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Although to give a counter-example to the "mental gap" I was talking about where writers sometimes try to 'pull a fast one' on the readers whose memories of reading a story quite a while ago might be hazy, my understanding is that this is exactly the sort of thing that applies to the end of Strontium Dog: The Final Solution, compared to the many-years-later sequel/retcon The Death and Life of Johnny Alpha.

I wouldn't call what they did with Strontium Dog a "fast one". The story made it perfectly clear it was going to reveal what "really" happened to Johnny Alpha i.e. he didn't die and the previous account was "false".

Changing it was the whole point.

Gothic Empire was published as book 4.

Books 1, 2 and 3 were published before it.

Funny that.

But yes you are right, as I understand it it was at least written first if not drawn and then book 1,2 and 3 were done to give more background.

And Kev O'Neill only drew the first couple of episodes before Bryan Talbot took over.

Btw Simon Davis drew the latest version of Slaine's mothers death. Clint did the Wickerman in the Book of Scars - his last Slaine before Davis took over.

Kev O'Neill only did Books 1 & 2? I could have sworn he did 3 as well? Okay, it was a long long time ago (in a galaxy in the next city over) for me. I was gonna get the Termight Edition, then segue into the Compete Vol. 1 with Book 4: Gothic Empire, and go from there, so Black Hole spins out of Vol, 6, right?

I meant Kev only did the first couple of episodes of the Gothic Empire . As Jim says Kev did books 1 and 3, Jesus Redondo book 2.

Bryan Talbot did the rest of book 4 then books 5 and 6 if I am remebering correctly. Then you get John Hickleton, David Roach, Clint Langley, Henry Flint (possibly others). Then Kev O'Neill returned for the last episode. And then he returned for (another) last ever episode in Prog 2000.

Forget ABC Warriors, it's Nemesis you want to read. Uncle Pat named it as his favourite story that he had done at the 40th.

Gothic Empire was published as book 4.

Books 1, 2 and 3 were published before it.

Funny that.

But yes you are right, as I understand it it was at least written first if not drawn and then book 1,2 and 3 were done to give more background.

And Kev O'Neill only drew the first couple of episodes before Bryan Talbot took over.

Btw Simon Davis drew the latest version of Slaine's mothers death. Clint did the Wickerman in the Book of Scars - his last Slaine before Davis took over.

How many times has Slaine's mother's death been covered?

How many times has the Wickerman been covered?

It's got to be two or three times each.

I'm all for filling in the details, but I would prefer new stories.

[Dredd]

Great Prog this week.

Dredd continues the neat trick of feeling familar yet fresh. It had the best line for a while: "you'd rather talk to him!" "Dredd? Uh...w-well maybe not".

Top stuff.

I have previously posted I would take Colin MacNeil's new style over his fully painted stuff if it meant we get more stuff from him... Who I am I kidding?...  This looks like America or  Mechanismo series one, but in sepia. Honestly comic art doesn't get much better than this. Just brilliant stuff. And the story seems to flow in a way it just didn't before. Don't think I have ever enjoyed an episode of Defoe as much as this one.

There had been a lot of talk that Defoe is currenly Pat's best thrill. I wonder how how of that is down to the fact it hasn't been around long enough to get the flashback / re-telling of previous tales treatment?

Brink. Just great. Lawless level great. All praise the might Abnett. Forget having a rule there should be a future shock in every Prog, there should be a rule there has to be a Dan Abnett story in every Prog.

Scarlet Traces. I don't normally like dream sequences and with this one being so exposition heavy, I was like "really" but then came that statement. It's gonna be rough from here in I guess.

Deadworld. Got to love military grade stealth suits. Been missing them since Trifecta.

I definitely want more Helium and Brass Sun, my two fave things by Edginton ever! (except for maybe Leviathan) Pretty sure I remember him teasing somewhere that Helium ties in with another of his sagas, that's a promise he has to delvier on, surely! I can see it maybe being set in a future time on Scarlet Traces, after the Martians have ballsed-up the ground-level Earth with some kind of ray.

To answer a question way, way up in the thread, I can't see anyone other than Culbard doing Brink (which I also love), but I think it could be neat to give another artist a go on Brass Sun as the format of visiting different worlds kind of means it could work to see a different visual style.

