Random Non-Dredd Questions

[JayzusB.Christ]

I was very young when i was introduced to 2000ad but I have hazy memories of a running joke where Tharg slags the bejaysus out of Milton Keynes and the people therefrom.

How did that come about? Was it in reference to the future Milton Keynes in Strontium Dog?

While of course today's Tharg is one of his finest incarnations ever, he's a way more factual and informative Tharg and I kind of miss the snidey, sarky, boastful Tharg of back then. That said, I'm not sure picking on Keynesians would fly in this day and age.

[JohnW]

I know what you're on about, but outside of Strontium Dog I can't for the life of me pinpoint a single specific incidence of Tharg vs. Milton Keynes.
I'd never heard of the town until it appeared in 2000ad, and I wasn't even sure it was a real place. Or maybe it was a person? Who knew?
Quaxann? Sutermunda? Croydon? They were all part of the comic's rich tapestry.

[Barrington Boots]

I don't remember it coming from Tharg, but I do remember Milton Keynes being the butt of a lot of jokes in the 80s.

I'm pretty sure it was related to a tv campaign encouraging people to move out of London and into Milton Keynes, which was being pushed as some kind of utopia instead of the ultra-bland, characterless town that it was.

[Funt Solo]

See also: "What's it called? ... Cumbernauld!"

Someone, somewhere wrote about the idea of Milton Keynes as a pedestrian's nightmare - that if you remove all the signs then there's no way of knowing where you are from ground level due to sunken paths and underpasses. (I've never visited - and would be loath to, given the reputation. Mind you - I don't want to visit Grimsby, either.)

[WhizzBang]

When I finally got to spend some time in Milton Keynes I was a little bit disappointed that it was as bad as I had been lead to believe by 2000AD. It is basically fine, some good points and some not-so-good points, like most places.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I remember passing by it on a train when I was about 14 and visiting my uncle in London.  The only time I'd ever heard of it before was in 2000ad. I remember thinking it didn't look THAT bad.

[The Legendary Shark]

IIrc, the fabled Mr. Godpleton lived in MK.

[nxylas]

I too have vague memories of MK appearing in a Tharg story. Could it be a Mandela effect thing?

[M.I.K.]

I too have vague memories of MK appearing in a Tharg story. Could it be a Mandela effect thing?

You're probably thinking of Croydon, as in "The Creep Who Stole Croydon".

[Funt Solo]

Prog 314 has Mr. Macabre: A Tharg Special Thriller (that doesn't feature Tharg) - written by Alan Grant (as Stavros).

"A fog swirls up the concrete avenues of Milton Keynes..." and "It - it all began a year ago this very night. I was a tramp back then, living off what I could rake up in Milton Keynes' dustbins!"

[JayzusB.Christ]

I distinctly remember Tharg the Massive Bigot explaining on the letters page that Keynesians were without thrill circuits.

[I, Cosh]

I don't remember it coming from Tharg, but I do remember Milton Keynes being the butt of a lot of jokes in the 80s.

Yeah, I feel like it was a goto reference for the Jasper Carrott type of comedian but I'm not exactly sure why.

[nxylas]

I too have vague memories of MK appearing in a Tharg story. Could it be a Mandela effect thing?

You're probably thinking of Croydon, as in "The Creep Who Stole Croydon".

Yeah, that sounds right.

[JohnW]

I'm sure hair must have been pulled and angry tears shed over this sometime in the past, but what was the verdict?
Is it Satanus – emphasis on on first syllable, as in Satan?
or:
Satanus – emphasis on on second syllable, as in satanic?

Stop whatever it was you were doing. This is important.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

First one. Anything else is wilful attention seeking, like failing to rhyme "prog" with "rogue".