Messages

1

General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Button Man vs. Zenith Round 3 Heat 14

« on: 20 May, 2022, 05:52:59 PM »

Gah such a horrid choice but choose we must. After far too much consideration I think I've got to give it to Zenith. Button Man is a top draw thrill and deserves to go much further but as others have noted it's a series of diminishing returns as the sequels retread similar ground. Zenith just keeps ratcheting up the insanity and it's that which wins out here.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Counterfeit Girl vs. Strontium Dogs Round 3 Heat 16

« on: 19 May, 2022, 12:39:49 PM »

Counterfeit Girl had some interesting ideas and a unique look. Maybe I'll change my mind once the final vol of Strontium Dogs turns up in the UC but Dogs just feels like a pale imitation of it's parent strip so far.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Low Life vs. Bendatti Vedatta Round 3 Heat 15

« on: 19 May, 2022, 12:36:17 PM »

For introducing us to one of the best of the Dredd supporting cast - Dirty Frank - it's got to be Low Life, for my vote.

Yeah ^this.  Low Life

Bendatti was fun but it doesn't have any characters who are nearly as memorable as Frank.

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Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 19 May, 2022, 09:44:20 AM »

Finished Mean Arena the second half definitely gets weirder, not sure that's really to it's benefit though. The introduction of more guns and odd scoring conditions just muddies the sport side of the strip. From the sudden wrap up I'm guessing editorial came to a similar conclusion.

Slaughterbowl is at least good OTT fun, it's basically Mario Kart meets Death Race 2000 with dinosaurs (what's not to like). The garish dayglo colour pallete perfectly suits it and it's short enough to not outstay it's welcome.

The In Detail section at the back then spends most of it's 8 pages talking about Harlem Heroes with just a couple of paragraphs at the end mentioning the strips we've just read. Can't help feeling we'd have been better served with 2 books of HH rather than Mean Arena. Looking at Barney the page counts are about the same (HH+Inferno is 295 to Mean's 288) so I'm not sure why they decided to go this way. This has been the weakest thrill of the whole UC imo and book 1 is probable the least likely vol of the UC to ever get a re-read (I might pick up 2 to read Slaughterbowl again someday).

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Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 15 May, 2022, 09:09:49 AM »

I've been reading the first vol of Humanoids new Jodorowsky Library. These are a set of matching HCs collecting 2-3 stores from Jodorowsky in each book. It looks like these are replicating the Jodorowsky 90 Ans set that was published in French to celebrate the authors 90th birthday (although in a different order for some reason). Book 1 collects Anibal 5 and Megalex along with a 3 shorts from the Screaming Planet collection.

Anibal 5 is a really odd choice to open the series with. It's a comedy about a sex obsessed cyborg super-spy (kinda a sci-fi Austin Powers) the problem is a lot of the jokes just aren't that funny, the characters are 2 dimensional and the plot is mostly non-sensical. The most interesting thing is the (untranslated) scans of the 1966 version of this strip which constitutes Jodorowsky's first comics work.

The second story, Megalex, is a more standard sci-fi action adventure featuring an uprising against a corrupt technocracy. Story wise it's a fast paced romp with plenty of Jodorowsky's crazy inventiveness to spice up the relatively predictable plot. The first 2 chapters use computer generated art which works well with the settings futurist tyranny. I think I prefer Beltran's hand drawn final chapter though as his line work brings the characters more to life. It's enjoyable but it's far from Jodorowsky's best.

The 3 shorts are fine but nothing spectacular. Overall it's a bit of a weak start to the series. Hope it doesn't put too many off getting the later books. Got book 2 sat in the to-read pile so will get to that soon.

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Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 15 May, 2022, 08:30:57 AM »

My copies arrived today. Deadworld includes everything except the most recent FoD and Visions stories, Jessica and Transpolar.

Anyone know if either of those in the 3rd Deadworld HC?
I'm hoping I'll be able to continue with book 4 without missing too much.

The 3 hardcovers contain everything published in the prog so far.

Damn so that'll end up being ~18 pages of the strip I'll end up missing.That's annoying. Not sure I care enough to spend £20 to fill the gap though. I've got the digital progs if I want to reread them.

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Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 14 May, 2022, 05:40:30 PM »

Oh, I also started reading the manga Berserk because I've recently watched two YouTube videos praising it to the high heavens.  Got through the first two volumes, but I don't have much to say about it.  Apparently the first arc is less significant until you read later arcs.

Yeah as PsychoGoagee said the Golden Age arc is where the story really gets going. Have just been clearing boxes of books out the way so I can redocrate. Found a box of the Berserk paperbacks which have been superceded by the Deluxe HCs. Drop me a PM if you'd be interested in taking any of them off my hands.

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Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 14 May, 2022, 05:37:02 PM »

My copies arrived today. Deadworld includes everything except the most recent FoD and Visions stories, Jessica and Transpolar.

Anyone know if either of those in the 3rd Deadworld HC?
I'm hoping I'll be able to continue with book 4 without missing too much.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Leatherjack vs. Hope Round 3 Heat 1

« on: 11 May, 2022, 12:22:32 PM »

I've been umming and ahhing about this one as I really like both series. Think I'm going to go for Hope on the grounds that it feels more unique. It really captures the feel of it's setting brilliantly.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Droid Life vs. Anderson Psi Division Round 3 Heat 4

« on: 10 May, 2022, 07:09:38 AM »

anderson

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Dan Dare vs. Robo-Hunter (Sam) Round 3 Heat 3

« on: 10 May, 2022, 07:06:01 AM »

Robo-hunter starts strong with Verdus but then quickly looses the magic for me and at it's worst leans into lazy stereotypes and casual racism. Dan Dare manages to avoid those lows and is supported by some glorious art. Dan Dare it is

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Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

« on: 08 May, 2022, 11:43:30 AM »

Wondering if one volume will be enough to bring us right up to date with Fall Of Deadworld. Think it should just about squeeze into the page count. Really hope we do get all the Visions of Deadworld, those were some of my favourite strips last year.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Alienist vs. Skip Tracer Round 2 Heat 126

« on: 05 May, 2022, 06:34:47 PM »

Alienist

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Sooner or Later vs. Ampney Crucis Round 2 Heat 127

« on: 05 May, 2022, 04:22:32 PM »

Crucis love the setting and Davis's art is always a joy.

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Stainless Steel Rat vs. Shakara Round 2 Heat 128

« on: 05 May, 2022, 04:17:19 PM »

Shakara