Oh this is going to get very interesting and massive well done for doing it.
I'll be watching with interest.
Will Dredd have his own Phase categorisation?
The Cursed Earth immediately followed by The Day the Law Died - the phase after that would go up to the Apocalypse War.
The Cursed Earth immediately followed by The Day the Law Died - the phase after that would go up to the Apocalypse War.
You've made The Judge Child cry, mate. For 25 weeks.
I often think of the prog in phases, but in a much more vague and less-rigorously researched way, basically:
1977 - 1980 - Finding its feet
1980 - 1987 - First Golden Age
1995 - 1999 - WTF are they doing???
Even here, things aren't necessarily neat, though. Pure 100% jump-on progs are sparse in the early years: it goes something like 1 - 86 - 335. You can imagine the tabular way of representing the data gets too deep if you allow the stage to go for too long.
Looking at this first stage again through a slightly different lens, it's notable (especially for modern readers) how different early 2000 AD is from modern.
Looking at this first stage again through a slightly different lens, it's notable (especially for modern readers) how different early 2000 AD is from modern.
As someone who started reading in the early 300s the early progs feel like a completely different world to even '83 2000 AD. The art style is very different and there's a luridly violent, punkish tone to it. However, from the quick look I've seen of the insides of prog 86, the Starlord merger prog, that doesn't look a whole lot different to progs 4 years later. The drawing style is a lot cleaner and there's a more considered pace to proceedings. Dredd looks like Dredd and not some bulbous insect in bondage gear.
BTW - very much enjoying your work here so far Funt.
Still haven't found a jumping on prog in the 200s though!
Death Planet (https://youtu.be/43w2ncibAss)
Colonists try to colonise a homicidal planet.
One run and done, although the idea of a planet that hates you is revisited at least twice: in Ace Trucking's Too Many Bams (progs 273-278) and much later in Zombo (progs 1632-1639.)
Stage #2: Settling In (progs 36-85)
Prog 36 marks a jump-on of sorts and takes us into a phase that necessarily answers the question of what happens when the original thrills start to reach their natural conclusions or dry up. As 2000 AD flourishes, it's stable-mate Starlord is merged in (hatch, match, dispatch) for prog 86, which marks the beginning of the next phase...
I've only been including strip content for these overviews, but those without the progs might be interested in the wide array of alternative content that graced the early era of 2000 AD and sometimes isn't visible through great resources such as Barney.
Prior to Star Pin-Ups, there was diagrammatic content in the form of various strip-related Futuregraphs:
(like the Harlem Heroes Power Gear in prog 2 and Mega-City 1 map in prog 3).
Progs 8-11 provided a collectible Flesh card game: in which Squaxx were told to cut up their progs to create the game.
Progs 19-43 hijacked the cover for Supercover Saga: there'd be an image on the cover relating to a short text story inside (often part of the Nerve Centre).
Progs 26-32 have a (cut and mount) collectible poster series called Futurefocus, which imagines things like a Space Hospital and Star Warriors (which are just Stormtroopers (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles)).
Supernova (46-51) is a sci-fi (cut out) card game along the lines of Top Trumps.
Progs 54-57 contain a short-lived series of text stories with a single accompanying image, titled Encounter.
Prog 74 sees the first Star Pin-Up (early name for Star Scans), of Artie Gruber (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles), the villain from Inferno.
Progs 75-80 contain a collectible Cursed Earth game.
url=https://youtu.be/n9__bcLRzss]Dan Dare, Servant of Evil[/url]I don’t remember much about the strip itself. I do remember it ends up a bloody great cliffhanger.
I should confess that I'm not really sure what happens in this one: anyone else got a summary?
The Starlord merger was foreshadowed editorially by Mek-Quake and Ro-Jaws showing up in the Nerve Centre (as early as prog 78) and serving as foils to Tharg. Ro-Jaws can often be heard decrying Tharg as a "daft nerk". Somehow Mek-Quake is also in Walter the Wobot's strip in progs 84 & 85.
Ant Wars
Them! (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/): giant ants meet humans with predictable results.
One run and done, but ... don't get too comfy.
Ant Wars
Them! (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/): giant ants meet humans with predictable results.
One run and done, but ... don't get too comfy.
Interesting that you call Greysuit a reboot of MACH One but consider Ant Wars a one-and-done, when it very clearly has a sequel? Zancudo, bringing it into the Judge Dredd universe
...Alpha's possum ability...
Dan Dare, Servant of Evil (https://youtu.be/n9__bcLRzss)
I should confess that I'm not really sure what happens in this one: anyone else got a summary?
This is really it for Dare in the prog, although a version of him turns up in Revolver in 1990, and there's a Dan Dare 3000 AD in the prog 1034 supplement (but I don't own a copy).
Always time for a good diagram!
Intrigued to think about how you end that section as the Prog has a certain consistany from here for a while in my head.
and finally a reveal of Nemesis himself, not in the prog, but in the 1981 Sci-Fi Special (in a 5-page thrill sometimes titled The Sword Sinister).
Intrigued to think about how you end that section
Stage #6: Key New Thrills (progs 222-272)
Marking out a new era, the giant-length one-off thrills such as Meltdown Man and Return to Armageddon are coming to an end. In their place, with a staggered start, come three new thrills set to serve the comic for years to come: Nemesis the Warlock, Ace Trucking Co. and Rogue Trooper. From a historical perspective, each of these thrills, to some extent, loses steam over time but here they're at their strongest and the comic feels confident and fresh.
Providing a consistent throughline in what's quite a chaotic schedule is Judge Dredd, dominating the latter two thirds of this stage with the unmissable, legendary double whammy (https://youtu.be/6cNd0hbIoQk) of Block Mania & The Apocalypse War.
The Mean Arena (https://youtu.be/GCVhjdcaZdw)
Steve Dillon's superlative work on The Jensens (218-223) provides a negative comparison when Eric Bradbury and (later) Mike White take over art duties. Despite the fun, interactive idea of readers coming up with team designs, the story starts to lose traction. The shark is jumped with the introduction of Chip (a precocious super-powered android bodyguard), who seems to fit the mould of Scrappy Doo as being both too childlike and too obnoxious.
A special shout-out to prog 251, which launched The Great Mush Rush. Having been abandoned in a remote farmhouse by my mother, I went cross country to my nearest thrill merchant, which was three miles away. Hiking back, it started to rain: so my copy is a bit water damaged.
Harry Twenty on the High Rock
Alcatraz in space, as Harry Twenty tries to figure out how to escape the classic inescapable prison. Perhaps that old timer can help him...
It's one and done.
Yeah - I think it's my favorite out of Future Worlds / Total War / Robo-World. It really marks the end (I think) of these well put together poster collectibles.
