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Messages - HeidTheBaw

#1
Quote from: Funt Solo [Rlink=msg=1108693 date=1703033137]
Quote from: Richard on 19 December, 2023, 11:13:57 PMTo be fair, it probably wasn't really necessary to show an attempted domestic rape in front of a child just to make the point that misogynists are bad people.

On the other hand, it did a good job of reflecting back on Alpha's own childhood, which also demonstrates that the complaint that the writer hadn't done their research and wasn't playing true to the characters was a bit of an empty complaint.

If you check statistics, you find that domestic abuse-related crimes are on the rise in the UK, so I'm not sure how it would be helpful to brush it under the carpet. Indeed, that's probably one of the reasons it's on the rise - because it is often a hidden crime, and it's difficult to prosecute. Quite brave of 2000 AD to highlight it. We should probably be lauding them, rather than criticizing them, I'm sure we'd all agree. Unless...

I chose to ignore this last time because I couldn't be bothered, but that's your second insinuation now; that because someone felt a strip was too heavy handed they support misogynistic behaviour. I'm sure your next move will be to gaslight this with a hand wave and ask why I would think that.

This discussion is precisely one of the reasons I don't like writers who lack the ability to weave their commentary through the narrative with a bit more skill. See Devil's Railroad in the same Prog for how it's done, and we are still all very much aware that Milligan is focussing on immigration and the abuse of people stuck within that system that goes with it.

Interesting to note that Hound went to Di Campi for a crash course in writing a comic strip, maybe if he chose his mentor better the entire strip would have had a decent structure rather than being all over the place. But I digress.


I wrote a brief comment on every single strip, this is the one you have chose to hone in on, and not only that, continue to pursue further response rather than accept  the reasoning I've already provided.

Reading back through the thread I can see 3 others commenting that they found the strip too heavy handed (and disjointed) so I'm clearly not alone.

Now, I hope you'll excuse me as I have a Klan rally to attend and id really like  to attempt to rape my wife in front of my kid before I head off.
#2
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 December, 2023, 10:43:45 PM
Quote from: HeidTheBaw on 19 December, 2023, 08:43:12 PMSee also Devlin Waugh in recent years

Really? I thought Ales Kot's handling of the character in his most recent outings has been excellent.

I feel like Kot's been really one-note with his take on Waugh, it's just one ongoing double entendre veering towards edgelord territory (which is not something I'm against in general, but Smith used that angle more sporadically and the effect was a lot greater to me).

Maybe I just really miss Smith.
#3
Quote from: broodblik on 19 December, 2023, 03:18:00 PMFor me Strontium Dog read like it was written by someone whom never read any Strontium Dog stories by Wagner/Grant. This is one of my major gripes with most stories these days based upon established IP disregard the history and its lore.

Agreed.

See also Devlin Waugh in recent years
#4
Quote from: Funt Solo [R] on 19 December, 2023, 04:03:48 PM
Quote from: HeidTheBaw on 19 December, 2023, 12:50:27 PMand dragged the Prog into this culture war crap that it manages to avoid most of the time. 2000ad remains one of the last bastions of escapism from conversations that dominate social media and now a lot of mainstream media, I'd rather it stayed that way.

It's difficult to know what you're actually complaining about here, because you've been quite non-specific. My knee-jerk reaction is to look at the things being attacked in the strip - the most obvious of which are domestic violence and the rise of fascism. The thing is - Strontium Dog has always been a story in which Alpha fights for the underdog against whoever is bullying them, and one of the core themes of the strip has always been prejudice against "the other", and the battle against fascism (see Portrait of a Mutant, for example).

In a wider lens, 2000 AD has most often leaned against authoritarianism or thuggery. For examples, you can read this year's Void Runners, Helium, The Night Shifter, Portals & Black Goo, The Out or Proteus Vex. Going back a ways, there's Nemesis as a core example.

So, I'm a bit confused as to what the actual complaint is. I think, partly, that's a problem of modern language around politics. If someone complains about the "culture war", it's not clear what they're complaining about. If someone dislikes "wokeism", I don't know what they dislike. They're dog whistles.


I doubt very much you are confused as to what I'm referring to. The guy on the stage who is a thinly veiled cipher for your Jordan Peterson types.

