2000 AD Online Forum

...as it sez on the tin, what do you think, might be a bit long though...

Nope, no problem - Angry Planet was only 90 pages. Throw in one of the old Dan Dare stories illustrated by Dave Gibbons and you could have an interesting little package...

What's Angry Planet?

...i class it as a lost sci fi classic from 1979 and 2000ad's sister comic Tornado, and best of all was drawn by the late great Berlardinellei (probably spelt wrong), it was by far the best strip in said comic, and as far as i know its never been reprinted, any chance of anyone posting a piccy or 2 for the people not in the know...

Matthew Markham is a second or third generation Martian, descended from Earth colonists. Mars is semi-autonomous from Earth, but is being held to ransom by the water company. Mars gets all its water from Earth.

It's not bad, especially all the sci-fi tech drawn by Belardinelli, including space liners, haulage trucks, battery packs, pistols, bathtubs on tank tracks, etc.

How bout Planet Of The Damned, complete with amusingly shaped logo?

Planet of the Damned, plus Death Planet?

The Angry Planet wouldn't be my ideal choice, but so long as there's some kind of Belardinelli showcase...

Planet of the Damned (Willy):

Ah, well - you can go and see the logo at the Profiles page anyway...

Planet of the Damned plus Death Planet comes to about 90 pages, if anyone's seriously interested. IMO, there are better Starlord strips to reprint.

I don't think Rebellion have the rights to any old Tornado strips like Angry Planet.  (That was the one about Mars, wasn't it?)

And they definitely don't hafe the rights to the Dan Dare stuff, which must now surely reside with the Dan Dare Corporation.

Yeah, we've been round this one before with Starlord and Tornado. They were both folded into 2000AD, but no-one here seems to know if the rights to the pre-merger strips were part of the Rebellion deal. Do strips featuring characters that belong to Rebellion (Strontium Dog, Ro-Busters...) belong to another group? If they do, then are they unable to do anything with them without Rebellion's say-so?

I'm surprised that Rebellion don't have the rights to the Dan Dare strips printed in 2000AD though...

>>I'm surprised that Rebellion don't have the rights to the Dan Dare strips printed in 2000AD though...

I'm strongly assuming that's the case.  IPC (or possibly Fleetway) sold the Dan Dare rights off years ago, so you can't reprint those stories, even if they were part of 2000AD.  You'd have to negotiate with the current owners of the Dan Dare rights, who might not be so keen to resurrect the Dare as gritty, violent space hero era.  (And, let's face it, 2000AD Dare had little or nothing to do with the original character.  Espeically when they turned him into a superhero...)

Consider the Star Wars example.  Marvel published the first Star Wars comics back in the late 1970s, but they can't republish them now, since they no longer hold the licence.  Those comics have been republished, I think, but by Dark Horse, who now hold the Star Wars comics licence rights.

Belardinellis dead??? chris when? does any one know if he did any more garp?

Not dead, apparently. IIRC, one of the boarders here (DXB?) managed to track him down - if he's skimming, I'm sure he can tell you more about it...

Belardinelli was supposed to be dead for years... but has recently been uncovered alive and well, living out his retirement in (I belive) Milan.  Various people keep making cryptic hints at having "made contact", but god knows what that means...

I'd loved to see Extreme Editions featuring any of the following from 2000 AD...

Shako (Wagner black humour abounds)
Bix Barton (Milligan eccentricities)
Sooner or Later (never read it, intrigued)
Stainless Steel Rat (if rights could be got)
The VCs (originals, Alan Grant remixing GFD)

davidbishop

Shako - YES!
Bix Barton - MAYBE!
Sooner or Later - NO!
Stainless Steel Rat - GOD, YES!
The VCs - YES!

Out of those, I reckon Shako is the most likely. You still need a back-up story, as Shako's only around 90 pages, but it's gotta be a contender.

What's the deal with rights re: Stainless Steel Rat? Did the publishers at the time just get a licence to do an adaptation that has since lapsed, or have the rights been sold on somewhere else? The Rat was a great strip, just perfect for 2000AD - of course, the gorgeous B&W artwork from Carlos helped a little :-)

BTW - is it possible the VCs might not end up in an EE, but in a DC/Rebellion trade? Fingers crossed...

Bah, Sooner Or Later is great.

And anyway...

BRING BACK BIG DAVE!

Art, you're such a Joey - Sooner or Later was poo...

I was thinking the Stainless Steel Rats stories would make a great EE.  As David said, though, the rights (and hence the cost) might be a problem.

I'm presuming Harry Harrison (or his heirs - is he still alive?) must still own them, since it was a licenced property.

Some great Carlos Ezquerra artwork in those stories.

A Joey? That's not very PC, Blackblood. :-p

Sooner or Later was great, but I doubt I'd manage to read it all in one go.

Would a whole book of one-pagers actually work?

I'd love a bit of the original art, though, or a glossy print of an episode.

