Quote from: DrJomster on 26 February, 2018, 09:44:45 PM
This thread should be an annual event, like the excellent Best Covers ones. I'm looking forward to Best Strips of 2018 already!
Well you need look forward no longer, because here it is :D
Yes, once again it's time to vote for your three favourite 2000 AD strips of the past year. Please rank them, it's three points for your 1st place choice down the one point for 3rd place. Please don't do joint placings as the scoring gets too complicated.
Here's the list of candidates, compiled by looking through the 2018 section of the online shop. I've omitted Dredd, as it seems a bit unfair to compare the comic's weekly fixture against the rest of its ever-changing roster. I've also left out one-shots from the year's specials, and Future Shocks. However I've left in Infestinauts because even though it's a 3riller, as a 3-part story it's long enough to judge. Please let me know if I've missed any other non-single-issue strips.
A.B.C. Warriors
Anderson
Bad Company
Brass Sun
Brink
Durham Red
The Fall Of Deadworld
Fiends Of The Eastern Front
Grey Area
Infestinauts
Jaegir
Kingdom
Mechastopheles
The Order
Savage
Sinister Dexter
Skip Tracer
Strontium Dog
Survival Geeks
A reminder of last year's top 3:
Brink (51 pts)
The Fall of Deadworld (25 pts)
Hope ...for the Future (17 pts)
This time round, will even half a Brink strip prove too much of a match for the competition?
Only
you can decide!
Brink 3
Grey Area 2
Strontium Dog 1
1 — Brink
2 — Jaegir
3 — Kingdom
Although, I have to say that I enjoyed pretty much everything on that list, to the extent that there's nothing on there that I'd be sorry to see make a return appearance in 2019.
(Did we really get through a whole year without a series of Slaine...?)
1 - Brink
2 - Deadworld
3 - Grey Area
When was Kingmaker and when's it coming back? I loved that one.
1. Jaegir
Short, sharp and utterly electrifying, courtesy of Gordon Rennie's literate script and the sublime vision of Simon Coleby and Len O'Grady.
2. Strontium Dog
Sentimental reasons? Hell, maybe. Still, no-one writes quite as effortlessly and exquisitely as John Wagner; and no art will ever complement a strip as well as that of Carlos Ezquerra.
3. Survival Geeks
OK so perhaps the fact they themed a whole arc around Doctor Who has something to do with this. But I love 'em anyway.
Honourable mentions to the mighty triumvirate of Dan Abnett epics Brink, Kingdom and Grey Area, as well as Kek-W's Fall Of Deadworld. Actually I think the only reason Brink isn't in the top three is that I know it's going to be even better in 2019.
I also loved the re-tooled Durham Red and Fiends Of The Western Front; Mechastopheles proved its worth as a full-length proposition; and Infestinauts can't return too soon.
Fiends of the Eastern Front (My phone changed 'fiends' to 'friends')
Durham Red
Fall of Deadworld (or 'Deadwood' according for my phone.
Occurs to me there is a bit of a theme in my choices.
1: Strontium Dog
2: Jaegir
3: Savage
1 Jaegir
2. Brass Sun
3. Fiends of the Eastern Front
Well 2018 was a very good year. Runner-ups: Brink, Deadworld and Strontium Dog
1- Fiends of the Eastern Front
2- Brink
3- Strontium Dog
1. Kingdom
Did it end? Who knows? Regardless, this has been one of my favourite strips in 2000 AD's history, and the latest strip was as good as it's ever been.
2. Fiends Of The Eastern Front
A nicely chilling take on a strip that of late appears to have far more scope than I'd ever thought. I really liked the historic aspect, pulling in threads that made me think of Hellboy.
3. Durham Red
To my mind, the first time the character's really been done service. Great art, although the switch halfway through jarred. Hard to know where they will take this now Carlos is no longer with us, mind (on the basis that
it's very unlikely we'll now see any more Strontium Dog).
HMs
Brink: Smart plotting, great art, and proof that slow-burn and talky doesn't mean boring
The Fall Of Deadworld: Relentlessly creepy and horrifying, although not _quite_ at the heights of last year for me, in part due to the rather too overt elseworlds stuff creeping in
1 - Brink
2 - Fiends
3 - Grey Area
Brink has been a massive favourite of mine since it started and continues to hit all the right notes; wonderful storytelling featuring some astonishingly beautiful art.
