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Just realised, to my horror, I've never received the Harry On The High Rock volume, despite pre-ordering it. I'm used to receiving things late, as I tend to order them through Ace Comics in Colchester so things arrive later through Diamond Distribution rather than newsstand distribution. But Born Bad was in my last parcel which was the volume (or two) after. My online account shows as not allocated, and as it's no longer on the Hachette website, I'm hoping Diamond haven't effed up or been short changed and had to allocate copies to comic stores. Otherwise that one is going to be an expensive Ebay purchase once I know definitively if it's arriving or not.

And thanks for the info regarding the extension / non-extension. As others noted, it may just be someone in the company who's out of the loop and knows nothing about it, and we're still several months away from the 180 finishing up. Hopefully it will still happen, but I'm happy with the 180 (or the parts I've cherry picked) if not.

Happy to say, my Hachette delivery turned up intact and undamaged, so the elusive Armoured Gideon volume is ready to be homed. Once I find some more shelf space!

A quick flick through, it looks ace. Prog 676 was my very first 2000ad, so the big guy is someone I have a lot of nostalgia for, as he was one of the strips in my debut Prog. However, I wasn't sure I necessarily wanted to re-read it knowing how badly some of the strips around that time period have aged (I was genuinely upset how little I cared for Time Flies when I re-read it. I knew volume 2 wasn't great, but I remembered the first book being a lot of fun when it was first published. It has not aged well at all). The positive comments on here, plus seeing Simon Jacobs (and a splash of late era Mike White and early era Sean Phillips) terrific art again, has more than convinced me I made the right choice grabbing this one before it was too late.

I know it's unlikely to happen, and there's not enough material to fill a volume on it's own, but I'd really like to see Brigand Doom get a reprint. Otherwise I might have to dig out the Progs for a re-read. Another one I enjoyed at the time, but wonder if it's aged well, or like a fine milk.

#171 - Armoured Gideon is no longer for sale directly via Hachette. Ordered a copy last week along with #172 & #173, so fingers crossed it doesn't get lost or damaged en route, or looks like I shall be going without that one!

Hi Alec.

Born Bad (Progs 2082-2089)
Three Gifts (Prog 2111)
Mistletoe Kiss (Prog 2162)
Served Cold (Prog 2212-2219 & 2221-2223)

If memory serves, didn't they skip a McNulty strip in the McNulty collection too? I don't think some of those recent post-Carlos one-offs in the bumper year end Progs have been collected either. A Tales of The Doghouse collection collecting those strips, plus various odds and sods that were skipped might be a possibility then, depending on page count.

So this leaves just 4 gaps from the 180 before we embark on the final, final, final extension up to 200 and another 10 months of wild speculation and (for me) cherry-picking. We know one unplaced volume will be The Order, so my hunch for the final 4 is this:

142 - As it follow Slaine & Black Siddha, some kind of Mills-verse volume of uncollected material.
146 - Another Dredd collection. No brainer for me, as this is straight after the End of Days Volume.
148 - Reckon this is where The Order goes. As The Monarch says, fits nicely after the Armoured Gideon volume, so there is a thematic link.
172 - Follows Durham Red, so another Stront Volume? Is there enough extant material?

Don't need Luke Kirby as happy with the Rebellion hardcover.

Durham Red is a no brainer as I love all the Stront stuff (yes, even Strontium Dogs and I can largely look past Mark Harrison's Grud-awful artwork after Carlos leaves thanks to Grant's excellent scripts and the promise of Colin MacNeil's beautiful painted artwork to come).

On the fence about Armoured Gideon though. Enjoyed it at the time and I have a real nostalgic fondness for it (my first Prog was 676 and it was one of the strips in it), but in all honesty I don't know I have much interest in re-reading it or need it taking up space on my bookshelf. Will be a last minute decision I expect!

Sorry to hear that pal. I can imagine the sinking feeling in my stomach as that money went back where it came from 

Was in Birmingham yesterday to see Depeche Mode. Had some time to kill beforehand so visited Worlds Apart. Had a load of Ultimate Collection books for £5. Lucked out and found a copy of ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Volume 2, so have the full run of ABC Warriors in Mek Files & Hachette now. Unsealed, but in good nick if it is indeed second hand or an old display copy.

