Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Shadows vs. Second City Blues Round 2 Heat 111

[Colin YNWA]

Three weeks and counting and some interesting thrills appear. Ones that I think are great and widely loved but might have one factor or another that might stop them going as far as they otherwise might? This Round I'm not sure this will be tested toooo much but good to see how they will fare.

Two great if possibly overlooked stories here. Second City Blues is one of those thrills that just doesn't seem to get the love but personally I think its great. A functioning future sports story that flips itself and becomes something else as well. BUT Shadows is probably the thrill that places most overtly with Pete Milligan's trump card of identity. Like Firekind, it's a well loved self-contained story. Will that inhibit it going far?

Interestingly these two appear next to each other when you alphabetise all the stories in this round... it is interesting... yesss it is....

Shadows - more info

Vs

Second City Blues - more info

Just reply in this thread naming your favourite thrill of these two series at the beginning of your post (or use Bold tags so I can spot it easily) and say what you like about these wonderful stories after that.

Match ends early on the morning of Sundayday April 24th and the winner gets a place in Round 3 (of 9!!!).

What on Earth is ALL of this?

For those that need 'um and can be bothered to follow 'um there's some simple rules

Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN

[broodblik]

Shadows

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Second City Blues. A superb 'one and done' that was full of narrative drive, fun and nice warm characterisation and beautifully clear art.

SBT

[AlexF]

Shadows does seem to be one of those thrills that people half-remember and think was great - but actually it trips over itself quite a bit to tell its story. The best thing in it by far is the early super-psychedelic Elson art.
SCB has the opposite problem - the art by Pleece is fine but he'd get a LOT better, while the story on the sruface seemed very pedestrian but the more I read it the more clever tricks I notice Kek-W is playing. Would love to have had more of this, never mind.

Anyway, Second City Blues for me.

[abelardsnazz]

Shadows.

[Blue Cactus]

Tharg, reprint Shadows so I can read it.

Tharg.

Tharg?

Come on Tharg.

Reprint Shadows somewhere.

Please Tharg. Shadows. A wee reprint. Stick it in the Floppy after Hawk the Slayer.



Abstain.

[rogue69]

Shadows

[Magnetica]

Second City Blues, not to be confused with Bad City Blue. It was ....alright.

The thing I remember most about Shadows is the loss of identity and what the consequences of that were. It seems more relevant now than ever.

[Barrington Boots]

First one this week where I've read both thrills. I agree that Shadows is not as good as some remember, but also that Second City Blues was a bit pedestrian, so it's Shadows for me on the balance.

[IndigoPrime]

Shadows for me as well. Should have been part of a UC book, with other Milligan one-offs like Freaks and The Dead. Would have certainly been a lot better than some of the current books everyone's trudging through.

[Dark Jimbo]

Shadows for me as well. Should have been part of a UC book, with other Milligan one-offs like Freaks and The Dead. Would have certainly been a lot better than some of the current books everyone's trudging through.

Yup, that would have been a good book. Shadows, Freaks, Faces, The Dead, Counterfeit Girl - job's a good un.

[Funt Solo]

I just couldn't get past the ass-headed character in SCB. Call me shallow. You hear the argument far too often if you peruse certain corners of teh Interwebz, but the idea that 2000 AD is too clean cut compared to its earlier incarnation can be used in a comparison between the gritty fever of Harlem Heroes when compared to SCB. Hammer House of Horror vs. CBeebies. (But this is a 2005 argument, not a 2022 argument.)

Anyway - Shadows was a flawed gem.

[paddykafka]

Shadows

[Link Prime]

Shadows.
I wasn't a fan of the alternative.

[Colin YNWA]

Quiet but little doubt on this one. I'll wrap things up in the morning so any last votes need to come in today.