Fiends... My initial misgivings about a revisit to the world of Constanta & Co. were happily misplaced and I loved this to bits (I wasn't a massive fan of the Stalingrad outing). Different enough but familiar at the same time and Dave Taylor's art has been bloody marvelous!
For 3rd place in a strong year I opted for Grey Area mainly since, for me, it's developed really, really well lately - interesting characters with lots of detail in plot and art (as well as sufficient humour) means it's another great 2000AD world to get lost in.
1) Brink
2) Brass Sun
3) The Fall Of Deadworld
I always enjoy it when older strips like Strontium Dog, Durham Red, and Sinister Dexter show up though.
Forgot Grey Area!
Oh... i'll stick to my guns.
1st - Strontium Dog
2nd - Fiends
3rd - Savage.
3- Brass Sun
2- Kingdom
1- Fiends Of The Eastern Front
I began the year re-reading all of Brass Sun to date so that was a necesssary inclusion, and similarly with Kingdom's second Ultimate Collection volume dropping the late part of the year I was all in with Gene & co.
But Dave Taylor's art on Fiends made it top my list.
What a great year- here's to more great thrills in 2019!
1 jaegir
2 fall of deadworld
3 survival geeks
1. jaegir
2. brass sun
3. fiends
Love these polls. It would be a bit clearer though to either say: 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, otherwise it's a bit ambiguous isn't it? *ducks for cover in case it's actually obvious to everyone else*
1st Brink
2nd Jaegir
3rd Strontium Dog
1st Brink
2nd Grey Area
3rd Savage.
For me it's Brink by a country mile. Honourable mention for Survival Geeks, which went from being not really my thing to me actually quite liking it.
Also it seems a bit harsh to leave out Kingdom, but you can only vote for so many.
1st. Brink
2nd. Grey Area
3rd. Mechastopholes
Its very difficult this year and I'm sad to leave out a few, loved the recent Sinister Dexter, Fiends and Dead World but I'll go for
3rd - Kingdom - if that is the end it was a great one
2nd - Brass Sun
1st - Brink
Quote from: DrJomster on 03 January, 2019, 10:58:03 PM
Love these polls. It would be a bit clearer though to either say: 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, otherwise it's a bit ambiguous isn't it? *ducks for cover in case it's actually obvious to everyone else*
I did wonder about that after I just listed 1-2-3; I meant these as the ranks rather than the points and I guess most people intend the same?
Quote from: wedgeski on 03 January, 2019, 11:46:55 AM
Brink 3
Grey Area 2
Strontium Dog 1
Just to be clear: I have listed the number of points I wish to award each strip, with Brink my favourite strip of the year. :)
Quote from: DrJomster on 03 January, 2019, 10:58:03 PM
Love these polls. It would be a bit clearer though to either say: 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, otherwise it's a bit ambiguous isn't it? *ducks for cover in case it's actually obvious to everyone else*
Good point :-\
Probably best if people stick to this format when posting their votes:
1st x
2nd x
3rd x
I think most of the posts are pretty clear - thanks for your clarification, wedgeski :)
I may be the only one who misunderstood then. If a mod wants to delete my earlier post that would help but really I like them all.
1st Fiends Of The Eastern Front
2nd Kingdom
3rd Brass Sun
Quote from: Tomwe on 03 January, 2019, 07:49:29 PM
3- Brass Sun
2- Kingdom
1- Fiends Of The Eastern Front
I began the year re-reading all of Brass Sun to date so that was a necesssary inclusion, and similarly with Kingdom's second Ultimate Collection volume dropping the late part of the year I was all in with Gene & co.
But Dave Taylor's art on Fiends made it top my list.
What a great year- here's to more great thrills in 2019!
No worries, I got that! You mentioned in your post that Fiends topped the list.
1st - strontium dog
2nd - brink
3rd - grey area
Honourable mention but no points (soz) to fiends.
The small house was story of the year tho. No doubt. Despite the forum naysayers.
