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Forthcoming Thrills - 2020

Started by Dash Decent, 27 June, 2019, 01:23:20 PM

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The Amstor Computer

Page count, creator credits etc. suggest this will cover TWW up to the end of Carlos's run on the strip (Crisis #21). Not sure whether they will include the Hicklenton/Fegredo/McCarthy episodes as they're not listed on the cover, but I can't see any reason why not and I think the page count would back up seeing all of them included.

Another two or three books would see the whole of TWW collected, but I think there may be a few factors working against that:

-- Much as I enjoy the later stories, I think it's fair to say that the earlier sections of TWW are the strongest as a collection. The later tales are interesting, but less focused.

-- Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra are big names in British comics, and a mainly Mills/Ezquerra collection is an easier sell than a Mills + artist of the fortnight/month billing as TWW became later on. Hicklenton is an idiosyncratic genius, and I adore his work on TWW, but he's not an artist who has the same draw to a wider audience that Ezquerra does (leaving aside the question of whether part of the Treasury remit should be to educate and promote artists like Hicklenton, of course) and other artists like Sean Phillips or Duncan Fegredo may be bigger names now, but they contributed just a few episodes each and their best work was ahead of them at this point.

-- In terms of repro/presentation, being able to use scans of the original TWW artwork from the Ezquerra family archives is a huge plus for doing the artwork justice, as well as another selling point that you wouldn't have with later collections.

I'm sure that if TWW sells well, future volumes will be forthcoming - hell, I'd be surprised if Turbo Jones was a massive seller and that didn't stop Loner getting a collection - but for now I'm just chuffed to see this reprinted. 

MumboJimbo

Quote from: The Amstor Computer on 19 September, 2019, 12:19:50 AM
Page count, creator credits etc. suggest this will cover TWW up to the end of Carlos's run on the strip (Crisis #21). 

I don't think that's right. Book 1 ran from issue 1 to issue 14. Throughout that run Crisis was 32 pages long with 2 stories of 14 pages each. 14x14=196, which is 12 pages less than advertised page count of 208. If you allow for cover reprints, intro, title page etc. it's looking very likely it's just Book 1.

The Amstor Computer

Quote from: MumboJimbo on 19 September, 2019, 12:29:58 AM
Quote from: The Amstor Computer on 19 September, 2019, 12:19:50 AM
Page count, creator credits etc. suggest this will cover TWW up to the end of Carlos's run on the strip (Crisis #21). 

I don't think that's right. Book 1 ran from issue 1 to issue 14. Throughout that run Crisis was 32 pages long with 2 stories of 14 pages each. 14x14=196, which is 12 pages less than advertised page count of 208. If you allow for cover reprints, intro, title page etc. it's looking very likely it's just Book 1.

Actually, yeah - you're entirely right. I'd forgotten how long the individual episodes of TWW were in the earlier issues of Crisis (I was remembering them as closer to 8-10 pages for some reason). With the extra front/back matter in a collection, I think you're bang on.

It also makes the collection more of a cohesive whole - IIRC it would be all Carlos bar two mid-point fill-in episodes from D'Israeli and Angie Kincaid, plus a McCarthy section in one episode, and wrapping cleanly with Book 1.

Cheers!

sheridan

Quote from: MumboJimbo on 19 September, 2019, 12:18:03 AM
Oh well. I don't blame them at all, they're a business and this is the first Crisis reprint (I think) so I guess it will be hard to predict sales.

All we can do it is buy the first one and hope for the best!


There have been reprints of other stories from Crisis, but I think this is the first time 3WW has been.

sheridan

Quote from: The Amstor Computer on 19 September, 2019, 12:19:50 AM
-- Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra are big names in British comics, and a mainly Mills/Ezquerra collection is an easier sell than a Mills + artist of the fortnight/month billing as TWW became later on. Hicklenton is an idiosyncratic genius, and I adore his work on TWW, but he's not an artist who has the same draw to a wider audience that Ezquerra does (leaving aside the question of whether part of the Treasury remit should be to educate and promote artists like Hicklenton, of course) and other artists like Sean Phillips or Duncan Fegredo may be bigger names now, but they contributed just a few episodes each and their best work was ahead of them at this point.


