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2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

Started by Molch-R, 27 February, 2017, 06:03:27 PM

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Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Tomwe on 03 November, 2017, 08:55:30 PM
Finally finished Nemesis, these books are such good value with so much reading to be done! Such genius work. So, when did Mek Quake become an ABC Warrior and change his look then?

He had appeared previously in Ro-Busters, along with Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws. After Book III he next appeared in Book IV, back to his 'bulldozer' form. He becomes an ABC warrior in Book V, which is also when we first see him in two-legged 'mech' mode.
@jamesfeistdraws

Arkady

According to Facebook Nemesis Vol 3 will be out on 28 March 2018, featuring the photo-story from prog 534.

Arkady

...which is a curious three weeks after issue 14 as listed on Wikipedia... maybe Christmas will throw the dates out by a week?

Tomwe

Quote from: Arkady on 04 November, 2017, 05:08:20 PM
...which is a curious three weeks after issue 14 as listed on Wikipedia... maybe Christmas will throw the dates out by a week?
Or perhaps the dates they've got in front of them don't reflect the three weeks that issue 1 ended up sitting on the stands.
Feel free to check the wiki dates though, they also could have gone wrong at some point!!

Jade Falcon

Quote from: Arkady on 04 November, 2017, 02:09:13 PM
According to Facebook Nemesis Vol 3 will be out on 28 March 2018, featuring the photo-story from prog 534.

God, that photo story was a particularly low point.  It's a technique that practically never worked,  The story itself wasn't wonderful either.
When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. That is how an RBMK reactor core explodes. Lies. - Valery Legasov

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Jade Falcon on 04 November, 2017, 10:24:40 PM
Quote from: Arkady on 04 November, 2017, 02:09:13 PM
According to Facebook Nemesis Vol 3 will be out on 28 March 2018, featuring the photo-story from prog 534.

God, that photo story was a particularly low point.  It's a technique that practically never worked,  The story itself wasn't wonderful either.

That one's not too bad - and it does serve as a sort of lead-in to Bride of the Warlock. It also contains the line 'Explain yourself, madam! I myself saw you giggling with the extra-galactic!' Not too fussed whether the other strip makes an appearance, though.
@jamesfeistdraws

sintec

So we'll be getting 3 of the 4 volumes of Nemesis in pretty close succession then.  I wonder how long they'll make us wait for the concluding volume.

Personally I'd rather have the next vol of Kingdom, just finished the first one and I think it's the best book yet.  Gorgeous art (especially in the third part), great storyline, excellent characters.  I can't wait to learn more about that world.  Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Nemesis too but Kingdom just really blew me away.  Does anyone know if Vol 2 will bring us right up to date or will we end up missing series 7?

It does seem strange to cluster so much Nemesis in the first few months when there are 13 vols of Slaine to get through, you'd think they'd want to space those more evenly over the subscription.  As it is there's potentially going to be a glut of the barbarian at some point.  With 13 volumes scheduled that always meant approximately every 6th book was going to be Slaine.  Given what we know of the release schedule it's looking closer to being every 5th book from next April onwards now.  Really hope we don't end up getting a double Slaine month to catch up. 

I can now understand the reservations of those thinking this series is going to contain too much Slaine from upthread. The Horned God is imo the weakest of the volumes we've received so far (in terms of story anyway, the artwork is jaw-dropping).  If that's representative of the best of the barbarian then I'm concerned some of the others are going to be the lame ducks of the series.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: sintec on 05 November, 2017, 11:11:26 AM
It does seem strange to cluster so much Nemesis in the first few months when there are 13 vols of Slaine to get through, you'd think they'd want to space those more evenly over the subscription.

Not to mention 10 vols of Stronty Dog - come the end of February we'll only have had two books of that...
@jamesfeistdraws

Tjm86

Quote from: sintec on 05 November, 2017, 11:11:26 AM
13 vols of Slaine to get through, ....

.... I can now understand the reservations of those thinking this series is going to contain too much Slaine from upthread.

This collection was always going to be a dubious option for me.  I might have considered it if they had let the Dredd collection wrap up first.  As others have said, £40 each month is quite a bite.  Considering this, I am actually glad that they went with that option since I have to admit to falling into the "He did think it was too much" camp.  For me, Slaine has descended into a bloated mess.  The last decent storyline, for me, was just way back in the 400's.  Shell out £130 for books I'm not fussed on?  Nope.  Thanks.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: sintec on 05 November, 2017, 11:11:26 AMDoes anyone know if Vol 2 will bring us right up to date or will we end up missing series 7?
Judging by what we got in the first book, the second volume will include the rest of the Call of the Wild trade, and most/all of Aux Drift (Aux Drift/Beast of Eden). So that would omit As it is in Heaven. (This is guesswork, note, but seems likely, given the page counts. Adding the recent run would take you over the 250-page limit – albeit only by a few pages.)

As for Sláine, perhaps we'll get Sláine Summer. Six books in a row. He didn't think it too many!

QuoteThe Horned God is imo the weakest of the volumes we've received so far (in terms of story anyway, the artwork is jaw-dropping).  If that's representative of the best of the barbarian then I'm concerned some of the others are going to be the lame ducks of the series.
The problem with Sláine is how divisive the strip is, and also how variable the quality level is throughout the run. Strontium Dog, by comparison, is extremely solid throughout. Nemesis dips towards the end, but still remains very strong even when Mills starts shoving it through his politics filter. (Rogue Trooper, arguably, is consistently fine, rather than particularly amazing, on the flip side of the quality line.)