3 - The Fall of Deadworld
2 - Gray Area
1 - Brink
My undisputed top 3:
1-Strontium Dog
2- Kingdom
3- Jaegir
1st Durham Red
2nd Strontium Dog
3rd Kingdom
3rd-Strontium Dog
2nd-Fall of Deadworld
1st-Brink
This year was a bit tougher then last year. I didn't think this year's The Order was as good as previous outings (Armored Gideon didn't seem to add much to the story). Mechastopheles was a good continuation of the 3riller, but hasn't wowed me yet (except the art). Fiends of the Eastern Front was actually pretty good! But not top 3 contender. Brass Sun was another solid showing, love that series. Skip Tracer is serviceable but unexciting. The Grey Area is going places, and I enjoy it a lot. I actually can't remember what exactly Jaegir was about this year, I'm sure it was good. But if I can't recall it, not a great sign. I wish Survival Geeks was better. Sinister Dexter got kinda weird with the WWII Commando comic thing, not really what I'm looking for in Sin-Dex. Bad Company... was really not very good for me. I actually think color hurt it. Kingdom was good as always, but not super exciting.
1: Fall of Dead world.
2: Jaegir
3: Brink
Z
1st Stront - a fitting end to the strip, if end there must be, with it's theme of having to fill the boots of legends.
2nd Infestinauts - Now Brink should probably be here if I was voting purely on enjoyment, but MORE NEW STUFF THARG. That is all
3rd Durham Red - I'm also of the opinion Red has never hit the spot for me in all her iterations, including the original, so this is a winner for me, mostly, though the odd unexplained super speed stuff at the end pushes it down to 3rd slot.
Quote from: BPP on 04 January, 2019, 12:56:27 PM
The small house was story of the year tho. No doubt. Despite the forum naysayers.
Yep totally agree with that. Indeed the best Dredd story for a while - probably since Ladykiller.
Quote from: Magnetica on 06 January, 2019, 02:34:29 PM
Quote from: BPP on 04 January, 2019, 12:56:27 PM
The small house was story of the year tho. No doubt. Despite the forum naysayers.
Yep totally agree with that. Indeed the best Dredd story for a while - probably since Ladykiller.
Totally agree Small House was not only one off the best Dredd stories the last few years it was one of the best stories this year.
1st - Brink
2nd - Fall of Deadworld
3rd - Grey Area
1st Brink
2nd Grey Area
3rd Fiends of the Eastern Front
I guess we'll give this until the end of tomorrow (Wed 9th) if that's OK?
Haven't done any counting yet but it looks like a winner may have emerged...
Quote from: norton canes on 08 January, 2019, 12:45:41 PM
Haven't done any counting yet but it looks like a winner may have emerged...
[spoiler]Skip Tracer?[/spoiler]
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 08 January, 2019, 12:53:31 PM
Quote from: norton canes on 08 January, 2019, 12:45:41 PM
Haven't done any counting yet but it looks like a winner may have emerged...
[spoiler]Skip Tracer?[/spoiler]
I did the count and yes [spoiler]Skip Tracer[/spoiler] might just edge it.....
Hope not too late:
1st Brink
2nd Fiends
3rd Grey Area
SBT
Too late for my vote to count but my top 3 for 2018 were:
1st Strontium Dog
2nd Brink
3rd Durham Red
Honourable mentions to
Sinister Dexter
Fiends Of The Eastern Front
Grey Area
Cheers
Sean
No, it's OK, not counted them yet! Probably do the sums tomorrow :)
Quote from: norton canes on 09 January, 2019, 04:59:10 PM
No, it's OK, not counted them yet! Probably do the sums tomorrow :)
Looking forward to seeing this. Sterling job Norton Canes.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 09 January, 2019, 05:01:21 PM
Looking forward to seeing this. Sterling job Norton Canes.
Will quickly sneak in my votes then:
1. Brink
2. Survival Geeks
3. Strontium Dog
01. Brink (this strip will most probably be the best of 2019 too)
02. Lawless
03. Jaegir
Cheers Norton :thumbsup:
My votes:
1st - Brink
2nd - Fiends of the Eastern Front
3rd - Fall of Deadworld
Always I am late to these poll threads!
My list:
1st Survival Geeks
2nd Brink
3rd Sinister Dexter
(I feel bad putting Brink at the top when it's an incomplete thrill - but I'll be honest and say this third series hasn't been quite as good as the first two, although I'm desperate to see how it unfolds)
Honourable mentions from me - Bad Company (mostly for the Return of the Mac); Mechastopheles (Another series with a clearer plot could propel this into Nemesis-level fun); Fiends (Dave Taylor's art especially, but Trevallion's working wonders too); Durham Red
And yes, best thrill of the year was actually Judge Dredd: the Small House. Hand on heart, not a vintage year for my money. The Megazine, on the other hand, that's been on scorching form!
