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2000ad Action Special

Started by Dog Deever, 26 October, 2009, 02:19:52 AM

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Dog Deever

I got this from a charity shop for a mere £1 Scots the other day- bought it out of curiosity as I wasn't aware of it's existence.
There's some really good stuff in here- Sean Philips' art on Steel Claw, Jim Baikie's Cursitor Doom was pretty nifty as well. Mark Millar's The Spider was a good read too- I liked the bit where [spoiler]Tri-man's costume is stitched to his skin 'to protect his secret identity'[/spoiler]. I liked this. A lot.
Best of all was Doctor Sin with John Smith and John Burns. A good read- tongue in cheek tale where Sin comes across as being a bit, well, mental! [spoiler]"Wherever I go in this village there is waywardness and degeneracy"- sounds like where I live[/spoiler]. The artwork from John Burns was brilliant as usual.

Anyone else get this? Presumably I'll be one of the few who missed it...
Just a little rough and tumble, Judge man.

Mike Gloady

Well done tracking it down.

As I recall those characters were NOT owned by Fleetway/Egmont and of course, once it was published, there wasn't a lot to be done.  Whoops.  Nevermind.  Sadly it'll never be reprinted for those reasons, but still.  Cracking idea.
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Proudhuff

DD it doesn't ring a bell with me, got an image? when is it from?
DDT did a job on me

Mike Gloady

Early mid-nineties. 

The basic concept was to take a bunch of long-dead non-Twoth IPC/Fleetway characters (which, as I've said, Twoth THOUGHT they had the rights to) and reboot them.

I think this was done with a hope to either getting some of them going in the prog or, if reaction was PARTICULARLY good, maybe launching a companion title consisting of retro-thrills updated for today's kids and their dads.
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Mike Carroll


I've always been a little puzzled about this one too... I don't recall whether it sold well, but I do remember a lot of people talking about it at the time. It's definitely worth picking up - though more as a curio than anything else.

More info on http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=specials

-- Mike

Bolt-01

And What a cover!

I really enjoyed this- and would love to see a similar special using early 2k characters, though I suppose that would be the alternity special wouldn't it?

I'll get back to work...

Mike Gloady

I think Kelly's Eye was the only thing to be (briefly) picked up in the prog (and it was the worst of the lot in my opinion) although I think the character had it's first Twoth appearance before the special came out, in the dreadful Universal Soldier. 

Hmmmmm.  Editorial droid writes script featuring old character.  Editorial droid has idea to use old characters in a special and maybe we could use that story with the old character we've used already.  Wonder if it was the SAME editorial droid?

Hmmmmmmmmmm. 

How exactly do you commision yourself?
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Grant Goggans

I think such a special would work if it did what made the Action Special so entertaining: it takes the job seriously.  Nobody takes the piss; everyone just tries to put their own spin on the characters and tell good stories.  That Cursitor Doom episode is really good, and Jim Baikie's artwork perfectly suited for it.

It could be fun: imagine a John Smith-scripted episode of Death Planet, or MACH One with John Burns art.

Mike Gloady

Agreed Grant.  It was a good effort all round (Kelly's Eye excepted - although even THAT at least made a good stab at it).

Rebellion might be sensible were they to find out who owns the characters, license them for a percentage and produce a Twoth-style mini-series with modern creators, very much in this vein and push the resulting collection in the book trade. 

And if the characters in this special aren't possible, there are plenty of other vintage comics characters from that idiom....
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Trout

I was another latecomer to this (a few years ago) and I liked it a lot, especially The Spider.

- Trout

Dog Deever

Sorry MG- while I agree that Kelly's eye was not up to much (I've never been into 'indestructible' characters), Mytek the Mighty- resplendent in lurid Shaky Kane artwork was by FAR the worst- it didn't even have decent art to rescue it from being utter toss.

Other than these two, it was pretty nifty stuff- how about something like this for old Tornado/ Starlord characters? A reboot if you will- just to see if there is anything to pick the bones of. If Marvel/Miracleman can do it...

I think this may have been a tribute- it says 'Dedicated to the memory of Sid Bicknell, 1922-1991' on the inside cover. When I get a bit of time I'll scan in some panels from various stories to tantalise the peeps who haven't seen it.

There's a nice article about old British characters as well.
Just a little rough and tumble, Judge man.

Mike Gloady

Yeah, I didn't cotton to that either.  Fair point.  I thought it might be memory or my personal dislike of Shakey's art that was colouring it so badly, but the truth is I just forgot it. 

It's entirely possible that maybe it was just a massively flawed concept to begin with - after all, you can't polish a poo.
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Dog Deever

Heh!
IIRC- they proved on Mythbusters that you can polish a turd!
:-\
Just a little rough and tumble, Judge man.

vzzbux

I remember that little number. May have to dig it out some time.






V
Drokking since 1972

Peace is a lie, there's only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.

maryanddavid

The best by a mile was The Steel Claw, Philips art was great, and the set up IIRC looked as if a continuing series was planned.
The Spider for me was the worst. The original stories in the Lion are extermely absurd, fu*ked up, ott, but in a charming James Bond villan type way. Millar IMO got an odd story and lazily made the character into a serial killer. The rest of the stories attempted to take the essence of the original stories and update them, Millar didnt.

David