Gosh!

[The Amstor Computer]

>>>Well I liked things like Glimmer Rats and Necronauts, but Raindogs was unreadable, and my opinion of Storming Heaven is above, and none-too complimentary<<<

Bleh - Glimmer Rats was fairly unimpressive. It felt like a generic future war story, read like a generic future war story, had generic future war story characters... The art was cluttered & noisy, and really didn't tell the story well at all.

Raindogs had some potential - a flooded city, cannibals swarming through downtown jungles & rooftop battles with psychotic airship-men... very cool. Unfortunately, the story Gordon Rennie decided to tell with this was dull & predictable.

Necronauts - the best of the bunch. Gorgeous art & an entertaining hook, topped off with a pretty good story. Again, huge potential as an ongoing series.

Storming Heaven. Superb art & an excellent what-if setup, fucked into a cocked hat by a story that didn't take the time to build up the characters or actually go anywhere interesting.

The pattern that emerges with Gordon Rennie's writing is a welter of wonderful, lunatic ideas that lack focus. He gives us LSD superheroes & demon-fighting escapologists, then pisses this away with weak stories.

[Rambo]

Glimmer Rats - The art was good if a little confused an murky at times, but that's hardly the fault of the writer. Sure, it was a generic future war story, but on with a bit of a twist - but isn't that what Rogue Trooper was?


Raindogs... I a cross between Mad Max 3 and Waterworld, only without the exciting bits... To be brutally honest, I only read the first 2 or 3 parts, then gave up. I haven't done that since Really and Truly...

Necronauts - great art (who says colour is better than black and white?), great story. Just great, really - something fresh and different.

Storming heaven - art powerful, but rather too psychadelic for my liking. Maybe it's just that I don't like pink! The story - um... it didn't really have one, did it?

[Rambo]

And I thought Missionary Man (the earlier stuff, anyway) was pretty good. That Satanus story, too.

Sometimes though, they seem to be utter bollox, not to put too fine a point on it!

[The Amstor Computer]

>>>Glimmer Rats - The art was good if a little confused an murky at times, but that's hardly the fault of the writer<<<

Fair point - I still stand by what I said though: the art failed miserably when it came to telling a story, no matter how nice it looked in parts.

>>>Sure, it was a generic future war story, but on with a bit of a twist - but isn't that what Rogue Trooper was?<<<

Personal prejudice in effect :-) I always loved Rogue Trooper, and despite it's failings I still do.

>>>Raindogs... I a cross between Mad Max 3 and Waterworld, only without the exciting bits...<<<

There were *exciting bits*? ;-)

>>>To be brutally honest, I only read the first 2 or 3 parts, then gave up. I haven't done that since Really and Truly...<<<

The whole thing pretty much fell apart after the first episode. Like I said, good setup & plenty of potential squandered.

>>>Storming heaven - art powerful, but rather too psychadelic for my liking. Maybe it's just that I don't like pink! The story - um... it didn't really have one, did it?<<<

Not much of one. It should have been spun out over several 3- or 5-part tales for the first run, introducing us to the characters & letting us get to know more about the world they lived in. Throw in hints of Caliban & the bad trips then plunge into the final act, as Caliban tears his way through everyone we've got to know.

Instead, we got the whole tale crammed into one dense ride - and it failed.

[The Amstor Computer]

>>>And I thought Missionary Man (the earlier stuff, anyway) was pretty good. That Satanus story, too<<<

Missionary Man's been one of the most consistent tales to come from his pen, but I've gotta disagree on Satanus.

Nice art, but the story was fairly pedestrian. I'd lump it in with Glimmer Rats - somewhere well below Missionary Man & Necronauts, but above Rain Dogs.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

>another good example of how Rogue can be done well is the Milligan story told from the point of view of the Nort soldier.

thanks, blackblood; i'd completely forgotten about this superb piece. it all comes back to me now, sitting in my pop's favourite chair & windering "why couldn't it be like tis every week?"

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible
(who this morning spent oz$5.50 on a bunch of beautiful birthday cards just because they were the work of rian hughes)

[O Lucky Stevie!]

>Raindogs... I a cross between Mad Max 3 and Waterworld,

my response was jg ballard filterd through guns & roses, though i haven't seen either of these films (my most recent cinematic experience is seeing two consecutive sessions of the gobsmackingly wonderful amelie on boxing day!)

>I only read the first 2 or 3 parts, then gave up. I haven't done that since Really and Truly...

talk about an alien mindset!

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible
(who spent the whole weekend listening to the new cornershop album on repeat)

[nathan]

"Necronauts - great art (who says colour is better than black and white?)"

Nobody. Colour is for girls.

N

[nathan]

Glimmer Rats - Couldn't read because of the art. So I have no opinion on the writing.

Raindogs - A convincingly written future world and female characters done better than, say, Durham Red.

Necronauts - Fantabulastic. Quite simply the best thing I'd read in 2000AD for at least ten years.

Storming Heaven - I've said so many times before why I liked this. It was completely different to what we're used to in 2000AD (and don't give me that Zenith rubbish) and was a fine example of a writer playing brilliantly to his artist's strengths.

Also Reefer Madness was great and Missionary Man is surely a classic character.

Satanus, Mean Machine and such recent Dredd gems as The Big Lie and Couch Potatoes prove Gordon is second to none when it comes to doing justice to established characters. Therefore I  am really looking forward to seeing what he does with Rogue.

N

[Rambo]

I guess taste is everything, innit?

Everyone seemed to like Necronauts and Missionary Maniac, but opinions differ drastically over his other efforts.

Go figure.