Messages

A massive thankyou for dropping in & sharing all of this juicy info - it's much appreciated.

Goodbye, Krool World:

Fantastic title! IIRC, Bad Company Books 1 & 2 reprinted the entire first series - follow this up with a Bewilderness/Krool Heart volume & I'll sell you my kidneys (slightly used ;-))

Stront reprints:

Good to see these two classics getting a decent reprint. If interest is there, is there any chance of this being followed by more tales from the Doghouse?

Death To All Aliens:

Again, fantastic title. If you can say, does this include any of the shorter Nemesis strips (Killer Watt, Terror Tube, The Sword Sinister...)
I know they were in Titan's Nemesis Book 1, so is there any chance of them being reprinted in the new volume?

Future Shocks:

Cool! I know Titan collected a number of Alan Moore's Future Shocks & Time Twisters in earlier volumes, but it would be great to see some other classic shorts making an appearance.

VCs, Necronauts & Robohunter:

Good to know they're being considered at least.

Rogue Trooper:

Excellent! Any idea what'll be making the cut?


As for the others...

The Cursed Earth:

Superb - and hardback too! Any chance of Burger Wars & Soul Food making it in this time, or is the reprint ban still in force?

Innocents Abroad, Muzak Killer:

I can guess what'll be in Muzak Killer, but Innocents Abroad?

The Day the Law Died:

Monsieur - with zese old-school thrills, you are really spoiling us!

Sssssss... ;-)

A volume of New Robohunter should be required reading for anyone intending to resurrect older characters:

"See - this is how NOT to do it. Now get back to work on Shako Returns..."

EVERY story? Even (dum, dum DUM!) Millar's Robohunter tales? :-D

I'm assuming we'll be seeing Phases 2-4 of Zenith collected & reprinted (though I could do without 4...), but what other classic thrills are going to see light of day, or more importantly - what other thrills would YOU like to see reprinted?

I vote for new bound editions of:

Bad Company & Bewilderness/Krool Heart, either as one complete volume or as two seperate books

Strontium Dog. If possible, reprint the whole damn lot over several volumes - and do it by tomorrow (copies for "review" to the normal address ;-))

Nemesis. Five volumes reprinting the entire saga. Two books per volume, including one-offs & filler strips.

Robo-Hunter. Ya just gotta!

Future Shocks. A bound edition of the absolute cream of the crop - it would make a pleasant change from collected mega-epics.

VCs. Pretty please?

Necronauts. Now. With glorious new cover from Frazer Irving. Please?

Rogue Trooper.

Anyone for any more?

Exactly. Why resurrect Rogue Trooper (again) when there's a wealth of material that can be mined that has far more potential than soldier blue?

The sci-gothic Knights Martial would be superb material for any number of tales set during the Volgan Wars. They would be of interest to old-time Tooth readers without necessarily alienating newer fans - you don't have to know what happened in Golgotha or the Black Hole saga to enjoy stories from the Watchtower.

I'm not sure how much mileage the Straw Dogs would have - war criminals don't make particularly sympathetic leads (unless they've had part of their brains burnt out...)

As for other strips... Nemesis has potential, (provided the name's changed) but as for the others...

Any ideas?
The latest series seems to be a return to form for the Warriors - and a far more enjoyable romp than Hellbringer - but what's next for the robots?
More short adventures on Mars would be interesting, but too much of a retread of old & recent thrills, so how about short tales from their past?

I just got my copy of The Mek-Nificent Seven, and reading the introductory stories for each character, there's a wealth of potential stories waiting to be told about the individual Warriors, Deadlock & Blackblood especially.
How about tales from the Volgan War with the Knights Martial & the Straw Dogs as central characters?
The Knights Martial were originally deeply sinister, before they were turned to farce in Khronicles of Khaos & there's a damn good story to be told with them as central characters.
Likewise, Blackblood & the Straw Dogs would be interesting, and in competent hands their tales could be fascinating - and gruesome for all the gore-freaks ;-)

Any thoughts?

Quite right - Steve White made Rogue readable for the first time in years. The series was still a mess, but the individual stories were far better.

Dead Meat... I kinda liked the concept, but the execution left a lot to desire.

The only saving grace of Robohunter - IMO - was Casanovas art. Am I alone on this one?

To be honest, my problem wasn't with the rape aspect, more that the strip just didn't appeal at all. Disjointed & dull - sorry steven :-(

Rogue Trooper under Fleisher? Awful story & Ron Smith's art was just wrong for the character.

Harlem Heroes? The one saving grace was Steve Dillon's art, but is that enough?

zzzzenith.com

Skizz III? Loved Skizz, Skizz II was fun but I never connected with the third book. Again, art's good.

Supersurf 13 - quite apart from my feeling that Chopper should have been left for dead at the end of Song of the Surfer, I hated the blurred, muddy art.