Milligan and McCarthy's stuff was gorgeously insane.

- Trout

Hey, what can I say - I'm a traitorous war-droid, I'm not here to be PC ;-)

(Glad someone got the reference, though...)

Dudley! Are you trying to out-non-P.C. Blackblood?

What are they doing to that poor old man? Spinning him?

Blackblood's 'reference' is probably not wasted on anyone over the age of thirty. I did meet some younger students at my secondary school, however, for whom the word joey had come to mean a lackey, a sycophant, or a gofer. Why and how I've no idea. I guess kids just weren't watching Blue Peter anymore by then.

S'okay, I'm not gonna take any un-PC jibes seriosuly when they come from a robot whos been lobotomised to make him more of a big girls blouse.

AFAIK Harry Harrison is still going....

Though his later books aint as good as they used to be

It's an image of Joey Deacon, who was an inspiration to us all!  How is that non-PC?  

Are you suggesting that all people with physical or mental disabilities should be locked away from the view of the general public?  I'd be very careful... this one's a slippery slope...

Link: I'd suggest having a word with Mat Fraser

The Stainless Steel Rat was, after Rick Random, the second 2000ad strip I skipped over reading until it came to the end. It just didn't engage me until it got onto the war bit with all the underground tunnelling mole tanks.

Then I had to go and read the whole thing from the start, and it really paid off. After reading the second series ('...Saves the World') I started reading Harry Harrison's books. So congrats, Tharg, for broadening a young Squaxx's horizons!

Good gosh, no, Dudley! I wouldn't be suggesting any such thing. Maybe I was just startled by the animation sequence. I don't want to be starting a row with you, Mat Fraser, Tom Shakespeare, or anyone. Yep, slippery slope well spotted there. I have nothing more to say on the subject.

Dammit.

Was in the mood for a row.

Now that I think about it, in Angry Planet the Martian settlers import their own water. It's a giant corporation, like 'EarthCorp', or something, that's holding Mars to ransom. They control the spaceports and the haulage companies, without which the water supplies can't be safely landed or distributed.

Yes, I think 2000AD is long overdue another  series about water embargoes...

Hey, I'm still waiting for a sequel to Rain Dogs!

(Not joking, BTW - I really thought RD deserved another series...)

*cough*

Matthew Markham is a second or third generation Martian, descended from Earth colonists. Mars is semi-autonomous from Earth, but is being held to ransom by the water company. Mars gets all its water from Earth. the Martian settlers import their own water.  It's a giant corporation, like 'EarthCorp', or something, that's holding Mars to ransom. They control the spaceports and the haulage companies, without which the water supplies can't be safely landed or distributed.

So, it's a shameless rip-off of Asimov's "The Martian Way" (1955), then?  Or are there other bits to the plot?

Ooo! 'ark at 'im, Mr Well-read!

Coem to think of it, and bring all the threads back together, didn't Harrison write a "Planet Of The Damned"?

To say any more about it would be to give away major plot developments in the remaining three quarters of the story. However, the rest of it may have been cribbed from Asmov's The Martian Way, for all I know.

Bloody hell - a comics writer ripping off an SF story? That's *never* happened before... ;-)

Come to think of it, and bring all the threads back together, didn't Harrison write a "Planet Of The Damned"?

Yup - it was about some bloke called Brian, or something...

Harry Harrison is still alive, by the way; although he must be well into his eighties by now (he was a gunnery instructor during World War Two.)  And he started as a writer and artist on the EC Horror Comics of the 50's, and at one point was one of 2000AD's most famous readers (presumably, still is; unless that time someone plagarised one of his most famous short stories and used it as a Future Shock really pissed him off).

Which short story was that?

>Some great Carlos Ezquerra artwork in those stories

And just been sent a load of scans of TSSR from Carlos and very nice they look to.

Still away but have commandered Wakes computer so I could see what's going on.

As for earlier comments 2000 dont have the rights to Angry Planet, The Dan Dare corporation bought 'all' the rights to Dan Dare from IPC, but even though it ends really quickly I'd love to see Angry Planet again, guess i'm just going to have to dig out those old Tornado's when I get home.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Nobody has uncovered the "Mars Force" art in the big move, then?  Twas the Richard Burton penned/Bellardinelli drawn semi-sequel - the theft of the artwork for the first episodes put paid to the story ever seeing print - thats the story anyways...

Couldn't someone have stolen Richard Burton? I would have put up with Mars Force if it meant Burt & McKenzie had never got hold of 2000AD...

Which short story was that?

The Future Shock was 'A Cross for Aaron' by Mike Hadley in prog 832 - I can remember Tharg having to make a grovelling apology to Harry Harrison about it, but I can't find that now...

Can't remember the name of the story, though.

The Streets of Ashkelon by Harry Harrison.

...Mars Force, not heard of that one, meant to be a sequel to Angry Planet???...