What did I miss? (1993 - 2012)

[Muon]

2000AD was always in my life in some way, even before I could properly read. One of my first memories is being five years old and sitting in the pub (hear me out!) where my mum worked. There was a young guy who used to come in at 12 on the dot and order a pint, and he'd often have a copy of 2000AD with him. I remember him giving me a Judge Dredd badge he got free with the comic one time, and other times he let me read his comic when he'd finished with it. I have clear memories of Sam Slade, mainly because I loved the way Hoagy looked: like a robot frog. I've since learned that the badge the guy gave me came free with prog 300, way back in January 1983.

Anyway, as a younger kid I was more into stuff like The Beano and Buster, but I started regularly buying the prog when I was about ten. I stopped reading in around 1993, for a few different reasons. There was a well-documented dip in quality in the 1990s, and that's one reason. I remember there being a lot of murky painted artwork and stories that were all style and no substance. Also I got into teenage things like rock music and getting pissed and chasing girls.

Anyway, from what I've seen 2000AD really got its act together after the 1990s, so I know I've missed a whole lot. I guess I'm in quite an enviable position in a way I subscribed again in September 2012, inspired by the publicity surrounding the Dredd film, and I've thoroughly enjoyed re-acquainting myself with the prog. There's something about the words "Borag Thungg, Earthlets" that makes me feel that everything is right with the world. Anyway, I've missed about 20 years of thrill power. I've bought a few 2000AD graphic novels in that time, but I'm sure there's a whole lot I've missed out on. What stories from that time would you recommend me to splash my cash on?

[Grant Goggans]

You lost your way in 1993, did you?  Well, there's this blog of mine that you might could read.  Time has made some of the information in Thrillpowered Thursday inaccurate - "The Taxidermist," spotlighted in the first installment, is available in a terrific collected edition - but if you start with installment one and work forward, you will know about everything that you missed since 1993!

http://thrillpoweredthursday.blogspot.com/2008/06/thrillpowered-thursday-1.html

Shorter answer, though, you missed Peter Hogan & Rian Hughes on Robo-Hunter, and Sinister Dexter and Nikolai Dante and Judge Dredd: The Pit and a whole mess more amazing epics, and Vector 13 and the temporary ouster of Tharg by the Men in Black, and Mazeworld and the Devlin Waugh epic "Sirius Rising," the return of Strontium Dog and the artistic rebirth of Pat Mills, and you've missed Frazer Irving and Si Spurrier and Henry Flint and Al Ewing, and hundreds of tantalizingly linked episodes of series written by Ian Edginton, and Caballistics Inc and Abaslom and Zombo and the Zaucer of Zilk...

Oh, and Indigo Prime's back.  Ain't it lovely?

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah check out Grant's Blog its fun and informative. Grant has got a lot of the highlights but its all been so good these days that there a whole heap of other stuff. The great thing is its so much easier to catch up with a whole heap of the stuff that it used to be.

Rebellion (the owners these days) have a great line in collections and if you want (and have the space) track down the issues themselves is relatively easy to do.

Don't forget to ask here if you're got any particular questions.

Most importantly welcome aboard and have fun.

[Muon]

Thanks for the replies. I'll definitely have a look at that blog. Looks informative and fun. I actually read through most of the "prog slog" blog that was mentioned here. Found it fascinating. But I have to admit I read all the early ones and stopped reading the prog slog when he got to the mid-90s, pretty much like the first time around.  I've taken due note of the suggestions here for starters. I've picked up a couple of them of my own bat (like some of Ian Edginton's stuff), but there's still a lot I haven't read yet. Exciting (but expensive) times for me right now.

[Daveycandlish]

Oh you are going to have so much fun (and an empty bank account) buying up and reading all the great stuff there has been in the last few years.
I'd recommend the Nicolai Dante books, Absalom, Caballistics, Taxidermist, Dredd: Mandroid... there are loads!

I came back into the fold in 2000 and I've never regretted it. 

[Frank]

I stopped reading in around 1993, for a few different reasons. There was a well-documented dip in quality in the 1990s, and that's one reason. I remember there being a lot of murky painted artwork and stories that were all style and no substance.

I can't think what you mean; unless you're thinking of Igor Goldkind and Robert Bliss's The Clown, Pat Mills and Carl Critchlow's Nemesis and Deadlock, Pat Mills and Clint Langley's Dinosty, or anything illustrated by Nick Percival during that period. As well as all the good stuff listed above, you missed out on Total War and both books of Tour of Duty.

You must have stopped reading just before Judge Dredd's wedding, the Halo Jones photostrip starring Nell McAndrew which ran in Loaded, and the self-reflexive and post modern Rogue Trooper epic where he and the chips came face to with their creator and discovered that every one their unnecessary reboots had been scripted by situationist prankster Gerry Finley-Day under a series of Wagner/Grant type pseudonyms. All of the miseries and indignities inflicted upon them were a result of the beatnik author employing Burroughs's cut-up technique - simply taking a pair of scissors to a copy of Marie Claire and typing up the random scattering of verbs, pro-nouns, adjectives and prepositions exactly as they fell.

[Modern Panther]

It works for John Smith.

[Dash Decent]

Under the stones, the beach.

You also missed a series of Dredd and Strontium Dog audio plays released on CD by Big Finish.  Some of them are very good.
http://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/2000-ad---judge-dredd

You've also missed Kingdom.

[Frank]

Under the stones, the beach.

