Round 3 heads towards its conclusion and things aren't getting any easier. It's time to start thinking about how hard Round 4 is gonna be cos lets face it as we near having just 64 thrills left we know they are all (well almost all) gonna be beauties and the tough ties we see this week will be the regular head scratchers in a couple of weeks time. Arh remember how easy Round 2 was!
I think it's fair to say Sancho Panzer isn't one of the stronger thrills in Round 3, so far only having to deal with Venus Bluegenes, a great co-star in some dodgy solo material. So has its luck ended in coming up against a Prog Oner? Or will M.A.C.H.1's easy racism count against it? It didn't against Marauder that's for sure.
Sancho Panzer - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=PANZER)
Vs
M.A.C.H.1 - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=mach1)
Just reply in this thread naming your favourite thrill of these two series at the beginning of your post (or use Bold tags so I can spot it easily) and say what you like about these wonderful stories after that.
Match ends early on the morning of Friday 24th June and the winner gets a place in Round 4 (of 9!!!).
What on Earth is ALL of this? (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=48011.0)
For those that need 'um and can be bothered to follow 'um there's some simple rules (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=48011.msg1070150#msg1070150)
Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN
M.A.C.H.1
I am not a big fan of the M.A.C.H series of stories and I have never read Sancho Panzer so this round I will vote for Let The Good Times Roll
MACH 1
Sancho Panzer
M.A.C.H.1.
Dan Abnett writing! Gorgeous full colour Henry Flint art! A strip that has somehow never been reprinted? Having commissioned it, let there be no surprise that this is a vote for Sancho Panzer.
I got no nostalgia or especial fondness for MACH 1. I like the ongoing thread where he hates his computer and his boss, but apart from the ultraviolence the strip never did much for me.
Sancho Panzer is far from Abnett's or Flint's best work but you can bet if they tried it again now, with decades more experience, it'd be a superior beast. And it's more weird than MACH 1 which is enough to get my vote...
Sancho Panzer
M.A.C.H.1.
MACH 1 does nothing for me. Early era 2000 AD that's presumably nostalgic for some, but I don't have the nostalgia. Today, it's a turgid, boring read.
Sancho Panzer wasn't great either, but has some flair and lovely early Flint art. Neither really deserves to go further, but it is what it is, so: Sancho Panzer.
sancho panzer
M.A.C.H.1
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
MACH1. Ok it's not that great, but a memorable early classic. I vaguely recall SP being ok, but not much else.
The Six Million Dollar Man begat MACH1, which begat MACH ZERO (which was good) and, latterly, Greysuit (which was asking too much of us). MACH1 had that formulaic nature (common practice in comics of the time), where the arcs were short, and (theoretically) it could have chugged on forever.
Sancho Panzer was also a bit like that - and never quite fulfilled the promise that the high concept of Dude in a Giant Tank suggested. It's a bit like Mech Warrior (in, really, any of its incarnations) never quite having the magic suggested by this image:
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_7ky41MVuW_QZ8wWpYolZ8FDo40=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9765321/mechwarrior_1st_edition.jpeg)
Because the game is really more like this:
(https://external-preview.redd.it/XIVh7Fq3JbaReEyeCadV9_g3G4UP2q02iqKcCnkxP2k.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=c7a135f435669a7963bc79a61f65a71619457778)
But, anyway - giant tanks drawn by Henry Flint is better than a Bionic Man knock-off, so...
Sancho Panzer, please, Bob.
Flint and Dabnett are absolutely two of Tharg's top creators. Sancho Panzer is absolutely not their best work. But it was part of their journey to where they are now.
MACH 1 is a classic early 2000AD thrill, but like otherlike Invasion it's actually not that good. Certainly not when read by a 40 something decades later for the first time, with out any nostalgic feelings for it.
So, it's a though one.
So on the basis that MACH 1 is more part of what formed 2000AD I'm going for that.
Last day here and it closer than I thought it would be, still not close but getting there. Who knows what todays votes might do?
VOTING CLOSED
Well was not expexcting that. It was very close too but the mauling of prog 1 thrills in Round 3 continues as now M.A.C.H.1 falls. Its not that we're not greatful for these stories for launching the comic we love and providing a sound foundation, it just we know it gones onto bigger and better things... and it would seem one of those things is
Sancho Panzer
which will be rolling over rough terrain to get to Round 4
Sancho Panzer. It may be time to admit that MACH 1 was a bit rubbish.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 24 June, 2022, 07:22:43 AM
Sancho Panzer. It may be time to admit that MACH 1 was a bit rubbish.
SBT
I have to admit, the MACH 3 is a distinct improvement. :D
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0438/6226/1925/products/Gilette_4.jpg?v=1620245830
Let's not forget that Sancho Panzer was clearly the chief inspiration for The Order:
(https://d29xot63vimef3.cloudfront.net/image/judge-dredd-2000-ad/1120-6.jpg)
Kek-W was all like "I'll make it original, I'll spell it 'wurms', and instead of a tank it'll be an interdimensional time-traveling robot - no, not like Armoured Gideon! Although..."