Hello .... and WOW!

[rog]

WOW, just watched the Dredd trailer - bought tears to my eyes quite literally, tears of pleasure .... WOW!

Anyway, hi all, I'm new here so I thought I'd better introduce myself here, can't post in the film thread anyway yet as far as I can see but have to admit that was my first inclination

I've just got back into reading 2000AD after a long absence and boy it seems to be going through rather a renaissance right now which is wonderful to see

I first read the comic way back in Feb '77 with Prog 1, in fact I remember the first time I noticed 2000AD was when I saw the 4 page preview advert published in (IIRC) Battle around a week before that first Prog appeared - anyone remember that? I still have that preview ad (cut out and kept safe along with that first Prog (complete with space spinner) as well as the first 700 odd issues so can say I read the comic pretty religiously for many years after. Life and my perception (rightly or wrongly) that that comic 'wasn't what it used to be' led me to loose interest a bit later on and by the mid 700s I kinda fell out of readership. Not sure how unusual that is but I get the feeling there's a general consensus that was a period when the comic wasn't all it was (or is now), would that be fair comment?

Since then I guess you could say I was an occasional reader, picking up the odd issue now and then but life continued to get in the way and I never really latched back in although I do remember thinking it had improved vastly around about the time Rebellion took over and now here I am and not only me but my kids who are 9 and 12 and are reading back Progs as a result of seeing the comic. My youngest is devouring the early stuff, having got into comics (not unlike me) via The Beano and Doctor Who, and my oldest reading more recent stuff like Age of the Wolf (loves the art and the female lead who she tells me is as good with a bow as Katniss in The Hunger Games, another passion of hers).

So hey, perhaps a new generation as well which can only be good but I have a few questions for all you 2000AD experts (apologies if some of these have been asked a million times before, it's a noob thing!):

What have I missed that's worth picking up and reading? I've already read Origins and am currently devouring back issues from around 1675 onwards but what's worth reading before that and what's worth giving a miss - I deffo need to read Nikolai Dante from the start but what else?

As for the kids, I pretty much know the score up to the 700s but what should I steer them off if they're delving into stuff after that point and equally what stuff is worth pointing them towards? The youngest is well into all the early action (and blood) stuff, loves Dredd and is currently carrying around a Dennis the Menace pop gun he reckons looks like Dredds Lawgiver lol and the oldest is into great art (loves the contrasting art she sees in each Prog) and powerful stories (as well as female heroes with bows).

With regards the forum how many posts do you need to make before you can post in any thread/area of the forum?

As a general question, what gives in the world of 2000AD generally, the comic seems to be in rude health right now, would people agree?

Hey, I've written enough so I'll leave it there but once again hi and good to be here and to read the forum and WOW, think I'll go back and watch that trailer again!

[Colin YNWA]

Welcome aboard and have fun

As a general question, what gives in the world of 2000AD generally, the comic seems to be in rude health right now, would people agree?

Its a commonly debated opinion that 2000ad is in a second Golden age right now and has been since... well discuss opinions vary greatly, if people agree at all!

Good to hear you got little 'uns enjoying the Prog.

[radiator]

I'd recommend:

Shakara
Button Man
Kingdom
Leviathan
Nikolai Dante
Zombo
Any and all Strontium Dog

As for Dredd, I highly recommend the Complete Case Files if you want everything in chronological order - there are currently 19 volumes available which covers all Dredd material up to around 1993 (prog 870ish).

Or pick and choose from the more modern Dredd collections - Total War, America, Tour of Duty, Satan's Island, The Art of Kenny Who?, Brothers of the Blood, The Pit and Mandroid are all fine, fine picks.

Always great to see a new face - be sure to let us know what you think of the new material and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions!

[Spaceghost]

Welcome (back) aboard Rog!

You're right, the prog's in fine fettle at the moment. There have been some absolute classic new stories in the last few years.

