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Greetings fellow earthlets! Newbie-ish earthlet here

Started by Draavhen, 05 May, 2018, 12:19:29 AM

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Draavhen

Hello ladies and gents!

I'm a 2000ad newbie, kind of. My exposure to the world of 2000ad started 1995 when the first Dredd movie came out. Now, I imagine at this point some of your are groaning, maybe rolling your eyes, but bear with me.
A little while after that I would occasionally read a prog here and there but I was a young lad and I don't think I really got it. I was still playing with Power Ranger toys. Anyway, to cut a long story short that was it...until...2012.

At that point I had become a keen comic book geek, mostly reading stuff from 'The Big 2' but I saw the trailer for Dredd and it had me hyped. This was nothing like the movie I had seen in 1995! I saw it, loved it and not long after decided to invest some money in a few case files.
Since then I've just read a couple of Dredd stories but now I feel like I REALLY want to immerse my self completely in the prog. However, I've been trying to find the perfect 'jumping on' point and the material I need to understand the key players in the 2000ad-verse.

I know the prog has 'entry issues' where you get a fresh story for every character but it feels like I can't fully appreciate it without knowing more of the backstory. So, fellow earthlets, what would you recommend?
I'm aware that Hatchette is doing a 2000ad ultimate collection. Is it worth picking up? Would it help fill me in? Should I just pick up the graphic novels before picking up the prog? What do I do?

Your help would be much appreciated, earthlets.

Colin YNWA

Welcome aboard Draavhen.

The challenge you face is there's a LOT of 2000ad characters and one of its great joys is one man's meat is another man's poison. To be honest I'm a big fan of telling folks to just dive in and you'd be surprised how quickly you pick up what's what and by doing so you will find a host of stuff you love and that is covered by Rebellion's excellent and extensive trade programme.

That said you could do a lot worse than picking up the Hatchette volumes, excellent value and some truly superb material so far.

Have fun.

Draavhen

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 May, 2018, 07:06:27 AM
Welcome aboard Draavhen.

The challenge you face is there's a LOT of 2000ad characters and one of its great joys is one man's meat is another man's poison. To be honest I'm a big fan of telling folks to just dive in and you'd be surprised how quickly you pick up what's what and by doing so you will find a host of stuff you love and that is covered by Rebellion's excellent and extensive trade programme.

That said you could do a lot worse than picking up the Hatchette volumes, excellent value and some truly superb material so far.

Have fun.

Thank you so much for the reply, Colin!

I see that prog 2079 is only a fresh start for a few of the stories, so I'm thinking I might go back to prog 2073. That seems to be the nearest point for a complete 'fresh start'.
Meanwhile, I will be sure to check out the trades! And I'm VERY tempted by the Hatchette collection.
It certainly seems like good value for money and the presentation of it looks pretty sweet!

broodblik

Welcome.

Prog 2073 was the latest jump-on issue alternatively you can go back to Prog 2061 (this was the Christmas Edition). In this issue their is a new Judge Dredd story plus ABC Warriors, Savage, Brass Sun and Bad Company starting.

When I joined again I started collecting the Judge Dredd Case Files. Currently these cover all the Dredd stories up to Prog 1185.

If you read a strip and enjoyed it you can always see what the 2000 AD store has online covering the specific title. If you like Strontium Dog for example there is a sale on the titles currently

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Blue Cactus

Hello!

The Hachette series would be a great place to start, although it doesn't include much if any Dredd. The best way in is probably just to start reading the weekly, I would think!

IndigoPrime

Like others have said, the issue with 2000 AD recommendations is everyone's will be different. Even key characters will result in heated debates about whether (say) Rogue Trooper is in fact dreadful or amazing. I'd echo previous recommendations in that the most obvious thing to do would be to start a subscription from the most recent jumping-on Prog, or the Christmas Prog (Rebellion's subs team may be able to backdate – they certainly used to when Forbidden Planet was doing this) and go from there. When you find stories you like, grab relevant trades.

As for the Hatchette 2000 AD collection, I guess that comes down to how much cash you've got to spend. It will include the bulk of the biggest 2000 AD characters (all of Nikolai Dante, most of Strontium Dog, seemingly all of Slaine) and a grab bag of other bits. There are some omissions that sting a little, but for the most part it's a strong, affordable grounding in some of the best 2000 AD series. The books are also really lovely hardbacks, too, which helps (and good value at £10 each). Notably, they are also being broadly released in reading order, so you don't end up hopping about continuity and wondering what the hell is going on.

As Blue Cactus said, the only downfall is a lack of Dredd (three books out of 80 is the plan), if that matters to you. On that side of things, you could always keep an eye on eBay and Facebook for people offloading their Dredd Hachette collections. That series has some duff moments, but has mostly been really strong. It's certainly worth grabbing if someone's selling their entire collection for half price or less, and you have the cash available. (You could probably also resell without loss. I managed that with the Marvel collection, buying the first 60 off of someone for 250 quid, and then selling them for the same price about three months later.)

Draavhen

Thanks to everyone who has replied to this thread so far. I'm so grateful for all the help and advice on getting in to the world of 2000 ad.

While the Judge Dredd films and case files cover most of my exposure to 2000 ad, I'm really eager to get to know the other characters and the prog as a whole. So, if anyone feels like they want to give me an essential reading list, I'd be up for it!

abelardsnazz

Welcome aboard! I got back into Tooth three years ago after a 19-year absence and have felt very welcome on here.

