Here we are with another regen issue. So, what do we get this round: overall it was all readable but nothing spectacular? What I do like about the regen prog is that here mini-Tharg can experiment with different ideas and concepts and see what works and what not.
Cadet Dredd – Not a bad story with more violence than the normal Cadet stories. The more interesting thing here is how Rico is systematically becoming more and more whom we all know whom he will be.
Lowborn High – This is one of the new stories and which I find quite enjoyable. It is almost a rip-off of Hogwarts, but the focus is more on the low-income school than the prestige one. The story has some future presence (it will return next regen) with some interesting setups and possibilities. My favorite from the regen and would like to see the story explored more.
Shock – Another good Shock from newcomer Honor. This one could also work in the regular prog, and I find this one so far, the be the best of the regen Shocks.
The Unteachables – This is technical not a new thrill since it continues from the Shock, we had in regen 2130. It was readable but nothing spectacular.
Chopper – Again readable but nothing that stands out here.
Cover by Chris Wildgoose:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRb6PIMXwAcUXGd?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and Logo:
(https://dyn.media.forbiddenplanet.com/iSh6dOB-3vT1yXoADtIb_qAY5tk=/trim/fit-in/779x1024/filters:format(webp)/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/24/b8/dbe9edf23017e55274c9e3a1e042181c136a.jpeg)
So we are getting a sequel to the Dredd story - A Penitent Man?
Quote from: JudgeJudi on 04 May, 2022, 07:48:50 AM
So we are getting a sequel to the Dredd story - A Penitent Man?
Yes it starts next prog it is called
An Honest Man
My first prog not to be a week late for months and it's a Regened one. Ho hum. Anyway, here's my take:
Very nice work on the cover but a shame it has no relevance to the Dredd story inside.
Cadet Dredd – As with previous Cadet Dredds, I believe this is the weakest thing in the comic. It sits between two worlds (adult Dredd and a more sanitised all-ages version) whilst scoring in neither, it requires knowledge of backstory that isn't explained, and the story isn't even that interesting.
Lowborn High – I think the concept of a sort of council house Hogwarts is a good one. Bright attractive art, diverse cast and a neat theme, this one feels like a winner to me for the Regened concept and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the next one to get a longer run.
Future Shock – Thought this was a good future shock, I agree with broodblik that it's the best one we've had in Regened to date. Had the end taken a negative twist rather than a positive one it could have run in the regular prog. I very much liked the fridge, too.
The Unteachables – This was nothing special but if it's a setup for more stories then it works. For me the best bit was the substitute teacher fighting her way through the wasteland to get to the school. Whilst not normally my thing, the artwork was cheerful and seems very reminiscent of what I see my nephew and neice reading.
Chopper – Very much not a fan of this sanitised reimagined version of Chopper. No more of this please. Outside of existing 2000ad readers Chopper isn't enough of a recognisable name, imo, to be worth doing 'young Chopper' stories and they leave a bad taste. However this was better than the last young Chopper strip and the story was ok.
I've definitely had worse Regened reads!
My feeling is that Lowborn High and The Unteachables were a bit too similar to each other, both school stories with ensemble casts. Of the two, I preferred the former. Harry Potter done 2000AD style, with a focus on working-class characters, is perhaps 20 years too late, but I suppose the release of the latest Fantastic Beasts movie makes it sort of topical again.
Overall, this is the first Regened prog that I enjoyed in its own right and didn't just think "oh well, it's for kids, I'm not the target audience." Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. There's a part of me that thinks that Regened shouldn't appeal to old farts like me. But if the kids enjoy it as well, then I suppose there's no harm done.
I know I'll get hammered for this, but I still think in these days of needing every galactic groat and all that, I'm paying £5 for something that I don't want and won't read.
This issue is great... for kids. The stories are aimed at this audience (7-12 year olds?) and fair play 2000AD for supplying a comic for them that's bright and zany and wacky like the Beano or Whizzer & Chips.
