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The completely self absorbed 2000ad re-read thread

Started by Colin YNWA, 22 May, 2016, 02:30:29 PM

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Colin YNWA



Prog 2001ad

Well this bodes well doesn't it.

Okay so lets say it Bad Company doesn't start great (things won't improve as I recall). That aside end of year Prog that really marks the start of 2002. One great Dredd - Wagner and Staples return Slick Dickens, one okay one by Rennie and Kennedy. This will be kinda emblematic of Dredd this year I susepct as the new breed start to find their feet.

Bryan Talbot proves how wonderfully his art can convey story and the story he conveys wordlessly is decent. Sinister Dexter provide a Christmas bullseye.

We then get three stories that will join Dredd and Bad Company onto 2002 and this is where all the optimism comes in. I really enjoy the drug fuelled psychedelic trip that is Storming Heaven, well I did last time I read it and this opener by Gordon R with just sublime art from Fraser Irving shows that should hold. Dante is in sooner than expected and what a delight... well okay so Dante is crushed and broken, lost and without hope. Its dark and brilliant.

But star of the show is the Earth shattering, mankind dismissing violence fest that is SHAKARA! If for no other reason than

1) There a lot more red in it than I remember
2) I'd also forgotten I'd got the splash page in this issue signed by Henry Flint and Robbie Morrison so that was a very nice surprise.

Of course there's not 'no other reason'  as the other reason is its bloomin' a mindless delight and utterly wonderful.

So yeah they may be keeping bad company but with these and Dredd we'll be okay - right?

broodblik

With me re-read of Shakara recently (I never read the first arc) I can concur, Shakara is just brilliant. Red is later joined by Green ending with Blue.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

AlexF

I very distinctly remember that first series of Shakara running in the Prog. It coincided with me first taking out a subscription to 2000AD and getting it delivered to my own flat, as opposed to picking up stacks of Progs from my parents' house in University holidays. And it was so effin' good.

The Smith era neatly marks out the point when I became an 'adult' 2000AD fan, not just someone still reading what I thought of as my big brother's comics. (although he'd basically stopped reading 2000AD around Prog 1000, when he left the country. I don't think it was because of the state of the Prog at the time, but you never know.)

My recollection going forward is that you're about to climb a giant hill of awesomeness, with a few stumbles on the way but basically reaching a thrill plateau in 1-2 years. I look forward to reading your thoughts!

Colin YNWA

Quote from: broodblik on 12 September, 2019, 03:39:41 AM
With me re-read of Shakara recently (I never read the first arc) I can concur, Shakara is just brilliant. Red is later joined by Green ending with Blue.

I'd forgotten the green - have to be honest can't wait to get to the later Shakara - as I recall the series just goes from strenght to strenght.

Quote from: AlexF on 12 September, 2019, 03:02:39 PM
My recollection going forward is that you're about to climb a giant hill of awesomeness, with a few stumbles on the way but basically reaching a thrill plateau in 1-2 years. I look forward to reading your thoughts!

That pretty much nails my expectation and the stumbles are individual stories rather than periods of any significence. Looking forward to finding out.

Just a quick fly by to preclaim another BRILLIANT thing about Shakara. The recap box, which for other gives us a 100(ish) word summary of a series for Shakara just says

QuoteUnknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form Unknown life form Unknown life form unknown life form

Genius.

Colin YNWA



The first relaunch Prog of 2002 comes after only 7 issues (8 if you count Prog 2002 ad). Its a Diggle-era-esque thrill sized set of stories. The irony being that the begining of Matt Smith's time as Tharg's Little Helper delivers 'the rocket fuel shot of thrillpower*' better than anything from Diggle's actual time in charge. Of course in times of transition such as these you have to assume the predecessor has much to do with the early material in their successors time, but we'll never know how much and how much a hand Matt Smith as Assistant Tharg's Little Helper at the end of Andy D's term.