Yes, 2000ad has always had a reputation for satire and left leaning anti establishment vibes, part of the reason the comic and it's creators have become such an influence over the course of my lifetime reading - but almost always done skilfully or with high quality wit........ I don't recall anything so heavy handed as seeing Johnny delighted at a guy getting his head caved in because he talked some shit on a stage.
#5
The quality was high overall, mainly due to the high standard of the stories spilling over (Helium, Railroad, Feral) plus Azimuth and a Dredd that teases some big doings in the future.........

But it really didn't feel like the same ms of year/Xmas Prog that I look forward to reading every year. I feel this annual issue is great place to kick off new stories as it's like opening a present, and often I talk one or two friends into picking it up because it's a great chance to 'jump on'.

Further positive would be that Torunn Gronbekk, after doing a terrific job on Battle, delivered the best Anderson I think I've read since Alan Grant. One of my favourite characters but the choices of scribe have been pretty mediocre for a long time not. I'd love to see Gronbekk get more regular work and maybe an extended Anderson, she's clearly got the chops for it.

On the downside I thought Rufus Hound's Strontium Dog was awful. I hope that's his last. I'd rather see the strip retired if that's the future of it. I like Hound, but this was not a Strontium Dog strip, just felt like he has some stuff he wanted to say and used this as a vehicle and dragged the Prog into this culture war crap that it manages to avoid most of the time. 2000ad remains one of the last bastions of escapism from conversations that dominate social media and now a lot of mainstream media, I'd rather it stayed that way.
Other than that, it felt disjointed, pointless and out of character. Devil's Railroad handles a topical subject with far greater skill, as we expect from a writer of Milligan's talent. If you are going to do this stuff do execute it cleverly.

Rogue Trooper was all a bit nothingy, which is par for course for Wessel to date.
 I skip Enemy Earth.

As much as I'm loving Helium, Feral and Foe, and Devil's Railroad, it feels odd not starting the new year with a clean raft of strips.
#6
I don't think I read the same book as you guys.

Whilst I thought the script was very good, the art wasn't acceptable for a £5 book.

Extremely confusing in places and a general feeling of looking at someone's doodle book.

Dani is a good artist, I've seen great work from her elsewhere, but this was clearly very rushed. Why design a monster or do backgrounds when you can just do a bunch of scribbles instead.

It very much took me out of the story.
#7
Prog / Re: Prog 2220 Regened: Earth-Shattering
04 March, 2021, 09:23:28 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 March, 2021, 10:16:28 AM
For me the flaw in many arguments (not necessarily here) is "kids don't read comics". Maybe they don't read weekly adventure/romance/humour comics bought from the newsagents like what we did, but comics are in the bestseller lists every week. Tell Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemeier, Grace Ellis or Kohei Horikoshi that kids don't read comics, those folk shift truckloads.

Rebellion trying to carve out some territory in that market, while trying it back into their heaps of existing IP and current sales model, just makes sense. Whether the ultimate goal is a field-tested standalone comic, a pre-funded source of material for individual collections, or a broadening of the offering of the weekly (as with FTB), or all three, I think it's worthwhile.

I don't like everything about Regened, but I like a lot of it - you could certainly make a damn good comic out of the strips I have enjoyed, and I find I look forward to a slew of novelty every few months. I'm not a subber or a completionist and I still pick them up.

I don't buy the argument that a two-week break in regular stories is detrimental to 2000AD as a whole: we're comics readers FFS, we regularly put up with years between issues.  As I've said before, I think that co-ordinating Regeneds with jumping-on progs is probably a bad idea, as that really does represent a break in reading, becoming a jumping-off point.

I think it's fair if Rebellion are tying to gain a stronghold into that market in order to attract the kids who are reading that stuff across to their own products. The issue I have is using 2000ad to do it.
If 2000ad loses its identity then it's no longer 2000ad.

Some folk seem to have an issue with this viewpoint from older readers but at the end of the day, for me personally, I've bought 2000ad for the last 30 odd years and have long been a subscriber. That's a long time to support the comic and if starts to develop into something we no longer have an interest in reading them I think it's fine to be upset with that. It's a big part of my life, it's always been there and I want to enjoy it.

I don't like the regened progs but I can tolerate subsidising them 4 times a year as part of my subscription.
Once the storylines start to eek their way into the weekly then when it becomes more of an issue.

From the last few years I read the prog cover to cover, with the exception of Skip Tracer which I just look at the nice pictures and move on and Full Tilt Boogie which I found completely unreadable.

There's always going to be the odd strip that doesn't work for us in an anthology and that's ok.
As long as it remains the exception.
#8
Prog / Re: Prog 2220 Regened: Earth-Shattering
01 March, 2021, 05:20:41 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 March, 2021, 04:13:28 PM
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 01 March, 2021, 01:32:25 PM
But I can, hand on heart, say that I'm perfectly happy reading these issues—and I like what they represent.

