Ken speaks! A vocal unmasking of El Misterio on the Thrillcast (https://youtu.be/9vVDcn8LNas).
Whither our theories now? Suspicious 'technical difficulties' keep the conspiracy alive.
Good interview, interesting man (for a biochipped stooge).
Well if this isn't all an over elaborate hoax that's all very disappointing. Especially after the Gordon slip the other week.
Still I think there's enough mystery and enigma there to keep the rumours flying!
Unless of course Ken's real name is also Gordon...
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 October, 2020, 08:04:56 PM
Unless of course Ken's real name is also Gordon...
Maybe it's hyphenated?!! :o :lol:
Marvel having a long-standing policy of not hiring anyone who works in editorial to write or draw the comics, many years before becoming the company's CEO, then-editor CB Cebulski used a pen name to publish his own work, and even hired an actor to go into the office and pretend to be the made-up writer.
Alan McKenzie was a pioneer, I tell you.
The reference to PJ Maybe early in the interview could be significant. Any rich widows in the area should be on their guard.
It was a great interview, he knows what he's doing, clearly.
Although he doesn't know his German!
Niemand would be pronounced Knee-mand, to make it Nye-mand you'd want to spell it 'ei'
(And I know there's variation in this around the world, but if you want that frisson of 'niemand' is German for 'no-one' it's def. pronounced knee not nye) So speaks the son of a German mother who can speak very little of it but for some reason that one rule has stuck.
Mind you, as long as he keeps cranking out high-quality Dredds he can do what he likes with his fake name.
I still find it astonishing that he's come from out of the blue and into Dredd to this level. That he's a writer elsewhere makes a lot of sense. But even so, we've seen other writers try and fail at Dredd before, including established comics writers. To my mind, his work is up there with the very best, which is astonishing given how rapidly that happened.
The fake name thing never did Frank Quitely any harm, or Jock for that matter.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 15 October, 2020, 09:44:07 AM
I still find it astonishing that he's come from out of the blue and into Dredd to this level. That he's a writer elsewhere makes a lot of sense. But even so, we've seen other writers try and fail at Dredd before, including established comics writers. To my mind, his work is up there with the very best, which is astonishing given how rapidly that happened.
Yeah his work is astonishing. I wonder how much experience in radio plays into that as I imagine there's some very specific skills you learn writing for radio (not listened to all the interview yet so - whoops if he discusses that).
His Dredd has been exceptional and on top of that to co-create a character that seems to resinate with fans so much, in Chimpsky, so early on is testament to his talent.
I hope we get many more Dredds form him, but while Megatropolis is an interesting concept I'd really like to see what he'd come up with with an entirely new series outside of Dredd world. I mean look what Michael Carroll gave us with Proteus Vex.
Quote from: AlexF on 15 October, 2020, 09:24:49 AM
It was a great interview, he knows what he's doing, clearly.
Although he doesn't know his German!
Niemand would be pronounced Knee-mand, to make it Nye-mand you'd want to spell it 'ei'
(And I know there's variation in this around the world, but if you want that frisson of 'niemand' is German for 'no-one' it's def. pronounced knee not nye) So speaks the son of a German mother who can speak very little of it but for some reason that one rule has stuck.
Niemand is also a surname used by Afrikaans speaking people in South Africa as well. Niemand is from Dutch as well that is where the surname originated from a Afrikaans perspective. In Afrikaans/Dutch/German the pronunciation is very similar.
Whatever it is that's happening here... that is NOT Gordon Rennie's voice, right!? Unless he can do amazing changes of accent and vocal tone.
It would also have required Rennie fashion an entirely different writing style for Niemand Dredds, of course.
As a great* man once said, if this is a mindfuck, it's the best one yet.
I like Niemand's Dredd strips so far, they have the kooky citcentric subject matter I crave (e.g. Block Buds) and a good ear for MC-1 dialogue. I do wonder if he can do Dredd-as-Hero dramatic stories too, but I don't get the impression that he's interested. While I've complained at length about others' attempts at this type of story (Ennis, Millar), I do feel that's the element missing from the current lineup. I have this confirmed to my satisfaction whenever Dredd takes an active role in a strip, however briefly.
Williams gives us Dredd as a broken but immovable object, Carroll as a pole for others to orbit, Worley as a backdrop for a clever idea, and I haven't read much McConville Dredd. When we get those rare Wagner Dredds it feels like Joe is in the driving seat again, and despite him being a wanker you're still rooting for him.
It'd be great if Niemand could combine his convincingly whimsical city with an active, centered Dredd.
*"Great" meaning large or immense; we use it in the pejorative** sense.