Anyway enough blatter, its a time of perfect tight short sharp thrills. The Zenith of Diggle's time, out of time.

There's some solid done in one Dredd's from ensemble writing cast of non-Wagers. Then we get two belters.

Storming Heaven an 8 parter in essense covers a LOT of ground. A tale of the raise of heroes fresh from the summer of love. The twisting of that by evil and self interest. The destruction that brings and the dawning of the age of aqurious to wrap it all up. Its just like Love like Blood in that sense. Its covering so much its episode's at times feel like plot summaries more than parts of a story. The drug fueled theme of this story makes this work in this case however and its blistering, ugly fun exquisitly rendered by Fraser Irving. This thrill just works.

Shakara goes a different route to make the compacted space it has work. It keeps things simple and enigmatic. An everyday tale of interstella revenge as the surviving member of ??? finds increasing Kirbyesque ways of tearing through those that lead their race ??? to its bitter end. What it doesn't have space for it leaves aside to keep to this wonderfully basic formula. In doing this the rocket fuelled designs of Henry Flint reign supreme and its an absolute delight.

Of course it couldn't sustain that format and this one develops into a firm favourite and I can't wait - but seem to recall I'll have to - for this to come back.

There's some nice bits and bobs backing two up, and some average and then there's Bad Company 2002 which sadly is the only shortcoming in this otherwise consistantly great series. This one seems to want to set something else up and might have worked if it had. As it stands however it has no reason. The ideas have been covered, Kano gains nothing and the release of Danny from the Krool Heart has no purpose, reason or meaning. Its a real let down.

Overall though this is a great start to 2002.

A nice aside is in Prog 1277 we get Alan Grant set up a cool looking Crystal Skull hooded assasin type. Taking Dredd down and threatening to finish it off at some unstated time ... my shoddy memory means I genuinely can't remember if this gets fulfilled or if this thread is left hanging. So I get to enjoy this all over again... maybe...

*[normalfontsize] Accepting the reason for the size of thrills wasn't the above misquoted editoral edict - but the desire for short sharp punches of thrillpower was still in that manifesto.[\normalfontsize]

Colin YNWA



Prog 1280 - 25, feeling all grown up and full of yourself.

When you're 25 you (I) feel like you're there, in your prime, know what you and the world are all about and sneer at the follys of your (my) youth and those about you (me) then. 2000ad 25th birthday prog, that's you that is, that's you when your were 25 and all puffed up.

Don't get me wrong it has grown up into a pretty handsome young buck and its gets got much to be proud of. But its indugling itself a little too much. Joying a bit too much of lifes other side and not always paying attention to whats important. Overall its doing okay but at times its lets its feeling of self cool just go a little over the top.

Prog 1280 is this. I shows how cool it can really be. It has a glorious double sized Dredd, as Joe packs up this apartment in Rowdy Yates. Rico moves in and brings some perps along with him for some action at the end. It has a fun Dante as Nikolai and the Countess pull a fast one for the bounty on Dante and an Arbatov suffers as ever.

In between this however the Prog takes a bad trip to its 25th celebratory party and while its antics are good for a few cheap laughs some of its targets feel a little off. Its not poking fun at itself, it feels like its poking fun at those who have been good to it in its past. And others that might have been a little unfortunate, but I'm sure meant well and tried and even if they failed. All feels a bit rum for the comic itself to be sneering quite so much and quite so publically.

Still the Prog's 25 now and while it still has its vein indulgences from time to time, its smart enough to know when it needs to it  to get on with the hard graft and knuckle down. By Prog 1281 it does just that. More great Dredd, more great Dante*, I love the opening episode to Atavar** a new thrill and very nice Sinister Dexter. The real hard work is of course finding the new talent to sustain all this and as Tharg resurrects Terror Tales to help do this Matt Smith clearly has Andy Diggle's talent and drafts Dom Reardon for the first time (see *) to add to his ranks.

So we'll forgive this cocky young turk its odd self important, self indulgences as long it gets back to the hard work and good stuff quick enough as it does here.

