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I'm not at all convinced that comparisons with Dante are valid.  Whilst Valkyries is merely crass and purile nonesense, Dante by contrast references the kind of traditional ribald humour you might find in a Flashman novel: knowing, self-depricatory and generally quite witty.  Dante also has the advantage of far superior artwork and the sense of a strip being completed with real affection: Valkyries, on the other hand, has neither of these things.  Although the main characters may be 'protagonists', as paulvonscott put it, this doesn't even vaguely disguise or justify its numbingly naive 'for the lads' top-shelf attitude.

It's not often I write anything here - I'm just a happy lurker at heart - but this week's prog has left me *so* aghast I feel compelled to say something.

Surely it is Rebellion's ongoing intent to produce a weekly comic that will form the backbone of its franchise operation, a flagship title of which it can be proud and a title that echoes the spirit and imagination of 2000AD at its Golden Age height.

Valkyries betrays all this completely: purient, smutty, dumb, ill-considered, offensive and (most importantly) disclusive of a slightly younger age group that may just form the seed-bed of 2000AD's future audience.  I'm sure that there are still parents who purchase 2000AD for their children, and a stupid, insipid little strip like this is a gross abandonment of editorial responsibility.

If you want to do sex, that's fine, but make it clear on the cover that this is a comic which contains 'mature' material.  And also make it very clear that you're pissing on a great comic's heritage.

Dredd = McMahon (largely for Cursed Earth) & Bolland (largely for Judge Death) equal tie

ABC Warriors = McMahon

Nemesis = O'Neill

Slaine = McMahon (there can be no contest about this at all: the greatest work in comics, period)

Rogue Trooper = Kennedy, although some of Wilson's stuff was sweet

Strontium Dog = Ezquerra, obviously

Of course, some memorable characters were never tackled by anyone else, i.e. Gibson's wonderful stuff on Halo Jones and Ezquerra on Stainless Steel Rat

What is interesting, though, is the issue of who (as in which JD artist) Miller is referencing here: to me, this image has a good deal of McMahon's hallmarks and makes me wonder if Miller was indeed influenced by Lord Mike in his earlier Daredevil/Ronin days...

Dear John, oh yes

Well, at least it seems that (for once) the creators have been given their financial dues and what have you.  Unlike a certain movie we could name...

sb

...Phil Oakey. No???

sb

...and as a recent issue of Comics International noted, the average weekly unit sale of the Beano is double that of the top American DC/Marvel monthly title.

UK comics... the sleeping giant?

sb

While we're vaguely exploring dinosaur nostalgia, does anyone remember the huge kits that (I think) Aurora made... at least, they seemed huge at the time...

sb

You wise and informed people may be aware of this already, but the June 2003 issue of Comic Book Artist (devoted to Alan Moore's ABC line) includes lengthy interviews with both Kevin O'Neill and Jim Baikie.  Both include anecdotes from their 2000AD days, plus (as you'd expect) some interesting concept work and what have you.  And, of course, it features a fascinating interview with the great Mr Moore himself.

sb

you're...playing....with my...MIND!!!

That was a fascinating read: it's nice when someone so talented is also so modest (he's rather like Brian Bolland in that respect).  I remember many years ago Mike was on a discussion panel at Comicon '79, and someone asked the question of what everyone had done before they worked on 2000AD.  The other artists - who included amongst them Kevin O'Neill - reeled off a fair list of achievments, but the unexpected response Mike gave - 'I was unemployed' - got quite a laugh.

You know, for years I've been under the dim impression that he did an interview for Arkensword, but I'm not totally certain about that.  I do have the issues that had the Bolland and Ron Smith interviews, and it has to be said (I think) that the Arkensword articles are the best of their kind outside of Comics Journal, in terms of their exhaustive nature.

Thanks for that, Arthur.  I have had a pretty thorough trawl through Simon's archive in the past and he's providing a heroic service.

It vaguely bugs me, I suppose, that outside of the 2000AD fanbase McMahon never seems to get the credit he deserves: his aesthetic informed so much of what followed, and yet somehow the bigger picture seems to ignore his impact.

As an instance, I'd say his work on Slaine was the finest of its type... just stunning.  It's a shame that the collection didn't feature a McMahon cover 'logo'.

F - that's cute!! Thanks for the information, Logan - it was an absolute pleasure to find his supreme Block Wars work reprinted in the new(ish) Apocalypse War collection.  My original copies fell apart through, I think, sheer astonishment.

sb

Hello folks - first time post here, so be kind!  I was wondering if any of you nice people might have any idea what Mr Mike McMahon is doing at the moment.