In light of some conversation elsewhere, I thought I'd start a thread about every toother's favourite dinosaur tailed art terrorist, Tyranny Rex.
For those who missed out, Ms Rex appeared around the 500s, disappeared until the 800s when she came back for a 3 book epic of brilliance (Deus Ex Machina) then disappeared again until somewhere around the 1200s. She's been missing since. One of John Smith's first creations for 2000ad, she's important as a starting point for some of the Indigo Prime world (Fervent and Lobe, especially).
Best moments - attempting to destroy the universe when hired by Indigo Prime; infiltrating (and destroying) giant, floating whale/bug things (I may be remembering this story poorly); becoming a space nun and fighting off a hoard of deranged, bloodthirsty maniacs after god's skin (then dying).
Great stories, great art, some impossible to follow plots and some very, very poor scheduling from Tharg. I'd love to see her back in the prog, perhaps integrated into the revitalised Indigo Prime. To me, she's always seemed a natural successor to Halo Jones. Like Jones, she's inclined to drift around and lead a varied life (c'mon who else could be an art terrorist, assassin, model and space nun), and the world(s) she inhabits allow for a great variety of possible stories. Unlike Jones, however, I think she's far more self-possessed. Halo only made a single active choice in the entire saga (killing the General); Ms Rex might drift, but it never felt as if she was at the whims of fate.
Anyway, I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks/remembers about her. If the fabulous Mr Smith still knocks about these parts, It'd be great to hear from him too.
The fabulous Mr Smith does indeed sometimes comes this way, or did at least.
As for Tyranny yeah as we've discussed elsewhere, love her and would love to see her back. Just finished Deux Ex Machina last night and it is truly brilliant and stands shoulder to shoulder with other Smith classics of that period.
I thought she was one of 2Ks low points: messy art and cobbled together stories, her random appearances reminded me of the last days of Rogue Trooper, a character in search of a story.
The randomness of her appearances always felt like scheduling issues. The most obvious case is the Indigo Prime related story not being printed until after Soft Bodies, despite being absolutely essential to understanding the set up for that Story. Similarly, one of her other appearances in the specials occurred after Soft Bodies, where she'd entered a convent, but made no mention of it.
I thought the art was great (especially Mark Buckingham on the initial episodes of Deus Ex Machina). For messy, I can only imagine you mean Will Simpson on Soft Bodies. His black and white work of the time was always very splotty (for want of a better word). Bloodlines in Dredd looks exactly the same. It does have the effect of making a confusing story even more difficult to grasp.
I liked her but I think she's probably run her course, particularly given the way John Smith tends to be more interested in coming up with original stories rather than keeping existing ones going. Have a vague memory of him saying that The Comeback didn't turn out the way he'd have liked.
The older stuff is enjoyable and Mark Buckingham's art on the first half of Deus ex Machina is fantastic. To be honest though, Tyranny's no Firekind or Revere and I'd always rather see js produce something new and standalone than revisiting his past. Obviously, this sweeping statement completely ignores the success of the new Indigo Prime.
Quote from: The Cosh on 11 July, 2013, 04:42:06 PM
Quote from: credo on 11 July, 2013, 02:06:55 PM
Great stories, great art, some impossible to follow plots and some very, very poor scheduling from Tharg.
I liked her but I think she's probably run her course, particularly given the way John Smith tends to be more interested in coming up with original stories rather than keeping existing ones going ... The older stuff is enjoyable (but) ... I'd always rather see John Smith produce something new and standalone than revisiting his past.
Both of these statements are truth, particularly regarding the poor scheduling. Whatever frustration I felt with the comic at that time was probably 90% to do with strips popping up for three or four weeks then disappearing for months, making it difficult to get into stories - particularly new ones. Having said that, I actually ended up enjoying the fact you couldn't make head nor tail of what was going on in
Soft Bodies, which forced you to give up and just enjoy the writing and art on its own merits. I like the obscurity of Will Smith's stuff.
The analogy drawn in that first Steve Dillon story between cloning popstars and music piracy is one that's stuck with me. I agree that Smith's talent is for original ideas, and given his reluctance to pick a horse and flog it to death, I wish the nineties had consisted of Smith being allowed to devise brilliant one-off strips that established entire worlds and cosmologies, and then handing them over to the comic's roster of perfectly able journeymen writing talent of the time (Standley, Stone, Tomlinson) to flesh out into continuing dramas.
Quote from: The Cosh on 11 July, 2013, 04:42:06 PM
I liked her but I think she's probably run her course, particularly given the way John Smith tends to be more interested in coming up with original stories rather than keeping existing ones going.
Also I was surprised recently when I saw quite how much Devlin Waugh stuff there actually is. He's the one character John Smith has returned to time and again and I still think he works.
While I agree its always great to see him create stand alone stuff, its always nice to have that combined with visiting old favourites. Its the very fact that 'Comeback' didn't turn out so well that means I'd love Tyranny to at least get a proper send off.
D'oh! Will Simpson.
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 11 July, 2013, 06:22:07 PM
Also I was surprised recently when I saw quite how much Devlin Waugh stuff there actually is. He's the one character John Smith has returned to time and again and I still think he works.
While I agree its always great to see him create stand alone stuff, its always nice to have that combined with visiting old favourites. Its the very fact that 'Comeback' didn't turn out so well that means I'd love Tyranny to at least get a proper send off.
I personally would love to see another series of
Devlin Waugh......My all time comic favourite !!!
Spoke to Sean Phillips at Thoughtbubble last year ( when he was drawing a Devlin sketch for me ) and asked him if he would be interested in doing another.......He said 'he doubted it, as he was busy with lots of other things, and it had been about 15 years since he had last drawn him"....
