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2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

Started by Molch-R, 27 February, 2017, 06:03:27 PM

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sintec

Quote from: abelardsnazz on 30 September, 2021, 06:34:20 PM
There's only five volumes of the extension left - hadn't we heard by now what the full contents of the first extension would be?

Yeah I think so... in theory one could probably hunt back through this thread and find the date we got the list.

Colin YNWA

Have to say I'm super happy to have a nice hard bound collection of Red Seas now. Picked up the 4th and final volume from my LCS yesterday and alongside Nikolai Dante is a super thing to have coming out of the Ultimate Collection. If only one day we could get the same for Sinister Dexter... if only!

sintec

Thought I'd check in on the UC FB page to see if there was any more info on the post 111 books. Still nothing - seems the webteam haven't been given a list so have no more idea than we do :(

There was a story list for the upcoming Dredd volume though:

QuoteMan Comes Around, Fit, Enceladus: New Life, Enceladus: Old Life, Get Sin, Act of Grud, The Fields, Fit for Purpose, The Small House, Control

So a nice chunky book of Rob Williams Dredd which collects pretty much all of the Smiley and Judge Pin storylines (unless I'm missing something?). Does make the Control volume I bought a while back a bit redundant but there's at least a couple of stories in there that haven't made either of the Hachette collections so it's not a complete waste.

A big part of the reason I'd like a list of the upcoming volumes is to try and avoid double dips. There are a few recent Dredd trades I'm holding off on buying in case they end up in the 2nd extension.

abelardsnazz

Good that the Titan/Enceladus story is being wrapped up in hardcover following the Dredd collection. Possibly more Dredd in the second extension? Think I've suggested a Ron Smith volume on here before, or possibly Steve Dillon - are there enough of his Dredds left to fill a volume?

sintec

Quote from: abelardsnazz on 02 October, 2021, 11:52:40 AM
Possibly more Dredd in the second extension? Think I've suggested a Ron Smith volume on here before, or possibly Steve Dillon - are there enough of his Dredds left to fill a volume?

I've asked on the post on FB. Given the dozens of replies to similar questions with "we can't confirm what's in the extension" I suspect I won't get any info but can't hurt to keep asking.

A Ron Smith book with the Black Atlantic stories and Question Of Judgement, Error Of Judgement and Case For Treatment would be amazing. That'd fill in several holes in the MC and I'm sure there are enough other Rob Smith tales to fill it out. I'd take that over more reprints of things that are readily available in Rebellion trades from the webshop.

Hackenbush

I would love to see some more of the never-reprinted stuff

The problem with that is that a lot of it has never been re-printed for a reason.

A Middenface Mcnulty volume with all of the megazine series would be amazing though.

A Robohunter volume with the Peter Hogan / Rian Hughes stuff, paired with samantha slade would be great as well. If you want to theme it on the author then Timehouse was pretty fun and that would fit.

I think what we'll actually get is more stuff that has been in the Megazine floppies, and anything that has been a digital only release in the last couple of years..

Pity - I would love some of the more obscure stuff (Mambo, brigand doom, Silo ...)

The Corinthian

Is there some sort of embargo on reprinting Alan McKenzie's stuff? Granted we've had the Luke Kirby collection from Rebellion, though that might be a case of them needing to assert ownership. Apart from that the only work of his that I recall seeing back in print is the first series of Universal Soldier which ended up in the Sci-Fi Thrillers book a few years ago.

If there's no restriction on his work, I can't understand how we haven't seen Brigand Doom show up in a floppy or the Ultimate Collection yet.

Bad Andy

After Struggling with Hinckleton Nemesis for two months, I've now gone through Brink Volume One in a day.

Pretty entertaining. Artwork goes a little ropey at times, but clean storytelling.

Looking forward to Vol 2. May even give that audiobook a whirl.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Hackenbush on 03 October, 2021, 08:09:57 AM
A Robohunter volume with the Peter Hogan / Rian Hughes stuff, paired with samantha slade would be great as well. If you want to theme it on the author then Timehouse was pretty fun and that would fit.

Samantha Slade is on the spine extension artwork, so I think you might get your wish!
@jamesfeistdraws

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Jade Falcon on 18 September, 2021, 02:03:10 PM
I was looking forward to mercy heights after hearing about the premise and found it very meh...
I was very disappointed with it, I feel a good idea struggling to get out.

A good few books behind now, but I finally finished Mercy Heights - and the fact it took me so long says a lot. Tor Cyan started not long after I picked up my first prog, and remains a fond favourite, so I was excited to finally read MH, but it's just... fine.

