Messages

First of all I agree that Henry Flint is one of the very best 2000AD artists and I am grateful that we have him working for Tharg and that he hasn't defected to another publisher. For me his style is a combination of McMahon and Kev O'Neill which is no mean feat as they are distinctly different.

But is he the definitive Dredd artist? For me there are four definitive Dredd artists: Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Carlos Ezquerra and Ron Smith. Ok they are all from the "classic" period. As to the modern age, for me Flint is the new McMahon (as far as Dredd is concerned) with his scratchy but not untidy style and punk attitude. So does he deserve to join the list of definitive Dredd artists? Well sort of. Joining him as he modern "go to" artists for Dredd, in my opinion, are Colin MacNeil and close behind Ben Willsher. I also think that if he can maintain the quality shown on Uprise and transfer that to "proper" Judge Dredd, then we will have a star in Paul Davidson. And we still have Carlos knocking out of the park on Block Judge.

So is Flint the definitive 2000AD / Meg artist? Well I would say there is no one single definitive 2000AD artist. There are those that have done classic work that sticks long in the memory (e.g. Kev O'Neill on Nemesis, Glenn Fabry on Slaine, Bolland on Dredd, McMahon on Dredd and Slaine, MacNeil on Mechanismo, America, and Insurrection) and those that have made significant contributions ( too many too list but those that come most readily to mind are Masimo, Ian Gibson, Brendan McCarthy, Brett Ewins, SBD, Steve Yeowell, Simon Fraser, John Burns). 

If pushed to name the one definitive 2000AD artist, lets set out some criteria:
- designed major iconic character(s)
- designed look of the world major story(ies) are set in
-  has a strip that he is associated with as being THE artist for it (and which feels "wrong" when some one else does it)
- has a large body of working across a number of strips that are of a consistent high quality
- any page is immediately identifiable as his work
- is a great story teller (it is clear what is going on, produces dynamic actions sequences, does great characters).

I think Flint ticks a lot of these boxes and he is probably the most important artist for 2000AD moving forward, but considering 2000AD to date, for me there is one artist who scores more highly across the board on these criteria than any one else, and that is Carlos Ezquerra.

[Toy Story]

Recently bought one of the best motion picture trilogies ever made and have been working my way through it:

Toy Story"

Yes have agree Toy Story is, in my view, just about the best trilogy ever made. Personally I like number 2 the best and think it is just about the best sequel ever - it really builds on the first and takes it further.

I now have two young children and must have seen numbers 1 and 2 about fifty times. Basically if you have to see a film that many times, these are the ones - I enjoy them every time.

The ending of number 3 is truly heart wrenching and wraps up the series really well, but if they were to make another I would happy.

[1st 353 Phil Winslade]

1st 353 Phil Winslade. A great action shot and great bit of art. As Zen says, what's not to like. Just love the way Lawson's head and gun are on top of the logo - really helps the image to jump off the page.

2nd 354 Boo Cook. Nice and dynamic, just a great cover (and from an artist who isn't normally one of my favourites, but Boo has done a cracking job with this).

3rd 350 Brian Bolland. In a massive shock (to me anyway) I am putting a Brian Bolland masterpiece 3rd. Can't believe it - he's my favourite artist of all time. But...but the other two are just better covers. Picking up on the debate that has been going on other threads about the best bit of art not necessarily being the best cover (and yes I voted for Prog 1900 as it was a great piece of art ) - I love the poster version, I love how each character has been lovingly drawn, but it just loses something as a cover, especially with the logo and the writing at the top obscuring almost a third of it.

One thing I hope the strip addresses is how Howard Quartz goes from having an army of 100s (if not 1000s) of Hammersteins to buying a second hand one (plus Ro-Jaws). And not recognising him. I know Return to Earth covered this (a bit)...

Well as you say, this was fairly well covered in the ABC Warriors series Return to Earth and Volgan War. The UN completely prohibits the further use of robot soldiers, after the horrors of the Volgan War and the arms race that Quartz started with his Mark IIIs. Presumably there's a moratorium on ever building any more. Most of the surviving Volgan robots are shipped to Mars as manual labour, along with some of the ABC droids; the rest are melted down en masse in 'demob' camps. So perhaps as little as a year after the end of the war, there would suddenly be next to no ABC warriors left on Earth, and no Hammersteins whatsoever except for our boy. By that point Quartz can't really afford to be picky.

