Messages

Okay, that was completely predictable. The bloody bottom box!

Aye, I do indeed.  PM your details and I'll get it in the post.

As an aside for anyone interested, Interbooks at Monty marketplace have a massive pile of tooths and megs from the last few years.  That includes floppies with the megs.  If anyone's in the market to fill some gaps I can have a gander and see what they've got.  They're in pretty good condition.  I've had a couple from him already.

I'll have a butchers and see.

Which one was it again?  I can have a look see if it's in the box.

I have to admit to being a bit ambivalent when it comes to DC's superhero output.  I've dabbled with Batman from time to time, even tried to get into Superman without much success.  I've always enjoyed their more eclectic stuff from the Vertigo imprint, Kelley Jones' Deadman work, the criminally under-rated pre-Vertigo Wasteland ...

One series I've always been curious about is Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Having not paid much attention to it back in the day, seeing it come up as often as it has in people's lists, I decided to give it a plunge.

... which inevitably led on to trying out some of the related series.  Having read Court of Owls and Batman Year Zero and being utterly baffled, I've been trying to make sense of some of the resets DC have played with.  This has led to an exploration of the related series: Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis and Flashpoint.

Unfortunately this has turned into a bit of a rabbits warren as each series works with so much baggage I found myself even more confused.  A bit of digging around turns up the sequence that links much of this together.  So Infinite Crisis leads into 52, which leads into Countdown to Final Crisis and then to Final Crisis itself.

That said, Infinite Crisis comes across as a story you are very much starting in the middle of and that is hardly surprising since it builds on events from about half a dozen mini-series plus the JLA linked Identity Crisis.  So there is more backtracking to get to a point where things actually make sense.

At least Identity Crisis seems to stand on its own.  As stories go it is fairly typical super-hero stuff but with a crime-noir sensibility.  At the heart of it though is a rather uncomfortable secret for the members of the JLA which is where things link to Infinite Crisis.  A decision made with regards to Batman has significant consequences.  (for those who haven't read it, I'm not going to say much more than that).

I have to say that overall it works quite well. Unlike many of the other series mentioned here, it's not trying to address myriad plot threads.  The artwork is a much higher standard than I've seen from DC in the past.  The plot moves along nicely, twisting and turning on its way, before dropping its ultimate bombshells.

Repercussions from events follow through the JLA title up to Infinite Crisis which is what I'm working through now.  It's interesting to see how the morality of the decisions made in Identity Crisis play out and actually makes for a far more engaging story than I'd ever given DC credit for.  Certainly worth a look.

[Number 130 - Orbital]

Number 130 - Orbital

Keywords: Cinebooks; Bande dessinée; Sci-fi; 2000ad

Creators:
Writer -  Sylvain Runberg
Art - Serge Pelle

Publisher: Cinebook, in UK, Dupuis for the original French publication

No. issues: 8 albums
Date of Publication: 2009 - 2020 (in UK); 2006 - 2019 (in France)

Last read: 2021

Orbital is an 8 volume French series published in the UK by the wonderful Cinebook. I'll be talking about the UK versions here as my French and indeed ability in all languages is embarrassingly lacking.

Thanks for this one, looks quite something.  Puts me in mind of Colin Wilson's Real: Into the Shadow of the Sun.  The first volume of a trilogy originally published in French, only the first got translated.  it's pretty typical Wilson artwork of the kind he was doing on the early Rogue Trooper.  Like you, I can't speak French, I am however tempted occasionally to get the complete edition and just luxuriate in Wilson's art.

Think I'lll be adding this to my list of things to look out for.

TBH I can appreciate that, Funt.  Death Planet definitely benefits from nostalgia for me.  In fact a lot of the StarLord strips do.  Once you get away from Stront and Ro-Busters, there are a lot of strips that really only benefit from reliving distant youth.  The same holds for early Tooth strips at times as well.  Ant Wars is incredibly corny and the same can be said for early Dredd at times.

As for taking wittering with salt, well, let's be fair, most of us have that dry sardonic wit that frequently goes over people's heads.  Admittedly Jim's is as dry as the Sahara ...   

Curious about this one. Can anyone suggest any 2000ad series that are similar in a kind of 'if you liked X you'll like Timequake' kind of way?

TBH, I'd have to say no.  And this is as a Timequake fan from back in the day (as an original reader and owner of that complete run).

For Kennedy's artwork you could go with Ro-Busters (partially) or the 1982 Dan Dare (Return of the Mekon).  As for scripting, to be fair nothing comes close.  There are plenty of alternative earth storylines in places.  Warren Ellis' Stormwatch stuff, Luther Arkwright, elements of Nemesis.  Overall though, nope.