Book I is a mess. Far too much going on, for a start - our focus jumps every page or two, and it makes for a frustrating read. A news reporter, arriving on MH, is surely a natural contender to introduce us to the cast and status quo, but no, he's barely used before getting killed off. Our other candidate is Leo Kintry, who should be our audience focus as a new employee, but we  learn astonishingly little about him - he's defined solely by a one-sided and inexplicable infatuation with Lilla Ferro. And there's another problem - one of only two female characters, she exists solely to be a love interest. Kintry, Lydecker and Cyan all get involved with her at various times, which would be less than ideal even if there was anything more to her (there isn't). And the less said about Alan Craddock's colours...

Things are improving by Book II; Craddock is replaced by Blythe, and Trevor Hairsine is a great fit. Neil Google is improving massively. The newsreaders are a great touch, pre-empting by a few years a very similar long-running Futurama joke (just a shame we don't get enough of this Starship Troopers-style satire). Things are slowly heading in the right direction, then, but the same problems ultimately sink it - straight into the wannabe epic space-opera storyline, before we've gotten to know the characters well enough to care.

Thank God, then, for the Tor Cyan stories. It's like Tomlinson is a different writer by this point. He's finally trusting the art to do the heavy lifting during action sequences, without cramming every panel with caption boxes. The Demeter VI trilogy of stories are every bit as good as I thought they were at the age of 16. It's taught, pacy, punchy stuff that (unlike MH) doesn't outstay its welcome. Such a pity, then, that we don't get the conclusion to Cyan's story, which featured some lovely callbacks to Rogue Trooper, Cinnabar, and the earlier Remembrance Day story.
@jamesfeistdraws

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Hackenbush on 03 October, 2021, 08:09:57 AMA Robohunter volume with the Peter Hogan / Rian Hughes stuff, paired with samantha slade would be great as well.
Well, the first half would be. Samantha Slade was pretty iffy and was unceremoniously canned when Gibson got fed up with it. That it's in the extension doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. (I don't recall much about Timehouse, so I've no idea how that would read today. But I do like Hogan's writing in general, so might give it a whirl if I can dig out the back issues.)

The one we still haven't had confirmed in any manner is Armoured Gideon, the first series of which of course recently got a digital-only release. If that's not in this extension yet Samantha Slade is, I just don't even.

Quote from: The Corinthian on 03 October, 2021, 08:42:03 AMIs there some sort of embargo on reprinting Alan McKenzie's stuff?
Aside from most of his work being terrible, he seems to be the main ownership wrangle person. Still, as you said, Luke Kirby's back in print, so who knows? Brigand Doom was OK—great art, but it never really went anywhere. Might be floppy fodder, but I'm not sure it's "charge me a tenner for it in book form" fodder.

sintec

Introducing Tor Cyan feels like the only good argument for including Mercy Heights so it really is a crying shame we're only get a few episodes of his story.

It does seem like most of the recent digital only titles are making their way into the UC so I think there's a pretty strong chance Armoured Gideon is going to be one of the unannounced titles. Also wouldn't be surprised if we get a 2nd volume of Flesh with Midnight Cowboys, Badlanders and Gorehead. I do wish they'd confirm/deny some of this speculation though

IndigoPrime

Depends whether it's in their interests to give people advance warning, or just 'surprise' them every couple of months. But this is 29 extra books that'll take up a chunk of space and cost £290. We knew in advance how great this first extension would be, so it wasn't a gamble. I... don't like gambling.

And, yeah, missing the end of Tor Cyan, which was objectively far better than Mercy Heights, was a blow. I really wish they'd twinned Tor Cyan with War Machine and then bunged in a few additional 'alt Rogue' stories to pad out that volume.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: sintec on 03 October, 2021, 10:32:13 AM
Introducing Tor Cyan feels like the only good argument for including Mercy Heights so it really is a crying shame we're only get a few episodes of his story.

There's not a doubt in my mind that without Tor Cyan, Mercy Heights would never have justified a book. Check out the floppies that came with Megazines 317 and 318 for the resolution to Cyan's story.

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 03 October, 2021, 10:35:47 AM
...I really wish they'd twinned Tor Cyan with War Machine and then bunged in a few additional 'alt Rogue' stories to pad out that volume.

That would have been a cool book. There's really nothing you lose from Cyan's story by not reading Mercy Heights. 'Used to be a med-shuttle pilot' is literally all you need to know. Ah well.
@jamesfeistdraws

Hackenbush

The cover for 109 Tyranny Rex is up at the hachette site. The credits list is just the artists from the prog issues, but the page count gives me hope we'll get the special stories too.

Missed opportunity on the cover - we could have had this masterpiece
http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=BO2K109&Comic=reprints

Hopefully it appears somewhere inside the book.