*[Normalfontsize] Showing that if you do indulge yourself with the other side of life a little too much in your youth you can completely mess with your mind and memory. I could have sworn we didn't get too much Dante this year... so far 2002 is proving what a shocking memory I have! [\Normalfontsize]

**[Normalfontsize] I'm pretty sure I'll come back to this when Atavar finishes - as of this time I don't think it quite sustains the quality of this opener. [\Normalfontsize]

Colin YNWA



2002 A year in 8 Progs

So we're not even out of April and we're about to arrive at our second launch Prog. 8 Progs into the new year we hit the 25th Birthday and I get why that was a launch Prog BUT then just 8 Progs later we're wrapping things up again. Given the amount of filler - a lot of Future Shocks (mixed bag) and lots of Tales of Tellytubbyland* (increasingly diminishing returns) I'm left to wonder if the 25th just came a bit to early into Matt Smith rein and he and the thrills just weren't quite ready and the schedule got the better of our young Tharg's little helper?

Who knows not me. But this little stretch feels a little listless if I'm honest.

There's some great to middling Dredd, some pretty good but not as good as I remember Dante** to back up the filler and then Atavar which I promised to get back to.

I quite like it, great art by Richard Elson and a decent story by Dan Abnett. The thing is I thing I remember where this goes (see below) and it takes the premise of the human race's legacy a senseless destructive force and the human cloned back to try to help rid the these evil creations to quite interesting place. So while this thrill might be meant to stand alone if needs be I find it hard to read as anything other than set up and scene setting. Shame as I think alone it would be quite an interesting premise... would it?

*[Normalfontsize] Sorry I just can never remember how to spell it and I'm feeling too lazy tonight to even copy and paste it from somewhere [\Normalfontsize]

**[Normalfontsize] Well since I don't remember there being much Dante at this point as discussed my memory counts for bobbins! [\Normalfontsize]

Link Prime

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 September, 2019, 09:41:40 PM
Atavar which I promised to get back to.

So while this thrill might be meant to stand alone if needs be I find it hard to read as anything other than set up and scene setting. Shame as I think alone it would be quite an interesting premise... would it?


I remember being really surprised when the 2nd series was printed - really thought that it was a (very decent) one and done.

It's an underrated slice of Abnett sci-fi gold, and I will definitely revisit the three books at some stage.

Colin YNWA



Well I'm guessing our next chunk is going to be 11 parts rather than 8 as 1289 gives use a new line up heading into 1300 I assuming... well it does doesn't anyway what do we have.

Well Prog 1289 gives us three to tee things up. Double Dredd as Wagner and Walker bring us 'Sin City'. A much lauded Dredd which I seem to recall is only okay. Lets see how we get on as I'm intrigued to see if I enjoy this more this time, certainly starts solidly.

We get more Wagner, this time alongside Fraser Irving on 'My Name is Death' now I remember this was the first time I've enjoyed the other JD since Necropolis and the last time until recent events - Deadworld and the post Dark Justice stuff. Again the begining certainly holds true and the pantomine is dialled down and the horror dialled up. The scene in 1291 was Death dispatches terrified children's home is utterly chilling.

Finally we get '13' as Mike Carey does another London lowlife with a wonderfully fully formed Andy Clarke. remember this one far more fondly than Carver Hale and again the opening episode bare this out as we get a thrilling and mysterious start, roughly laid out by a small time psychic and crook a fair better pov character.

In Prog 1290 these strips are ability backed up by Sinister Dexter and Si Spurriers' first series Bec and Kawl shows up. Si Spurrier will become a firm favourite of mine... Bec and Kawl ... well I stuggle with much of his early work as I recall.

Still over all as we hit the middle of 2002 we're getting into some very fine stuff overall. Lets see how it holds up as we head towards yet another re-launch.

DrJomster

We're nearly up to the point where this is available digitally. You could be about to cause a massive spike in digital sales, you know.