OK, the results are in! (hoping my counting skills have been accurate...)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
Brink | 16 | 4 | 1 | 57 |
Strontium Dog | 6 | 2 | 5 | 27 |
Jaegir | 4 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
Fiends Of The Eastern Front | 3 | 5 | 3 | 22 |
Grey Area | | 4 | 5 | 13 |
The Fall Of Deadworld | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
Durham Red | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Kingdom | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Brass Sun | | 4 | 1 | 9 |
Survival Geeks | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Savage | | | 3 | 3 |
Infestinauts | | 1 | | 2 |
Mechastopheles | | | 1 | 1 |
Sinister Dexter | | | 1 | 1 |
A.B.C. Warriors | | | | 0 |
Anderson | | | | 0 |
Bad Company | | | | 0 |
Skip Tracer | | | | 0 |
The Order | | | | 0 |
Clearly, not even the fact that only half a chapter was published diminished the extraordinary appeal of Brink. I wonder if its runaway popularity will influence Tharg to go for more long-form strips?
In the year we lost one of its much-loved co-creators, it's fantastic to see that the latest, and hopefully not the last, installment of Strontium Dog proved a massive favourite; and two strips with their roots in war stories from progs past tie for third place, making a cast-iron top four.
Continuing down the table ten other strips accumulated points, leaving a further five to wonder what might have been. Should we include Dredd in the voting next year? Alternatively, I thought perhaps a separate vote for best Dredd story might be a good idea (but someone else might have to run that one!)
Anyone who missed the deadline, don't worry, post your votes! It's always good to read what people like. NB there was one set of votes I didn't score - Batman's Superior Cousin, I wasn't sure of your reverse 3-2-1 (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=45626.msg999173#msg999173) denoted points or positions. Sorry!
That's that, then. Let the discussion commence...
The other story there is probably Fiends? Great to see new(ish) blood doing well.
Great to see a resounding win for Brink. For me it really does rank as highly as anything we have had in the Prog ever - yes even early Slaine, Nemesis, Zenith etc.
As you say it would be great to see more long form stories in the Prog....on the other hand, as you said earlier, Skip Tracer had more episodes than anything else last year (ok they were different stories) but it didn't score a single point. I guess that just underlines that it is quality that counts, rather than (just) the number of appearances.
Thanks for the trouble hosting this and I think doing a separate vote for Dredd .
Quote from: norton canes on 10 January, 2019, 10:16:15 AM
Anyone who missed the deadline, don't worry, post your votes! It's always good to read what people like. NB there was one set of votes I didn't score - Batman's Superior Cousin, I wasn't sure of your reverse 3-2-1 (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=45626.msg999173#msg999173) denoted points or positions. Sorry!
Good grief man, it quite clearly meand Third, Second, First Place in descending order. If there was any confusing, you could have just messaged me. It's not rocket science mate!!
Anyway, I'll start a Favourite Judge Dredd story next year, if anyone wants me to!!
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 10 January, 2019, 02:28:01 PM
Good grief man, it quite clearly meand Third, Second, First Place in descending order. If there was any confusing, you could have just messaged me. It's not rocket science mate!!
Equally, it wouldn't have been rocket science to read the post from norton which preceded yours that clearly said he'd assume 1st, 2nd, 3rd in that order unless explicitly stated otherwise.
What a year for Dan Abnett. Not only does he take the top spot but he has three stories in the top ten!
Hopefully we will see more Brink in the coming years. If it has to end now please give is a proper edning (I am looking at you Kingdom :lol:)
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 January, 2019, 02:40:25 PM
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 10 January, 2019, 02:28:01 PM
Good grief man, it quite clearly meand Third, Second, First Place in descending order. If there was any confusing, you could have just messaged me. It's not rocket science mate!!
Equally, it wouldn't have been rocket science to read the post from norton which preceded yours that clearly said he'd assume 1st, 2nd, 3rd in that order unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Looking through his last post, I see absolutely no mention of this.
