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Another 2000AD read thread

Started by feathers, 21 October, 2016, 02:43:12 PM

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AlexF

Crusade does read better in the collected Anderson Psi Files, when there's a clearer link to both Engram, which introduced the Psi-Baby, and indeed Helios (or was it Triad?) that introduced the twin girls who take centre stage in Crusade. But it's nowhere near the best of Anderson's stories.

I remember readers at the time complaining (and rightly so!) that it was crazy that no Dredd stories at this time mentioned the fact that all the children in MC1 were being kidnapped (see also Judge Hershey: Harlequin's Dance, which had the same plot hook some years earlier in the Megazine). If there'd been even a single Dredd story about this this it might've lifted the whole sorry saga.

You can't even really blame the art - the same problem hampered Anderson: Satan, which was painted with dependably stunning results by Arthur Ranson, but at no ppint in the Judge Dredd strip did anyone mention that the city was under attack by the actual Satan (as opposed to the Devil, who was presumably snug in his iso cube in Block 666)

But also you can blame the art, and I'm someone who kinda likes Steve Sampson!

feathers

Quote from: Greg M. on 19 June, 2018, 05:12:05 PM
]No, Hope was introduced in the Anderson story Engram in 2000AD. Crusade is indeed a spectacularly terrible story though.
Quote from: AlexF on 22 June, 2018, 02:21:49 PM
Crusade does read better in the collected Anderson Psi Files, when there's a clearer link to both Engram, which introduced the Psi-Baby, and indeed Helios (or was it Triad?) that introduced the twin girls who take centre stage in Crusade. But it's nowhere near the best of Anderson's stories.

Thanks both - I looked into this and saw Engram was the 2 part story separated by 40 weeks or so, so I'm not surprised it didn't leave a big impression.  I was tempted to look up the numbers, go back and reread it, but then...I didn't.  The whole return run of Anderson sadly seemed to be missing something (I think the fantasticly memorable bodybag cover was probably the highlight).

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 19 June, 2018, 09:27:46 PM
2000ad went through a long time of trying to be the lastest cool. Before it relaxed and realised it didn't matter if it was cool as long as it was good. And of course by doing so became cool again.

You're completely right there Colin - and I think it's happened over the last stretch as things are in very fine form where I am now at...

Prog 1122.  Dredd, Sinister Dexter, Pulp Sci Fi and Sancho Panzer might represent the strongest line up the Prog has had in ages.  Missionary Man I can't get into, and for me is less successful than Red Razors as a transfer from the Meg (Al's Baby having been the most seamless, and only fully successful import).  It feels like the various factions and stakes have never been established, and I can't wait for it to end.  Still, 3 strong strips, an anthology, and 1 weak one feels like classic 2000AD.

While the experiment in extended page counts worked (particularly) for Sinister Dexter, I missed the variety while it was happening.  And giving a whole prog over to a single Dredd or Slaine story is just a no - not enough density, less thrills per page, and less than half the time to read.  So the current set up is giving a lovely warm glow of rightness that's almost nostalgic.

Something else making me smile is that I haven't had to read Rogue Trooper for a very long time now.

It's been on my mind because 'future war' Sancho Panzer felt in concept like it shouldn't work, but it's just so light and enjoyable that it does.  John Wagner back on Dredd is conquering all imitators with his casual picking up of didn't-realise-they-were-coming-back-to-that plot points and real sense of progression and development.  It's a delight to read.  Only a year to go until I find out what Tharg changes the name to on new year's eve 1999 (thankfully they seem to have stopped printing the letters now.  Dear God.)

feathers

Prog 1160 - For what feels like years now Tharg's opening comments have described 2000 AD as 'a weekly fusion of sci fi and fantasy'.  For a long time this might as well have said 'sci fi and Slaine'.  Then they stopped running Slaine.  So it's been an unexpected pleasure to have the pendulum swing back the other way and remember how good fantasy thrills can be thanks to Devlin Waugh and Mazeworld.  Mazeworld has always been a great showcase for Arthur Ranson's work, and while the conclusion didn't have anything revelatory in it, it was no disgrace either, and the journey was well worth taking.  I'd begun to think that I wasn't a god fit with John Smith after his last Tyranny Rex outing, but Devlin Waugh takes the best elements of his inventive mythology building and sticks it around a protagonist who seems to have a touch of Zenith's semi-pompous egotism and relatable jadedness.  It's a good mix, and a nice slow pace is allowing a very distinct atmosphere to suffuse the strip, drawing it more into it's own with each instalment.

