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I get the impression last year that Regened wasn't necessarily planned to be a normal Prog (although that may well be wrong). Scheduling must be nightmarish for Tharg regardless, but I would hope with four of these rocking up in 2020 that he's going to deal with long-running series prior to each breakpoint.

Was there not an issue with the FCBD that led to Regened being slotted in as a one-off special prog? Or am I conflating a previous issue Rebellion had with the FCBD with it?

Well, that's exactly what happened last time there was a Regened issue - so that's what I fully expect to happen 4 times next year. I think having to finish all 5 stories together once every 12 progs or so wouldn't be viable. It would also mean there could be no long-form series.

Fair, though I think that having four to fit in and with the experience of the previous one to bring to bear, it's more likely that that won't happen again.

re: long-form series. Could be blanking, but have we had anything running for more than 12 episodes or so in ages?

Well, I could be misremembering, but IIRC there are normally a few filler-ish progs a year already where the crop of current stories are coming to a conclusion and Tharg slots in a Dredd one-off and a Future Shock/Terror Tale alongside the final episodes of the other tales. I'd have no issues at all if the Regened progs are slotted in like that around extended runs of the prog where we've had 10- or 12-part stories (like the current Defoe/Hope/Brink/Deadworld run) going for a while, as a little "intermission" ahead of a jumping-on prog or the start of a new run of strips.

I think that considering the Regened specials in such a negative light is a shame, and I found that last year's one offered as much entertainment as a filler prog usually does (arguably more, as after decades of Dredd one-offs and Future Shocks it's rare that one really does something compelling). Not all of it was to my taste but there are often months that go by where I end up skimming a couple of duds every week in the prog, and I think most regular readers can relate to that occasional feeling of buying out of habit, or buying for two or three stories rather than all five.

Provided Tharg doesn't do anything daft and ham-fisted, like putting running stories on hold for a week to fit it in (highly unlikely, I think) and the quality stays high, I'm happy to see a few weeks each year set aside for a one-off prog aimed at drawing in a larger audience.

[FOUR]

Not one, but FOUR Regened specials planned for 2020!

https://2000ad.com/post/6319

Drawing on four decades of genre-defining characters while encouraging new readers to pick up the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, 2000 AD Regened has something for everyone with a stellar lineup of talent on some of the biggest characters in comics, including Ilias Kyriazis (Collapser), Cavan Scott (Doctor Who), Nick Roche (Transformers), Rob Davis (The Motherless Oven), and more!

The new 2000 AD Regened issues follow on from the successful Free Comic Book Day issue in 2018 and 2000 AD Prog 2130, which was 2000 AD's best-selling issue of 2019.

The first Regened issue of 2020 will be 2000 AD Prog 2170 – a bumper 48-page special issue with a roster of complete stories, on sale from newsagents, comic book stores, and online on 26 February 2020.
The subsequent Regened issues will be 2000 AD Prog 2183 on 27 May, 2000 AD Prog 2196 on 26 August, and 2000 AD Prog 2206 on 4 November.

2000 AD editor Matt Smith said: "2000 AD's 2019 Regened takeover issue was the best-selling issue of the year, so I'm excited to bringing the all-ages concept to four issues across 2020. We've got some great stories and artwork lined up – many by creators making their debut for the title – so I hope these will go down equally as well with readers young and old."

The detail in Matt's quote there is very interesting, and if these specials can be slotted around the usual run of progs to help provide regular readership spikes they could be a boon to the comic in the long-term (and could perhaps see them spun off into their own monthly/bimonthly line in a year or two?)

Postie come and gone and still no prog this week, which means it will be Thursday at the earliest that my sub prog arrives. That's a new record, and coming off the back of the Wednesday prog last week and the uptick in Monday/Tuesday progs it's getting a bit frustrating. No other regular mail is delayed so I can only assume there's a blip somewhere in the pipeline for the prog. Hopefully it gets resolved soon...

Prog and Meg arrived on Wednesday last week, and this week's prog still hasn't arrived. That's the third week in a row where the usual Saturday prog hasn't arrived, and hasn't arrived until Tuesday at the earliest, and the number of Monday progs has been increasing recently too...

No Vigilant   

A comment from John Freeman on FB suggests there is Vigilant news to come...

On the flip-flip side, 100-odd pages of reprint from archive material won't come cheap for restoration (though certainly less expensive than 100-odd pages of new material) especially if they're being recoloured. Definitely seconding the Tammy & Jinty for a more regular slot though - that was the surprise hit from this year's batch for me too.

Some interesting specials coming next year:

https://2000ad.com/post/6056

As this year you can now pre-order the bundle:

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/B0015

That's a fantastic line-up. Touching on Action, Smash and Battle is smart - they're all fondly-remembered and rich for revisiting - and the Thriller Picture Library and Sexton Blake specials all dig a little deeper in to the wilds of the archives. Great to see that Cor! & Buster and Tammy & Jinty will get another outing - well-deserved, particularly for Tammy & Jinty. Interested to see what the Misty Presents... Special will cover, and good to see the now-traditional Halloween-ish special. Nice timing for Roy, and it will be interesting to see who chips in on the Twenty Years of Rebellion special - maybe some of the characters and creators who were there during the early Rebellion years? Not massively fussed for Evil Genius, but willing to give it a crack as part of the bundle.

