Messages

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General / Re: Space Spinner 2000AD

« on: 27 June, 2022, 04:40:25 PM »

As I said previously, this, despite the cessation of Fleischer, feels ore "lost" as a period than ever.  Ennis Dredd might not be great, but it isnt actively hateful.  reckon there are double digit episodes to go before we can see any sign of any improvement - possibly nothing/very little til the mid 95 relaunch? Which means close to 20!

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2023

« on: 26 June, 2022, 05:30:03 PM »

Can I be really nerdy and say that I hope that isnt the cover

Stront has distinct phases costume wise - Galaxy Killers and Jurney Into Hell Alpha has double small shoulder pads

Death's Head through to Gronk Affair he has more bulbous helemt and left pad

Moses through to Rage he has the three band pad shown here

One of the painted Journey Into Hell covers would suit this collection better - the one with the tentacles 116(?) would be my go to!

Strontium Dog Search and Destroy 2 - The 2000 AD Years - 2nd February 2023



Strontium Dog Search and Destroy - The 2000 AD Years 1, collects the earliest SD strips to appear in 2000 AD after the sci-fi comic it originally appeared in, Starlord, was merged with the 'galaxy's greatest comic!'

Co-created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, the team behind Judge Dredd, this collection includes the beautifully-coloured spreads that appeared in the original 2000 AD run and includes the classic Strontium Dog story, Portrait Of A Mutant. This pivotal tale explored Johnny Alpha's past and introduced such memorable characters as the knobbly-headed Middenface McNulty and the Torso from Newcastle.

YES!! Exactly what I've been asking for, thank you Tharg! Really hoping this is hardback, same as the Starlord years.

Also grateful to have the Case Files trucking along, always a highlight.

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2023

« on: 26 June, 2022, 12:49:12 PM »

interesting with the Stront Vol 2

IT seems to have Journey Into Hell and Portrait in it making it bigger than Vol 1?  When I first ssaw it I assumed just Galaxy Killers, Hell and some special stories would make a similar sized volume to 1?

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 26 June, 2022, 12:46:15 PM »

AS a 50 year old, I also ahve trouble following ome 2000AD stories nowadays - I'd put it down to disinterest and fading faculties, but I do think theres a skill to telling stories in comic form that a surprising number of people actually making comics nowadays lack.  Wagner has it, Abnett has it.  But a lot of the other writers seem to struggle to move form one panel to the other in a way that flows seamlessly.

Going back t Stranger Things, seems it has done a 2000AD in aging with its audience, albeit at an accelerated rate!

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General / Re: Fake Britain Map

« on: 23 June, 2022, 10:45:10 PM »

Wheres the Birmingham Gap and Milton Keynes Mutatn Ghetto?

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 23 June, 2022, 09:40:36 PM »

I stopped reading Dr Who weekly hen it became a Monthly and jumped ship to 2000AD - a month was an insane length of time to wait, so God only knows how a Bi-Monthly or Quarterly schedule would feel.

Distribution certainly seems to be the main culprit of comics decline, though perhaps that is muddied by comics moving away from bogroll cheapness -


The most amazing revelation there has been to me in recent years reading stuff like John Sanders book is that the Comic industry was in no small part only there to make use of old machines that would have otherwise sat idle and losss making.  When those Victorian printing presses finally were decommissioned, paper quality rose and prices also, then comics stopped being an easy buy to add to the weekly shopping or newspaper bill.

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 22 June, 2022, 12:33:45 AM »

2000AD sold best in the 80s, it should be the 80s again.

If you havent got anything useful to add, Art.... do you really think that's what I am saying? 

It's pretty clear we arent in the 80s any more. I don't object in principle to "adult" content in comics, otherwise, I'd have given up on Uncle Pat and Uncle Alan's work a long time back. 

What I am saying is what does having the odd story or two a year where we get to show some tits add to the comic as a brand?   One that seems to be finding it can appeal to a younger audience if maybe not as its main bread and butter - I dont want to see a Regened every week prog either.  Just saying "well sex and violence are equivalent" really isnt true and I think the examples I gave show that.  Unless anyone honestly imagines it's likely new Doctor Who is going to have a sequel to the Mind Robber set in the land of slash fiction.

I just think that as a brand, as a product, as an institution, 2000AD has strengths that run through its entire history, and its been weakest when it has lost sight of what it does well.  The success of Regened shows that the idea of all ages sci-fi stories told in comic form is not dead in the water, even if converting the prog wholesale that way might be.

Most readers, including myself, wouldnt want that - Regened is less all ages and more young adult - its tilted slightly younger than the prog has been since about 1980. 

What I'm asking for is someone to explain what advantage there is in making the spectrum of content so broad.  What does it add?  For me, its not enough to offset what it takes away.

I can't be the only one who sees this as a weird disconnect - like the Rambo or Robocop cartoons of yesteryear, having the same "IP" aimed at kids that you also wouldnt want your kids to see seems pretty odd, even if you do try and ringfence the different products with a different logo.

The prog doesnt need to be "sanitised" of violence or adult themes, but keeping it 15 rated seems entirely sensible from a business persepctive, because if there are some readers who might bail because they went 6 months without seeing some drawings of naughty bits, good riddance!

