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I have bought yesterday the French adaptation of the 10th anniversary edition of CCF #1, published by Delirium, and this is a huge book!
It includes a fully detailed summary, and an exclusive 7 pages introduction written by Pat Mills (a completely revised version of his Wordpress blog posts on the origin of Dredd), featuring the Manning strip that has inspired Wagner & Mills to create the character (I think we can thank Joe Soap for this one).
http://www.thearchdeviant.org/2016/11/judge-dredd-les-affaires-classees-01.html

You have pointing out the most interesting part of what Pat had to say (IMO). Here is the almost complete quote:

"Science fiction is not the same. I remember thinking, If we say it's science fiction, if we say they're robots or androids or whatever, we can get away with so much more. But it was a retreat. I always see science fiction as a retreat. People always say how profound a science fiction or fantasy story is, but I'm not convinced that a satire or an allegory can every be as potent as actually telling it like it is on the streets."

Talent of sci fi writers is not a stake here I think, it is more a question of touching people. For me indeed The Wire is the most moving and potent thing I have ever seen (I would have liked to find other examples in comics or books but nothing comes to mind for the time being).

The top one if from the Star Lord Summer Special, the bottom one is from the 1982 2000AD Annual.

Thanks! Will add these references, and also the missing cover from 2000 AD #99 (thanks Steve Green)

Another very nice reprint from Rebellion, including Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill Inside Story strip from prog 144 (not included in the 2008 complete Ro-Busters).
http://www.thearchdeviant.org/2016/08/ro-busters-complete-nuts-and-bolts.html

I was not able to source these two illustrations (I suspect the second one to originate from an annual):

Out of curiosity- what was the total print run?

"Not enough to satisify the unprecendented demand," said a spokesman.

In France we call that "Une réponse de Normand".
It seems that this question is Taboo on this side of the Channel, and I don't really understand why.
Is it because the regular print run was only twice the limited edition print run? 

Received mine today in France, #173. Can't wait to have the poster in hands.
The book is no longer listed in the webshop today, is this normal? I had kept the link to the corresponding page, and now this page is blank.

[and others (tbc)]

Mmmmmmm, The Cursed Earth special edition is available to pre-order - but will it be sent out before the signing?

ordered! What is the most exciting beside the McMahon poster is the

Signed by Chris Lowder (aka Jack Adrian), and others (tbc).

Hope that Pat Mills will be one of the others.

The seventh setting's for forumites who post covers behind Molch-r's back! Z 

Gulp!

Fear not, 'exclusive' only means it's announced first through a specific site, not that no-one can ever, ever, ever distribute that image ever. It's a common PR thing to elicit converage from a specific news provider - feel free to spread the word!

is there some news about the Flesh and Harlem Heroes reprints advertised in the thrill mail last Month for an April release?

and the odd thing is amazon still lists the 2010 reprint of Harlem Heroes, and the 2011 reprint of Flesh, both only available as marketplace "new & used", but with the new covers advertised by 2000 AD 2 weeks ago 

Like most reprints of OOP TPB's they'll not be listed for pre-order and will only turn up online on day of release.

It was not the case for the one I have bought, i.e. reprints of the Complete Nemesis book 3 (haven't bought the January reprint of book one but it was available for preorder), or reprints of Slaine Time Killer and Sláine the king, or warrior dawn etc.. (even the first reprint of Flesh). They were all available for preorder at amazon (for example) way before the release date.

Hi everybody
Perhaps it is discussed elsewhere, but I can't seem to see where the new Flesh and Harlem Heroes "next Month" reprints (as advertised in the 16th March 2000 AD thrill mail) are available for preorder.

Being French I kind of arrived late at the party. The first story of the ABC Warriors published in France was the painted Khronicles of Khaos/Hellbringer that remains to this day my favourite story (yes I had absolutely no clue of the fact that is was the so called "Dark Age" of 2000 AD*). Sláine has also been firts published in France in the 90s with the painted stuff, therefore from the Horned God to King of Hearts (and to this day all B&W older stuff from both series have never been translated in French).

Almost 10 years have passed before new ABC or Sláine stories find their way again over here with Langley's take on the characters. But before that, as I was in demand of Mills new material and Titan book material was still hard to find for me (I was not a happy subscriber at that time), the Rebellion reprints strategy changed my life. I have ordered these Book of Invasions when they first been reprinted in HC by Rebellion , and man, I was blown away. It remains to this day my favourite story by far of the Celtic Warrior. And Clint's art has played a lot in this fact. I am still amazed of the level of details in each page. And it features my two preferred moments, Sláine pissing on Oddacon's thirsty head, and the dreamlike silent piece in volume 3 when Sláine becomes Feg's version of the Horned God (this silent piece has been greatly extended by Clint in the HC version from how it appears in the prog). And in regard of the Mills script, I like (again) his overwhelming creativity, and simply the fact that reading these book of invasions were highly entertaining (the definition of a "page turner").


*by the way, to echo another very interesting thread of this forum that I have dicoverded yesterday, when Mills reffers to the Dark Age, he not only refers to editorial interference but also on his own erratic take of the character during that time (from Book of Invasions Vol 1 introduction).

thanks for the scan!

[real]

(continued ...)

The real thing that distinguishes 2000ad from the competition is its latter day policy that when the original creators are done with a strip so is the comic.

That only applies to John Wagner and Pat Mills characters as long as they're prepared to write them though, so both titans have to saddle up and find a way of making the same characters doing the same thing they did forty years ago in some way interesting to the same people who were reading them forty years ago. Imagine how difficult that must be.

John Wagner has regretted killing off great characters because of their potential for stories, then found ways (some more successful than others) to get them back as a story telling option. To be honest, a slightly confused timeline involving four dimensional travel and (khaos) magic seems preferable to characters being caught in nets for 16 years. 

The real thing that distinguishes 2000ad from its competitors is the fact the men who created its most lucrative properties have been writing them for forty years. You could make the argument that at various points it would have been better to give someone with fresh energy and a different perspective a try, but we all saw how that worked out with Dredd.

Both Wagner and Mills have turned in absolutely dreadful work over the years, and then a short while later turned in strips that are as good as anything they've ever written.

Letting the original creators continue benefitting from their work by writing new adventures has its own benefits and drawbacks, which differ from the benefits and drawbacks of the more corporatist approach of other publishers. It isn't inherently better, but it is different, and more interesting for that. Sorry for writing so much, but I was enjoying myself.

Very nice analysis Butch, thanks for that.

if it's the last page of the story, yes same for me, and very low res indeed  .
I have no explanation and don't own prog 1239 to verify how it was originally printed.