Space Spinner 2000AD

[Colin YNWA]

Spinnies Nominations

I'll do this now and quickly, otherwise I'll over think it and miss the deadline. So quick and dirty and I reserve the right to completely contradict myself if asked this question in, like, 5 minutes time.

Best Art - The Mighty Yeowell - Steve Yeowell is one of my all time favourite 2000ad artists and seeing his art develop over Zenith Phases 1 and 2 is a delight. All hail the Mighty Yeowell.

Best Writer - Grant Morrison for Zenith - 'cos its ace.

Best overall thrill:

1st Dredd - Bloodlines. For being brilliant and all the glorious stuff it sets in motion.

2nd Zenith - all of it to date. 'Cos its absolutely fantastic and feels so fresh in the context of the thrills that surround it.

3rd Summer Magic - For doing that wonderful tightrope act of being so atypically 2000ad and different, while managing at the same time to be so 2000ad.

HM to Bad Company 2 'cos I felt bad that I couldn't place it and its GREAT.

Best month - January for being what all good Januarys should about and giving us fresh starts. We get some solid stuff in Dredd (though I'm not Oz's biggest fan), Bad Company and ABC Warriors - Black Hole and the grimly beautiful Hicklenton Nemesis. But it also births Zenith and MOST significently it gives use the new logo that will in so many ways spawn all logos to come.

Best year. We're slip sliding away for a while now and so of course 1987 is better than 1988.

My MVP is more MIP - Most Influencial Player - and mostly 'cos I want Conrad and Fox to look into it more, I give it to...

ACCCCIIIIDDDDEEEEE, yes Acid House for crashing into the once Heavy Metal House of Tharg and turning 2000ad into the confused mixed up teen it will become. We might not like it, but we can't ignore it.

[The Monarch]

   
Best Art: The absolutely wonderful and moody art of Steve Yeowell. I cannot imagine zenith at all without him.

Hm: Chris weston: his earliest work may be a bit primitive compared to his later amazing stuff but as i mentioned in the book club episode I just did with Eamonn always been a fan since the start its just Steve kinda pulled higher for me this year.
   
Best Writing Grant Morrison: His zenith work is just top notch and i genuinly cannot wait to see phase 3 being covered its the most insanest thing ever

Best overall thrill okay now this is hard i needed to split between a dredd and a second thrill so here we go

Dredd: Bloodlines it is no secret that this story is going to start a series of dominos which will affect mega city one well into 1990 but other than the importance of this story it is still a cracking case study and krakens words to dredd are still chilling....he is the future....but what kind of a future could a judda clone of dredd bring?!?

Zenith: Phase 2 is just a much stronger story than phase one in every way. Peering into the very history of superheroes in the uk. showing both the past and the future of heroism in alternative 230, and oh man the wild ride coming this year its gonna be great. See you next CRISIS

Best month - January talk about starting a year with a bang. Oz, bad company, a really strong pat mills power hour and zenith what more can you ask for?

best year: gets harder each time and since I cannot do another rick random award (bradley would totally get it if you were curious) i'll say 87 is still stronger than 88. The problem with 88 is a problem that'll continue into 89 and thats the schedule crunch which causes ongoing strips to miss issues at a time and be replaced by reprints or bad future shocks sadly its only gonna get worse.


   

[Leigh S]

ColinYNWA already has the right of it when he says that '88 is the Year of ACCCCIIIIIIIDDDDD!!!! House for 2000AD and we haven't even got to Roxilla yet!

For that very reason Best Art goes to BISLEY! for keeping it all metal, all the time.  My 2000AD was for grungy, grubby, angry kids and the appearance of the cool brigade was an unwelcome Invasion 1988 (though I would pay good money to see Bill Savage vs the Wonder Stuff!)

Best Writer is obscured by the breakup of TB Grover into his constituent parts.  It's further complicated by the lack of a powerhouse artist defining this years Dredd, with lots of new talent that will prove themselves in the long run, but no Kennedy, or McCarthy or Carlos to pull things together.  But if you isolate Wagner's bleak bag of Dredds from Grant's frothier stories, they stand up as well as any run – Full Mental Jacket, Bloodline, PJ Maybe, Curse of the Spider-Woman... Bloodline and Maybe will provide material for decades to come.  While other writers trip over themselves in their rush to resolve their clever ideas, John is happy to drop a 6 pager and let it brew for as long as it takes.

Best Story – Has to be ABC Warriors for me – I know Zenith is all shiny and relatively new and well put together and actually does a grand job of doing Superheroes 2000AD style.  But Pat's reinvention of the Meknificent Seven is a pitch perfect blueprint of how to make 2000AD work as it enters its second decade, playing to a broader age group, but also to that core audience of aforementioned angry headbanger kids – "wimps and posers, leave the hall!"

Best month is a toughie as they are all a mixed bag – September brought us a lot of PJ Maybe and some Daily Star Dredd – what looks like filler now (and looked like filler then!) was very welcome to me – the finest Wagner/Grant/Gibson!

I've talked before 1987 being all about the virtuous circle of 2000AD, Heavy Metal and Games Workshop.... that will still be technically true in 1988, but there is a definite sea change in 1988 – better paper, more pages (and more reprint!), hipper Tharg, more new faces (most critically on that there Strontium Dog strip.... ), so 1987 was the preferable year for me.   But better than 1984? By Grud and all his works, what is wrong with you!?  1984!!!

My MVP would be PJ Maybe – OK, so he debuted in 1987, but his reappearance here establishes him as the force to be reckoned with that he will remain for many a year to come.