Sláine... Horned God works better in context, if you've read what happened before. It's more a conclusion to that era of Sláine than a starting point, to my mind. And a lot of what went before is great work – Warrior's Dawn is excellent old-school 2000 AD, as is The King. I can take or leave some of the Time Killer arc, but even that's generally strong.

After Horned God, it went a bit off the boil for me. I would quite happily have seen this collection skip from Horned God right to Book of Invasions, which were – to my mind, and despite some flaws – a return to form for the character. Brutania's another dip for me, sadly. I thought the first book was great – pacey and imaginative, but it's now lost me again.

Honestly, 13 books of Sláine is one of three things that nearly made me decide against the collection. (The other two, if anyone cares: Strontium Dog omitting the Starlord strips; John Smith's work being more or less omitted from the run.)

SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

I'd say that, from my point of view, Slaine is the most consistent strip in the whole of the prog. In fact, barring the Secret Commonwealth, which reads okay as a collection, I'd say it hasn't ever put a foot wrong. The current stuff may not be to my taste due to the art- but I still look forward to it more than any other strip bar SiniDex.
Thirteen high quality Slaine hardbacks is great- but I already have all volumes, as well as all the progs. Can I justify them all again? I thought I'd dip in and out of this collection, due to the aforementioned complete set of the progs and hundreds of reprint volumes, but do you know what? I've found myself reading Nemesis again, despite having the phonebooks, which I didn't think would happen. I think I'm in it for the long run.
SBT

sintec

I can definitely see how context would help Horned God, part of my problem with it was it all seemed a bit too "and then..., and then".  With knowledge of the backstory those links might have felt a bit more natural.  It's not that I particularly disliked it just that in comparison to the other volumes we've received so far I found the story a little lacking.  If I was picking a volume off the shelf for a re-read at this point I doubt it'd be Horned God.  Maybe I'll give it another go once we've had the preceding three vols.

This is my first time reading these strips.  At this point I think the only thing that's likely to get me to ditch my sub is if I hate Nikolai Dante.  I can cope with a couple of sub-par volumes here and there, in a collection of 80 books there was always bound to be some stuff that isn't as good as the rest.  But if one of the major threads isn't to my taste then that would be much harder to swallow.  I mean looking at the list of titles in terms of %s:

Sláine: 16%
Strontium Dog: 12.5%
Nikolai Dante:  11%
ABC Warriors: 7.5%
Rogue Trooper: 6%
Savage/Invasion!, Nemesis: 5% each
Robo-hunter, Dredd, Sinister Dexter: 3.75% each
With the remaining 1 and 2 book sets making up the last 25%.

Slaine, Strontium Dog & Dante will make up nearly 40% of the collection.  Wanting to read Strontium Dog was one of my main reasons to buy into this and that's not disappointed so far.  Slaine was good and I'm looking forward to getting the back story, if it can keep to this standard for 13 books I'll be a happy man.  As long as Dante doesn't suck then I think I'm in for the ride.

It'll be a shame if we're missing series 7 of Kingdom.  Maybe a candidate for an extension.  Although I guess that's unlikely unless there's some new material, 1 series wouldn't make for an entire volume.  If series 8 and 9 happen in the meantime though, then it might become viable...

TordelBack

#1137
I think people might be pleasantly surprised by later Slaine if they give it a chance. I agree, pre-Horned God is the best of the bunch (not all of it, but on average) but almost all of the later stuff reads far better in collection than I remembered from the Prog, Pat's dirty protest story Secret Commonwealth aside. Even ostensibly awful story ideas like dumping Slaine into the Albigensian Crusade have some really nice twists when you actually read them.

If I didn't already own it all twice over, I'd be tempted myself.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: sintec on 06 November, 2017, 12:06:42 PMAt this point I think the only thing that's likely to get me to ditch my sub is if I hate Nikolai Dante.
For me, Nikolai Dante is the main reason for subscribing. That series, in hardback, complete? OH YES. I'd say it's possibly the most consistent series in 2000 AD's history, in terms of ongoing quality. (Classic Strontium Dog is also excellent – I'm less enamoured with the reboot stuff, although that's still solid. Kingdom is also excellent, but much shorter.)

As for Horned God, I suspect that was a smart first item in the series, because it twangs those nostalgia glands, and was a turning point in British comics and 2000 AD as a whole from an aesthetic standpoint and in its epic/collected nature. I can't think of something that would have been better to grab potential readers with. (Halo Jones, strategically speaking, was a smart follow-up, but would have been a riskier lead.)

Tomwe

Issue 7 up at Hachette
QuoteJohnny Alpha is a feared search/destroy agent - AKA a Strontium Dog - tasked with tracking down some of the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. Together with his Viking buddy Wulf Sternhammer and alien medic the Gronk, this mutant bounty hunter crosses time, space and other dimensions in pursuit of his quarry! Scripted by John Wagner (A History of Violence) and Alan Grant (Batman) and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra (Major Eazy), this first volume of Strontium Dog cases features such classic stories as Journey into Hell, The Schicklgruber Grab and Mutie's Luck.