2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[moly]

They confirmed brass sun

Confirmed in the Facebook page last year

Due to popular demand, we're excited to confirm that 2000 AD: The Ultimate Collection will now continue to 140 issues. There will be a natural break in the spine art issue 111, but if you choose to continue collecting we have some awesome stories lined up for you including Finn, Sinister Dexter, Strontium Dogs, ABC Warriors, Brass Sun, Black Hawk, The Mean Arena, and Revere.

[Dark Jimbo]

There are 29 books to fill in the extension..

I think we'll get
1 Ro-busters volume (2000 ad stuff only)
1 ABC warriors volume (the three "return to" stories)
1 BlackHawk
1 Revere / Cradlegrave
1 Mean team / mean arena
2 Sinister Dexters
1 Deadworld
1 Finn
1 extra Slaine ?
1 Armoured Gideon
1 War Machine (paired with random Friday one-offs)
1 Leviathan
1 Devlin Waugh (post John smith stuff)
2 Strontium Dogs / Durham Red / Tales Doghouse
1 Samantha Slade (maybe with Hogan Hughes robo hunter)
2 Dredds (could be anything, probably machine law)
1 Harry 20

That's a great list. Some amendments from me - there are four uncollected ABC Warriors series, so that's 2 books; there's easily enough material for at least x3 Sinister/Dexter books; and I think I'm right in saying there's less Strontium Dogs stuff than you think, so it could all fit in one book.

So...

1 Ro-busters volume (2000 ad stuff only)
2 ABC warriors volumes (the three "return to" stories and Fallout)
1 BlackHawk
1 Revere / Cradlegrave
1 Mean team / mean arena
3 Sinister Dexters(?)
1 Deadworld
1 Finn
1 extra Slaine ?
1 Armoured Gideon
1 War Machine (paired with random Friday one-offs)
1 Leviathan (Needs pairing with something else, though)
1 Devlin Waugh (post John smith stuff)
1 Strontium Dogs / Tales from the Doghouse
1 Durham Red - Scarlet Apocrypha, Island of the Damned, Nobody-wants-this-job Job
1 Samantha Slade (maybe with Hogan Hughes robo hunter)
2 Dredds (could be anything, probably machine law)
1 Harry 20
2 Brass Sun
1 Survival Geeks
2 Scarlet Traces
1 Blunt
1 Kingdom (completing the series)
1 Stickleback (completing the series)
1 Savage/ Disaster 1990 (completing the series)

Which I think takes us to 31 of 29 books...! 

[IndigoPrime]

It’s all speculation at this stage, but it’d be odd for a publisher to start getting completist about Sin/Dex now, given that the original run cherry picked. Might also be worth us splitting lists between what we know is coming and what we’d like to see. Those are very different things!

As for existing books, I finished reading The Red Seas last night and it’s just great. I always thought it was fine in the Progs, but in collected form it’s superb and has propelled it towards the top of my favourite 2000 AD strips list. Top stuff.

The only downside is reading the extras at the back and seeing just how much Edginton stuff is in limbo. Brass Sun has been on hold since 2018. Is it done? Is it coming back? It’d be horrible for that to become another Helium—although Helium at least felt broadly self contained. Brass Sun just stops, like a season of great telly that got unceremoniously axed.

[Dark Jimbo]

The only downside is reading the extras at the back and seeing just how much Edginton stuff is in limbo. Brass Sun has been on hold since 2018. Is it done? Is it coming back? It’d be horrible for that to become another Helium—although Helium at least felt broadly self contained. Brass Sun just stops, like a season of great telly that got unceremoniously axed.

Take heart from what happened with Stickleback, I suppose - wasn't that something like a seven-year gap between books?

[The Corinthian]

I suspect Revere and Cradlegrave will end up as two volumes, paired with Slaughterbowl and A Love Like Blood respectively.

[sintec]

According to Barney there's 348 pages of Mean Arena so I think that's going to have to be 2 volumes.

Similarly there's 321 pages of Finn so that'll either be an incomplete run or 2 books (only the first 2 books were reprinted in the floppies implying it's diminishing returns from there but that's only 120 pages so a bit slim).

There might be enough space to squeeze all the remaining ABCs plus Robusters in 2 volumes:
Vol 7 - Return to Earth/Mars/Ro-busters = 74+79+83 = 236
Vol 8 - Fallout + Robusters (orient express/terra-meks/ro-jaws and hammerstein) = 86+12+27+78 = 203
Could potentially swap Return to Robusters and Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein over to split the Ro-busters material over the 2 books.

Following Indigo Primes advice I've split the list up.

