2000 AD Online Forum

2000 AD => General => Topic started by: The Amstor Computer on 24 May, 2002, 08:48:09 AM

Title: Alex Ronald?
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 24 May, 2002, 08:48:09 AM
Anyone know whether he'll be contributing to Tooth anymore? Nice, clean & clear artwork - love to see some more.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: O Lucky Stevie! on 24 May, 2002, 09:00:57 AM
been wondering that myself, blackblood. love to see him back, he was the best thing about lawman of the future.

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 24 May, 2002, 09:23:12 AM
Mmm. I'm rereading Missionary Man: Goin' South just now, and his art is gorgeous. It isn't always suited to the strips he's worked on (Sin/Dex & Rogue Trooper spring to mind) but he clicks perfectly on Dredd & MM.

He and D'Israeli are the two artists I'd most like to see returning to 2000AD - Mike McMahon aside, of course ;-)
Title: fishpaste!
Post by: O Lucky Stevie! on 24 May, 2002, 09:30:36 AM
ever since first encountering d'israeli in deadline i've always wished to see his take on dredd.

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible
Title: Re: fishpaste!
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 24 May, 2002, 10:04:18 AM
I imagine D'Israeli's take on MC1 would be quite something. I'd like to see him let loose writing & illustrating a few one-off Dredds - something in the style of Citizen Snork, looking at the weird side of life in the Meg.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: stodge on 24 May, 2002, 02:48:00 PM
i'm probably going to get shot to bits for this but here goes anyway.  i think McMahon is overated....there, i said it!  i have just read Howler in the Megazine and the art is complete crap.  i struggled to read the story as Mcmahon seems to have left his roots from the earlier dredd to a more picasso look were everything seems to have bee drawn with a ruler and bears no resembelance to the human form whatsoever.  it all angles and bright colours and looks a bloody mess.  i agree that his earlier work was good (but by no means my favourite) but his seems to have dwindled to impressionism as his ego has gotten bigger.  i await your insults eagerly :o)
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: Oddboy on 24 May, 2002, 03:02:41 PM
I said something along those lines a while back & apparently I was wrong & uncultured.
I like his old stuff but Howler was rubbish.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: stodge on 24 May, 2002, 03:08:14 PM
thanks for the support.  what happened to the dead girl then?
Title: IT LIVES!
Post by: Oddboy on 24 May, 2002, 03:44:58 PM
The answer is complex and not very convincing but you all read 2000AD so you'll believe anything, so here goes:

I'm a clone of Dead Oddboygirl whose personality was, just prior to its untimely demise, recorded onto a bio-chip which has now been inserted into my new cloned brain - therefore restoring me to my former lively self.
I droped the 'girl' part because Oddgirl is a nonscrot & is unlikely to ever visit this site so our gestult entity guise was slightly misleading.

It seems that death is just as complicated as life.
Title: Re: IT LIVES!
Post by: stodge on 24 May, 2002, 03:53:51 PM
Err, right then.  i'm an engineer, i'll believe most things really......
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: philb on 24 May, 2002, 04:01:09 PM
I doubt Alex will return to comics,
hes now a 3D computer artist in Glasgow.
He gave me a couple of original pages
of MM art when we worked together.
Very under-rated artist...
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: JTurner on 24 May, 2002, 05:40:28 PM
Alex always seemed to get the worst of it on the input page in 2K. I hated his work on Rogue Trooper and Vector 13, it was just too static and inexpressive. Going South was good, but I could never really get into his work.

I'd love to see more D'Israeli too. Lazarus Churchyard really got me interested in his work. Other than a bit of Sandman, though, I can't seem to find much that he's done (pardon my ignorance), anyone know what he's up to now?
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: GordonR on 24 May, 2002, 06:50:35 PM
Well, Disraeli was working for Cool Beans, but they went bust last week, so who knows where he'll pop up next.

Oh, and I think Alex Ronald's stuff was generally bloody atrocious.  Can't draw faces so you couldn't distinguish one character from another, bodies are always just lumpen shapes, no movement or dynamism in his lines at all, and always either going in too close in things so that sometimes you weren't sure what you were actually looking at, or going the opposite way and pulling back too far so that you weren't getting a good look at what was going on in the panel.  A bit of an all-round disaster, really.

Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: Tex Hex on 24 May, 2002, 06:58:43 PM
Milo, you're right.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: JTurner on 24 May, 2002, 06:59:48 PM
Cool Beans has gone bust?!

They were good, but were too ahead of their time, media wise. Sad, though.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: GordonR on 24 May, 2002, 07:41:36 PM
I'm not so sure about them being ahead of their time.  I think the 'subscribe-to-comics-on-the-net' idea was always a bit iffy.

The allegendly miniscule number of subscribers they had would seem to back up this idea.

And, as someone pointed out to me, the Curse of Marshall Law strikes again.  
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: O Lucky Stevie! on 24 May, 2002, 08:23:15 PM
so i take it that everyone gives ups to my howler sequel idea, then? excellent, if you'd just like to hang on for a mo' whilst mr kingsley gets his chequebook, mr mcmahon...

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible

Link: cubist boots agogo

Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: ukdane on 24 May, 2002, 08:25:43 PM
Should online comics be free?

What would make an online comic worth paying for?
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: GordonR on 24 May, 2002, 08:42:06 PM
I think the idea of online comics generally, free or otherwise, is a bit of a non-starter.  The very expensive failure of Cool Beans kind of illustrates that point.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: JTurner on 24 May, 2002, 08:51:10 PM
I like to read comics elsewhere than in front of a computer. Crashed out on a sofa, or in bed or summat.
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: Leigh S on 24 May, 2002, 09:57:42 PM
I have to say Ronalds art is pretty much the worse I've ever seen in 2000 - Milo sums it up perfectly.  Everyone looks llike theyve been badly moulded out of plasticine and dressed in bin liners.  Their feet are weird triangular stumps that merge with the ground and the figres are utterly staric and lifeless - how anyone could pine for this stuff, I don't know.  Art is  a weird thing I know, but just how obviously poorly drawn, badly designed and ill thought out does something have to be to not draw a few fans?  Sampsons a case in point - people still say they liked his obviously traced and badly coloured versions of catalogue and glamour photos!  

What is it you like about Ronald, as I'd be interested to get some idea about what others see in work I hate (and vice versa?)
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 24 May, 2002, 10:57:16 PM
>>>I have to say Ronalds art is pretty much the worse I've ever seen in 2000<<<

The worst? Have you seen the last Sin/Dex strip? ;-)
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: Leigh S on 24 May, 2002, 11:03:55 PM
LOL Blackblood !

I actually hadn't posted anything about that after I'd slagged off that Tales of Telguuth artist and people had defended what I thought was pretty indefensible art. But you're right - it does actually make Ronalds stuff look good! Particularly hilarious is Thargs spiel about the art having a "zarjaz dynamic John Woo kinetic style" or some such nonsense.  If Tharg is praising this tripe, rather than just putting up with it to fill the pages, I seriously worry about his sanity.

Now I look at that art (and Ronalds and Brashills and Sampsons) and can see no merit in it whatsoever. Yet others can rave about it - when you compare it to the old masters like McMahon, O'Neill and Bolland who sweated blood to produce top quality art its almost like a slap in the face...
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: Oddboy on 24 May, 2002, 11:41:07 PM
Tharg's always hyping his stories - whether they're good or not.  He can't criticize his 'mighty organ' & his big head has always been part of his charm.

Oo-er that could be taken the wrong way!
Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: ukdane on 25 May, 2002, 02:51:40 AM
Hmmm! You might be interested in reading this- from the Ninth Art website. It's basically an article about how the internet and comics should be working together, although it doesn't talk about online comics).

Link: Ninth Art

Title: Re: Alex Ronald?
Post by: malkymac on 27 May, 2002, 04:55:16 AM
I thought his stuff was a bit iffy at first but the MM stuff won me over. I think his work would be a great loss given the progress that has been made over recent years. I loved the strip with JD bringing the mean machine into glasgow for the head butting contest against the local muties.

Contrasting the humour of that with the bleakness of 'Going South' gives a good show piece of Mr Ronalds talents.