Also found a copy of The Complete Nemesis The Warlock Volume 2 for £20. Sold my copy on Ebay last year (I have the fancy ltd hardcovers so the softcovers were superfluous and taking up far too much shelf space) and to my utter shock got £77 for it. Had no idea it was so sought after. So that's going straight up on Ebay. Flipping isn't something I do, but as a one off it'll hopefully knock some money off my massive energy bill if I can repeat the trick. Was surprised to see it sat there completely overlooked so may as well take advantage before someone else does.

Didn't realise The Mek Files were all Out of Print and going for silly money now.

Bit the bullet and picked up the final 2 ABC Warriors Hachette Volumes on Ebay. Made an offer on both which was accepted with no hassles, so all good there. So I just need a Mek Files 5 (unlikely) or a cheapish #63 / Volume 28 (slightly less unlikely) to have the series in full.

Volume 113 just turned up. Read the interviews at the end. Some interesting stuff from Clint Langley and Pat Mills, but, like Matt Smith, I've no idea what Pat is talking about saying some of his final strips for 2000ad had poor artwork commissioned for them. Again, like Matt, I always got the impression Pat had final say on who illustrated his stuff. Especially after David Bishop's stint as Tharg where he ended up with an artist on Slaine that he didn't think was the right fit and vowed to stand his ground in future.

Shame it doesn't cover the 2000ad UC, as it would be a good time to snap up the 4 x Red Seas volumes otherwise. Ah well. One day...

On a related note, any idea what the chances of any more Mek Files volumes is likely to be? I skipped the ABC Warriors Hachette volumes because the Mek Files are superior (and the weird way they split The Black Hole Saga which I really didn't like), and of course, Sod's Law, since then they've come to a screeching halt. Now the final 3 Hachette volumes with the uncollected strips are all no longer available on the Hachette site.

Helpfully, the Ebay seller you noted above, inca_books, has the final 2 volumes. Tempted to grab those and cross my fingers for at least a Mek Files 5 one day. But then it's probably easier for Rebellion to get Nemesis reprinted for the 1000th time first, this time in a super deluxe 3D presentation on reinforced steel with Kevin O'Neill's original gutter notes included. And Slaine The Horned God, this time hand signed in blood by Simon Bisley plus a lock of his hair with every copy.

Is Kingmaker still going or is this likely to be a good done-in-one collection to grab?

Also, what is Dead Men Walking? Not ringing any bells with me - side bar says David Bishop / Ben Wilshire / Boo Cook which doesn't sound familiar. It's been years since Bish wrote for the Prog or Meg so it must be something I've read in the past.

Each arc is about 60 pages, so I cannot see that all 4 will be included maybe only 3

Fantastic. Thanks. Still worth my while, as the floppy only collects 1 & 2, and I dropped the Prog after the first episode of 3 was published. One of the few series I was still enjoying at the time, so will be good to finally read 3 in it's entirety,

Hopefully if it is, indeed, stopping at 5, they will manage to squeeze out a second, concluding, volume in the 200 extension. Especially as no doubt they will split it into 3 floppies. I'm still amazed they just re-issued the 2 volumes of Insurrection rather than creating a new complete edition. The JD: Ult Collection volume that collects the whole trilogy in one is the still the definitive edition all these years later!

Any idea how much of Proteus Vex will be in the UC volume? I have the very thin trade which collects the first 2 arcs. Hachette website says 200 pages, so presumably this could be all (to date) 4 story arcs?

I grabbed a copy today from Forbidden Planet (which, surprisingly, had it and Return...). It contains:

• Harvey
• Machine Law
• Guatemala
• The Victims of Bennett Beeny

And seven pages of back matter

Awesome. Thanks. Worth getting then, as that bridges the gap with the Guatemala web exclusive HC I have nicely. Albeit with a small amount of repeated material, but it doesn't make the Guatelmala trade totally redundant due to the omitted parts that sintec mentioned. Great stuff!