New Rebellion trades -- a fantastic foursome...

[The Amstor Computer]

Arrived home today to find an early Christmas present - my replacement computer and the four latest Rebellion collections. So, with my overheating laptop finally banished, on with the books!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/buttonman/totalwar_wrap.jpg">

JUDGE DREDD: TOTAL WAR
JOHN WAGNER, COLIN MACNEIL, HENRY FLINT & JASON BRASHILL

TOTAL CARNAGE!

In the Grand Hall of Justice a chilling ultimatum is issued to the Judges: Remove yourselves from power or face the consequences. Somewhere in Mega-City One the terrorist organisation Total War have planted two hundred thermonuclear devices and as long as the Judges stay in charge they will detonate them one by one...

CONTENTS:

Terror
Total War
After the Bombs


Following on from last month's Dredd collection, Sin City, comes another volume reprinting some of the lawman's most recent adventures.

As with that earlier book, the presentation is flawless. The art is crisp, bright and detailed, losing nothing from the reduction in size. The matte covers show off Andy Clarke's Dredd portrait to best effect (even if it is incorrectly credited to Simon Coleby!), giving the book a classy look that separates it from the majority of other collections on the shelves.

All three stories benefit from being presented in full and without interruptions, and including the build-up and epilogue tales, Terror and After the Bombs, was a smart decision. Without the slow-burn - and scene-setting - of the former, Total War loses its edge, and After the Bombs provides the perfect comedown & epilogue to the main event.

A superb second collection in the new Dredd line of books.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/buttonman/makarov_wrap.jpg">

NIKOLAI DANTE VOL. 3: THE COURTSHIP OF JENA MAKAROV
ROBBIE MORRISON, CHARLIE ADLARD, JOHN BURNS & SIMON FRASER

THE KNAVE OF SWORDS!

It is the year of the Tsar 2668AD and the sound of wedding bells is in the air. Jena Makarov, the daughter of Tsar Vladimir the Conqueror, is betrothed to Mikhail Deriabin, media tyrant and patriarch of the House of the Bolshoi. Nikolai Dante is less than happy with the announcement.

Now, assigned to be Jena's bodyguard, Dante has to protect her from more than his own passions as those who would seek to bring about war set their sights on Russia's fairest...

CONTENTS:

Fists of Fury
Last Dance on the Trans-Siberian Express
Cruel Seas
Requiem for Lost Love
The Courtship of Jena Makarov
Love and War

Cover gallery (progs 1143, 1161, 1163 & 1172)
Eight-page sketchbook

The Courtship of Jena Makarov is the first Dante collection to appear since the end of the DC deal and, with the improvements seen across the board on the other books, I was hoping for the same here. Definitely not disappointed :-)

Although the first half of the book appears to have been reprinted from scanned progs, the difference in quality between this and the scanned art in the first two Dante volumes is noticeable. Of special note is the great job done on John Burns' stories, Cruel Seas and Requiem for Lost Love - his delicate ink washes come across well, and I don't think a better job could have been done without access to the original art. I was under the impression that Si Fraser's work on The Courtship... came from before the move to digital at the Nerve Centre, but the beautiful repro - minus logos, credits etc. - suggests that either I was wrong or Rebellion have access to the original art. Either way, it looks great here & it comes from a point when Fraser's work on Dante was perhaps at its best.

Revisiting the stories here was welcome, especially after the long absence from the prog of Dante, and the rather dull "holding pattern" his adventures seem to have been in lately. Robbie Morrison is on top form, juggling humour & horror adeptly as the story builds to its inevitable conclusion and Dante & Jena's separation. Great stuff, and definitely one of the finest things to come out of that period of 2000AD.

Final mention must go to Si Fraser's wonderful sketchbook. Although it's fairly brief, and it's not really the look at work-in-progress its name suggests, there are some beautiful illustrations & Simon's notes show quite how much he was involved in the creation of Dante. It's a fascinating insight into the "unseen" aspects of the strip - and the wonderful colour portrait of Tsarina Eugenia Vladimirovna Makarova (!) is another example of why we need Si back on Dante ASAP ;-)

More later - Robo-Hunter Vol. 3 & The Red Seas coming up...

[DavidXBrunt]

Must buy must buy must buy.

[I, Cosh]

I take it these are just out today, as I picked up Total War in Forbidden Planet this afternoon. It's utterly fantastic stuff. Dredd at it's absolute best and the main reason I started buying 200AD again after a 10-12 year lay-off.

It would be fascinating to get some sort of definitive edition collecting all the stories that have contributed to this arc, from Democracy Now and America right up to the stuff in this book.

[The Amstor Computer]

...and on with the show:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/buttonman/robo3_wrap.jpg">

ROBO-HUNTER VOL. 3: PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM
JOHN WAGNER, ALAN GRANT & IAN GIBSON

SLADE SINGS!

The streets are alive with the sound of robots in this latest collection of classic Robo-Hunter cases.

