Round 1: 16 - David Bishop or Gerry Finley-Day - Ultimate Not Wagner Tourney

[Richard]

Although Rogue Trooper was a huge series and was popular in its day, the original strips are very dated today. I still really like the story "Bio-Wire" about living barbed wire, but otherwise the only good Rogue stories are by other writers. Fiends was and still is fun. But as important as GFD's legacy is, I still remember being on the edge of my seat as I hurtled through reading the final chapters of Bishop's Judge Dredd novel The Savage Amusement late into the night as a teenager. So David Bishop for me.

[Dark Jimbo]

Arguably Bishop is the better writer. GFD's stuff is often badly dated, and there are episodes of Rogue that are borderline horrendous - the Rom-eos and Scan girls of Fort Neuro come to mind. Yuck. Much like Mills however, there's always something to get excited about, even when other things aren't quite working. And however competently written, Bishop's writing has never excited me. So it's Gerry Finley-Day for me, too.

[Funt Solo]

I rate Stalingrad (Bishop, megs 245-252) very highly.

But then it was Finley-Day that engineered the concept with the original Fiends of the Eastern Front. Rogue Trooper was a great concept, and Harry Twenty was a barrel of fun.

Has to be GFD.

(And I'm voting purely on strip work.)

[AlexF]

It's a fair argument that Bishop is better at the craft of writing, but I'm siding with everyone else - G F-D is the superior crafter of mad fun thrills. And I never got tired of his reminders at the end of each Rogue serial that War is the real joke!

[Buttonman]

Quch quack Bish-op, it's Gerry for me.

[Ghost MacRoth]

GFD, not just because he created some great stories, but also because he didn't write the spacegirls.

[Funt Solo]

GFD, not just because he created some great stories, but also because he didn't write the spacegirls.

According to Barney (who's never wrong), David Bishop only wrote 10% of Space Girls (dynamic art by Jason Brashill), and (who knows), it might have been the really good ten percent. By which I mean the clever names.

GFD (with his Rogue, Helm, Bagman & Gunnar) can only blush in embarrassment at the genuine wit and bonhomie of Deep Space, Wide Open Space, Inner Space, Hyper Space and Free Space. (Okay, that last one's a bit weak.)

Or perhaps you want to measure the sexual politics? It's easy to focus on this:




But, the plot of Space Girls is that they've been manufactured by a sleazy pig-man who pilots an enormous phallus-shaped love palace around the galaxy (no, really, it is) and the Space Girls have vowed to stop him. And they do, using their combined skills and team-work. It's woke-tastic!

Compare that to GFD's G.I. Dolls, who are manufactured to serve their male brethren and are only allowed to escape that mould by becoming murderous psycopaths.

Exhibit A, m'lud:




Wait, what was I talking about..?

[Ghost MacRoth]

I recall what it was, I just thought it was shite.

[Funt Solo]

I recall what it was, I just thought it was shite.

Like a giraffe, I think I went over your head. Thanks for your erudite, well-considered response, though. 

[Ghost MacRoth]

Nope.  Just got nowt more to say than that.

[maryanddavid]

GFD gets my vote, but its close, David Bishops 2000 AD novels are great especially the Fiends, and of course TPO, and the forgotten Battle one that he did as well.

[Colin YNWA]

So here we have the final vote of the first round and we're be down to a field of 16 early tomorrow (Monday) morning as voting here closes in about 23 hours as it goes (back to work tomorrow so the alarm gets me up early). Get your vote in now for it to count.

[TordelBack]

Bishop undoubtedly the 'better' writer, and a crucial editor for the ailing comic, but GFD was responsible for writing SO MUCH of what I loved about the early prog. When I started picking up back progs aged 12, it was often Rogue Trooper that I was chasing, then the VCs,  then Harry 20, the Fiends, then Ant Wars... His was a constant thread of manly action and terrible, terrible puns.

I struggle to enjoy his strips as much these days, but at the time, as the intended audience, he was thrilling.  Gerry Finley-Day for me.

[Colin YNWA]

VOTING CLOSED - but feel free to add votes and comments but the call is made.

No contest here - heck even the editor who turned 2000ad around in those difficult days of the late 90s voted for the other option here. So wrapping up the entries into the second round proper goes

Gerry Finley Day