2000AD in ten years time...

[paulvonscott]

Anyway, I've also been feeling a bit guilty about my off topic posts, and more generally my lack of any real contribution to this forum.  

So I just wondered where people say 2000AD in ten years time.  You can have a realistic version and a fantasy version I suppose.  You could even have a nightmare version as well if you want.

I personally think that in ten years anything could happen, so it's got suitable scope for nostradmusisation.

[-Pulger-]

nightmare version.
all the great scriptwriters have retired and with the exception of a few who have replaced them, they are burning themselves out trying to write enough material to fill the gap.

the great artists have also retired as arthritis has set into their joints and their eyesight isn?t good enough to stare at computers screens all day. the new breed of artists are too worried about their longevity and careers, so after using comics as their stepping stone in to any artistic career they all move on to work on 3D realistic holo-projected game environments or are doing Tri-D ?videos? for some 30 second wonder pop stars.

replacements for many key jobs are found from within 2000ad fandom and self publishing and the whole nerve centre goes critical as no one can make a decision and they are left sobbing in a corner thinking it would be so easy because they once produced an 8 page a5 photocopied ?comic? for a convention that was then read by the few people that they knew.

or

it?ll continue pretty much has it has done and we?ll be reading the latest incarnation off slaine as pat mills is wired up to a machine that can read his brain waves from his life support machine and many of us will be asking for the long promised return of second city blues.

[shazhughes]

Shouldn't this thread be buried in the Blue Peter garden and dug up in ten years time so we can all have a laugh about it?

[paulvonscott]

I dunno, the last people who dug up the Blue Peter garden, ended up in the News of the World ten years later after that, so it has it's drawbacks.

Anyway, Pulger, I think you'll find that most people who have put their own comic together, then get a rather cold bucket of reality thrown over them.  They see how much work goes into producing so little, and how their lofty dreams look a bit shabby in the light of day, and how the road to comic hell is paved with good intentions (and ideas) and as a result find their understanding, tolerance and mild awe of the professional scene only grows.  But maybe you have to get to issue 3 before you recieve  those sort of revelations...

;)

[Smiley]

(And there was you thinking all an editor had to do was be photographed while speaking into a trimphone.)

Ah, it'll still be going. A nostalgia boom for old Brit comics (some being turned into telly series') will have come and gone, Tharg'll have realised his insane dream of the entire readership subbing and the current creators will have all pissed off to Vertigo and deny all knowledge of having ever worked for the comic.

Flash-forward a few hundred years and Prog Zero of 3000AD will be unearthed on Europa, whereupon a bright blue GM slave-ape chucks a virtual Space Spinner into the sky and the whole shebang kicks off again to the sound of kettledrums.

[paulvonscott]

Reality Scenario:  Booms can't last forever I suppose, unless it's backed up with talented people and some exciting projects.  I think Albion is going to take it all to a new level for a year or two.  2000AD of course will probably go on unneffected, apart from possible garnering more interest.  It'll still be here in ten years, though probably still alone on the comic shelf.

Nightmare Scenario:  It will only waver if there is a drop in readers or something catastrophic happens.  In that case, corporate gravity will probably mean 2000AD is sucked into some supermassive corporation, and what we know as 2000AD will be merely more IP, to be exploited along with the readers.

Personally I'm not sure I can see that happen.  I think we'll be in pretty much the same situation.

Fantasy Situation: I'd like to see 2000AD's audience grow, reaching new and old people.  it's audience growing to six figure levels. Some exciting new talents to emrge that give us the old buzz.  For 2000AD to produce some groundbreaking new stories.  And think another weekly or monthly title with a different focus would be something I'd like to see in the future, though not for some time.

[IndigoPrime]

Realistic version: slow, gradual rises in readership followed by slow, gradual falls in readership. A few great new stories and creators, and a number of "meh" stories and "defections". Same old, same old, with the occasional "wow" moment.

Fantasy version: several 2000 AD characters get optioned and all end up in production in Hollywood. Despite the relocation of Strontium Dog to New York, it is a massive success. Slaine gets unfairly compared to Conan, but surprises its critics by taking a massive box office, recouping its costs several times over. The ABC Warriors CGI TV series manages to gain a cult following, but the DVD release sells extremely well, and although many 2000 AD fans grumbled when Johnny Depp was cast as Nikolai Dante (too similar to "Pirates", too old, too skinny), he proved masterful in the role, and the film was one of the year's biggest hits. The resulting massive spike in 2000 AD's readership and Rebellion's subsequent deal to release an American monthly compilation version with DC led to many of top names returning to the comic, mingling with up-and-coming talent. The Dredd film is now in pre-production with an unknown in the lead, Wagner as Executive Producer, and Ridley Scott directing.

Nightmare version: 2000 AD's sales gradually slide over the next decade, and the magazine's price continues to increase accordingly. The Meg and 2000 AD merge into a monthly anthology, causing many writers to depart for pastures new, due to the lack of potential work per month. The magazine clings on for another year before finally giving up the ghost four issues after becoming a reprint-only mag, with the exception of one new six-page Dredd strip and one all-new ten-page "guest" strip each month. Scojo gloats on alt.comics.2000ad, but there's no-one there to hear him.

[Art]

They'll rename it 3000AD! And it'll be entirely in Holo-visual Computronic Graphics!

[Jared Katooie]

I would guess that readership might dip a little and the cost would slowly rise. 2000AD will still be around but it's future will be very uncertain.

2000ad's lasted a long time but comics seem to be waning in popularity of late and 10 years is a fairly long time in the comics industry.

[janus stark]

"rogu'fri'tor"
all three story arcs come to an end as
rogufritor final gets to kill the writers and editors that kept bringin him back

[Pyroxian]

I dunno - maybe it'll go electronic and we'll read it as some sort of Flash animation thing on our PDA's/Gameboys/PSPs/Mobile Phones - popping into the newsagents every week to download the latest issue via wireless/bluetooth.

   Steve

[Carlsborg Expert.]

Self lighting Fibre optic, magazines.

[Funtwangle]

it will still be here, beyond that who knows

[Queen Firey-Bou]

this thread scares me.

its bad enough being such an old comic fan, but in ten years time i'm going to look really really tragic in my bloody dredd t-shirt queing for hours at a con just to get a sketch of some cutey droid young enough to be my grandsprog, i will struggle to keep up with the plots & moan on & on about why can't they have less action stories & more stories exploring menopausal issues.

thank feck for young fans like max & co, at least there'll be new blood fans & droids, to step in place of faded old sods like me.

[philt]

Best case scenario? 2000AD is the biggest comic in the world
Worst case scenario? It's gone with DC publishing the rump