More self contained stories.

[MOONSHINE]

Some one made the point that the recent short contained stories within 2000AD are a refreshing change from series and characters constantly dragged out for yet another adventure.

I agree. The best thing about The Scrap was that it had a definite beginning, middle and end.
The characters and settings were drastically effected by unfolding events, and were much more entertaining because of it.

One of the best current series in 2000AD is Nikoli Dante. The overreaching plot has been mapped out. Again his world and character have been significantly effected by events. While there are a lot of filler episodes, the story is going somewhere definite. In this case, when it finally does end, we will have to  accept that it is over, and that we enjoyed the ride. This would be preferable to trying to bring him back in an all new direction, or re-imagining the concept.

In any event, how about some more mini/maxi series. Insisting that series come to a natural end will free up writer creativity.

[Woolly]

Couldnt agree more! Apart from The Scrap, which had one too many S's in the title for me...

[Tu-plang]

I've always thought that 2k has had too many short self-contained stories recently.  Every offensive now has at least 2 all-new stories that you won't see again after 10 weeks.  Need more memorable characters!

[Devons Daddy]

it can never be easy to please us all. but the tooth and the meg has hit such a high in recent months, i feel we are getting the best of everything, new characters, story arcs, short and long, and superb new directions. come on red razors WOW,
i dont want this to end the summer offensive was a superb the latest thrill fest has not stopped.
im  happy with the current crop.

[chimp]

Can't say I agree that 2000ad is on that much a high, not sure how 'better than bad' constitutes a 'high'. Still read it of course, but I'm another sad 30 yr old with fond memories of the good old days. I prefer the longer running characters to the one offs (although there's a few one offs I'd love to see return). The only time the long runners stumble is when they reach some sort of natural conclusion or just run out of steam but someone decides that the readers still need to see some rotting corpse of a character going through the motions week after week, Rogue Trooper and Slaine being pretty good examples.

[Jayzus B. Christ]

'someone decides that the readers still need to see some rotting corpse of a character going through the motions week after week, Rogue Trooper and Slaine being pretty good examples.'
I don't know. i think the current Rogue Trooper strips are very well written (although not as good as Cinnabar).  Which is more than can be said for a lot of the old Rogue stories.  But I really think the Traitor General thing should be dropped and a new general motive put in place.

[paulvonscott]

Despite the Meg being good, I think AD iself is still trying to get out of the pit it found itself in, during the nineties.  

And I think it's a much harder task for AD than the meg.  The meg is very good, but only because it has changed and become something very different, a cross between the original megazine, the best of 2000AD and something 'else', a pan-britannic comic that goes beyond the boundaries of the orignal meg and 2000AD.

While 2000AD will never reach the levels it has in the past until you get the creators pouring in the enthusiasm and talent required of the task.  Quite frankly we live in a much more cynical age and I don't think the original buzz of 2000AD will be easily replicated, because the first creators were obviously just thrilled at the oportunity to create something they believed in, the second stage of this was to demand money and rights and all sorts of fanciful notions (though I agree they should be there, it only happens if there is money tio be made) that the british comic industry couldn't support.  

If it could we'd have a british comics scene, that wasn't just one title in WHsmiths.  With rare exceptions I reckon it will stay mediocre (with flashes of stupidity and genius) until something changes.  And much like non-specific urethritis, that missing element is hard to pin down.

As to the original problem, short stories are good for several reasons.  One, is discipline, the other is that we don't have to suffer ten weeks of a shite strip than six and the other is that it means there is moe opportunity for striking a good idea, hough that really should have been spotted before it gets to comic strip stage in an ideal world.

Personally I blame everyone from reader, to creator, to editor to publisher.  In this world you get what you deserve.