I would just like to opt out of them please.
Started reading this last night but got distracted by some football match or other so only finished it tonight. And much like last night its a prog of two halves... well kinda... almost.
Dredd enjoyed this one. I really enjoy the interplay between Dredd and Rico and it worked well here, just a shame that Rico got sidelined half way through. Still leaves a satisfying conclusion - even if the art does rather POINT YOU to want you need to notice.
Lowborn High does what classic 2000ad did so well. Takes a popular entertainment world hit and twist it. He Harry Potter takes a trip to the council estate. It does this age old trick, but with new tricks. Nice diverse cast, fun story and satisfying ending to lead to more. The art wasn't to my tastes but I reckon it would hit the nail on the head of the target audience... I will enquiry with the Girl Child.
Future Shock really enjoyed this one. So it was twist light but I loved Rosie and damn was it a quietly dark tale. Great stuff and probably my favourite in the comic.
The Unteachables OOOOOHHHH so close and in being close it was really frustrating. Loved the art, but it seemed to try to cover too much ground. Introducing the teacher - did enjoy that, then the mystery of the disappearances THEN the reintroduction of Arthur at the end. Just a little too much for any of it to gell fully. Shame as it has such potential. Hopefully next time...
Chopper loved the first one, this one wasn't as good. A steady opening ate too much space and lead to a cluttered unsatisfying ending. The concept of a giant robot game of shuggy with boingers as the ball AND IT GETS RUSHED. I mean the opening could have been like 2 or 3 pages and the main course would have had room to build and get an ending as it is a frustrating failure. Again though I'd love to see this back as it was close to being as fun as the first one.
So yeah liked the first 3 thrills but was totally frustrated by the final two, but interestingly in a way I'd like to see both again to see that they can do it better next time as they were so close this.
Overall decent Prog.
Middling for me.? Lowborn High was the best of the bunch.
Is Chris Wildgoose anything to do with Dylan Teague? I ask because the name "Teague" is the only one written on a block.
Quote from: Jacqusie on 04 May, 2022, 07:49:55 PM
I know I'll get hammered for this, but I still think in these days of needing every galactic groat and all that, I'm paying £5 for something that I don't want and won't read.
This issue is great... for kids. The stories are aimed at this audience (7-12 year olds?) and fair play 2000AD for supplying a comic for them that's bright and zany and wacky like the Beano or Whizzer & Chips.
I would just like to opt out of them please.
I'm guessing the strategy is to hook in younger readers and have them graduate to the regular prog. I don't know whether it's working, but the fact that a number of strips have started out in Regened and then transferred to the main comic suggests that it is. In which case, I see it as a price worth paying to ensure that the GGC has a future.
Quote from: Bad City Blue on 05 May, 2022, 10:18:57 AM
Is Chris Wildgoose anything to do with Dylan Teague? I ask because the name "Teague" is the only one written on a block.
Here is his website: http://christianwildgoose.blogspot.com/ (http://christianwildgoose.blogspot.com/)
Quote from: Jacqusie on 04 May, 2022, 07:49:55 PM
I know I'll get hammered for this, but I still think in these days of needing every galactic groat and all that, I'm paying £5 for something that I don't want and won't read.
This issue is great... for kids. The stories are aimed at this audience (7-12 year olds?) and fair play 2000AD for supplying a comic for them that's bright and zany and wacky like the Beano or Whizzer & Chips.
I would just like to opt out of them please.
So are you a subbie or completist? Otherwise there's always the option to just say no.
B/W Cover:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2000AD-Regened-Cover-Inks-Flat-SML-808x1024.jpg)
Grayscale Cover:
(https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2000AD-Regened-Cover-Inks-Rendered-SML-Flat-807x1024.jpg)
I felt two school based stories in one special to be pretty bad planning. That said, both looked good and had their own ISP. Just might have been better spread out. The Dredd saw an artist who was involved in two previous 'pilots' get moved into primetime. I like his work but felt 'cadet' Dredd jarred with other depictions of him. Of course, Dredd is renowned for being flexible in his appearance, but he looked older, already weathered. Chopper was good!
