2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[sintec]

First 2 Flesh books are 165 pages according to Barney which is pretty much perfect for a single volume

Albeit mostly because the 2000 AD run has tended towards thinner volumes. I recall Matt saying 200–250 was the ideal sweet spot, but some books are smaller and a few are larger. 

Very true.  My counts are based purely off the number of pages of strip so I'd expect them to be somewhat short of the actual page counts per volume (most volumes have a few intro pages, 2-3 covers, and a short article on top of the strips).  It's also falls over for stuff like the recent ABC Warriors volumes which come up very short using this metric. As I understand it we're getting the trade versions of those books which had extra content so the strip count from Barney isn't a reliable proxy for the page count in the Hachette reprints.

I was going to post a graph showing the distribution but for some reason it's refusing to upload from this machine; I'll try again later.  Anyway the short version is the counts were much more predictable for the Mega Collection books, most were between 180-220 (which probably aligns with Matt's count of 200-250 pages per book once you add the extra bits).  The Ultimate Collection has a lot more variance and several volumes below 170 which was the minimum in the Mega Collection.

[Tomwe]

The Order's page total from Barney come square in on 250 - I'd love to see that included.

[Colin YNWA]

The Order's page total from Barney come square in on 250 - I'd love to see that included.

That's one I'd be tempted to get. Having all that lush John Burns lovelyness and that K-Wek madness in one lovely bound volume would be very tempting.

[Bad Andy]

Bit more left field - Revamped Robo-Hunter is 285 pages

Even if it was just the Jose Casanovas strips (seem to remember they looked lovely) that's 159 pages.
84 Anthony Williams pages too

Brigand Doom - 157 pages. Lots of specials appearances on top of this

Another one for the horror edition - Silo....

The Red Seas has 703 pages - what's that four volumes?

[The Monarch]

I think we'll never ever see that version of robohunter reprinted anywhere

[Funt Solo]

The Red Seas has 703 pages - what's that four volumes?

I think that's 685 pages (or 708 if you count the covers as well). Barney has the count wrong on Twilight of the Idols and Beautiful Freak.

[IndigoPrime]

Bit more left field - Revamped Robo-Hunter is 285 pages

Some of the art is great, but I really really hope that doesn't make the collection. The Hogan/Hughes stuff was fab, but Millar's homophobic bullshit can remain in the past.

Brigand Doom and Silo I guess kind of sit alongside Armoured Gideon as third-tier thrills, although for me the imagination of the latter (notably in design, but the scripts were also a bit out there) better those other strips, which were knock-offs of V and Die Hard.

The Red Seas has 703 pages - what's that four volumes?

I'd love to see that in full HC. But even three volumes in a 30-volume extension seems heavy for a relatively niche story.

[Dark Jimbo]

Yep, as soon as we start including the likes of Ant Wars, Brigand Doom or Millar's Robohunter, we can no longer call this 'The Ultimate Collection.'

[Colin YNWA]

Yep, as soon as we start including the likes of Ant Wars, Brigand Doom or Millar's Robohunter, we can no longer call this 'The Ultimate Collection.'

Hey leave Ant Wars out of this, I love Ant Wars - my favourite GFD strip as I've said on far too many occasions.

I actually like Brigand Doom - for all its diminishing returns - too, though I won't fight you over that. I will fight you over Ant Wars...

[sintec]

I, for one, have had more than enough Robo-Hunter.  Of all the volumes in the series those have been the only ones that I've not enjoyed.  Verdus was good and the ending was ok but book 2 would probably be my pick for worst book of the set. If the reboot stories aren't top-draw thrills then I'd really rather they left it at 3 books and gave us something else (especially if it's humour is going to rely on homophobic/racist tropes).

Red Seas gets my vote though - I've not read it but from discussions here and a bit of googling it sounds great.

[IndigoPrime]

Yep, as soon as we start including the likes of Ant Wars, Brigand Doom or Millar's Robohunter, we can no longer call this 'The Ultimate Collection.'

To some degree, it's down to subjective versus objective quality, with a nod to completing key series. I don't think anyone would argue that all of Sláine is top-tier, but once the decision was made for that series to be included in its entirety, the 'objective' side of things became irrelevant.

But that's not the case elsewhere. I'm not keen on certain included strips, but the quality level on average has been much higher than for the Dredd run, where there were well over a dozen books that genuinely baffled me in their existence. My hope is that the extension keeps the quality level objectively high, but also broadens out what's included in a meaningful manner.

I, for one, have had more than enough Robo-Hunter.  Of all the volumes in the series those have been the only ones that I've not enjoyed.  Verdus was good and the ending was ok but book 2 would probably be my pick for worst book of the set.

Football Crazy is one I've not read in a long time, and I wasn't a fan, to say the least. I do recall the strips in the third volume quite fondly, but...

If the reboot stories aren't top-draw thrills then I'd really rather they left it at 3 books and gave us something else (especially if it's humour is going to rely on homophobic/racist tropes).

Some of the reboot is among the worst stuff 2000 AD put out during its darkest era. I would be genuinely amazed if these strips saw the light of day again. I'm not OK with some of the dodgy racial stereotypes in e.g. classic Dredd, but the Millar stuff was beyond the pale. Again, it's a pity there was no space for the Hogan/Hughes run, which was mostly rather good. But it's not good enough to warrant an entire book of reboot material. (And, let's face it, the Samantha Slade stuff never went anywhere, and was piss-poor as well.)

Red Seas gets my vote though - I've not read it but from discussions here and a bit of googling it sounds great.

I really need to do a re-read of that. It suffered badly from big gaps in publication, but as a whole should stand up as a pretty exciting pulp fantasy romp.

[Colin YNWA]

Red Seas gets my vote though - I've not read it but from discussions here and a bit of googling it sounds great.

I really need to do a re-read of that. It suffered badly from big gaps in publication, but as a whole should stand up as a pretty exciting pulp fantasy romp.

I did a re-read a few years ago and loved it. Was very tempted to buy the digital collections as it seemed clear there wasn't a phyisical option anytime soon. So hopefully the Ultimate Collection can prove our salvation as I think this will be a magnificent story to have in a nice neat set of collections. Brilliant action adventure romp in the very best Ray Harryhausen style by a consist and wonderful creative team. What's not to love!

[Max Headroom]

Another volume of 'Stickleback' would be good for me. Would also like to see 'Defoe' and 'The Order' get the same treatment. Really curious to see what makes it into the final 30 book selection.

[IndigoPrime]

I don't care for Defoe, but will be amazed if it doesn't make it in. Again, the repro is done, and this collection seems to love Mills.

[sintec]

Uploaded that graph of page counts so I could share it here.  These are largely based off the page counts on Barney.  The exceptions being that I got annoyed by the recent Langley volumes all being low outliers becuase of the additional double page spreads. I did a page count of the strip pages in those volumes which bumps them up into the low end of the bell curve.



And in case any one is interested this is an estimation of the % of the stories from each prog that have been included across the 2 collections. It doesn't look at the relative page counts of those stories so something like Sooner or Later is considered an equal % of the prog as a 5-6 pager.



These graphs are based off data up to Issue 68 as that's the most recent one I have a strip list for.