2000 AD Online Forum

You're Matthew Smith.  Carlos Ezquerra is unavoidably delayed.  Do you (multiple choice)...

Link: Click to vote

Are they bringing back Diceman then?

Inside this issue You areâ?¦MATT SMITH!!!

Lordy. Origins is taking a break. It'll be back. Now can't we get over this?

Yes, let's talk about more important 2000ad-related events (here on the 2000AD messageboard).  Like, erm...?

...like the 30th birthday bash?

Assuming it's held this month, what with it being the 30th anniversay and all, I'll miss it 'cause I'm going to be in Australia for three weeks.

So I hope they do it in March when I get back!

Reprint classic Dredd stories like that one with The Osbournes.

:P

You're a 2000AD reader.  Origins is unavoidably delayed. Do you...

1. Enjoy one of the best story line-ups in 2000AD's almost 30-year history, whilst also looking forward to the return of Origins.

2. Whine like a motherfucker on multiple threads about the lack of a signed apology from Tharg being delivered to your doorstep by Prince Charles a nanosecond after the possibility of a delay was first discovered.

Out of interest, who are you directing that at?

Nobody in particular - I'm just being a smartarse.

(I replied to the thread-starter, who's anonymous as far as I know.)

Yeah.  That'd be me (as you can see if you click through to the poll or scroll down the main message index).

Just to make it clear - I'm not expressing a point of view myself in creating a poll.

James Mackay == Dudley?

I never knew that.

I'm not expressing a point of view myself in creating a poll.

I disagree. By creating a poll you are expressing an opinion that Matt Smith's actions as editor of 2000AD should be discussed by fans on 2000AD Online, and have already expressed the point of view that Rebellion should make a formal announcement.

Wake

I have?  Where?

...in your second post on the 'Origins returns in Prog...' thread.  You did say sshhhh though, so it was probably too low-profile to remember.

Ahhhh.  That was a joke, and only a joke.  Not that it matters, but I actually think Rebellion's made the right move not doing a big formal announcement.

Let's face it, Origins is good but not amazingly brilliant. The delay is going to compound that feeling. But most things in life never quite match up to one's expectations. I think it's called the 'deflated balloon' effect. :)

"By creating a poll you are expressing an opinion that Matt Smith's actions as editor of 2000AD should be discussed by fans on 2000AD Online, and have already expressed the point of view that Rebellion should make a formal announcement. "

Wake

--------------------

I may be wrong here but the poll was done by Matt Smith or one of his editorial droids! The thread was started by: 2000AD Online. If you check the poster's history, they include messages by Tharg.

Well, when you start a poll the computer thingy that controls the site flags up a thread with a link to the poll to draw attention to it. It's an automated thingy created, I think at the suggestion of UKdane, by the webmaster of this site who is called, what was it again, Wake?

I may be wrong here...

Yup.  If you click the link to the poll, it show's who created it (i.e. Dudley).  Unless everything we know about Tharg is... is... a lie!  Duds?  Are you green?

Well technically speaking I'm not wrong because the first post on this thead is by 2000AD Online. Check the poster's history:

http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=fan&page=messagethread&choice=2000AD%20Online&Comic=Username

 - and you see many messages are often signed by Tharg. Does James Mackay moonlight/do a good impression of Tharg?:)

No, you are simply wrong.

Origins is good but not amazingly brilliant

Very much a point of view, that - Origins is thrilling my socks off more than anything in a long while.  

On the other hand, I'm very happy that Tharg is mature enough to believe that giving Ezquerra the time he needs to deliver the goods is the right move, and is making the minimum amount of fuss about it.  If the interlude material so far had been reprint or sub-par Millar scripts excavated from the round file, we might have some cause to complain - but it's all been good, and EVERYTHING else in the Prog is top-notch in a way I can barely remember.  

Chill, Brother Moonbeam.  D'ese t'ings take tiiiime.

Threads started by 2000AD Online are created by the site when:

a) Someone posts a new poll, or
b) someone posts a news item.

There may be other reasons, but I can't remember what they are.

The reason that these threads do not appear as posted by the poll/news creator is because the poll/news item is attached to the user's real name rather than their username and some people may not necessarily want to disclose the link between the two.

ukdane probably suggested it. He has certainly asked me to fix the problem of multiple poll threads if a poll gets edited, which I still haven't found time to do.