Quote from: Bad City Blue on 05 May, 2022, 10:18:57 AM
Is Chris Wildgoose anything to do with Dylan Teague? I ask because the name "Teague" is the only one written on a block.
He tweeted about that, sounds like it's a homage to Dylan. https://twitter.com/MrRiktus/status/1496548869324382214
Cadet Dredd: Red Medicine – definitely on the Trade Federation side of the "is it exciting as a plot?" fence. I know it says "All Ages Issue" on the front, but I assumed it meant younger: references to Babe Ruth were old when I was young. Cadet Dredd suffers from the template - Dredd isn't in charge because he's always subordinate to a mentor figure (but not the *same* mentor figure, so there's no room for character development), and he has to team up with Rico, and Rico has to say bad things to foreshadow his later corruption. I think there was a missed opportunity in this slot to do something more like "The Academy of Law": exploring the various recruits within the (contemporary) Academy, rather than being glued to Dredd's past.
Lowborn High – Kitchen sink Hogwarts? Wychdusk joins the recent ranks of Parsing Crimes Against Humanity, alongside Skip Tracer's Consociation (although the latter is actually a word). It feels like there are missing panels between the 9th and 10th pages. This shows a bit of promise, but I don't really dig the Harry Potter template so, for that reason, it falls flat.
Future Shock: Smart Home – tricky third act. I don't really understand the impact of the end. Rosie escapes, right? That's it? She's taken over Rose 2? Why's she obsessed with partying all of a sudden? It started out she wanted to know who she was, but that's never resolved.
The Unteachables – I love the title - partly because of that Channel 4 docu-series a couple of decades ago about the potential of students whose behavior or situation have shunted them almost out of the education system. I like the art, and the chutzpah - but the story doesn't make much sense, and I say that as someone who willingly accepts light sabers, sky surfing and giant ants. Also - seems like there's missing panels between pages 6 and 7.
Chopper: What Goes Up – I think I said it all last time - but I find it very difficult to accept the transformation from the disaffected teenager original character to this happy go lucky Billy Whizz clone. For that reason, this is a chore to read - I need to force myself to do it out of loyalty to the prog. You know, there is room in an "all ages issue" for a genuine story about young people who aren't constantly happy.
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Summary - it's a really poor issue for me. Just nothing here that's a thrill to read. Sorry, Joko - I want to support the Regened issues, but they need better material. If they're successful, market-wise, then that's all good - and I suppose they'll continue, but - whoo - they're tough to love and just feel generally substandard next to the regular prog.
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Flipside - I'm a bit of an old codger, so what do I know? The nine-year old mini-Solo walked in when I was reading the Regened and it was open at the last page of Unteachables and the first page of Chopper - and she was like "YEAH! BOOOIIIINNNG! Cool!" and then chortling at "Arthur! Have you built yourself a laser cannon?"
So, the Regened prog feels like it's not for me because it really isn't for me. Do the next generation a favor, and give you Regened issues to them.
Yeah, this was... not good. And I say that as someone who is broadly in favour of the Regened project and who's enjoyed a fair bit of what's been published to date. The key problem I find is that I genuinely don't know who this is for. Now, obviously, I know the
intent, but:
Quote from: Jacqusie on 04 May, 2022, 07:49:55 PMThis issue is great... for kids.
But... is it? Two of the stories are wrapped up in 40 years of continuity and make broad assumptive leaps about reader knowledge. Moreover, they are sanitised versions of characters that leave them flat, uninteresting and in at least one case deeply at odds with the market that's being targeted. And in a more general sense, I compare this particular issue with any random issue of The Phoenix and there's no competition. The level of storytelling (as opposed to the plots and strips) is inferior. The art is, at least, somewhat on par.
