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if you already had a relevant blog up and running on wordpress how would you get it hooked into the 2000ad aggregation?


oh yeah - btw the inking on that Death says Greg Staples to me.

heh, beat me to it. Here's both the first newsletter (with the full info on Mogrol's date) and a handy 'sign-up' in the top left hand corner.

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=df39a60ebc972356a8428c41e&id=601c22b791

Minty - nope no date was ever stated - 3A seems to have stuff for order every other week (they run several lines) and it never has a shipping date. Like I said above at the start of each month they set out what is going to ship that month. So Mongrol had a few promo shots, a sale date and then no news until the post at the start of this month saying 'shipping 2nd half August'. That's the first thing that could be considered a shipping date or a commitment as to when it would be delivered.

As for the subs analogy - its simply that, no need to verify it against YOUR experience or expectations for a subscription as everyone is different. If Button Man V was announced to be appearing in CLINT in 2012 I'd probably cough up a sub to cover it even tho i can't stand the writing in the rest of the thing. You can tell me 100 other ways to make sure I get the Button Man issues but none of them may suit me. Much like people who don't want to pay upfront for Mongrol can go buy it off Forbidden Planet once its released. Or Ebay etc..Anyway if you don't like the analogy don't let it bother you - point is 3A for all their products work on a 'its done when its done' basis. They didn't say it would be out in June or July. The only thing they have said is August.

Minty - its real simple, you pay up front and at some point in the year the strip you want appears. Tharg said IA would appear sometime this year but as we all know little about scheduling comes out till very near the time of publication. 

As for 'delays' - the point is there hasn't been any - they don't say when the goods will appear and only give unofficial estimates through unofficial channels (much like 'forthcoming thrills' rumours of 'Dom told me he's drawing a second IA). First date you can nail them to is the 'shipping august' and that's not been delayed. 

They don't put out an official shipping date at purchase.
At the start of each month they list what is shipping at that that month.
Everything else is informal via either Ashley Wood's blog / twitter or their forums/ conventions. No different than buying a sub to 2000AD on the basis that Ichabod Azrael is coming in 2011.

3A's official promo for Mongrol can be seen archived here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?m=201102  and the only mention of it since was the 'shipping late August' that went up at the start of this month here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?p=1679

Everything else is ideal speculation of the fans, estimates based on past delivery dates, dribs and drabs of comment here and there from Ashley Woods (who must get sick of people asking him when) etc.

there's no argument here fellas just opinions.

I avoid the Dredd movie forum for a myriad of reasons but surely they did just stick Dredd to the end 2012 after expectation it was early 2012 or even end 2011? Nobody seems to want to tell them off for that or suggest they are going out of business. As I can recall about 3A they said 'hopefully July' then 'maybe earlier' then 'looks like august' and now 'shipping end august'. Given that they never named a date i can't see whats to get narky at them about. And 3A's business plan clearly works for them as well: they're still in business and people are still buying from them and the majority of the purchasers don't seem to have issue with whats going on. They seem to go to inordinate lengths to keep people happy - as the fxxk up with 3AA that occurred recently shows. 

As for Mongrol at ComicCon - it's pure supposition but I'd imagine they got these from their factories as advances because they knew they would be a hit? I doubt they've x100 sitting around and are just waiting till they can be arsed to send them. Like I said that's supposition, but so is 'if they had these in San Diego then they can have them shipped yesterday'.

CF - just because Pete has heard that 2 more figures are expected that hardly makes it 'announcing new product before delivering existing orders' - certainly don't see any mention of their official blog pages, not even a teaser. Surely you can't be critical that they have considered what ABC Warriors are next and this has leaked out via an informal source? Whats the alternative - no planning till Mongrol is shipped? No fan-interaction that might reveal any product plans? That all seems a bit OTT. 

All this is just fretting where theres no cause. I paid my money and I don't see any reason to give 3A anything but mad love. Much like I have for you two adorable grumblies...

(*tickles Fatboy and CF under the chin*)

Now much more of a concern - which fecking Hammerstein head are they going to do (my vote is for Talbot 'bot).

hurrah. Another 'promote us on twitter / fb' nonsense that fails to comply with UK law on public competitions.


Lots of lovely stuff on that site tho - Tony Lee deserves special kudos for being so generous with his words after the time he received.

Fatboydale

I don't get what your problem is with Mongrol. I've never bought from 3A before but damm right I did for Mongrol. Now its clear when anyone buys from them they have a 'its done when its done' policy and as a small outfit the amount of info, updates and intel they give is pretty good - not a day goes by when their blog isn't updated and in addition they clearly encourage maximum interaction. What more info could they have given for Mongrol? I guess they could have said 'on sale feb, delivered Dec' and that would have been definite enough for you? They said 'on sale feb, hope to ship July' then there was a 'might come earlier' and then a 'not until August'. Fair enough. Thats hardly either too little or misleading info given they are upfront about 'its done when its done'.

