Mm. Pandora is the only Regened strip that, for me, 1) has been consistently very, very good, and 2) is a new property. But I suppose this is ‘2000 AD for kids’, hence baby Dredd as the lead, baby Tharg as the host, baby Johnny Alpha, and now (rather more literally) baby Ulysses Sweet, etc. I get that tactic: try to draw in parents with familiarity and provide an upgrade ladder. But I can’t help feeling this too often stifles Regened, or gives us strips that are mired in continuity and are neither one thing nor the other, in terms of appeal to new and old readers. Mini-Tharg I can deal with. But mini-Dredd just doesn’t work at all for me.
Some strips manage to escape the continuity issue, with Dept K being the most notable example I can think of. And Mayflies certainly has potential to be its own thing. I also quite liked some of the direct young versions, such as the first Alpha strip. But Pandora and Full Tilt and other entirely new fare has been more successful, for my money.
Natch, none of this is easy. It’s not like The Phoenix arrived fully baked. Heck, one might argue it took an entire failed comic (which, while often impressive, was tonally all over the place) for that to find its feet and go on to great things. Also, Regened is quite often (although far from exclusively) using existing writers/artists/producers who are more familiar with comics aimed at a much older audience. Hence, it’s sometimes quite a jolt to sit down with Regened after coming across from an issue of The Phoenix. (And, yes, I get they are not chasing directly the same audiences. But Regened’s storytelling is far messier, and the stories are, broadly, less engaging than what’s going on in The Phoenix right now.)
In all, I should note that despite my disappointment with this particular issue, I’m still in favour of the experiment continuing. I want Rebellion to have the opportunity to find new audiences for when us old fuckers vanish. I want there to be more choice for kids on the newsstands, beyond the tiny handful of comics of note. I do believe there is potential in both Regened and Monster Fun. It’s just that, at this stage, the execution isn’t doing it for me – certainly not consistently. More importantly, it’s not doing it for my daughter, who’s a voracious reader and yet wasn’t even remotely bothered about reading the latest issue of either publication, choosing instead to delve into a pile of library books and back issues.
