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I often hear people (sometimes famous script droids and their ilk) bemoaning the fact that the readership of 2000AD is getting older, and that there's no way of bringing younger people on board.  Thus, are we a race destined for extinction?

Anyway, that leads to the oft-posited idea of a 2000AD spin-off aimed at a younger audience (as 2K was in the early years).  Obviously, Rebellion are well positioned to attempt this.

So, I'd call it 3000AD.  We know why 2000AD is called 2000AD, but new readers (and some long-beards) must think it's a bit daft.

Now I have a name, I need a line-up:

1. A future sports story:  Second City Blues would be perfect.  It's set in a future UK, for one thing.

2. Robo-Hunter (Samantha Slade):  that's yer robots sorted, and the plot is very Scooby Doo.

3. A Flooded Future:  global warming is still big on the agenda.  I propose a sort of cross between Rain Dogs and Lord of the Flies.

4. Future War:  we still live in a world full of conflict, so that should be reflected.  You might even be able to tell a contemporary war story.  Charlie's War first appeared in a kid's comic, so I don't think it's automatically a ridiculous premise.

5. Something in space.  Maybe a Battlestar Galactica style "we had to abandon Earth" type thing.

Oh, and give away a free space-spinner with the first issue.  And release it in the spring.  And advertise it heavily on saturday morning television.

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The panini thread reminded me of those panini sticker albums we used to get back in the day when 2000AD bothered to give us gifts.

Anyway, bitching at Tharg and his reduced budget aside, it made me think of a comic where some bits are missing / not there at all, and you have to collect the missing bits as stickers and stick them in.

Like you could make the whole thing stickers:  this week, collect page 1, panels 1-6 (kind of thing).  Or you could have characters missing that need to be stuck in.  "Who is the villain that attacked Dredd?  Get next week's stickers to find out!"

I know, on so many levels it's a crap idea but ... stickers are fun!

Heeeelp!

I need the names of 4 famous revolutionaries ... soon.

(And not Che Guevara.)

Okay, what if the 6 members of Caballistics, Inc. all made personal ads (either as imaginary videos or text drops in magazine columns).

The competition is to come up with the best personal ads for the six members:

- Solomon Ravne
- Michael Ness
- Hannah Chapter
- Lawrence Verse
- Jonathan Brand
- Jennifer Simmons / 'Demon Jenny'

Closing date is 30th September, 2005.

Entries can be for as many or as few of the characters as you wish, and you may have as many attempts as you like.

There are 6 prizes for the best entries:

- Judge Dredd: The Megazine; issue 1, volume 1. (Signed by Alan Grant & John McCrea; perfect condition.)

- 2000AD Annual 1991

- 6ft Judge Dredd wall hanging from 1995 (that one that was on E-Bay a few months ago)

- Marshal Law poster by Kevin O'Neill (Strip magazine, c1988)

- Genghis Grimtoad poster by Ian Gibson (Strip magazine, c1990)

- Wulf Heroclix figure

(I'll try to get pics of the prizes up soon: but I have to figure out how to use my digicam first.)

At Moniaive last weekend, there was a talk by some lecturer dude, which focussed on the appropriation of comic storytelling.

Essentially, the premise was that people take an idea, or a story, and they set it in a world more familiar to them.

The initial example was of a film poster for something like "Son of Krong".  This was a cross rip-off of King Kong and Godzilla which featured Krong smashing his way through, and towering over, London.  Someone in the Shetlands had got hold of it, and blanked out London before painting their local main street on instead.  Thus, appropriation.

There then followed lots of examples from comic-land, inluding some of Alan Grants work, from Superman being of Scottish ancestry (in a GN I forget the name of) to Young Middenface making jokes about local service stations.  It turns out that the editor of the Megazine asked if he could tone down the Scottish lingo a bit.  Instead, he suggested that he could include a glossary of terms (a la Clockwork Orange and Trainspotting).

When asked by a punter why he set so many things in Scotland, he replied (paraphrasing heavily here) "I like to and luckily I can".

Moniaive:  a peaceful, rustic village nestling in a picturesque valley.  That peace was broken on Saturday past with the stomping arrival of giant, chrome-plated, pavement-cracking art and script droids, armed with new fan-suppression lasers and faulty aggro-chips.  The village lay in smoking ruin, the corpses of eager fans strewn hither and thither, before order was finally restored by Mek-Quake.  Only P14 escaped to tell this sorry tale!

Back to reality:

- A very famous script droid said that the readership of the Megazine is only 6000.  Can this be right?

- Awards for bravery should be given out to anyone who went to that bar, during the lock-in, and had the willpower to face down the barman:  Mr. T's white dad!  He pitied the fools.

- People always ask the art droids for sketches, but nobody ever asks the script droids for a quick synopsis, or a small treatment.

- Progs was pronounced "progs as in dogs".

Now, when I left it looked like Bou was going to pick up Progs 1 & 2 for a fiver apiece in the charity auction.  So, what was the end result?

WE3 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely [Vertigo].

I just got this and wanted to recommend it as a good purchase...if you like household pets turned into ravening cyborgs with oodles of pathos.

GN or EE:

Meka-City
The League Of Fatties
Fungus
Rabid
The Night Of The Rad-Beast
The Last Invader
Shanty Town
Bob's Law

[The Big Ones]

I've got a pile of GNs and other comics that I no longer want, but I can't be bothered with postage and such.

