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Messages - AlexF

#2101
General / Re: Case files you would like to see
11 August, 2016, 10:06:42 AM
I don't think so. A handful of strips featured Dante parodies (definintely in Judge Dredd somewhere, likely scripted by GRennie), but I don't think there were any actual Dante-world strips that didn't run under the title 'The Adventures of Nikolai Dante'. David Bishop wrote a couple of novels featuring Dante and his world. I read the first and really enjoyed it; if there's ever enough call to turn the novels in comic strips I'd put those up on the list, but I don't think Tharg is that desperate for material at the moment.

I'm slightly surprised at all these calls for a new Nemesis edition. Between the 3 Case Files and the gorgeous Deviant edition hardback (which has books 1, 2 and 3 in full colour, + the poster prog story missing from the Case Files), it has been pretty well served, with all photo stories, star scans and such intact. Although if it's the case that Hicklenton's art on Books 7 and 9 deserves better repro then I'd love to see that! But what we have is way, way better than a lot of the repro quality in the early black and white Judge Dredd Case Files.

I'd agree that any new edition should have the Deadlock solo story included; on a side note to that, I finally read my Shakara collections and discovered a tidbit from Henry Flint that he turned down the chance to continue Deadlock, opting instead to work on Shakara. Some one tell Pat Mills it wasn't Andy Diggle's fault this time!
#2102
General / Re: The Great Unreprinted list
10 August, 2016, 12:24:03 PM
I agree, the spine's the thing! But given how niche a lot of 2000AD strips are, even within our forum world, I'm happy to get reprints that mean I can pick up and read through a whole series in one (or at most two) floppies. The format just doesn't suit those strips that go on for too long across multiple copies. Anyone remember when the Mean Arean killed off the Extreme Edition by taking up three whole issues? On the other hand, the complete, albeit spineless, Revere is an object of joy in itself.

Veyr good to know that Tharg has upgraded his droid reward policies! It'd have been shocking if he hadn't, frankly.
#2103
General / Re: The Great Unreprinted list
10 August, 2016, 10:20:11 AM
Flesh: Chronocide (which I kinda like) was reprinted with the floppy in Meg 312. Is it also in the Dino Files? Which I assume also cover the more recent stuff by James McKay, too, but I could be wrong!

Good to know that the 86ers got their due. The Rogue Case Files also did the Hitman stories, didn't they?

I'm also hoping/assuming that a lot of this list will be covered by the next year's worth of Meg floppies. Well, except for the ones that aren't good, which is apparently an objective measure!

This might be a dangerous question to ask, but does anyone know if creators get the same sort of royalties (if any) from floppies and from 'proper' collections?
#2104
General / Re: The Great Unreprinted list
10 August, 2016, 08:46:53 AM
2000AD -what hasn't been reprinted (yet), in loose chronological order...

MACH One – most but not all stories were reprinted across Extreme Editions 6 and 9
MACH Zero – not reprinted in anything like an easy-to-find volume
Supercovers / Future Shocks (a covers collection generally might be fun one day; at this point most Future Shocks have been reprinted; the ones that haven't are probably really not good, as was often the case in the very early days)

-going a little off-piste:
Mind Wars – technically a Starlord series
Holocaust – also a Starlord series
Timequake – originally a Starlord series, but with one brief outing in 2000AD
Angry Planet – technically a Tornado series; Hebden/Belardinelli is not to be sniffed at!
The Mind of Wolfie Smith – began in Tornado, but had two long-running series in 2000AD
Captain Klep – likewise; the Kevin O'Neill stuff from Tornado is pretty decent
Storm / the Lawless Touch / Victor Drago – all Tornado only
(Given that Ro-Busters + Strontium Dog cover StarLord, and Blackhawk includes the full Tornado run, this is all possible in theory at least)

Tharg the Mighty
– a fair chunk of the early outings for Tharg were actually in Best of Monthly 63, but there are plenty of others. The most famous / notorious would be the episodes from Prog 500 and 1280, I guess.
The Helltrekkers – was reprinted across 6 issues of the Megazine, which is admittedly better than 29 Progs, but not exactly a collected edition. On the other hadn, it's not very good, is it?