(Well, there's the 12-piece Mega-City Primer in progs 501-512, but it's just not as good a composition. Oh, and the Tribal Imagery ones: a 2-part ABC Warriors in 1055-1056 and a 4-part Ukko in 1057-1060. They're interesting, but incongruously tied to rave culture.)
Yeah - I think it's my favorite out of Future Worlds / Total War / Robo-World. It really marks the end (I think) of these well put together poster collectibles.
(Well, there's the 12-piece Mega-City Primer in progs 501-512, but it's just not as good a composition. Oh, and the Tribal Imagery ones: a 2-part ABC Warriors in 1055-1056 and a 4-part Ukko in 1057-1060. They're interesting, but incongruously tied to rave culture.)
I completely don't remember the Ukko one - that's weird - I can't imagine what the point of it was! (http://[font=Verdana)
Also - what about the DR & Quinch and Psi-Judge Anderson calendars (sure I'm missing one)?
Harry Twenty on the High RockIt is a one and done. There was no more.
Nope, it got another outing a few years ago. One of the SF specials, end of year progs or FCBD ...Harry Twenty on the High RockIt is a one and done. There was no more.
Yeah - I think it's my favorite out of Future Worlds / Total War / Robo-World. It really marks the end (I think) of these well put together poster collectibles.
(Well, there's the 12-piece Mega-City Primer in progs 501-512, but it's just not as good a composition. Oh, and the Tribal Imagery ones: a 2-part ABC Warriors in 1055-1056 and a 4-part Ukko in 1057-1060. They're interesting, but incongruously tied to rave culture.)
I completely don't remember the Ukko one - that's weird - I can't imagine what the point of it was!
Also - what about the DR & Quinch and Psi-Judge Anderson calendars (sure I'm missing one)?
Yeah - I think it's my favorite out of Future Worlds / Total War / Robo-World. It really marks the end (I think) of these well put together poster collectibles.
(Well, there's the 12-piece Mega-City Primer in progs 501-512, but it's just not as good a composition. Oh, and the Tribal Imagery ones: a 2-part ABC Warriors in 1055-1056 and a 4-part Ukko in 1057-1060. They're interesting, but incongruously tied to rave culture.)
I completely don't remember the Ukko one
me too - google hsa no images, can anyone post one?
The back cover of this prog of 2000 AD is the first quarter of a four-part poster painted by top art droid Dermot Power, to commemorate the Galaxy's greatest comic going to the Tribal Gathering festival. This piece is part of a selection of 2000 AD-related artworks which is being auctioned soon to benefit the Nottinghamshire Leukaemia Appeal. The celebrity charity auction is supported by Universe, organisers of Tribal Gathering. More details about the auction will be published soon in 2000 AD!
Nope, it got another outing a few years ago. One of the SF specials, end of year progs or FCBD ...Harry Twenty on the High RockIt is a one and done. There was no more.
Ah, I wondered when this might start to happen. I've only read 2000 AD up to (and including) 2014, due to a temporal disturbance. I think Sheridan was hinting that there's a bit of Harry Twenty action that I'm not aware of yet. Fun!
Just checked my back progs, and the input page explains the Tribal Imagery posters. Here's the text copied from prog 1057:The back cover of this prog of 2000 AD is the first quarter of a four-part poster painted by top art droid Dermot Power, to commemorate the Galaxy's greatest comic going to the Tribal Gathering festival. This piece is part of a selection of 2000 AD-related artworks which is being auctioned soon to benefit the Nottinghamshire Leukaemia Appeal. The celebrity charity auction is supported by Universe, organisers of Tribal Gathering. More details about the auction will be published soon in 2000 AD!
Whilst there are still very powerful thrills, some of the longer-running strips are showing signs of age.
Key for this stage is a lack of new properties, with everything being either a sequel or a spin-off. Interestingly, this is the first phase where that's true. That's okay if all your existing properties are fantastic, but it perhaps signals a lack of freshness.
There follows an 8-prog gap (the longest since the story launched back in prog 228)
Golden Stutters is a great name for this stage. I can only imagine the names brewing for stages when the prog was on somewhat lesser form...
Gold star also for stepping back and giving the big picture view. Very nice!
Maybe that is why we had a "dark age" period because for a long period no new characters where introduced.
Just discovered this thread. Good work!
Good list. Some great stories there.
MetalzoicI actually preferred the B/W version – the art looked sharper than in the colour version I have (a 1986 Titan reprint). I really wish a new version hadn’t fallen through. I’d happily buy this as a lush hardback with a bunch of extras (or just printing the B/W and the colour versions, one after another!)
Actually a reprint of a DC Comics graphic novel (and here limited somewhat by lacking the original's full colour presentation)
Rogue Trooper (https://youtu.be/Ry8KKQXkmb8), [The Hit Man]The Hit was bloody awful. Notable that they cut it short, wrapped it up in a Winter Special(!), and then rebooted the strip entirely.
MetalzoicI actually preferred the B/W version – the art looked sharper than in the colour version I have (a 1986 Titan reprint). I really wish a new version hadn’t fallen through. I’d happily buy this as a lush hardback with a bunch of extras (or just printing the B/W and the colour versions, one after another!)
Actually a reprint of a DC Comics graphic novel (and here limited somewhat by lacking the original's full colour presentation)
MetalzoicI actually preferred the B/W version – the art looked sharper than in the colour version I have (a 1986 Titan reprint). I really wish a new version hadn’t fallen through. I’d happily buy this as a lush hardback with a bunch of extras (or just printing the B/W and the colour versions, one after another!)
Actually a reprint of a DC Comics graphic novel (and here limited somewhat by lacking the original's full colour presentation)
I prefer the black and white version too (I have the DC and 2000AD versions) - though do appreciate the Kev O'Neill colours (and I'm sure I've also mentioned before that I'd happily buy reprints of the two versions collected).
Quite bizarre to think that a “Graphic Novel No. 6” is the only print this thing’s ever had, as far as I can tell. At 64 pages, it’s slim. I do wonder how people would respond to a new hardcover that literally reprinted it in two versions, and then added a bunch of sketches and interviews (if the former exist and the latter are viable). That said, Miracleman HCs sold well enough, and those were quite a lot of not-strip.
Rogue Trooper (https://youtu.be/Ry8KKQXkmb8), [The Hit Man]The Hit was bloody awful. Notable that they cut it short, wrapped it up in a Winter Special(!), and then rebooted the strip entirely.
