Messages

[Paul Marshall]

Paul Marshall for Firekind and those big scary seahorses in Tyranny Rex. There was a period where the detail fell out of his work, so it was good to see it return when he did Ulysses Sweet.

It would have been a surprise before the tournament, but after his clear Round 1 victory, it was decidedly less so. Revere says: "Cheers, 2000AD Forum!"

This is absolutely hilarious. Where does the Trump campaign end... in a garden centre parking lot sandwiched between a porn shop and a crematorium. You couldn't make this shit up if you tried

There was a point a few days ago where it seemed possible Trump might successfully engineer a 'victory' through Machiavellian master-planning and recourse to highly devious legal means.

It's not really going that way, is it?

[Peninsula (2020)]

Frustratingly, England's lockdown is knocking out Scotland's cinemas - distribution issues - so I nipped out to see Korean zombie-flick Peninsula (2020) last night before my local filmhouse closed today. It's a perfectly serviceable mix of Day of the Dead / Land of the Dead with Fast and Furious and Mad Max 3, and is the semi-sequel to Train to Busan. At its best when it goes quirky and Korean, at its weakest when it overindulges in cloying sentimentality. Reasonable way of passing a couple of hours.

Bit of a cock-up on the mortality front.

[Ron Smith]

Oh, I don't know. I thought I had a fairly clear internal hierarchy of artists, but this is really hard. I love Fabry's Slaine, but I'm going to give it to Ron Smith on the strength and volume of his contributions to Dredd. Plus, he drew The Lurker and Alien Seeds, which are two of my favourites.

I think we all knew O'Neill was loved, but just how loved is quite heartening. I'd have maybe thought his sharp, angular, rather grotesquely stylised art wouldn't be for all - it sure scared the hell out of some US publishers - but it seems Brother Kevin can spend as long on the illuminated borders as he likes.

[Yeowell]

Yeowell. If I'm honest, I think his work peaked at Zenith Phase III, and I'm not as fond of the increasingly sparse direction it's gone in since around the second series of Red Seas, but the fact remains, he did draw Zenith, and it is magnificent.

[Simon Harrison]

They couldn't be more different, and I've got original art by both of them, but it's got to be Simon Harrison. Pages from Revere are works of surreal, awe-inspiring beauty.

[Trevallion]

I'd be amazed if Henry Flint didn't win, but my vote is for Trevallion - the most exciting contemporary talent 2000AD has.

[Nick Percival]

Nick Percival. And why not?

[Leeeee Caaarter]

Leeeee Caaarter. Again. (I'm going to keep doing this until he goes out of the tournament.)

[Bagwell]

I've never really bought into this 'Bolland is the Alan Moore of artists' thing - yeah, of course he's brilliant, and of course when I first saw his art in reprints, I thought it looked amazing. But he's not somehow beyond all other artists, and he's not the best artist ever to draw for 2000AD. He is really, really good though.

However, the honest truth is, if Bagwell were still with us, and someone asked me whether I'd rather see a new Bolland strip or a new Bagwell - I'd go Bagwell.

Though I would have liked to see a Bolland / John Smith team-up.

[Kevin O'Neill]

Kevin O'Neill is one of the greatest talents the medium has ever seen - there's only a couple of people I'd potentially vote for over him, and even then it'd be a tough call. The angularity of his work, the wild but robust imagination, the warped sense of humour, the amazing storytelling - Kev is 2000AD incarnate. His art encapsulates everything I want from the comic.

The series takes a strong, competent woman, who'd risen to the highest office by merit of her intelligence and willpower, and turns her into an incompetent idiot, victim of gleefully voyeuristic mutilation, desperately in need of a big man to come and save her. Yeah, that's your girl power right there.