Thanks Jim, sounds reasonable. I have forgotten what happened in the Vogan War. Must dig out those back Progs. In the meantime, I am guessing there is precis of it somewhere? I see one on Wikipedia but was wondering if the good folk on here have done one at some point.

[cover]

Well I thought it was a very enjoyable Prog.

The cover was certainly different to lot of what we saw last year and hey that's not a bad thing - I don't want fully painted stuff all the time and this makes a nice change.

Dark Justice was always going to suffer from being over hyped. I think it would have been good if we were just presented with this rather than being told about it months (years?) in advance. But you know what, I think it is doing a great job of living up to the hype so far. But I do wish I didn't know how many parts it is.

Savage - I really enjoyed this. I recently read the TBH of Invasion (which includes some episodes I had never read before) and I have to say it does not seem to mater that I can't remember much of Savage Books 1 to 8, this seems to follow on nicely from that. It is interesting to note how much more "sophisticated" Savage is compared to Invasion (Mills himself alludes to it not being as sophisticated as modern strips in his intro). One thing that stood out for me was the way Bill's dialogue has changed for the better (in terms of his grammar). This week he says "she's not a terrorist". In the old days I think he would have said "she ain't a terrorist". I am interested in this, as some other comics I read to my 4 year old which are aimed at that age group are full of "ain'ts" and dropped "h's "and dropped t's, and that really annoys me as I am trying to teach him correct English, not introduce bad habits.

One thing I hope the strip addresses is how Howard Quartz goes from having an army of 100s (of not 1000s) of Hammersteins to buying a second hand one (plus Ro-Jaws). And not recognising him. I know Return to Earth covered this (a bit), but I don't buy the change of head as suitable disguise, and would, as mejustnow has said, like to see the transition into Mr Ten Percent.

The Order. Great art, nice flowing story. Job done.

Ulysses Sweet. I came to this expecting the joke to be wearing pretty thin by now but I actually enjoyed this episode.

Orlock. I quite liked this, but there were a couple of things. I am sure East Meg secret services would meticulously plan their operations in advance and wouldn't be discussing which entrance to use when they land (or indeed be doing much talking at all, rather remaining silent so as not to alert the enemy). Also I didn't understand what was happening in the panels at the bottom of page 3 until going back and re-reading. But these are minor gripes (I know the dialogue was really a way of explaining the characters  ).

Been thinking this over for a couple of days now. On the thorny subject of whether a writer should ever get a "free pass", in general I would say no.


But when it is the person who wrote three of what I would consider to be the greatest things ever seen in 2000AD - the first series of  ABC Warriors, Slaine up to the end of The Horned God and the first few books of Nemesis (equalled only by the best of Dredd and Stront)...

When it is the person who created the concepts of all the new strips that appeared in Prog 1 and wrote (or co wrote) those opening episodes...

When it is a person without whom there would probably not be a 20000AD and by implication no Meg, no 2012 Dredd film and this board would not exist...


Then yes I think he probably should (or as close to it as the commercial reality will allow).

And no I don't think everything he has written is great - I stopped getting Crisis because I didn't like Third World War, only bought a few issues of Toxic because I didn't like Marshall Law and believe it or not didn't really like Charlie's War that much.

Oh and one for John Wagner as well. Although I can't imagine that will ever be necessary as everything he writes is great. (Except possibly the last series of Ace Trucking, but as I understand it he and Alan Grant had lost interest in it by then anyway .)

I will admit to having little love for both the Volgan War volumes and Return to Earth. But everything collected in the first two Mek Files (covering Meknificent seven up to Hellbringer) and Return to Mars where phenomenal and I can't wait to see The Third Element, Medusa Wars and Shadow Warriors in hardback.

In my opinion the first series of ABC Warriors is right up there with early Slaine (upto end of the Horned God) and the first few books of Nemesis as the absolute best of 2000AD ever.

