2000 AD Online Forum

I`ve been thinking about more bring backs...this time series which weren`t all that good but which could be. For example, there`s no reason why Rose O`Rion couldn`t be good, although it was pretty unexciting last time. On the other hand Synamon was complete garbage and needs a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)
 SO here are my entries for the "not much chop but need another chance"
 Rose O`Rion
 Devlin Waugh (again)
 Bec n Kawl (risky but possible)
 errr I`m sure there`s lots more but I can`t think of any right now...What do you think?
 

I dunno really. This stuff's a bit of a minefield.

Y'see, Rose O'Rion wasn't that good and Synnamon wasn't that bad, because both were pretty forgettable. There's only so much that can be done with a few pouts and poses (anything drawn by Gibson being the exception.)

A solid bit of imaginative world-building, like Nikolai Dante has, is possibly the answer to those two, something that creates stories better than the bland cyber-worlds the strips were lumbered with.

Or perhaps it was the complete lack of any apparent personality in the characters. I dunno. I mean, Devlin Waugh's got bags of personality but never seems to develop as a character thanks to a big diverting cast of flashier supporting characters being introduced at speed, like Pussyfoot 5, so maybe world-building isn't the answer.

And as for bringing 'em back different, a change isn't always as good as rest. Rogue Trooper becoming Fr1day was bad enough, but changing O'Rion, Synnamon et al would muster the same enthusiasm as Soul Gun Warrior becoming Soul Gun Assassin.

"not much chop but need another chance"

And there's the rub, if something's not much cop from the off is it down to a lack of potential or lack of development? I mean, Bison had loads of potential..

...like I say, bit of a minefield.

tough one isnt it.
take durham red.
i like the current story, but i dont like the fact the main character is suppossed to be her.

she is back but differnt. i would have enjoyed this story more if it had a differnt name for the female lead.
its a decent question, but so hard to make the right decision.
who would be an editor. this kind of decsion on a regular basis. not an easy task.

hmmm nerve centre seems to suggest we are lumbered with psynammon for time being

One character that is a must for a revival is FINN..Tharg alone knows why it was cut from the comic..

Cos they saw like all of mills' character that Finn was doomed to drift off into lumpen-eco-heathen-ooh-look-this-is-soooo-political babble?

the "minefield" post is right...a problem with this idea is the fact that absolutely any story COULD be great IF enough was changed (thus making the thread somewhat pointless). I just put it up because I`m racing through a big reread of my progs now and keep noticing stories, I`d like to give a second chance to.
   Finn`s ooh I`m so political and cool babble annoyed the crap out of me too but it was good fun to read

I don't know, I think Dave Gibbons and Will Simpson did a grand job on the original Friday strip. It was only when Tharg decided to take it beyond the initial run that it went downhill.

See, i liked rose o'rion, her early stories in...err...pulp sci-fi?...were good.  The problem was that the put her into this big 8 part (i think) story to early when what they should have done was written shorter stories.  Maybey two parters, then four parters, just to flesh out the character a bit more.  Also, more action.  The covers depicted her as this gun toating lara croft type, but we rarely saw that inside the progs.

What's wrong with bec and kawl?  i think it's bloody hilarious.  Isn't there more in the works?

When (if?) Bec & Kawl return it won't really be 'bringing them back' because they really haven't gone away yet...

Rogue Trooper:The War Machine was an excellent story, but the continued Fr1dayness that followed was horrific!  War Machine comes across kinda like a "movie of the comic" type thing, it didn't need to (& indeed shouldn't) have continued after that, especially trying to tie it back into original continuity, which well no it just doesn't - it's throwaway crap.

Synnamon *was* pretty much a case of bringing back Rose O'Rion 'different' - IMO, it didn't work too well & I preferred the O'Rion 8 parter to Syn.

erk, didn't like O'rion in her first big story and haven't finished Synn yet but I think I prefer Synn so far(cept for the stupid name).
Just re-read Rain Dogs and Vanguard two series that only ever had the set up stories told, admitedly Raindogs was one fight/flight after another but by the end I'd grown quite attached to the two main characters and wouldn't moind seeing what they were up to now, Vanguard ended with book 1 surelly more were at least planned. thought that picked up towards the end of its (limited)run. Dont bring em beck different just bring em back hate it when stuffs left hanging.