Cadet Dredd continues to be a misfire. Red Medicine appears to be yet another Mega City One entirely bereft of women, but that's not its biggest problem. Dredd, aside from throughout looking like a 40-year-old man, also comes across like a cantankerous old stick-in-the-mud git. And the underlying premise feels tone deaf in a world where even my 8yo is horribly aware of injustice. The flip of the med-judge from "I'm just trying to help people" to attempting to kill his accomplice in... being nice... feels forced, in order to let Dredd save the day. And so Dredd upholds the system, which means lots of people in need will go without.
For my kid reading this, I don't know what she'd take from this. The entire fabric of this strip feels flawed – like a very conservative take on what a comic should be. I don't think it's salvageable. But with Dredd being 2000 AD's main character, I have no idea what the solution would be. (Also, that manoeuvring of Rico to eventually becoming the person we know he'll be. My kid
doesn't care. She doesn't need a gradual marriage of a new comic with 45 years of old comic. She wants good stories. Cadet Dredd is not good stories.)
Next up,
Lowborn High is better, but just OK. The swooshy art is quite nice, but it is very Council Estate Hogwarts. I'm not sure it strays enough from that template to be its own thing, and doing any kind of linked narrative across issues that appear months apart doesn't strike me as smart. All of these strips need to be one-and-done or head to the main Prog so they can blaze through them and shove them into a trade. (Speaking of, that there are now four trades suggests that the stories must be landing to some degree in that format, otherwise we wouldn't have four trades; so that's something.)
Smart Home was a lot of fun. I agree with Funt that it fumbled the landing, but the lead up was a mix of clever, funny, heartbreaking and on point. And I grinned at that last panel. It could have done with a bit of script refinement to more smoothly reach that final moment. (My take: she convinces Rosie 2 of a better way, having learned it from the partying electronics. And perhaps she found who she was in that moment, which was her best day.)
The Unteachables strikes me as odd scheduling, being another school thing. I don't even remember the previous strip, which isn't ideal. And what is the strip? It's like a dystopian Bash St. Kids but where the adult teacher wins out? I dunno. This at least has some energy, some verve, and some nice moments. I'm not sure the story hangs together though. Compare it to, say, Mega Robots Bros and it falls short on that scale.
Then
Chopper finishes things off. This reimagining has to be taken on its own merits, because it cannot be aligned with the character we know. On its own merits, it's... OK. I'm not sure what the artist appeared determined to make Richard Osman Block so phallic, but otherwise the art was solid. Judge Wannabe was a nice touch, but again is assumptive scripting – it only really works if you know Dredd, and
adult Dredd at that. Seeing one MC-1 strip decades apart from the other in a comic designed for newcomers is a curious decision. And, again, this one didn't stick the landing. I'd have much sooner seen the meathead judge left on the ground as the others zoom away, mischievously. Instead, we get a somewhat po-faced "law and justice are not necessarily the same thing". I mean... yes? But there's so much of this stamping down going on in these Dreddworld strips that it just feels oppressive. I don't get what the comic is trying to achieve here.
Again, I haven't given these Progs to mini-IP yet. She loved the Cor/Buster specials and quite liked the Misty ones. She was warmish on Monster Fun, but found the storytelling a problem in the action strips. I can't imagine her reading this comic and really enjoying any of it, or caring about it compared to other publications she enjoys as a very comics-literate reader and constant devourer of new things.
So:
Future Shocks > The Unteachables > Lowborn High > Chopper = Dredd, with only Future Shocks really getting over the barrier of goodness and both of the school strips straddling it in their own way. Here's hoping the next Regened is better.
I pretty much agree with everything Funt Solo and Indigo Prime said. I didn't really enjoy this prog. But I did think the art in the Future Shock and Lowborn High were very good.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 05 May, 2022, 12:12:01 PM
Quote from: Jacqusie on 04 May, 2022, 07:49:55 PM
I know I'll get hammered for this, but I still think in these days of needing every galactic groat and all that, I'm paying £5 for something that I don't want and won't read.