Universal Soldier
– the first series is reprinted in 'Tharg presents Sci Fi thrillers', but
two follow-up series have never been reprinted. This may be because a) Writer Alan McKenzie won't give permission for Book II, and definitely b) because he himself didn't have permission to use an old IPC character, Kelly, who features prominently in Book III! -see also Kelly's Eye, another never-reprinted series.

Most of McKenzie's other work for the Prog has also never been reprinted, because he claims copyright on his characters.

Bradley – has had a handful of stories reprinted in Best 105 and Classic 2000AD 2.
Luke Kirby – Summer Magic (unquestionably the best) was reprinted in full in Best 111, but that's it.
Moonrunners, Brigand Doom, Mean Arena (the McKenzie/Williams version) and RAM Raiders have never been reprinted.

Similarly, writer Hilary Robinson also owns copyright on her characters
-   so no easy reprints of Medivac 318 (which is an odd case anyway as it features continuing stories set in a world she had already created in a bunch of short prose stories); no Zippy Couriers; no Chronos Carnival.
-   her work on Tales from the Doghouse, which is charming, has been reprinted in Megazine floppies.

Tyranny Rex – has been reprinted almost in its entirety, but not in an especially convenient way. Stories from the Progs appear in Extreme Edition 21, and Megazine floppies 366, 367 and 368. None of the stories from annuals/specials (including the one that explains why she's suddenly a nun) have been reprinted.

Bix Barton – first two outings were reprinted in Extreme Edition 5, but plenty of stories left
Armoured Gideon – book 1 has been reprinted twice (Best of 115 and EE23); so far none of the rest
Below Zero – the last of a trilogy starring Tanner; I hold out hope this'll appear in a floppy, although it's annoyingly just too long to fit in a single issue.
Dry Run
Harlem Heroes – the solo Slice and Silver outings, plus the second series, haven't been reprinted. Can't see it happening in a hurry, either!
Rogue Trooper Fr1day-style. 'The War Machine' has been reprinted a bunch of times. It's great. Virtually none of the follow-up series, which ran intermittently from Progs 712-1012, and were mostly a bit rubbish, have been re-run. (There's some great art from Henry Flint and Greg Staples in there, mind)
Junker
Tao de Moto
RoboHunter
– rightly enough, none of the Mark Millar serials have been reprinted. (All the Peter Hogan/Rian Hughes ones are in the Complete Droid Files, although the repro quality isn't the best. Could do with a colour version!)
Dead Meat
Trash
The Clown
– book 1 was reprinted in 2 two chunks (most annoying!) in Classic 2000AD 10 and 11; book 2 never
Skizz – book II, which I really enjoyed, was reprinted ages ago by Hamlyn. It's surely overdue to reprinted in a collection with the much-beloved original. Book III has some good ideas in it, mixed in with some dreck. But it's not so bad it'd devalue a complete collection?
Kola Kommandoes
Wire Heads
and ParaSites (which isn't actually a sequel, although it does take place in the same basic world. Please don't reprint these, Tharg...)
Timehouse (criminally underrated fun)
Big Dave
Maniac 5 x2
Dynosty
Soul Gun Warrior x2
The Grudge Father x2
Mambo x3
Strontium Dogs
– the Ennis stuff has been reprinted in Meg floppies (295, 305, 306), and some of the Hogan stuff (Meg 320); I guess the rest may follow one day?
Urban Strike!
Vector 13
(I guess a whole collection might be a bit much but there's gold in there.)
Darkness Visible
Outlaw
Witchworld
(which didn't even finish in the Progs, let alone get a reprint)
I was a Teenage Tax Consultant (not nearly as fun as it sounds, sadly)
The Spice Girls / BLAIR 1 / A Life Less Ordinary (just... no)
Sancho Panzer
Badlands
Red Fang
Vanguard
Roadkill
(This may have been in the back of a floppy...)
Satanus unchained!
Dead Men Walking
The Scrap
The 86ers
RoboHunter
– the Samantha Slade years
Dead Signal
London Falling
Stalag 666
Necrophim
Damnation Station


Probably a bit soon for this lot:
Grey Area
Ulysses Sweet
- Grant Morrison's original short stories were reprinted in EE28 and in a Future Shocks collection; Guy Adams's follow ups haven't been reprinted, but should be!
Outlier
Black Shuck
The Order
Orlok the Assassin
Helium
Deadworld
The Alienist
Survival Geeks
Brink


Then there are some collections that never quite happened, sadly. I guess a floppy might have to suffice?
VCs – Abnett & Williams' final book
Lobster Random – the last story in the Prog hasn't been reprinted, and in fact the series itself is kind of crying out for a final story. (see also Caballistics, Inc)
Atavar – books 1 and 2 were bound together, but not book 3.
Various missing episodes of Sinister Dexter, and a whole bunch of newer stuff, most especially including 'and no dumb minions' and Malone.

