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"I say, 'me hole'. Allow me to list a few classic characters: Halo Jones, Swifty Frisco (possibly an inspiration on my avourite comedian ever, Chris Morris), Luiz Cannibal, DR and Quinch, V, Evey, Rorschach, the Comedian, and Dr Manhattan."

Whilst I agree that Moore has created his fair share of classic characters, I feel it's worth pointing out that from your list, DR & Quinch were openly based on OC & Stiggs from Saturday Night Live (not that I know anything about them), and all the Watchmen characters were meant to be revamps of specific old US Superheroes, weren't they? I think Rorshach was meant to be the Question, for example. Of course, what Moore did with those templates, particularly in realtion to their personalities, was original and rather good. I don't like everything he's ever done, mind.

Anyone care to recommend some techno goth bands? Sounds like it might be my cup of tea.

Just wanted to say thanks to the Cosh and Usher for that incredibly useful breakdown of 'goth'. I'm only 29, and not at all familiar with most of those albums. Always liked the idea of goth, though. I've got a Sisters of Mercy best of which is mostly pretty fun.

Now, can anyone explain to me what the 'Eldritch is a wanker' jokes are all about from that episode of Bradley back in the mid 600s? I loved the really early Bradley strips as a 10-year-old, but I didn't understand any of the music references that came later.

Oh, and no, 2000 AD has not become the Establishment. If anything, it's moved so far away from the Establishment that it's not even in a position to be antiestablishment any more. I guess ever since it was bought and sold by Maxwell?

Button, you're a man who pursues many noble quests, and this is one I share. I've whittled my tally down to 45 left to see, but of course the list keeps changing; new films especially seem to launch into the top 100 sometimes and then disappear rapidly. Not surprisingly it's the old and foreign stuff I haven't seen.

My pick of the more obscure titles would be
'The Wages of Fear' and 'Les Diaboliques'

I'm never going to complete this quest though as I absolutely refuse to watch 'Life is Beautiful'.

Great fun, Mr B.

Two questions:
What the hell is with the creator numbers in question 2 - is it their favourite Prog cover?

What role did Gene Hackman play in Chinatown?

Too hard for me (without digging through the last years' worth of progs), but well done and thankis DXB for the effort. Since I'm too lazy to try it properly, maybe I'll try for the comedy prize...

I always liked this piece from Necronauts. Reflects the horror of the story, and moreso the personal horror felt by Lovecraft when he knows he's been rumbled.http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m251/alexfrith/thisisridiculous.jpg">

Fun. Thanks for the link.

Millar's 2000 AD efforts:

Silo - pretty good
Maniac 5 - not bad
Canon Fodder - awesome
Babe Race 2000 - very bad, but somehow funny in an absurd way
Big Dave - pretty good if a bit smug
Grudge Father - good idea done badly
Judge Dredd one offs - mostly bad, but a few great comedy moments
Purgatory - fun
Judge Dredd: Crusade - worst thing ever
Robo-Hunter - half were truly awful, a couple were mildly amusing, and one or two of his later efforts were actually quite good
And a bunch of one offs that were hit and miss, much like every other script droid.

As a rule, Millar seems to be more excited by building up to 'cool' moments and panels rather than featuring coherent plotting and character arcs. Sometimes this works out fine, and other times it rankles.

Could it be Button Man? The Bix Barton story was hardly dark (it was a spoof of the Carry-on Films, wasn't it?), although Button Man wasn't exactly about hunting humans down, more rich old men paying people to hunt each other.

There's a collected Button Man readily available in most bookshops (in London anyway). Bix Barton was reprinted in an EE that you can probably still buy from Tharg's Future Shop. Something tells me it wasn't one of the issues that sold out...

Kung Fu by Ash

"Last night Jackie Chan came round
I played pool with him and we hung out
Mr. Miyagi and the X-men
Called in for a while as well"

Mostly the song references martial arts movie types, but somewhow the X-Men get lumped in, too.

I guess I'm of a younger generation - when I eventually read the Flesh stuff it just felt retro. I was deeply disturbed by most Bisley and Hicklenton artwork. Especially the cover of Megazine 1.14. Where do all those pipes go? How is that helping Dredd get better? Kinda makes me feel sick.

Also Tales from Beyond Science was freaky, the one where the guy had eyes on his nipples and then gouges them out. Or did I make that up? And Steve Pugh's art on 'Monsters', where Feral warp spasms.

And Canon Fodder didn't so much disturb me as blow my mind, mostly because of Weston's awesome God and Devil designs. Although it remains disturbing as well. OOooh and the butterflies scene from Killing Time. And the harp. I think my soul is crying now.

Thanks for the helpful list, Ming.

From that lot, I'd like to see a return of Medivac 318 and Black Light most of all. I guess both weren't as action-packed as most 2000 AD strips, but they had some good intrigue going on.

Also, I'd love to see some new creators have a go at Universal Soldier and Wireheads. Both had great set-ups but suffered from not-so-great actual stories. 1st Universal Soldier (I guess that was in the 80s) was pretty ace, though.

And I could certainly stand to see more one-pff episodes from Bradley, Hap Hazzard and Zipy Couriers. Sci-Fi but genuinely unlike anything else in the comic, which I applaud.

Oh, and maybe more Witchworld, 'cos it just wasn't that bad.

Link: http://meanwhileon.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Meanwhile, on the dark side of the Moon

It would be interesting to see if another character could be a similarly strong anchor as Dredd. The problem is that too many are irrevocably tied to one writer, and often to one artist as well, so they couldn't be featured every single Prog - unless the writer artist team were a bit mental.
Apart from Dredd, Rogue Trooper is the only person to have enjoyed a lot of different writers trying him out. They've all been ok (except Fleisher), but not in the same league as Wagner on Dredd.
Pat Mills has at times managed to ensure that Slaine was in the Prog every week, so he was an anchor of sorts...
Don't think it would go down too well if Dredd only had a couple of outings a year whilst someone else had a turn at being in every Prog, though.

Hey there Meatpie

If you're in London, you might be interested to know that Forbidden Planet are selling off loads of 2000 AD grab-bags - 5 comics in each for £1. This isn't as exciting as it sounds, as each bag seems to have largely the same Progs/Megs, but it so happens that these pack include a random selection of Progs 822-826ish, which features a few episodes of Legend of Shamanna Book 2.

From what I read yesterday, another spoiler for you regarding LoS Book 2:


The rich people who run Time to Time decide to get rid of this Jurassic base and head back home. They leave the crew stranded with no bullets for the dinosaurs to finish off.

Shamanna has by this point learned to talk a bit, (I guess she was captured at some point, maybe end of book 1?). She escapes and re-groups her team of vicious inter-species dinosaurs, recruits the likeable human Sanchez, and they head off to kill the rich folks before they can return to their own time.

So, more of the same, then.