Space Spinner 2000AD

[sheridan]

With reference to the next phase of Zenith, I take it you've seen this scorecard?

I have indeed! Explaining all the stuff that's going to be happening in Zenith is going to be a challenge My first time through I didn't know any of this of course, and just sort of assumed they were all silly characters Morrison had made up!

That was pretty much my experience, though I was familiar with the characters (just goes to check): Billy Whizz; Archie (through the 1985 2000AD annual); The Steel Claw (though I'd never seen him in a superhero outfit); the Leopard from Lime Street; Desperate Dan (not convinced that Ben is supposed to be Dan); Korky the Cat and Black Bob.  So, I was familiar with the characters, but I wouldn't have necessarily connected them to how they appear in Phase III...

[TordelBack]

Desperate Dan (not convinced that Ben is supposed to be Dan)

Red Son Dan.

There's some older forum discussion and links here too.

[The Monarch]

Yep Ben is indeed an stand in for Desperate Dan

[Dandontdare]

That link took me down a rabbit hole - spent ages last night reading up on characters I remember from my big brothers' Hotspur and Valiant annuals. Also, I'd forgotten just how many adventure stories appeared in the Beano alongside the funnies - Q-bikes (subsequently Q-karts), Billy the Cat, General Jumbo etc.

[SpaceSpinner2000]

So, is Q Bikes related to Z Cars? Is there a special way to say Q in British? It's complex!

[Tjm86]

Is there a special way to say Q in British?

Don't know about 'say', but if you don't Q properly then that can be risky ...

You may be subjected to a disapproving glance, a frown or raised eyebrow, even a 'tut' if it is done badly ...

[Dandontdare]

So, is Q Bikes related to Z Cars? Is there a special way to say Q in British? It's complex!

Ha, no and no.

The Q-bikes were a gang of crimefighting kids on bicycles (who later acquired go karts instead), but I've googled the dates and Q-bikes came out a year after Z-cars hit the TV screens, so they may have been riffing on that popular cop show. The main image on that oage really gave me  jolt of nostalgia, because I had that old Beano annual

PS - once again, I didn't get my arse in gear to nominate for the spinnies, even though I intended to - next year, guys, I promise!

[Steve Green]

And Spikes Harvey Rotten calls the new Quasar bikes 'Q-bikes' in the Cursed Earth...

[sheridan]

And Spikes Harvey Rotten calls the new Quasar bikes 'Q-bikes' in the Cursed Earth...

That's because he wasn't allowed into the Q-bikers once they got their Q-carts.  That's the effects of exclusion, kids - be good to each other!

[Gary James]

With reference to the next phase of Zenith, I take it you've seen this scorecard?

That would be immensely helpful if 22 of the characters weren't unidentified.

Gimme a little time...

[sheridan]

Listened to it properly now - I had been worried I vacillated too long to get in my nominations!

Re: school books - we have textbooks as well - they're the pre-printed ones you don't write in.  Exercise books are the ones you write in and sometimes hand in for the teacher to mark your homework.  I distinctly remember drawing the iconic Bizpic of Joe Pinapples standing with one foot on a robo-skull, aiming the sniper rifle on my French exercise book cover.

[SpaceSpinner2000]

Freshen up your stereotypes, because we're headed for Fort Nuero! It's probably my favorite Rogue Trooper story, and finds the Genetic Infantrymen making his way through an isolated fortress on the edge of Nu-Earth where all of the inhabitants have gone completely mad! It's jokes I only sort of get and cool rover droids against an army of crafty Norts, and oh man it's a lot of fun. After that we'll meet a high ranking figure from Rogue's past, and join professor of dark shocks Alan Moore for meditations on the nature of conflict. It should be a great time!

Please let me know what you think of the episode!

[SpaceSpinner2000]

In our thrilling hundred and ninety-fifth episode Fox and Conrad continue their journey through the Galaxy's Greatest Comic with Progs 608-611 of 2000AD, covering December of 1988. This episode  Nemesis is heading out, Tanner is on the case, Judge Anderson is making contact, Hap Hazzard is filling space, Zippy Couriers arrive in style, and Judge Dredd is headed to Hondo for robot espionage!

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Please let me know what you think of the episode!

[WhizzBang]

Thanks Conrad and Fox - another great show to brighten the week. I think Fox summed it up nicely when he said everything that wasn't filler was great, and I don't think the filler is actually bad it is just in too high a quantity right now. That Walter The Wobot story was probably the best one of his solo stories too.

You also touched on the Sega Master System in the show and you are right in that it was far bigger than the NES but home computers were still more popular than consoles at this time. The Atari ST and Amiga were the leaders with the PC coming third. Sinclair had abandoned the gaming market and tried to make a business computer and battery powered transport which both failed.

There was one kid at my school who had a NES and Super Mario Bros was clearly the stand out title from his collection. The Master System generally looked a lot better and had some great arcade ports like R-Type and OutRun as well as a lovely version of Populous.

It probably wasn't until the Sega Mega Drive came out that consoles started to dominate home gaming in the UK.

[Dandontdare]

Another enjoyable episode, though yeah, there was an awful lot of filler in these progs. Although you're right that the City of the Dead art comparison was more suited for an annual or special, I remember being totally fascinated by it at the time - the re-do was slightly sketchier than the original, but to recreate a whole episode so quickly and accurately is pretty amazing.

Had a chuckle at your inability to work out the pronunciation of the "two-mor-oh" picture (y'know, the one labelled "tomorrow's logo"