Downlode Tales has been giving a nice shake up to Sinister Dexter, and exploiting the depth of their milieu in the same way as the post Apocalypse War Dredd strips did - very nice.  Speaking of which, Dredd's encounter with Orlok was fun and nostalgic without being a cheap cash in on former glories.  It's a shame that Rose O'Rion's full length outing didn't give her a more recognisable situation to work in, or more characters to work with, and the second series of Mercy Heights fell completely flat for me.  The original was an intricate space opera of competing motivations following a raft of interacting characters - so why did the sequel throw that out to focus so heavily on the desires of a bland megalomaniac?  Was it the suggestion of a connection between Tor Cyan and Rogue Trooper (Ambassador, with this suggestion you are boring me) that drew him in from the periphery to a dull centre stage?  Anyway - pfft.  I'm not even sure it was better than Balls Brothers, whose name was half right.

feathers

Prog 1232: It's been a long time since I found time to post, but things are still moving along. Of the new thrills thus far in the 21st century there's not much that stands out though. Vanguard might be the best of them, or at least have the most potential as an updating of 18/19th century naval stories. Rain Dogs was a dismal action led blend of familiar ideas with little to add, and Red Fang seemed a bit out of time, as well as finding an annoying rythm with it's insistence on identical scene transitions, a device that also popped up a bit in...

'...Steve Moore's Future Shocks'. It's nice to have Future Shocks back. Good or bad they don't outstay their welcome. I also enjoyed Tales From Telguth a lot, but not sure about it running as longer stories.  Roadkill I really liked, and Button Man III is as good as ever. It was nice to see a proper end to Nemesis, although the continuation with Deadlock spouting off tediously about khaos tarnished the warming sense of closure. Glimmer Rats was hard work. The mainstays of Dredd, Sin Dec and Dante all keep going strong, but it feels like something else needs to stick soon.

feathers

Forgot to mention over the last hundred or so progs how nice it's been to have the real voice of Tharg back in the Nerve Centre and Input pages. It gives everything an endearing coherence.

TordelBack

Yeah, there really was a certain Big Yellow Taxi aspect to Tharg's return. In many ways it was symbolic of the journey of much of the readership as much as it was of the comic's aspirations - we decided to put away childish things, then realised that the alternative was deathly boring, and dove back in our old ways with renewed enthusiasm.

Funt Solo

Hindsight's 20/20, right enough.  At the time, I (think) I thought it was faintly amusing that Tharg had been usurped, but it was definitely good to see him back.

All the "grown up" comics (e.g. Deadline, Crisis, Revolver) ultimately failed, is the thing.  What's so good about being growed up?
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Frank


Fleetway's adult titles definitely failed, but in the decade before the year that gave the comic its name, 2000ad lost more readers than Crisis* ever had. Seems like a curious definition of success.

Not sure about the idea that the Rave to Britpop era of Tharg was all trenchcoats and abortions, either. For every Tyranny Rex or Button Man, there are several Dead Meats, Armoured Gideons or Luke Kirbys.

Deadline was a rich kid's plaything. Ultimately, its problems were no different to those of 2000ad (and comics in general): only a few star creators bring in readers; when they realise they can bank more dollar elsewhere, they do.



* According to Steve MacManus's Mighty One (p.259), the first issue of Crisis shifted 80,000 copies. The same source gives 2000ad's circulation for most of the eighties as 100,000 per week, but the added attraction of The Horned God meant it saw out 1989 on almost 120,000 p/w. By the time Rebellion rode in on their white chargers, our ranks had dwindled to 25,000 die-hards who didn't know the meaning of surrender. Once Crisis's readership settled down to its core audience, it sold around 20,000 per fortnight (then month).

