John Smith or Emma Beeby - Writers Solhiem Cup - Tie 6

[Dog Deever]

John Smith is a unique talent and though occasionally I've struggled with some of his work, other stuff has been brilliant.
I have to put aside Emma Beeby's collaborations as I don't know how much of it is down to her or Gordon or the sum of both, because that's a thing too (Wagner & Grant, John Wagner, Alan Grant are also all different beasts for example), though I do like Survival Geeks a lot, I just don't recall anything else. On that note, it really has to be...

Smith 5 Beeby 0

[Funt Solo]

I recently re-read Cinnebar and it was only ok - I don't get why it's often held up as the best ever Rogue Trooer story.

At the time, Rogue Trooper had been treading water for ages, with the dull and risible Hit arc. Smith's effort felt like—to steal a later Diggle phrase—a shot of rocket fuel. I still like it now, because it has a ton of weirdness and Bagman goes off the deep end.

Cinnabar is something I would also find it difficult to unravel from the context in which it appeared. It comes pre-titled as a "Nu Earth Flashback" because, as IP says, it was published after the disjointed hydra that was the hit series, which was sputtering badly and then snuffed out (post-Cinnabar) in a Winter Special, in a sequence that nobody has ever tried to tie back into the canon. (The three biochips are regened as babies with no memory of their former lives, by an alcoholic hobo, after Rogue abandons them and wanders off into the desert, unarmed, to find himself.)

So, in context, it had been (arguably) five years since we'd been on Nu Earth, and it turns out we missed the old place - the bio-wire, the chem clouds ... smells like ... victory!

All that to one side, this was one of the first times we'd seen Rogue soundly defeated - so the opening sequence, where it climaxes with him crucified, was genuinely shocking at the time. (In Fr1day-land, it's much more common for the trooper to get messed up and patched up, but Rogue had, apart from a couple of fainting episodes with special Nort poisons, been more or less undefeated for most of his tenure. There was that one time, where the TG did a Blofeld and strapped him to a laser::torture table, but, as with those sequences in Bond, it wasn't genuinely affecting.)

Plus there was something more real about the characterization of the squad of deserters, and intriguing about there even being that much of a focus on characters that weren't Rogue.

You can probably tell I'm a big Cinnabar fan. What's this thread about, anyway?

[Funt Solo]

Smith 4 : 1 Beeby

Vote based on solo work, as it's difficult to measure otherwise.

[Rogue Judge]

Smith 4 : Beeby 1

I also love Cinnabar!

[broodblik]

I also enjoyed Cinnabar  but for me it was always a very un-Rogue story. If your read it in context it is not a Rogue Trooper story.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I recently re-read Cinnebar and it was only ok - I don't get why it's often held up as the best ever Rogue Trooer story.

At the time, Rogue Trooper had been treading water for ages, with the dull and risible Hit arc. Smith's effort felt like—to steal a later Diggle phrase—a shot of rocket fuel. I still like it now, because it has a ton of weirdness and Bagman goes off the deep end.

I still say it's the best Rogue Trooper story.  Finally, we didn't need the Traitor General to make things interesting.  But don't take my word for it - there's a guy with a mumbly Irish accent banging on about it at length on Eamonn's podcast, and I agree with everything he says.

[I, Cosh]

Tough draw. One of these has written half of my personal All Time Top Ten Thrills. The other has written some alright if disjointed Andersons, one good Dredd and  half of a mildly amusing nerd-riffing comedy strip which wasn't as good as Bec & Kawl.

Smith 5 - 0 Beeby

[paddykafka]

John Smith (4) Emma Beeby (1)

[sintec]

It's been a bit onesided so far and I'm afraid I'm not about to buck that trend. Much as I've enjoyed Emma's work Smith's stories are in a class of their own:

Smith 4 : Beeby 1

[Colin YNWA]

Last chance saloon for this one. Vote today or forever hold your vote. I'm a countin' up in the morning.

As for my vote. Well not many would take a point off John Smith from me and alas Emma Beeby's work, much as I enjoyed chunks of it, does get to that high benchmark. Her highlights, particularly Survival Geeks - which on re-read I'm loving can't dent the writer of some of my all time favourite thrill in the Prog. That's before you consider New Statesmen in Crisis which is one of my all time favourite superhero stories. So alas this one is easy:

John Smith 5 : Emma Beeby 0

[DrJomster]

3-2 to John. He's a toughie to come up against for anyone.

[Colin YNWA]

VOTING CLOSED

This weeks votes seem to be extreme judging by voting so far. By which I mean one writer or another completely dominates and this one is an example of that. Emma Beeby of course got a lot of appreciation here but there was little doubt from start to finish who the winner was going to be. John Smith is one of Tharg's most missed and the affection his work is held in was absolutely apparent here. Overall Team Classic could be building something here as after a touch first week this one adds to their opener and there might be more to come?

Team Current 4 : Team Classic 2

Team Current 339 : Team Classic 230