2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[The Corinthian]

Brass Sun is 116—a great strip, but unfinished and in a format here that won't best the existing Rebellion hardcover I own.

This is a frustrating one for me too. Is it too much to hope that its appearance might prompt Tharg to get his finger out over continuing the series?

[IndigoPrime]

In a recent letters page, it looks like a Tharg isn't the reason for the delay.

[The Corinthian]

A bad Betelguesian always blames his droids.

[Tomwe]

What would you prefer? Brink or Brass Sun?

[sintec]

What would you prefer? Brink or Brass Sun?

If fear this is entirely the kind of question we will soon be regularly facing in Colins current tourney.  And yeah there's no easy answer. I'd love to see Ampney Crucius get some more pages but would I sacrifice Thistlebone for them?

I'm not sure there's an easy solution where artists get to retain their own series/characters but we don't end up with some bottlenecks like these. Especially given that, for many, drawing comics is one of many income streams they're juggling. Would it be better to have more things follow the Slaine/ABC Warriors model where different artists take up the residency for a while?

It'd probably make it easier to keep them in the prog consistently but I'm guessing it's less popular with artists/writers.

[IndigoPrime]

Honestly, if it comes down to it, I'd prefer Brink continue over Brass Sun. But, ideally, it would be good to allow for INJC to be able to do both. Perhaps Brass Sun could have shorter runs, but more of them? I dunno. I suppose it comes down to juggling schedules from Tharg and INJC, along with whether the Brass Sun scripts are even done in the first place. (It's a bit different for Abnett, who presumably has Abnett Clone 2 working hard on Brink, while the new Abnett Clone 3 busies itself on The Out's third book. Abnett Clone 1 is starting to emit smoke, but still working on Sin/Dex. At least, I assume this is what happens. That man is a machine.)

[Colin YNWA]

Tharg should bloomin' well lock INJ in a cupboard and not let him see any other comics, and quite possibly his family, until we can have at least one series of both a year...

... and don't think I'm joking for one minute!

[Link Prime]

INJ cupboard

... and don't think I'm joking for one minute!

Perish the thought.

[Blue Cactus]

INJC has such a distinctive style it's hard to imagine either series with a different artist. If push came to shove I'd rather keep him on Brink because it depends so much on the unique atmosphere he creates. I'd still love to see Brass Sun continue though.

[Dark Jimbo]

I was going to say that it's a shame Brass Sun was never a Culbard/Disraeli two-hander as was originally intended, but when you think about what happened to Helium and Stickleback, it probably wouldn't have helped!

[The Corinthian]

I'm going to be a heretic and say I'd prefer more Brass Sun.

[broodblik]

This is for me a catch-22 scenario I want Brink but I also want Brass Sun. Maybe getting a different artists on Brass Sun might be the solution but I will still miss Culbard's art on it.

[Jade Falcon]

I've caught up with my 2000ad backlog (bar Sinister Dexter).  Thoroughly enjoyed Strontium Dogs and Durham Red.  I far prefer Durham Red in this world rather than the 40k like far future she was in in her previous book.

[Dark Jimbo]

Sinister Dexter vol 4 contains the following:

Wishing Off
Low Life
The Off Lode Experience
Relode
Oh Kal Kutter
Junk Bond
Just Business
Scare Tactics
Job Jobbed
Slow Train to Kal Cutter

all the one offs not mentioned above are not in the book also intro confirms a vol 5 but honestly with the amount of war of the moses stuff i am expecting a vol 6 too

Crunching the numbers, and I think I've worked out the contents of Sin/Dex 5.

...And Death have shall have no Dumb Minions - 55pp
Festive Spirits - 5pp
Malone - 35pp
Places to go, people to do - 30pp
Pros and Cons - 20pp
The Last Thing I do - 30pp
The Doctor Is In - 20pp
Normal Service - 5pp

...for a page count of 200 (slightly more, with title pages etc). Maybe they'll try to squeeze in the next story (Life is an Open Casket) in, but Normal Service is a really nice note to end on.

We're then into an interesting phase from volume 5 onwards, as almost every single story from this point (until we get to the Steve Yeowell run) is directly tied into the ongoing narrative. It's hard to see that they can easily drop anything; which is interesting, because I couldn't make the remaining War of the Moses stuff fit in a single volume...

Add in the fact that Book 4 is volume 137 - making a Book 6 volume 139 - and does this pretty much confirm that there are four Sin/Dex volumes coming in the extension?

[sintec]

Add in the fact that Book 4 is volume 137 - making a Book 6 volume 139 - and does this pretty much confirm that there are four Sin/Dex volumes coming in the extension?

I'd been wondering the same thing Jimbo but I've not read any of these before so it's much harder to make the guesses (beyond what fits in the page counts). My only conclusion was that the next book(s) would follow the Meg floppies 376-379 which is basically the same list you've got. I'd actually be entirely happy with this being a 4 book run as that'd bring us pretty much up to where I started buying 2000AD.