Cheers,

Wake

I detest the 'we mustn't talk about it, let's talk about something else' sentiments that keep cropping up.  If people want to discuss it, just let them and the people who want to talk about something else, do so.

For the record I think it's a bit of a shame, and a bit of a mess, but I'll live.  And I voted that Matt Smith was right to do what he did.

I voted that an another artist should finish it, but I couldn't find the bit where I put my name in.

- pj

I don't care. As long as the conclusion to Origins sees the light of day, I can wait.

It's a conspiracy, I tell ye!
Greenbonce is tryin tae get us to buy the collected GN with the full uncut story!!!!!

:D

I don't mind the break, at all- we've had a few good stories- we may get some more. Hopefully, when it get's back, everything will kick off big time, with the huge slaughterfest between the Dredd kids and all those soldiers! If it turns out for the worse we can alway gurn later. I voted that Tharg made the right decision, because I don't want Origins spoiled by multiple artists, shit- split it into a trilogy if you want. I can see why some folks are getting fed up talking about it, but I just flick through most of it or look for another thread. If people want to talk about it, fine- I can also see that there's not been that much else to post about. it'll all be forgotten soon anyway.

In the end we're going to get the origins of Judge Dredd told for the first time from start to finish by his original creators.

When the delays is a distant memory that's gonna look pretty sweet on my bookshelf and that's all that matters to me.

I'm afraid that I've just accidentally deleted the poll data for this poll, so please recast your vote.

Cheers,

Wake

It's a conspiracy, I tell ye!


I'm afraid that I've just accidentally deleted the poll data for this poll,

 

Hmmmmm. Say no more.

New poll.

Do polls express the opinion of the pollster or is it an arbitrator viewpoint that might be of poll value?

Nothing personal Duds, it's just that this seems to be something like the ninth or tenth 'Where is Origins? When is Origins coming back?' type thread that I've read, and it all seems to come across to me as being a bit whiney and pointless. You'd think Matt and Carlos had cancelled Christmas, or something, the way some people have been going on.

You'd think Matt and Carlos had cancelled Christmas, or something, the way some people have been going on.

Not quite...

It's with regret that I'll have to stand in the negative camp. The story is about the origins of Dredd, it had a fair degree of hype, it was a story much or all of the fanbase were excited about and it's suffered the worst break in the history of Dredd. No other major Dredd story has had such a long break and I for one think it's been a disastrous blow. I'm sorry to say Origins will be remembered as much for its protacted delay as for its content. And to make things worse - the story was stopped at the worst moment - when Booth's troops were about to kidnap Fargo. You couldn't have picked a worst moment to delay the story.:(

Unforseen problems do arise so if Origins had to be delayed then it had to be delayed but even accepting that it's still been a disaster, arguably the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history. The story's pacing has been destroyed.

"the story was stopped at the worst moment - when Booth's troops were about to kidnap Fargo. You couldn't have picked a worst moment to delay the story.:( "

I'm inclined to go the other way. The fact that people on this site are going nuts for its return I think it was the perfect time to take a break. It ended on a massive cliff-hanger which has got everyone wanting to know what's going to happen. Job done.

I dunno, I'm not exactly over the moon that the story isn't running to it's conclusion as I type, but I can still remember that last panel of Rico, Dredd and the paratroopers pretty well.

As for the poll, are these the worst options for a poll ever?
A. Yes
B. Durrr...
C. No
D. Do you want fries with that?

"a) Have an extended break and fill it with other Dredd stories"

As the problem seems to be in Andorra, not here, then what else can you do.

"b) Hand some Origins episodes over to another artist."

Well, then you potentially upset the artist (who has had such upsets before on Dredd) and the readers.  It's not a story that natural needs another artist like the Judge Child.

"c) Make a formal announcement to the industry and the fans about the break."

Get real, release a press statement saying it's all gone pear-shaped?  Tharg said it was going to be away for a few weeks, maybe he should have said a while, but he did tell us, in the comic, which people read.  What's the point in releasing it on the net or to a magazine that not everybody does read?
 
"d) Let the news come out gradually."

He told the readers, if anyone isn't reading 2000AD by now for Origins they aren't going to come back because an important story is on hiatus.

e) Cancel Judge Dredd for some weeks.

Why on earth would 2000AD ever cancel Dredd willingly.  At least this way Dredd fans have something to keep them going, and they haven't been bad stories.

f) Fill in with reprints of classic-era Dredd.