Mean Team (https://youtu.be/N8EYDJq4f9o)
Blackhawk meets The Mean Arena, in that it's got aliens but also an urban future sport. Oddly, it's more reminiscent now of computer games: so like a cross between League of Legends and Call of Duty. This may mean it was ahead of its time, but it's an odd fish. The lead character, Bad Jack Keller, is a murderous asshole and the best thing that can be said about the melodrama of one of the player's having his brain transplanted into a panther is that his reaction when he wakes up and looks in the mirror is pure comedy gold.
It feels like it loses its way, having the team transplanted to what seems like an entirely new story (itself a sort of Meltdown Man meets Death Planet) at the end of this opening salvo, but the first page lays this out as the intention all along. Can perhaps be summed up well with this quote: "Just one man - and a cat with a man's brain, but they were too much for the Black Swamp Dragons."
Slaine ... Something of a poisoned chalice, the job comes with a seven-year time limit and a retirement gift of ritualized execution.
If you don't like Ronald Reagan (see: any even slightly left-leaning British person who grew up in the 80s), then you'll struggle to enjoy watching him dropping the soap in the shower with Johnny Alpha, or getting sucked off by Durham Red (prog 522, page 2, frame 3), or saying "goshdarned", or "ulp" for ten more episodes on top of the fifteen (count 'em) from the previous stage.
Mean Team (https://youtu.be/N8EYDJq4f9o)
(It turns out that Keller is completely immune to damage, which you think someone would've noticed when he was involved in the galaxy's most violent sport, but logic, she does not live here.)
More (?!) in the next stage...
If you don't like Ronald Reagan (see: any even slightly left-leaning British person who grew up in the 80s), then you'll struggle to enjoy watching him dropping the soap in the shower with Johnny Alpha, or getting sucked off by Durham Red (prog 522, page 2, frame 3), or saying "goshdarned", or "ulp" for ten more episodes on top of the fifteen (count 'em) from the previous stage.
I read this for the first time in the recent Ultimate Collection book, and you know what...? Bitch is better than I expected. As more a child of the 90s than the 80s I have only the haziest understanding of what Reagan was like as either a person or president, so all the potshots sailed over my head - but then, the satire's all pretty broad stuff, so I still felt like I was getting it. A really interesting read in 2019, with Trump in the White House - Reagan seems like the most harmless, amiable old buffer imaginable in contrast!
As to the story itself - well, read across 25(!) weeks I cannot imagine how it must have dragged, but read in one go, it fair zips along, and only gets noticeably decompressed towards the end, with everybody hiding in the jungle. And it very much feels like the last part of Johnny's post-Wulf rehabilitation. Red constantly needles and annoys him, refusing to take him as seriously as he takes himself - and by the end, he's smiling again, joking, shooting Reagan with a catapult. She's the distraction he never knew he needed.
If you don't like Ronald Reagan (see: any even slightly left-leaning British person who grew up in the 80s), then you'll struggle to enjoy watching him dropping the soap in the shower with Johnny Alpha, or getting sucked off by Durham Red (prog 522, page 2, frame 3), or saying "goshdarned", or "ulp" for ten more episodes on top of the fifteen (count 'em) from the previous stage.
I read this for the first time in the recent Ultimate Collection book, and you know what...? Bitch is better than I expected. As more a child of the 90s than the 80s I have only the haziest understanding of what Reagan was like as either a person or president, so all the potshots sailed over my head - but then, the satire's all pretty broad stuff, so I still felt like I was getting it. A really interesting read in 2019, with Trump in the White House - Reagan seems like the most harmless, amiable old buffer imaginable in contrast!
As to the story itself - well, read across 25(!) weeks I cannot imagine how it must have dragged, but read in one go, it fair zips along, and only gets noticeably decompressed towards the end, with everybody hiding in the jungle. And it very much feels like the last part of Johnny's post-Wulf rehabilitation. Red constantly needles and annoys him, refusing to take him as seriously as he takes himself - and by the end, he's smiling again, joking, shooting Reagan with a catapult. She's the distraction he never knew he needed.
Mean Team (https://youtu.be/N8EYDJq4f9o)
(It turns out that Keller is completely immune to damage, which you think someone would've noticed when he was involved in the galaxy's most violent sport, but logic, she does not live here.)
More (?!) in the next stage...
More importantly, how did he get the facial scar? </continuity>
It's been a while since I read it, so perhaps the field that stops technology working is also the thing that makes him heal?
If you don't like Ronald Reagan (see: any even slightly left-leaning British person who grew up in the 80s), then you'll struggle to enjoy watching him dropping the soap in the shower with Johnny Alpha
It's been a while since I read it, so perhaps the field that stops technology working is also the thing that makes him heal?This is it. I always took it as unique to earth.
In 1985, if you'd asked me to name my favourite TV show I would definitely have replied Spitting Image. Grant & (the uncredited) Wagner were shamelessly copying that show's characterisation of Reagan as affable but dumb and psychotically hell-bent on Armageddon (https://i.imgur.com/pv3mezX.jpg).
I don't remember feeling Bitch outstayed its welcome, but it had a break of several weeks because of the change from squareish pages to A4-ish proportions. In retrospect, I wonder whether Tharg asked for an extra few episodes, so it wasn't just returning for 3 or 4 parts after the change to tall, narrow format?
Bitch ... had a break of several weeks because of the change from squareish pages to A4-ish proportions.
Bitch didn't have a break: it ran for for twenty-four episodes straight through progs 505-529.)
Someone else recently pointed out that it was unusual that Jack basically wore a Henry Moon codpiece the entire time as well...
Prog 534 should be the start of a Phase.
Prog 534 should be the start of a Phase.
Not 535 with the start of Zenith? (I wasn't happy with where this phase started, either. I felt kind of stuck with bad options.)
...the return of Deadlock, who we must suppose stopped being a subsumed aspect of Nemesis when we weren't looking.
...the return of Deadlock, who we must suppose stopped being a subsumed aspect of Nemesis when we weren't looking.That's presumably still to due to happen in the future, but the Warriors have travelled back through the Time Tubes to an earlier era, when Deadlock is still kicking around as his own bad self.
Rogue Trooper (https://youtu.be/Ry8KKQXkmb8)Making the three hits last roughly the same amount of time as Rogue's introduction up to the killing of the Traitor!
Hit Two ends with an interstellar gang of assassins being set against Rogue. In the two-part (and cunningly named) Hit Three Rogue takes out another Goldfinger-style target with the slight twist that one of the henchmen he offs (unbeknownst to him) was an assassin targeting him. It's assassinception!
Rogue returns in 13 progs, continuing the terribly sporadic momentum of a storyline that started in 1985...
