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Nikolai Dante and his lovable sexual harassment antics

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 03 March, 2018, 02:19:22 PM

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davidbishop

I can't speak for Robbie or Simon or any of the other creators who worked on Dante, but having been editor during the first few years of ND I will say this: Dante was an absolute cock when the series began - and he was meant to be like that. The character was designed to grow and mature and learn. That makes Dante harder to like in the early series, especially viewed from the distance of 20+ years when looking back at the excesses of mid-to-late 90s in British culture [Loaded, et al].

But - to me, at least - his redeeming feature was Dante chose to do the right thing more often than not, possessing a moral code in a world where none was necessary and having one was a genuine disadvantage. That was what ultimately made him a hero, albeit a flawed on - and certainly not a role model.

Just my two credits!

JayzusB.Christ

Thanks, David! Always nice to have an opinion from the inside. Was it you who commissioned Dante in the first place?
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Zenith 666

Whatever your opinion on Dante the series as a whole is still one of the finest the progs ever had.ultimate collection aside I'd love a deluxe format of hardbacks.deserves an even bigger audience.

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Zenith 666 on 04 March, 2018, 03:18:49 PM
Whatever your opinion on Dante the series as a whole is still one of the finest the progs ever had.ultimate collection aside I'd love a deluxe format of hardbacks.deserves an even bigger audience.

I'm not denying that. It's a masterpiece.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

davidbishop

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 March, 2018, 02:57:31 PM
Thanks, David! Always nice to have an opinion from the inside. Was it you who commissioned Dante in the first place?

Nope. Dante was commissioned by John Tomlinson during his too-short stint as Tharg. Robbie & Simon were already developing it when I joined on December 18, 1995. At that stage it was going to open with the Tsar Wars, I suggested starting earlier so we knew the characters before unleashing war on their world(s). Took another 15 months before Dante was ready to launch in the 20th (!) anniversary prog.

JayzusB.Christ

Ah, ok. Good call, it definitely shouldn't have opened with Tsar Wars
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Colin YNWA

This has probably been discussed elsewhere but was there a specific reason it had such a long gestation period?

TordelBack

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 04 March, 2018, 09:26:40 PM
This has probably been discussed elsewhere but was there a specific reason it had such a long gestation period?

Pat says it should be six weeks. Always six weeks.

davidbishop

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 04 March, 2018, 09:26:40 PM
This has probably been discussed elsewhere but was there a specific reason it had such a long gestation period?

I wanted to give promising series longer runs to see if they cemented their place in readers' affections, and avoid the past woes of having strips dropping in and out of the prog. To achieve that meant not starting Dante till 70-80% of the art was already done. The first run was 15 episodes, so it took a year to get enough in stock to safely start running it. The days when foreign artists could be relentlessly flogged into producing an episode a week belong in the 1970s.

GordonR

Quote from: TordelBack on 04 March, 2018, 10:31:54 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 04 March, 2018, 09:26:40 PM
This has probably been discussed elsewhere but was there a specific reason it had such a long gestation period?

Pat says it should be six weeks. Always six weeks.

Then ask him how the Joe Pineapples strip is coming along.

TordelBack

Quote from: GordonR on 04 March, 2018, 11:01:34 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 04 March, 2018, 10:31:54 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 04 March, 2018, 09:26:40 PM
This has probably been discussed elsewhere but was there a specific reason it had such a long gestation period?

Pat says it should be six weeks. Always six weeks.

Then ask him how the Joe Pineapples strip is coming along.

Oh I'm sure there's an exception for strips Pat develops himself.  This merely proves the rule.