Prog 2220 Regened: Earth-Shattering

[Tjm86]

With the Meg, if the floppy was cut, my guess is the cover price wouldn’t change at all. If it did drop, it wouldn’t be by anywhere near £1. For the most part, the Floppy contains content that is going to be used elsewhere. [...]

From a publishing standpoint, the ideal remains an entirely separate and new publication. But that ideal results in a potential six-figure hit if things don’t work. It relies on distributors being on-board AND the readership being there AND us not being in the middle of a pandemic. So 2000 AD has gone for a compromise where it gets a sales bump once a quarter and material that’s subsequently bundled into trades that might give it a foothold in the YA market.

These are all fair points.  Personally I've rarely been bowled over by the floppies but I get their purpose.  I also appreciate that there are folks who haven't been around with Tooth forever and a day (even in these parts) and will benefit from a lot of the content that is reproduced.

For me it is great when they experiment with the broader back-catalogue that they now own.  There is much that probably won't really be commercially viable even in the nostalgia market but its worth an airing to see how much interest there is.  So overall I go with it as a reasonable compromise compared to the old day when it was part of the meg itself.

As for Regened, for the most part what has been offered has been worth reading.  If I'm honest I'd have bought it anyway and I'm probably not alone in that regard.  I guess the other advantage of keeping it as part of the regular schedule rather than as a special / standalone is that it cuts down on the effort of trying to persuade the likes of Smiths (pretty much the only newsagent left in a lot of places) to carry it.  As part of 'normal' programming it just rolls over without any fuss.

Also worth thinking about some of the issues with Regened and then just pausing and thinking about the 90's ... you know, just to put things in perspective?  (Crusade for instance ....)   

[scrotnig]

The negative impact is old farts grumbling, but I’d wager they are relatively few in number but loud of voice.

I suspect this is very much the case, too. I don't think there's enough slack in 2000AD's circulation for Rebellion to continue with a strategy that was costing them sales in any significant numbers, so I think you're right… it's probably a vocal but very small minority.

As a fairly "old fart", and subscriber for longer than I can even remember now, I love the regened issues in their own right, and I think it's a great long term strategy to try and build an audience for when old farts like me aren't around any more.

Long may it continue.

[Link Prime]

The negative impact is old farts grumbling, but I’d wager they are relatively few in number but loud of voice.

I suspect this is very much the case, too. I don't think there's enough slack in 2000AD's circulation for Rebellion to continue with a strategy that was costing them sales in any significant numbers, so I think you're right… it's probably a vocal but very small minority.

Or looking at it another way - it could be banked upon that enough long term readers will suck it up / shrug their shoulders rather than have 4 gaps per year in their unbroken collection spanning 30 - 40 years.

The day you start underestimating nerd obsession is the day George McFly knocks you out cold.

[DrJomster]

Playing catch up with my progs in a big way and have just discovered ELEVEN pages of discussion!

Some interesting comments from all sides and I think shows this forum to be a rather nice part of the internet.

For my part, the prog is an anthology and regened is an extension of this, but with an eye to a wider mix, new TPBs and, crucially, the future. Plus, it’s just getting better and better.

Some of it, I’m looking at you Mayflies, is quite on the border of regened and the normal prog, which is an interesting development.

Anyway, things are definitely on the up in my book, so I’m on board.