Amongst us Carlos is definitely the biggest name.  Internationally I'd suspect he's on a par with Sean and Duncan.  Outside of comics I think John may have a claim to the biggest name, due to winning two Grierson Awards for the Here's Johnny documentary and his final work, 100 Months.

Dash Decent

Strontium Dog - Search & Destroy - The Star Lord Years

..in hard cover, with the colour pages in colour!  Coming in June 2020.

- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

hippynumber1

Quote from: sheridan on 19 September, 2019, 12:42:33 PM
Quote from: MumboJimbo on 19 September, 2019, 12:18:03 AM
Oh well. I don't blame them at all, they're a business and this is the first Crisis reprint (I think) so I guess it will be hard to predict sales.

All we can do it is buy the first one and hope for the best!


There have been reprints of other stories from Crisis, but I think this is the first time 3WW has been.

It would seem it has been reprinted previously:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F392436330662

Rogue Judge

Quote from: Dash Decent on 12 October, 2019, 10:11:11 AM
Strontium Dog - Search & Destroy - The Star Lord Years

..in hard cover, with the colour pages in colour!  Coming in June 2020.



YES! This is exactly the treatment Strontium Dog deserves - A nice hardback with color spreads. Thank you Tharg!! Hopefully they will publish the 2000ad years in the same format (please!).

Richard

Quote from: hippynumber1 on 12 October, 2019, 12:30:26 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 19 September, 2019, 12:42:33 PM
Quote from: MumboJimbo on 19 September, 2019, 12:18:03 AM
Oh well. I don't blame them at all, they're a business and this is the first Crisis reprint (I think) so I guess it will be hard to predict sales.

All we can do it is buy the first one and hope for the best!


There have been reprints of other stories from Crisis, but I think this is the first time 3WW has been.

It would seem it has been reprinted previously:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F392436330662

No it hasn't. That eBay item is the forthcoming new one. I don't know if that's above board or not.

IndigoPrime

The only reprints I recall were the squarebound Fleetway set from 1990.

Dash Decent

- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

Dash Decent

Death Squad - Paperback, 128 pages, 6th August 2020

Alan Hebden, Carlos Exquerra, Eric Bradbury

An all-out all-action, complete-in-one brutal war story from the pages of the classic war comic, Battle, hugely influential on Preacher and The Boys creator Garth Ennis.

Meet the deadliest band of fighters on the Eastern Front!

During world War Two the Eastern Front was hell on Earth. German Punishment Battalions were thrown into the thick of the conflict where they were  expected to fight well and die hard. In these harshest of conditions only the strongest warriors survived. Enter the Death Squad – Grandad, Swede, Licker, Gus and Frankie. Alone they were failures and outcasts, but together they were one of the most formidable combat units the Russians ever faced!


- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

Dash Decent

Battler Briton by Hugo Pratt: War Picture Library - Hardcover, 64 pages, 9th July 2020

Battler Britton is an air ace who is as skilled a fighter on land as in his Spitfire. In 1960 Hugo Pratt drew two of his adventures, Wagons of Gold and Rockets of Revenge, and they are reprinted here in graphic novel format for the first time.

Two fast-paced adventure stories featuring the classic British character, Battler Britton as he faces off against the Nazis


- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

Dash Decent

Sexton Blake's Allies (Sexton Blake Library Book 3) - Paperback, 280 pages, 25th June 2019 (??? assuming this should be a 2020 date ???)

For nearly a century, Sexton Blake was the most written about character in British fiction. He starred in approximately four thousand stories by nearly two hundred authors. A cross between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones, he was a publishing phenomenon, read by young and old alike.

Comprised of three more "Golden Age" stories from UNION JACK, in which Sexton Blake discusses the various reporters, adventurers, Scotland Yard men and private detectives with whom he worked.


- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

Dash Decent

#59
Sexton Blake on the Home Front (Sexton Blake Library Book 4) Paperback, 250 pages, 6th August 2020

The fourth thrilling collection of classic stories welcoming back the adventuring detective as brilliant as Sherlock Holmes and as daring as James Bond.

For nearly a century, Sexton Blake was the most written about character in British fiction. He starred in approximately four thousand stories by nearly two hundred authors. A cross between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones, he was a publishing phenomenon, read by young and old alike.


- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.