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Space Spinner 2000AD

Started by Steve Green, 19 April, 2017, 09:18:18 AM

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sheridan

Quote from: Dandontdare on 26 February, 2018, 07:50:13 PM
Otto Sump's "very very tasty" jingle would have been instantly recognisable from this ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92r9H_6B2kI (coincidentally, the waiter on the right went on to star in a hugely popular sitcom set in nazi-occupied France, whose very British humour was based almost entirely on comedy stereotypes of foreigners such as you'll see in Robohnter, but with more smutty innuendo).


'Allo 'Allo was based on national stereotypes, but in a fairly gentle way (kinda) - all the Brits are clueless toffs, the French get some variety while the Nazis are pretty sympathetically portrayed, apart from one of the generals and a Gestapo agent.  Difficult to describe our cultural artefacts sometimes...

Steve Green

Yeah, the Asian stereotype in the UK at least lasted well into the late 90s and beyond.

Clive James had a series on UK TV which showed TV around the world, including a Japanese game show called Endurance.

There was a UK version which had two 'Japanese' sidekicks played called Hoki and Koki played by white guys - this was 1998.



And then there's Ting Tong the mail order Thai Bride in Little Britain (mid 2000s).

http://littlebritain.wikia.com/wiki/Dudley_and_Ting_Tong

SpaceSpinner2000

Quote from: sheridan on 26 February, 2018, 08:51:29 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 26 February, 2018, 07:50:13 PM
Otto Sump's "very very tasty" jingle would have been instantly recognisable from this ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92r9H_6B2kI (coincidentally, the waiter on the right went on to star in a hugely popular sitcom set in nazi-occupied France, whose very British humour was based almost entirely on comedy stereotypes of foreigners such as you'll see in Robohnter, but with more smutty innuendo).

I've been reading some Actions and I've Hellman of Hammer/Africa Corps to be an interesting example of that, like fighting the Allies is just a job, and his real enemies are the Nazi brass.
'Allo 'Allo was based on national stereotypes, but in a fairly gentle way (kinda) - all the Brits are clueless toffs, the French get some variety while the Nazis are pretty sympathetically portrayed, apart from one of the generals and a Gestapo agent.  Difficult to describe our cultural artefacts sometimes...
2000 AD recap podcast, from the beginning!
Check out the show here! Or on iTunes, Google Play, or your preferred podcast app!

FoxIsntARobot

Just to put my hat in some of this, I have discomfort reading the stuff in the same way I felt when my grandfather used to ask how my oriental friends are doing. I just feel it's a bit gauche. Still, I think Conrad's response was best: it was more the times than anything. Certainly hasn't hurt my enthusiasm however, as I'm sure people can tell.


WhizzBang

Quote from: FoxIsntARobot on 01 March, 2018, 11:19:29 PM
Just to put my hat in some of this, I have discomfort reading the stuff in the same way I felt when my grandfather used to ask how my oriental friends are doing. I just feel it's a bit gauche. Still, I think Conrad's response was best: it was more the times than anything. Certainly hasn't hurt my enthusiasm however, as I'm sure people can tell.

Very glad to hear it and I think you are right in saying Conrad's response was best.

Speaking of your enthusiasm, I wonder how/if you guys will get through the later period when the thrill ratio takes a tumble in later years (creators lured to the lucrative US market, internal company issues, various other reasons). I haven't seen most of that stuff myself and so I will get to it as you do, but if it is any consolation I can say that 2016 was a bit of a golden year for 2000AD, and 2017 was good too so the comic is far from dead.

2000AD is more than just a nostalgia thing for me as what they are doing today is exciting and you just don't know what is coming next. It might be something you really want (Strontium Dog) or something you didn't know you wanted (The Fall Of Deadworld) or something completely different (Brink, The Order, Absolem, Ampney Crucis, many others).

I never see anything in it today that is actually bad (unlike Mean Arena, Wolfie Smith, Inferno, etc) but sometimes strips are too involved in their own continuity for me to follow if they started before I re-started reading. The Judge Dredd Megazine (a sister title to 2000AD) includes a supplement of re-prints which can help with this.

