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Name That Story!

Started by NapalmKev, 09 September, 2017, 08:38:35 PM

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NapalmKev

Shout out to the Hivemind - Can anyone name this 2000ad story I have vague memories of?

It features people fighting in front of an audience and tiles on the ground that activate different traps. The only exchange of dialogue I remember is - "Where did you learn to fight?", answer "My Grandmother!"

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
"Where once you fought to stop the trap from closing...Now you lay the bait!"

Lobo Baggins

Sounds like Mean Arena (version 2) from prog 852 to 863 by Alan McKenzie and Anthony Williams.
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

Frank

Quote from: Lobo Baggins on 10 September, 2017, 12:05:55 PM
Sounds like Mean Arena (version 2) from prog 852 to 863 by Alan McKenzie and Anthony Williams.

... although the coloured tiles and the dialogue feature in different scenes. I just read the strip for the first time since 1993; it's exactly as I remember.

Like the Coldcut records McKenzie raved about under the guise of Roxilla, it's constructed entirely from the detritus of pop culture. Like the ITV gameshow Gladiators, it's safe to say McKenzie Arena wouldn't exist without The Running Man.

There's the Anglo centric totalitarianism of V For Vendetta, Kareem Abdul Jabbar from Game Of Death, and the gang dynamics of any prison movie you've ever seen. There are also (mild) racist and sexist elements previously unseen in Mac-2's work.

It regurgitates action films you've seen a hundred times, adds offensive language for a laugh, and the whole thing amounts to no more than an extended fight scene? Alan McKenzie may be the only writer ever influenced by Mark Millar's 2000ad work.



Heath C Ackley

Funnily enough I've set a little challenge for you meisters of Twoothy over on the writing comp:

https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=44707.0;topicseen
"Give a man a mask and he will give you the truth."

Lobo Baggins

Quote from: Heath C Ackley on 10 September, 2017, 10:00:34 PM
Funnily enough I've set a little challenge for you meisters of Twoothy over on the writing comp:

https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=44707.0;topicseen

Erm... Ro-Jaws Robo-Tale The Volunteer from the 1982 2000 AD Annual...?
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

Heath C Ackley

You're heading in the right direction Monsieur Baggins but not far enough back into the mists of time...(Sorry Napalm I didn't mean to Jack your thread, man!)
"Give a man a mask and he will give you the truth."

NapalmKev

Quote from: Heath C Ackley on 11 September, 2017, 04:34:45 PM

(Sorry Napalm I didn't mean to Jack your thread, man!)


No worries at all, Heath. And thanks to Lobo Baggins for the info.

Cheers
"Where once you fought to stop the trap from closing...Now you lay the bait!"

sheridan

For some reason the guesses on that story are on this thread instead of the short story competition thread, so I'll pitch in - can't remember the name, but it's a text story.  I'm thinking it might have early McCarthy artwork on the spot illustrations...

Lobo Baggins

Quote from: sheridan on 13 September, 2017, 12:44:05 AM
For some reason the guesses on that story are on this thread instead of the short story competition thread, so I'll pitch in - can't remember the name, but it's a text story.  I'm thinking it might have early McCarthy artwork on the spot illustrations...

Oh, 'Bang, bang, said the Green Cheese Man!' from the 1981 Annual...?

I admit that I haven't actually ever got all the way through that one...
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

Heath C Ackley

Sorry guys it wasn't a text story and it didn't feature the 'Green Cheese Man.'

I'll continue this little challenge over on the writing comp thread...
"Give a man a mask and he will give you the truth."