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For my part, I find the removal of the obvious signifiers of weekly episode breaks (logos, next Prog captions) mildly annoying as it's attempting to present the strip as something it wasn't and, as you observe, will often make the flow of a story seem rather odd. Plus I spend half my time trying to identify where they were anyway.

I'm okay with both approaches - either remove all signs of the episode breaks or leave in everything, including logos and next-prog boxes. Stories with more cliff-hanger endings would probably benefit from the latter, while I think others - like Cradlegrave - suit being read seamlessly (when I initially read Cradlegrave the first break jumped out, but the rest of the transitions were so smooth I quickly forgot to look for them).

Editing out the logos/next-progs but leaving in the recaps just seems pointless though. 

So anyway:

A while back I bought two 2000ad graphics novels: John Smith's Cradlegrave and Leatherjack. Both great, but one thing struck me in the editing:

Cradlegrave reads like a single piece of work - unless you were looking for the "episode breaks" every 6 pages, you wouldn't even realise they were there.

However, in Leatherjack the "recap" boxes at the start of each episode have been left in. So just after seeing Leatherjack do x-y-z on one page, there'll be a caption on the next page saying "Leatherjack just did x-y-z." Jarring, and I imagine it must seem pretty ridiculous to someone reading it for the first time.

Is it common practice to leave such text in graphic novel versions of 2000ad stories, despite the fact that other episodic markers - titles, "next prog" boxes, etc - have been removed? I'm hoping it isn't, as I can't see any justification for doing so.

Radio NZ ran a very positive review this morning, also gave a good mini-background of 2000ad.

The review's at the bottom of the list of files: (should be accessible outside NZ, apologies if not):

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon

Soon as I heard of today's Sikh temple shooting I thought of Charlie Brooker's old Newswipe piece on saturation coverage of mass shootings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9jn_qUXtMk&feature=youtu.be

It makes me sick to think this is never going to change.

First of all, I'd like to repeat Dandontdare's advice:

1. Be extremely careful seeking or taking medical advice off the internet, no matter how plausible it sounds or how much they know about British comics.

With that caveat, your mention of a permanent headache possible associated with orthodontic treatment reminds me of my mothers experience with TMJ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_disorder . She suffered from severe headaches and dizziness for over a year, went to her GP multiple times to have him shrug and suggest she should see a psychiatrist, and eventually ended up in Emergency after an especially bad session. At long last she was diagnosed correctly, had a splint made and was given a jaw-exercise regime that had her cured in a few months.

It seems to be a condition that very few doctors are knowledgeable about. She had to be referred to a specialist who flies in (to New Zealand) once a month from Australia. Anyway, I hope this info might help, and wish you the best.

For 'essential' Dredd-related stories that aren't, or won't be, in the Case Files, I'd recommend:

Judge Anderson Psi Files 1&2
The Taxidermist
Judge Death: Young Death & My Name is Death
Mean Machine: Real Mean
Chopper: Surf's Up
The Dead Man
The Art of Kenny Who?

What's the story with The Art of Kenny Who? I'm only familiar with the story of that name from the prog, which was only a couple of episodes long. I'm guessing it was continued as a stand alone strip in the Megazine or something?

Saying that, I didn't really get why a mucho burned pyschopath was given a tent,drink and a pile of babes to boot.

M.

Rubbing wenches on a burn was clearly a pre-Roman medical treatment.

Beautiful pieces of history. Very nice!

I like the idea of the organic "monkey" grafted on, especially the idea that it could take over proto-Rogue's actions against his will. It would have made for a very different story from what we ended up with, of course.

The nihilist in me also likes the idea of a lone infantryman just "wandering around, riddled with guilt" through a warzone filled with only slightly less confused combatants. No epic quest for revenge, just a lost dude with a domineering AI sunk into his back. Werner Herzog could have written the square balloons.

No continuation, please. That final ending is just simply amazing and daring.
The whole series was, and I love it, so please no remake either thank you very much.

I used to be very negative about remakes in general, but it's getting so I just don't care anymore. The original will still exist, and the remake will only eclipse the original for people who were never into it anyway.

I started re watching the first series recently. Jeez the first episode is dark!

If you think what we got on screen was dark in Terry Nation's first draft the Federation frames Blake as a paedophile.

What did they change it to in the final version? Wikipedia says they framed him for "child molestation," but it's been almost 25 years since I saw that episode so the details are kinda vague.

A continuation would only work, for me, if they used all new characters. The end of the original series was The End for the original crew, full stop. A sequel set some time in the future, however, with Blake and co. remembered as semi-legendary figures, might work.

On second thoughts, they could bring back Orac. Isn't he still sitting under a tree somewhere?

BTW: does't The Walking Dead do a good job at killing off leading characters? I haven't watched the show, but from what I've heard there seems to be a sense that no single character is guaranteed survival.

I think I always liked the concept of Blakes 7 over than the actual execution, it seemed to be a show whose ambition was a little too big for it's humble BBC budget. I'd quite like to see an updated version, but I have a feeling it wouldn't get away with being as relentlessly downbeat as the original could be, especially if it gets picked up by a non-cable US network.

Another key aspect of the old show that probably couldn't happen in a remake is that any one of the regulars was expendable, even Blake himself. I certainly couldn't see any modern version killing off the lead character halfway through the run.

For me, the low-budget look is part of the charm, just as it is with old-school Dr Who.

It could be translated into modern TV - look at how dark Battlestar Galactica was compared to the original. Can't say I'm terribly excited by the idea, but you never know, it might work. I'd rather see a sequel than a remake, and I hope they aim it at an adult audience.

The way to avoid the "killing off the lead character" problem is not to have a lead character: make sure it's clear from the start that all characters are expendable. Which is pretty much what the original tried to do anyway.

Blake's 7 screened just after Dr Who in NZ. I was a Who fan, so when this similar looking British show popped up on the screen, I watched it. . .

Talk about dark. I'd often play games pretending to be the Doctor, but I could never bring myself to roleplay Blakes 7. There was just too much bad juju attached to that show, I was scared that if I pretended to be Blake I'd bring down the wrath of the Federation on me and they'd make blood, smoke, or even yellow/green slime (anyone remember that episode?) pour from some bodily orifice. Great show.

I've got copies of the LA Quartet, haven't got round to reading them yet. Most of the stuff I've been reading recently is a bit earlier - 50s and 60s - Chester Himes, Ed Lacy, Charles Willeford. You reckon I should crack open The Black Dahlia?