National Song Year has been declared in Brit-Cit and Sam Slade is facing musical lunacy on every side. The Human League has declared death to all robots and the robo-Prime Minister Iron Aggie has hired Slade to infiltrate their gang.

Slade finds himself at the centre of a vast and deadly conspiracy that even he may not be able to sing his way out of!

CONTENTS:

The Filby Case
Killing of Kidd
Football Crazy
Play It Again, Sam

Cover gallery (progs 278 & 285, plus Sam Slade pinup)

The complete collection of Sam Slade's early adventures rolls one book nearer with this collection. As with the previous two books, the reproduction is damn near flawless & Ian Gibson's art is simply sublime.

The stories collected here are as much fun as I remembered - Killing of Kidd being a particular highlight - though as with any humour strip, a lot will depend on your taste for Grant & Wagner's particular brand of inspired lunacy.

A brief introduction to Sam's world & previous adventures would have been welcome, but most of the stories reprinted here stand well enough on their own - though some knowledge of Verdus would help with a character like Kidd, for example.

There really is nothing to pick holes in here - if you want classic 2000AD, you won't get a better package than this short of someone funding a 2000AD Absolute series of full-size hardcovers.

[The Amstor Computer]

Cosh --

AFAIK they were out last week, as that's when I ordered mine from the Future Shop.

I hope we do get a Democracy & Terror series at some point that reprints some of the stories that Wagner & others have written on the subject over the years. I doubt we'll see a reprint of America any time soon, though - AFAIK it's still in print in a Titan edition, so any Rebellion edition would likely have to wait a bit longer...

[The Amstor Computer]

...and finally:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/buttonman/redseas_wrap.jpg">

THE RED SEAS: UNDER THE BANNER OF KING DEATH
IAN EDGINTON & STEVE YEOWELL

SET SAIL FOR ARCANE ADVENTURE!

When pirate captain Jack Dancer and the crew of The Red Wench raid a Spanish galleon they little realise that within their plunder lies the missing chapter of a feared occult tome listing the nine million names of God. Dr Orlando Doyle, a fearsome sorceror, has the rest of the book and together with his zombie crew he plans to retrieve the missing piece of this infernal puzzle. Using any means at his disposal he intends to utilise the dreaded book in a devilish deal to bring about the downfall of creation itself!

CONTENTS:

Under the Banner of King Death
16-page sketchbook, pitch & script section

The final book tonight is the latest in Rebellion's line of full-size hardback collections.

The Red Seas has perhaps been one of the most successful of the recent crop of new 2000AD strips, and this is a well-deserved reprint of Dancer & Co.'s first adventure.

Steve Yeowell's art is crisp & clear, and reproduced here at its original publication size. Yeowell also provides the lovely colour cover which is - in spite of the rather lacklustre logo & typography - an image that captures the spirit of the series rather nicely.

The story itself erupts near fully-formed, although it doesn't have the depth or lightness of touch that the later installments would bring. It is, however, a far better choice of reprint than some recent Euro books (*cough*Bisonferfuckssakewhatweretheythinking*cough*) and I only hope that there reprints of the rest of The Red Seas saga are in the pipeline.

The pitch & script at the close of the book - complete with character sketches from Steve Yeowell - is a great addition to this reprint. As with Si Fraser's notes on Dante, it pulls back the curtain a little & is a great glimpse at the process of writing for The Galaxy's Greatest. Having long bemoaned the absence of extras in the slimmer Euro books, I'm delighted to see that changing with this and last month's collection of Family - hopefully we'll see more of this in the future.

If you loved The Red Seas, this is a must-have - and if you haven't yet encountered the series, take a chance & pick this up. It's a little bit pricier than some of the books out there, but I think you'll find it's worth it.

[Art]

The Pirate craze seems to still be going strong, so hopefully this should do pretty well.

Vikings are aparently next years pirates, BTW.

[DavidXBrunt]

I loved Read Seas, that's a must have!

Vikings? You can keep your vikings! You name me one decent comic story that ever featured a viking and I'll be startled, amazed, and a little confused. Maybe frightened.

[The Amstor Computer]

/me hits David with der happy stick

[The Adventurer]

Dudes. Everyone knows Cowboy is the new Pirate. Like how Pirate was the new Ninja.


At any rate, can't wait for these to show up in the US. Even though I have them all in Prog form I wish I'd ordered a copy of Total War now. I'll probibly try to pick it up online when it comes out.


Also, those Spines are still sexy.

[The Amstor Computer]

...and they've kept the Dante & Robo-Hunter colours as well - a nice touch linking past to present editions.

[DavidXBrunt]

/me is startled, amazed, and a little confused. Definatley frightened.

[Funt Solo]

For anyone that's unaware:  Wulf, Johnny Alpha's partner, is indeed a viking.

See the time-hopping Ragnorak Job (aka Max Bubba) in progs 445-465 for details.

[DavidXBrunt]

And for anyone that's unaware I was setting up a very obvious joke that could have had a Stronty punchline, or at a pinch, a Watchmen one.

[Funt Solo]

That was a giraffe, Mr X.