This issue is great... for kids. The stories are aimed at this audience (7-12 year olds?) and fair play 2000AD for supplying a comic for them that's bright and zany and wacky like the Beano or Whizzer & Chips.
I would just like to opt out of them please.
So are you a subbie or completist? Otherwise there's always the option to just say no.
I'm a subbie, so I don't think there is the option to say no, is there now?
I don't think the regend progs are a bad thing per-se, but I don't want to spend £20 on them each year really.
When renewing our subscriptions and there was the option to have a subscription without the Regened progs, it would be interesting to see how many went for it. I suppose there are many that would want to keep it and that would be great for them too.
I'm just not sure about the model as it is. I get the stories are for a much younger audeince, The Chopper story this issue is a case in point. I don't have kids to give my progs to and would just rather my 20 quid go on my gas bill, or bus ticket thanks Thrag.
I see it more as an investment. Without an influx of new readers, 2000 AD is dead long-term. And it's about ecosystem, not just the Prog: strips get compiled into books, which creates additional income. I just wish this Prog had been better. Mini-IP's Phoenix arrived earlier and I had a flick through. It's so much better than this Regened and, to be blunt, most of them. To be fair, The Phoenix has also been doing this for years, and this is very much a learning experience for Rebellion. But there really needs to be a closer look at storytelling and coherence above everything else. When the stories in Regened are too often more confused and have less clarity than the ones in the standard Prog, that's not good. And when what the magazine itself wants to say or be isn't at all clear, that's not good either.
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
Quote from: Richard on 07 May, 2022, 03:59:30 PM
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
Harry Potter?
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 07 May, 2022, 05:04:32 PM
Quote from: Richard on 07 May, 2022, 03:59:30 PM
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
Harry Potter?
Whenever anyone mentions HP, I'm contractually obliged to tell me HP joke:
Hagrid on 'shrooms: "You're a lizard, Harry!"
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 07 May, 2022, 05:04:32 PM
Quote from: Richard on 07 May, 2022, 03:59:30 PM
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
Harry Potter?
Or indeed The Bash Street Kids.
Quote from: Richard on 07 May, 2022, 03:59:30 PM
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
My kid bloody loves Pamela Butchart, who has written entire series about a bunch of kids at a school who leap to absurdist conclusions regarding their school being invaded by aliens and otherworldly creatures. Then you have stuff like Mega Robo Bros in The Phoenix and, of course, Bash St. Kids. But the school needs to be a framework on to which you do something interesting and fun. The Unteachables has the potential for that, but, I dunno... There's just something off about some aspects of Regened. It feels like aspects of anarchy have been replaced by oppression.
Quote from: Jacqusie on 07 May, 2022, 12:16:43 PM
...I don't want to spend £20 on them each year really.
I entirely appreciate your point about not wanting to purchase things you don't want to read. However, I'm a spreadsheet geek so I have to point out that you're not spending 20 quid a year on Regened: because your subscription is heavily subsidized.
In 2021, if you paid individually for each prog, it would have cost 168.84GBP. (Or 144.88 if you skipped the Regened issues.) But a yearly sub for the physical prog is only 120.
You could still argue that the Regened are somehow diluting your cost per page, but if you calculate that on the sub rate, the cost of the Regened issues is a theoretical 14.12.
The trouble is, arguing that ditching the Regened issues would reduce the cost of your (already heavily reduced) sub is like arguing that ditching the floppy would reduce the cost of the Megazine. There's a commonly held belief that it wouldn't, actually - instead just making the Meg impossible to produce. Maybe ditching the Regened off subs would make the prog non-profitable to produce?
Summary: there's a lot we don't know about the costing involved, but one can't accurately claim to be getting half-inched out of 20 quid when you've been given a 48.84 discount (and a *free* gift).
---
Positive (altruistic) ways forward:
1. Think about the investment in the future viability of the comic you love.
2. Gift your Regened issues - it could be to a child you know (yours, niece, nephew etc.) or that you don't (school library, local library, next door neighbor, charity shop etc.)