( Dredd and Stront not withstanding).

Given what you have said I would think the first edition of the new Mega Collection is a no brainer. As I understand it it contains America and is at an introductory price of £1.99 from 21st Jan.

Also as I understand it America doesn't appear in the case files as it wasn't actually a "Judge Dredd" strip, rather a story set in the Judge Dredd world.

After that - I will leave it to others more familiar with the case file volumes to comment on whether you should go down that route or not (I'm more of an original Prog and Meg kind of person). What I will say though is personal favourites include: The Judge Child saga, Judge Death, Judge Death Lives, the Day, the Law Died, PJ Maybe stuff, Tour of Duty, Day of Chaos, plus many many ones offs and two parters - generally around Prog 120 ish to Prog 450 ish (that's just off the top of my head). And that for my taste the best Dredd is often to be found in the Prog, not the Meg. Certainly all the major events tend to  occur in the Prog not the Meg (but I always buy both).

[NOT]

Did NOT want to see him come to harm I mean.

Dash, my son will be 5 in a couple of weeks. I think the point is different children react differently - my three year old daughter had no problem with it all.

And indeed my son can watch other films which would think have more things in them that he might find scary but he is fine with them.

I think the reason was that he has really bought into Paddington as a character and did want to see him come to harm, where as with other more "cartoony" stuff that isn't the case.

The main point I was trying to make was that an adult isn't necessarily the best judge of what a small child might or might not find scary - the best judge of that is a small child, or really a group of small children.

I don't want to put you off taking your family to this  as it is generally fine, it is just that boy did find it scary.

Thanks for the suggestions. The Ikea shelves look promising.

I'll be 46 in a couple of weeks. I found turning 30 a lot harder than turning 40. But I recently went to a friend's 50th birthday, which is a whole other thing.

Anyway, I often think I was born at a really good time because:

a) it was the right time to start reading 2000AD at (almost) the start.

b) Liverpool where winning everything when I was growing up.

c) virtually all the bands I like where formed before the end of the 1980s.


Now I know you could argue these are self-fulfilling things and if I was born later would be interested in other things, but these are the things I am interested in and I love 'em.

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but it is now come to the point where I need a solution to storing my Progs and Megs.

I have currently have about 1800 Progs and every Meg and am loath to go digital so the problem is only going to get worse.

What I am looking for are suggestions for suitable bookcases, shelves or other storage units to cope with the current quantity I have and hopefully the next 40 years worth.

I am also thinking about putting them in binders - say one for each year. I don't want to put any holes in them so ring binders are out, and i'm not going to individually board and bag each one either. Does anyone know what the best thing to use for this is?

Any help anyone can provide would be gratefully accepted.

[1st ) 1900 Greg Staples Dredd]

Some excellent covers this year and a difficult choice, but a choice has to be made:

1st )  1900 Greg Staples Dredd. Just an amazing piece of art.

2nd)  1874 - Edmund Bagwell - jumping on Prog montage. Just because it's the one I found most memorable.

3rd)  1910 - Glenn Fabry Ichabod. Because it's a great pose and because it's Glenn Fabry and he is at number two in my list of all time favourite 2000AD artists.

It was very hard to leave these out: 1908 (Greg Staples Dredd) but I didn't want to vote for the same artist twice (otherwise this would have been number 1), 1889 (Chris Weston Dredd) which has the clean, detailed  line work I love so much, and 1890 (Karl Richardson Aquila) and 1907 (Richard Elson Kingdom)  which are great action shots. I think a mention for Alex Ronald is required as well - I'm no artist but to me his covers seem to be of a very high level technically.

[Low Life]

Great Prog overall.


I really liked the quiz and I also would like to see more of this type of thing.

I couple of questions on it. So Cosh has said:

Question 74 is wrong.

So what is the correct answer (the effort to sort through my back Progs is too much)?

Re question 78: I though a [spoiler]Lawrod[/spoiler] is more like a laser sniper rifle than a scatter-gun??

Wrt to the strips, it might just be me, but I though Low Life finished very quickly. I could understand it if it was the first part of an ongoing series, but as a one-off I didn't really understand it. Maybe some-one can explain it to me.