Steve Green

I liked Inferno but that could just be my Belardinelli-tinted spectacles - Mean Arena was fun but frustrating (and the less said about the ending the better)

I guess it did feel a bit of a throwback to the first year of 2000 AD, when compared to Dredd, Stront, Nemesis and the rest.

FoxIsntARobot

Quote from: WhizzBang on 02 March, 2018, 04:13:48 PM
Quote from: FoxIsntARobot on 01 March, 2018, 11:19:29 PM
Just to put my hat in some of this, I have discomfort reading the stuff in the same way I felt when my grandfather used to ask how my oriental friends are doing. I just feel it's a bit gauche. Still, I think Conrad's response was best: it was more the times than anything. Certainly hasn't hurt my enthusiasm however, as I'm sure people can tell.

Very glad to hear it and I think you are right in saying Conrad's response was best.

Speaking of your enthusiasm, I wonder how/if you guys will get through the later period when the thrill ratio takes a tumble in later years (creators lured to the lucrative US market, internal company issues, various other reasons). I haven't seen most of that stuff myself and so I will get to it as you do, but if it is any consolation I can say that 2016 was a bit of a golden year for 2000AD, and 2017 was good too so the comic is far from dead.

2000AD is more than just a nostalgia thing for me as what they are doing today is exciting and you just don't know what is coming next. It might be something you really want (Strontium Dog) or something you didn't know you wanted (The Fall Of Deadworld) or something completely different (Brink, The Order, Absolem, Ampney Crucis, many others).

I never see anything in it today that is actually bad (unlike Mean Arena, Wolfie Smith, Inferno, etc) but sometimes strips are too involved in their own continuity for me to follow if they started before I re-started reading. The Judge Dredd Megazine (a sister title to 2000AD) includes a supplement of re-prints which can help with this.

Neither of us have really lost any enthusiasm, and I don't think that's going to stop even in down turn years. What I enjoy about 2000ad over US Comics (and again, I'm not a really huge comic person) is that it's anthology. Nothing overstays a welcome each issue, and if something is real bad (I see you, Death Planet) it's quickly removed. The thing I dislike the most about the old comics I used to read in the US was that if I DID like something but a majority of people didn't buy the issues...it just died without an end. At least 2000 AD tries to tie things up into a bow.

Quote from: Steve Green on 02 March, 2018, 04:45:32 PM
I liked Inferno but that could just be my Belardinelli-tinted spectacles - Mean Arena was fun but frustrating (and the less said about the ending the better)

I guess it did feel a bit of a throwback to the first year of 2000 AD, when compared to Dredd, Stront, Nemesis and the rest.

I loved Inferno. Loved it.

That said, I have a special place in my heart for Wolfie Smith, Mean Arena, and Return to Armageddon. It's like the comics that could have been. I like supernatural whatever, and Wolfie Smith COULD have been that. It just didn't sit well, and it's second coming was whoabad.

Mean Arena, I grew to love it's weird appendage of murder. I almost feel it would have been a better comic had Matt Talon been an antagonist; it could have been the reverse of a Harlem Heroes, where you're kind of rooting for the murderer as opposed to the good guys.

Steve Green

As a massive fan of Artie Gruber, I like that idea.

I don't think I've read Wolfie Smith since it first appeared, but it always felt that it was one of those unloved strips from Tornado.

I wonder if there was an official policy that they had to run a merged strip for x number of episodes before they could axe it?

SpaceSpinner2000

The way Tornado merger really shows that some comics merge better than others, especially when you compare it to Starlord. The Starlord merger brought us two backbone 2000AD stories, Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters, which easily fit in to the lineup, and we even had Starlord himself showing up and doing things in the Progs. Meanwhile both of the Tornado imports had to be heavily changed when they arrived, Blackhawk moving to space gladiators, Woflie Smith aging up and becoming a Fugitive/Incredible Hulk style wanderer, and Big E and his gang just on one cover of the merger issue, and then disappeared completely! Honestly I don't think Wolfie translated as well into a more Sci-Fi setting, plus I think in general Tom Tully (who wrote Wolfie) is from a different era of British comics, and it shows when you compare his work to others.

