Writers Block

[AlexF]

Talking of giving new writers a chance, isn't that a secret part of what the Regened progs are? Future Shocks all well and good, but if you can write an all-ages story that ALSO floats the boat of cynical 2000AD stalwarts, is there a better proving ground?
For me, I'd say the Regened creators succeed about as often as they fail.

I agree with the basic point that 2000AD is only a couple of major players retiring/dying from being in trouble, but I disagree that this is a new phenomenon - that's kinda how it was back at the start, seems to me.

[IndigoPrime]

I think we should perhaps also consider the difference between someone being missed and the Prog being in trouble from their absence. John Wagner’s regular input is missed, for sure, but I’m not convinced the Prog directly suffers from it in a wider and meaningful manner. The one thing that has become messy without his involvement is the ‘showrunning’ (for want of a better phrase) of Dredd, which now appears to be running several somewhat contradictory timelines simultaneously. Then again, see also: most ongoing comics.

(What remains quite odd, though, is my favourite non-Wagner Dredd writer is still using a pen name…)

[The Bissler]

Ongoing series are an issue, like broodblik says. Edginton is particularly bad for that. I’d love to know what’s going on with Brass Sun in particular. Is it just gone? Is it coming back?

It's hardly up to date information, but I'd asked about this on the Judge Dredd Tat and Chat Facebook group last year and Mr Edginton replied "Yep, there is more coming! Mr Culbard and I both got side-tracked with other jobs, not to mention life in general getting in the way but there is more Brass Sun, Stickleback and Scarlet Traces in the works plus some new material to boot!" I've chanced my arm and asked him for an update! Like you I'm eager for more!

Link for reference:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/388712724794261/posts/1133857273613132

[broodblik]

Great news thanks for the update Bissler

[The Bissler]

You're very welcome, I'll post any reply I receive here as well.

[credo]

I've not read the prog weekly for years, coming back into the fold only thanks to Rebellion's outstanding commitment to collected volumes, so I may well have missed something ...

... but what happened to Robbie Morrison? Dante and Shakara then ... nothing?

[CalHab]

Currently writing crime novels, and doing rather well by the looks of things:
https://bloodyscotland.com/announcements/announcing-our-2021-prize-winners-craig-russell-and-robbie-morrison/

[JayzusB.Christ]

I really, really want to like the prog these days but it's just not grabbing me as much, to the point that I occasionally forget to buy it, which would have been utterly unthinkable 10 years ago.  But I will add that i think it probably is me, and not Tharg - there's too much content out there these days; TV is in a golden age and of course there's the internet.  I haven't enjoyed much of Pat Mills' stuff for a very long time and I miss the feck out of John Smith.

Wagner's occasional Dredds are as brilliant as always, though, and Ken Niemand fills the Dredd gap in a way that no one has done since Al Ewing.  I remember some creator or other saying that 'if the Dredd is good, the prog is good' and it's kind of true. 

[Funt Solo]

I took an 8-year break for financial reasons and then crammed about 8 years worth into 2 years (or something). I stalled recently due to work commitments being massive - so I'm at prog 2239, just coming out of a strong phase and coasting a bit.

Removal Man (Dredd), Aquila and Chimpsky's Law are holding it together against the weaker Dep. K and Skip Daddy.

In the sequence before that, we had Feral & Foe (II), Thistlebone (II), Visions of Deadworld and Dredd's Penitent Man - all very strong, and supported by a three part Intestinauts.

I'm finding more to celebrate than decry in the modern prog.

 

[Magnetica]

I think the Prog is pretty good right now.

It’s certainly no where near the 90’s nadir.

The art has always been great.

It has always relied on a small number of writers. Back in the “golden days” you could easily have had three strips in a Prog by Wagner and / or Grant. And one by Mills. And one by Finlay Day or Tom Tully. It’s not that much different to how it is now.

