Main Menu

The completely self absorbed 2000ad re-read thread

Started by Colin YNWA, 22 May, 2016, 02:30:29 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Hawkmumbler

And this is it for Flesh for awhile, right? Flicking through my new copy of Dino Files I see a few annual strips which I presume you won't be covering before jumping straight into the modern McKay stuff (which I seem to be a lone fan of). I know Shammana and Chronocide did get floppies eventually, which I own, but I do hope these get collected in another Dino Files anyway because I think they're kinda good.

Angel...i'm not familiar with, probably for the better. Did it ever see a reprint?

Fungus

Angel. I vaguely remember the title alone, but nothing else.

Puts Tharg's embarrassment of riches these days into context. No quick filling of pages now (it seems), plenty of droids eager to get published who need to wait in line. That's the perception anyway, from this spotty reader at least.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 15 August, 2016, 01:36:07 PM
And this is it for Flesh for awhile, right? Flicking through my new copy of Dino Files I see a few annual strips which I presume you won't be covering before jumping straight into the modern McKay stuff (which I seem to be a lone fan of). I know Shammana and Chronocide did get floppies eventually, which I own, but I do hope these get collected in another Dino Files anyway because I think they're kinda good.

Angel...i'm not familiar with, probably for the better. Did it ever see a reprint?

Oh interesting isn't the McKay stuff in the new printing? The copy I got (the one before this) had the first McKay story in it - and your not the only fan I really enjoyed it.

Shammana is rubbish fun and Chronocide is criminally short and was pretty good I thought. I'm thinking Angel was a filler in an Extreme or Floppie... hold on...yeah Meg 321 it would seem.

Quote from: Fungus on 15 August, 2016, 03:30:58 PM
Angel. I vaguely remember the title alone, but nothing else.

Puts Tharg's embarrassment of riches these days into context. No quick filling of pages now (it seems), plenty of droids eager to get published who need to wait in line. That's the perception anyway, from this spotty reader at least.

Yeah hard to argue. Many stories were poorly served by the old school factory method of churning the story out until it flagged in popularity and is then wrapped up quickly to slot in whatevers in the wings. Makes decent endings few and far between.

Hawkmumbler

McKays first run, Texas, is in this book. The page count is why I reckon now is a good time for a vol 2, with Shamana (Book 1 and 2) and Chronocide, with 3000AD thrown in for good measure! Some nice Critchlow art on that story.

Magnetica

You know Colin you are absolutely spot on about Angel. In my post above about early stuff I have read for the first time in the last year or so I completely forgot about Angel.

It is comfortably worse than Death Planet or Colony Earth in my opinion, but was so bland that I just totally forgot it.

To further prove your point there are definitely series I actively dislike more.


Revere for one.

Dandontdare

Angel didn't make a lick of sense - I recall a scene where he falls from a building to almost certain death but the flight-computer melted onto his shoulder ('cos yeah, that'd work) ) allows him to flip over in mid-air and LAND SAFELY ON HIS FEET without shattering his leg bones to splinters.

I can't recall a single other thing about the plot or story.

sheridan

I'd mostly forgotten about Angel.  It seems to be a bit like M.A.C.H. 1, but it just happened by accident and makes even less sense, logically, than Probe did.

Colin YNWA

A Great start to the 2nd Century AD

Well it would seem I shot my dip bolt a little prematurely. A good few wonderful things happen after Prog 100. So okay Dan Dare returns to what I recall is its weakest run, which I have to admit gets off to a pretty good start, starts to lose itself and by 111 the cosmic claw appears... I'm not holding out hope. Mind Robo-Hunter is also back for the early 100s and is great. As is Strontium Dog in Journey into Hell, which arrives only a few Progs later. Ro-Busters really hits its stride as it breaks free of its formula and runs beautifully wild in Fall & Rise (which is very interesting to read again after the recent re-telling).

Its Dredd that absolutely shines though. Amongst all these jewels, and it is a really rich spell, the end of The Day the Law Died (in Prog 108) is great, not Cursed Earth great but still a superb story. Whats really exciting though is on its conclusion we get something starting that I think will be really significant. For well over a year now, in fact since Prog 42, so well over half the lifetime of the Prog we've not been in Mega City One as we know it. First Luna 1, then Cursed Earth and finally Cal's lunatic take on the City for so long Dredd has been estranged from the centre of his strip the streets and high rises of Mega City One. Because of that, however good the strip has been, certianly for those first two Mega Epics, its been strangely detached from what we know the strip as. Dredd has been playing different roles in different environments (even if one was Mega City One).

In  110, after missing 109 a point I will return to, I was really excited therefore to read 'Punks Rule' the archetype introducing Dredd to a new reader strip. Its a needed to as many readers won't have read much of whats to come for a good long run now (as I recall) Dredd on the streets exploring and busting up the crazy life of the cities citizens and punks. I think we get a years worth now (until Judge Child?) of short stories that will finally see Dredd fully formed and in 'normal' operation. A series of stories that will define 'typical' Dredd until Wagner starts to explore politics and the Democrary storyline changes the strip forever. Really looking to see if I'm right in this.

Oh and in Prog 109, not Dredd, but to be honest I barely noticed as we had one of those rarest of things up to this point a fantastic Future Shock. Most to date have been throw away and pretty weak 'Sacrifice' by Alan Hebden and Mike White is fantastic, a 7 page grim piece of delight. Simple, yet fantastically executed. What a short and wonderful surprise.

