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2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

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

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abelardsnazz

Quote from: Tomwe on 08 November, 2019, 09:45:47 AM
Lush Cam Kennedy (i assume) cover to the Invasion! Issue (60)



Cool cover. Barney has the total page count for the original run at 236, if the title pages are reduced a la Future Shocks it could all fit in to one volume. Be great to have a complete hardback collection of an early Thrill.

Jade Falcon

The original Trade paperback release that had that self same cover was all in one.  The only other Savage related books were Taking Liberties and The Guv'nor which was the later Bill Savage stories and even then Rebellion hasn't caught up to the Savage story in their releases.
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

Jade Falcon

Sorry for the double post, but I have to ask.

How many here are missing their Slaine Volume Six/Issue 54?  I have despatched another email to Hachette but don't hold out much hope in any contact.

This has been eight weeks and it is marked as out of stock.  Most unsatisfactory, and especially so if it happens later on a book I really urgently want.  While I'm not Slaines biggest fan I don't like the idea of a missing part in the collection.

I'd like to know who else has this problem.
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

The Monarch

I have the exact problem....I am most displeased and so is my local newsagent who was charged for it then never got the bloody book

Rara Avis

All of my back issues (10) arrived last week up to and including #56

Tomwe

I know the website lists the issue as out of stock, but might it be worth trying a phone call? I managed to get a binder for Warhammer that way which isn't even listed as available on the shop. Or try an email to forbidden planet? You never know.

Dark Jimbo

What I love about these books over, say, pretty much the same strip material in the Rebellion softcover TPBs, is the essays at the back -  they give some great context to what you're reading.

The current and previous Slaine volumes have been particularly interesting - pretty frank about the doldrums Slaine found itself in post-Horned God. David Bishop is clearly trying to be as diplomatic as he can, but there's a lot to be read between the lines. When Mills claims 'the readership had been counter-culturally cleansed of those who were interested in magic since the cancellation of Finn' and Bishop says the readers had just grown bored of reading essentially the same thing each time Slaine time-travelled, I'm afraid I know who I believe...!

I hadn't realised how many artists Slaine had just plain broken, abandoning comics completely directly after working on the Woad Warrior (he didn't think it too many). I didn't know that Siku struggled so much to reconcile his Christian beliefs with his work on a pagan character. And it was news to me that working together on The Secret Commonwealth was what first turned Mills against Diggle, presumably setting the tone for their relationship once Diggle became editor.
@jamesfeistdraws

Frank

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 10 November, 2019, 05:00:38 PM
The current and previous Slaine volumes have been particularly interesting - pretty frank about the doldrums Slaine found itself in post-Horned God. David Bishop is clearly trying to be as diplomatic as he can, but there's a lot to be read between the lines. When Mills claims 'the readership had been counter-culturally cleansed of those who were interested in magic since the cancellation of Finn' and Bishop says the readers had just grown bored of reading essentially the same thing each time Slaine time-travelled, I'm afraid I know who I believe...!

Mills has absolutely zero critical perspective on himself, but Dave Bishop was the guy with his hand up Tharg's arse while he excitedly informed readers they were in for an entire year where a Sláine story would feature in the comic almost every week*

That sudden ubiquity, and the compromises regarding art quality that it necessitated, had as much to do with the strip's transformation from a rare showcase of the comic at its best into a test of the reader's patience.

Barring some kind of Hatton Garden type scenario, I don't think Mills has compromising nudes of Thargs past or present, so their reasons for hiring him must be as complex as Mills's own career and storytelling decisions can sometimes be.

I've thought about eBaying the Hachette books just for the interviews. Damn you, Jimbo!


* Slaine featured in almost every issue of 2000ad Bishop published between late 1995 and the end of 1998

TordelBack

Post-Horned God, Slaine is/was 2000AD's second best-known property beyond the core fanbase, with almost Dredd-like penetration into tattoos and whatnot.  Makes sense that Bishop would place him front and centre in his attempts to stop the slide.

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 November, 2019, 10:40:57 PM
Post-Horned God, Slaine is/was 2000AD's second best-known property beyond the core fanbase, with almost Dredd-like penetration into tattoos and whatnot.  Makes sense that Bishop would place him front and centre in his attempts to stop the slide.

I wouldn't dispute the commercial logic of that.



Jim_Campbell

"It's David Bishop's fault that Slaine was shit" is certainly an... interesting take on the matter.
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davidbishop

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 November, 2019, 11:59:26 PM
"It's David Bishop's fault that Slaine was shit" is certainly an... interesting take on the matter.

Running Slaine in the prog almost every week for a year is clear evidence of - now, how did Patrick describe it? Oh yes, that was it - my "anti-Pagan agenda".

Frank


No. By 1996, both Pat Mills and Sláine were problems. The editor's solution to these problems was to make both a permanent fixture in the comic for more than two years*


There seemed to be only two ways of working with Pat - confrontation or caving in to him. I decided to restrict him to a single strip in the comic, and Sláine was by far the most popular of his creations.
David Bishop, Thrillpower Overload (p187)



Dark Jimbo

That's arguably part of the problem I suppose - a lot of Slaine is being requested for the comic at a time when Pat's found 'the well has run dry' and he has nothing left to say about the Celtic era. Add in the fact he has no other strips ongoing, and it becomes less surprising that Slaine at this time became a vehicle for Pat to rant about explore about any old historical era that catches his fancy.

Whatever the reason, coming to all this stuff fresh in these books there's a definite sense of fatigue or going-through-the-motions, more often than not. The Lost Years arc is so much better than the Grail War or King of Hearts stuff that preceded it, even though it's still not A-grade material - but The Swan Children was a real surprise. Short, sweet and subtle. Siku feels so right for the strip, and Ukko's allowed to be quite a  nuanced character for the first time... well, ever?
@jamesfeistdraws

Jade Falcon

Annnd still missing Slaine volume six, absolutely no response from Hachette.
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