But would still look forward to any other artist 'having a bash'.....Quite liked Colin MacNeils' take on him...
Book 2 of Deus Ex Machina started at the same time I began reading the prog, and I think there was something incomprehensible in a Sci-Fi Special around that time. Consequently I got nothing from the story and loathed the character, but liked her nun outfit.
A quick check of Barney and my shelves reveals that I actually own all the Tyranny Rex strips. I might try reading it sequentially and see if I can make sense of it. I have The Complete Indigo Prime too. Which stories from there are relevant, and where should I insert them into the running order?
There pretty much independent of each other.
Soft Bodies has Fervent and Lobe are major characters in Soft Bodies but aren't working for Indigo Prime at the time. The appearance in the 88 Special is the main direct connect where Tyranny [spoiler]is recruited by Indigo Prime[/spoiler] (the spoilers there aren't too bad by the way but its self contained and doesn't impact directly on IP. There's other superficial connections but reading Tyranny stories on their own you should be absolutely fine.
Cheers. I'll try that when I've finished Case File 20.
I'd prefer more Devlin. I think there is more mileage in the sci-fangs genre.
I made that up, BTW. Sci-fangs is (c) me.
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 11 July, 2013, 08:28:11 PM
I'd prefer more Devlin. I think there is more mileage in the sci-fangs genre.
I made that up, BTW. Sci-fangs is (c) me.
Like that !!.....It could 'catch on'...... :lol:
I'm sure Devlin Waugh is returning in the Meg with Pete Doherty on art; I think this was on the Forthcoming Thrills thread a while back but can't be arsed looking for it now...
Quote from: hippynumber1 on 11 July, 2013, 08:34:54 PM
I'm sure Devlin Waugh is returning in the Meg with Pete Doherty on art; I think this was on the Forthcoming Thrills thread a while back but can't be arsed looking for it now...
...he says, promptly going to look for it here:
http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php/topic,35334.780.html
Thanks Mark,
I'd just finished reading your previous post and was going to start trawling my way through the Forthcoming Thrills page...
When I found you'd posted a link... :D
Cheers..
It's a while since I've been in the old Wednesday Night Chat but I'm sure John had two Devlin stories in the works. At least one of which he reckoned would need to be reworked quite a bit in light of Day of Chaos. By his own admission, he's not the fastest writer either.
I'm quite keen for another Strange & Darke story myself.
Quote from: The Cosh on 11 July, 2013, 09:26:38 PM
I'm quite keen for another Strange & Darke story myself.
Defo, if only cos as a none Meg reader it would bring us closer to a trade.
I never quite understood what Tyranny's motivation was. She's an artist, who uses extreme problem solving as her artform?
Quote from: The Adventurer on 11 July, 2013, 09:59:21 PM
I never quite understood what Tyranny's motivation was. She's an artist, who uses extreme problem solving as her artform?
hmmm. I think...
"She's an artist, who hops from one job to another whilst never actually getting any art done" maybe.
I had fun binding all the Tyranny Rex stories & pin-ups into one volume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjqTVcmVb7c
I really liked the character in the early steve dillon/will simpson episodes. Having a shared universe with Indigo Prime was a huge plus. I think the story suffered from too many ideas - reptilian art terrorist is probably enough strangeness without the whole nun thing. Had Mark Buckingham finished the art on his story i think the character might have had more success. I'd love to see her employed again by Indigo Prime...
Quote from: The Adventurer on 11 July, 2013, 09:59:21 PM
I never quite understood what Tyranny's motivation was. She's an artist, who uses extreme problem solving as her artform?
Most girls who describe themselves as artists or actresses also seem to have a real job which pays the bills. The process of admitting that they're actually a waitress, PA, or inter-dimensional mercenary who acts/sculpts as a hobby doesn't seem to take effect until their mid-thirties.
Shameless, and I mean shameless self promotion here, this was a commission I did for Rob E of these parts a good long while ago now:
(http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/146/a/3/peppermint_dino_by_kevlev-d3h9jkk.jpg)
blog posting for ref (http://kevlev.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/pepping-it-up.html)
I'd love to see more Tyranny in the prog, and I'd like to draw her too! Happy to do commissions of Tyranny for anyone who has the inclination.
That is a beautiful pic! Love the our price bag and the name of the club.
we don't see enough of you round here Kev, those lego pics went down a storm.
I love the way Zenith looks like Charlie Sheen :D
Quote from: Dandontdare on 12 July, 2013, 10:23:48 PM
That is a beautiful pic! Love the our price bag and the name of the club.
we don't see enough of you round here Kev, those lego pics went down a storm.
Thanks for the kind words DDD. Fatherhood, pure and simple has meant there's not enough free time for frivolities like the forum as much as there used to be! I'm glad the Lego commissions that Stront 71 had were well received too!
Thanks Emp, no similarity to the M'Sheen was intended but I like that too now you mention it!
Totally love the Zenith pic.
I agree that there was a definite over abundance of ideas in the early Tyranny stories. It seemed to move from concept to concept without ever really settling. I loed it anyway, but I did always feel like it was going through a settling in period and trying to find the ideas that worked best.
I'd love to know more about J. Smith's thinking during her development, and what he thinks of her looking back.
I'd love to see the fabled John Hicklenton version - if it was anything like his nemesis stuff I'd have loved it x
Just a random general question to those who might know... have there been any Tyranny Rex stories in Zarjaz?
Yes a Graeme Neil Reid "stairway to heaven"