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Prog / Re: Prog 2161 - Organ Malfunction!
« on: 10 December, 2019, 09:54:05 pm »
That would have been a better ending.
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3
General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2020
« on: 30 November, 2019, 12:12:52 am »
That cover for Megazine 417 is Jake Lynch's best work.
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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2020
« on: 29 November, 2019, 01:23:46 pm »
Shhhh, don't tell him! It's more money for Rebellion!
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Announcements / Re: Third World War limited hardcover now available from 2000 AD shop
« on: 29 November, 2019, 12:31:08 am »
After the first two books of Finn, which would both fit in one volume, the quality tailed off quite a bit. So one volume of that, which could also include the John Hicklenton episodes of Third World War, which bridge the gap between the Ezquerra episodes and Finn. I'd be happy with that.
6
General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2020
« on: 29 November, 2019, 12:27:31 am »
I have mixed feelings about this. I can see why they're doing it. The last Regened prog was the best-selling prog last year, so of course they're going to do it again. It's essential to the survival of the comic to engage with children and get them reading proper comics, not just shitty puzzle magazines bagged with cheap plastic tat. I hope it succeeds. Andjust because they interrupted the regular schedule last year doesn't mean they'll do it again.
On the other hand, I have absolutely no interest in these stories myself, and I know I'll be annoyed by the four "wasted" weeks when I know I won't enjoy the comic. I don't agree that it's the same as enjoying the first 500 or so issues, although I understand the point that's being made about that, because today's idea of what passes for a children's comic is much, much more tame and timid than 2000AD was in the 1970s and early '80s. I'll try to explain what I mean:
The early issues of the prog were aimed at children, but Tharg didn't seek their parents' approval -- they were subversive, they were stories your parents wouldn't have been happy about you reading if they'd taken the trouble to look at them. You'll all bring your own examples to mind, but here are some of mine: in Flesh Book 1 there's a scene where a mother and her child are about to be eaten by dinosaurs, and in their last moments the mother is trying to comfort her child, saying it'll soon be over. Nobody rescues them, they're killed. In the first episode of The Judge Child, people are being enslaved in a desert, and Judge Dredd -- the "hero" of the story -- rescues a slaver from some quicksand, interrogates him, and then hands him over to the slaves, who promptly lynch him. The slaver says "you promised you'd save me!" and Dredd just says "I kept my promise -- you're out of the quicksand," and leaves him to die. These were "all ages" comics. There was something for everybody. Was there anything like that in prog 2130? Was there hell. Tharg played it very safe: there was nothing for a parent to complain about. It was 2000AD Reduced, neutered, infantilised. It wasn't for all ages, it was for kids and only for kids, and while I daresay it entertained them, there was nothing to shock them, to make them think, to challenge their preconceptions of morality or of the world. In prog 504 (I think) Pat Mills wrote a time-travel episode of Nemesis the Warlock which showed the Americans as the bad guys, as murderers, and the Indians as the good guys, a concept which blew my mind when I was about 12 and had never questioned the usual "cowboys good, Indians bad" shtick I'd been practically brainwashed with before.
I'll happily reread that kind of thing, not just out of nostalgia for my childhood but because it's better.
All that said, I hope the results are encouraging enough that Tharg releases a new title for young children in 2021, and that it's successful, and that it secures the future of British comics.
On the other hand, I have absolutely no interest in these stories myself, and I know I'll be annoyed by the four "wasted" weeks when I know I won't enjoy the comic. I don't agree that it's the same as enjoying the first 500 or so issues, although I understand the point that's being made about that, because today's idea of what passes for a children's comic is much, much more tame and timid than 2000AD was in the 1970s and early '80s. I'll try to explain what I mean:
The early issues of the prog were aimed at children, but Tharg didn't seek their parents' approval -- they were subversive, they were stories your parents wouldn't have been happy about you reading if they'd taken the trouble to look at them. You'll all bring your own examples to mind, but here are some of mine: in Flesh Book 1 there's a scene where a mother and her child are about to be eaten by dinosaurs, and in their last moments the mother is trying to comfort her child, saying it'll soon be over. Nobody rescues them, they're killed. In the first episode of The Judge Child, people are being enslaved in a desert, and Judge Dredd -- the "hero" of the story -- rescues a slaver from some quicksand, interrogates him, and then hands him over to the slaves, who promptly lynch him. The slaver says "you promised you'd save me!" and Dredd just says "I kept my promise -- you're out of the quicksand," and leaves him to die. These were "all ages" comics. There was something for everybody. Was there anything like that in prog 2130? Was there hell. Tharg played it very safe: there was nothing for a parent to complain about. It was 2000AD Reduced, neutered, infantilised. It wasn't for all ages, it was for kids and only for kids, and while I daresay it entertained them, there was nothing to shock them, to make them think, to challenge their preconceptions of morality or of the world. In prog 504 (I think) Pat Mills wrote a time-travel episode of Nemesis the Warlock which showed the Americans as the bad guys, as murderers, and the Indians as the good guys, a concept which blew my mind when I was about 12 and had never questioned the usual "cowboys good, Indians bad" shtick I'd been practically brainwashed with before.
I'll happily reread that kind of thing, not just out of nostalgia for my childhood but because it's better.
All that said, I hope the results are encouraging enough that Tharg releases a new title for young children in 2021, and that it's successful, and that it secures the future of British comics.
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Film & TV / Re: #SPOILERS# BBC War of the Worlds…
« on: 18 November, 2019, 03:48:56 pm »
Jim, look at it this way: you watched it so that I and many others wouldn't have to. We appreciate your sacrifice.
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Creative Common / Re: Valley Of The Dead - Something Wicked
« on: 17 November, 2019, 11:16:39 pm »
That looks absolutely brilliant!
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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2020
« on: 17 November, 2019, 05:29:54 pm »
What an excellent idea!
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Books & Comics / Re: New and upcoming partworks
« on: 17 November, 2019, 09:28:38 am »
Why are they re-translating Asterix? What's wrong with the existing versions?
11
Books & Comics / Re: '18' - One-shot comic available from this weekend.
« on: 16 November, 2019, 09:52:31 am »
Looks good, and all in a good cause. Well done!
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General / Re: Podcast w/ Pat Mills on Third World War
« on: 13 November, 2019, 08:51:42 pm »
Thank you Will, I look forward to watching that.
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General / Re: How do you read yours?
« on: 12 November, 2019, 01:29:02 pm »Quote
Week to week I'm a straight front to backer - with the odd exception if I'm particularly excited about an episode of any given story, but that's the exception rather than the rule.This is what I do, except that at the moment I'm skipping Defoe and reading it last.