The Belfast 2000AD Discussion Group, so it is......

[Bat King]

Saturday 28th March 2015

[ZenArcade]

Double oops there. Cheers Bat. Z

[Bat King]

You're in my 'Meet up' blog article thingmy.

[judgerussell]

Your lobby bar doesn't open until 12.30, and Saturday is the 28th. Lol
Your thrill levels must be running low Zen.

[ZenArcade]

That's what too much Savage does to you.  The lobby bar is still closed so it'll be upstairs again. Z

[ZenArcade]

So nust a reminder to NI Squax, the discussion will commence at 13:00 in the up stairs bar in the Europa. Look forward to the craic. Z

[judgerussell]

I might be able to make it for a bit.
I hope the lobby Bar is open.

[ZenArcade]

Good lad Jack, I'm doing some work this am, but will be in upstairs bar at 13:00. I'll bring the progs etc. Z

[ZenArcade]

Good wee meeting lots discussed.

We talked about recent Progs/Megs and agree that the Meg is producing some fantastic stuff at the moment:Cop, Angelic and Mean Machine; the Prog less so, but the prospect of 1924 has Belfast Squax salivating.

We moved on to ret conning and the attempts over the past 38 years to form chronologically contigious shared worlds (particular emphasis on Dredd/Strontium Dog/Robusters/ABC Warriors/Nemisis/Ace Trucking Co). We talked of early mentions in Robusters of the building of the Mega City in the USA, through the Judgement Day crossover to recent Savage (no pun) efforts. The view here is that they generally are more of the nature of ad hoc patchwork rather than seemless dovetails, and would be better not attempted as they come across as cumbersome and lessen enjoyment of good standalone strips.

On a far more positive note, we loved the 1923 Dredd as it was a real hearkback to the off the wall zanyness of the early strip. I hasten to add however that Block Judge with it's taut plotting and fine artwork is also a very firm recent favourite.

We ended up the meeting by visiting a new comic shop in the Spires Centre. It stocks pretty much all Marvel/DC comics (good back selection), alas no 2000AD, but hopefuly that'll change. The owners have put a lot of effort into the venture and we wish them all success.

So untill next month. Z

[Magnetica]

We moved on to ret conning and the attempts over the past 38 years to form chronologically contigious shared worlds (particular emphasis on Dredd/Strontium Dog/Robusters/ABC Warriors/Nemisis/Ace Trucking Co). We talked of early mentions in Robusters of the building of the Mega City in the USA, through the Judgement Day crossover to recent Savage (no pun) efforts. The view here is that they generally are more of the nature of ad hoc patchwork rather than seemless dovetails, and would be better not attempted as they come across as cumbersome and lessen enjoyment of good standalone strips.

I have been doing a bit of a Robusters, ABC Warriors and Nemesis re-read, and with the recent run of Savage in the Prog as well, have been giving its shared world a bit of thought.  To me its the only one in 2000AD that I pay much attention to.

Obviously ABC Warriors was planned as a Robusters spin off from the start, but if you re-read Hammerstein's war memories in Robusters from only about a year earlier, it seems to me that Pat hadn't thought of ABC Warriors yet, given for example there is no ABC Warriors logon on Hammerstein's shoulder at that point. Indeed I would guess it was that story that inspired ABC Warriors in the first place.

I actually missed the start of ABC Warriors and so bought the Titan reprint from 1983. In the intro to that it said it was unlikely the ABC Warriors would be back, which was a huge disappointment at the time. It was then a big surprise when they appeared in Nemesis.  Not sure at what point it was decided to tie Savage into it, but given that Invasion was about the Volgan invasion of Britain, Hammerstein's war memories were about the war against the Volgans and the first few episodes of ABC Warriors were also about war with the Volgans (albeit these were set later than Invasion), I guess the link was always there between Robusters, ABC Warriors and Invasion / Savage. Despite that, the continuity is a just a tad convoluted in my opinion. The whole thing with Hammerstein's head has never made sense to me either. (Of course the truth is probably that the original head was just deemed too naff for a hard as nails war-bot ).

I kinda like to ignore any links between Dredd and Stront. And even more so any links between Dredd and Stront and Robusters/ ABC Warriors/Invasion / Savage.

I must have missed the link to ACE Trucking. What was that?

Other series that are linked are:
- The Red Seas and Stickleback (although I haven't re-read enough to make the links other than Orlando Doyle) 
- Dead Eyes and Indigo Prime. An easier link here, with the link only revealed on the last page of Dead Eyes (as a cliff hanger).


I would be interested to hear what you discussed / what you make of it all.

[ZenArcade]

Will have a bit of a recap later. Ace Trucking includes an episode where a shipment of frozen Kleggs thaw out with the usual hilarious results....oh tucker trucker how I miss you. Z

[judgerussell]

I have a cunning plan!!

What do people think of the next meet up being on Saturday 2nd May, at Belfast Comic Con?

There will be a bar in the event, and it's a great way to promote the group!

Plus, we can all chat about how we are going to publicly flog the Eastenders cast for daring to show their faces at a Comic Con!

[ZenArcade]

Yep, sounds cool. Z

[judgerussell]

Who all is going to comic con in Belfast?

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Lads, I'm always working when this is on, but I will say this:

I moved house at the start of the month, unfortunately, a great many progs and comic miscellany did not make the move.

Just check the charity shops on the Lisburn road is all I'm saying