Summer Magic (https://youtu.be/Fm5MutUaikE)Also pre-dating Tim Hunter from The Books of Magic...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde meets The Hound of the Baskervilles featuring Harry Potter, except this is 1988. Luke Kirby is a boy who becomes his uncle's apprentice ... magician. Unfortunately for him this is more Tales of the Unexpected than The Railway Children, so great power also brings dark shadows of a doom-laden future.
Sort of returns in the next stage: not in the prog but in the first Winter Special...
Slaine (https://youtu.be/W64HGS638mQ) the King: A PrologueIsn't this the one that marks Glenn Fabry as an script droid?
A three-page post-battle vision of slaughter with just these words: "...he didn't think it too many."
The three-part mini-series this advertizes starts in the next stage...
Nemesis the Warlock (https://youtu.be/sPkWwlZ56GQ), Book IX: DeathbringerNot forgetting The Shape of Things to Come and that three-parter about the Hammer of Warlocks (and a special/annual story or two).
Nemesis ... in 80s Britain!
This marks the end of the 80's sequence of books. Next we get a Nemesis and Deadlock tale in prog 700. We have to wait until 1999 for a Book X.
Hap HazzardI wouldn't have minded more tales from Fred's World (wouldn't be the same now, obviously).
Only Fools and Horses ... in space!
Returns for more short adventures in the next stage...
Nemesis the Warlock (https://youtu.be/sPkWwlZ56GQ), Book IX: DeathbringerNot forgetting The Shape of Things to Come and that three-parter about the Hammer of Warlocks (and a special/annual story or two).
Nemesis ... in 80s Britain!
This marks the end of the 80's sequence of books. Next we get a Nemesis and Deadlock tale in prog 700. We have to wait until 1999 for a Book X.
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"Zippy Couriers
Shauna McCullough is a zippy courier [see title], but it's difficult to make that career interesting, however you dress it up. Transporting thing A to thing B can be viscerally exciting, though. Take notes."
I thought The link would be to FUTURAMA.
Cinnabar for me was never a true Rogue Trooper story.
Cinnabar for me was never a true Rogue Trooper story.
I think I agree with you - the difference is, you say that like it's a bad thing!
I think describing Zippy Couriers as ahead of its time is pretty fair. I think Hilary Robinson's work of this time is often unfairly reflected.
[img]
Sooner or Later (https://youtu.be/FxmnAPVk7ZE): Swifty's Return
Sooner or Later meets Bill & Ted (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/), as Swifty brings his mate Clinton along for the ride this time.
This is it for the adventures of Swifty Frisko (& Clinton).
Special occassions during 1989 are the 12th Birthday (prog 615) and the start of bar codes on the cover (prog 634).
By all means keep them as long as you want. These recaps are hugely enjoyable.
These are getting quite long compared to my opening one-liners. Is that because later thrills are just less derivative so require more explanation? What do I do when the Megazine starts? Ignore it?Do whatever you like, but I’m enjoying reading them. I’d happily see you bring in the Megazine as well, if you can. Good luck with the dross that’s to arrive shortly, if you do continue, though!
These are getting quite long compared to my opening one-liners. Is that because later thrills are just less derivative so require more explanation? What do I do when the Megazine starts? Ignore it?Do whatever you like, but I’m enjoying reading them. I’d happily see you bring in the Megazine as well, if you can. Good luck with the dross that’s to arrive shortly, if you do continue, though!
Rogue Trooper (https://youtu.be/Ry8KKQXkmb8) [Friday]: The War Machine
Frankly, he starts behaving like some kind of ... outlaw warrior, or aberrant commando. An uncontrollable infantryman. A gorilla of a guerilla. A disorderly draftee, stubborn serviceman, undisciplined combatant, petulant plebe, raucous rookie, belligerent battler and acrimonious assailant. If only I could come up with some pithy title for the strip...)
I totally agree about The War Machine: as a standalone re-imagining of the tale of the Rogue Trooper it's really solid. There's a sense in which it riffs on Blade Runner (not a bad thing), even casting Rutger Hauer as (name-check?) Cavill.
Ron Smith on Rogue looks great but was he bored of Dredd?
This has been one of my favourite threads on this board. Really great stuff.
The only disappointment is when someone bumps the thread (like, er, I’m doing now) and it’s not a new entry!
This has been one of my favourite threads on this board. Really great stuff.
Yup.
Yup yup from me too. Great thread. Fantastic work.
The only disappointment is when someone bumps the thread (like, er, I’m doing now) and it’s not a new entry!
Also yup!
Dead Meat (https://youtu.be/dOEuLR95zBM) *NEW THRILL*
A militant vegan's wet dream, in which Inspector Raam (a humanoid ram) in a future flooded England is part of a totalitarian police force that has outlawed meat eating (it's considered murder) - even for animals. Which is pretty fucked up, because if you follow that logic then most of the animal kingdom needs to be locked up and starved to death.
Quantum Salmon LeapHeh.
Bradley (https://youtu.be/g47vAZwSD0k)
This sequence was heralded as Bradley's Thesaurus of Modern Music, because after Bradley Visits His Grandpappy, he then goes on a quest to find him some good music and Meets Jason Donovan, Goes Gothic and Goes Gigging. (This has now given up all pretence of being on an alien planet.)
a series of Quantum Salmon Leap adventures
...with basic editing failures regarding things like the population of Mega-City One...
Embarrassed by his own smell, he enlists the help of the investigator who killed him
Just reread the last few pages... dear Grud! As for the wonky figures - 43 million vote is 35% of voters - so 130 million voters? In a city of 400-500 million?
Twilight's Last Gleaming (by Ennis) is generally well written but there are a couple of key problems. The population of the city is given as 800 million, which is the pre-Apocalypse War value. A sign of Dredd's encroaching senility?
Twilight's Last Gleaming (by Ennis) is generally well written but there are a couple of key problems. The population of the city is given as 800 million, which is the pre-Apocalypse War value. A sign of Dredd's encroaching senility?If you mean the quotation on the final page, it is exactly that - a quotation from Prog 59, correctly labelled as being stated by Dredd in 2100.
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Just realized I've been misspelling taut as taught, though. Oh well, you live and learn.Looks fine to me. Ahem. Cough. Etc.
Just realized I've been misspelling taut as taught, though. Oh well, you live and learn.
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That winter special is heavy on the Nemesis: it's also got a "the story so far" article and a reprint of [The Sword Sinister] from the '81 Sci-Fi Special.
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Anderson, Psi-Division (https://youtu.be/kRsbo_1U_8I)
Reasons To Be Cheerful has two parts (not three (https://youtu.be/qcjh1a9Yoao)).
These two experienced heavy hitters provide a strong foundation so that, at times, it's the sister comic that's shining as the progenitor prog struggles.