3. Think of the Regened as a creative hotbed where people can learn the craft - 2000 AD is one of the cornerstones of the UK comics' industry - but a lot of the content is tied into existing, proven creators. The Regened issues give other creatives a chance to get their foot in the door and keep the whole thing going.
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Final thought: my post up-thread is how I felt about reading those stories, and I didn't think they were great. But - I can never get as far as saying it shouldn't exist or that it shouldn't be part of my sub. It would be quite perverse if I was to turn around to all of these hard working creatives who're trying their best to produce a great product and say their effort wasn't worth my time. The art is way beyond anything I could hope to conjure with my current set of abilities, and I've never had a comic script published, and I've never edited a comic (or lettered one, or colored one). Reading it and criticizing it is the easy part - and I've only been able to do that for the last couple of decades thanks to Rebellion's business nous. I'll never have faith in yer gods, but I do have some in 2000 AD.
Is it possible to love Funt Solo more! Only you sir, only you!
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 07 May, 2022, 05:04:32 PM
Quote from: Richard on 07 May, 2022, 03:59:30 PM
Also I'm not convinced that children really want to spend their free time reading comics about school.
Harry Potter?
D'oh!
Quote from: Tomwe on 05 May, 2022, 01:50:44 PM
I felt two school based stories in one special to be pretty bad planning.
Not so sure TBH. The bigger problem is perhaps the similarity between the concepts with the two school-based stories. A possible future regened could well be an "education special" with a Dredd Academy tale, maybe another variation on Mili-com memories, perhaps Unteachables or Lowborn High (not both though ...) ...
would a "Slaine at School" strip be too many?
Overall though despite a couple of decent strips this felt like one of the weaker ones. Another vote for "no more Chopper" though ... definitely not working.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 07 May, 2022, 07:51:22 PM
would a "Slaine at School" strip be too many?
He didn't think it.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 07 May, 2022, 07:51:22 PM
Quote from: Tomwe on 05 May, 2022, 01:50:44 PM
Another vote for "no more Chopper" though ... definitely not working.
Young Chopper had a kinda Muppet Babies vibe going on. Now I would be interested in a young Absalom, Nemesis or Grobbendonk, that would be rather different...
FWIW I gave this Regened and one other to some kids (not mine) who read the Phoenix and the Beano, and they said it was 'alright' - they liked Lowborn High and wanted to read the next bit. They had zero interest in any of the 2000ad legacy strips / characters.
Not saying that's how all children would react, but interesting for me to get feedback from a genuine child.
Funt and IP make some excellent points here. I have a lot of problems with Regened myself, but just have to trust Rebellion know what they're doing here.
So far I also find the legacy strips/characters to be the weakest part of the regen progs. Maybe it is time to find a "lead" for the regen prog something like 2000AD Regen Featuring <<Cool new Character>>
I think legacy can work, but it can't be bogged down in its own continuity because that simply won't matter to a new reader. So a lot of the stuff in Cor/Buster worked with mini-IP, to the point she wasn't thrilled Monster Fun booted Sweeny (and was much happier when she got the webshop version that did have Sweeny in). But I can't imagine her giving two hoots about Dredd/Rico. (Moreover, as a kid big on justice, she's going to see the leads in that strip working in a manner that is so directly often contrary to her own beliefs, and yet they're portrayed as heroes rather than the anti-hero Dredd of the 1970s. That creates a problematic conflict that seems impossible to resolve.)
The issue with a new lead is it'd need to be a house character, which might knock interest from creators. Perhaps doing a Phoenix is a better bet, with a bunch of familiar strips that get rotated out – but then that comic has the big advantage over Rebellion's efforts in terms of frequency.
Long-time lurker here, lured out by the perennial discussion around the regen progs!
I won't comment on the quality of the regens - as a grumpy 40+ year old, they are not aimed at me and not something that I would normally buy. Likewise, I'm not interested in the cor blimey specials and such but I appreciate that Rebellion produce a range of products, some of which I will buy and others not. I am more than happy for them to all exist and agree that new readers need to be brought in.
