Vanguard

[Colin YNWA]

Well I'm going to guess that this one wasn't too popular 'cos I've just checked Barney and there's no Book 2 and it left me assuming there was another part at least.

Frankly for me, but I suspect not too many others, this is a crying shame. I loved it. Obviously Colin MacNeil's art bouys up any strip but I really enjoyed the story and would have loved to have seen more. Maybe the redressing a victorian naval drama in Sci-fi dressing wasn't seen as original or compelling but I loved the way it recreated the pressurres of a military environment and life onboard the spaceship seemed strangely real to me.

Ok is wasn't perfect, Vanguard herself could have had a little more too her, the mutany seemed to occur a little too easily but this story felt like set up and for that reason both those faults can be forgiven.

Come on Tharg surprise me and give us book 2.

M.I.A

[Goaty]

it okay, not sure why it not do book 2, but prefer if they doing Insurrection Book 2! or a graphic novel of Insurrection!

[Dark Jimbo]

I have a soft spot for Vangaurd, as it started in my first prog. I think Robbie Morrison did say that the first book was pretty much just set-up to get them where they wanted for Book II, which was going to be the real story they wanted to tell. But I know Colin M's knocking about on the boards at the mo, so hopefully he can confirm or deny. Not the greatest thrill ever but I certainly wouldn't have objected to a sequel. It felt as though it was just getting good when it bowed out...

[Van Dom]

I, too, was stunned to find there wasn't a second installment after reading the first series recently. WTF? It wasn't THAT bad. Okay, it took a while to get going but it was starting to get into its stride there at the end and I wanted to see what happened next. Damn shame that was.

[Colin MacNeil]

You're quite right Jimbo. The actual story was to be the second series. The first was just to set up the universe and give background to the characters. I can't remember exactly where the story was going to go, but essentially a space pirates sort of thing. I guess Red Seas kinda took over that slot, but who knows!? You never know what might happen in the future. That's not to say that Robbie or I have any plans to do anything with it. Sorry Colin!
Anyhoo, I'm glad someone liked it.

[Tweak72]

I met Robbie Morrison at Dredd con a few years ago and picked up one of the limited 100 trades of Vangard. I asked him why there was not going to be more and he said because it was unpopular and if I wanted to see more then get people writing to Tharg. I did try and get some support for Vangard here a couple of years ago but to no avail. I always thought it was worth expanding.

Colin, Thanks for signing my copy BTW.

[Mike Gloady]

I don't remember this, and with that creative team it looks like I ought to.  When did it run?

[Van Dom]

Progs 1212-1219.

[Mike Gloady]

Ah, missed it then, I think.  I'd started to lose interest in the prog aroud that time.

[Grant Goggans]

I've always thought that Vanguard's supposed unpopularity was blown out of proportion at the Command Module, and it just got lost in the shuffle from Bishop to Diggle.  Everybody really seems to think it was good, and promising, and Beth was a very good character.

I am really intrigued to hear that there really was a collected edition of it, though!  I asked about it before I wrote it up for Thrillpowered Thursday this year and didn't get confirmation.  There were only 100?  Tell me more, Tweak!

[mechanix81]

On the subject of the 100 Vanguard trades, we should see how many of them we can account for. I've got one, and a friend of mine has another, so that's 2...

[Emperor]

It had a stunning first double page spread, there aren't many who can get close to Colin on future hardware other than Colin Wilson. If I had to guess why there wasn't a second series I suppose there isn't some dirty, freaky twist on the genre (it was Mutiny on the Bounty set in an epic space war) and it probably wasn't fast-paced enough for the new era. In hindsight it looks exactly the kind of story that should have been allowed second series then collected into a hardcover album where it'd sell hand over fist on the continent. Checking TPO now I see Robbie Morrison echoes my first point, that it played a little too straight, but he reckons its popularity would have picked up with the second story. File this one under One That Got Away.

[Tweak72]

On the subject of the 100 Vanguard trades, we should see how many of them we can account for. I've got one, and a friend of mine has another, so that's 2...

You mean: three (See below)

I met Robbie Morrison at Dredd con a few years ago and picked up one of the limited 100 trades of Vangard. I asked him why there was not going to be more and he said because it was unpopular and if I wanted to see more then get people writing to Tharg. I did try and get some support for Vangard here a couple of years ago but to no avail. I always thought it was worth expanding.

Colin, Thanks for signing my copy BTW.

[The Big Man]

I re-read this a few months ago and was pretty disappointed that there wasn't a second book.

[Skullmo]

ONly 3 books were accounted for. If there are 97 of them lying in a shed somewhere I will have one!