To me Mean Arena feels like Tully taking one last attempt at writing in a more "modern" or 2000AD writing style and he can't quite seem to cut it. As I've said on the show, for me the big problem with Mean Arena was just a lack of follow through on different concepts. If you're gonna hound your revenge targets and kill them ironically, let's do that! If we're gonna meet and have ridiculous side stories for all the team members let's do that! If there's gonna be this thing about hidden robots passing as humans, let's really check that out! Instead there's all these interesting plot threads left on the table, and frankly it's a shame.
2000 AD recap podcast, from the beginning!
Check out the show here! Or on iTunes, Google Play, or your preferred podcast app!

Steve Green

Totally agree, it's so odd that Mean Arena picks up and drops so many threads which could be interesting.

Mind you, Mean Team doesn't fare much better, kind of becomes a Blackhawk part 2 with that split personality.

Echidna

I've been praying for Mean Arena to end, but now that it's over I find myself wishing they'd given it a few more episodes to wrap up properly (then again, a whole match set inside that video game stadium would probably be unbearable). At least it wasn't as rushed as Inferno's last episode or Return of the Mean Team, which I described in another thread as "a dumb story with a fuck-you ending".

Leigh S

I want to read the Foxisntarobot version of Mean Arena!  Mean arena could ahve had an insanely good ending if they'd have gone for Matt Tallon as rogue droid/deluded psycho/both ending.

That said, I think a number of snotty little British boys would have been put out by 'avin' their 'ero turn out to be a bad 'un.. possibly a little too early in the progs maturing to get away with that, even in the hands of a Wagner, Mills or Moore....

The Monarch

you jerks putting off the death of the wobot for an annual  :lol:

SpaceSpinner2000



In our thrilling eighty-seventh episode Fox and Conrad continue their journey through the Galaxy's Greatest Comic with the 1983 2000 AD Annual (Annuals are dated by the following year). This annual features classic MACH One, Invasion, and Judge Dredd stories, as well as the first five episodes of Harlem Heroes. We'll also ride out with Johnny Alpha, Ro-Busters, Rogue Trooper, Tharg the Mighty, and a super awesome appearance by Nemesis the Warlock! Also this episode has twenty-two different thrills and Conrad almost died announcing them all!

Direct Download
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Google
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Or on your favorite podcast app!

Please let me know what you think of the episode!
2000 AD recap podcast, from the beginning!
Check out the show here! Or on iTunes, Google Play, or your preferred podcast app!

Colin YNWA

Another fantastic episode chaps, as ever. And one that I feel I can add some context for you with. See the 'YNWA' at the end of my forum name actually stands for 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in reference to my once great passion for Liverpool Football Club for which the song is an anthem (along with Celtic in Scotland).

So the song actually has American origins being a Rodgers and Hammerstein song from the movie 'Carousel' - hence its appearance in Ro-Busters is a double whammy referencing both Ro-jaws and Hammerstein's naming inspiration and the fact that Northpool clearly references the docks of Liverpool.

Anyway it was adopted by LFC after Gerry and the Pacemakers covered it in 1963 and is sung at the start of every LFC game. At the time you are currently reviewing Progs Liverpool were completely dominant in English football and probably (I do have some biase) the biggest and best team in Europe winning 4 European Cups (before the 'Champions' League) between 1977 and 1983.

If you want to know how to sing it (and I'll cut this down as obivously there's WAY more than you need to know here).

Walk on through the wind [soft]
Walk on through the rain [soft]
Though your dreams be tossed and blowwWwN [soft]

Walk on walk on [building] with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone [cresendo]

You'll never walk alone [basically shouting by now]

Walk on walk on [softer again] with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone

There see - loads of useless context but I felt I should share!