Things that were mentioned by name (11-16 books):
1-2 Finn
1-3 Sinister Dexter
1-2 Strontium Dogs / Durham Red
2-3 ABC Warriors/Robusters
2 Brass Sun
1 Blackhawk
2 Mean Arena
1 Revere/Cradlegrave (possibly also Slaughterbowl as it's recently had a digital release and would just fit)

Speculation based on spine spine art (5):
1 Blunt
1 War Machine/Fr1day
1 Sam Slade
1 Devlin Waugh (post Smith)
1 Leviathan (plus some combination of Helium/Detonator X/Interceptor/American Gothic/Stone Island)

My speculative list (8-12):
1 Survival Geeks
1 Armoured Gideon
1 Flesh (Midnight Cowboys, Badlanders, Gorehead)
1-2 Dredd
1 Stickleback
1-2 Deadworld
0 or 2 Zenith (it's the biggest name strip we've not had but I'm not convinced it'll appear)
1 Tharg's 3rillers (Mechastopheles, Infestinauts + some others)
1 Scarlet Traces (you've convinced me this is possible and Scarlet Traces-Home Front is 247 pages of strip which is a thick book but we've had bigger)

Total = 24-33

Things I'd really like to see but suspect we won't get:
Kingdom - with only 2 stories left there's just not enough for a book
Savage - FB page replied to say no plans for more savage in the collection
Peter Milligan collection including The Dead
Defoe - one story short of a full run which is a shame
Tor Cyan - FB page replied to say no plans for more

Things I don't think we'll get because they don't fit nicely into the format:
Harlem Heroes - the stories just don't fit nicely into ~180-200 page volumes and we're already getting future sports in the form of Mean Arena
Luke Kirby - it's just slightly too long for all of it in 1 book

Things I'd really prefer not to see
Skip Tracer - no one needs this in hardcover
M.A.C.H 1 - it'd need 2 books and having read some digitally it's really not aged well
Bec & Krawl - got digital in the Humble Bundle and it's a bit meh

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

er (wolfie smith?)
surely an anthology collection of rude, pointed horror from the early years would be really ace? including wolfie. but also, at a stretch, silo?

[IndigoPrime]

It’s curious to see that list in black and white. I’ve loved 90% of the extension. It’s stronger than the original run and that was better than the Dredd books. But of the books confirmed by name, I only care about Revere. (Brass Sun is great, but I have the Rebellion HC.) Of the spine art ones, Leviathan might be a pick depending on what’s included, and maybe War Machine and Devlin. Beyond that, I’d buy Armoured Gideon and any series completions, but, yeah, I think I’m out as of 111. Although getting that across to Hachette without them instantly cancelling my sub might be tricky.

[Michael Knight]

Please mighty Tharg put 'Disaster 1990' in Hardback! More Bill Savage pretty please. Really enjoying rereading it all

[sintec]

The Edginton and Smith stuff is definitely the pick of the things that have been announced and/or spotted on the spine art. Not looking forward to Sam Slade at all, the robo-hunter books are among my least favourite books in the run so far so I don't have high hopes for that. I'm hoping they keep the ABCs stuff to 2 books and Finn to 1 as that'd leave more room for other stuff. I think I'll probably stick with it but it's definitely not as strong as the recent run.

Really enjoyed The Order. Like several other recent volumes it was great to get the backstory having dropped in part way through when I started buying the Prog. It definitely reads much better collected than it does serialised. Hope Tharg continues the trades so I can get books 5 and 6 at some point even if they will be in a different format.

[Bad Andy]

Revere. Ugh. Did not enjoy that at all first time round.

The good thing is with me taking a three month sabbatical is that I'll be able to see more clearly what's up ahead in this extension extension.

I'm assuming the ownership situation rules ur any Harry Exton stuff?

[Dark Jimbo]

Tales of Telguuth is a great-looking book. Primarily it's a showcase for some great fantasy artists, but the stories are enormous fun - knowingly pulpy and purple of prose, the format is almost never varied, but Steve Moore makes that something of a strength. They have a weird rhythm all their own that's a lot of fun if you can get into the spirit of things - 'Did you really think, Yabakrom Daak, that you could truly best the infernal Snertix?'

I'd forgotten how much I like these. You couldn't read too many in one sitting, but a nice volume to dip in and out of when you've got 15 mins spare.

[Link Prime]

Tales of Telguuth is a great-looking book. Primarily it's a showcase for some great fantasy artists, but the stories are enormous fun - knowingly pulpy and purple of prose, the format is almost never varied, but Steve Moore makes that something of a strength. They have a weird rhythm all their own that's a lot of fun if you can get into the spirit of things - 'Did you really think, Yabakrom Daak, that you could truly best the infernal Snertix?'

I'd forgotten how much I like these. You couldn't read too many in one sitting, but a nice volume to dip in and out of when you've got 15 mins spare.

Was humming and hawing about that cherry-pick, but you've just made a sale for Hachette.

[sintec]

I'm assuming the ownership situation rules ur any Harry Exton stuff?

yeah I'm pretty sure it was stated a while back that there wouldn't be any creator owned stuff. So no Button Man or Mazeworld.

[levers]

Covers for The Small House (264 pages!), Strontium Dog Repo Man and Strontium Dogs are up on the Hachette site!