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CRISIS and New Statesmen: the little comics nobody loved

Started by Frank, 14 June, 2015, 02:33:03 PM

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JayzusB.Christ

Not a bother - I suppose I couldn't have offered Sebastian O and Kid-Eternity as extras so you've done alright.  Actually they're two comics I've never read either - any use?
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

pert

I wouldget 3rd World War if it got released anthology style

Frank


A very general overview marking the anniversary of the launch, but David Moloney makes the interesting observation that the organisation to which Eve, Paul, Trish, Gary and Ivan were conscripted - Market Force - shares its name with IPC/Maxwell's in-house distribution arm.

Might be a coincidence*, but I'm sure those creating the comic had a few run-ins with the organisation charged with pushing it on retailers - especially when they discovered the superhero comic they were promised had become Socialist Worker.**

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?

http://www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/blog/2016/9/17/on-this-day-17-september-1988-crisis


* The name is, of course, a play on the market forces doctrine so voguish among the Monetarist school of economics that dominated the eighties, provided the ideological underpinning to Thatcherism, and rationalised the natural inclination of the government to be a bit cunty.

** In his memoir, Mighty One, McManus describes justifying the shift in subject matter on the grounds that environmentalism had politicised the youth. In evidence, Mac-1 haughtily informed the assembled suits that Enya was currently number one with a single whose chorus was SAVE THE WHALE, SAVE THE WHALE, SAVE THE WHALE (p261)

O Lucky Stevie!

On a related note, surely Stevie isn't the only reader who noticed back in 1989 that the first book of Third World War was just a re-write of the original series of A.B.C. Warriors minus the clanking big robots?
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

Richard


Professor Bear

Quote from: O Lucky Stevie! on 15 September, 2017, 07:21:16 AM
On a related note, surely Stevie isn't the only reader who noticed back in 1989 that the first book of Third World War was just a re-write of the original series of A.B.C. Warriors minus the clanking big robots?

Until you pointed it out, I never noticed that Pat Mills sometimes covers the same ground in different comics.  I'm now increasingly certain that I'm not imagining that some of his work contains criticism and satire of Western capitalism.  I also detect a subtle inference that war may not be good.

O Lucky Stevie!

PS Professor - more often than not, one of the ensemble cast is a magician.
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

Steven Denton

Quote from: Jimmy Baker's Assistant on 16 June, 2015, 09:55:49 PM
New Adventures of Hitler was an amusing idea, but it's not much more than a curio, really.

If I had to pick one other strip from that era to recommend, I'd say Rogan Gosh is kind of fun.

Of the stuff that passed me by, I have a hankering to read Troubled Souls. If Ennis has the rights back now, why isn't there a rush to get this back on the shelves?

I think I have an old collected edition of Troubles Souls. (I'll dig it out for you)

I have two of the 5 US  New Statesmen, I keep meaning to pick up the rest

Didn't Rogan Gosh run in revolver with Dare? (I Have collected editions of both of those too, Dare is probably Morison's best work bar none.)

malkymac

This thread has just reminded of the series in Crisis called 'Sticky Fingers'. I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to like but just couldn't. I don't think anything really ever happened in it.

davidbishop

Wish someone would reprint the John Smith & Sean Phillips series Straitgate - brilliant, if a tough read.

Surprised Mr Millar hasn't turned Crisis strip Insiders into a film by now...

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: davidbishop on 27 September, 2017, 07:17:38 PM
Surprised Mr Millar hasn't turned Crisis strip Insiders into a film by now...

Every other damn thing he's written barring his shopping lists seems to have been optioned by now...
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Smith

Well,it was kind of a prototype for Nemesis,and thats apparently in the works.

Doesnt Rebellion own all the strips from Crisis?With Troubled Souls being a special case.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: malkymac on 27 September, 2017, 01:52:21 PM
This thread has just reminded of the series in Crisis called 'Sticky Fingers'. I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to like but just couldn't. I don't think anything really ever happened in it.

I've mentioned my love of Sticky Fingers earlier in this thread. My love so deep I even started a thread about it many moon ago explaining, explaining in clear simple, mistyped and badly grammered words why its great and shames World War III. Read it and access the empty hole you have left in your life!

http://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=33704.0

Jacqusie

Rather than start a new thread, I remembered this one, as at the time, I still hadn't read New Statesman.

I started reading Crisis with the 1st copy and as a poor school lad, had to make the decision to spend my money on it and 2000AD, or buy some Deadlines and see what the fuss was there instead, and what a great fuss it was.

I crept back to Crisis on issue 17 to see what I had been missing and was a bit dissappointed to see that The New Statesman had finished, but carried on collecting anyway as there were now 3 stories so all good. Throughout the years I saw adverts for the US versions of New Statesman and again with no more comic money, carried on in ignorance to what happened after that one episode I'd read (and understood very little...)

So I've recently took the plunge, bought Crisis issues: 2-16 and took my time in reading a story that is nearly 30 years old and what a story. I loved John Smith's writing at the time in 2000AD, it was like nothing else and had always wondered what spin he put on the super hero's over at Crisis.

Strangely enough, I managed to read this before I finished the series;

https://suggestedformaturereaders.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/a-big-gaudy-picturebook/

...a great synposis of the series with an eyebrow firmly raised with a wry smile. The other thing that took me back to the Statesman was the death of it's (mainly) artist Jim Baikie.

I loved Jim's work and always thought his scene setting and characterisation were superlative with attention to simple everyday things that seemed to give the stories gravitas and a depth through his art. He could tell a story with little words in a few panels, which fired my imagination, wondering of how it all interconnected and the stories untold that we only caught a glimpse of in his amazing eye for detail.

Smith's script is different to what I was expecting. Sure it's hard to follow in places, but it had little of the bizzare madness that he was able to scribe so well back in 2000AD. There was a set of strong story lines that dripped with political statements and criss-crossed leading to a singular showdown, that I have to say I didn't see coming. Although there was some classic Smith unconventional narrative and wierdness, the storylines that we were invited into had a maturity and depth to match the artwork.

There are too many plot lines and characters to dive into here, you have all complimented the big gaudy picture book, but safe to say that I'll be reading it all again in a year or so and as with many of my favourite Smith stories, I'll enjoy understanding and finding those plot threads that finally link up, such is the joy of discovery in these comics...

Cheers

Si