If any boarders going to Moniaive want anything off the following list, please post here and I'll bring it along:

The Big Ones
Elektra Lives Again (Miller, Varley, 2002) [hard-back]
Doctor Who: Monster And Villains (2005) [not a comic]
Black Orchid (Gaiman, McKean, 1991)
Marvels (Busiek, Ross, 1995)
Miracleman Book Two: The Red King Syndrome (Moore, Davis et al, 1990)
Aliens: Book One (Verheiden, Nelson, 1992)
Tank Girl 2 (Hewlett, Martin, 1995)
Space 1999 Annual (1976)

The Small Ones
Preacher Special: Tall In The Saddle (Ennis, Dillon, McCrea, 2000)
Preacher Special: One Man's War (Ennis, Snejbjerg, 1998)
Preacher Special: Cassidy: Blood & Whisky (Ennis, Dillon, 1998)
Martha Washington Goes To War (Miller, Gibbons, 1994) [2 of 5]
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Moore, O'Neill, 2002) [Vol 2, parts 1 & 2]
War Story: Johann's Tiger (Ennis, Weston, 2001)
War Story: Screaming Eagles (Ennis, Gibbons, 2002)
War Story: D-Day Dodgers (Ennis, Higgins, 2001)
Ministry Of Space (Ellis, Weston, 2001) [Issues 1 & 2]

Randoms:
Marvel:
Wolverine [1990, #46]
X-Men [1993, #19]
Captain America [1992, #398]
Fantastic Four [1992, #362]
The Knights Of Pendragon [1991, #15]
DC:
Green Arrow [1988, #2]
Weird War Tales [1997, 3 of 4]
Other:
Mr. Hero [1995, #2]

My name is fate, and I just watched The X Factor and became temporarily emotionally involved in the depicted events.

Tweak, what can you suggest to alleviate my illness?

The suggestion's in the title.  Has this been done before?

The idea came from the Vid Game thread:  if the idea is to promote 2K, then wee, easy to make comp-games are one idea (for internet-Flash and mobiles) - and so is Top Trumps.

Obvious cards:  the 4 dark judges, the ABC Warriors, famous Judges, Stronts, Rogue Trooper...

Get Mills and Wagner to write a one-off story each.  Don't tell anyone, but swap the names over on the credits.

Now sit back and watch everyone praise the Mills story that has Wagners name on it and slag off the Wagner story that has Mills name on it.

Just a theory.

Channel 4 news got hold of some leaked documents (including photographic evidence) from the people investigating that Brazilian who was shot dead on the London U.

He wasn't wearing a heavy coat (just a denim jacket), he didn't have a backpack, he never ran away, he didn't jump the barrier, no warnings were given by police and there were no uniformed officers involved.

In fact, he used his ticket to get into the station, only ever briefly walked quickly to catch his train and he had sat down inside the train when a plains clothes officer restrained him quickly from behind and another shot him in the head at point blank range.

All the officers involved (from surveillance to the armed units) had photographs of two suspects (neither of which was the man they shot).

The only piece of evidence that points to a reason for the shooting is one surveillance officers report that says something like "I couldn't positively identify him as either of the suspects but he had Mongolian-looking eyes".

There is no evidence (yet available) that states who made a final positive identification, or if anyone did for that matter.

I'm looking for boarders theories on some of the loose ends in Caballistics, Inc.

I want to use these theories for a TOP SECRET PROJECT that will be unveiled at a TOP SECRET TIME.

You know the kind of thing:  who the fuck is Kostabi?  Did Ravne eat the twins?  What's going to happen?  Does Hannah fancy Jenny?  Is that Ravne in Prague?  What date is it?  Is Jenny alive?

Looks like they've lifted one of the suspected bombers in Birmingham:  used a tazer to zap him into submission.

There are past examples in 2000AD of incredibly good stories that out-stay their welcome:  Ace Trucking Co. and Rogue Trooper (before the first reinvention) spring to mind.

It must be difficult to admit that a once-loved, once inventive, once interesting story has passed it's sell-by date.  Sometimes, reinvention is used in an attempt to bring back a classic:  Rogue Trooper (multiple attempts) & Robo-Hunter have both attempted this with often wildly differing results.

Now, we have two ongoing thrills that seem to be going nowhere fast.  It feels like the end of a relationship, as I'm tempted to say to Nikolai Dante "it's not you, it's me!", or to suggest gently to Sinister Dexter that "the spark's just not there anymore, but I still want to be friends".

As wonderful as these two strips have been, I think it's time for them to take a good long rest.  They helped drag us out of a bit of a 2K slump, but that was a long time ago now.

Someone on tele just used the phrase "The Sword of Damocles" in normal conversation.

The thing is, I couldn't help but then start singing:

"Oh, the sword of damocles is hanging over my head [that ain't no crime] and I've got the feeling someone's gonna be cutting the thread [that ain't no crime]. Oh, woe is me, my life is a mystery and oh can't you see, that I'm at the start of a pretty big downer..."

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The new this thread) and many other boarders offered help & support in various ways.  Ta.

(Please feel free to contribute scans of characters, beasties, locations and so on, as the site is in ongoing production.  All other suggestions for content welcome.)

Yoohoo,

Be a great favour if anyone has any scans of Howard Slater and Michael Ness from Cabs.

I'm after 115*115 pixel head-shots.