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 21 June, 2022, 10:57:49 PM »

I think you'd find that society including parents (even if you dont agree with them doing so) is coy around sex and nudity, but not so coy about violence - the examples I gave of Dr Who and Stranger Things would support that.  They might reference such things, allude to them, but they arent as blatant as they are with the gore, peril and violence - thats just how it is - to say otherwise is mad. All ages includes a fair amount of violence and not much sex.

2000AD was very successful when it was sold to kids (even if you think that was inappropriate due to the violence)

it got less successful as it "grew up"

It currently sells best when it goes back to aiming  its content at kids.  It seems a no brainer to me that the comic should aim its content

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 21 June, 2022, 10:40:00 PM »

And I have no objection to the Regened - I do think that it is a very odd look though - like if CBBC had a day every month that showed some softcore.

OK - not EXACTLY like that, and yeah there are reasons why it happens and might seem perfectly normal, but take  a step back from that and really, does the Prog need that day a month of softcore? 

Aiming at younger children is a success - why not tilt the prog more all ages as a generality, so maybe some of those 10-12 yr old kids who read REgened material might be enticed to buy some more none regened material? 

If no kids arent getting on board the weekly train, then the prog is fecked anyway? 

The Regened sells more than the weekly we are told, surely that tells us something about the sort of material 2000AD should be aiming for

And that can be violent or disturbing - Stranger Things is pretty big with my daughter and her friends and has been since she was 11 or so.

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 21 June, 2022, 06:15:48 PM »

Sorry, but not buying any equivalence between sexual stuff and violence in the prog.

Peril and by the nature of peril violence is part of "all ages" entertainment for all time.  Doctor Who could get pretty grisly but we would all be raising eyebrows if the cast started flashing the flesh and they imported the Torchwood sex gas into the main show for the 60th Anniversary.

Either commit to one thing or the other, but dont flirt with a young adult audience AND a diry old man one simultaneously.

I'll say it again, but it bears repeating, 2000Ad was never more mature when it was aimed at an all ages audience. 

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Prog / Re: Prog 2287: Grinders Keepers!

« on: 20 June, 2022, 08:20:10 PM »

Yeah, this is the sort of Dredd I would agree is closer to being a lost classic. Good stuff

I'm mainly here to ppint out that we have Hope stopping its porno for a week to allow the kids to read - hope they dont pick up next weeks!

Honestly, I just dont want this in my prog, and certainly not being the bread of a Regened sandwich.  Down with this sort of thing.

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General / Re: Space Spinner 2000AD

« on: 20 June, 2022, 08:08:03 PM »

Nipped into Gosh myself that day, as I was taking my daughter to see Billie Eilish - shame I missed you!

Another great episode, though Fox is a wild card with his love of Mean Arena! 

I think the Aggro Drug one is the worst Dredd story ever - as Conrad says, like someone with only a vague idea of what the character is about.  The idea any editor would allow that to be publisher, or any other of the similar story beats, as seen in Inferno is still a bit sickening and I'm surprised you are not that fussed about it to be honest!

It really was a woeful time for the prog having Millar Morrison on Dredd - even though other stories might not be so bad and there might be less Fleischer, having the Dredd so thoroughly rotten and misconcevied - worse, actively conceived that way due to the loudly voiced low opinion Morrison and Millar had for the strip and its creators.... I thnk I only kept reading as I had recently started going out with my wife to be, so I was slightly more chilled and the prog had taken a back seat!

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Prog / Re: Prog 2286 City Heat!

« on: 15 June, 2022, 12:53:45 PM »

The Dredd is no boubt, well done, but its far from being some lost classic dropped through a wormhole.

Fosters art is a decent Cliff Robinson rather than Bolland -  a copy of a copy.  When the original is so good then you get decent results, but theres still some shonky stuff - the lack of strng design work on clothing and vehicles could be said to mirror Bolland somewhat, but its to another degree(the Lawmasters look very odd).

Similarly, while it resembles a good Wagner strip interms of the broad stroikes, it still has a few indicators that we arent dealing with a perfect reproduction

The plot is made overly convoluted and overly explained.  Asher left the key with the other judge, but if Dredd didnt turn up,the Cartel turning up again to complicate things would have found it, making his plan seem very dumb and unnecessary - Wagner elegance and brevity is not really on show here

The dialogue still remains over written - Dredd in the second panel, saying the same thing three times.  Dredd on 4th page explaining how to do a manhunt to Control.

The bike explaining whats on screen more blatantly than the 13th Doctor.

Don;t get me wrong, I enjoy The Neimand Dredds more than other writers, but I'm not going to ever agree its flawless recreation of bygone times.

Brink is good, the Terror Tale was readable, and always good to see Stewart K Moore in there (shame it isnt Defoe - thanks, Magaverse for that!)

Hope isnt the sort of story I want from the prog and neither is (for precisely the opposte reasons) Skip Tracer.

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Other Reviews / Re: Battle Action Special 2022

« on: 09 June, 2022, 07:23:41 PM »

yeah,  I looked in both Nostalgia (which doesnt seem to stock any Rebellion magazines any more) and FP, which had had a sort around and again, couldnt find any mags. 

did manage to get the Monster Fun Summmer Special from SMiths though

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Other Reviews / Re: Battle Action Special 2022

« on: 09 June, 2022, 05:57:44 PM »

No copy of this in SMmiths in Brum

are the copies in the wild ordered direct from Rebellion?