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And speaking of Buttonman as well Buttonman is elsewhere on this forum Arthur Ranson has some news about the potential, and its still very much only that, real Buttonman movie over at his blog

http://www.arthurranson.com/content/button-man-movie-update-0

As promised here is the latest news on possible movie. June 26th 2010 I heard that Dreamworks have renewed their option on Button Man which is good news - not the best possible but good. They are still considering it, it could still happen, it is not ruled out, the possibility remains. Fingers crossed.

So you never know. Would love to see this come into being

If you don't check out Twart its well worth it to see a host of very talented artists give their take on any number of classic comicbook heroes from around the world, a different one every week. Its a great bit of fun.

The reason I'm mentioning this now is they're in the middle of one of my favourite weeks so far on the blog where people are tackling the might Gaul himself Asterix. I bloody love Asterix, I think Twart is fun so it only felt right to share.

Hope you enjoy.

http://www.comictwart.com/

You gotta love some Steve Parkhouse you really have. To be honest that's really the reason I'm reviewing this just to say how great it looks and how brillant Steve Parkhouse is.

As for the story itself well I'm not quite sure what to say. It was almost there but not quite? It was certainly always entertaining and the silent action sequences just a joy but it didn't quite work. Maybe its another, latter victim of the compacted story syndrome that Andy Diggle started? It never really had time to explore the world it created and the characters within it. So the threat and the sense of tension within the story never quite lived up to what the art portrayed.

I've not had a chance to check but I'm going to guess it was originally meant for the Megazine as it also seems needlessly thrust into Dredd's world which actually felt like a distraction. Still by the end there was clearly an option for more to come which a quick check over at Barney confirms never happened which is a shame as maybe in this case more would have worked and helped increase the investment I as a reader had with the world and the folks Mr Parkhouse created.

Still that Steve Parkhouse huh bloody brillant.

Feels like an age since I badgered this section but my catch up reads the last full year I've never read and its been an interesting start. Slaine 'Books of Invasion' keeps glowing on (that's not a typo for once), Caballistics Inc. has another fine chapter and its great to have John Burns on an extended run of Dante for the first time in a while (and that's with my compacted reading its must have felt like an age in real time). But the first story that really made me waht to say something is 'Second City Blues'

I'm not saying anything new I don't think when I comment on the fact that this thrill summarises whats so very hard about getting future sports strips right. Namely getting the sport right. Its so hard to create a convincing, viseral future sport that can be shown and understood in short compacted episodes yet still come across as convincing. At one point its said the sport in this story is the most dangerous and violent sport out there... really didn't come across as such.

Which is a real shame as the story running behind it was really good fun. I loved some of the characters, even if they were a bit cliched, I'm looking at you coach. The aliens sealing themselves off from their senses just plain brillant. At times it read like an 80s kids tv show a little like 'Press Gang' or the like and I mean that in a good way. Right down to the last panel gag 'to camera'. I was a fun strip right from the old school... just didn't need the the surf boards and goal hoops.

Warren Pleece's art is always worth a mention... so I will its great.

Just offside

Not sure if anyone can help but at home last night I couldn't log onto the forum as I kept being told to check the cookie options on my computer. To my knowledge I've not played with these at all and have no idea what I would be looking for to change them? The only option I could find was

'Tools'
'Internet Options'
'Privacy'
'Advanced'

and then playing with the cookie options there but enabling the cookies didn't seem to have any effect.

I did change my password yesterday so assume it might have something to do with that but all seems well on my work PC? Anybody able to offer any advice on what I might need to do when I get home?

Well that was a mighty fine read. 2000ads a little funny these last few issues, not much is changing (in terms of line up) and yet I'm finding the quality a little variable. I mean its all good but there's different levels of good and this one's great.

Damnation Station picks up this issue and there's a new mystery to pull me in as things hot up. Red Seas is super action adventure fun beautifully realised by Mr Yeowell (that man's art is a wonder). Its a particularly great episode of Savage with some great characters, I'm really enjoying this. Strontium Dog continues steadily on its way at a slow but entertaining pace. We don't really establish anything new here but Wagner seems to be putting his pieces into place one by one and I'm excited about whats to come.

