This would look real good on the shelves alongside the Lenny Z GN...
Make sure to include the text story with the spot illos - the only text story I've read in the Meg that was any good!
Yup:
The Simping Detective
Gumshoe - 6pp
Crystal Blue - 24pp
Innocence: A Broad - 24pp
Playing Futsie - 24pp
Fifteen - 8pp
Petty Crimes - 16pp
+
Dorks of War - 6pp
Gallery, notes etc.
110pp-ish in total. Perfect size for a chunky Euro collection, showing off Frazer's gorgeous art at the original publication size. It also ends at an appropriate point with the introduction of the Colours and the tying up of the Raptaur thread.
OBVIOUSLY I'm going to agree.
I also think there's a lot of potential to be had from exploiting the Megazine as a source of collections in general. As we all know not ALL 2000AD readers pick up the Megazine, so whereas a lot of the 2000AD collections have already been read by their audience once in episodic form, Megazine stories would still be relatively fresh to a lot of readers.
Think of all those poor deprived Squaxx who've never seen Koburn, Bandetti, McNulty and the Simping Detective. They're missing out, I say!
-s
With free clown nose, naturally.
Add in the 6 page MC-Noir: "Goons Goons Goons" to round off the collection!
If this got collected i can honestly say i'd buy two copies: one to keep, one to lend to non-scrots. Its THAT good!
Agree with the Megazine reprints idea too, Makes more sense to me that way.
Cursed Earth Koburn is prime material for a Euro-sized collection, especially as it appears to be taking a break after the current storyline:
Cursed Earth Koburn
Sturm und Dang - 24pp
Kuss Hard - 23pp
Burial Party - 8pp
The Assizes - 8pp
Malachi - 24pp?
Rounds out at about 80-90 pages. Throw in a bit about Major Eazy, some dev sketches and designs from Carlos and you've got another decent read.
Bendatti is also perfect for a Euro-style trade, especially considering its Euro-styling:
The Bendatti Vendetta
The Bendatti Vendetta - 46pp
Blooded - 21pp
See Naples & Die - 24pp
Total 91pp, though this could go up with a new installment of the series.
There's plenty of Middenface to get reprinted, but I'd skip Wan Man an' His Dug and go straight to the later Meg tales, so:
Middenface McNulty
Grannibal! - 10pp
Tambo Shanter - 10pp
A Parcel of Rogues - 24pp
Mutopia - 24pp
Brigadoom - 21pp
Killoden - 48pp
Midnapped! - 24pp
A Scottish Sojer - 24pp?
176pp, assuming that "A Scottish Sojer" is that length. Perfect for a US-style collection, throwing in odds & ends like the various covers, the script for "Grannibal!" etc. to round up the page count. I'm not sure how well Ridgway's art would stand up to reducing though - the scratchy, delicate linework might not look so good shrunk down.
I was hoping the latest Anderson story would be out in trades. Will it, eventually?
IIRC, Anderson: Half-Life was scheduled for the middle of this year, but it's disappeared off the most recent schedule Rebellion produced. Perhaps 2007?
I hate to steer away from the Simp a mo, but do you think think this most recent story, in the meg now, is going to be added?
Well I think Lenny Z & the Simp are in a bit of a league of their own as far as recent-ish new Meg characters go.
Koburn I love (I have a signed sketch of Major Eazy by Carlos on my wall after all!) but its not quite the same level. A collection would be welcomed of course.
But Bendatti & Middenface !?? Third division stuff imho.
Link: Major Eazy sketch (bottom of the page)
Whilst it might not make sense because of the (probably) upcoming Case Files, a good preview to a Simping-D collection would be a Collected Simp EE, featuring the many simp-centric stories from the weekly and Meg:
Prog 527: Simp 8pp
Prog 574: Simp About The House 9pp
Prog 1119-1120: Simp City 12pp
Megs 3.15-3.16 / 118-119: Mondo Simp 34pp
Meg 4.14 / 196: One Of Our Simps Is Missing 12pp
That's 75pp, but I probably missed some (that probably don't have 'simp' in the title).
For padding out, there's always It Pays To Be Mental (p468) and It Still Pays To Be Mental (p657).
You could have Jimps, as it sounds very similar and could easily be confused over a bad telephone line.
Well as well as Simps per se there's the Desmond Snodgrass stories.
I'd honestly not considered Si's comments on the fact that a lot of 2k readers don't read the Meg but it makes a lot of sense. I'd happily buy collections of Simp, Koburn, Bendatti, and McNulty.
From the look of it there's going to be more McNulty so the first collection could stop at the end of Killudon. There's room for some interesting extras there if Alan Grant can be pursuaded to write about the various Scots culture things he's riffing off, like the 1960's Culludon Docu-drama from Peter Watkins in the latter part of Killudon.
I think Black Siddhe's first two series would make a decent read too, and could well appeal to a different audience to the usual Meg fare.
So far we've had Family and Bombhead Barry, hardly the best stories.
Re: Megazine reprints
RETURN OF THE TAXIDERMIST!!!
I think we may have scared Jon away with all this talk. :P
Would love to see a Simoing Detective collection, always felt like it would read well in one sitting, guess I'll have to dig out the old Megs then.