Some newer stuff has been American-comic-ified, but I don't know if that counts as a reprint collection:
Zaucer of Zilk
Aquila
Jaegir


and then there's the stuff that is hopefully on the reprint slate:
Judge Dredd Case Files forever and ever amen
Volume 3 for Defoe, Kingdom, Stickleback, Savage
Volume 2 for Ampney Crucis (and another, potentially concluding series, too?)
Another lovely hardback to continue Brass Sun

And then there's the Megazine, which doesn't have much greatness left to reproduce:
Straightjacket Fits
Soul Sisters
Pan-African Judges
Pandora
Cabal
Judge Hershey
The Creep
Young Middenface
(not to mention grown-up Middenface...)
Strange Cases / Tales from the Black Museum
Blood of Satanus
(a series ripe for reappraisal, but I might be in a minority there)
Tempest (best of this bunch by some margin)
Complete Johnny Woo
Black Atlantic
Citi-Def
Samizdat Squad

-and obviously Lawless can't get a trade soon enough!


What did I miss / get wrong?
#2105
General / The Great Unreprinted list
10 August, 2016, 08:41:36 AM
There are various threads on here asking for stuff to get reprinted in collected editions, or Megazine floppies at the very list, but I don't know if there's a definitive list of all the strips that haven't been given this treatment. Anyway, I couldn't resist having a go. Hope this is the right place to post it!
It's a long list, but really not as long as you might think.
#2106
General / Re: Strontium Dog - Question
09 August, 2016, 06:38:23 AM
Leviathan is AMAZING! Honestly, I didn't get into Ten Seconders as much but there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in it, and comedy Welshman Molloy adds a consistent layer of fun.

Has anyone recommended Bad Company yet? One of the best ever series I reckon. Full-on 'war is hell' comics, with philosophical / psychedelic overtones.
#2107
General / Re: Best way to read sinister dexter?
08 August, 2016, 04:26:35 PM
If you really want to re-read all of Sinister Dexter in order, you kind of have to look up the series on Barney and get hold of the original Progs (LOTS of 'em!). It sits in a weird world where it's kind of the only 2000AD strip that's a bit like Judge Dredd, in that the vast majority of it is a bunch of one-off short stories that are often funny, and drawn by a huge variety of different artists. Also like Dredd, it has had a scattering of longer stories, and has an overall continuity that sort of makes it tempting to read the whole thing in order. And that continuity kicks in pretty much from the beginning, with all sorts of characters and villains debuting early on. Sometimes, the long stories are good, but arguably it's the short funny ones that gave the series its longevity.

Unlike Dredd, Sinister Dexter is not universally beloved, so I doubt there's enough impetus to get the whole thing reprinted Case Files style, but you never know!

What exists in 'proper' collected form so far:
Gunshark Vacation (collects the first appearance and most, but not all, of the early stories from Progs 981-1031)
Murder 101 (collects most, but again not all, stories from Progs 1051-1082). If you want a taste of what Sinister Dexter is like, I'd recommend this volume as the best and most self-contained.)
Slay per View (collects most, but once again, not all the stories from Progs 1084-1124.)
Eurocrash collects the epic Eurocrash from Progs 1127-1139, then notriously skips a bunch of continuity that ran under the title 'Donwlode Tales', jumping straight to Progs 1189-1197
Money Shots - not exactly sure what's in this one, but I assume it continues the trend of reprinting most, but not all of the next batch fo stories from Prog 1200-1250ish)

Megazines 330 and 334 have floppies that fill in those crucial 'missing' reprints that would fall within the collected 'Eurocrash'.
335 jumps WAY ahead to reprint Progs 1313-1321
Megazines 374 and 375 (and who knows what in the future) pick up a little later covering a scattering from I'd guess Progs 1348-1450.

