Pat Mills

[Bluearmada]

Ok, apologies if the swear word was not acceptable - I didn't realise. I assume my question can still be asked though?

Pat is the granddaddy of 2000ad, there would be no prog without him. However, his stories lately have been severely lacking in coherence and storytelling.

I'm not the only one that feels this way. So the question is - Would the prog be better without his input?

[Pyroxian]

I'm still enjoying Savage and ABC Warriors, and loving the gradual merge of the two worlds.

Defoe not so much a fan of.

[Richard]

I liked the last Greysuit, and so I'm looking forward to the next one. And I've also enjoyed the increasing overlap between Savage and ABC / Robusters recently.

Yes, quality can vary sometimes, but it does strike me as a bit of a harsh question tbh.

[dweezil2]

I'm a big fan of Mills' output.
Eagerly awaiting more Greysuit and I'm equally satisfied with Defoe, Savage and ABC Warriors.

Slaine has rather meandered of late, but that's still not a bad batting average!

[Woolly]

Pat Mills writing has an energy and sense of endless enthusiasm that most other writers can only dream of.
Yes, his output is divisive. That doesn't make his work bad!
I'm no fan of Defoe for example, but I can still see the quality in the work. As can many others who praise it as Pat Mills' return-to-form strip. Slaine also has lost my interest recently, but I still wouldn't consider it bad comics.

On the other hand, most people appeared to hate American Reaper in the Meg. Whilst I wasn't a fan of it's presentation, I eventually found myself reading this before Dredd. I would now class myself as a 'fan' of AP, and look forward to it's possible return.

Guess what I'm trying to say is: the Prog would be far worse off without Pat Mills' contributions, even the ones you might not personally like.

[Mardroid]

Yes, I see a lot to like in Pat Mills's work.

I largely like:

Savage
The ABC Warriors
Slaine... (The older stuff*)
American Reaper. Yes... I liked this. A really good concept and nice art. (The panels take up too much of the page meaning the story moves at a slow pace in a monthly magazine, but I can see it working as a collection.)

I'm not so keen on (but don't hate):
Greysuit
Flesh - Actually this has it's moments.
Slaine - the Really new stuff.

So that's over half I like. THat's mainly sticking to the stuff that's is still or relatively recently going on.

Maybe I should have included Ro-Busters in the 'like' section as we've kind of returned to that, in the latter ABC Warriors stories.

*I'm mainly referring to The Horned God here, as I haven't read all that much older Slaine stuff.

[Smith]

I have this odd feeling that somebody created a sockpuppet.Nah,that would be crazy.

[Dark Jimbo]

Ok, apologies if the swear word was not acceptable - I didn't realise. I assume my question can still be asked though?

Just a question of being respectful and treading that fine line between criticism of a body of work and a personal attack. Creators are real people (well, droids) and several of them peruse the boards on occasion.

[Darren Stephens]

I still greatly enjoy the majority of Mr Mills output. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean others feel the same. Besides that, to start a thread specifically to diss a veteran droid is not on, really.

[NapalmKev]

I'm a big fun of Unky Pat's work, to be quite honest. And that includes American Reaper! The only thing I would say is that I preferred Finn to Slaine.

Cheers

[IndigoPrime]

Just a question of being respectful and treading that fine line between criticism of a body of work and a personal attack. Creators are real people (well, droids) and several of them peruse the boards on occasion.

This. We've had several creators leave these boards due to people here being very rude and disrespectful. Generally, this board is a pleasant place, and we have some pretty light-touch moderation. But there are rules, and not insulting creators is one of them. (That's not to say one cannot criticise – preferably constructively; just don't steam on in with "Isn't [creator] up their own arse?", for example.)

[Goaty]

This. We've had several creators leave these boards due to people here being very rude and disrespectful. Generally, this board is a pleasant place, and we have some pretty light-touch moderation. But there are rules, and not insulting creators is one of them. (That's not to say one cannot criticise – preferably constructively; just don't steam on in with "Isn't [creator] up their own arse?", for example.)

Oh I didn't know that? Sadly that happens

[Steven Denton]

Polarizing Pat Mills has fans and detractors in about equal measure. Although his philosophy became more esoteric in the late 80's/early 90's his observational political polemic has been a feature of his work since at lest the 1970's. It could be argued that he needs a firm editorial hand, but sugesting he should be put out to pasture is going to gain no traction here. 

[Colin YNWA]

If there's one thing that makes 2000ad shine above all other comics is its ability to support different stories and exposing you to things you might not otherwise read. It engages you in things you might miss, good and bad and that diversity is so important. Pat Mills writes stories I love, writes stories I don't get on with, but I'm damned glad he writes them all.

To try to push a view that as you don't like someone (and others might share that view) they shouldn't be in the comic is short sighted... well okay even I can think of a few exceptions to that over the years, but Pat Mills, nah his contributions good and bad (in my mind) are absolutely central to what defines 2000ad.

[Richard]

If there's one thing that makes 2000ad shine above all other comics is its ability to support different stories and exposing you to things you might not otherwise read.

This is spot on. And Pat Mills's work is the best example of this in action.