The fact we all frequent this board means that at sometime in the past we all had the same (excellent) taste in comics.
If any of ye approaching or over the age of 50 can absorb a few Thrills from the likes of 'Finder / Keeper' then Grud bless ya. Seriously.

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 01 March, 2021, 02:44:02 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 01 March, 2021, 01:35:17 PM
If it was that important a marketing strategy maybe they should have.

Well, we've no way of knowing how that conversation went. It's entirely possible that Rebellion had every expectation that they'd be able to publish Regened as specials and the distributors' decision came as a nasty surprise, leaving them with the choice between folding Regened into the regular prog or cancelling four already-scheduled specials, for which work might already have been commissioned.

Fair enough Jim, but it didn't seem to affect editorial taking the same course of action in 2021.
Although Covid could have been another contributing factor I assume.

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 01 March, 2021, 03:23:14 PM
And if the sales data for Regened suggests it's working, bar for a small but vocal minority, it seems likely it would for the time being continue.

Sales data I can accept, "small but vocal minority", I'm not so sure.
Maybe on this forum, but for the regular readers who don't waste their spare time on here?
You'd have to wonder.

Yeah, this is anecdotal, but of the 5 people I know who read 2000ad religiously (myself included) the Regened prog is something we buy either as completionists or it's part of our subscription. None of us enjoy reading it. It's skipped or read and put away never to be seen again.

Personal tastes and all that, but i try and approach each one with an open mind only to leave it with the same feeling each time. This is why I'm surprised that it's so popular on this forum.
#9
Prog / Re: Prog 2220 Regened: Earth-Shattering
28 February, 2021, 08:26:25 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 February, 2021, 02:06:06 PM
Quote from: HeidTheBaw on 27 February, 2021, 12:13:57 PM
I don't see the the point in them. I started reading 2000ad at 8 years old and I was lured in by great stories and incredible art.

I'm not sure how often it needs repeating on these threads, but...

Great stories and art, yes. But simply recreating 'golden era' 2000AD isn't going to connect with today's yoof who, twenty/thirty/forty years after whichever chunk of progs you choose to label 'golden age', would be largely unmoved by five cliff-hangers every week in black-and-white stories featuring surly, thirty-something white men.

I never mentioned a specific era to be recreated. The 'golden age' of 2000ad has never ended for me. I love the bunch of progs that we've had since the turn of the year, all 5 strips have been as good as anything from the 80s. As much as Wagner, Mills and Grant etc are my heroes, we have new bunch of terrific writers in Williams, Carroll, Neimand etc.

The prog has been terrific this year as has the Megazine since the anniversary special.

I'll remember Lawless, Proteus Vex, Brink and Dreadnoughts with the same fondness I do with Nemesis, Harry 20 and Strontium Dogs.

I can't remember a single thing I read in the Regened progs other than Full Tilt Boogie and I only remember that because I ended up skipping it from about 3 or 4 episodes in.

It's not about replicating the era that drew me in. It's about keeping the standard high so that any readers checking out the prog for the first time come back next week and keep coming back.
#10
Prog / Re: Prog 2220 Regened: Earth-Shattering
27 February, 2021, 12:13:57 PM
This won't be popular on here, but I thought I would add some balance.

I resent paying £5 for these specials and I only do so to keep my collection intact.

I don't see the the point in them. I started reading 2000ad at 8 years old and I was lured in by great stories and incredible art. It made me a comic fan for life. I've got two boys and they'll be ready to do the same, and I won't be using the Regened specials to initiate them. The cartoony, kid friendly approach has no longevity - kids will grow out of it pretty quickly. It doesn't have the staying power that has kept me reading the prog for 35 years.

Cadet Dredd was just about serviceable, but the art, although functional, is not appealing at all. The story was just there.

Action Pact was a mess. Carroll is a terrific writer but this felt rushed and lacked and sort of hook. The art is all over the place. Very difficult to tell what is going on, hard to tell who is who, unappealing aesthetically and poor depiction of action for what is supposed to be an action based strip.

Viva Forever was just about readable, which is standard for Baillie, but the art is awful. Completely inconsistent from panel to panel. Weirdest body shapes I've ever seen in a comic. Confusing and generally just not nice to look at. The colours were the main saving grace.
Putting Mayflies aside for a moment, the art in the future shock was the best of the bunch. Loads of character, expressive and easy to follow with layouts that worked and told what story there was well.