[The Monarch]

oh yeah almost forget re zenith

Rest in peace billy whizz....grant morrison can be a cruel bastard when he wants to be 

[Echidna]

Best Month: January

Best Writing: John Wagner.
For sowing seeds for future storylines (like introducing Kraken and bringing back PJ Maybe) and allowing Chopper to survive Oz - we all love a good anti-hero, but Nemesis and Deadlock are total dicks now, and sometimes you just want someone to root for, you know? And for that reason:

MVP: Chopper.

Best (and Worst) Art: John Hicklenton.
Grotesque, disturbing, frequently incomprehensible and generally unpleasant to look at. And yet utterly distinctive, dynamic, vibrant, exciting, and occasionally, absolutely iconic. I hate him. He's a genius.

[Leigh S]

Best Writing: John Wagner.
For >snip< allowing Chopper to survive Oz

Good call Echidna - If Dredd had shot Chopper at the end of Oz, as I belive Grant was advocating for, then how would we view the character now?  I suppose it might have made the Millar/Morrison era Dredd feel less badly written, but that's about it!

[SpaceSpinner2000]

In our thrilling hundred and ninety-third episode we continue our journey through the Galaxy's Greatest Comic with the 1988 Winter Special of 2000AD. This Special has some great stories featuring Zenith, Luke Kirby, classic Rogue Trooper, and an Alan Grant Power Hour featuring Judge Dredd, Johnny Alpha, and Judge Anderson!

Thanks to our own Leigh S for coming on the show with me, and remember there's still time to get your Spinnies nominations in, either here in this thread, via direct forum message, or plain old email!

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[AlexF]

Thoughts for the end of 1988 roundup episode:

Best art: Liam Sharp - for creating PJ Maybe, a non-descript character with an amazing distinctive look, much harder than it seems. Also, for that panel of Uncle Wilbur's (or was it Fustus?) face mashing into the pavement.

Best writing: Wagner/Grant, mostly 'cos it's the last time they'll work together on a whole bunch of strips. But also Dredd in general had the best stories of 1988, except for...

Best overall Thrill: Summer Magic. Love the change of pace this series brought, and love John Ridgway's horror-tastic artwork. Fox and Conrad's dark reading of the text is also something I'd never considered before, but makes a ton of sense and adds another shade of horror.

Best month: January, obvs.

Best Year: not 1988, no sir. Still 1986 for me.

MVP: John Hicklenton, for being the best at making me feel funny in my tummy, and paving the way for other 'adult' artists like Simon 'Steve' Bisley and Simon 'can't draw dogs but who cares' Harrison.

[sheridan]

Script droid: Pat Mills - for the interlocking Nemesis and ABC Warriors stories this year.

Art Droid: Simon Bisley - what a debut to make!
Though was also tempted to pick SMS for providing another side to Agartha, and Hammerstein's 'childhood'.

Top: ABC Warriors: The Black Hole - I remember drawing copies of some of the Biz's artwork in my schoolbooks (in case you're wondering - textbooks, and the teachers didn't take them home to mark or anything).
Second: Nemesis the Warlock Book 7: The Two Torquemadas - puns, the humorous side of torture, history lessons and deviancy.
Third: Judge Dredd: Oz - the artwork was a bit chop and changy (and I usually like a variety of art styles) and at the time I thought the change of pace with the arrival of the Judda storyline was jarring, but nowadays I can appreciate all the art and all the story threads.  Plus we now know where all these threads lead - which I won't go in to, as Fox doesn't know  yet!

MVP: John Hicklenton - it took a while to get used to the style, but get used to it I did and by the time he did Fear Teachers in Toxic! I was a fan (only three years later).

Tomas de Torquemada was a pretty valued player too - I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which one I mean :-)

I've taken long enough to submit this, so I'll pick the year I know best - 1983* (otherwise y'know, I'd have to look up what was published in 1987).



I'm so looking forward to finding out what Fox makes of The Final Solution and The Horned God!


*  Skizz, The Slaying of Slade, Nemesis the Warlock Book III, Malak Brood, loads of Alan Moore Time Twisters, The Graveyard Shift, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Cry of the Werewolf and Slaine!

[Leigh S]

I've talked before 1987 being all about the virtuous circle of 2000AD, Heavy Metal and Games Workshop....

That would make more sense as
"I've talked before about 1987 being a virtuous circle of 2000AD, Heavy Metal and Games Workshop...."

Anyway, bump - get your nominations in soon!

It was great fun and a privilege to help cover the Winter special and I would encourage anyone to get involved, if Conrad wasnt already snowed under with willing applicants!

[The Monarch]

Totally agree doing this show and mcbc have been the most fun i had during a really bad time with my dad recovering from throat cancer causing familial strain

[SpaceSpinner2000]

In our thrilling hundred and ninety-fourth episode Fox and Conrad take a break from reviewing weekly progs to reminisce on the whole of 2000 AD comics for the year 1988. It's a chance to reflect, review, and give out awards! Welcome to the 1988 Spinnies! At the end of every chronological year in our prog timeline we give out awards to the storylines and thrills we liked best over the last year. Stay tuned until the end to hear what's coming up in 1989 from both 2000AD and our show!

Direct Download
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Google
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Or on your favorite podcast app!

Please let me know what you think of the episode!

[Lobo Baggins]

Billy Ocean comes from Romford. This is the most discombobulating fact I know.

[sheridan]

With reference to the next phase of Zenith, I take it you've seen this scorecard?

[SpaceSpinner2000]

With reference to the next phase of Zenith, I take it you've seen this scorecard?

I have indeed! Explaining all the stuff that's going to be happening in Zenith is going to be a challenge My first time through I didn't know any of this of course, and just sort of assumed they were all silly characters Morrison had made up!