2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[Dark Jimbo]

...it looks like The 2nd Mean Arena volume also contains John Smith's Slaughterbowl... Seems they decided to go with a future sports theme instead.

Huh. That's interesting. Bit annoying, too, as I fancy having Slaughterbowl in hardback but I'm not really interested in Mean Arena.

[IndigoPrime]

Curious. Oh well. I’m not that bothered about Slaughterbowl and there’s no way in hell I’m buying Mean Arena. It’ll be interesting to see what Revere ends up twinned with.

[sintec]

...it looks like The 2nd Mean Arena volume also contains John Smith's Slaughterbowl... Seems they decided to go with a future sports theme instead.

Huh. That's interesting. Bit annoying, too, as I fancy having Slaughterbowl in hardback but I'm not really interested in Mean Arena.

Yeah being cynical it seems like a good way to make what seem to be two of less popular books sell a few more copies. I think it's far more likely they needed a back up story to raise the page count and Slaughterbowl was the right length and fitted with the future sports theme.

I'm actually happy about this, having just slogged through vol 1 the prospect of 2 turning up so quickly was, meh. Now I know there's at least something I'm interested to read in there it's a bit less daunting.

[IndigoPrime]

I suspect at this point the vast majority of sales are through subscriptions anyway. You’re not going to boost sales of a book by way of a back-up strip if hardly anyone knows it’s in there. It’s not even mentioned on the Hachette website.

[The Corinthian]

Yeah being cynical it seems like a good way to make what seem to be two of less popular books sell a few more copies. I think it's far more likely they needed a back up story to raise the page count and Slaughterbowl was the right length and fitted with the future sports theme.

Tbf it feels like a way to get Smith completists to buy more books. I probably won't go for it though. Revere in hardcover is a must-have. Slaughterbowl's fun but a minor work.

[13school]

I don't remember the Finn floppies (books I and II) having any art issues. What's in this volume - is it the whole boiling lot of Finn? Which might just encourage me to have a go, moiré and all. I don't remember loving those last stories but Mills later work often reads much better in collected form.

I found my copy of the reprint of Finn book 2 from the Megazine and there's definitely some moire patterning going on there. It's not massively distracting, but that could be down to the repo which is rarely crystal clear.

[The Monarch]

mean arena got very silly when tom tully left it.

I love the backmatter of this volume as well as slaughterbowl (still the best thing of that summer offensive) theres a very nice potted history of future sports in 2000ad and some of its sister mags

[abelardsnazz]

Next two covers are up: Fall of Deadworld and The Returners. Did we know either of those were coming?

[Dark Jimbo]

Updated list - only three unknowns left!

111 - Strontium Dog: Repo Men
112 - ABC Warriors 7
113 - ABC Warriors 8
114 - Strontium Dogs 1
115 - Strontium Dogs 2
116 - Strontium Dogs 3
117 -
118 - Mean Arena 1
119 - Mean Arena 2
120 -
121 - Cradlegrave
122 - Brass Sun 1
123 - Brass Sun 2
124 - The Returners
125 -
126 - Finn 1
127 - Finn 2
128 -
129 -
130 -
131 -
132 - Rogue Trooper: War Machine
133 -
134 -
135 -
136 - The Fall of Deadworld
137 - Sin/Dex 4
138 - Sin/Dex 5
139 - Sin/Dex 6
140 - Sin/Dex 7

10 gaps left. We know that the following 7 are coming, but not which volume numbers they'll be:

Devlin Waugh
Blunt
Necronauts
Samantha Slade
Blackhawk
Revere
Leviathan (probably in the same book as Necronauts)

[Max Headroom]

It looks increasingly like 'Stickleback' and 'The Order' will not get second books. Much to my chagrin.

[IndigoPrime]

The Returners is a surprise. Not one I’m too fussed about myself, but a nice tribute to Si Spencer. Deadworld… I’ve been buying that in HC anyway. Roll on 124/125’s announcements, then!

[Michael Knight]

Has anyone had any issues with Finn Volume 1 Book? Although arriving wrapped it seemed to have liquid or ink stain across front cover?

[sintec]

Happy to see Deadworld's getting a 2nd book. Never quite got into The Returners though so less excited for that. Still better than Skip Tracer.

I'm starting to suspect Revere might end up in the same book as Leviathan and Necronauts so I reckon there might be 6 unknown slots still. Really hoping one of them is Stickleback, not sure there's enough of The Order left to fill another vol sadly. One of the unknowns has got to be a Dredd and I've got a hunch we might see Survival Geeks. I'm still vainly hoping that The Dead will make the cut but I suspect that's just a pipe dream unless there's a 4th extension (which I doubt).

No issues with my copy Finn Michael. Sounds like a misprint. They've been pretty good about replacing them (facebook seems to be the best contact route).

[Richard]

I can't believe they're bothering with Samantha Slade.

[The Monarch]

It looks increasingly like 'Stickleback' and 'The Order' will not get second books. Much to my chagrin.

the original books were literally complete at the time there was no chance of getting a second book of them