Messages

[Higgins 5 nil]

Higgins 5 nil

[Elson 2 : 3 Carlos]

Just because it's Carlos, does it mean he has to win every time?

Richard Elson has become one of my very favourites and he seems to be a perfect match to Dan Abnett's scripts. He has two stories that are his alone. There are not many of Tharg's artists who can say that.

Can the man who brought us the Stainless Steel Rat, Fiends of the Eastern Front, Al's Baby, Cursed Earth Koburn and Spectre compete with that? (There's possibly a couple of other strips I've overlooked there 😉).

Hmmmmm

Elson 2 : 3 Carlos

[Glenn takes it 4-1]

AND both their names end in an 'N'...

Er sorry....what?

Anyway....


Possibly my second favourite ever artist here. Nothing against Clint who seems to be a very decent chap based on the chat I had with him at the 40th, but you know it's Fabry and so:


Glenn takes it 4-1

(I have to give Clint a point as I did buy some art from him).

[3-2 to Tiernan]

A difficult one to decide.

3-2 to Tiernan

[4-1 to Fraser]

Carl Critchlow has got be one of the most underrated of all 2000AD artists; his Dredd is great and I'd love to see way more of it. I'm not a big fan of Lobster Random as a character but his art was good.

But then it's Simon Fraser; Dante's enough before you consider Dredd, Hershey or anything else.

4-1 to Fraser

[it doesn't count]

My main problem with Andy's art is that his characters looks rigid and stiff. Dan is one of those artist which initially did not like at all but has grown on me (it started when I read Rok the God - yes I know his work outside the prog should not count but it is when I started getting into his work).

Yes Rok is the greyest of areas possible, when it comes to "not being by the house of Tharg" as far as this competition is concerned.

So it's written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, drawn by Dan and lettered by our own Mr Campbell. That's about as 2000AD as it gets.

But it's not published by Rebellion, so strictly speaking it doesn't count. In Colin's rules it says you can't take that into account, but if you did, it's gonna be hard for any one else to know.

[Cornwell 2 : 3 Clarke]

Cornwell 2 : 3 Clarke

[Coleby 2 : 2 Davis]

Coleby 2 : 2 Davis

The weather forced an abandonment before they reached the 18th green.

Why I oughta...

Well ok then...a break in the weather allows a brief resumption; enough for Coleby to sink a 40 footer to complete his come back from three holes down on the front nine:

Coleby 3 : 2 Davis

[Coleby 2 : 2 Davis]

Coleby 2 : 2 Davis

The weather forced an abandonment before they reached the 18th green.

[Percival 0 : 5 Talbot]

Percival 0 : 5 Talbot

[Lynch 1 : 4 McMahon]

Jake Lynch is one of Tharg's most improved artists; I can see a bit McMahon and a bit of Henry Flint in his work. The highest praise I can give him is I didn't miss Flint at all on the latest series of Proteus Vex.

McMahon is a difficult artist to assess for me. I wasn't really a fan when I started reading 2000AD, but that more because I was more in the Bolland and Ron Smith camps. I came to appreciate his early Dredd later on. It took me a while to get his Slaine; now they are some of my favourite episodes but I still prefer Fabry and Belardinelli.

I don't like the styles he has used for the last 30 odd years. At all. It's just not for me.

But then when I consider the iconic Dredd images, the iconic covers - the Platinum Horde as well as Dredd- then there can only be one winner:

Lynch 1 : 4 McMahon

[Taylor 5 : 0 Redondo]

Taylor's recent run on Megatropolis has catapulted him into the highest echelon of artists for me. I never really got Redondo's art - it always seem a bit scrappy to me, and so it's an easy choice:


Taylor 5 : 0 Redondo

Fair play.  I was mulling this one over in my head so much, I let the deadline pass.  For me, the Horned God features some of the most amazing art the prog has ever had.  It was an absolute revelation to me at the time and I still gaze in awe at it these days.  But then there's America, Song of the Surfer, Mechanismo, Johnny's death (well, I liked it), so I'm happy with that result.

The vote isn't closed. That was just Colin casting his vote, not giving us the result.


So you still have time to give your score.

With Team MacNeil showing The Biz only heals we might see another gain for the Current

As the narrator said at the start of Hong Kong Phooey - 'Could be..'

Here's the thing- Burns and MacNeil are as "classic" 2000AD artists as just about anyone; they are on the "current" team as they are still doing work for Tharg, so it's a though draw for anyone coming up against them. Especially MacNeil. It's a bit unfair really 😉.

Weston 5 : 0 Hicklenton