I'm going to challenge Funt on his characterisation of Death Planet though.  No, it's not as bad.  That said, you have to review those stories as a 7 / 8 year old of the time.  When Sci Fi was virtually non-existent and Tooth was an absolute revelation.  When the first Star Wars movie didn't just blow your mind but that of the entire nation!  Okay, yes, Death Planet is crap by today's standards but have you seen the most recent Star Wars film? 

where's that top ten Sharkie?

01: [CENSORED]
02: The toilets in a fake Irish bar in Southport.
03: [CENSORED]
04: [CENSORED]
05: Anywhere with Bev Karalus.
06: An old-fashioned red 'phone box on the corner of Old Street Littoral one steamy summer afternoon in 1983(ish).
07: The warm custard, obviously.
08: [CENSORED]
09: Ainsdale sand dunes.
10: Manchester Airport short-stay PSV vehicle park (had to drive 'round three times to keep renewing my ticket).

This is one of those conversations you really don't want to walk into the middle of ...

Rebellion are reprinting them all in order.  The first 2 hardback volumes are out already, starting with the StarLord strips.  Volume 2 carriers the Journey to Hell storyline with the full colour spreads in colour.  It does have the rather weaker Wolrog strip from the merger as they tried to shift its sensibility a bit more toward the SF sensibility of Tooth. 

Volume 3 is due out in the new year and it looks like they're going to do the full run in hard back.  As editions go, this is one of the best to date.  The repro is pretty good although the colour pages show some of the weaknesses of the original colour process back in the day.

I'd have to say that if you are enjoying Lawless then you'll probably also really enjoy Strontium Dog.  The early stuff (particularly the Starlord run) has a real Western Vibe to it.  Not to mention some of Ezquerra's best artwork (for my money). 

I think you can get it slightly cheaper at Aldi's though ...

Think it is fair to say it's a real mixed bag.  Some utterly naff stuff interspersed with quality one-offs.  The post ROTJ stuff shows how little idea anyone had where it could go although I'd be inclined to say it is better than what they did in the recent Disney film trilogy.

Another vote for the single Leia / Alderaanian Stormtrooper episode.  The other one has to be the Han Solo story with the red crystal.  I've got a copy of Issue 1 (weekly) with the cardboard cut-out X-wing that I picked up at a Birmingham comic mart many, many moons ago (back when they were just about comics ...).  The UK editions could be almost as interesting for what else they ran at times!

Aye, the lead character is a bit of a git.  Then again that seems reflective of the culture he comes from.  I did stumble across an overview of the series online that mentions that Tilley left things hanging a little at the end.  Apparently he planned another series but never got around to it.

As for Moore's Captain Britain, to be honest I think that is the best run of the character as well as some of his strongest work.  There is just so much insanity there, it's great.  What Claremont did with some elements in later years with X-men and Excalibur doesn't hold a candle to it.  To be fair the more recent Excalibur series Marvel ran was more akin to what Moore did and is probably about the only one I thought worth the effort (until American comics became too blessed expensive).

[Amtrak Wars]

Amtrak Wars Patrick Tilley.  Started many moons ago but kinda fizzled out. Thought I'd give it another go.  Not bad as they go.  Definitely Brain Candy and not in the same league as Mission or Fade Out.

An interesting take on the old Native American / Coloniser conflict.  Set in a post apocalyptic landscape.  Hi tech 'Amurricans' versus the native Mutes.  The first volume was more of a bounce back and forth between the two cultures where the second volume is far more centred on the Amtrak Federation.

Pretty standard totalitarian high tech fare to be honest.  Enough to keep interest going with fairly interesting characters.  Maybe it's just a case of right now needing something that isn't really going to engage the brain cell too much.

On the comic front I'm on a bit of a DC kick at the moment.  Working my way through Identity Crisis.  An interesting crossover miniseries in the standard 'event' format DC seem to like.  Stems from having recently read Infinite Crisis then Final Crisis (just because I'd never read them really ...) and found in the case of the latter that it kept being referenced.

To be fair it's not bad.  As a rule I've never been blown away by DC.  There characters just seem too one dimensional at times.  That said I've always found that some of the more esoteric, experimental stuff winds up on their imprint.  I know I've banged on about the pre-Vertigo Wasteland series with fantastic David Lloyd artwork and some downright creepy tales (as well as some batshit crazy ones).  This has got a bit more staying power.

Sure, I would be interested, but how much of the original art is available for scanning? There wasn't a lot of McMahon's Block Mania in his Dredd Apex, sadly.

I know.  Way too much of the Ezquerra stuff has been snapped up by the sort of collectors that would be unwilling to participate in such a project.  Bolland's stuff for Block Mania doesn't seem to have seen light of day in a while, nor the Smith episodes.

Still, it would be one volume I would order in a heartbeat.