Radiator has highlighted a few gems for you there and I'd also add Defoe, Caballistics Inc., Cradlegrave and Stickleback to the 'must read' list.

By the way, look out for the other Roger. He says things...

[rog]

Hi guys, thanks for the welcomes and for dragging yourselves away from the trailer discussion, must have been difficult!

Welcome aboard and have fun

Thanks, seems like a good time to come on board what with lots of goodness happening right now

Its a commonly debated opinion that 2000ad is in a second Golden age right now and has been since... well discuss opinions vary greatly, if people agree at all!

Yeah I guess everyone is gonna have their own 'golden age' but seems like everyone's pretty happy right now which is kinda nice.

I guess what I need to do is go back and read those old progs (once I've caught up with the more recent ones) and make my own mind up about those ones in the 700s. My perception at the time was that it had gone off the boil a bit but I'm sure there are still gems in there and of course I could have been wrong and it might have been better than I thought.

It's kinda nice catching up in a way because I can just devour progs as and when I want and form opinions as I go along.

Good to hear you got little 'uns enjoying the Prog.

Yeah I'm really pleased they're enjoying it so much and my youngest has got a friend into the early issues so they're reading it together when he visits which is nice. The only reservation I have is that the later issues are probably not so great for 9 year olds so I wanna steer him in the direction of the stuff that's okay for him. I guess that's a while away though given he's only on Pog 62 at the moment but it's something I'm mindful of.

I'd only comment that it's a shame there aren't more kids into comics like 2000AD, or should I say a shame there aren't more comics these days that cater for that market and aren't branded from TV or film. That was one of the great things about growing up when I did, the number of comics that were around and the choice you had. Yeah I went through all funnies and then onto stuff like Warlord, Battle and then Action which I think set me up pretty well for 2000AD.

I'd recommend:

Shakara
Button Man
Kingdom
Leviathan
Nikolai Dante
Zombo
Any and all Strontium Dog

Awesome, thanks for the list.

Of the ones you mention I'm familiar with Strontium Dog from the old days and have read some of the Strontium Dogs stories that were bagged with the Meg (love the Gronk ) and have read The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha recently. I need to catch up on a lot of the other stories in between though and Wikipedia is proving a good guide to these and where I can find them.

I've also read some Zombo in progs from 2010 but need to go back and catch up on previous stories and with regards the rest yes I need to read them all - I feel Dante in particular because he's in the comic at the moment and I want to understand what's going on properly - some awesome art in that story too!

As for Dredd, I highly recommend the Complete Case Files if you want everything in chronological order - there are currently 19 volumes available which covers all Dredd material up to around 1993 (prog 870ish).

I'll look out for them, I have a full run of back progs from 1 to just past 700 but have missed stories after that so there's some catching up to do and some of these volumes will deffo come in handy, thanks for mentioning that.

Or pick and choose from the more modern Dredd collections - Total War, America, Tour of Duty, Satan's Island, The Art of Kenny Who?, Brothers of the Blood, The Pit and Mandroid are all fine, fine picks.

Sounds good too

Always great to see a new face - be sure to let us know what you think of the new material and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions!

Thanks for the welcome and recommendations, much appreciated

[rog]

Welcome (back) aboard Rog!

Thanks, feels kinda good

You're right, the prog's in fine fettle at the moment. There have been some absolute classic new stories in the last few years.

Yeah, catching up is certainly a pleasure right now!

Radiator has highlighted a few gems for you there and I'd also add Defoe, Caballistics Inc., Cradlegrave and Stickleback to the 'must read' list.

Okay, noted will look out for them too.

By the way, look out for the other Roger. He says things...

Am I getting the impression that's not a good thing lol?

[Sedgendary]

Welcome Rog.

I'm another one who has just returned to 2000AD, I'm enjoying reading the Complete Case Files and it is interesting to see how much has changed since the start.