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 10 January, 2019, 06:57:28 PM
Looking through his last post, I see absolutely no mention of this.
(https://i.imgur.com/yknfvH4.jpg)
Please herewith find the results table updated to include the voting of Batman's Superior Cousin:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
Brink | 17 | 4 | 1 | 60 |
Strontium Dog | 6 | 2 | 5 | 27 |
Jaegir | 4 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
Fiends Of The Eastern Front | 3 | 5 | 3 | 22 |
Grey Area | | 5 | 5 | 15 |
The Fall Of Deadworld | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
Durham Red | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Kingdom | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Brass Sun | | 4 | 1 | 9 |
Survival Geeks | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Savage | | | 3 | 3 |
Infestinauts | | 1 | | 2 |
Mechastopheles | | | 1 | 1 |
Sinister Dexter | | | 1 | 1 |
A.B.C. Warriors | | | | 0 |
Anderson | | | | 0 |
Bad Company | | | | 0 |
Skip Tracer | | | | 0 |
The Order | | | | 0 |
Quote from: JamesC on 10 January, 2019, 02:58:47 PM
What a year for Dan Abnett. Not only does he take the top spot but he has three stories in the top ten!
And no doubt Lawless would win a Megazine story of the year poll if there was one.
Wow the clear winner aside that's really interesting.
Feel bad that Bad Company and The Order didn't get a single point and loved the second book of Skip Tracer, when it was sat next to some absolutely stella thrills it held its own.
Thanks for doing this Norton Cane.
Thanks for running this! Good fun!
If we do more polls, I'd suggest just giving the results of just the top ten positions say. That way there's no highlighting of cases with nil points, which can come about just due to the way the voting is done. I quite like Skip Tracer for example. It just wasn't in my top three.
Lots of love for Brink I see.
Ah, thought you were refering to my last post. Cheers Jim!! And thanks Norton as well!! :D
Quote from: DrJomster on 10 January, 2019, 10:15:10 PM
Thanks for running this! Good fun!
Cheers!
Quote
If we do more polls, I'd suggest just giving the results of just the top ten positions say. That way there's no highlighting of cases with nil points, which can come about just due to the way the voting is done. I quite like Skip Tracer for example. It just wasn't in my top three
Yeah, I take your point. My thinking was that a top three is simply a nice easy thing to score - also it reflects the old cut-out voting coupon which used to appear in the prog. I suppose it could be expanded to a top 5, which would be more inclusive. Or, perhaps people could just rate all the stories out of 5 or 10. I've got a whole year to mull it over!
thanks for organising this. and delighted to see the love for brink and jaegir. slow-burn character driven epics and arguably the most interesting and most richly delineated female characters in the prog since halo jones.
whats most peoples thoughts on slaine the brutania chronicles ( its only slaine i havent read yet) ?
Personally it was not the best Slaine series if read and I will almost rate it as one of the worse the exception is Davis wonderful painted art.
Start from the beginning, Saline Warriors Dawn https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166) and follow it in chronological order.
If you want the best Saline series it is the Horned God https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A)
Quote from: broodblik on 22 January, 2019, 02:32:08 AM
Personally it was not the best Slaine series if read and I will almost rate it as one of the worse the exception is Davis wonderful painted art.
Start from the beginning, Saline Warriors Dawn https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166) and follow it in chronological order.
If you want the best Saline series it is the Horned God https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A)
I have read Slaine upto book of scars but not sure to pick the hardcovers up before the start of the new slaine this year or just wait for the ultimate collection to catch up since i am collecting it?
Quote from: broodblik on 22 January, 2019, 02:32:08 AM
Start from the beginning, Saline Warriors Dawn https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB166) and follow it in chronological order.
If you want the best Saline series it is the Horned God https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/graphic-novels/slaine/XB329A)
Personally, I think it's this one:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Se2UHyMeFR8/VAQYqb5IuBI/AAAAAAAAAF4/ifl0GMhJZmA/s1600/SalineRange.jpg)
There has to be some mileage to an issue of Zarjaz featuring Judge Dread, Rouge Trooper, Tranny Rex, Match 1 and Saline The King.
... sob...
I'd read it!
You'd end up drawing some of it if I had my way!
lol @ Dark Jimbo I have not seen Salin in "Time Killer" or "Demon Killer" flavor (do you if it will be available this year ?)