Most of the Strontium Dogs tales before Red reappeared. I'm going to re-read these thrills one day to see if they were as poor as I remember (though the "origin of the Gronk" story was superb) or if it was more that they just couldn't live up to the original.

Bad Company 2002. Bleh. The story came to what should have been a natural conclusion at the end of the Bewilderness/Krool Heart saga. Simply was an enjoyable one-off & Kano was at least vaguely enjoyable. The 2002 series was AWFUL. I'd rate it alongside tales like Apocalypse Dreadnought - just as AD shat all over Rogue Trooper, BC2002 was a pitiful conclusion to one of 2000AD's finest moments.

If anyone can find saving graces amongst this pile, congrats.

Any chance?
I've just been re-reading the Apocalypse War & it's reminded me how good Dredd in B&W can be.
I'll always enjoy Dredd in colour, but it must be 12 or 13 years since we've seen him in glorious monochrome.
If strips like Necronauts, Shakara, Carver Hale, Bad Company, Deadlock & ABC Warriors (you get the point ;-)) can do it, surely Dredd could handle a few progs sans colour?

I know there's the upcoming Death story with B&W art from Frazer Irving, but is this it for the foreseeable future? No plans for any B&W mega-epics from Jock, Ezquerra or Ian Gibson? Is anyone listening? ;-)

On Sin/Dex:

The only story where I really connected with the pair was the marvellous Eurocrash. Since then, the strip has been fun, but it's never been as good, and I don't expect it to be.

Rogue Trooper has been done to death, and I don't think that there's any chance of the current crop of stories faring any better than Fleisher, Abnett or White's take on the character. The character & series has been a mess since the days of Hit & War Machine & I can't see any to salvage it, especially in light of the attempts to mesh Rogue & Friday (and now Tor Cyan!) into one ongoing story. Best to let the Cyan story wind down & tie up the links between the two characters & then bury him for good.

Same goes for Slaine - the 90's weren't kind on the big guy, and after the atrocious last outing I don't see much future in the character beyond one-offs. Maybe Pat Mills can prove me wrong, but I have my doubts.

Robo-Hunter... I don't know. I thought Sam had had his day, but maybe someone could resurrect him. On past evidence it doesn't look likely, but if the series can return to its roots & not Return to Verdus, maybe there's hope - it would certainly add a slapstick element that might serve Tooth well.

Johnny Alpha & the Warriors both have great potential, but I'd hate to see it squandered - they've got what's needed to appeal to both new & old readers.

?25 for 10 is only a "fucking rip-off" if we're talking about issues from around Prog 200-300 onward. If Rebellion are asking for ?25 for bound reprints of ten progs from the first couple of hundred issues, then you're getting a bargain - if you tried to track down & pick up progs 1-10 right now, you'd likely end up spending AT LEAST somewhere in the region of ?200. By comparison, ?25 for reprints of these issues is pretty damn good.

However... if the plan is to extend this beyond the early years & keep on charging the same price, it'll fall flat. ?10 for ten would be more likely to work, but is that going to be profitable?

Personally, I'd be more than willing to shell out ?500 for bound reprints of progs 1-200 on good-quality paper. It's difficult enough getting hold of all of these issues now, let alone in good condition.

Might as well drop a word in for the luddites ;-)

If it was a choice between picking up a copy of progs 1-10 in dead-tree format or on CD/DVD, I'd spring for the originals. I just can't adjust to viewing comics on my TV or computer. There's something about the smell & feel of old comics - something separate from the contents themselves - that is, for me, part of being a comics fan.

However, I would happily pick up a reprint volume of earlier progs. It's always a pleasure to read stories in one volume - I'm sure most long-time fans have the Necropolis saga in prog & bound format, or Apocalypse War & Block Mania volumes beside the original progs. It also saves wear & tear on those precious early comics ;-)

Button Man was definitely one of the high points in the last decade of 2000AD, and although written by Wagner, probably one of the greatest risks.
As you say, it didn't rely on the usual tricks of the more episodic thrills & it was a long & sombre story with a pretty damn unlikeable central character. Kudos to John Wagner for turning this unappealing package into a Tooth classic.

As for Harry Ex & Frankie... Books 1-3 pretty much map Harry's descent into fully-fledged psychopathy. By the end of Book 3, he's probably one of the most unlikeable heroes in the history of 2000AD... but... you still end up rooting for the guy.
Couldn't stand Frankie though - the photo-of-my-kids moment was perfectly played, and I'm glad Harry pulled the trigger. Anything else would have undercut the character - not to mention pissing me off ;-)

My vote goes for the only real choice - the Muzak Killer (Marty Zpok, IIRC)
I just want to see him gun down Pete Waterman :-D