Messages

1

Other Reviews / Re: TAMMY & JINTY SPECIAL 2020

« on: 07 August, 2020, 01:38:51 PM »

Ping Pong Paula was an odd one, and I found it odd that it was scripted by a woman. We of course lack context for the series as a whole, but that fragment gives us a wholly unsympathetic view of the mother. She wants to keep up with the Joneses, and then blames her husband for subsequently spending too much time at work to make that a reality. Presumably, this becomes the crack that leads to the split. I guess shit happens, but something sat oddly with me as I read it.

As for the rest, I’ve not yet read Cat Girl. Boarding School was a solid one-shot, although the last frame was a bit weird.

2

Help! / Re: Comic binder help wanted.

« on: 07 August, 2020, 11:47:26 AM »

Wasn’t it this lot? https://www.spinkandthackray.com

3

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 07 August, 2020, 10:57:31 AM »

If you like the idea of the Marvel collection, have patience and look on Facebook marketplace as well. You might find people attempting to dump the entire line to date, for a relatively low price (assuming you want everything). The set I picked up was years back, but the bloke had barely read anything. It seems quite a few people buy these collections, never get around to reading them, and then suddenly realise they’ve got hundreds of pounds’ worth of books just sitting there doing nothing. But also, in resale value, the collections aren’t worth a great deal—perhaps 50% at most of what you paid for them. Although resale value of second-hand ones usually holds—I sold my Marvel set for more or less what I paid for it. (I think I took a 20-quid hit to offload the things, but I figured I got well over £20 of value from reading 60+ books!)

4

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 07 August, 2020, 10:10:19 AM »

I suspect that depends on how much you like Marvel. I wasn’t that familiar with Marvel at the time I bought the first 60 issues from someone on eBay. I sold them and rebought just one (Marvels), and grabbed another (She-Hulk: Single Green Female) in a different format. I since then also got Howard the Duck (from the ‘Classic’ volumes they’re running alongside). But then my Marvel collection is relatively small anyway.

I imagine, much like with the 2000 AD books, it’s a bargain if you’re a fan of the publisher—although I will note that the run had quite a few skinny books compared to the 2000 AD volumes. (A tenner for a five-issue HC is still a reasonable deal, but it’s not nearly as good as books around 200 pages.)

The entire run is listed on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Official_Marvel_Graphic_Novel_Collection

More recently, it appears to have morphed into HC reprints of Marvel TPBs from 12–24 months beforehand. However, it’s also digging up some fun old stuff from thr archives, like Death’s Head and Dragon’s Claws.

5

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 06 August, 2020, 05:08:06 PM »

Given how the 2012 Marvel collection’s still going, I suspect it’ll be down to sales/subscriptions. If it’s still profitable, why wouldn’t you continue? Although at some point, 2000 AD would hit diminishing returns, unless the collection started doing a whole lot more Dreddworld content.

6

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 06 August, 2020, 11:02:10 AM »

It depends on when the error occurred. From my experience in the print industry, it’s much more likely someone signed off the book with an error in the doc than the printer somehow messed up (although the latter is possible).

A few of the issues with the Dredd volume were down to the printer, but those were things like faint pages or overly heavy print (through a lack of QC with black ink). Mostly, errors appear to be down to a designer copying/pasting from previous editions (rather than beginning with a template blank) and someone along the line failing to spot an issue having the wrong back cover text/end papers/etc. (Again, always start with template blanks when working on magazines/books. Never work from the previous book in a series. It’s otherwise far too easy to mess up in the way these books have.)

7

General / Re: Best wishes to Dan Abnett

« on: 06 August, 2020, 09:56:44 AM »

I can only hope he gets well soon, and that the other dozen or so Dan Abnetts don’t feel the loss too much when they’re writing new scripts.

8

General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2020

« on: 04 August, 2020, 01:29:27 PM »

Here’s hoping, given all that effort, the script is up to snuff, and isn’t just Sláine arguing in ALL-CAPs with some Elder God or other.

9

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 04 August, 2020, 01:28:06 PM »

Yeah, they’ve done two big Case Files-style volumes of Future Shocks so far. As for the Hachette volume, it sounds like they more or less took the Rebellion TPB, decontextualised the breaks by removing the intro pages, and then added a few extra strips.

10

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 03 August, 2020, 01:31:43 PM »

Yeah, I imagine it has slightly different pagination and contents, hence the shift in structure.

Also, the official notification about the spine cock-up went out today. TL;DR a reprint’s coming for subs. Reading between the lines, if you haven’t already got your copy, you won’t get one until the reprint.

11

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 03 August, 2020, 09:42:31 AM »

I just checked my original Rebellion volume, and that does separate the strips by author. Each has a DPS of story titles, and an intro by the author, outlining their process for creating the strips. I assume the Hachette volume dispenses with that, then?

12

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 02 August, 2020, 03:51:38 PM »

Does the new book not separate them by writer? The original Rebellion volume had pages introducing each writer, IIRC.

13

Books & Comics / Re: Warren Ellis

« on: 02 August, 2020, 02:20:39 PM »

In short, he was an arsehole for years, and everyone knew it. The sheer level of arseholery (to the point of sexual assault) was perhaps not evident, but people knew and did fuck-all about it. Read into it what you will, but basically no-one comes out of this well at DH, with the possible exceptions of Stewart, Arcudi (whose Twitter has since been taken down over this) and Davis.

14

Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread

« on: 02 August, 2020, 10:19:26 AM »

A polite reminder: please do not respond to spam on this forum. It just creates extra work for the admins/mods in cleaning up those messages along with the original posts/accounts.

15

Books & Comics / Re: Warren Ellis

« on: 02 August, 2020, 10:17:45 AM »

Yeah, but now they totally really care. Or something. (Or: they realise they at this point can no longer get away with turning a blind eye. It was disappointing to see Mignola admit as much, although at least he himself hasn’t been directly been accused of any such atrocious acts. I can live without Ellis books, but I’d hate to get rid of all my Mignola collections.)