For an essential reading list, as has been said, there's much that's a matter of taste, but I think the following are pretty much universally liked:

All the Dredd epics except Inferno
Pretty much all of Strontium Dog
All of Nikolai Dante
Rogue Trooper - War Machine & Cinnabar
Indigo Prime - Killing Time

A few there to hopefully get you started!

Blue Cactus

I'd agree with the above, although I've never liked Rogue Trooper - War Machine much. The best way to collect Nikolai Dante is through the Hachette books, because it's relatively cheap and some of the earlier collections are out of print. Also worth noting that this series gets better and better as it goes on (some readers find the character kind of annoying at the start!).

I don't want to snow you under with suggestions but I'd have to say Nemesis the Warlock. Quintessential 2000AD with a succession of mind-boggling artists.

Bolt-01

Hi Draavhen-  and welcome.

The best thing is to just pick up the weekly on a regular basis. You will find your faves naturally.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Draavhen on 05 May, 2018, 09:57:44 PMSo, if anyone feels like they want to give me an essential reading list, I'd be up for it!
I'd echo abelardsnazz and add:

- The first three books of Nemesis the Warlock
- Sláine: the horned god
- Zenith
- Button Man (book one)
- Kingdom (all of it)

There's a lot of other great objectively great stuff and also series that I personally like but others would find rather more iffy, but those are a good start. Note that of the stuff that's been mentioned so far, Strontium Dog is currently for sale (50% off) in the 2000 AD store (start with the four Agency Files volumes, and then Final Solution), or is part of the Hachette series. You can also easily get the early Nemesis books and Horned God through that, along with a chunk of Kingdom, and the early bits of Nikolai Dante.

If you fancy Zenith, that's available in four hardback volumes. Button Man is soon to be reissued in the UK as a chunky collection of all three Ranson-illustrated series, and so probably hang on for that. (Neither of those is in the Hachette series, and nor would they be very likely to feature in an extension.)

Richard

Since you've already been buying the Case Files, I wouldn't worry about the lack of Dredd stories in the 2000AD Hachette Partworks series. There's about to be a new jumping-on prog soon (around 2082 or 2083? Keep an eye on the website) but the current stories that started in 2073 are good and worth reading.

The recommendations above are all fine, but I agree with the general advice that it's better to figure it all out for yourself. That said, one strength of 2000AD is that it's an anthology, which means you get exposed to stories and writers who you wouldn't necessarily have sought out if you were only looking for graphic novels (which mostly tend to feature stories by one writer or from one series). So you could buy one of the Tharg's Future Shocks books and see a range of different writers, see who tour favourites are, and then look up some more of their work at the 2000AD online shop.

Draavhen

Well earthlets, here I am, just a little under a week later having read progs 2073 to 2080 and I have to say...I love the scrotnig prog!
I love the diversity of the stories and the range of art styles. As I explained in my original post, most of my exposure to 2000ad came from seeing/reading Judge Dredd BUT now I want to know more about Strontium Dog and Sinister Dexter. Also, I'm CRAVING more future shocks.
I wasn't massively keen on the plot of Jaegir but I really dug the art style. I might give it another go to see if it grows on me.
Anyway, with all that being said, I am now subscribed to the prog and look forward to digesting more thrill power!

Again, thank you so much to everyone in the thread who took the time to reply and recommend stuff.
I'm still in two minds about the Hachette 2000ad ultimate collection because I've read that some people have had trouble with receiving their issues and gifts etc.


Tjm86

You're in luck then on the Future Shock front since they are about to start reprinting them again.

It may be that for a lot of folks here, Jaegir is building on something we are quite familiar (if sometimes divided in opinion on quality) with.  Might be worth having a look at the earlier stories and seeing if it makes a bit more sense.  It is a nice example of consistent world building and the characters' behaviour may make a lot more sense if you've read the earlier stories.  All in all, worth sticking with.

Strontium Dog, celebrating his 40th birthday with the first issue of Starlord on the 13th (yikes), is well worth a read.  Very few troughs, more high peaks than the Pyrenees.  The challenge is going to be figuring out where to start.  Portrait of a Mutant is arguably a must read and as good a place as any to start.  The Hachette books are omitting the Starlord stories which to me is a mistake as some of Ezquerra's artwork on these is fantastic.  That said, they are pretty much standalone so you probably get more of a sense of the larger evolution of the character through the Ultimate collection.

SinDex has definitely benefitted from the reboot for my money.  It grew a tad continuity heavy and drawn out for a lot of folks.  Probably works better read as a whole rather than in the jumps and starts of its original publication.

Little surprised that no one has mentioned Halo Jones mind.

sassafras

Hi Draavhen,

Another newbie here! I actually took the opposite approach to you and jumped right into the prog in the middle of a run of stories....its probably fair to say I was a bit confused for a while.

I've just started reading the Agency Files for Strontium Dog and would really recommend them, I'm enjoying them much more than I thought to be honest. I know you've got a lot of Dredd but I've just read Titan and it blew my mind, so maybe thats something to consider if you want to read a newer Dredd story.

I would echo what Tjm86 said and say its really worth having a look at the earlier Jaegir stories. I really loved them and they were a great look at the 'bad guys', the whole book just oozed cool in my mind.

For the ultimate collection I'm just ordering the back issues of the one I want as I couldn't really justify another subscription, so maybe that's something to consider?

Anyway, it's cool to hear from another 'newbie' who's enjoying diving into 2000AD as much as me!