... it's so nice that the Meg has been on top form again for several years now, with 2000AD largely firing on all cylinders alongside. Keeping in mind that 2000AD and the Megazine had separate editorial teams back then, I have literally no idea how Matt does it now.
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Kano....This rather marks the point where Bad Company stopped being a straight narrative and entered a subtler realm where you can't really trust the narrative.
Purgatory
....Quite an interesting premise (a riot on the Justice Department penal colony of Titan) is lost beneath a heaving, grunting pile of illogical rage as ex-Judge Grice gets angrier than a barrel full of bees rolling down a mountain and proves it by burning his own hand off in lava, but not feeling the pain!
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See also: Ricky Gervais.Perfect. I still find it hard to fathom why people defend Big Dave. It’s risible stuff. But then people still like Gervais, so…
This stage of AD I cannot really recall any of the stories. It did not leave any impression on me. The only thing I can really remember was Big Dave. This was the strip that let to final decision to stop with AD.
And so here we are Prog 842 has been and gone and I'm five issues into the 'Summer Offensive'... why has it taken so long for me to babble? Well truth be told I wanted to get past all the bluster and fuss and just give myself a chance to evaluate the stories as just that 2000ad stories. As frankly once past all the nonsense and I was pleasently surprised how little there was... well aside from a certain annoucement about a certain film, which I'd forgotten happened during all this... anyway yeah once past all that these actually aren't all that bad at all. Certainly in the context of the last few years.
Don't get me wrong they are far, far far from the best but they are also a long way from the worst. So lets do a chart run down, TOTP style... which I'm sure the creators of the Summer Offensive would have thought was soooo cooooool at the time.
And at Number 5 we have - Really and Truly ... which surprises me. I've always remembered this really fondly and quite enjoyed it last time I read it as I recall... but its so... pointless. Its just about nothing. I can neither hate nor enjoy it, glorious art aside, but then there's not a strip in this line-up that is any less than wonderful to look at. Its forgettable and that's the worse crime a 2000ad story can commit. Worse even than...
Number 4 Dredd - Inferno... which at least give me enough reason to truly hate it. Its bloody awful, but at least I care that its bloody awful!
Number 3 Big Dave I always bemoan this is a strip that proves the fact that 2000ad is such a broad church that it can host almost any story done well by being the exception that proves the rule. On this reading though it feels more like a 2000ad story in that it does what 2000ad does well, it takes a pop culture trope and makes it 2000ad's own. In this case it takes the massively popular at the time Viz comic and makes a 2000ad strip out of it. So strangely it is so very 2000ad... still don't think it fits in mind, but I do really enjoy it for its own sake.
Just held off the top spot at Number 2 we find Manic 5. I really enjoy this series it takes Mark Millar's greatest weakness on other strips and gives it a home where it works. Its takes his passion for thinking cranking it number 11 and builds a strip that really sustains that feeble idea. Its got no depth or value, but By George its relentless high octane fun and feels very 2000ad.
But top of the pops this week number one with a bullet is of course Slaughter Bowl John Smith finds a way to make a fantastic story even with the draft rules that seem to surround. Its not his best, but not John Smith's best is still better than most. He uses a frankly superb idea, of course 2000ad should have an armoured dinosaur racing story, like all the best ideas when you see it, it just seems so obvious. John Smith however doesn't just stop there he layers it with a deeply creepy background, fun, rich supporting and even background characters. So intriguing is Stanley - our potentially psychotic protagonist and his hard luck (or is it) story the cool gun toting giant killer reptiles almost becomes an unwanted distraction... well almost they are after all cool gun toting giant killer reptiles. So yeah this is a superb strip.
The most chilling thing about the summer offensive ... well actually its the coming soon ads. Is that more Fleischer Rogue I see coming... oh and Clown 2... I hope these 'Offensive' strips stick around longer than the 8 episodes I think they all get!
Seem to remember Really and Truly was the best of a bad bunch.
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Satan is gearing up to introduce famine, war, genocide and heroin to earth. Uhm ... aren't those here anyway?
Strontium Dog (https://youtu.be/DVOuyMhn07k)s: How The Gronk Got His Heartses
Uhm ... Genesis (chapter one of the bible, not the band) meets the Gronk's back-story? Great art from Nigel Dobbyn suffers next to ponderous hippie-smurfing from Ennis. One question: does Gronk really magically levitate into space at the end or is it all just a metaphor?
At the time, it didn’t come across as edgy. In hindsight, it comes across as a very immature take on edgy. If the aim was to create throwaway, pointless comics, this era of 2000 AD succeeded. It made me wonder why the hell I was still buying it…
This period was during my Long Walk so I've only read the Dredds.
I've heard about the Summer Offensive and always been curious about Big Dave. Has it ever been reprinted?
This period was during my Long Walk so I've only read the Dredds.
I've heard about the Summer Offensive and always been curious about Big Dave. Has it ever been reprinted?
There are some copyright / ownership issues that mean I don't think it has. Which maybe the same as those that surrounded Zenith - though that be could be wrong - or they are simply known to be creator owned (Edit actually Barney has them down as Creator owned). Whatever the reason there is clearly not the same desire to resolve or bypass these issues. At a guess as there isn't much demand to see these again?
Most of that is speculation on my part but in summary they have never been reprinted that I am aware of.
Pop over to the Daily Mail website and read some comments threads about immigrants. Copy random answers and you’ve got the basis for a Big Dave script.
I've heard about the Summer Offensive and always been curious about Big Dave. Has it ever been reprinted?
Was there a similar narrative somewhere out there in 1993 that basically did Big Dave but took itself seriously? I suppose Morrison and Millar maybe thought that this is what the Daily Mail + The Sun thought a true British hero should be like?
Has it been remarked generally that Rob Williams' 'Titan/Enceladus' epic functions as a sort of apology for Inferno, as if to say 'look, there IS a way to tell a coherent revenge story about Titan judges'?
It's not a bad concep for a gag strip, but somewhere along the way it seemed to stop mocking the instigators and start revelling in their material instead.That’s the problem with it. Satire is tricky. Dredd is often darkly comic and satirical. But the strip as a whole doesn’t punch down — and you get that when it’s done well/properly (i.e. basically everything in the Smith-edited era, and much of the classic era), the production itself doesn’t hold hostile and problematic views. I never got that from Big Dave. It felt — and still feels — like it just basically was the thing it was ostensibly lampooning. It’s not even a case of trying to be subtle as a brick — it’s just bad writing. Who you look at in particular what Millar was doing at the time in other 2000 AD strips, such as Robo-Hunter, it doesn’t look like an accident, nor a case of misinterpretation either.
