Mega City Book Club - a new podcast about 2000AD books

[sheridan]

I've been binge listening to these over the last few weeks and it's definitely my favourite podcast. Every single one has made me want to go and reread the book that's being discussed and Eamonn is an incredible host.

I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has appeared on the podcast up to now, you're all stars!

Thank you, thank you  it's true, we are

[positronic]

Having never been a huge Nemesis fan I do remember enjoying the Bryan Talbot illustrated stories. In no small part due to the return of some familiar faces and the feeling that there was a connected universe in 2000AD. Possibly the only time this had happened before was the Giant character from Dredd/Harlem Heroes (I'm probably wrong about that though).

The appearance of Satanus in The Cursed Earth story arc (which connects the Judge Dredd strip to Flesh) is another early indication of a "2000 AD Universe". There were also various tangential references to Mega-Cities in Ro-Busters, connecting that strip to Judge Dredd as well. Hammerstein was shown to be involved in fighting the Volgan War in Ro-Busters, which connected that strip to Invasion, and of course the Ro-Busters strip evolved into a spinoff, ABC Warriors.

Not all of the early attempts at creating ties between different strips survived over time. For example there was a mid-1990s Dredd story arc involving Hammerstein (from Ro-Busters/ABC Warriors), but more recent ABC Warriors stories changed some dating of events and showed historical situations which conflicted with the history of Dredd's strip, rendering the mid-1990s Hammerstein/Dredd connection non-canonical (it's fair to say the story was probably hatched in light of the unnamed ABC Warrior robot's appearance in the Stallone Judge Dredd movie), as well as the earliest references to a shared universe with Dredd in Ro-Busters.

[Eamonn Clarke]

Thanks all. Glad people are enjoying my little podcast.

Positronic, I don't think anyone has picked the Termight edition yet if you want to come on the podcast next year??

[positronic]

Thanks all. Glad people are enjoying my little podcast.

Positronic, I don't think anyone has picked the Termight edition yet if you want to come on the podcast next year??

I was looking at your reviews more for guidance in what I might consider essential reading/buying choices, but as I've already read Nemesis some (*ahem*) years ago, I'm inclined to buy that Termight edition anyway. I'm told it differs in some details (artwork having been altered by Kevin O'Neil for the color reprints in the Eagle Comics NEMESIS miniseries) from the stories as they first appeared in 2000 AD. I'm not clear on the precise differences, but I'd also have to dig around in my (large, but somewhat disorganized) collection of older comics to see if I can still find the original Titan graphic albums of the first three Nemesis books (from the 1980s) for comparison.

If no one else is going to do it first, then I guess I'll order a copy. I might be up to reviewing it afterward (again, it would be nice to find those Titan Books editions for comparative purposes). I'll let you know when I get the Termight edition and have had a chance to read it (for the first time since the 1980s), Eamonn.

[Eamonn Clarke]

Excellent, Positronic.

And stay tuned, everyone. Tomorrow morning we has some Big Finish Strontium Dog audio adventures to review.

[sheridan]

I was looking at your reviews more for guidance in what I might consider essential reading/buying choices, but as I've already read Nemesis some (*ahem*) years ago, I'm inclined to buy that Termight edition anyway. I'm told it differs in some details (artwork having been altered by Kevin O'Neil for the color reprints in the Eagle Comics NEMESIS miniseries) from the stories as they first appeared in 2000 AD. I'm not clear on the precise differences, but I'd also have to dig around in my (large, but somewhat disorganized) collection of older comics to see if I can still find the original Titan graphic albums of the first three Nemesis books (from the 1980s) for comparison.

I don't have the Temight edition, but do have the Eagle reprints (though perhaps they should be called edits, as they're more involved than the standard reprint).  Assuming you can you can recognise artistic styles it's pretty easy to tell the difference, even without a side-by-side comparison.  From memory the standard changes are either: a) Kevin O'Neill extending an existing panel at the top or bottom of the page or b) adding wide, shallow panels before or after the page as originally printed.  As he's editing artwork he originally drew between 1980 to 1983 in 1985 you can tell his newer stuff due to the way his style has developed in that time.  He's possibly drawing the new material at a different scale as well, as it's not quite as detailed as the original Nemesis Book III artwork.

[positronic]

I was looking at your reviews more for guidance in what I might consider essential reading/buying choices, but as I've already read Nemesis some (*ahem*) years ago, I'm inclined to buy that Termight edition anyway. I'm told it differs in some details (artwork having been altered by Kevin O'Neil for the color reprints in the Eagle Comics NEMESIS miniseries) from the stories as they first appeared in 2000 AD. I'm not clear on the precise differences, but I'd also have to dig around in my (large, but somewhat disorganized) collection of older comics to see if I can still find the original Titan graphic albums of the first three Nemesis books (from the 1980s) for comparison.