Funt Solo

Interesting stats.

Success. Survival.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

TordelBack

Survival is the only true measure of success.

I didn't mean to imply that BIFF! POW! ZAP! the comic itself grew up, merely that its rather embarrasing tacky green editor was replaced with zeitgeisty X-Files wannabes, who should have been hip cool and modern, but it turned out that the dodgy geezer in the caveman mask was always where it was at.

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 30 November, 2018, 07:20:02 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 30 November, 2018, 07:00:38 PM
Success. Survival.

Survival is the only true measure of success. I didn't mean to imply that BIFF! POW! ZAP! the comic itself grew up, merely that its rather embarrassing tacky green editor was replaced with zeitgeisty X-Files wannabes, who should have been hip cool and modern, but it turned out that the dodgy geezer in the caveman mask was always where it was at.

Agreed. Tharg (and 2000ad's) motto:





Frank


Tharg admits the comic's boring, prog 820 (Jan 1993):




Judge Dredd
PJ & the Mock-Choc Factory 3 episodes (Progs 820 to 822) 19 pages
Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: Anthony Williams

Dead Meat
Dead Meat Book 2 9 episodes (Progs 812 to 820) 51 pages
Script: Michael Cook, Artist: Simon Jacob

Flesh
Legend of Shamana Book 2 9 episodes (Progs 817 to 825) 54 pages
Script: Pat Mills/Tony Skinner, Artist: Carl Critchlow

Robo-Hunter
Serial Stunners 4 episodes (Progs 819 to 822) 24 pages
Script: Mark Millar, Artist: Jose Casanovas

Strontium Dogs
Return of the Gronk 8 episodes (Progs 817 to 824) 48 pages
Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: Nigel Dobbyn




feathers

Prog 1259 - It feels like there's been a huge change recently, a proper relaunch that tries, not unsuccessfully, to take the comic back to the growing up thrills of the late 80s but this time without dropping the edge of black humour that 2000AD has at it's best. It feels like there's suddenly a lot more gore, profanity, and in Durham Red Vermin Stars we reach the endpoint of the apparent dictate that the character my at wear less clothes with the first full nude panels as if this is now some space vampire Jane.

The thing is, across he prog it all seems to be working. It feels coherent, and this time less adolescently try hard. The Vermin Stars artwork improves on the Scarlet Cantos in its clarity. Garth Ennis is writing Dredd that rewards long term readers with continuity call backs that initially seem flimsy but drops the Armoured Gideon pretense and actually succeeds in building an epic feeling into the story. Satanism Unchained won me back by the end after a sceptical beginning, Nikolai Dante is landing a compulsively powerful conclusion to the Tsar Wars run after the meandering detour of it's vampire episodes. Carver Hale was not a favourite, but now that it and ABC Warriors (which seems to have nothing new to say, and nothing old worth repeating) have moved on there's the deliciously old school Banzai Battalion to balance out the more mature thrills. It feels like the best things have been for ages.

AlexF

I know it's mean to point out a typo, but I really, REALLY want to read a story called 'Satanism Unchained!'
It would have the bonus of not annoying Pat Mills, too.
(He took large offense at GRennie writing about his character Satanus, even if he did a rather neat job)

Colin YNWA

Quote from: AlexF on 18 December, 2018, 07:08:26 PM
I know it's mean to point out a typo, but I really, REALLY want to read a story called 'Satanism Unchained!'
It would have the bonus of not annoying Pat Mills, too.
(He took large offense at GRennie writing about his character Satanus, even if he did a rather neat job)

Yeah there was a strip that set up it sequel so well only for Unca Pat's righteous fury to come crashing down upon it. I'd I've loved to have seen Satanus crushing outling Mega City settlements before Book III took us to the West Wall.

Man that would have been something.