And the strip has appeared on and off ever since - so that's years and years worth of potential reprints that are likely to be patchy. Some of the more recent stuff, first by Anthony Williams and then various people on the 'Generica' arc has felt a bit more like it'd suit a collected edition, story-wise.

Honestly, the stuff that has been reprinted is largely an artistic showcase, especially for Simon Davis and Andy Clarke who are arguably the best two regular SinDex contributors. But Dan Abnett's writing and inventiveness, in my opinion, has been top notch the whole way through, even on some of the stories with dodgy artwork.

Reckon I would buy a full-on Case Files series that reprinted everything. But I've given up one buying the collections as there's no one SinDex 'epic' that I really love, except for a certain spoilerific outing...


#2108
Is there a definitive list somewhere of stuff that hasn't ever been reprinted in trade paperback / graphic novel / extreme edition / Meg floppy form? I guess some stuff has gone out of print, and of course there's the Hilary robinson / Alan McKenzie stuff that can't be reprinted for legal reasons, but at this point there can't be much left beyond various one-off stories and all those Tharg tales, which I can't imagine anyone wanting in a bound volume. Even me!
#2109
News / Re: New 2000 AD creators blog
04 August, 2016, 09:05:26 AM
QuoteI'm not sure I've earned my place yet!

An appearance on my blog is purely an accident of mathematics, not a marker of merit.



....but dude, come ON! You've earned it and then some. And don't stop now!
#2110
General / Re: Judge Dredd Graphic Novels - Question!
04 August, 2016, 09:03:35 AM
I get the weekly Progs + monthly Megs, and buy the Case Files as they come out. Not that I always find time to read them...
I occasionally buy trades of the newer Dredd epics, but only if I really liked them (e.g. I did buy Titan, but didn't buy Dark Justice. That one was good, but no so good that I don't mind waiting a decade to get it in the Case Files. I can always read the Progs again!)
#2111
General / Re: Alan Moore on Ezquerra
04 August, 2016, 09:00:10 AM
On the eternal subject of owning IP, is there not a precedent in the world of 2000AD created by Garth Ennis, who bought back the rights to Troubled Souls by agreeing to write Dredd: Helter Skelter?

So in theory, couldn't any given creative team make a similar deal, e.g. Moore and Gibson buy back the rights to Halo Jones (for a fee not of money, but the promise of work), then create new episodes which 2000AD license on the same sort of terms as Button Man, or other creator-owned strips?
#2112
General / Re: Alan Moore on Ezquerra
04 August, 2016, 08:54:21 AM
I get paid a monthly salary to write books for my publihser, who retain the copyright on EVERYTHING. There are many artists who won't work with us becuase they don't want to sign over copyright of their work, which is perfectly reasonable, but I like to beleive we're very up front about it so they're making an informed choice (and to be hoenst, imost artists come to us through agencies who definitely understand that system).

I don't get any royalties based on sales, but I do get Library Lending royalties (often called PLR), something specifically deisgned for writers/artists/designers, and not for publishers. It doesn't addd to much each year, but it's better than nothing! (It's also capped at a max of around £4,000, which I hope the likes of Moore, Wagner, Mills etc are claiming)
#2113
News / Re: New 2000 AD creators blog
03 August, 2016, 11:34:41 AM
Nothing controversial about the latest hero, and one of Tharg's most prolific recently-constructed droids, too:

The Dredd-killer himself, Michael Carroll
http://heroesof2000ad.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/no-77-michael-carroll.html
#2114
Just got to the end of the Cursed Earth episode. Having nostlagia-geeked over the deliberate decision to talk about the Titan albums (which were my first graphic novels, too! Well, alongisde a bunch of Tintin and Asterix), I got to get even more nostalgia-geeked by a late-minute revelation that Jim Moon has been blogging about Horror Top Trumps, one of the only things outside of 2000AD that has remained a lifelong obsession of mine.

http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/great-ghosts-of-shelves-18-horror-top.html
for anyone else wanting to wallow.

Lovely stuff!
#2115
The last time I remember being really excited by ABC Warriors was one of the early Clint Langley books which covered thought police and had massive cranes in the cities doing something or other. But even that was quite a while ago now. I've enjoyed seeing Langley play around with his style for ABCs, but I haven't been able to make head or tails of the story for ages.

Seeing it converge with Savage/Ro-Busters has been fun, I won't deny that, but the Savage end has been the more fun.