SPACEWARP - New Venture from Pat Mills

[judgeurko]

Interesting - Spacewarp has teamed up with Shift (such a great comic check it out) to produce a newstand edition.

https://theshift.store/collections/shift-comic-anthology-issues-1-5/products/shift-presents-two-pack

So Major Rakhana has a modest bra cup size, eh?

what?

Try reading her name in an Australian accent.

I dunno lads, I may have to completely re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about the Bazooka Jules comic too.

oh dear, i guess it is aimed at 13 year old boys?

[IndigoPrime]

Ick.

[Barrington Boots]

Googled Bazooka Jules and yeah, that's not the sort of comic that does the perception of comic readers any favours.
If that's true about Major Rakhana - what a disappointment. I enjoyed Brawler, but that's dire.

[Tomwe]

Bazooka Jules was originally published in 2001 when That Sort Of Thing was just fine. Lad culture still riding high. As I recall "Jules" was Googe's partner's name? To me she's a mix of Tank Girl, Sailor Moon & the "Good Girl" pinup.

[IndigoPrime]

Not sure it was ever really fine. But, hey: puns. In 2021, though, it’s pathetic and icky. Very disappointing from a Shift publication.

[Link Prime]

Just to clarify; I never genuinely suggested that it's intended to be read as "Major Rack on her", t'was just that my own puerile mind jumped to that mildly amusing conclusion.

Will keep the innuendo commentaries strictly alluding to demonic dildos for the remainder of '21.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Surely "Major Rakhana"/ "Major Arcana" as in the tarot?

SBT

[Tomwe]

Pat has been interviewed on John Siuntres’ WordBalloon podcast. Not listened yet but link is here

The Dean Of British Sci-Fi has started SpaceWarp an incredible Sci-Fi Anthology . WE discuss the features within, and talk about the current British comics scene along with looking back at his 2000AD comics, a healthy look at the twisted "mean girls" history of Girls British comics , plus Pat teases some new projects comic this fall.

[rogue69]

If you get the new "pocket money" version via the Shift website or "get my comics" site it will come with a free print of the new cover for £4.99 +P&P

[Goosegash]

I just got the Shift Presents: Spacewarp special as it's now appeared on the newsstands. And, erm...blimey, that's certainly a thing, isn't it.

I'd kind of had my doubts about this project ever since I heard it would be Mills writing every single story, and having now read it I think that doubt was entirely justified.

I am bemused by Mills' continued insistence that this would be aimed the fabled kids demographic because I even though I'm pushing the big four oh, I can see that there's very little in this a young person is going to be arsed about. Modern kids aren't going to want to read a grim n' gritty black and white comic featuring rehashes of Mills concepts from forty years ago (I can see bits of Nemesis, bits of ABC Warriors, etc in there), and I sincerely doubt the teenage market will buy into it either just because it mentions Instagram occasionally. If Mills thinks that's his audience he's fooling himself, the only people that will have any interest in this are the aging retro comics crowd like ourselves.

Their are wider problems with the broader concept behind the shared universe idea, which is both poorly explained and largely impenetrable. This desperately needed an independent editor to help shape the overall idea into something more coherent, but Mills' arrogance and resistance to anyone else interfering with his glorious vision has clearly precluded that. The fact that Mills in his role as co-editor is not prepared to risk any other writing talent watering down any of his wonderful ideas just makes it feel like a weird vanity project rather than a serious attempt to launch a new comic.

The one real strength is in the art, and there is some really good work in this from artists I'd like to see develop on other projects(Ade Hughes' artwork on the SF1 strip in particular is outstanding, some real John Hicklenton vibes), but I think this one is sadly a complete dead end. Should've called it Pat's Folly.

[Bad City Blue]

I pretty much agree. It's looks fantastic, but is nowhere near something that modern kids will want. It's confusing as fuck, too. If we're lucky we'll get an issue every two years.

It's one of those things I really wanted to enjoy more than I actually did. I was astounded at the complexity of it after what was teased by Pat.

[IndigoPrime]

The world moves on, but not all of its inhabitants do. Similar vibes in the Regened threads, really, with people baffled that 2000 AD’s approach to today’s young person demographic isn’t identical to the material they themselves enjoyed decades ago.

[Goosegash]

The world moves on, but not all of its inhabitants do. Similar vibes in the Regened threads, really, with people baffled that 2000 AD’s approach to today’s young person demographic isn’t identical to the material they themselves enjoyed decades ago.

Exactly, and all credit to Rebellion, who have clearly worked really hard to try and produce the kind of comics kids might actually want to read. I feel like Pat really should really have learnt something from their approach from before launching into this project, instead of just assuming that he knew best, and that what worked in the seventies and eighties would still apply.

[The Amstor Computer]

I think Spacewarp would have been more interesting if it had been Pat providing the shared universe concept, then letting creative teams do their thing, with perhaps a couple of key strips from him along with editorial input.

As it is, it's an anthology comic with none of the strengths of an anthology comic (different creative teams bringing different tones and approaches etc.) and all the weaknesses of Mills' modern work so you end up with a series of "and now for something *completely* different!" wee episodes of each story that all end up feeling very similar, and no realistic prospect of them going beyond this first issue. I wouldn't be surprised if one or two strips maybe got separate releases, or if we got at least another issue of Spacewarp at some point, but it's clearly not going to be hitting a regular release schedule anytime soon, and certainly not at the pace it would need to to sustain interest in bite-size episodes. 

[judgeurko]

The world moves on, but not all of its inhabitants do. Similar vibes in the Regened threads, really, with people baffled that 2000 AD’s approach to today’s young person demographic isn’t identical to the material they themselves enjoyed decades ago.

& it is equally baffling given that approach that 2000AD expects new young readers to then start reading the standard prog.