Compare that to a traditional company who shit inferior stuff onto shop shelves after one PR flyer and thats it. This is a superior quality item (jebus just LOOK at the videos.. damm) and they can only afford to do it on limited runs. Maybe if hasbro did it they could afford 10,000 units of stock. 3A clearly cant.

If you were sooooo uber-keen to get your hands on mongrol I'd understand but then you'd also be more forgiving and understanding of their approach. However you have such a mood on it must detract from the whole business, which is pretty odd when you're paying over 100 quid an item. I'd like to think you were at least happy about your whole purchase. I mean you've still actually bought one regardless of using the wife as a loop-hole.

Frankly if 3A said 'ah feck, there is a problem and Mongrol dosn't ship till September' I'd be a bit 'boo' about it but not bummed, I'm still just over-joyed looking forward to its arrival and knowing that it will be up to their astounding presentation standards.

Classic 'Euro' artist and so much more besides, F Solano Lopez has drawn his last full cheeked maiden. Genuinely sad news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Solano_L%C3%B3pez_%28comics%29

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08/14/francisco-solano-lopez-rip/

Big congrats to all those keeping Barney alive - its easily my favourite 2000ad related site (present company excepted, naturally) noticed a couple of edits for Barney -

Prog 32-33 has a future shock called 'Excursion' which is 4 pages in total (over 2 progs, 2 pages each) whereas Barney lists it as 8 pages in total.

Prog 6 has a Harlem Heroes Scan that is by O'Neil - un-credited in Barney.

absolutely, plus some common rules to make sure we're measuring the same stuff.

Lobster Random - god knows. Both Lob and Carl Critchlow should be back in the prog ASAP in my humble opinion.

Stickleback - according to D'Israeli, whom i chatted to about this, there will be another series but at the time (June) he and Ian Edginton were still discussing what exactly happens next after the last ending in the Thames. 

Currently moonlighting on BBC's  Chav's to Newcastle programme

PJ HOLDEN



HUFTY (her of 'The Word' and 'Geordie Finishing School for Girls'


 

Right - having done 1-10 here are some conclusions

1) Using Barney you could check by artists via totting up the totals for each separate thrill listed - that would require looking at each individual story of each thrill because while the total page count for a thrill is listed the individual number of pages per prog isnt. So for Flesh bk 1 Barney can tell you it is 87 pages long but to find out how much of that Biox drew you have to look at the individual entries from progs 8-10 to see its 15 pages.

thats the quick way

2) the exhaustive way is looking at the progs afresh - the early progs being the slowest as artists changed so often and their styles aren't immediately obviously different. On the up side you also (by cross-referencing with the ever fantastic Barney) can add some data Barney misses - such as a scan by O'neil in Prog 6 (Barney has the scan but not attributed to O'Neil although his signature is on the page). It also allows you to raise some points for the board to debate - such as 'is prog 4's cover REALLY Carlos? (my thoughts - no, i have credited it to him as that's what Barney lists) and 'who the hell did those uncredited 'Flesh Cards' in progs 8-10? Should O'Neil get the credit for Prog 1 when there is only a small spot illustration obviously his and if so should Belardinelli not get credit for his Dare on the mysterious Prog 4 cover?)  It also allows you to see who was more prolific at what juncture as it is a prog-by-prog. This is obviously a slow way but probably easier once the golden age starts as it tended use less artists and their styles more obvious.

so in saying that.. here's the running total for Progs 1-10
1) BELARDINELLI - 62pgs
2) DAVE GIBBONS - 46pg
3) BIOX - 26pg
4) ENIO - 25pg
5) RAMON SOLA - 23pg
6) MICK McMAHON - 22pg
7) JOHN COOPER - 21pg
8) JESUS BLASCO - 16pg
9) CARLOS EZQUERRA - 12pg*
10) MIKE DOREY - 11pg
11) SAROMPAS - 10pg
12) IAN KENNEDY - 5pg
13) CARLOS PINO - 5pg
      RON TURNER - 5pg
      PAT WRIGHT - 4pg
16) KEV O'NEIL - 3pg
      ERIC BRADBURY - 3pg
18) BARRY MITCHELL - 1pg


* - includes the dubious credit for Prog 4.

If no-one else wants to do it manually I'd be quite happy to do it say 50 progs at a time and stick up the runners and riders here. I'd suggest Progs Only  - covers / story pages / star-scans. No 'next weeks' previews, no 3rd party adverts (except Urban Strike).

However the answer to it all will clearly be Carlos and I'd say Williams / Gibson next.