Speaking of whats to come uh that Shakara 'Thrills of the Future' has me all kinds of excited and then there's Dredd. Oh my word and then there's Dredd. Its another wonderfully executed episode wonderfully encapsulating what happened and the pressures on Dredd that make him face a seemingly terrible fate. Then and just in one page at the end I'm left hackering after the next issue in a way I can't remember for a long time. In one final page Wagner takes what was a great episode and makes it exceptional and leaves me hanging in such a thrilling way. What could PJ have in store?

Better than great Prog

You know even as I wrote that title I was thinking 'The chances are this will be the least read thread ever!'

BUT but but Ka-Zar is one of my strange comic peccadilloes. I actually own a complete set of all his titles including 'Astonishing Tales' and the issues he was the led in 'Savage Tales'. So when I read this over at Comic Book Resources I am quite possibly the only person in the world to whoop with joy

KA-ZAR?

Over at Comic Book Movie, Pietro Filipponi discusses the possibility of a Marvel Savage Land film. "A rumor began circulating the net several days ago, regarding Marvel Studio's possible pursuit of several actors for the role of Ka-Zar. I took this information to one of my reliable sources at the studio, who told me Marvel has been planning a Savage Land film for some time now. Any official casting or production work on the adaptation is still very far away, since the studio is completely focused on their next two projects, 'Captain America' and 'The Avengers'," he writes. According to his studio source, the Savage Land has already been referenced in Marvel films.


Release date: TBA

I mean seriously I know it'll probably never see the light of day but whats not to love about a peroxide Tarzan fighting dinosaurs... I mean come on...

... really...

... just me then...

... I'll leave via the back shall I...

Well I guess there could be spoilers? Not sure to what extent and personally I don't think it gives anything away but then thats just me.

Anyway over at Bleeding Cool there is a rather nice splash page by Jon Haward from a Dredd story coming up in July. Not sure whether its from 2000ad for the Megazine or any context but anyway if you fancy peaking ahead here it is.

Edited to say: actually it says its 2000ad so...

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/06/10/judge-dredd-fat-fathers-by-john-wagner-and-jon-haward/

Well being a big fan of Paul Cornell's writing (his recently announced run on Action Comics has made me add that comic to my pull list for the first time) and being a big fan of DC comics this one gave me a bit of a nerdgasm

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/06/01/paul-cornell-to-go-dc-exclusive-and-write-new-doctor-who/

Well you'll have to excuse my blivering ignorance here but I've just discovered that the complete 'Cursed Earth Koburn' is actually included in the Carlos Ezquerra Judge Dredd collection... erm I'm skip wondering why???

Anyhoo this is great news as I've always wanted to read it can I'm really trying to resist collecting all the megs. Anyway to the question I was therefore wondering if there was any other Megazine stories collected in curious corners like this that I'd missed. The Henry Flint and Cam Kennedy collections that I can see don't offer any clues to the specifics of there content. So aside from the trades named after specifc Meg stories (Family, Simping Detective etc) are there any other tucked away elsewhere?

Well are the Eagle awards cursed? Captain Britain now long cancelled is up for an award and now Comics International is offically no more it would seem.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/05/27/comics-international-closes-shop/

The thing is I was mocking the fact that it had even recieved a nomination as I'd not seen a copy in a couple of years but this may explain why Rich Johnson went digging to see what had happened to this once proud nerd institution. Its a shame what happened as I used to love this magazine and it was often my favourite read in any given month. It was an invaluable aid when I got back into comics in the early 00s. So much so for a wee while when I was feeling my way back into nerdom it was actually the only thing I got regularly!

I guess it never successfully worked out how to place itself in the internet age... well either that or its crippling latness!

