Hey there,
Someone on another thread metioned that the rebellion/dc GNs have a recap page and I really think that this should be something that they should do properly in the weekly and the Meg.
I remember once upon a time that this was the case and I think it should return. I don't mean every week but when a series returns. I find it a bit tricky when we haven't seen a series for months on months and it comes back and I don't have the progs to hand to remember what happened. The VCs and Dante come to mind straight away.
Maybe this could be on the website but I think its quite essential for new readers as well to be honest. Imagine if you'd only been reading for a couple of months and the VCs began. You wouldn't have a notion what's going on.
Funnily enough I don't seem to have that problem with recall when it comes to John wagner's Dredd stories or Strontium Dog. I'm a real Wagner fan though so I suppose they just stick in me mind.
Total War was unreal
Be cool
Jamie B
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http://Jamiebeamish.blogspot.com
I just wrote to "Input" with that very suggestion. Good to see other people are thinking the same thing.
As I figure it, maybe Tharg is too close to the material and doesn't see things from a readers perspective.
"Tharg Loses Touch With The Readership"...film at 11.
Tharg does provide such a section in each prog. There's a basic summary of what the strip is about and a line on what is happening now.
i know but I don't think that's enough.
Certainly not for new readers.
You mean the bit in the Nerve Centre? I used to have a look at those, but I found them so repetitive that I eventually started filtering them out (like a flashing casino advert on my hotmail page, my brain has shelved them under "useless").
What I need to do now is go and have a look and see if I need to filter them back in again.
I really do not want to see recap pages. What a waste of time, space and money. I even object to the in the big year end issues.
The little boxes might be useful if they were a bit more exciting. They are good for the irregular/new stories but does anyone really need such a generic one for Dredd?
PLus if a series has been out for a while it is down to the editor to either commission a prelude to get everyone up to speed or get the info across some other way. Recap pages are recrap.
Well they're about 3-4 lines each - which gives 2 lines on "Who is this character?" and 1-2 lines on "What's been going on lately, then?"
I don't normally read those bits, but it's probably important to keep them there every week for any newbies. But I do look at them, just to see the contents of the prog.
But a bigger 'recap' page for returning stories that have been away for a large gap wouldn't be a bad thing. But, these could be (and sometimes are) done in Tharg's talk in the Nerve Centre. Some stories don't need 'em: the likes of Strontium Dog and Sinister Dexter.
More linear series like Nikolai Dante and The V.C.s would benefit.
Well don't forget we've got 3 years of recap on our site, with synopses for every story. plus we try to link back to the last published episode if a series returns after a gap...
Link: 2000ad Review
They used to do recaps before stories - I think it was back when they were doing that whole 'Men In Black' thing - as a sort of sidebar that recapped the series history, the character list, and what was happening at the end of the last episode. I didn't bother with them, since I was a regular reader and could easily remember what happened last week, leading me to believe such a thing is only useful to new readers - and while I'm not saying they need to be brought up to speed so that they don't dismiss the strip as incomprehensible, I just don't think that there's enough new readers jumping on every week to justify dropping that amount of story/advertising space.
And if they've done such a thing before, obviously it was dropped for a reason.
Have to agree with you there, Oddboy: some kind of happy medium between what's there at the moment and the old (wasteful) method of having a splash page for each story.
I agree with Bear: 5 pages of splash history each prog would be an utter waste, but the little sidebar bits don't quite go far enough (IMO).
Some tele series (like Farscape & SG-1) have a "previously on" bit at the start when entering into a story arc that harks back to a previous arc (rather than the previous episode, which might not be as relevant).
It would be quite groovy to see a single page of art and text synopsis for a story that's been away for months: and lazy set-in-their-ways bastich's like me wouldn't miss them (by skipping over the Nerve Centre).
As for online resources, these are great - but only for people with internet access.
with a cheesy american voice:
"Previously....on Judge Dredd..."
Pretty tricky to synopsise [word?] that one, I reckon:
"Previously, on Judge Dredd: cloned, trained, killed brother, saved MC-1 several times from several threats, saved MC-2, nuked MC-2, nuked some other places in passing, arrested a multitude of perps for a multitude of crimes, questioned own judgement, wore tighter boots, ran a sector house, transported to alternate dimension where city taken over by space criminals, got bionic eyes, got shot, stabbed, rended and shouted at a lot, gave democracy a chance and (once or twice) showed compassion."
Recap pages sound like a bad idea to me. I've seen them before in 2000AD/Megazine and they weren't popular. Definitely a waste to devote a whole page to recapping just one story.
Nah lads, ye're not getting me
What i mean is that if it's a returning series there needs to be something to say about what has gone before. I really think thats imperative but I don't mean they should be there every week. Also the amount of space needed would also depend on what has gone before. a number of Strontium Dog tales for example would only need a brief synopsis as to who Johnny and wulf are, while caballistics inc. and VCs etc are dependant on backstory which needs to be filled in either for a new rader or as courtesy for a continuing reader.
Like I said we don't all have the back issues to hand and it would certainly increase my enjoyment of the strip if I was instantly clued up at the beginning of a new arc.
Its hugely short sighted to say that there isn't enough new readers to warrant it. Then the comic has become insular within its own fanbase and will die as they leave.
I'm not talking a huge amount of space, god maybe even a half of the input page to be set aside for a detailed synopsis for a returning thrill (not on the weeks that droid life is there of course. Its really terrific).
I think it makes sense in the long run.
Also I have to say that I'm not dismissing the brilliant 2000adreview website. I visit it all the time and to be honest its been me saviour a couple o times when I've needed to remember what was going on in certain returning thrills. So thanks a million Gavin you do a deadly job. But its a service that needs to be in the prog as well.
be cool
jamie b
jamiebeamish.blogspot.com
I didn't mind the old recap pages myself. If it was well done, I wouldn't mind seeing them in each prog or at the beginning of a returning series.
yours amiably
The problem there is the way tooth is promoted we get three or four new 'books' with every offensive, so those issues could be full of 'previously on Twin Peaks' moments.
I think to rectify the problem the space on input could be used better. But if the stories are written well a synopsis is redundant. I've been out of the game and missed many storylines but I'm understanding things.
Never seen the VCs before, but felt that I came right up to speed with the first ep. Same goes for Cabs Inc. And Asylum 2.
I wouldn't mind recap pages when a series returns after a break, it'd be a good place to put those cool preview images we see that never make it as covers, just print the synops over that. It'd also be like having a extra cover in the prog for that returning series.
CU Krestel
I'd sooner see the first episode of returning long running series take account of the fact that not everyone might be familiar with the characters - recap pages just seem like a clunky way of covering up for writers not writing to the format to me.
I think what Jamie's saying has a certain merit.
He's talking about stories returning after an abscence.
Dante, for example, had a couple of years between this latest run and the previous one, and I for one could have done with a quick 'this is where we left him all those years ago' reminder.
?Killed in a bizarre javelin accident??
"Crippled at birth in a bizarre pony riding accident..."
"Locked in a high security stockade for a crime they did not commit..."
Expect a letter from my solicitor...