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Goodbye Carlos

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 01 October, 2018, 03:57:12 PM

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sheridan

My take on things Strontium.

I would not want to see Johnny Alpha or the Sternhammers again (and this is from somebody who liked all the Starlord strips, plus the No-Go Job / Final Solution, so I'm not completely averse to other artists having contributed to the existing stories).  I'm completely fine with further adventures of Durham Red, Middenface McNulty (and his dug), Fuzzes, Maeves, and other stories set in the same milieu.

As for Spector - rights-permitting I'd either want what the current plan appears to be, or an all-star cast of writers and/or artists filling the rest of the pages, with original art or proceeds going to the family.

matty_ae

I agree with Sheridan
and certainly it was nice to hear in the ThrillCast that Matt Smith's inclination was to end Stront Dog.

I'm not sure I even want to see more Durham in the last incarnation as actually I king of wanted it all to link up.



The Adventurer

#167
If we were to see more Stontium Dog, I'd like to see an entire Prog dedicated to different writers and artists doing apocryphal endings to the series, as a tribute. 'Whatever Happened to the Strontium Dog?' And then retire it.

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Woolly

Quote from: The Adventurer on 18 October, 2018, 05:32:14 PM
'Whatever Happened to the Strontium Dog?'

The beauty of this is that we've already had it, and it was by John and Carlos.
It was fairly recent too, but I can't remember if it was in a prog or a special...

Frank

Quote from: matty_ae on 18 October, 2018, 04:27:33 PM
... it was nice to hear in the ThrillCast that Matt Smith's inclination was to end Stront Dog

... and that he thinks that will be John Wagner's wish, too. I agree with other commentators that the symbolic restoration of the Sternhammer-Alpha partnership brought the strip full circle and was a touching end to the Resurrection era stories*

We already knew how Johnny and Wulf died. Now we know how their story ended **




* Which, in the end, turned out to be all about undoing the misguided decision(s) to end the lives of those characters in the first place.

** Perfectly.  If you can read that last page without welling-up, see a doctor.

The Adventurer

Quote from: Woolly on 18 October, 2018, 06:09:38 PM
Quote from: The Adventurer on 18 October, 2018, 05:32:14 PM
'Whatever Happened to the Strontium Dog?'

The beauty of this is that we've already had it, and it was by John and Carlos.
It was fairly recent too, but I can't remember if it was in a prog or a special...
You arent thinking of the What if Wulf hadn't died? one-off are you?

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Funt Solo

What If Max Bubba Hadn't Killed Wulf; prog 1772; Alan Grant, Carlos Ezquerra & Ellie De Ville

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Steve Green

Quote from: Frank on 18 October, 2018, 06:15:15 PM
Quote from: matty_ae on 18 October, 2018, 04:27:33 PM
... it was nice to hear in the ThrillCast that Matt Smith's inclination was to end Stront Dog

... and that he thinks that will be John Wagner's wish, too. I agree with other commentators that the symbolic restoration of the Sternhammer-Alpha partnership brought the strip full circle and was a touching end to the Resurrection era stories*

We already knew how Johnny and Wulf died. Now we know how their story ended **




* Which, in the end, turned out to be all about undoing the misguided decision(s) to end the lives of those characters in the first place.

** Perfectly.  If you can read that last page without welling-up, see a doctor.


It was affecting at the time - now, it carries so much weight.

Frank

Quote from: Steve Green on 18 October, 2018, 07:12:04 PM
Quote from: Frank on 18 October, 2018, 06:15:15 PM
We already knew how Johnny and Wulf died. Now we know how their story ended ... Perfectly

It was affecting at the time - now, it carries so much weight.

The middle panel of Wulf looking down gets me. That's Carlos.




'So all is vell that is ending vell'.   


And now I'm a proper wreck

Richard

Personally I would like Strontium Dog to continue for as long as Wagner wants to write them. Carlos was the definitive artist, but we've had other artists before. I'd be quite happy for Colin MacNeil to carry on.

As for the creator-owner series, that doesn't mean someone else can't finish the job, if Carlos's estate don't object.

maryanddavid

Whatever John thinks on Stront will probably be the best way to leave it.
I for one would miss it sorely from the Prog, and it would be such a pity to leave Carlos' best (IMO) creation to posterity.
Stront for me is the best series in the prog, great character, great design, great world building. If JW is involved, I'd be more than happy to see it back.  The argument to leave Carlos' work on Stront as a monument to his work, is a strong one.
On the other hand in twenty years time, a lot of us will be hitting the seventy mark, if there is no new material who (new) will remember his amazing design and artwork on Stront, other than us buying the 'new' essential collections. Its a tough one.


Trooper McFad

We all love Stront and the way Carlos Drew and John wrote/writes the stories and the case may well be strong to stop.But as maryanddavid says who will remember the characters in twenty years time if no more are written or drawn just us old farts! That's no way to honour the great man. Give it a rest for a year or two and try new upcoming artists and writers and yes the first ones may be a bit guff to us but you don't fold a football club because the cup winning team have moved on you keep going till you find the next winning team. If 2000ad is to continue for another 40 years the next generation have to fall in love with the next generation of artists and writers and drawing classic characters can help them with this.
Dredd keeps going because the teams keep changing good and bad. Could you imagine the prog without Dredd!!!
The prog would be a lesser entity if we could not get a (well written) adventure or two from Johnny and the Dogs in future years keeping the memory of Carlos alive i.e. Bob Kane & Batman
Everyone will have their opinion on how to honour Carlos and with our generation nobody will top him but there is another another great artist out there somewhere maybe even inspired by Carlos so I really do hope it's not the end of Johnny Alpha. Let the character live and so will the memory of Carlos.
The King is dead long live the King.
Citizens are Perps who haven't been caught ... yet!

IndigoPrime

I suppose Strontium Dog was never really a house character. So just dishing him out willy nilly would be disrespectful. Then again, none of John Smith's characters were either, and yet we now have Indigo Prime, Devlin Waugh and even Tyranny Rex written by others. (Although those always had a range of artists, and so it wasn't the same kind of 'unit' as Strontium Dog was for the majority of its run.)

I'm still in two minds about this. The strip ended well, and Ezquerra's art was so vital to the strip, in a manner that just isn't the case for, say, Dredd. (Arguably, his design was instrumental there, but others do a perfectly good MC1. I liked the energy and enthusiasm in Harrison's SD art, but it did also feel like a different world in many ways.) I can't really think of any current 2000 AD artist I'd want to see on the strip. I know Colin MacNeil did some SD, but his work has a kind of stiffness that butts up against the organic nature of SD.

Or perhaps if it were to happen, the only way forward would be to ensure there is no comparison, by doing something very different. Anyway, academic really if Matt Smith and John Wagner are against any more.

Greg M.

To me, the best way to honour Carlos's legacy is not to continue the strips he created, but to do what he did best and by all accounts loved most, professionally-speaking - create new characters and stories.

Richard

I read "The Son" as a new beginning, rather than as an ending.

Anyway, if "The Son" is to be reprinted in another regular-style graphic novel likecthe rest of the Strontium Dog stories, we need more new material to fill out that volume. At the moment, the only uncollected Stront stories are The Son and the Dredd crossover "By Private Contract" from prog 2000. Unless there are already enough covers to fill half a graphic novel, we'll never see a complete run of Stront reprints. Even if The Son is reprinted in an Ultimate volume, it's not the same. I have a complete run of Stront and that's where I want to see the last Stront stories.