2000AD & Judge Dredd: The Secret History by Pat Mills.

[Frank]

I think we-the-reader ... are better served by new strips

Mills agrees - see the quote about new talents sticking to their own material, above. But we both know that the minute Mills jacks it in we'll be treated to Eddie Robson's Sláine and Rory McConville's ABC Warriors*, rather than look-a-like strips.

From a reader's perspective, house characters and clone strips work out the same. A fresh writer comes in and might work out well for a while, but they get bored and bogged down in continuity, exactly the same as the original writer and strip.

I'd rather read something new**.


* If Mills got some kind of royalty from that, I'm sure he"d be happy to put his feet up on a mistreated burro and get squiffy on sangria as the money for nothing rolls in. He must be as bored writing Sláine as some readers are reading it.

** The biggest sickness afflicting comic readers and publishers is the inability to recognise that there's nothing special about specific characters. Things are good for a while, then they're not - move on to something else, rather than fucking the same old hole until it's slack

[Leigh S]

I think we-the-reader ... are better served by new strips

Mills agrees - see the quote about new talents sticking to their own material, above. But we both know that the minute Mills jacks it in we'll be treated to Eddie Robson's Sláine and Rory McConville's ABC Warriors*, rather than look-a-like strips.

From a reader's perspective, house characters and clone strips work out the same. A fresh writer comes in and might work out well for a while, but they get bored and bogged down in continuity, exactly the same as the original writer and strip.

I'd rather read something new**.


* If Mills got some kind of royalty from that, I'm sure he"d be happy to put his feet up on a mistreated burro and get squiffy on sangria as the money for nothing rolls in. He must be as bored writing Sláine as some readers are reading it.

** The biggest sickness afflicting comic readers and publishers is the inability to recognise that there's nothing special about specific characters. Things are good for a while, then they're not - move on to something else, rather than fucking the same old hole until it's slack

Mills makes teh very point in his book - if he was getting a royalty/payment for one of his characters when written by someone else, he would be somewhat less incensed by the idea (presuming he had first dibs and we weren't goong to get a Grant Morrison Dare style reimagining)

[Frank]

Mills makes this very point in his book - if he was getting a royalty/payment for one of his characters when written by someone else, he would be somewhat less incensed by the idea (presuming he had first dibs and we weren't goong to get a Grant Morrison Dare style reimagining)

Cheers, Leigh. I've no idea why I hadn't ordered the book so far, but your discussion of its themes and topics has convinced me to do so right now.

Thanks to you, everyone who's expressed exasperation with Mills's output knows what they have to do to end their suffering - campaign for a royalty/rights recognition agreement on his behalf!

Some of them have actually suggested paying Mills to stop, so they're basically on the same page already.

[TordelBack]

Some of them have actually suggested paying Mills to stop, so they're basically on the same page already.

It'll be a very sad day for the prog when Mills writes his last script; anyone wishing to hurry its arrival needs to be beaten about the head with The Complete Fleisher.  And I speak as someone for whom Greysuit is a special kind of torture, but a price I'm willing to pay for the previous Defoe and the next Slaine.

[Richard]

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

[Taryn Tailz]

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

Which in my opinion is perhaps his finest work post-millennium. I'm always a little saddened that Requiem Vampire Knight isn't a 2000AD strip, as it would likely appear more regularly then. Plus, there's the spin off, Chevalier Vampire Knight, which has yet to (and may never) get translated into English.

[sheridan]

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

Which in my opinion is perhaps his finest work post-millennium. I'm always a little saddened that Requiem Vampire Knight isn't a 2000AD strip, as it would likely appear more regularly then. Plus, there's the spin off, Chevalier Vampire Knight, which has yet to (and may never) get translated into English.

I don't think it would fit in to 2000AD, but the creator-owned portion of the Megazine might have suited it (though that seems to have been replaced by Dreddworld content lately).

[glassstanley]

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

Which in my opinion is perhaps his finest work post-millennium. I'm always a little saddened that Requiem Vampire Knight isn't a 2000AD strip, as it would likely appear more regularly then. Plus, there's the spin off, Chevalier Vampire Knight, which has yet to (and may never) get translated into English.

The first 3 books were translated into English and published in Heavy Metal.


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[Richard]

The first ten books are in English in Panini graphic novels. But the last one was a few years ago.

[I, Cosh]

The first ten books are in English in Panini graphic novels. But the last one was a few years ago.

I think Taryn's talking about the Claudia spinoff.

[Taryn Tailz]

The first ten books are in English in Panini graphic novels. But the last one was a few years ago.

I think Taryn's talking about the Claudia spinoff.

Indeed I am. The regular Requiem books are sitting on my bookshelf, so I'm very much aware of their existence.

In terms of the Claudia spin-off, I was one of a few lucky people who happened to be on Facebook when Pat Mills did a live Q and A on his page a few months back. I asked him about Chevalier Vampire Knight then, and if I remember rightly, he answered that any potential English translations might well be digital only releases.

[JLC]

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

Which in my opinion is perhaps his finest work post-millennium. I'm always a little saddened that Requiem Vampire Knight isn't a 2000AD strip, as it would likely appear more regularly then. Plus, there's the spin off, Chevalier Vampire Knight, which has yet to (and may never) get translated into English.

I don't think it would fit in to 2000AD, but the creator-owned portion of the Megazine might have suited it (though that seems to have been replaced by Dreddworld content lately).

I agree. Its great but would be an odd fit in 2000AD.

[Leigh S]

For more on Requiem and how close it came to appearing in 2000AD, get ye to the book!

I also think Requiem would have been a very different beast if it had appeared in the progs

Very true.

Although on the other hand, the less time he spends writing for 2000AD, the more time he'll have to finally write the next chapter of Requiem Vampire Knight...

Which in my opinion is perhaps his finest work post-millennium. I'm always a little saddened that Requiem Vampire Knight isn't a 2000AD strip, as it would likely appear more regularly then. Plus, there's the spin off, Chevalier Vampire Knight, which has yet to (and may never) get translated into English.

I don't think it would fit in to 2000AD, but the creator-owned portion of the Megazine might have suited it (though that seems to have been replaced by Dreddworld content lately).

I agree. Its great but would be an odd fit in 2000AD.

[Tomwe]

https://twitter.com/PatMillsComics/status/895326199013978113

John Wordballon Siuntres has interviewed Pat- look for it on the podcast soon.

[Will Cooling]

Pat spends the first half of the book saying how you have to be a monster to be an editor, and at times trample all over creators feelings to get results. He then complains about David's "hobnail boots" and Andy's script doctoring.... I can see how he might perceive a difference, but it would be nice if he addressed the possible hypocrisy in this.

Exactly. This is the guy who brags about rewriting the first twelve issues of the comic.

I love Mills, and wouldn't want to see him get the John Smith treatment,  but he doesn't seem to realise that he's now the equivalent of the old IPC staffers who wanted everything done the same way because that's what worked in the past.

Or Tom Tully, stretching out stories for as long as possible, keeping the same old characters going long past their sell by date.*


* To be fair, if Mills wasn't writing Sláine and ABC Warriors, someone else would. And Pat wouldn't get a penny..

Indeed - I think Pat has finally convinced me that his 90s output was adversely affected by the powers that be "constraining" or at least befuddling and de-energizing him. I'd love to see more of his European work, such as Torturer - sounds like he was having more fun there, and that showed in the work he did for the progs at the time

He mentioned Torturer to me years and years ago, and I've hoped it'd see an English-language reprint ever since. Sounds absolutely mental.