Colin YNWA

New logo

So the first new logo for 2000ad comes along with Prog 119 and with it some nerves on my part. Rick Random has already been stinking up the Prog which aside from the continuing trudergy of Dan Dare getting less and less interesting as it goes on the Prog has been on fine form. Ro-Busters last 'epic' story is great and everything else has been great. Particularly Dredd which really is in a golden period of wonderful short stories (I always forget how early in the Prog's history Vienna appeared). So when Invasion prologue Disaster 1990 and Project Overload join in 119 along with a less than fondly remembered logo, I was a little worried we'd only have Dredd and the ABC Warriors to entertain. Well almost.

While Disaster 1990 might as well have been called Disaster 1979, Project Overload, a story I remember little of even though its only a few years since I read it, is great fun, at least at the start. It sets up a nice mystery and with great art has great fun as it unravels its secrets. Okay plot holes a plenty but I quickly got past that. So yeah we've still had a bit of a dip things aren't as bad as I feared and 1979's highs by Prog 123, about half way through by far out weigh any problems.

Andy B

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 21 August, 2016, 09:45:16 PM
I think we get a years worth now (until Judge Child?) of short stories that will finally see Dredd fully formed and in 'normal' operation.

Absolutely this - the essence of Dredd isn't in the epics, it's in the short stories, and this period is when that formula really came together. Plus, McMahon, Bolland and Smith on rotation: wonderful stuff. I often see Case Files 5 recommended as a good entry point for new readers, but there's a strong case for vol 3. Damn it: I'm going to go read it right now!

I've got fond memories of this period. I got hooked from Prog 160, and then spent a couple of years scouring second hand book stores, jumble sales in church halls, and boxes in the back of newsagents for back issues. So I read all these stories in a totally random order, which somehow didn't matter at all. Made them even more intriguing.

I remember the extra buzz I got from finding a Prog with the quality paper, and a 'Journey into Hell' centre spread. (How about a hardback edition of that and the full-colour Starlord stuff?)

Great thread - look forward to reading more.

Colin YNWA

2000ad and Tornado

So while merging with Starlord saw an already improving Prog launched into new heights it would seem that absorbing Tornados ejaculate will see a weaking Prog get itself into a bit of a sticky mess. I mean we're okay, Dredd and ABC Warriors are still on absolute fire and we have seen the last (I think) of the ever diminishing Dan Dare but other signs are more worrying, if my shoddy memory is to be trusted.

I'm not a big fan of Blackhawk in the Prog, though it starts off okay and as I recall Wolfie Smith takes some time to get going (two long weak stories?) but again early episodes are fine... so maybe I'm going to find myself pleasently surprised... I'm certainly surprised that Disaster 1979 is still in the Galaxies Greatest. I mean it is bloody awful and I don't remember it lasting that long at all... I've avoided Barney not wanting to spoil myself as to when it does, but 3 progs into the merger and its still seems to be going stro... well it's still going.

Which is a shame when you consider that given time to build on its intitual msyteries Project OverKill could have bloomed into a great thrill. As it is Redondo's glorious art aside it's short lifespan contributed to it not living up to its early promise. Still I like to image a world where Tharg, whose day I've just joyously shared, saw its potential and ran with it rather than poorly realised Bill Savage pap. Oh well lets see how things develop.

sheridan

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 28 August, 2016, 09:16:06 PM
2000ad and Tornado
I mean we're okay, Dredd and ABC Warriors are still on absolute fire and we have seen the last (I think) of the ever diminishing Dan Dare but other signs are more worrying, if my shoddy memory is to be trusted.
On the run, trying to clear his name?  Yep, that's the last we see of him in the prog.
QuoteI'm not a big fan of Blackhawk in the Prog, though it starts off okay and as I recall Wolfie Smith takes some time to get going (two long weak stories?) but again early episodes are fine... so maybe I'm going to find myself pleasently surprised...
Blackhawk plays host to some fantastic artwork from Massimo, before Ace Trucking Co had come along.  I liked the Wendigo storyline, but can't recall what other stories Earnest had in the Galaxy's Greatest...

Magnetica

Prog 127 will always hold a special place in my heart, as it is the point at which my uninterrupted Prog reading started.

Regarding the stories over the weeks that followed, Dredd and ABC Warriors were just awesome - some of the best stuff ever in the Prog IMO.

I obviously must have liked the others at the time. I have re-read Blackhawk (TPB) and Disaster 1990 (floppies) recently.  I had never read the Tornado Blackhawk before and it is a very different beast to that in 2000 AD, which I think still holds up relatively well. It is helped massively by Belardnelli's art and the episodes he didn't draw stand out like a sore thumb.

I was surprised at how poor Disaster 1990 was - I definitely remember liking it at the time. On a re-read it comes across as very repetitive and cliched, full resolutions relying on conveniently placed items for Savage to use in that week's fight (a bit like Invasion before it really).

I have never re-read Wolfie Smith since, but remember thinking it was the weakest thing in the Prog at the time, both in terms of the story and the art.

I remember taking one of those Progs ( not sure if it was 130 or 132) to school when we were asking to bring something in we really liked to show our class mates and everyone being blown away by it. It felt like I had been reading 2000 AD for ages then but it was only my 4th (or 6th?) regular Prog,which just goes to show what an impression it made on me.

Fungus

Disaster 1990 is fine in my eyes.
Designed for weekly episodes read by children, it's great. Certainly not 'poor'.

Hawkmumbler

Well I read Disaster 1990 in the floppies and thought it dreadful.