For creators, Dan Lish is a wild choice for Hookjaw - not someone I'd have pegged for it, so it will be really interesting to see how that turns out. Mike Dorey, Sahlstrom and Flint will all be good fits too. Really interesting selection of artists and writers all around, in fact.

Good to see the talk about getting them back on the newsstands too. It's great to get these titles, and to get them delivered, but even better if Rebellion can continue the push to get new titles back in shops.

Not even that... 250.

Yeah, I don't know why either.

I know they were still trying to shift Fiends of the Eastern Front, Rain Dogs etc a decade later, so maybe they just don't want to risk it, especially if it's just had a h/c in the Hachette one.

Fiends, Rain Dogs etc. were all in the awkward Euro hardback format though - very slim hardback volumes like that just don't seem to be hugely popular over here, and even when I had the disposable cash to buy them as they came out I still struggled to justify picking them up for what they were.

Definitely paperback - https://2000ad.com/post/5984

Slaine: The Horned God – Collector's Edition is a 208-page 210 x 276mm paperback collection, retailing at £19.99/$24.99 and arriving in stores on May 20, 2020.

Counting down to the alternative titles now...

Slaine: The Horned God - We Didn't Think it Too Many Edition?

Slaine: The Horned God - Did You Read Pat's Blog Edition?

etc.

[spoiler]Love the story, great to see it staying in print, but not one for me - I think I must have at least three editions kicking around here, along with the original progs  [/spoiler]

Page count, creator credits etc. suggest this will cover TWW up to the end of Carlos's run on the strip (Crisis #21). 

I don't think that's right. Book 1 ran from issue 1 to issue 14. Throughout that run Crisis was 32 pages long with 2 stories of 14 pages each. 14x14=196, which is 12 pages less than advertised page count of 208. If you allow for cover reprints, intro, title page etc. it's looking very likely it's just Book 1.

Actually, yeah - you're entirely right. I'd forgotten how long the individual episodes of TWW were in the earlier issues of Crisis (I was remembering them as closer to 8-10 pages for some reason). With the extra front/back matter in a collection, I think you're bang on.

It also makes the collection more of a cohesive whole - IIRC it would be all Carlos bar two mid-point fill-in episodes from D'Israeli and Angie Kincaid, plus a McCarthy section in one episode, and wrapping cleanly with Book 1.

Cheers!

Page count, creator credits etc. suggest this will cover TWW up to the end of Carlos's run on the strip (Crisis #21). Not sure whether they will include the Hicklenton/Fegredo/McCarthy episodes as they're not listed on the cover, but I can't see any reason why not and I think the page count would back up seeing all of them included.

Another two or three books would see the whole of TWW collected, but I think there may be a few factors working against that:

-- Much as I enjoy the later stories, I think it's fair to say that the earlier sections of TWW are the strongest as a collection. The later tales are interesting, but less focused.

-- Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra are big names in British comics, and a mainly Mills/Ezquerra collection is an easier sell than a Mills + artist of the fortnight/month billing as TWW became later on. Hicklenton is an idiosyncratic genius, and I adore his work on TWW, but he's not an artist who has the same draw to a wider audience that Ezquerra does (leaving aside the question of whether part of the Treasury remit should be to educate and promote artists like Hicklenton, of course) and other artists like Sean Phillips or Duncan Fegredo may be bigger names now, but they contributed just a few episodes each and their best work was ahead of them at this point.

-- In terms of repro/presentation, being able to use scans of the original TWW artwork from the Ezquerra family archives is a huge plus for doing the artwork justice, as well as another selling point that you wouldn't have with later collections.

I'm sure that if TWW sells well, future volumes will be forthcoming - hell, I'd be surprised if Turbo Jones was a massive seller and that didn't stop Loner getting a collection - but for now I'm just chuffed to see this reprinted. 

Really looking forward to this special - this year's themed specials have been fantastic, and a Thirteenth Floor-themed one-off is right up my street. Lovely cover work from Kyie Hotz too...

(Teasing, but that's an iffy choice of typeface with the missing leg on the "L" - fiddly to read, as the instinct is to scan it as "VINCE IOCKE", "KEIIEY JONES", "HENRIK SAHISTROM" etc. Always a risk with OTT horror-themed type where the exaggerated/distressed/etc. forms can be pushed to extremes), but this is particularly awkward.)

Trump Tower was completed in 1983.  I doubt anyone in the UK had really heard of just another New York property developer Donald Trump when that story appeared years earlier.

When I lived in NY in 1987, he was definitely becoming A Thing by then, at least in the US.  By 1990, he and Trump Tower were well enough known to be majorly lampooned in Gremlins 2

Likely correct - Sump first appeared in 1979, and none of the early stories featuring him seem to have any connection to Trump beyond the similar-sounding name.

The only counterargument I can think of would be that (if I remember correctly) Wagner and Grant have said in a few interviews that they used to devour newspapers to help come up with ideas for Dredd, so it's possible that by the time "Otto Sump's Ugly Clinic" rolled around the ongoing construction of Trump Tower had been mentioned in at least some of the more international-minded newspapers (or possibly mentioned on TV) and when it came to naming the tower Sump had bought, the Trump/Sump Tower conceit was fun enough for them to run with.