Messages

Ian Edgington.

Mr Smith. Always Mr Smith.

McKenzie. Though typesd with gritted teeth.

Dan Abnett. I genuinely dont think there's another writer like him. Hes responsible for three of my all time favourite Thrills- SiniDex, Brink and Lawless- as well as literally scores of other comics I absolutely love. If it came down to a Mills vs Abnett final, I think I might be forced to create a new fake profile in order to assuage my conscience and vote for both.

SBT

Yeah, McConville- even though hes so far off my radar I had to check who he was.

Milligan.

Despite my great respect for Mike, it has to be Pat. Theres simply no one more important to the comic (or all British comics) than Pat. And I'd still rather read a Pat Mills story than just about any other writer currently working in comics.
The fact that so many people have turned against his later work is probably entirely appropriate- after all the whole ethos of Pat's seminal work in comics was to reject all the outdated crap that had gone before and embrace the new and fresh. But without Pat, we'd not be here and comics would simply be a medium that in Britain died out a very long time ago.

SBT

Interesting that the comics we loved- the prog, Star Lord, Battle (though arguably Charley Bourne was a child, which may have been the point), and again arguably all those Marvel reprints, all featured very adult characters, while girls comics- even the likes of Misty, Tammy and Spellbound, to mention those that cross over to our sphere of presumed interest- all very much featured children as the protagonists and largely adults as the villains. As well as, of course, the likes of the Beano, Buster and all the humour comics.

Can any conclusion to drawn one way or the other about whether kids prefer one type of storytelling?

SBT

Yes, most notably, where is Slaine?

SBT

Quick thoughts: I unexpectedly very much enjoyed this.

I say "unexpectedly" because the time between issues of Regened means that most of the comment that is fresh in my mind is the dimwitted lunacy on the various 2000AD Facebook groups, where people who claim to be fans seem not to know what the Megazine is, seem surprised the prog is still going, dont like girls, dont like female creators, dont like any gay or black characters because diversity or something, and have agreed that the Regened progs are a disgrace that real fans (presumably people who dont buy the comic but once had dads who bought it for them) should absolutely reject.

With that nonsense being shoved at my eyeballs, I tend to forget I quite like them when they show up.

This was, for me, the best one so far- with the slight caveat that the last Finder & Keeper was a stronger story. That's not to say there was anything wrong with this episode, but if youd swopped them around, there would be a noticeable upward curve across the whole package.

A particular highlight for me was the Future Shock- having as it did enough anti-monarchy sentiment to stand out as startling in a comic "for kids".

But blimey- that image of Anderson and the mind bomb... I've been reading Scarred For Life: The 1970s, and most notably the chapters about comics (and in fact was in the middle of a digression about it in the Smash! thread before my phone crashed, in reply to Tordleback's comments about Tammy & Jinty) and much is made of the deeply frightening nature of certain panels and illustrations in kids comics of that decade. I'd say the image of Anderson here is of the same ilk. If a small person were to get hold of this issue, while little in Dredd or Stront would trouble their sleep, *that* drawing of Anderson may very well be one of *those pages* that gets skipped over and hidden- like Wolfie Smith being menaced by a huge demon thing was for me all those years ago.

Add to that the amusing criticism and end of the monarchy, "the bloodshed of Charles III's reign", and dead kid ghosts in F&K, and I'd say that far from being anodyne and safe, this "kids version of 2000AD" was at least as challenging as those early issues we all love so much.

So yes, great stuff. More please- with the same sensibility. 2000AD works best when it's slightly dangerous. This was a step in very much the right direction.

SBT

I'm surprised we dont appear to have a thread for this- which arrived yesterday as part of Rebellion's very nice "all the specials direct to your door" offer.

This was the one I was most looking forward to this year- and while I was initially somewhat disappointed that it turned out to be US comic sized, and not massive like the Cor/ Buster one, a careful read last night put all those niggles to bed.

This is, in short, one hell of a comic. You may argue that it does at times feel very much like #1 of an ongoing series (much like the 2000AD Action Special did all those years ago, and yes I'm still sore that we never got any more of that), but I have a bit more confidence we may this time see some of the potential realised.

I'm not going to go through all the strips, as most of the readership probably wont even have had the opportunity to buy it yet. But my *favourite* strips were The Spider (which, if it transferred to the prog next week, would make me very happy indeed), Steel Claw, which is utterly hilarious and which I will be rereading just as soon as I get a moment, and Mytek The Mighty- the art job alone is strongly reminiscent of the heyday of Crisis, and I bloody loved it. That the strip is so deeply concerned with politics, and specifically African politics, just enhances what is a silly concept of a giant robot gorilla, turning it into something with the potential to be very special indeed.

Everything in the special was glorious, I thought. But those three were my favourites (the art and final line of Dollmann gets a mention too) and I would absolutely appreciate the chance to buy Smash! on a regular basis, thanks very much.

Though for the size, perhaps it should be called Vulcan?

SBT

Just a quick review:

Dredd: Superb. This has been my favourite multi-part Dredd story this year.

Future Shock: Definitely how I want to see these things go in future. Worrying advances in AI, the fact that your devices may shortly end up knowing you better than you know yourself- perfect. Almost what I'd say was proper futurism. That's what the strip SHOULD be.

Hershey: Will have to read this again now, as I'm not sure I understood who anyone was or what they were doing. Nice art though.

The Order: I had rather hoped that this wouldnt come back, or if it did, that it would be under heavy editorial so it was forced to tell a more straightforward story and explain itself a bit more. Sigh. More digging around in the back progs needed. I want to like this- as I've wanted to like every other story its told. But, I never seem to be able to follow a word of it.

Survival Geeks: Not my thing.

SBT

My money would be on Wagner himself, seeing if he "has still got it" and can tell popular, engaging, Dredd stories without all the heavy continuity that he seems to have attached to his name.

A bit like Stephen King did successfully with "Richard Bachman" and J K Rowling attempted with, weirdly, "Robbert Galbraith". Weirdly, because I have a very old friend of that name.

SBT

Hopefully Aquila gets kidnapped by aliens at the end!

SBT

I sincerely hope Neimand is Neimand. It would be lovely to see a talent like that "come from nowhere", without doing the rounds in the "small press" and other comics first. And would further cement my respect for the current incarnation of Tharg as an editor with his eye on the ball.

Whoever he (or she?) is, I really want to read more.

SBT