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Even so - I want to see them in the Meg!

According to an article in (I think) an old Fantasy Advertiser, Alan Grant wanted to end Black Hawk by having him face an insurmountable army of baddies... Blackhawk would be fighting away, knowing that he had no chance against an overwhelming horde...

Just then, Tharg pops up and tells him that he's merely a comics character, but despite that, he has fought well - Tharg offers to get him out of trouble so that he can fight another day.  Blackhawk replies that although hes a comics character he's also a warrior, and elects to fight on to an inevitable death....

....and I know the real ending of Blackhawk!!!

I've obsessively been collecting these for the past decade, so I've got quite a collection.

I've got loads of old fanzines: BEMs, Arkenswords, comics interviews, Comics Journals, Speakeasys, Fantasy Advertisers, Amazing Heroes, After Images....  literally dozens of interviews going back to the 70s up to the present.  I can copy you whatever you need - All I'd need is an idea of the stuff you're interested in, as there is a fair amount.  For instance I've got an interview with Gibbons from Comics Interview where he talks about the 'British Invasion' and the problems with British comics management which I imagine would be quite useful.  I've also got interviews with Alan Grant, Steve McManus, Richard Burton - basically a whole box full of goodies.  You can e-mail me for more - Wake can give you details I presume, and I'll run off now and see what I've got...  

Wouldn't want the sneak previews - but everything else is essential - otherwise, why should I bother buying material I already have.

1:Cover - new, by original artist if possible - I also liked the little B&W piccys that were used on the first page of the earlier titan books.  Don't just use the old cover as with ABC Warriors and Dr & Quinch.  The only exception I'd make to this is if the forthcoming Stront book uses the uncut original art from the earlier Titan book (a black strip was run down the left handside, obscuring Wulf and a load of other detail - I'd kill to see the full image!

2:Foreword by someone who knows what went on - writer preferably, followed by artist or editor.  

3:Rare sketches or art - as an example, the Dredd vs Death hardback should have featured the Bolland Death poster art on the cover, rather than a swipe from the reprinted strip.  Many old british fanzines have a load of original artwork by the likes of Bolland/McMahon/O'Neill etc.

Some thought into the actual selection.  The Slaine reprint was a missed opportunity to put straight Titans previous mistakes.  The first book should have featured The Time Monster, Bride of Crom, Heroes Blood etc.  The second book should have featured sky chariots and a third featured Dragon heist.    These early Slaine stories have been criminally overlooked, which is amazing considering the popularity of the character.

Basically, I dont want to be left with the impression that the volume has been thrown together.  The original Titan books were real labours of love, and I hope that the new run will aim for those same values. So far, its been patchy - new intros for Slaine and Halo Jones, but nothing in the Garth Ennis reprints since the first one.

Can you actually ruin a Mark Millar strip -  surely you can only improve it?

Razors was killed off in the 2000AD story.

The concept of Rogue Trooper was almost always better than it's execution IMO.  Nu Earth is to Rogue what MC1 is to Dredd but it was very rarely used to it's full potential.  All the elements are there - treachery, revenge, the 'ghostly' prescence of Rogue's fallen comrades, giant and plain weird hardware -  GFD just wasn't a subtle enough writer to pull it off though.  Read the Alan Moore Rogues and you can see what this strip might have been...

I don't think the actual age of Rogue has ever been defined - we've seen him as a child, but there's been nothing to say how long that childhood lasted.  However, if they're going to be flashbacks, then I don't suppose you can be too radical. That said, I think there's got to be some space to flesh out Rogue and Nu Earth, otherwise whats the point? And that's got to mean contradicting or at the very least embellishing the original run, surely?

True - though I expect that it would be easier to give someone physiological advantages such as harder skin, than to genetically muck about with their minds.  You'd want a level of 'human' emotions left, in order for them to operate in such a way as to have advantages over robotic soldiers.  Loyalty, determination to survive and succeed, patriotism etc.  You'd probably be better doing that from birth rather than before.

Talking of Rogues 'early years', If you were the Southers, I'd expect you'd want to accelerate their physical development - you wouldnt want them to take 15 years to grow, probably the most you'd want to invest in them is 5 years tops. I know the whole biochip thing is supposed to explain that, but you'd probably only want to teach them fairly simple interactions, - kill the bad guy, look after the good guy - they havent got to learn the complete works of Shakespeare to be efficient killers.  Might be interesting if Rogue was no more than nursery age....

What I'm trying to say is that Rogue should be grim,  scary, imposing, relentless - a figure of fear to the Norts and a glimmer of hope for the overwhelmed Southers - not yoir average bloke.  Look to the Alan Moore/Brett Ewins Rogue story as the template.  I agree with whoever said Nu Earth and the ordinary soldiers should be the stars, in much the same way as MC1 is the star of Dredd - another good example of how Rogue can be done well is the Milligan story told from the point of view of the Nort soldier.  Basically GDF did good stuff with Rogue but very rarely classic stuff. The striop has the potential to be classic through and through, and shouldn't be shackled by the limitations of its previous writer.

And a small point, but a lot of people had a hand in creating Rogue - he is the closest to being a character created by committee of any in the history of 2000AD.  The editorial team of the time had a massive input into the creation of rogue - see the 1983 2000AD Annual for more.  Just cause GDF didn't do anything interesting with Rogue as a character doesn't mean others can't.  

it would be a bit like saying that since the original Dredd film was filled with a confusing mishmash of old continuity, evil clones, Dredd's doubts about the Judicial system and Dredd being replaced that any new film should follow the same template.  And who would be foolish enough to do that?:)

Hmm, noone like Scojo to put forward a calmly reasoned argument....

That said I actually kind of agree against myself, or rather the way I put it in the earlier post (which did have worryingly Millarish overtones >brrrrr<).  

Basically, Rogue would not act like any other soldier - he would have been bred and trained to suppress feelings like fear or sorrow.  However, anger, loyalty and a desire for vengeance are very useful traits in a soldier.  My description as soulless is wrong, but his reactions would certainly not be the reactions of you or I.  Rogue should be a very interesting character who, like Dredd has had his humanity stifled.  What I'm hoping for is a more complex character than the original Rogue, who was basically a personality free grunt.

Gordon Rennie is usually better at interpreting other peoples stuff rather than  coming up with originals IMO.  Satanus was great, while Rain Dogs wasnt.  

I'm actually really looking forward to the new Rogue, despite not holding the original runn particularly highly.  There have been hints we'll be seeing a different angle on the character - rather than the very human Rogue and the softie Friday, we may finally see the hard bastard soulless killing machine that Rogue was born to be....hopefully.

The Rogue trooper art looks good - It looks a little like a cross between Gibbons and Colin Wilson, which is no bad thing!  

While I'm on the subject, any chance of Colin contributing to this or future Rogues.... or even  Dredds.  I hope he hasn't disappeared again, as he's one of my favourites.  Nobody can draw hardware like Colin!

The Rogue trooper art looks good - It looks a little like a cross between Gibbons and Colin Wilson, which is no bad thing!  

While I'm on the subject, any chance of Colin contributing to this or future Rogues.... or even  Dredds.  I hope he hasn't disappeared again, as he's one of my favourites.  Nobody can draw hardware like Colin!