2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[The Corinthian]

A Love Like Blood is probably my least favourite Smith series from 2000AD proper

Great art, great concept.

Possibly but it's the most conventional and high concept thing Smith's ever done and his least idiosyncratic.

Unfortunately hamstrung by an edict from The Powers That Be than no series could run more than ten(?) episodes for a single story,* due to a reprint deal in the offing with a European publisher who had a specific page count for their books. The deal never materialised, and the edict was withdrawn, but not before it had forced some very truncated storytelling on both this and (I think) Storming Heaven.

*Note: this edict was not Andy Diggle's famous "shot glass of rocket fuel" memo, which is regularly blamed for the LLB/SH thing, but something entirely different.

I think it's this more than anything that made me a bit dubious about Rebellion's first couple of years at the helm. There was probably less resurrecting old classics than it seemed at the time but 2000AD seemed to be struggling to get anything new and exciting off the ground. Necronauts and the first series of Shakara were probably hobbled by this as well.

[Hackenbush]

Maybe The Dead from a stylistic standpoint (if very much not an art one), but we’ve heard nothing about that being included in the collection (alas).

I want a Peter Milligan scripted one-offs volume:
The Dead
Shadows
Freaks
Tribal Memories
Counterfeit Girl

Also -is there anything that would pair with Bix Barton?
Nothing comes to mind for me.

[IndigoPrime]

Yeah, I said something similar back in the depths of this thread about a Milligan book. It would have been a great collection with the strips you outline, Hackenbush.

[sintec]

+1 for that Peter Milligan volume. That'd be an excellent addition to the run.

[AlexF]

Also -is there anything that would pair with Bix Barton?

Now there's a challenge!
You could go for a Jim McCarthy collection, and bundle Bix with the Grudge Father and Kid Cyborg - a volume that would get precisely one buyer - me!

Or just maybe you could go for a 'Tales of English Weirdness' volume and pair up Bix Barton with other comedy stories that rely on understanding super British cultural references, from Carry On Films to Rugby and Cricket. So maybe Armoured Gideon, London Falling (not really a comedy), Time Flies (trying to be funny...), probably loads of Future Shocks.

Or on second thought, purely themnatically/stylistically, Bix Barton might pair quite nicely with Dandridge, and those two together rack up a decent page count.

[Colin YNWA]

Also -is there anything that would pair with Bix Barton?

Now there's a challenge!
You could go for a Jim McCarthy collection, and bundle Bix with the Grudge Father and Kid Cyborg - a volume that would get precisely one buyer - me!

Or just maybe you could go for a 'Tales of English Weirdness' volume and pair up Bix Barton with other comedy stories that rely on understanding super British cultural references, from Carry On Films to Rugby and Cricket. So maybe Armoured Gideon, London Falling (not really a comedy), Time Flies (trying to be funny...), probably loads of Future Shocks.

Or on second thought, purely themnatically/stylistically, Bix Barton might pair quite nicely with Dandridge, and those two together rack up a decent page count.

How about Dandridge?

[Blue Cactus]

I keep hoping Shadows will be reprinted somewhere sometime. I’ve never laid eyes on it.

[credo]

I keep hoping Shadows will be reprinted somewhere sometime. I’ve never laid eyes on it.

Shadows was great.

Has Hewlligan already been in the Ultimate Collection?

[Colin YNWA]

I keep hoping Shadows will be reprinted somewhere sometime. I’ve never laid eyes on it.

Its baffling its never been reprinted, its great. Surely it must have somewhere... Barney says not, which if correct is really weird?

[IndigoPrime]

@credo: Hewligan was paired with Sooner or Later and included the first Zaucer of Silk and some Future Shocks.

[abelardsnazz]

The Small House is a cracking volume, showcasing Rob Williams' more recent work on Dredd, with a great supporting cast. The art isn't too shabby either.

[levers]

The Small House is a cracking volume, showcasing Rob Williams' more recent work on Dredd, with a great supporting cast. The art isn't too shabby either.

Looking forward to receiving this. I suspect it'll make for a more satisfying read then than trying to cobble together all the bits from The Small House and Judge Pin GNs. Do we get Hershey's retirement in there too?

[abelardsnazz]

No Hershey retirement, I think because Wagner wrote it and this is a Williams collection. Still the possibility of more Dredd to come though.

[levers]

Cheers. So if if I remember correctly, Logan's in charge during the final Judge Pin story, so still a bit of a gap?

[abelardsnazz]

 Yes, Logan is CJ in Control.