I'd also be happy enough for a non-D'Israeli to have a crack at Helium, but if he has to alternate between Helium and Scarlet Traces I don't mind waiting.

Stickleback i am not so bothered about, and I'd long given up hope of any more Ampney Crucis, which I think I only ever liked for the Wodehouse-y speech patterns and the art, never quite sold on the dimension-hopping story nonsense.

Kingmaker I regret to say I am already bored of, a waste of Gallagher's talents!

Kinda agree...apart from the last sentence.... no I love Kingmaker.

Can't believe it's been that long since Helium and Brass Sun have featured. I assume both will return.

But if it is a choice between Brink and Brass Sun, I'd go for Brink all day long.

I do think it would be better if we could get longer runs of stories or shorter time between series or at least finish one before starting something else. But I guess there are logistical reasons I am not aware of that prevent that. All I know was in the past that was what seemed to happen, but maybe there is more competition to employ top creators and that is the price we have to pay to have them in 2000AD.

Hmmm....not sure given it is the same artists and writers here who are doing other series before finishing off the previous one.

It's not me saying it Mr Tharg, it's your own PR bot.

Perhaps it is time to summon Mek Quake?

Yes, they clearly add to the cover price.

They don't. They were brought in to give added value to the magazine when the price had to rise due to rising production costs. Getting rid of the 'floppy' GN wouldn't bring the price down beyond a couple of pence.

I thought Havn had a great first episode. It is definetly worth reading twice though. Great art too for me.

Bit underwhelmed by the Dredd, especially as a 40th thing.

Lawless carries on, as superb as ever.

Anderson - ok ish, nothing special compared to what it has been in the past.

Highlight for me also was the Kim Raymond interview. I really don't get the point of view that "he didn't get Dredd / was one of the worst Dredd artists ever." Not for me. Indeed before I read the text I thought a couple of his panels looked just like they had been done by Ron Smith (and you don't get much better than that),so it was revealing to see Ron had effectively mentored him.

As to the floppies...sigh...it had been stated countless times...including by Rebellion's own PR bot, that they don't add significantly to the cover price.

I had a chat with the Langley droid at the 40th and he was a lovely chap and I bought a couple of prints from him. But that doesn't stop me entering nit-pick corner:

So anyone stopped the mistake on the cover? In the actual story it is Jess riding the bike, not Fairfax.

LOL.

If they are all that price (I haven't checked) that's over 2 grand, so I'll pass. Or at least wait until my reading list is more manageable and get them digitally. But that would involve getting a decent tablet to read them on. Oh well back to Nikolai Dante and the Mega Collection for me (so there is an upside )

Wow the physical books are very expensive

£72 on Amazon for Annihilation Book 1!!!

But only £4.27 for Kindle.

So ...you're sure this is worth it?

Thanks that should definitely help.

So are there complete collected editions of Abnett's Guardians of the Galaxy?

All I have to go on is Wikipedia and it's not clear to me which ones I need to get. e.g. Is Annihilation part of it?

During Annihilation Abnett only wrote Nova mini, he was more involved in Annihilation Conquest but Starlord miniseries that actually kickstarts GOTG is written by Giffen. TBH reading only GOTG material is kinda pointless, they're part of bigger story and best option is... read everything collected in series of omnibuses, from Annihilation to War of Kings Aftermath (or to find some TPB replacements since Annihilation Omni is OOP).

Whole cosmic saga started in Annihalion is good read, ofcourse there are also some awful stories in it, but GOTG and Nova (also Abnett and Lanning) works better as a part of whole cosmic narrative.

Oh dear that is way more complex than I imagined. I haven't heard of the cosmic saga before.

I guess it is this sort of thing that puts me off Marvel and DC -basically I haven't got a clue where to start. So I thought "let's just go with a writer I really like, such as Dan Abnett".

It is even more frustrating when you compare to 2000AD where I like to think I have a reasonable grasp on what's what.

So are there complete collected editions of Abnett's Guardians of the Galaxy?

All I have to go on is Wikipedia and it's not clear to me which ones I need to get. e.g. Is Annihilation part of it?