... it’s just bad writing. Who you look at in particular what Millar was doing at the time in other 2000 AD strips, such as Robo-Hunter, it doesn’t look like an accident, nor a case of misinterpretation either.
the stupidity and uselessness of the unwashed masses is a recurring source of humour.There’s a difference between a satire on the masses not getting their collective arses in gear and enacting change (actual satire) vs a comic running around yelling POOF every five seconds. But, yeah, Dredd does sometimes punch down — I just don’t get the feeling the strip does that relentlessly, nor that it — as you said of Big Dave — “revels" in that nastiness, and certainly not nearly in the same way. (Dredd feels like a warning. Big Dave was like an arsehole on the bus screaming at gay people and foreigners.)
ISTR somewhere that Millar is alleged to have held his Tooth writing days in complete contempt as a stepping stone to America.In a sense, it’s curious that worked. His material was so awful that it’s surprising he’s as big as he is now.
I don't think Millar's success is surprising - but I also don't think it's wholly down to his writing ability. Some of it is - he's a very competent writer with a very strong populist streak (which also manifests as a certain meand-spiritedness in his writing) and an unerring ability to give the masses what they want. But a fair bit of his success comes from the hucksterish Stan-Lee-for-the-21st-century persona he's created - he's a brilliant salesman.
Q: Nemesis also caused a fair bit of controversy – in the light of Big Dave, American Jesus and Kick-Ass it must be safe to say that you enjoy stirring things up a bit…
A: Yeah, I mean, you’re absolutely correct. But everything I’ve ever written has caused furore somewhere. I don’t seek controversy out, though. For me to be interested in something it has to be a little different. I get bored quite fast so I do things for my own amusement.
Q: Let’s go back in time – what are your memories of your stint with 2000 AD?
A: It is funny actually because I only got into 2000 AD after I began working on it. Growing up I was reading American comics – and that was mainly because my brothers handed me what they were looking at, which was all Spider-Man and Superman. So I didn’t realise how good 2000 AD was until much later on – and I hate to say this but I think I wrote some of the worst 2000 AD stories ever. I think I was lucky to get in there because it was at the time when Alan Grant, John Wagner and Pat Mills were busy working in the States. So they needed new writers and the guys running the magazine at the time – Richard Burton and Alan McKenzie – were really lovely to me. They were so patient with me and they helped me along. It was really hard for me because a good half of what I wrote was rubbish and the other half was just okay. I remember writing for 2000 AD and reading stuff like The Cursed Earth saga for the first time. I mean, wow, I never even got close to doing something that great. When I began working on CLiNT magazine I told people that I saw its readership as being ‘2000 AD and Empire’. I wanted to blend both magazines together.
This fully explains the cynical writing he did in 2000ad - alas his craft and precision wasn't honed at this point so we get raw less guileful Millar.
...a den of amoral lead characters and ultraviolence, delivered with an 'up yours' attitude.
even if he did rip off a scene from Die Hard.
Silo
Perhaps inspired by a scene in WarGames (1983) featuring the two-man rule and definitely borrowing heavily from both The Shining and Die Hard, this is tonally a blend of 70s and 80s horror movies. Dark, bloody and somewhat confusing.
even if he did rip off a scene from Die Hard.
And The Shining, if memory serves. Morrison at least had the decency to generally rob from obscure-ish and eclectic sources… barring some some shameless thievery from Claremont-era X-Men in Zenith, which at least had the rationale of being theme-appropriate homage.
Perhaps riding the wave of talent that came before him? At any rate, he's clearly become very successful. I find it difficult to hold it against him that he cut his teeth on Tooth: especially when he's self-disparaging.
Regarding the X-Men - other than being generic superhuman stuff, what got stolen? Not being a casual super-comics reader myself...
Regarding the X-Men - other than being generic superhuman stuff, what got stolen? Not being a casual super-comics reader myself...
Without grabbing the reprints and checking, I can’t cite chapter and verse (although I distinctly recall one scene in Zenith Bk2 that’s an absolute steal from the Claremont/Byrne Proteus story) but I remember Morrison explicitly fessing up to it in (I think) one of his regular columns in Speakeasy, about a million years ago.
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"...we cannot get out. The end comes soon. We hear drums, drums in the deep. They are coming."
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Also, I think the end of this stage might be where Richard Burton stops being Tharg and Alan McKenzie starts. (I'm not sure exactly, mind.)
At this point I'd say the comic was still up and swinging punches, but signs of fatigue were showing.
At this point I'd say the comic was still up and swinging punches, but signs of fatigue were showing.
That's pretty generous [...]
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From the Nerve Centres and reprint hype machine of the era you'd think 'Book of the Dead' was the best Dredd mini-epic since the Graveyard Shift.
Here's a couple of clippings from an interview he did in M323 (2012), where Calum Waddell is asking the questions:
Funt has dredged up strips I never knew existed - there was another Mean Arena? Quaequam blag!
Here's a couple of clippings from an interview he did in M323 (2012), where Calum Waddell is asking the questions:
What's M323?
Here, Brit-Cit Judge Steel (not the one from Armitage)Why do you say not the one? She’s the same Judge Steel, isn’t she?
Why do you say not the one? She’s the same Judge Steel, isn’t she?
Why do you say not the one? She’s the same Judge Steel, isn’t she?
They're sisters, aren't they?
Why do you say not the one? She’s the same Judge Steel, isn’t she?
They're sisters, aren't they?
Funt has dredged up strips I never knew existed - there was another Mean Arena? Quaequam blag!I have read it, but so completely forgot about it that I only now know about it from threads such as this. I (unfortunately) remember the reboot of Harlem Heroes but don't even know if this Mean Arena is a reboot or continuation of the proper Mean Arena.
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Sweet baby Jovus, I got out at the right time. The latter part of this stage I've only partially read through horrified fingers. Even the Luke Kirby isn't that strips' finest hour, and The Clown is probably the next best thing for the whole 880s. The rest... shudder. How did the Prog survive this? How?
This era comes close to including a nadir Prog: 883 is properly atrocious, with the risible Babe Race 2000, the crappy second book of The Clown, a McKenzie Dredd, Grudgefather, and a Millar Robo-Hunter.
perhaps 883 really is the nadir.
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The Collector of the title is a being who saves what were, at the time, relegated characters, from being destroyed / forgotten by Armoured Gideon - a new character. Is The Collector an embodiment of fandom?
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dave the future Scotland!
I did prefer Tharg's sarky, bombastic editorial style to Bish-OP's self-confessedly po-faced one - I remember the latter scolding a reader for 'mixing his metaphors, to unsavoury effect'...
And this is one of the reasons why I believe Bish-Op is one of the greatest editors 2000ad and the Megazine has ever seen. I honestly believe that without his sheer love of the property, Matt Smith would not have been given his time to shine.