I don't have the Temight edition, but do have the Eagle reprints (though perhaps they should be called edits, as they're more involved than the standard reprint).  Assuming you can you can recognise artistic styles it's pretty easy to tell the difference, even without a side-by-side comparison.  From memory the standard changes are either: a) Kevin O'Neill extending an existing panel at the top or bottom of the page or b) adding wide, shallow panels before or after the page as originally printed.  As he's editing artwork he originally drew between 1980 to 1983 in 1985 you can tell his newer stuff due to the way his style has developed in that time.  He's possibly drawing the new material at a different scale as well, as it's not quite as detailed as the original Nemesis Book III artwork.

Thanks, Sheridan. I may have the Eagle Comics miniseries as well somewhere, but like I say, my collection goes back quite a while so things are bagged and boxed, and boxes are piled on top of other boxes...

I figured it was something like what you mention, but I didn't know if (other than changing things to fit the difference in relative page dimensions) O'Neill had redrawn panels if upon review he had determined that there were some particular panel or figure he was never quite happy with but never had the time to re-do originally because of deadlines, or if he possibly even added a page here or there where he felt like more in the way of explanation was called for or to make the story flow better, so he might have inserted one between the original pages where there was space available in the American comic format version.

From what I have heard there is some of the latter going on today with newer stories being reprinted in trade paperbacks, where the artist (or writer) has time to stop and re-review the story after its first serialized printing in standard format comics, but before it is being committed to a final version in a TP release.

[Eamonn Clarke]

Brian Doob from the British Invaders science fiction podcast brings along the Big Finish Strontium Dog audios with two stories about Johnny, Wulf, Middenface and the Gronk. Starring no less than Simon Pegg and Jacqueline Pearce.

Tune in and let me know what you think

http://megacitybookclub.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mega-city-book-club-32-strontium-dog.html

[positronic]

Good show. I wasn't aware of these audiobooks. Simon Pegg seems like a strange casting choice for Johnny Alpha, but then I haven't heard it. Of course I'm imagining as if it were a movie or TV show, with Simon wearing the body armor & helmet!    If he played it straight like you described, I'm sure he was probably fine (he was fine as Scotty in the new Star Trek movies too, although sometimes the character verged into a little comedy).

[sheridan]

Good show. I wasn't aware of these audiobooks. Simon Pegg seems like a strange casting choice for Johnny Alpha, but then I haven't heard it. Of course I'm imagining as if it were a movie or TV show, with Simon wearing the body armor & helmet!    If he played it straight like you described, I'm sure he was probably fine (he was fine as Scotty in the new Star Trek movies too, although sometimes the character verged into a little comedy).

Not a Star Trek fan (or a fan of the idea of rebooting continuity like that) but the Star Trek movies do have Johnny Alpha as Scotty and Joe Dredd as Bones, so they can't be all bad ;-)

[matty_ae]

Love the podcast
Currently downloading the two recommended & available ones.
Brian's got a great voice - great double act.

[positronic]

Not a Star Trek fan (or a fan of the idea of rebooting continuity like that) but the Star Trek movies do have Johnny Alpha as Scotty and Joe Dredd as Bones, so they can't be all bad ;-)

I can't say I cared at all for the last of the three movies (to the point where I was so disinterested in what was going on 20 minutes or so into it, that I just got up and left).

The first Star Trek film is a reboot, but it's an in-continuity reboot, which is something of a different thing. It has to do with a Romulan named Nero and Spock traveling into the past (from Spock's last appearance in a Next Generation episode), and their temporal interference with historical events creating an alternate tangent universe to the original TV series. I liked the fact that they respected the fans' intelligence enough to make the reboot an actual part of the plot of film.

[Jim_Campbell]

I liked the fact that they respected the fans' intelligence enough to make the reboot an actual part of the plot of film. came up with a reboot concept that allowed them keep the original continuity as in-canon and thus safeguard future box-set sales of TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.

FTFY.

[positronic]

Economic necessity, Jim. They weren't NOT going to do a reboot, because the classic characters were what was needed for recognition. Recasting and rebooting therefore became one and the same. Given the fact that you ARE doing it, at least giving it some plausible in-story explanation is better than shoving a re-do down viewers' throats and expecting them to just ignore the re-cast characters. CGI'ing the whole cast was obviously out of the budget.

[Eamonn Clarke]

Johnny Alpha month continues with Steve Green back in the book club to discuss the first volume of the Search Destroy Agency files, and to talk about the Strontium Dog fan film just in time for its internet release next week.

Listen in and let us know.

http://megacitybookclub.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/mega-city-book-club-33-strontium-dog.html