[SmallBlueThing]

Hi Rog, and thanks for doing such a detailed and overwhelmingly positive first post! Others will be along to batter you with suggestions, but i'd add Slaine to them- especially The Books of Invasion. It's controversial, but brilliant.

As for the 700s being a dodgy period- yeah, probably. It all went a bit tits-up in the 90s, but since about 1999 the prog has been in rude health. And yes, you definately need to read Nikolai Dante from the top, it's spiffing.

Welcome back!

SBT

[Gavin_Leahy_Block]

Hi and welcome.

[rog]

Hey Sedgendary, glad I'm not the only returnee round here Yeah the complete case files sounds good. Interesting to pick up on people's comments about Dredd changing over the years. I guess when I was last reading the comic regularly he was perhaps a bit more bombastic (if that's the right word) and shouty than now, will be interesting to see the progression as I read more.

Hi SmallBlueThing and thanks for the nice comments y'know on some forums I'd be criticized for writing so much lol so thanks for being so positive about my loooong first post lol! I guess it is a pretty positive first post but hey what's the point in being negative, especially when things seem so pleasantly positive with 2000AD generally anyway

Will take note of your suggestions thanks and have added them to my list of must reads.

Yeah, Dante's next after I catch up on the last 100 or so progs (as I say I'm saving the Dantes for when I can read them chronologically).

Maybe once I've also read all the stories mentioned here I'll head right back to 1999 and catch up with everything else since then, might be worth doing that and then gritting my teeth afterwards for the last missing piece of the puzzle for me, namely the main part of the 90s.

Thanks Gavin_Leahy_Block, this really does seem like a nice friendly forum in comparison to some I've used on the past

[The Prodigal]

Rog welcome. I am only here since Christmas in terms of the board and the prog and have been having a ball with 2000ad trades.

This place is packed with great people and great advice. Enjoy mate.

[rog]

Hi The Prodigal, thanks for the welcome and glad you're enjoying yourself

Yeah seems like a real friendly place!

BTW, is that The Steel Claw in your avatar? I seem to recall 2000AD did a special a few years back with their take on a load of old characters mainly from Valiant, including Steel Claw. Many, many years ago before 2000AD came along I used to get the reprint comic Vulcan, which included The Steel Claw as well as Mytek the Mighty, Kelly's Eye, Trigan Empire, Saber, Robot Archie, and the Spider in it. Many were freshly coloured for the reprints and I remember really enjoying it so I'd deffo be interested in reading the 2000AD special (shame they only did the one). Funnily enough a couple of weeks ago I found some of the old Vulcans I'd saved and discovered I had a few of the apparently immensely rare Scottish edition, was a bit gobsmacked by that but hey, happy days

[SmallBlueThing]

We have a thread about the 2000AD Action Special, for that's what it was called, buried in the 'other reviews' forum hereabouts.

Ive always wanted to pick up a set of Vulcan- I saw a few in my local junk emporium the other week, including two copies of ish one (which made me wonder if they were perhaps freebie giveaway re-reprints that i was previously unaware of- they were in very good condition for their age) but the guy wanted seven quid each for them, and i didnt have that on me at the time.
SBT

[TordelBack]

Welcome Rog, haven't got much to add to the recommendations above, except to wave the flag for personal 'new era' favourites Kingdom, Stickleback, Low Life, Cradlegrave and Damnation Station.

[Spikes]

Now then rog, and welcome!

I first read the comic way back in Feb '77 with Prog 1, in fact I remember the first time I noticed 2000AD was when I saw the 4 page preview advert published in (IIRC) Battle around a week before that first Prog appeared - anyone remember that? I still have that preview ad

Yeah, i remember that well, in fact, i bought a copy of that particular issue of Battle off E-Bay this year to add to my collection. Didnt buy 2000ad till Prog 2 though. Im a born again prog buyer myself (stopped buying in the mid-80's, but always sorta keep up to date by buying the trades) and enjoying it immensely.