Shame

See when you read 2000ad progs in quick succession and you have 'Total War' as the Dredd story at the start of the Prog its kinda hard for the stories around it. I'd get through those 6 pages of glorious Wagner n Flint beauty and all I'd want to do was get through the prog so I could get to the next part. Therefore the rest of the stuff in the Prog might become an obstacle. Synammon while intriguing compared to what had gone before drifted past, even some really nice Yeowell art on Red Seas 'Meanwhile' left it nothing more than a distracting stop gap. 'Faces' I was continually flip flopping about it had moments which really caught me and moments when I drifts and Lobster Random...

... well 'Tooth and Claw' snapped me out of my Dredd fueled mania to get to the next blast of 'Total War' and to stand up proud in such company is no mean feat at all. After just two stories that craggy faced torturer is rapidly becoming a firm all time fav of mine. Its brillant stuff. Each part is crafted to stand alone and piece by piece tell the whole of the tale it sits in. Each of those tales is revealing more and more of the bigger picture. Its a wonderfully constructed strip and I chuffing love it.

Carl Critchlow's rugged art is perfect for the piece and Si Spurrier cranks in almost as many stories per episode than John Smith, but does so with a calm subtly that means you don't realise that straight away. Its brillant stuff and endless fascinating and intriguing. Only 2000ad could make a character like Lobster Random the star of the show and make you love the crabby old bugger.

Classic

Well the Strontium Dog seems to have everyone talking at the moment as they anticipate just what the truth is about the life and death of Johnny Alpha. Me I'm lucky enough to still be immersed in his revival stories, which while I've been enjoying them up to this point have hit a bit of a peak in 'Traitor to his kind'. Man of man I love this story.

While it lacks the explosive drama of previous epics 'A portrait of a mutant', 'Rage' and dare I say it 'Final Solution' its all the stronger for it. Its still jam packed with action and tension, drama and gun fights but its the emotional scale of the piece that packs the explosions this time. Johnny's grim expression has never been so weighed with the knowledge of what he's doing, why and the consequences of it.

Strontium Dog is often described as a western and there is no better demonstration of that than this story. He's the lone rider (well with his viking side kick... hmmm) fighting the good fight regardless of the consequences and the personal cost. For those that have read Blueberry's 'Confederate Gold' storyline it has echo's of that.

Brooding and blazing.

Over at Comics Should be Good http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/ for these that haven't seen it there's a fun little month asking people to vote for the ten best ???? Stories. So that might be Superman Stories or stories by Pete David etc. A different vote per day. Todays vote is "The Greatest Peter Milligan Stories Ever Told!" The introduction to which started off as follows

Milligan has written a lot of comics for both Marvel and DC, especially a number of works for DC's Vertigo line of comics.

What I thought - WHAT are you crazy... well yes of course he has done great work for those two (in fact I've voted for a couple of Shade stories, an X-Force, one X-Statix and Skreemer) BUT he's done so much more decides. So I ask you good people of the forum go to the website http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/05/17/the-greatest-peter-milligan-stories-ever-told-voting/ and vote for Pete Milligan's work for 2000ad (as well of other stuff) and remind our tranatlantic cousins (with apologise to so many board members while I rant) just which comic it was that developed the stars of their industry.

I'm off my high horse now but it would be amazing if we could get Bad Company in there.

I know that Caballistics Inc is an incredibly popular strip and while I've always enjoyed it its always frustrated me. While all the stories have been entertaining enough on their own their place within the grand story has been dominated to the point of smothering the individual tales. The stories to date have felt like distractions on the way to understanding the bigger picture. Mere vehicles to slowly reveal the secrets behind the characters, ways to fit the Caballistics Inc world into prog sized chunks.

I felt all that until 'Creepshow' when the balanced clicked. This felt like a story that added to the overall picture rather than one fitted ackwardly around the bigger scene. 'Creepshow' certainly moved the larger picture forward but it was a cracking yarn in itself and that's what counts in 2000ad. Gordon Rennie created a wonderfully realised fantasy and the creation of Ludgate Films was utterly convincing. I was truely engaged with the whole story and thus cared more for the details being added to the 'meta story' to use modern parlance.

Caballistics has looked fantastic through out and its no different here, just for me this was the first story to completely match this.

