Today we square off two off two most influential writers in the history of British comics. It is the battle of the supreme masters Mills vs Wagner. So, you have a double vote, one for who is the most influential in the history for British comics and who is the most influential in the history of the prog.
So, are you ready to rumble?
- Pat Mills vs Jogn Wagner the ultimately showdown
Influencial is the key word here. Wagner wins best, influence is a different thing... and British comics opens things out further and brings things like Charley's War into play.and that alone gets me close to giving it to Mills, but since last time I thought about this I've had the chance to read more of Wagner's Battle outpit. And while its not as great as CW things like Darkie's Mob and HMS Nightshade are superb and pull that back.
What decides this for me is longevity. For me Mills has a real Golden Age from mid to late 70s to mid to late 80s. After that he still produces some good work, but his work become increasingly less consistent.
Wagner - well he might do less as time goes on but astonishingly he seems to learn from each thing he writes and some of his best work has been done in the last 10-20 years. He's just an astonishing power house of quality. As such
John Wagner
I'm very biased Pat Mills
Both amazing, both prolific, but from my limited knowledge of 1970s Britsh comics, Mills was just that bit MORE prolific, helping to create not just 2000AD but also Misty, Action, Battle and no doubt more I'm not aware of (did he help set upo Jinty, or just write stories for it?) - while Wagner was an equal (?) partner on Battle and did his time on Valiant and then of course the Judge Dredd Megazine.
I'd say both just as good in terms of creating iconic, long-lasting characters, Mills maybe just a touch more successful in setting up whole comics? And both prove supremely difficult for any writers to emulate, much as they'd all like to!
So yeah, for influence I think it's Mills.
john wagner
Pat Mills
SBT
What a question!
Most influential in British comics? - I suppose that's a close-run thing, and you might answer differently depending on how you were being influenced. I'd err on Mills for this one, just because he's the most obvious self-promoter and flag waver.
Most influential in the prog? - also tricky, because you have key inventions with long print-runs for Mills (ABCs, Slaine, Savage, Nemesis) but then you also have the deliberate wheel-spinning to stick it to the man. Trouble being: that's also the reader getting short-changed. For longevity of quality, you've got to give it to Wagner. Mills inspired Shakara. Wagner inspired Intestinauts.
Object or Force your choice Monday we will see whom is the man
Really hard choice, but for Stront alone, JW gets the nod.
Lets just say this both these two giants deserve all the accolades so John for the prog and Pat for the British industry
Quote from: broodblik on 06 June, 2022, 04:43:50 AM
Lets just say this both these two giants deserve all the accolades so John for the prog and Pat for the British industry
Oh nice work sir! Was it actually a tie?
I'm not sure about influential but most valuable to the British comic's industry - I'd have to say Wagner AND Grant. Looking back at the 80s, these two were writing most of the stories going in all of the Fleetway titles - in more than a few progs they even wrote all of the stories. But it wasn't just volume, they were consistently churning out classics effortlessly. The golden years of 2000AD are basically the Wagner/Grant years with a side of Moore/ Mills/ Finlay-Day. The fanbase that the prog generated to last it into the 21st century was built on the foundations those two created; I really believe that had they not been there in the first place, we woulfdn't be reading the prog today.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 06 June, 2022, 06:26:10 AM
Quote from: broodblik on 06 June, 2022, 04:43:50 AM
Lets just say this both these two giants deserve all the accolades so John for the prog and Pat for the British industry
Oh nice work sir! Was it actually a tie?
No as I interpreted the comments my final analysis came up with the "answer"
So, you have a double vote, one for who is the most influential in the history for British comics and who is the most influential in the history of the prog.
One vote each!
Pat for Comics, John for Prog.
Sorry I should have said on Monday voting closed but the result is just confirmed by the late entries. So it is basically like this:
Pat for comics
John for prog