Paving stones, comrade. My favourite situationist graffiti from Mai 68 is Even if God existed it would be necessary to abolish him. Richey; you also missed the odd period where the comic decided it was all about dragons and wizards, which was followed by the short era alluded to above where it whorishly chased the X-Files dollar. You missed around a decade of Sinister Dexter and Nicolai Dante being almost permanent fixtures in the prog, which was really great if you enjoyed  Sinister Dexter and Nicolai Dante.

When Rebellion first took over everything went very back-to-first-principles for a while; lots of black and white art and stories about space gladiators and cockney hard men - Rogue Trooper reverted to being Rogue instead of Friday and got back together with the chips too.

[Judge Brian]

I'm somewhat in the same boat. I was introduced to 2000AD through the Eagle color reprints here in America, bought 2000AD for a few years and lost track of it just after Judgment Day. I loved the Eagle reprints of Stainless Steel Rat, Strontium Dog, & Nemesis the Warlock. Do they have case files type collection of Strontium Dog? What are the great non Dredd strips from 95 til now?


For the OP, pick up copies of the Pit, Brothers in Blood, Origin, Tour of Duty, & Day of Chaos. All great Dredd stories.

[Frank]

Do they have case files type collection of Strontium Dog? What are the great non Dredd strips from 95 til now?

Howdy, partner. The Strontium Dog Agency Files are even better value for money than the Case Files. The longer stories work much better than episodic content and Carlos's art seems to survive the vagaries of reprinting and resizing better than, say, Ron Smith's more finely detailed and delicate brush work does on Dredd. I first noticed that reading some of those US reprints you mention, which stretched, shrunk, chopped and garishly coloured some fantastic looking art. Glad to know the quality of the work  shone through, Brian.

I ducked out around 2003/4, and I don't think there's much non-Dredd stuff from the decade prior to that I'd say was essential. I quite enjoyed the recent run of Savage and I've heard good things about the Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead) period of the strip, so I'm thinking of giving that a try. It turns out I've become a D'Israeli fanboy, so I'm going to splurge on the (kind of pricey) collection of Leviathan too.

[Muon]

I can't think what you mean; unless you're thinking of Igor Goldkind and Robert Bliss's The Clown, Pat Mills and Carl Critchlow's Nemesis and Deadlock, Pat Mills and Clint Langley's Dinosty, or anything illustrated by Nick Percival during that period. As well as all the good stuff listed above, you missed out on Total War and both books of Tour of Duty.

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I was thinking of, although Nemesis and Deadlock is the only one I can really remember. The extent of it might be exaggerated in my memory, but I remember seeing a few painted strips that seemed over-influenced by Simon Bisley. They looked more like medieval paintings than comic strips to me! Another thing I remember putting me off is a strip about a sheep policeman.

Anyway, I've got one of the books of Tour of Duty and the other one on order. I got Leviathan a while back, and the first Stickleback volume. I like Disraeli's art a lot. I remember seeing his stuff in Deadline in the early 90s, too. Buying those two Edginton things, a couple of Judge Dredd things like Origins and John Smith's Cradlegrave were a big factor in persuading me to renew my subscription.

I will be snapping up a lot of the other things people have mentioned here in the coming months.

[Grant Goggans]

You're in good company, friend.  The sheep policeman put a lot of people off.

[Frank]

You're in good company, friend.  The sheep policeman put a lot of people off.

The similarly whimsical Timehouse by Peter Hogan and Tim Bollard, and the same author's Robohunter (with the disastrously miscast Rian Hughes on art) tried my patience for the same reasons. I was quite well-disposed towards Nigel Dobbyn's art, but he was assigned fairly inert strips like Paul Kupperberg's Trash and Hilary Robinson's dreary Medivac 318. That pattern repeats itself again and again during this time, with people who were capable of (and would go on to produce) good work being matched to strips which were either undeserving of or ill-matched to their talents. You've got to lay the blame for that at the door of management, and all editor Alan MacKenzie's self-commissioned strips from that period (Brigand Doom, Moonrunners, RAM Raiders, Chopper, Luke Kirby) pair great art talent with undistinguished writing.

My point would be that whichever era of 2000ad you examine is sure to produce a few dods of dog shit among the diamonds, but during the early part of the period under discussion, you have to pick your steps very carefully just to avoid becoming mired in the ordure. The comic produced some really great stuff at this time, but that only makes it even more baffling that material like Indigo Prime, Button Man, Shadows, and Tyranny Rex didn't become the regular fixtures in the comic that Strontium Dog, Nemesis and Rogue Trooper had been; and that creators such as John Smith, Pete Milligan, Garth Ennis, Chris Weston, Richard Elson, David Hine, Paul Marshall and Peter Doherty weren't encouraged to become the creative mainstays that Wagner, Grant, Mills, McMahon, Kennedy and Gibson had been in the previous era.

[judgefloyd]

I dipped my toe in the waters in 1995 and didn't really get into it until some time in 97.  As mentioned above, you missed Sinister Dexter, loads of good Dredd stuff, a bit of ok Rogue Trooper, Nikolai Dante and, ummm, heaps of Future Shocks.  Oh and Button Man, which was awesome.
  You also missed some nice tries I liked, which didn't go much further: The Balls Brothers, was Wagner being funny, Carver Hale was a cockney crim with demonic problems. 

Tell you what, just buy everything you missed from that time, it'll be worth it.