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Does anyone know if Ro-Busters is slated to appear in the collection? Sorry of this has already been asked and answered.

Oh that's a bargain. Does it come with a digital copy included by any chance? Just put my old blu Ray player into storage and it'd be great not to have to dig it out.

Little bump for this as I've reduced the price, they are now:

£25 for all three including mainland UK delivery (or you could collect in London and I'll make it £20).

Just said I'd pop it here before going to eBay.

Lovely page of Hairsine art! Always liked his work and it's a pity he's not in the prog more.

So it's cool to get the writer to sign original art too? I was thinking about bringing 'Finger of Suspicion' for John Wagner to sign the next time he's doing a convention near London but was wondering (in my naivety) whether that's the done thing. Seems like it is so looking forward to getting John's John Hancock on the six pages

Phase III absolutely. Huge in scope and ambition and with all that it's exciting funny and entertaining and works in weekly chunks. And that art, just stunning.

Stunning work. Congrats. Very jealous   

I find that kind of thinking to be the death knell of creativity. Writing "for the Trade" is bad enough but creating stories/characters specifically so that they can be adapted for TV/Movies at a later date is even worse. That's what killing Marvel Comics at the moment. It's no longer a publisher, merely the caretaker for an extensive IP farm.

I agree with all that completely. Mark Millar is a big example of that and Millarworld being bought out by Netflix is the proof in the pudding. I think he's an extreme example though. I don't think every comic creator sets about coming up with a story/character with the express intention of making it an attractive property for screen treatment. But who will actually own it going forward must be in the back of people's heads when considering what to pitch to different companies. Especially when we see more and more properties having a life after the page.

Sorry if this is turning into a creators rights debate, there's been many of those I know. I guess Zenith is the kind of character that brings it up. Looking forward to prog 2050.

I'd much rather see new characters than classic ones given to new writers.

It's interesting after reading Pat Mills' 'Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave' and hearing his views on copyright ownership in British comics. It strikes me that that could be one the reasons why we're seeing classic thrills return rather than new characters. If you have what you think is a shit hot concept and characters you may be less inclined to give that to 2000ad than to seek another way of getting it out there which would give a better ownership deal especially when more and more it seems that comics are becoming the go-to ideas factory for TV and Film. I don't know, I'm not in the business, I just look forward to the prog hitting the mat every Saturday. But its an interesting situation.

And in support I still like Sinister Dexter too. Dan Abnett is having a bit of a golden period the last number of years in the prog. Nice one.

With Indigo Prime by Kek-W, Devlin Waugh by Rory McConville & ACE Trucking by Eddie Robson all happening maybe it's possible you might see a new Zenith series written by someone else. We are seeing that, as house characters, if it is felt there is worth in bringing these stories back, not having the original writer-creator is no longer a deal-breaker.

I don't think it is a new series, but who knows in the future. I wouldn't want to see it either. But...

Just picked up the Horned God. Beautiful. I'm thinking about buying 4 more and passing them out to friends. Unbelievable at 2 quid. I'll be dipping but this and the mega collection are really great value for money. Tenner for a hardback of brilliant comics? Lucky us. Of course with 2000ad you could just keep going. I hope it extends and we get some great John Smith work.

What a start though.

...Dredd and Justice Dept has finally failed at the one thing that possibly justified their brutal regime - if the follow-up stories had acknowledged that, the Dredd strip would have been almost unrecognisably different, and I don't see how that would have worked from a valuable-IP point of view. 

And therein for me lies the problem. Dredd has always been about the character and his world aging in real time and events having consequences. It feels like now, with things like the total re-juve and big stories having no bearing on each other, we have a US style house character. Dredd now feels indestructible and ageless when he never felt like that before. The stakes have dropped. And I'm sorry we didn't see Mega City One on its knees in a way we never saw before, I think that immense change in status quo would have been really interesting. I get why of course, why kill your golden goose? It's a business. I just think it's a pity. Hey ho. I'm glad we have Day of Chaos though because holy shit what a read.

Agree with the lot of you. It is impossible for me to read DoC (which I did again just last week) and not think that it's the end of the status quo, and the start of a whole new era for the scraps of  MC-1 that survive. An era which never came.

Absolutely agree too. I just read DoC myself again and it's a stunning piece of work and really feels like John Wagner is handing the other writers of the strip a whole new ball park to play in. He had already dropped a bombshell with Fargo's last words and here was an opportunity to really examine what would happen to that system if a city was decimated. As Wagner said in an interview when asked what to expect from the next Dredd epic: 'Another writer'. He knew he was going to be stepping back and so he set up a situation for others which was ripe for interesting new stories. Unfortunately I don't think they took the ball and ran with it properly. Recently Dredd has been one of the weaker strips in the prog. Some of the one offs have been nice but I'm done with secret ninjas and multiple hanging plotlines and sorry I know some people liked it but I thought Ouroboros was very weak. Harvey on the other hand was terrific and while it did leave a hanging plotline it was a really satisfying story in and of itself. The Judge Pin story recently was good but felt like the first two parts of a 6-part story. Can we not just have the 6-part story? Dredd now as a strip with so many writers all with different takes and ongoing stories needs a firmer hand editorially. A showrunner if you will. 2000ad has prided itself over the years on creative freedom but in this case it's leading to something which is unsatisfying and a bit frustrating at times.

But with all that said we're about to get a new John Wagner and Dan Cornwell Dredd strip next week so that's something to look forward to big time. Rok of The Reds was one of the most enjoyable comics I've read in ages. People ask why something like that wasn't in the prog, but why would John, Alan and Dan create a new character for 2000ad which they would own none of the copyright to? Is that why we are seeing more revivals of old characters and original creators being replaced on strips they are synonymous with? Possibly. Only tharg knows.

Otherwise Grey Area is just great, Hope is nice change in genre for 2000ad, The Alienist is more interesting this time round, Greysuit I'll enjoy later (with Pat Mills stories I save them and read em in one go as I find they always read better that way), delighted that they've started doing recap pages for some returning strips that's so much better for new readers, bravo, and we've seen some stunning art in the prog recently too. Still worth my subscription? Of course. Its just if Dredd is their flagship strip it needs more focus.

Just my two pence

JB

Has anyone seen the Insurrection volume in any London shops? I've called into Forbidden Planet a few times over the last few weeks and no joy.

So I popped my original art cherry. Bit of an impulse buy but Finger of Suspicion is one of me favourite Dredd one offs by one of me favourite Dredd artists and to own it all is a terrific buzz and its just beautiful. Cam's such an amazing storyteller its possible to follow the story no problem without the balloons. But of course the script is glorious on this one too.

Thanks a mill to Mark for sorting it. Tons more beautiful work at https://www.kennywho.co.uk.

Delighted 

[Item Name:]

Item Name: Transformers Classics UK Books 1, 2 & 4
Location: London.
Price: £12 each (excluding postage).
Description:

Hi all, I have 3 books of IDW's collections of the Transformers UK stories from the 80s. for sale. Lots of 2000ad creators in there and terrific essays about the history of the comic and the stories themselves.

Selling as they are doubles in my collection so Like New Condition. I have books 1, 2 and 4 for sale. £12 each excluding postage. They're heavy enough so if you happened to be in London to collect in person it would save you a bit.

Cheers

JB