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I think the cameos become way more frequent in later years (eventually there's a mecha-Thatcher in Robo-Hunter, and of course Ronald Reagan has an extensive run on Strontium Dog). In '77 I like this little cameo by the Muppets when MACH Zero was introduced. It sets a chilling scene. The "I like the Crumpets/Grumpets" chest tattoo would quickly disappear!

What's weird is that Stainless Steel Rat is well-liked, and Rick Random isn't much, despite them both originating from Harry Harrison.

I guess the Rat is much more fun, and feels less retro?

I think that's it. SSR feels very modern with its fourth wall breaking first person narration and incredibly fast action pace. Plus I'd bet in terms of source material Harrison may have worked harder on a novel (Rat) than a comic strip (Random).

That said, in these early Progs any time they aren't publishing Strontium Dog and Robo-Hunter stories I feel like the prog isn't living up to it's full potential!

Just listened to the first episode. Love the English focus group impressions. Very funny.
Will listen to more.

Those kids love their cowboys and dinosaurs! We try to keep our English accents as broad and ridiculous as possible!

Aww, the other things Carlos was busy drawing more-or-less make up for that!

You mean that episode of Rick Random, yeah?

This is a extremely savage burn! But seriously, I tend to agree, inbetween Journey to Hell and Death's Head Ezquerra drew two Stainless Steel Rat chapters, Fiends of the Eastern Front, and a bunch of Tharg one-offs, plus feared pirate Long John Silver drew the Golgotha section of ABC Warriors (Robots vs armored T-Rexs!). It's pretty good output, imo!

Right now my favorite podcasts are:

• The F Plus - "Terrible Things Read with Enthusiasm" a bunch of friends find the worst stuff written on the internet and then read it in silly voices. Definitely NSFW, but also really hilarious!
• I Don't Even Own a Television - The hosts read a bad book and then discuss it. they usually have pretty good insights into the books and keep things fun.
• The Attitude Era Podcast - Three English guys (well two Englishmen and an Irishman) do extensive recaps of late 90s WWF pro wrestling. They are super passionate and knowledgeable about the subject matter, and is fun to listen to even if you haven't seen the matches. I've taken a ton of inspiration from this show and its format.

Oh also I do a 2000 AD recap podcast called Space Spinner 2000, which I'll sheepishly suggest might be worth a listen

And what is Fox's fascination with the Green Cross Code? I bet the TV ads are on YouTube - check them out to see what Darth Vader should have sounded like - his accent FYI is West Country (SW England) generally caricatured as "dumb country yokel" I guess the US equivalent would be a Deliverence style redneck

I have no idea why Fox hates the Green Cross Code so much! It's a children's comic at this point and it seems reasonable to have a thing reminding them to look both ways before crossing the street, imo. We have things teaching kids that here as well, but for some reason it's a real bee in Fox's bonnet!

I'm extremely bummed to have missed the "heavy guard" line, I think it's clear at this point that puns like that are what give me life energy! I haven't read any or Tornado or that much Starlord, it seems very interesting but it's hard to find the time!

Loving it - I remember being pissed off with the Tornado merger at the time - especially Klep, even though it was a one pager.

Wolfie Smith didn't really seem to fit, although I guess it's not much different to something like MACH 0...

I agree about Wolfie Smith, maybe it's just the scale of the threats he encounters and the level of power needed to deal with them? There's not really a ton of crazy action scenes, like John Probe beating guys up with a motor cycle or the hobo army coming to free Mach Zero. It's more just minor threats easily handled by ESP, if that makes sense.

Also, I don't know what to do with these one-pagers you guys. Sooner or Later is really good, but it seems like it's the ONLY good one, unless Dash Decent turns out OK, but I seem to have scrubbed it from my memory, which isn't a good sign!

In our thrilling thirty-seventh episode Fox and Conrad continue their journey through the Galaxy's Greatest Comic with Progs 124-127 of 2000 AD, covering August of 1979. Join us as the ABC Warriors recruit more team members, a mutant army invades Mega-City 1 and both Project Overkill and 2000 AD veteran Dan Dare complete their journeys. Also 2000 AD merges with Tornado magazine, bringing with it new thrills Blackhawk, The Mind of Wolfie Smith, and Captain Klep!

