2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[Colin YNWA]

Great insights from a new reader there michaelarby. Some quality top picks you've pulled out and delighted you got on so well with Nikolai Dante. Long believe this series should be lauded alongside the comic great if it'd somehow got the exposure it deserves, but the hardbound collection are just glorious.

Sinister Dexter is another fav of mine, as the poor souls here have been subjected to on many occasions. The scatter gun way its been presented in the Ultimate Collection is fitting given how its been treated in the Prog in  that last 20 years! One day it will get the complete collection it deserves.

Kingdom - One of my absolute favourites of the whole collection. Disappointed we never got more than 2 volumes and Im hoping it can be concluded in the new extension. Its supposed to be a finite series, yes? Just a few arcs left?

I'm not sure what Dan Abnett's plans are, but the most recent arc did at least provide us with a full-stop of sorts, but with a fairly easy option to continue.

For some reason I seem to think we've heard that it is planned to be continued. The full stop is there to give it an ending while it was on hiatus so Dabnett and Elson could focus on different things. While I enjoy Feral and Foe well enough I personally can't wait for this modern classic to be back.

Really interesting to see the way you have mixed and varied views in the 'classics' and seem a big fan of the more modern classics. A view I broadly share.

[IndigoPrime]

Probably also worth noting, @michaelarby, with Devlin you're coming to it part-way through. The earlier strips were in the Dredd collection. As for a reader's age, that probably defines quite a lot. I imagine quite a few folks of the older generation align with older material in part for nostalgic reasons, or because that's when they stopped following the language of comics. Personally, I can take or leave a lot of the classic material (which surprised me – I thought I'd love rereading more than I did).

[michaelarby]

I think age and nostalgia definitely play a big part for these kinda things - Its like that old cartoon strip where the joke was along the lines of 'science has proven that pop culture peaked when YOU were 12 years old. Yes YOU, the person reading this right now'

RE: Kingdom, I cant remember where I read it, but I could have swore that somewhere, it was stated that Kingdom was to be 10 arcs. The ultimate collection had the first 6 so maybe a big volume could hold the final 4. Maybe that full stop point you mentioned was the 10th arc already, I wasnt keeping track!

[Colin YNWA]

Barney says there's been 8 in the Prog so far (didn't think it was quite that but I'll never doubt Barney). So if that's correct we still have 2 to go.

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=2000AD&choice=KINGDOM

[Dark Jimbo]

Couple of new books up on the site:

141 -
142 -
143 -
144 -
145 -
146 -
147 -
148 -
149 – Age of the Wolf
150 -
151 -
152 -
153 -
154 – Mean Team
155 -
156 -
157 -
158 -
159 -
160 -
161 – Al's Baby
162 -
163 -
164 -
165 -
166 -
167 -
168 -
169 -
170 -
171 -
172 -
173 -
174 -
175 -
176 -
177 -
178 -
179 – Dredd & Anderson (Movie Dredd)
180 –

Also confirmed are; Armoured Gideon, Zenith (2 books) and Slaine (1 book). Tacitly but not definitely confirmed are Dan Dare (3 books?) and Mazeworld (1 book?).

[Dark Jimbo]

Worth pointing out that Mean Team will also contain Bad City Blue, and - given that Hilary Robinson is credited on the cover - possibly also Chronos Carnival.

Not a volume I think I'll be picking up, but definitely one to make the completists happy!

[Jim_Campbell]

Worth pointing out that Mean Team will also contain Bad City Blue, and - given that Hilary Robinson is credited on the cover - possibly also Chronos Carnival.

I'd be very surprised — ISTR that Hilary made a bit of a fuss about the lack of contracts (which editorial were a bit lax about sending out) and got the rights back to all the strips she (co) created for 2000AD. I think the management at the time didn't consider Chronos Carnival or Medivac 318 top tier material and were prepared to let them go just to settle the matter.

[Dark Jimbo]

Worth pointing out that Mean Team will also contain Bad City Blue, and - given that Hilary Robinson is credited on the cover - possibly also Chronos Carnival.

I'd be very surprised — ISTR that Hilary made a bit of a fuss about the lack of contracts (which editorial were a bit lax about sending out) and got the rights back to all the strips she (co) created for 2000AD. I think the management at the time didn't consider Chronos Carnival or Medivac 318 top tier material and were prepared to let them go just to settle the matter.

Yeah, it just clicked - it'll be the Henry Moon epilogue, won't it?

[sintec]

If the page count is right for the Dredd/Anderson book (272 pages according the Hachette) then that's going to be quite the tome. Is that enough space for all the movie continuity strips?

[Dark Jimbo]

If the page count is right for the Dredd/Anderson book (272 pages according the Hachette) then that's going to be quite the tome. Is that enough space for all the movie continuity strips?

My quick space maths makes it:

Top of the World, Ma-Ma - 6
Underbelly - 30
Uprise - 50
Dust - 50
Furies - 30
Anderson: The Deep End - 20
Anderson: Judgement Call - 10
The Dead World - 52

for about 250 pages.

[Barrington Boots]

Yeah, it just clicked - it'll be the Henry Moon epilogue, won't it?

That was my first thought. Imo including this tale is a no-brainer not only because Henry Moon is an awesome, bonkers concept but because for all the critical panning it got, the epilogue gives a far better and more satisfying ending than the actual ending of Mean Team.
I'd still like to read a series just about Henry Moon, solving mysteries and then going to sleep in somebody's washing.

Otherwise, I appreciate not much announced so far but hoping for some stuff that hasn't already been reprinted.

[The Monarch]

the three series of mean team and bad city blue would make up pretty much the page count mentioned strange Robin smiths name or the storys names not on the cover early mock up maybe?

[IndigoPrime]

Blimey. Two in a row I'll almost certainly buy. Age of the Wolf (despite its goofy wolves) was a series I enjoyed. Although I do already have it in SC, and so am not 100% sure I'll ugprade. The Dredd/Anderson book feels like a no-brainer though, even if I wasn't overly keen on how it ended.

[Lawman of the Present]

My quick space maths makes it:

Top of the World, Ma-Ma - 6
Underbelly - 30
Uprise - 50
Dust - 50
Furies - 30
Anderson: The Deep End - 20
Anderson: Judgement Call - 10
The Dead World - 52

for about 250 pages.

If they add in the 12-page Trinity from prog 2262, that leaves room for end pages and titles to bring it to 272?

[Max Headroom]

I have 'Al's Baby' on pre-order from Forbidden Planet and will be picking up 'Age of the Wolf' and 'Movie Dredd'. Of the other titles mooted only 'Mazeworld' really appeals.