So, to save time, the best is Moore and Redondo's 'The Time Machine'.
But, with that out of the way, what's the second best? I have thoughts, but I want to hear yours. :-)
*For the purposes of keeping the thread title manageable, please take "Future Shock" as a place-holder for Shocks, Time Twisters, Terror Tales, and any other single-issue stories under a shared series banner, even —shudder — Vector 13
The Wages of Sin.
There's no particular twist, it's not as clever as Chronocops, and it's not wildly original. But it's all in the execution, and it is, to me, the single funniest, most oddly charming, and most memorable of all the Alan Moore one-shots. Let's be honest - which of us wouldn't have signed up for that scheme? And which of us would have paid for a stamp?
Plus - that Talbot art!
Funniest line: "You don't just wave!"
Yet another Mr Moore, Dr Dibworthy's disappointing day. A handfull of panels, with the twist entirely in the hands of the artist, as Dr Dibworthy fails time and again to alter history. I love the small details.
Oh great game Jim. I'll play.
Only to avoid this being a Moore Fest and to mix it up a little I'm going to go with the first thing that popped into my mind and that was a Terror Tale by John Smith and the late great Edmund Bagwell called 'Blackspot' a bit of Barneying later and that's Prog 1801 (and reprinted in the Meg 389). Couple driving past an accident blackspot and seeing... well.. its really really chilling.
I could go even more recent to Prog 2149 and Conjested Anima by Mark McCann, Kate Holloway and Glen Fabry - did get a little extra room but used it REALLY well. Fantastic story.
I'm sure there's be LOADS more I like as much if I delved back but these two immediately sprang to mind so I'll go with them.
I'm a big fan of the Ro-Jaws' Robo-Tales and whilst the best title goes to "The Revolt Of The Tick Tock Monkey-Bomb", there's more pathos to be had in "Droids Are Dispensable" (prog 181, S: Gary Rice, A: Brett Ewins, L: Tony Jacob).
Ring road. Another Moore/Redondo one, I believe.
Alan Moore, naturally, and (I think) John Higgins:
The Last Rumble of the Platinum Horde
Quote from: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 16 April, 2020, 02:31:10 AM
Alan Moore, naturally, and (I think) John Higgins:
The Last Rumble of the Platinum Horde
I will rate this as one of my best but in more recent ones I will give it to
Congested Anima (prog 2149). Not only a great story but some wonderful art as well.
Chronocops. The noir-style narration, the visual jokes, the names. Just great.
Quote from: abelardsnazz on 16 April, 2020, 09:25:06 AM
Chronocops. The noir-style narration, the visual jokes, the names. Just great.
Interesting. Somebody with the username abelardsnazz goes for something that doesn't feature Abelard Snazz in it! :)
My pick - that one where we follow the protagonist encountering an alien or robot, but it turns out that the alien or robot is actually a human/Earth.
(that's, like, most of the early Future-Shocks).
Was he trapped in a virtual reality prison?
I love the The Reversible Man for how it makes you think afresh about the joys and tragedies of life, but for sheer chills Ring Road edges it - I'm still haunted by those planets and ghouls looming out of the Redondo murk. But where did the money come from?
For non-Moores I love Millar & Hughes Long Distance Calls. That's some drokked-up stomm right there, and by far the best thing Millar ever wrote for Tooth.
Long Distance Calls is one of my favourites as well. Spooky stuff, and with a penultimate page that appeared to have emerged from the mind of John Smith rather than Mark Millar. Tales From Beyond Science was pretty great on the whole, to the point I grabbed the HC when it was (briefly) available.
The Hit, prog 625. Only two pages, but it's a great idea and feels like the pilot for a series. I still think it would make a great series. One of half a dozen or so stories that appeared around the same time written by a Larry Watson who then was never heard from again.
Quote from: sheridan on 16 April, 2020, 10:07:19 AM
Quote from: abelardsnazz on 16 April, 2020, 09:25:06 AM
Chronocops. The noir-style narration, the visual jokes, the names. Just great.
Interesting. Somebody with the username abelardsnazz goes for something that doesn't feature Abelard Snazz in it! :)
Rumours of my genius are greatly overestimated!
My Moore/Redondo pick goes to Sunburn, which makes me laugh every time.
But my real answer is aFuture Shock whose name I can't recall. It's definitely Belardinelli art, I think in the 600s, and is about art and creation. Might be the one called Still Life? There's a two-panel sequence with a repeated abstract painting where the first one says "a masterpiece of originality" and the second says "Oh grout, not that one again." It's very meta, my kind of thing.
You got it: Still Life, prog 616 (S: David Anderson, A: Massimo Belardinelli).
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I'm very fond of the madness that is The Hyper-Histronic Headbang (prog 322, S: Alan Moore, A: Alan Davis).
For me The Last Rumbe of the Platinum Horde is by far the best.
The second best is The English / Phlondrutian Phrasebook.
After that it's The Abelard Snazz stories and DR & Quich Have Fun on Earth (if that counts).
Quote from: Magnetica on 18 April, 2020, 11:14:52 AM
For me The Last Rumbe of the Platinum Horde is by far the [ second ] best.
The [ second ] second best is The English / Phlondrutian Phrasebook.
After that it's The Abelard Snazz stories and DR & Quich Have Fun on Earth (if that counts).
FTFY. :-)
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 18 April, 2020, 01:53:06 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 18 April, 2020, 11:14:52 AM
For me The Last Rumbe of the Platinum Horde is by far the [ second ] best.
The [ second ] second best is The English / Phlondrutian Phrasebook.
After that it's The Abelard Snazz stories and DR & Quich Have Fun on Earth (if that counts).
FTFY. :-)
That's very kind of you to acknowledge the superiority of my nominations Jim...
what...
huh...
...not what you were doing...
...sorry don't get it...
Last Rumble of the Platinum Horde can't be the best, only the second best, per the terms of the thread. :-)
(https://i.imgur.com/gt3b9YC.jpg)
Quote from: AlexF on 16 April, 2020, 09:42:15 PM
But my real answer is aFuture Shock whose name I can't recall. It's definitely Belardinelli art, I think in the 600s, and is about art and creation. Might be the one called Still Life? There's a two-panel sequence with a repeated abstract painting where the first one says "a masterpiece of originality" and the second says "Oh grout, not that one again." It's very meta, my kind of thing.
That's
Termination Explanation in prog 672, by Paul Carstairs and Massimo Bellardinelli.
Still Life was something else (also Bellardinelli).
Candy and the Catchman published in prog 491.
Grant Morrison and John Ridgeway - great world building for a one and done and a fine twist - I was that soldier!
Another vote for Chronocops.
It's all so very good, but especially the homage to the artwork of 1950s MAD, plus the panels with the cops returning to base.