Mayflies was the only thing I'd be interested in seeing more of. It just reads like strip that would appear in the normal prog. But it's weirdly jarring finally alongside the rest of the strips in here.

2000ad is working already as it is. I get that that it's good to try out new concepts or writers and artists, but there must be better than this out there. Or maybe not and that's the problem.

I know it's good to be positive, especially when new people are breaking through. But i wouldn't hand this to anyone I was trying to get into comics, let alone 2000ad, they'd never want to read a comic again.

I'd just hand them a bunch of progs since the start of the year; there's not been a strip less than solid since the end of year special. It's mostly been stellar in both writing and art.
#11
Prog / Re: Prog 2216 - High Noon!
30 January, 2021, 11:29:34 AM
Jesus.

Tough crowd.

I hope editorial don't take what is said on this forum into account when planning future line ups.

I expected to come on here and read gushing praise about Manco's next level art, and instead read comments that the strips are too complicated??

This is the strongest full line up in a single prog I can remember in a long time.

2 strips from Carroll, the return of a legend in Will Simpson, Mills adding yet more depth to Slaine with a multi layered blinder of a strip and still designed to let the incredible artist shine, Rob Williams & Simon Fraser reuniting to build out the world of Dredd in new and surprising directions, Jake Lynch continuing to evolve brilliantly, rounded off by a brilliant character & action driven siege strip from Worley & Willsher.

And not a bottom of the barrel shallow Skip Chaser,  McConville, Wyatt, or awful Di Campi strip in sight to stink the prog out.

For those struggling trying to follow some of the strips, try spending more than 5 mins reading a prog, that might help.

You won't appreciate what you've got until it's gone. With this regened crap gradually slipping it's way into the prog, there's a real danger of heading back to the 90s
#12
Welcome to the board / Re: Welcome to 2000AD Online
27 December, 2017, 08:52:03 AM
Quote from: I, Cosh on 22 December, 2017, 04:15:45 PM
Quote from: HeidTheBaw on 20 December, 2017, 06:07:18 PM
Did anyone else read the Wagner's Walk collection that was bagged with the new meg?

It seems to have skipped a chapter, as it jumps from a cliffhanger in the previous episode, straight to a completely unrelated scene in the next - and it's clear time has passers

Just wondering if anyone else had the same error, or it was just my copy.

Pretty annoying as I was really enjoying it.
I read this last night and had exactly the same experience. There's a headline at the start of the next episode: "After resting, the three Germans were ready to continue on..." so it looks like there's some reason for it but I've no idea about the original publication.

Not sure if anyone has seen your request to be upgraded yet either. Anyone?

Thanks for your help mate

I see also that there's some comments re this missing chapter on the thread for this issue of the meg, so it wasn't just my copy that had a chapter missing. They could have maybe stuck a note in the editorial just to let folk know.

A regular page to give a bit of background on the bagged collections would be appreciated, at least for the non 2000ad reprints. I don't know whether that's too much of an overhead but it would have come in handy this month certainly.
#13
Welcome to the board / Re: Welcome to 2000AD Online
20 December, 2017, 06:07:18 PM
Hi, thanks very much

Hi mods, would it be possible to upgrade my account so that I can spots in the spoilers thread?


I'll try ask here anyway.

Did anyone else read the Wagner's Walk collection that was bagged with the new meg?

It seems to have skipped a chapter, as it jumps from a cliffhanger in the previous episode, straight to a completely unrelated scene in the next - and it's clear time has passers

Just wondering if anyone else had the same error, or it was just my copy.

Pretty annoying as I was really enjoying it.
#14
Welcome to the board / Re: Welcome to 2000AD Online
20 December, 2017, 05:20:40 PM
(Not able to post to the other threads - dunno if it's because I'm new. If anyone knows why and they could let me know that would be great)
#15
Welcome to the board / Re: Welcome to 2000AD Online
20 December, 2017, 05:16:46 PM
Hi there

My name is Chris, I'm from just west of Glasgow and I've been lurking on the board on and off for a while.

I've been reading 2000ad since I was about 8 or 9, and I started wth issue 529, went back and filled in the gaps as I went on and I have a full run in in the loft, much to my wife's despair.

2000ad is probably as strong as ever, even if there's a bit of a dip in the new talent coming in of late.

I thought I'd drop in and say Hi before I post a question about the new issue of the meg.

Best

Chris