No pressure... ;)
The hippo has wisdom, respect the hippo.

broodblik

The 2002 xmas prog is the first digital edition available. Up until this point is where I did all my catch-up
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Rately

Quote from: DrJomster on 29 September, 2019, 11:44:33 PM
We're nearly up to the point where this is available digitally. You could be about to cause a massive spike in digital sales, you know.

No pressure... ;)

I'd be asking for a percentage of the sales!  :P

Colin YNWA

Quote from: DrJomster on 29 September, 2019, 11:44:33 PM
We're nearly up to the point where this is available digitally. You could be about to cause a massive spike in digital sales, you know.

No pressure... ;)

But of course since this is a self absorbed re-read thread the impact on others matters not a jot to me...

... as you poor buggers trying to read this nonsense will no doubt be able to testify!

Colin YNWA



Prog 1294

Few things shift and interest me about this Prog. Firstly I'd completely forgotten Orlok was in Sin City. How the heck did that happen?!? My chuffin' memory.

Secondly the mystery of why David Bircham was selected to try to prove his storytelling chops my drawing an almost wordless Sinister Dexter story. It feels like an attempt to redemn him for some frankly poor storytelling in his big break in 'Slaine the Secret Commonwealth'. It doesn't work. I don't remember Orlok in Sin City but for some reason this story seems stained in my mind. My chuffin' memory.

Things start to shift in this Prog as the first of the new line up comes to a close as 'My name is death' comes of a close. Its been a fine story. There has been the odd moment of panto but its really well balanced.So in fact rather than being panto as Death has so often been played for in the past it a typically rich vein of dark, deeply dark humour that Wagner has made his own. Wagner's horror tale is perfectly present by Fraser Irving's absolutely pitch perfect art. The ending is a suitable balance as Anderson meets a very troubling fate and Death escapes his, a little comedy relief and off we got to the Cursed Earth. Its been an absolutely smashing story.

Intrigued now how quickly this once proud line-up will fare with a change. Tor Cyan coming back doesn't bode well.

Colin YNWA



Comics with backbone.

So since 1289 we've seen the thrills fall away. Bec and Kawl, came, impressed no one (well not me anyway) and slipped quickly aside (to come back soon as I recall). Death shined darkly and briefly. To be replaced by Tor Cyan seeming to confusion a desire from folks to see more Rogue Trooper with a need to force a convaluted link between Tor and Rogue. It was all very clunky.

There some okay Future Shocks a good Terror Tale or two and Sinister Dexter pops in and out with some fine thrills.

While all these swirl around Tharg's organ its delightful that there's a firm spine holding up his end. Both 13 and Dredd Sin City are great. Sin Cityis good Dredd. I don't think its the best Dredd but its really good. There's a lot going on and while Kev Walker gives it wonderful solidity, the story does run to all sorts of places and corners. Its suits the theme but can make it a little messy... and I am left wondering what happened to Marsha, did she get out of Denry? I love the final fight with Muerte at the end after all that chaos all that evil that Dredd just takes him down. No messing, just Dredd. Nice story.

As is 13 which again starts by throwing lots of things around as our ne'er-do-well 'hero' encounters more and more challenges. Narky bouncer, hard bald men, crazy alien(ish) dog thingies, bent not coppers and magic disappearing handcuffs. While all this is going on though a story by Mike Carey is defty being crafted in the background. Its a good solid story as we learn about the world from Joe's mysterious gost amazonian, held in a peral and just waiting to get solid to unleash here full ... well read it and find out. Iyts well worth it. The art from Andy Clarke is also solid and real. Its delightful stuff.

So yes while all around it is spinning and swirling - sometimes in needlessly convulted ways - its delightful to have such solid reliable thrills providing tough muscular excitment providing a spine for it all.

Mind when you look at the line-up for 1300 just around the corner  looks like we're going to have the spine and all the lovely bits as well... lets see after a wee break...