** Not really.
This charade does not become us.
Mornington Crescent.
Finally finsihed the rest of the intervierw and while I might bemoan the unravelling of what was a fun little bit of intrigue that's more than made up for by the news of how much stuff the now less mysterious Kenneth Niemand has lined up, including a Chimpsky solo stuff. FANTASTIC stuff. Very excited to see what the character does beyond the shackles of a Dredd tale.
When was the last time a character got their own series coming off a Dredd role? I guess we had Max Normal recently, but that wasn't a new character and had had stories before.
Also seem that MegaTropolis is getting traction too AND sounds like plenty of Dredd coming to.
Excellent stuff.
Initially wasn't too keen on the idea of solo Chimpsky, I think the Dredd strip itself benefits from periodic appearances of a popular recurring antagonist, and too often spinoffs dump good supporting characters into fairly mediocre stories (DeMarco, Francisco, Orlok, Hershey, Mean, Chopper, dare I say quite a lot of Anderson).
However, the difference here is that this is Niemand's character, and not a Wagner/Grant cast-off*, and as a non-murderous lawbreaker the number of times Noam can share a strip with Joe is very finite (it was getting, um, hairy there even the second time). I'd argue that the most enjoyable Dredd solo spinoffs are Jacob Sardini and Chopper (when written by Wagner), Marauder (written by Morrison) and early Anderson (written by Grant), so those are good precedents for Chimpsky (Millar's Janus is the exception that proves every rule, and I suppose the recent Dark Judges renaissance (remortance?) serves as the counter example).
*If Wagner is finished with a character, there's probably a good reason to leave them be.
Quote from: Proudhuff on 17 October, 2020, 01:39:28 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 October, 2020, 07:36:53 PM
Especially after the Gordon slip the other week.
Eh?
PJ referred to his collaborator on Chimpsky as Gordon on his livestream. But like I say, plenty of less bilious Gordons out there, maybe some of them write for computer games too.
ah... :-X
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 October, 2020, 01:42:34 PM
Quote from: Proudhuff on 17 October, 2020, 01:39:28 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 14 October, 2020, 07:36:53 PM
Especially after the Gordon slip the other week.
Eh?
PJ referred to his collaborator on Chimpsky as Gordon on his livestream. But like I say, plenty of less bilious Gordons out there, maybe some of them write for computer games too.
PJ said no such thing, but never mind.Kenneth N and I have the same video game writing agent, and have worked together on one and a bit games. I imagine I'm one of the 1-2 2000AD writers he said he knew. He also said another 2000AD writer came up with the name Noam Chimpsky. Can you guess who that might be?
There. Now you can stop pedanticising this to death.
It was Molch-r who said Gordon. And we nerd fans the pedanticising will never cease lovely shiny Gordon.
Ah, sorry was confused, thought I remembered it from PJ's excellent Twitches - brain not what it was, not that it was ever much. And no, absolutely no chance of dialing back the pedantry, but it's all in good fun. Can't expect the readers of a comic with an alien editors to pass up silly speculation on a pseudononymous prodigy.
EDIT:
I think the reaction "this new guy is so good, he must be Rennie in disguise" was only ever a positive. But these interesting factoids assist, many thanks!
Edit: if I'm honest, I'm delighted that there is another name in the Dredd lineup, and not just a masked regular.
My mental nerd cave is collapsing. Pseudo-Ken isn't Ken? Actor voice from interview is real "Ken"? Pedantic GR doesn't like our pedantry? Slarty var. Don't know what to believe. Is this keyboard real?
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/74710390.jpg)
:o
Shit, must be true.
the chilling truth we have to face is - are we all real? Or are we creations of GRennie designed to come up with fanciful fan theories for him to rally against in charming fashion?
Are you real? Am I real?
I agree with everything Tordelback said.
I'm delighted to hear we're going to get six episodes of Niemand and Tom Foster on Dredd!
(https://i.imgur.com/HiOJPUr.png)
(https://cdn1.alternatememories.com/images/intro/movies/xwizard-oz-man-curtain_300x300.jpg.pagespeed.ic.y1M7B9nZIB.webp)
Quote from: Funt Solo on 17 October, 2020, 03:31:19 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/HiOJPUr.png)
Yes, but is any of it actually Kanon?
My guess is KN is Gordon Burns from the Krypton Factor....
:-X
Maybe Kenneth Niemand is that fella that owns Rebellion. That knight fella. Sir Kingsley of Jason. He's done some of that gaming stuff and read a bit of Dredd, probably.
Maybe Kenneth Niemand is that Ian Livingstone fella that started Games Workshop.