Desperate.

g) Anything that'll free up your time to edit two comics simultaneously and planning a great 30th birthday bash

Irresponsible.

moonbeam - I hereby unmask you as the internet supervillain Captain Hyperbole!  (Either that or you're just an enormous troll who's managed to goad the following reply out of me.)

"a disastrous blow": No, that would be prog 1208 you're thinking of.

"Origins will be remembered as much for its protacted delay as for its content": Not by me.

"the story was stopped at the worst moment": No, a cliffhanger is the perfect place to stop a story for a break.  See also: The Empire Strikes Back.

"the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history": Wouldn't that be something more like not having any new Dredd to print and being forced to reprint "You Bet Your Life" from prog 25 in prog 268?  (And even there, hardly the worst thing in the world.)  Probably my vote would go for some aspect of Millar-Dredd, like Inferno (& associates).

"The story's pacing has been destroyed": See The Empire Strikes Back again, for that one.

You couldn't be more full of it if you went on a feeding frenzy at the local treatment plant.

"the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history":

Progs 784 to 888 contain NO Wagner Dredd:

The 136 prog gap is filled with:

Garth Ennis (58%)
Millar/Morrison (26%)
Alan McKenzie (9%)

and a few other unnoteworthy efforts

"the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history"?

No.
   

progs 754 to 784 even!

"Disasterous blow"?

I was the talk of the town- "lucky bastard", they were whispering behind my back.  If only they'd known the truth: that most desirable woman in town or not, she blew like a duck and gave me genital herpes for my trouble.

Now that's a disasterous blow*.  This is a break in the story- a bit like 'Origins book 1', if you like.  Pretty good place for a break as well.









*some (or indeed all) of this story might be complete bullshit.  Especially the bit about the genital herpes.

It looks like we'll have to wait a little over two months between episodes, ignoring the (so far) solid interlude material.  In the wider world of comic books, this would be called 'keeping pretty much to schedule'.  We're just spoiled.

And Moonbeam, the 'pace' of a story has little to do with the time between its episodes seeing print - it's an internal thing.  See Cerebus for an example - kept a 20-pages-a-month schedule as regular as clockwork for 300 issues, but sometimes it rocketted along, other (latter) times it dragged itself out like slow-motion fingernail-pulling.  

Anyway, my definition of 'disastrous' would be a reprint of Prog 855's 'Judge Tyrannosaur'.  Or indeed, Prog 855 itself, an issue so bad that I had genuinely completely blocked it from memory until I found it again over Christmas.

Whisper the name, lest ye raise it from slumber!



Millar: setting the benchmark for low quality Dredd, thus helping everyone else shine.  He should be thanked.

Did Ron Smith do something bad in a previous life or something?

Fancy getting lumbered with that, Chronos Carnival and the revamped Rogue Trooper...

- Steve

Ron did some lovely colour work, didn't he?  I remember hating his stuff at the time- especially his Dredds.  They look fantastic to me now...

""Disasterous blow"?

I was the talk of the town- "lucky bastard", they were whispering behind my back. If only they'd known the truth: that most desirable woman in town or not, she blew like a duck and gave me genital herpes for my trouble.

Now that's a disasterous blow*. This is a break in the story- a bit like 'Origins book 1', if you like. Pretty good place for a break as well."

--------------------------

Well, there are 'diasterous' blows and 'disastrous' blows. Depends how you choose to spell it. :)

Easy cowboy.

""the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history":

Progs 784 to 888 contain NO Wagner Dredd:

The 136 prog gap is filled with:

Garth Ennis (58%)
Millar/Morrison (26%)
Alan McKenzie (9%)

and a few other unnoteworthy efforts

"the biggest cock-up in Dredd's 30 year strip history"?

No."

Yeah but what you fail to consider, Watcher, is this is ORIGINS - it's not your average Joe Shmoe Dredd story. Having a 10 week gap during one of the most significant Dredd epics there's ever been is close to my idea of the worst cock-up in Dredd's history! Does the dodgy 'didn't die in the lava pit yet we saw it' Return of the Angel Gang episode beat it? Nope.

"You couldn't be more full of it if you went on a feeding frenzy at the local treatment plant."

I sense a flame war coming on. I better get my candle.

:)))

Yawn...

I'm glad that we are having the break to get it looking right and 'complete'...good decision.