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You're right, 'sensible' isn't the word I should have used! More that it makes sense that Kenny does what he does, in light of the fact that he's just had to a) bury his recently murdered abusive father and b) discovered he has a monstrous uncle with a violent temper.

I had never even heard of Monster until the new collection was advertised. The mixture of Alan Moore, John Wagner and Jesus Redondo made it a must buy book, and now I've read it.

It's a damn-near perfect iteration of the sort of strip that doesn't exist any more, and I suppose may never exist again. It's also a slightly odd thing to come to with no context. I can imagine people who read the odd issue of Scream or the 80s Eagle would have fond memories, and may be curious to know how it started, or what happened across the series as a whole, but reading through the whole thing from beginning to end with no nostalgia factor is odd.

Nonetheless, the book holds up well, I think. The opening episode by Alan Moore and artist Heinzl is moody and spooky. It doesn't actually get as far as introducing the Monster himself, and I gather that no one knows what Moore himself intended to do with the story. Under the pens of Wagner, Grant and Redondo, what we get is a road trip in which a boy and his monstrous uncle are on the run from the police, and end up getting into scrapes which involve an average of two murders per epsiode.

As you'd expect from Wagner & Grant, it's both dark and hilarious in equal measure. Best of all, they somehow sell each episode as making perfect sense. There's an element of conicidence along the way (the unfortunate pair run afoul of crooks far more often than friendly folk), but within that young hero Kenny makes sensible decisions, and the Monster is consistent in his emotions and reactions, and it's all so sad that he just keeps having to murder his way out of trouble!

There's a great bit where Kenny tries to explain to a police officer that it's really not Uncle Terry's fault he keeps killing, and you sympathise, but at the same time the cop has no time for it and you sympathise with his point of view, too.

As times the story can feel a bit samey from episode to episode - which was sort of the point with throwaway comics of the era - but there's always a ongoing situation to play out. And when that sameness involves a lumbering beast of a man slurring words and murdering people who sort of deserve it, it's classic 2000ADish fun.

It's all very League of Gentlemen / Psychoville, and if that's your thing I'd definitely recommend the book.

Somehow it manages to have a coherent and sort of happy ending, too - although I've yet to read the text stories at the back which may upend things...

So I've just recently finished reading Bryan Talbot's 'Adventures of Luther Arkwright' (the Dark Horse collected edition). It's the sort of comic that you just have to talk about afterwards, and I'm hoping to find a receptive audience here!

In short, it's blinding. So many ideas, such marvellous art, weirdly compelling characters (some of whom are only in it fleetingly), and I suspect massively influential on a lot of British comics creators who read it as it first came out.

It's also super dense and difficult to follow, to the point that I tried to let it wash over me rather than trying to stay on top of the overarching plot. I wouldn't recommend trying to read it in one go, but I'd definitely recommend it.

Did anyone here read it in small doses wherever it was printed first time around? That must have been something both astounding and frustrating, as I gather it had a tricky publication history, to say the least.

For 2000 AD fans, there's obviously a fair bit of overlap with some of the tone of Nemesis: the Gothic Empire (which Talbot drew, presumably hired on the strength of his Arkwright work). But I reckon there's more than a passing love for Luther Arkwright in the work of Grant Morrison and definitely John Smith, to pick just two names (Invisibles, The Filth and Indigo Prime, I'm looking at you). There's a staggering mix of politics, history and sex along with widescreen hyper-cool action.

Why isn't it more widely known / read?

I haven't read any other Season One stories from Marvel, but I'm not surprised to hear they're not that good. I think the X-Men one works as a soap because that's a key part of the point of that series. The sci-fi concept behing mutations causing super powers is so ill-defined within the comics that it's basiaclly irrelevant, so it can focus on the super-teens at school angle, which I like.

Time for more obscene gushing on my part, as we hit one of my all-time favourite artists:
John Ridgway

http://heroesof2000ad.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/no-73-john-ridgway.html

You mount a strong argument! I too love MACH 0. Watch for another quality hike when Mr Sam Slade arrives...

Got my copy of the regular edition yesterday and it is a thing of beauty for sure. However, my cover seems to have been stuck on upside down - anyone else had this happen?

Given that the book has sold out I don't think there's anything I can do about it, and to be honest it doesn't prevent me from reading the book so who cares, it's just a curiosity.

Sure does make me yearn for some more early Dredd reprints with the colour centre spreads, though!

I've always found part fo teh fun with the X-Men to be its very impenetrability. It can get super weird when some of that impenetrability is to do with decades of backstory, and some is to do with writers deliberately trying to seed mystery into their characters...

I don't think there's anything quite like the movies, but for new readers the standalone graphic Novel X-Men Season One (by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie) is pretty great, especially if you like the soapy elements of the films.

If you really want to get into X-Men, I strongly recommend this website:
http://www.xplainthexmen.com/
and its long-running podcast, 'Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men', in which a couple of fans read through everything so no one lese has to. 116 episodes in, they've covered everything from 1963 to around 1990, still more than a decade off from Morrison's run!

Same here! I'm having fun casting votes now, though.

You're so right!

Onwards we must go. Time again, sadly, for another entry of a hero gone before his time, Steve Moore.
http://heroesof2000ad.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/no-72-steve-moore-rip.html

If I'm honest, one of the reasons I actually pushed myself to start this blog was to try to get some appreciation for 2000AD creators up on the internet before they became a string of obituaries.

Was it Button Man IV that had a snow-bound shootout of some kind?
And I recall a Kev Walker epsiode of Tor Cyan that was delightfully snow-filled.

Fun question!

The real 1978 action was over in StarLord! Although I share your love for the Visible Man and the later stories for MACH 1.

I don't know if it was a specific editorial decision, but putting Dredd on the Moon definitely amped-up the Sci-Fi elements of a strip that was perhaps in danger of being a bit too earth-bound, especially for some of the artists.

The supply of heroes is endless! Sadly my capacity to keep up is not.
Anyway, on with the show, and one of my favourite contemporary creators, too:
Boo Cook
http://heroesof2000ad.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/no-71-boo-cook.html

Thanks for the tip there, Eamonn, I'll remember that!
I've been enjoying the book club, too, looking forward to more episodes (says the man who can't even maintain a twice-weekly schedule on a simple written blog)

A lot depends on the art, I think. The story meanders a lot, but is never less than competent, and often wildly inventive and delightful. But if you love a certain artist it will paper over story problems (personally I think Slaine the King and the Horned God are fair from the most exciting Slaine stories, but the art elevates both massively.) Likewise an artist you don't like can make a good story almost unreadable (Secret Commonwealth, anyone?)

Clint Langley's work can be pretty divisive, for example. It's certainly impressive, but not everyone's cup of tea. Mills tends to write things in a pretty self contained way so if you miss out some of the collections it won't affect your enjoyment of each one individually.