I also think there is a huge amount of nostalgia is attached to how the golden age is viewed. I am currently re-reading a strip I would easily have put in my top ten in Ace Trucking and to be honest it’s actually not that great. For a comedy strip it’s just not that funny. And the action is just ok. And I’m on the better stories before it lost its way. But the art is amazing.

I have branched out other comics now such as Shift, The77 and Spacewarp and for my money none of them come close to 2000AD.

[13school]

This is a tough one. I definitely think the writing in current 2000ad is remarkably consistent (and has been for a number of years now) - if you're in tune with what it's serving up, then the prog has been having a very good run of late.

Personally though, a large part of what appeals to me about 2000ad has always been the wild, out-there stories you can't find anywhere else, and that - to me, and I'm sure people can cite recent stories that have delivered these kind of thrills for them - has been lacking a bit of late. I'm still getting 2000ad, but I find it's currently piling up rather than being a must-read each week.

To be honest, I can't see this changing any time soon either. Reliable writers are hard to come by, and the current crop seem to be doing everything right as far as delivering solid thrills. At the moment the prog has found its groove, and I seem to be situated just outside of it.

[AlexF]

I know what you mean about there not quite being those 'this is totally OUT THERE' thrills, but for me I think it's a problem that can only be solved by finding new writers and artists. In this week's Prog (2257) we actually DO have three thrills that, for me, qualify as things I could never get anywhere else...

...but they're all by people whose work can't help but feel familiar because I've been reading it for 20 years.
Rennie and Reardon on Diaboliks are delivering whiny druggies and demons in London, and it's very much my thing. I do like London-based stories, it's comforting and fun (especially when it veers away from the bloody East End and gangsters. It's a big city, y'know, not just one square mile!)
Edginton and D'Israeli are putting as many possible Worlds at War as they can in Scarlet Traces, and it's gorgeous.
Abnett and Harrison on the Out take the cake by having an entire episode set in and about a Bowie analogy staging a planet-scale concert. This is probably the most 'wow, that's different' thing in the Prog, but even this has precedent (looking at you, Max Megadoom / Douglas Adams), and even the ways it's new are very Abnett-y and Harrison-y.

...so I can't see how Tharg or anyone could do any better, until such time as a new voice turns out to be good enough at actually crafting comics to be publihsed. Stewart K Moore is kind of doing it for me, artwise. He's got a fluidity that I don't think Ive seen before in 2000AD, and I love it. Put HIM on Skip Tracer and maybe it'll actually break out of its blandness?

[Mister Pops]

I really, really want to like the prog these days but it's just not grabbing me as much, to the point that I occasionally forget to buy it, which would have been utterly unthinkable 10 years ago.  But I will add that i think it probably is me, and not Tharg - there's too much content out there these days; TV is in a golden age and of course there's the internet.  I haven't enjoyed much of Pat Mills' stuff for a very long time and I miss the feck out of John Smith.

Wagner's occasional Dredds are as brilliant as always, though, and Ken Niemand fills the Dredd gap in a way that no one has done since Al Ewing.  I remember some creator or other saying that 'if the Dredd is good, the prog is good' and it's kind of true.

I find myself in the same boat* as you Jayzus. Lockdown only exacerbated my proglapsing**, and I have on occasion just given up until the next jumping on prog. It's not at the heights of about a decade ago, when Dante was climaxing***, Day of Chaos was incubating and SHAKARA was SHAKARAING, but looking at the rapidly metastasizing Forum's Favourite Thrill threads, it's clear the prog has been in far lower places than it is now.

Also, I'm glad Pat Mills has left*. Most of my proglapses** have occured while he was in the prog flogging one of his dead horses.




*too soon?

**that 'g' there is doing important work

***stop it you

[Funt Solo]

while he was in the prog flogging one of his dead horses.

You're clearly getting confused with Igor Goldkind.

[Mister Pops]

while he was in the prog flogging one of his dead horses.

You're clearly getting confused with Igor Goldkind.

ZOUNDS! I have fallen for one of the classic blunders!