which was amazing to find because the first cover I saw of the characters shortly after I first started collecting the comic myself was Henry Flint's variant covers for Prog 1476, which I now realise was a take on this McMahon one. Bloody awesome.
Can't wait to get round to the Simon Bisley section of the book - some especially jaw dropping stuff there.
This is without doubt my favourite ever artwork in 2000ad even to this day.
As much as I loved Bisleys later painted stuff on Slaine, plus the amazing work of Langley, Davis etc, this just redefined comic art for me, especially the detail evident in this black and white work.
I still possess the 2 original Titan GN's of The Black Hole story, but am very tempted by this release, just short of funds :(
I agree completely amines2058, I've got those Titan Books as well but the printing is a bit (uncharacteristically) dodgy for the Bisley art. There's too much black, to the point where some of the images are blurry. Thankfully this is not the case here. This edition is pure quality and I look forward to future editions as I haven't read any of the other stories! Roll on September for book 2!
Sad though that there are no plans to replicate this format for Nemesis - 2000AD confirmed this to me on Twitter this evening. :'(
Just read the Meknificent Seven, really good fun although I felt it ended a little abruptly.
Was very happy with how the situation with [spoiler]the Mess[/spoiler] worked out, very nice touch. Although other than that, I didn't quite see the point of the character, it barely featured.
I'm looking forward to rereading the Black Hole which I remember being grimmer and having a far darker tone. It will be an interesting contrast to see how much 2000AD grew up in a relatively short period of time.
Had a good look through this in the shop - flippin' gorgeous: I'd have no qualms about swapping out my existing Rebellion softbacks, which suddenly seem pokey and inferior. Even my Titans might have to go. If I can ever manage to rustle up 30-odd euro this has moved to the top of my want-list.
From my cheekily extended browse I thought McCarthy and SMS were the artists that got the biggest boost out of the shiny new printing, Bisley, McMahon and Ezquerra seemed to manage the smaller format better. SMS's intricate hatching in particular looked terrific.
I'm already scoping out a spot in the bookcase.
Quote from: The Bissler on 07 June, 2014, 07:56:03 PM
Just read the Meknificent Seven, really good fun although I felt it ended a little abruptly.
It does, but there's a reason for that. Meknificent Seven was supposed to be a two-hander between McMahon and O'Neill, Pat's prefered choices for the strip; increasingly annoyed by the artistic hodge-podge he actually got, he eventually just stopped writing it.
Quote from: The Bissler on 07 June, 2014, 07:56:03 PMWas very happy with how the situation with [spoiler]the Mess[/spoiler] worked out, very nice touch. Although other than that, I didn't quite see the point of the character, it barely featured.
Yeah... for all intents and purposes, they're really only six Warriors during that first adventure. A molten-metal 'robot' is a great example of a typically Pat Mills out-of-the-box idea, but he must have found fairly quickly that it doesn't offer too many story oppurtunities - epsecially when it doesn't even speak!
Ha! One could say he got himself in a bit of a "Mess" there!
...I'll get my coat.
That is a shame that it was abandoned after so much work though. A few more extra episodes might have saved that but I understand why he may have been frustrated. That said, I enjoyed all the work the artists put into it. Kevin O'Neil's painted panels were the best of the colour spreads though.
I just got this and am reading it now. As has already been pointed out, it looks marvellous.
I am finding it odd reading it now as an adult though. I think that when I read it as a teenager I sympathised with the ABC warriors and Hammerstein in particular but now I find myself of the same mind as all the humans who dismiss them as merely worthless robots.
The way the humans treat the robots used to seem terrible (e.g. the way that the generals behave when overseeing the fighting at the beginning, the feeble war memorial for the robots) but my lack of sympathy now makes me think I am not getting the same kick out of the strip I once did.
I still am enjoying it though, don't get me wrong, just wondered if anyone else is now less sympathetic to the plight of these war machines than they previously were.