Didn't want to make a thread about it but since we just passed its stage completely I needed to get this off my chest.Another one I missed during my 1990s Long Walk.
Mark Millars robohunter was rougher than i remember it. God how did this tripe get commisoned and allowed to run as long as it was. Its sexist, violent, racist and just pretty much all in terrible. I genuinly cannot see something like this get past the editor of the current prog at all
what was tharg thinking?!? I am so sorry David Bishop you were one of the good ones at least the only dreck you let in were the garbage your predecessor paid for.
if its what i think it is i am in the same camp as you :(FWIW, the two are:
I’d hope the board in general is a bit more thoughtful these days.
Didn't want to make a thread about it but since we just passed its stage completely I needed to get this off my chest.
Mark Millars robohunter was rougher than i remember it. God how did this tripe get commisoned and allowed to run as long as it was. Its sexist, violent, racist and just pretty much all in terrible. I genuinly cannot see something like this get past the editor of the current prog at all
what was tharg thinking?!? I am so sorry David Bishop you were one of the good ones at least the only dreck you let in were the garbage your predecessor paid for.
The really interesting thing about Niamh's, er, 'fate' (with apologies for the further derailment) is that it had already happened to her twice before - but I've never seen those other instances so much as mentioned.
In Name of the Sword she's gang-raped (as Marian) by the Norman guards after her trial, and in The Secret Commonwealth it's strongly implied she's been sexually assaulted (or worse) by Slaine's impostor. Which does rather put paid to any defences of what happened in Moloch, given it was the third occasion for the character.
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I also love Button Man II - that probably didn't come across with my brief summation. I don't know that I'm doing a sterling job of maintaining a non-judgmental narrative, but I'm making something of an attempt!
SkIIIzz is (from my perspective) okay, but I'm not sure it's really of the same universe as the original, and I find it difficult to drop the comparison and just go with it. So, we'll need to agree to disagree on that.
Anyway: apologies if I inadvertently diss your favourite gig from the progs of yesteryear. (Even though, objectively...)
I've always known Bix was loved by many - it's why I keep referring to the well known yeasty spread. No disrespect to the artist, but it just sits well outside of my comfort zone, visually.
I've always known Bix was loved by many - it's why I keep referring to the well known yeasty spread. No disrespect to the artist, but it just sits well outside of my comfort zone, visually.
I always wanted to like Bix Barton more than I did. The art just never had any clear sense of place - where was any given adventure meant to be happening? And then the choice to have one adventure riff on cameos of the Carry On stars, when caricature is decidedly not Jim Mccarthy's forte...
yup if i recall the finn story was indeed planned for crisis thats why the pages are smaller with a weird panel border on them. this is def the beginning of the era of printing anything waating away in the coffers. The red razors and robohunter one offs mentioned were planned for a yearbook that was canned. Pretty sure whats left of Fleisher and Millar and Morrison are left overs too.
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[Dredd] - Crusade is like Battle Royale on ice, with Judges!
the city looked greatApart from that pipe that was in about 15 different scenes, thereby showing it up for being a repeatedly re-dressed soundstage. Sigh.
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Maelstrom also got a reprint in Volume 76 of the Mega Collection (Klegg Hai!). Which means I must have read it but I don't remember anything about it. Not a great sign tbh.
As for the Revolver 60s thing, I don't think it was written for people who actually remembered much about the 60s. It's just that 60s nostalgia was the in thing at the time. We were all watching the Woodstock video and wishing we'd been around 25 years ago, and the Baggy scene was very much riffing on the psychedelic end of the Beatles stuff. People were wearing Jim Morrison t-shirts, and Pete Milligan was going full Haight-Ashbury over at Shade The Changing Man, the only Vertigo* comic I read at the time.
*Although its snappy title at the time was the DC Suggested for Mature Readers line,
It kind of passed me by too, to be honest, living in small-town Ireland. Though, to be fair, my older brother and his mates wore the huge jeans, colouredy hoodies and pastel converse, I was still going round in Robert Smith cosplay. I have since realised that The Stone Roses is one of the best albums ever made.
But I do remember the 60s revival thing. Even the prog got on the case, particularly with Zenith - and say what you like about Grant Morrison, he knew what was cool back then.
I maintain that if you split the story and art into separate chunks (which you're not supposed to in comics but I can't help it...), the Prog becomes an x out of 10 proposition (well, there are usually 5 stories).
And with that split, I'd say even the darkest of the 90s managed to get 5 or 6 out of 10 as a minimum. I think it's really only parts of Volume 2 of the Meg that pushed we to actively dislike both story and art on occasion, although rare occasions.
I'm saying a little Kev Walker or John Burns goes a long way, y'know? Throw in a little Frank Quitely or Kevin Cullen and it's like waking up a tired chicken nugget with hot sauce.
I maintain that if you split the story and art into separate chunks (which you're not supposed to in comics but I can't help it...), the Prog becomes an x out of 10 proposition (well, there are usually 5 stories).
And with that split, I'd say even the darkest of the 90s managed to get 5 or 6 out of 10 as a minimum. I think it's really only parts of Volume 2 of the Meg that pushed we to actively dislike both story and art on occasion, although rare occasions.
I'm saying a little Kev Walker or John Burns goes a long way, y'know? Throw in a little Frank Quitely or Kevin Cullen and it's like waking up a tired chicken nugget with hot sauce.
Alas, Frank Quitely never worked for the Prog! He worked on Missionary Man, Shimura and Inaba in the Megazine, plus the Meg reprinted his gorgeous Blackheart strip written by Robbie Morrison. But by the time I moved over to 2000AD Frank was busy working for US comics.
The bulk of Kevin Cullen's work was for the Meg as well, aside from one Terror Tale and a handful of V13s.
The standalone model also requires (at least these days) solid early sales. So many series end well before their time.
As you said with Rogue Trooper they should have ended it with the traitor general. If they still wanted to do Rogue stories they could have done it with stuff like Cinnabar. It is still Rogue but before he found the traitor.
Gordon Rennie also had a stint where he did some Rogue stories in the vain of Cinnabar. I enjoyed it but must say his Jaegir is excellent. I am all for a new take on Rogue but not the DC/Marvel thingy
No harm in giving it a shot in my view, if only to put it to bed once and for all.
No harm in giving it a shot in my view, if only to put it to bed once and for all.
At some point, Covid-19 permitting, Duncan Jones' Rogue movie will head into full production and it seems inconceivable that His Verdant Majesty won't revive the character in some form to take advantage of any promotion of the film around that time.
