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I know that there is a message in the news section saying that Subscribers will get a new copy, but is there any way of the poor schmuk who bought a copy in their local newsagent getting a replacement copy with the printing error rectified, therefore being able to read the rest of the Simping Detective?

Metcalfe

... aint happy with stuff that's happening at work either do something about it or get another job" clearly over-simplifies. The second option, to "get another job", may not be simple,... The first option, to "do something about it" may also be highly complex...

Okay, so I'm now the enemy of the Dave Bishop Fan Club ;-(  I understand what you're saying about problems getting a job - I commute for a total five hours a day because I'm tied to my location, but I really think that Bishop uses TPO and the new article to try and wipe his hands of the whole debacle.  It got so bad that I gave up on the Meg and 2000 for a few years basically because it had become a stale and dire publication - and this comes from a man who actually enjoyed Time Flies 2 - well the first half of it anyway.  There were bad editorial decisions and even worse wrong ones(the hiring of artists who couldn't draw comics, writers who had no idea of how stories are put together).  Fair enough the marketing people stuck their oars in, and he had problems with management but this is the sort of thing you complain about down the pub with your mates, not in articles a decade down the line.

Oh, and winning awards is no representation of talent and ability, look at Westlife, can't sing or write yet trophy cupboards like Steve Davis' in the 80s  

You've never worked in publishing, have you ...


I do work in publishing having done so for the last five years in various roles, and I stand by my opinion that the whole article, and parts of TPO came across as Bishop whining that it wasn't his fault.  Okay, if stuffs been paid for you use it, that's applicable in most businesses, but to wait 10-15 years to moan about it, well there's just no need.  If you aint happy with stuff that's happening at work either do something about it or get another job.

Metcalfe  

I was referring to his meg stuff.  I have to admit that having not read any of his Phantom or novels I can't comment on them, but his megazine strips were for want of a better phrase absolutely bloody awful.  I had given up at this point but the whole article seemed to be Bishop appologising for bad decisions - the fact that Steve Sampson didn't have a clue about storytelling - well excuse me Mr Bishop, but as this is an integral part of comic art why the hell did you hire him in the first place?  It's all very well in hindsight saying this, and claiming to have no experience of comics editing before hand, but surely the reason the meg went so near to cancellation in the first place was down to bad editorial decisions.  If I was bad at my job I'd expect to be sacked.  This whole article to me reeked of Mr Bishop moaning about how he had to deal with management decisions and company politics rather than admitting he just wasn't very good as an editor.
Metcalfe

Just read the funniest thing in the Meg History articles. Heavy paraphrasing coming up--

Bishop -"  I stopped writing for the Meg when I became Staff, I thought it was akin to stealing work from freelancers"

I've put this through my media bullshit translator and  what comes back is

Bishop - "Im a terrible writer, and all my stuff proved this.  Everyone was laughing at how bad Soul Sisters and StraightJacket fits were so I got told by the boss to stop arsing around or quit and go freelance.  I'd have no chance of making a living as a freelancer so I had to put the crayons back in the box and concentrate on commissioning stuff worse than mine."