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Please let me know what you think of the episode!

Hurrah, something to distract me from the tramp vomiting on the bus during my daily commute

Welcome....or should that be howdy? (I assume all Americans speak like cowboys)

Some of us speak like surfers...dude

Sorry, I wrote a whole dialog making fun of ant wars but it got eaten by the forum (and possibly giant ants!)

I have become somewhat addicted to these now and am spending every spare minute I have catching up on them (up to 21 now). I have never actually read any of these progs myself, I only know some of the strips through reprints (Dredd and Flesh) but I like the idea of reading them before each podcast. The synopses of some of these early forgotten strips can be hilarious - Ant Wars in particular sounds ridiculous.

I'm not sure if I should start a new official thread for the show or not, but we have a new episode out today!



In our thrilling thirty-sixth episode Fox and Conrad continue their journey through the Galaxy's Greatest Comic with Progs 120-123 of 2000 AD, covering July of 1979. Join us as we get underway with ABC Warriors and Disaster 1990 and we near the finale of Dan Dare

Find the episode here:
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Hi, can I also get full access? Thanks so much!

Haha, that's definitely fair. It's easy to forget what it's like a kid without a lot of options! I'm trying to interact with the Annuals and Specials a bit more, we do a couple quizzes in the '79 Sci Fi Special, and another in the Annual. My goal is to positive when possible!

They're a little harsh on the specials and annuals - jeez guys, reading a few actual words won't kill ya, and those space articles were cutting-edge in 1978!

The one thing that invariably bugs me though is the mispronunciation of names - it's GERRY (same as Jerry) Finlay Day, not Garry! Oh and the downside of listening to them on the morning commute is that they frame each episode with a chart song from that month, which can be real nostalgic earworms. It's embarrasing to spend a whole day singing Silver Lady or Figaro!

Oh man, that's really embarrasing about Gerry Finlay-Day, I swear I've seen that name pronounced elsewhere as "Gary" but I will change my pronounciation going forward (it may take a while for it to filter into the episodes, we're pretty far ahead in terms of taping). I think we are a bit harsher on Annuals and Specials than we could be, usually it's just that the content in general isn't as good as the regular progs and the short stories and features bear the brunt of that.

I'm always happy to put weird ear-worms in people's heads from the opening songs! I always end of bopping along to some old disco track or something, and there was one really funny day at the office when Fox came in singing "Take a Chance on Me" uncontrollably because of the show

It's my new favourite podcast, I absolutely love it. I also really want a "quack, quack Volgs" t-shirt now

Invasion remains a favorite of ours, and coming up there's a call back to "quack, quack Volgs" during our coverage of Disaster 1990 that I think is pretty hilarious!

Borag Thungg Earthlets!
I'm Conrad, new to the forums but a big fan of 2000AD. I've come to the comic pretty recently (like the last 5 years or so), just because it's kind of hard to find here in the States. I guess the big thing about me is that I host a 2000 AD themed podcast called Space Spinner 2000. It's a show I do with my friend Fox. He's a complete 2000AD newbie, and twice a week we review a month of 2000AD progs or a special edition, like an annual. We started from the Prog 1 and have now released over 35 episodes, covering up to July 1979. Feel free to check it out, we'd love to hear from you!

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I'd suggest starting at episode 26, our New Listeners episode, covering the 2000AD/Starlord merger. I hope you enjoy the show and I'll see you around on the forum!

Splundig vur Thrigg
-Conrad

Thanks everyone! It's great to hear people liking the show, it's a ton of fun making it.

Besides our website you can find the show on iTunes, the Google Play store, and most podcast apps. We're currently doing two shows a week and making pretty good progress through the Progs (as well as the SciFi Specials and Annuals).

I definitely agree that the first couple years of 2000 AD can be over represented in recap efforts, it's sort of the nature of the beast, as otherwise you have to figure out a semi-arbitrary start point, you know? On our show we're getting every closer to the 80s, where all the classics live At this point we have no plan of stopping, our current goal is to put out two shows a week until we reach the Megazine, then we'll have to figure stuff out. But that's a 2019 problem