Not sure I’d go down the continuity rabbit-hole with all the Fr1day stuff. You either do more stuff with ‘original Rogue’ in his Nu-Earth environment, or you do an IDW and reboot. Or, as a curveball, come to an arrangement with IDW where Ruckley’s strip is reprinted in the Prog (or 2000 AD takes ownership of it for trade purposes) and Ruckley picks up where he left off—assuming he wants to.
The 'original' Rogue lives on via Tor Cyan
The 'original' Rogue lives on via Tor Cyan
He's dead, isn't he? My recall is very sketchy but didn't that whole thing wrap up with Cyan going in search of the original Rogue (after finding his biochip in Prog 2000)… something…something… another of the bio-beasties that was central to Cinnabar… something something… and then he basically falls to Nu Earth from a very great height.
The Ruckley continuation idea was mooted before a few years ago I think, so if Tharg hasn't extended the signet ring and / or BR hasn't kissed it at this stage, I don't see it happening now.
My last memory of Tor Cyan is him taking the original Rogue's biochip back to Nu-Earth (which is now a grass covered planet of peace). Am I forgetting something?
Toy Cyan
The 'original' Rogue lives on via Tor Cyan
He's dead, isn't he? My recall is very sketchy but didn't that whole thing wrap up with Cyan going in search of the original Rogue (after finding his biochip in Prog 2000)… something…something… another of the bio-beasties that was central to Cinnabar… something something… and then he basically falls to Nu Earth from a very great height.
I vaguely recall getting original Rogue despatched into a black hole during my Reign of Terror, but that may well have been retconned away in the 20 years hence...
The Ruckley continuation idea was mooted before a few years ago I think, so if Tharg hasn't extended the signet ring and / or BR hasn't kissed it at this stage, I don't see it happening now.
I had a drink with Brian - who lived locally - when his IDW Rogue came out. Tharg’s contact details, with Tharg’s blessing, were passed on and I suggested he get in touch if he wanted to do more comics work. AFAIK, he never did, so you’ve got to assume he’s not interested in continuing with Rogue or comics.
(He was principally an SF novelist, and that was his first comics work)
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Grant Morrison once copied a Future Shock almost word-for-word from a few paragraphs of Hitchhiker's Guide, and look where he is now.Certainly not the only thing Grant has copied wholesale! On the other hand, I once shamelessly cribbed Candy and the Catchman for an English creative writing exercise and look where I am now...
Grant Morrison once copied a Future Shock almost word-for-word from a few paragraphs of Hitchhiker's Guide, and look where he is now.Certainly not the only thing Grant has copied wholesale! On the other hand, I once shamelessly cribbed Candy and the Catchman for an English creative writing exercise and look where I am now...
Oh.
AFAIK, he never did, so you’ve got to assume he’s not interested in continuing with Rogue or comics.Randomly, I just downloaded a Transformers preview from my HB archive. Looks like Ruckley is scripting that now.
| (https://i.imgur.com/2guY1sf.jpg) Codpiece of Doom! by Jim Murray & Dondie Cox ------------------------------------- | (https://i.imgur.com/Wfxme5W.jpg) A Dance with Death! by Jim Murray & Dondie Cox ------------------------------------- | (https://i.imgur.com/R4CRZPj.jpg) Fang-tastic Action! by Paul Peart & Sean Barnes-Murphy ------------------------------------- |
I find it odd the comic is so disliked.
The original plan for what became LotF was better and more ambitious; an anthology of different stories set in a modified Dreddverse. There was obviously going to be a Dredd strip, but I was co-writing a junior Chopper strip, Robbie Morrison was doing a Cursed Earth Dirty Dozen thing, and there was going to be a Space War strip, maybe an Anderson one etc.
First episode scripts were written for a pilot issue, but I’m not sure I ever saw any art for this. Anyway, that plan died for reasons I don’t know/can’t remember, and it became a 100% Dredd thing instead.
some people seem to take it as a personal insult that 2000 AD would ever try to appeal to a younger generationThere’s a certain kind of mostly lapsed reader that seems desperate to note 2000 AD isn’t as good as it was in the “old days” (when it was primarily written for children) and yet fucking furious at any attempt to make the modern product appeal to children.
some people seem to take it as a personal insult that 2000 AD would ever try to appeal to a younger generationThere’s a certain kind of mostly lapsed reader that seems desperate to note 2000 AD isn’t as good as it was in the “old days” (when it was primarily written for children) and yet fucking furious at any attempt to make the modern product appeal to children.
I suppose there's just no mileage in the idea of launching a spin-off title because of the cost involved? (I've always just assumed that's a non-starter, and what Tharg would prefer to do if it were possible.)
Conclusion: they'd both already proved themselves capable of doing Dredd before being passed the Chalice de Stallo
Or did Rebellion make a copyright complaint cos of the cover thumbnails? Or...?
I remember really enjoying the prog in its Sláine-and-Two-Dredd period; Wagner was back and Dredd was on form again, Sláine had picked up a lot, Ennis and Millar had left the building. The film's awfulness hadn't spilled over into the prog; fair plays all round.
For me, the Old Straight Track was the second best of the Kirby adventures - I really liked it; not much of a plot but a lovely, folksy pagan atmosphere, and I actually learned a bit about cairns (I've come across a few of them on hiking trips).I'd broadly agree - in part, that's because it follows the worst Kirby story, and subsequently feels like a return to form. The ending is rubbish though. Plus, Luke seems to have turned ten at least twice.
I remember really enjoying the prog in its Sláine-and-Two-Dredd period; Wagner was back and Dredd was on form again, Sláine had picked up a lot, Ennis and Millar had left the building. The film's awfulness hadn't spilled over into the prog; fair plays all round.
Slaine hadn't really had a chance to dip at this point - unless you really disliked Demon Killer. The worst was yet to come!
I'd broadly agree - in part, that's because it follows the worst Kirby story, and subsequently feels like a return to form. The ending is rubbish though. Plus, Luke seems to have turned ten at least twice.
Can't quite remember - was that the one with the vampire and the old magician who wasn't Elias, or the one about the new age traveller Satan in a hell that consisted of Christmas shopping, techno music and broken johnny dispensers?The latter - a jarring betrayal of the carefully-wrought, rather bucolic atmosphere of the first two and final one. A couple of really atmospheric scenes in it, mind you, but the plot made absolutely no sense at all.
Can't quite remember - was that the one with the vampire and the old magician who wasn't Elias, or the one about the new age traveller Satan in a hell that consisted of Christmas shopping, techno music and broken johnny dispensers?The latter - a jarring betrayal of the carefully-wrought, rather bucolic atmosphere of the first two and final one. A couple of really atmospheric scenes in it, mind you, but the plot made absolutely no sense at all.
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