It feels like adding the regens into the normal prog schedule was a good way to test the concept but this has also been a limitation as ultimately, we won't know if it can stand on its own feet until it does. My preference would be for this to be the last year that we have the regens included in the run of progs and that it progresses to either a quarterly, monthly or even weekly schedule of its own.
In short, where I come from there is a saying 'sh*t or get off the pot'!
But publishing doesn't work like that. The money for children's fare is no longer in the newsstand – it's in bookstores. Manga sells by the truckload, as does Dog Man. The Phoenix has (finally) recognised this, by shifting the format of its trades from fragile skinny volumes to chunky pocket books. Rebellion's strategy appears to be using the Regened comic as a testing ground. Strips that are deemed good and need content quickly head to the Prog, whereupon they are later compiled standalone or shoved into a Regened trade.
This naturally puts some people's noses out of joint, but the reality is 2000 AD isn't a standalone publication – it's an ecosystem. All parts of it need to do well, in order for it to thrive. (Again, my issue with, erm, this issue was that the storytelling seemed off and it didn't seem like the kind of thing that would click with the target market. But that's not always been the case.)
We often end up circling around the question of Regened's position in the schedule, but I'm appreciating IP's point about (some of the) core character concepts being problematic - and I think that's worth emphasizing.
One aspect of 2000AD's core appeal that is often lauded when people hark back to the early days is that it owns a counterculture narrative. It's chaotic - it's got an anarchic streak - the lunatics have taken over the asylum - in many ways it feels like it's on the edge of acceptability. My dad didn't like it - he saw Dredd and thought I was worshiping a terrible fascist. So, it's cool because it was something I understood on another level to my "modern parent".
But, as IP has pointed out, Cadet Dredd really is a stick in the mud, and often the moral of the stories is about the letter of the law being more important than the society it's been built to supposedly protect. That makes Dredd the baddie, but he's being presented as a goodie. So - it's a broken moral construct. And - surely Regened isn't being designed to appeal to Tories*? Or, have I got that wrong?
*An assumption here that Tories know they're evil.
I could also be argued that buying the Prog when it has two or three stories in it that one doesn't like is a similar venture? There was a run in the Prog recently where everything except Dredd wasn't for me, but that's the way Tharg's bee bumbles.
My copy didn't arrive. Hoping I can get a replacement sent out.
I wouldn't say that my nose is out of joint because of the regens. I'm happy for them to exist but at the same time I don't think its unreasonable to point out what a strange situation we have ended up in with them.
My view is that 2000 AD is a standalone publication that is within an ecosystem. Its an anthology comic for mature readers (teen+) and inserting a children's comic into that each quarter is an odd approach. That's not to say every story in 2000 AD needs to be guns and violence - you could argue the recent intestonauts story could fit well in an all age comic - nanobots in poop, yeah young me would be all over that!
If the initial sales figures suggest that there is some worth in pursuing this then I would have thought upping the rate of content and including some reprints of appropriate stories that have appeared in the prog previously means they have enough to produce just regen specials next year that are sold alongside the normal prog.
Just my thoughts on the matter. As I said before, this always felt to me like a proof of concept but here we are nearly three years later and I just wonder where this is all going.
Quote from: Recrewt on 10 May, 2022, 04:28:22 PM
Just my thoughts on the matter. As I said before, this always felt to me like a proof of concept but here we are nearly three years later and I just wonder where this is all going.
I am sure that covid also had a huge impact which I believe plans were put on hold. The current model is working so maybe that is why they kept with the 4 regen progs a year.
Does anyone else think Joko-Jargo has no personality? There's an ad in the latest issue where he's proclaiming 'I bring only the best to you from across the universe, young earthlets'. He's just got the same speech patterns as Tharg! Doesn't he have any cool betelgusian youth slang at least?
Grakthefirix!