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Quick question about varying width of these case files. I've cherry picked a few paperback copies of these over the years and know the case files after 13 are way thinner, though I don't own any after the first 12.

I'm tempted to pick up CS 40 but want to know what the difference is.

Can someone with the entire run, or anyway, a lot of them, post a picture of the spines together?

Blobs has definitely stayed with me. I can picture the Ron Smith art. Crazed brilliance.

Indeed. Horrible, haunting eyes.

[The Suspect]

The Suspect? About a guy waiting to be interrogated.

The prefect cue. Here are my top 3 single prog Dredds


The Suspect Prog 342
Cam's first Dredd. We know this guy has broken the law but have no idea which law; he seems too much like a nice guy. A perfect 'Mega City will grind you down' story.

Death of a Legend Prog 1009
Two parallel narratives: a judicial committee approves euthanasia for McGruder; Dredd has other ideas.

Cockroaches Prog 1627
Dredd has a one on one with an Apocalypse War comrade then exits on page four...and the story takes the most unexpected, incredible left turn.

[300 Seconds]

Dredd is stood on a plinth over looking a Megaway watching the traffic

300 Seconds, prog 1922

https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=1922

[I Beast]

A one and done that stays with me and holds up on multiple re-reads is I Beast. Slightly elongated because of its inclusion in the 1983 Sci fi special, the ten pages are worked to perfection.

Standard monster on the loose tale that intrigues with the revelation of beast's brain inside human body. Then John & Alan subvert the story by revealing the other two halves have also been joined...the human brain (belonging to the Doctor's simpleton assistant) inside the body of the now not so ferocious Keralian Dragon. The final panel with Dredd putting his arm round Igor still kills me.

La Fink will be in Bristol too but won't be attending the Con.

Same for me: I can convince the Mrs to come to Bristol but it might be a stretch to ask her to forego shopping and lunch with her mates to come and watch Glenn Fabry doodling. Ho hum, her loss.

If you have any tips on where to stay, do share.

I have a compted hotel night so will be staying at the Marriott Royal, same as last year. It's a 15 minute walk away across the canal and Queen Square which, if the weather is as nice as '23, is a lovely way to see the city and not far to go if you need to pop back and drop off books or sketches. Doubletree Hilton is of course the ultimate location. Su and team are usually able to get a decent deal on rooms.

What a fabulous episode. Loved hearing about the wandering Ugo's life and finally confirming the connection to The Dark Knight.

I haven't made many purchases from the Treasury but Night of the Devil has gone straight into the cart.

Just bought my weekender tickets too.

I'll sort out hotel and flights closer to the date.

See you all there

I've never bought the Rennie is Niemand theory. Gordon is prolific but this kind of double-barrelled output is Stakhanovite. Besides, the styles are too different, as has been stated before.

If GR is Niemand, could he really lose the Scottish burr and adopt a gentle Yorkshire accent for a full 20 minutes, as witnessed here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vVDcn8LNas

When I heard Neimand say he had 'briefly interviewed Noam Chomsky' years ago I thought for a moment he might be journo Ian Dunt moonlighting as a fiction writer. But he was on the MCBC podcast and sounds nothing like the guy on Thrill-Cast.

 

That would have been pretty rad to be reading 2000ad in '86 and listening to this fresh from the record store

yes, it was as rad as you imagine.

there ios also this, from Sheffield's finest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP_pU-PWdEc

[from the point of view of those outside]

A very Moore plot point in this story was the corps only received wages for time spent fighting from the point of view of those outside of the heavy gravity theatre.

So they all fought for a month straight but only got paid for five minutes. 

[Lawless]

I totally failed to realise the Uplift deputy from Lawless shares his name with the tallest mountain in Africa.

Guess I must have been concentrating so much on his first name, and its murderous implications. 

[Risk Assessment]

1 Risk Assessment This whole ten pages unfolding in, what, four seconds? The ultimate in concise storytelling. 

2 Fitting The Description Carroll adding to the growing crowd of kooky but compelling MC-1 characters to sit alongside Laurel Docks, Dr Carousel, Joyce Jr. I hope we get to see Bob again soon.

3 One-Eyed Jacks Great mash-up, very nicely handled throughout. The 'meeting' between Eartha & Jack and Dredd & Rico may have been my favourite Meg moment of the year.

HM Darke's Mob, and I suppose also Return to Billy Carter since the final page does a pretty damn good job of introducing The Dark Man.

Great points Dash, and great timing. I think you posted this a few minutes before the Mega City Book Club episode dropped, with Eamonn and Peter chatting about the same collected edition.

Totally agree that this is the most fun Alan and John likely had with character names. They are endless and even more fun than the amusing number / name pairings in Harry on the High Rock.

There are a few ongoing gags: a Chinese family who don't want to be bothered, ever.

One of my abiding memories from first reading this aged 13 was of the Koosh Family. That's the way to do it I thought to myself every week; never, ever open the door until you get to where you are going. Such a pity they had to be spoiled by the ridiculous chinglish "Okay, go way. Not bother again until we leach New Tellitolly." Jeez.

Every installment starts with a little blurb like "Ten days into Hell, and there was no turning back!"  Having grown up on the IPC/Fleetway funny comics, I kept expecting them to rhyme, a la Buster etc - "Ten days into Hell, and things still aren't going well!" - but they never did.

Ah come on, there are some corkers in the NEXT PROG strap lines in the final panels:

A Taste of Wayne
A Farewell to Hemingways
That's your lot, Spot
Tyrannosaurus Wrecks

[Mary Poppins]

Actress Glynis Johns, Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins, has sadly passed away at 100.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/04/glynis-johns-actress-dead-obituary/

Good grief the Mary Poppins cast is getting a good innings. Did they cast some kind of magical spell on set? Perhaps Alan Moore was on to something in the final League of Ex Gentlemen.

looking good with it too: this is Dick Van Dyke from a few years back (at a sprightly 94)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL3AijekRYw