CU Krestel

actually FINN had his origins in the 'THIRD WORLD WAR' CRISIS strip whuich was steeped in what u mention and that was the main plot device / reason for strip

its bcos it was so popular and not tied up after CRISIS finished that it was brought back

agree strongly - he intial friday strip was mucho top goodness

there does seem to have been a desire to drag out all these new incarnations based on the reputation of the original story and they dont seem to have listenned to the right section of redership (i didnt like the later friday stories as much, nor STRONTIUM DOGS post-monster, HARLEM HEROES et al)

i never used to send in my little voting slip u see, but the one letter i wrote got printed heh? go figure

also i thought bringing the chips back the way they did was sad, i stopped reading after that for about 3 years i think

i ddnt really see the need for the chips in the rogue trooper friday mythos (u could just have had him talking to himself a la WAR MACHINE, the ghosts of his cmrades as heads that only he could see, a bit like a shell shocked vietnam vet - another missed opportunity and shows what happens when u try and write things out of continuity)

that and the second MEAN ARENA, BIG DAVE arc saw me off really

"Cos they saw like all of mills' character that Finn was doomed to drift off into lumpen-eco-heathen-ooh-look-this-is-soooo-political babble?"

Judging from your text-like semi-illiterate sentence above, I believe what you're really trying to say is "Finn was a fine, upstanding Cornish nationalist sticking it to the English, and I respect him and his struggle utterly."

Kernow bys vyken.

Nope.

I always wondered whatever happened to Crustacia Glemp and the rest of the Helltrekkers.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Crem, likes of Beck n Kawl are the reason 2000AD loses potential readers I'm sure - picture yourself as a wide-eyed fourteen year old grabbing an issue off the shelf to flick through for the first time, and being faced with those two and their "antics"...

Bec and Kawl come in for far too much stick around here.  The art and script are perfectly suited, the whole thing is really very amusing, the concept is good and there's no harm with having a cartoon in a comic.  i'm not going to be too nice about the artist cos he buggered off to lunch when I came up to get a sketch from him at Dreddon.  Twice!

Anyway, they must be going down well with someone or there's no way they'd be on a fourth series.  And if I were your fourteen-year-old, I'd be intrigued by a publication that could allow for such a wide range as to include both this and Dredd and Slaine.

...Dudley

i posted this in the 'whatever happenned to..' thread

im not really too impressed with the ones so far in this, they are pretty forgetable really

but id like it to be afull story rather than just a one off (their 'promised land' should be a city by now )

oh,i'm sorry about that!

I must have been darting around more than i thought.

apologies,

steve.r..

Bek and Kawl is very bad. I can see why people like it but frankly I prefer droid life. It short, it's simple and the charcters dont piss me off.

Enjoying Carver Hale at the mo, anyone know if he'll be back?

CU Krestel

99% certain Carver won't be back ever, since it wasn't all that popular and Mike Carey's now getting more cash and/or groupies in the U.S. anyway.

I thought it was good fun. Still, if shootahs and slags are your thing there's always Savage later in the year.

Bring back B&K - I like them.

I don't think anyone's begging for a 26-part Bec & Kawl mega-epic, but the current policy of short 4-week runs is perfectly fine to me.  It's a cute strip, far preferable to other filler material, especially Telguuth, and Beccy is so darn evil that she deserves a place in the rogue's gallery next to the Traitor General.

--Grant

Bec & Kawl are not likeable characters - and not even good DISlikeable characters.

Sitting alongside Slaine, Dredd, Rogue etc. keeps the comic variable, but every 2000AD strip I have ever encountered featuring wacky humour of this type just seems bland and unreadable.

Keeping the comic varied is one thing, but comedy sci-fi is a strange beast really only successful in films or tv.

Sinister Dexter; now there's how to run comedy undertones without making the characters irritating!

i liked carver hale too - and 'a love like blood' was brilliant

forgot a Love Like Blood, quite liked this one, dark and moody wander what Batboy and his kids are doing now(or did the kids all die, cant quite remember, almost up to it in my re-read rate it when its fresh in my mind)

CU Krestel

I've just finished reading Vanguard Book I.

Dammit Tharg bring me Book II immediately. It may not have been the best thrill ever, but it was certainly too good to end in such a middle of the story way.

i think i liked vanguard,

is that the one with 2 alien space officers (man/woman) that hide as humans trying to stop an army of criminals from taking over lots of humans and escaping

That was Interceptor. Vanguard was sort of Hornblower in space.

Read your progs, Stront! (Actually, that doesn't sound much of a punishment. Quite the opposite!)

Vanguard was a female officer on a spaceship with a nasty bitter & twisted commander hunting an enemy alien captain.
Space fights! gun fights! Mutiny! Punishment!

ah i liked interceptor then, not sure about vanguard will have to look it up

i have read them - i just dont have them to hand