John Wagner topic - can we have some more, please?

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

"How do you do a Dredd strip without the original Dredd?"

ask blake.

[Jim_Campbell]

(He's also keen on Rok of the Rovers, although I can't remember if he said he would do more of that but I wove surprised.)

John's position on Rok of the Reds is that he'd love to do some more if (and I quote) "I don't lose a load of money on it."

It's just a sad fact that the Kickstarter for Vol2 barely limped over the finish line, and the financials for that relied on a long tail of convention sales that didn't happen due to Covid. I know John's heart would love to do a lot more Rok, but there's literally no money in it.

[PsychoGoatee]

Happy to hear he's keeping busy with more comics. We always need more Wagner!

[AlexF]

Based on my sample size of one, so not representative of the world at large, but my 12-year-old football mad son can't get enough of the new Roy of the Rovers comics AND prose novels. I got him both volumes of Rok of the Reds and I know he's read and quite liked the first, not sure if he's got around to the second one yet. But he certainly hasn't gone back to it time and again as he has with the Roy/Rocky Race stuff.

It seems that the appetite for football stories doesn't entirely translate into adding a Sci-Fi element

Meanwhile I'm beyong excited for more Spector - that was a cracking premise, and I find Wagner's exploration of AI / robots living alongsiode humans to be just about the most fun and fascinating version on that entire subgenre of SF.

[broodblik]

I would rather Wagner just write more Dredd. I would not mind more Rok but I never got onboard with Spector (but I am sure as soon as it is out I will read it or even buy it)

[IndigoPrime]

@AlexF: How's your boy with the Rocky stories? My daughter was quite fascinated to have a strip with a girl player. (Alas, her infant school football club smashed all the enthusiasm out of her actually partaking in the sport herself, beyond me and her kicking a ball around in the street.)

[AlexF]

He loves the Rocky stories, possibly more than the Roy ones. Might in part be because he plays defence, too, whereas Roy is more of a striker.

[His twin sister has read most of the Roy/Rocky comics (but not the novels) and liked them well enough but she HATES sport in basically any form, and is a die-hard Manga binge-reader, with a side-order of the Phoenix.
To my eternal consternation, she has no time for 2000AD because "all the art looks the same." Maddening opinons that I just can't counter...]

[Will Cooling]

(He's also keen on Rok of the Rovers, although I can't remember if he said he would do more of that but I wove surprised.)

John's position on Rok of the Reds is that he'd love to do some more if (and I quote) "I don't lose a load of money on it."

It's just a sad fact that the Kickstarter for Vol2 barely limped over the finish line, and the financials for that relied on a long tail of convention sales that didn't happen due to Covid. I know John's heart would love to do a lot more Rok, but there's literally no money in it.

Has there never been any exploration of the Megazine reprinting Rok or carrying a third volume as creator owned content?

[Jim_Campbell]

Has there never been any exploration of the Megazine reprinting Rok or carrying a third volume as creator owned content?

It's not come up in any conversations I've had with John, so I don't know, I'm afraid. I know Matt passed on the series fairly early on its history, and I think the rights for the first series are bound with BHP deal, so even if Matt was amenable to the idea, he wouldn't be able to run the whole story, which isn't ideal.

[broodblik]

Sorry for ignorance but what is a BHP deal?

[Jim_Campbell]

Sorry for ignorance but what is a BHP deal?

The first series was published as a six-issue mini and then a TPB by Black Hearted Press (BHP) and I think the print publication rights still reside with them.

[broodblik]

Thanks, pity that we might not see another Rok

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

the first series was serialised in comics scene - as it gradually metamorphosed into shift - and was very much at home there.

[Daveycandlish]

Oh I would love more Rok - I thought it was brilliant work by the whole team

[PsychoGoatee]

Quick question on those classic Grant/Wagner partnership years. What were the last Strontium Dog and Dredd stories they worked on? I know Wagner was on "Bitch", and I found this fun interview with them both from 1988 talking about it, and their partnership. But was Wagner on The Stone Killers etc, stuff from early 1988? Right up to The No-Go Job?

For Dredd, on 2000AD.org they list prog 577 (June 1988)'s The Sage as the last one credited to them both on there.

https://www.tcj.com/the-john-wagner-and-alan-grant-interview/

I've been enjoying some old interviews with Alan and Carlos at the moment, and always enjoy Wagner ones as well. And it's cool that they worked together again on Bogie Man and Batman/Dredd so soon after the split too. Here's a fun tidbit about Batman/Dredd's release from wikipedia:

Igor Goldkind was 2000 AD's marketing consultant at the time and recalls one successful event:

    I also organised more professional press conferences before major signings and national comic book signing tours, which hadn't really been done on a big scale in this country before. I remember the Judge Dredd vs. Batman graphic novel signing launch at the Virgin Megastore at Oxford Circus in London amazed even the police with the numbers that lined up around the block to get their book signed by Simon Bisley, John Wagner and Alan Grant. The store manager said it was a bigger draw than when David Bowie had done a signing the month previously.[2]

Speaking of John Wagner, I hope there's plenty of Wagner Dredd in 2023! And Spector sounds cool, I still haven't read that special it was in yet. I'll read anything he writes for sure.