Complete.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26222

Excuse my ignorance here but is this THE Peter Hogan ex of 2000ad?

Well its the dream team of John Smith and Steve Yeowell, its a set up for one of my favourite characters Tryanny Rex and openning the doors of possibility for her stories, its a twisted action romp that looks amazing. Can't go wrong right, wrong - its a dusty little tease and to my dismay I've confirmed on Barney goes no where. Boo hiss.

The basic set up here got me really excited. The first couple of episodes where great and I saw real hope for Tryanny Rex stories to come, with the nagging doubt in my mind that I'd not heard of anymore and there weren't many Progs left for them to come in... maybe I'd missed something? Well no and to be honest the whole thing just fizzled out, both on the story and the future level.

In the end it reads like John Smith just using up a feel spare ideas he had laying around and lacked the conviction and imagination that he usually delievers. Steve Yeowell does a great job and his desert landscapes look genuinely barren and harsh. To be honest a little like the story.

Its a shame I kinda think I should be waiting for Tryanny to be reborn in the same way Grant waits for Sam to get to Paris. Alas this one didn't inspire me enough.

Teasing.

Just started a thread about Savage and mentioned how Charlie Aldard's black and white artwork is perfect for the strip, well maybe perfect was over egging it a little cos next to it was Henry Flint on Low Life and now surely this is perfection!

Is so bloody lovely to look at and a really enjoyable cop yarn to boot. Fascinating from my perspective to see Dirty Frank relegated to the rule of comedy supporting character given the only stuff I've read to this point he has stared in. To be honest I can see why too I love Nixon as a led and it does change the tone somewhat with Frank in charge.

This grim and gitty cop tale so brillantly rendered by Mr Flint has all the standard undercover cop buttons pressed, harded agent twisted by her experience undercover, colleagues knocked off, set up for the crime and corrupt boss but as I've said before what 2000ad does so wonderfully is take these normals and merrily twist them until they are an ugly reflection of their more cliched cousins. Low Life Paranoia is a perfect example of this. Its simply fantastic and once again that bad guy. The fact that he's the villian he is but in Mega City One makes for an very interesting moral question at the end. Great stuff.

Gritty

I'm a big fan of the later Savage books and was really looking forward to reading the early stories and have to say I wasn't disappointed. Its kinda fun the way that the later episodes sit right next door to the early episodes of 'Judge Dredd - Total War' no concidence there I suspect.

Savage is balls to the wall honest action storytelling. It wears this nice overcoat of political satire, which fits very well but basically under there is an action hero blowing things away with a bloody cool shotgun. Its kinda exactly what 2000ad was made for. Ok I find it a little weird that Bill goes to all that effort to change is identity and in his new identity doesn't seem to mind quite how overt his actions are and so surely if they think he's Bill or Jack is surely academic he's the guy blowing Volgs away with his shooter... anyway I got over that and just enjoyed the ride... well until the end way to leave us with a cliff-hanger fella's. I mean I'm reading in a very compacted way but in real time that was lingering for what a year or so - OUCH!

A couple of things of note, the villian is so cliched but so wonderfully so I chuffing love him. Charlie's Aldard's art works so much better for me in black and white and here it is so perfect its a relief they had someone as talented as Patrick Goddard to take over. I'm really looking forward to the new stuff as I catch up with the old.

Blowin' me away.

Oh damnit that was close. The trouble is it didn't quite make it. For me A.H.A.B. didn't quite hang together and as such I wasn't convinced by it as a story. The thing is it got close. The premise is pretty good, A.H.A.B. a pretty workable villian, the supporting cast fun enough it has all the elements. They just don't fit together.

Izzie's role in the ship kinda passed me by until at one point towards the end she says she's now the highest ranking person left on board... really? The nature and hunting of the space whales is skipped past. The whole make up and tensions within the crew never really get explained fully...

Theres a lot of potentially great things here its just none of them get explored enough to become fully realised and while one bits being dealt with I'm not sure how another is developing, or not more to the point. Is this another victim of being to compressed. Not sure but it certainly felt like a missed opportunity.