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Thanks for your opinions gents, I think I'll give the first volume a go. I dont mind if the story is a bit childish, I still enjoy reading Asterix, for example, now and again and still enjoy it. A feel good sci-fi sounds like a good thing. But hopefully it is not too confusing, as Smith suggests, once a couple of issues are read.

1) Andy Lambert - Celebrate or Else! (Great image and selection of characters. I also like the creative perspective that is used!)
2) Woolly - Forty Years, Creep! (Great entry that demonstrates the humorous nature of 2000 AD!)
3) The Legendary Shark - Thrill-Power Can Save Them (Witty script to accompany the image - I think this is a story that needs to be told!)

HM:
Tulio Vilela1 - Lil' Tharg (Fun and unique!)
Karl Brown - 40 Years of Thrill Power, Judgement and 2000 AD (Awesome Dredd image!)

Great work to everyone who contributed this month! Good luck and grud speed!

Although that was more Ennis nonsense with SUPER DREDD beating the tar out of Alpha. Not a fan.

Yeah, I was not pleased how easily he handled Alpha (I'm not sure who would win honestly - its a Hulk vs Thor situation). However, when reading case files 17 (Judgement Day) I couldn't put it down and read it over two evenings. For me, it was just so much fun.

Which in turn begat this.

Interesting, I thought Dredd sent Rico to titan and then was killed (possibly in CF#1). Is this the same Rico, or maybe a flashback? I'm on Case Files 20 and haven't seen his return yet.

I'm pretty sure Tharg had been teasing since around Prog 600 that a major character was going to die soon. Of course there was a delicious red herring with The Dead Man mystery (a character who isn't actually dead). I'm guessing Tharg was talking about Alpha, who may have originally been scheduled to die in-Prog before 650 (when 'the Dead Man' started, thus making it even harder to guess his identity). At the time, the wait between chunks of 'The Final Solution' felt interminable.

I really enjoyed the Dead Man, I read this only a few months ago and had managed to avoid all spoilers and really enjoyed the reveal, although I feel like I should have seen it coming (I actually was guessing that the Dead Man might be Rico).
I am glad I don't have to wait for the progs to come out each week to find out what happens, that would be killer especially if the delays were sustained. It really is a treat having all these stories collected!

Valerian & Laureline - has anyone here ever read this series? I had never heard of it until recently when it popped up on my Amazon recommendations list. I have always enjoyed Tintin and Asterix and this appears to be in the same vein of action/adventure?

The complete series is being collected in hardback a collection called Valerian: The Complete Collection starting this June (all 22 stories, 3 stories collected in each in HC).

Can anybody recommend this series? With this complete HC collection coming out it might be a good time to jump on board.

NO!  Just .... No!

Seriously, what were you thinking of with a statement like that?

I do not condone the MC0 - simply commenting on the beard...but you are right, I take it back!

This image also kind of makes me sad as it serves as a reminder we will likely never see a sequel (but we can hope!)

[Dog]

... really hated the character Feral - he embodies the extreme flavor of the 90's and it felt like they were pushing him as a replacement ...

 

Based on that image it appears Feral transformed once more, this time physically into a Strontium Dog.

Has anyone read the Strontium/Dredd cross over story "top dogs"? that was phenomenal! also, which graphic novel would I find that story in?

As mentioned, this is collected in the back of the Final Solution, the MacNeil artwork ties in together nicely. It was a really smart story (escape) and I can now see why Dredd was upset with Alpha during Judgement Day (a crossover I thoroughly enjoyed) which ends with this.

[Peter Hogan turned him into a butterfly.]

... really hated the character Feral - he embodies the extreme flavor of the 90's and it felt like they were pushing him as a replacement ...

My two main questions:
1) What was the political situation in London as a result of the fallout of Final Solution? (Do things get any better for mutants (unlikely I know), what happens to the royal line/parliament/governing body, and what of the S/D agency?) I would like to think his death added up to something more than[spoiler] just opening a portal. [/spoiler]

2) What happens to Feral?

Peter Hogan turned him into a butterfly.

Garth Ennis tried to pick up where Alan Grant left off, filling in some of the detail you ask about. Ennis wrote Feral as a sort of werewolf, subject to a curse that meant he had lots of overwritten nightmares about the beast into which he was destined to become*.

Ennis got bored and reinvented the Gronk as The Terminator, and the lead character of the strip. Hogan couldn't be bothered with Feral and put him in a cocoon for the length of his run, only emerging in Hogan's final episode - as a different character, called Firefall.

Maybe Firefall would have been fantastic, but we'll never know. Hogan lost his job, and no more was seen of either the Strontium Dogs strip or Feral/Firefall. I felt the same as you about Feral at the time, resenting him for the way editorial were pushing him as Alpha 2.


* I actually sort of enjoyed Ennis's first story, Monsters, even if it did take place on Parnell's World and feature British Paras occupying a town run by a guerilla army with a name comprised of three intials, who are actually gangsters, running a protection racket. Write what you know, eh?

Wow...that was really unexpected. I though he might be dead, but a butterfly...possibly a fate worse than death.

Thanks for the info and images too; some decent art there but Gronk looking tough and dawning the SD badge seems (fun but) out of character as he would likely die - his poor heartsies couldn't handle the fear of violence/death (unless that is addressed - how he went from passing out every time Wulf sneezed to turning into the Gronkinator...maybe he is a Gronk mutant with a healing factor heart or something...). Still, too bad Hogan never had a chance to tie up his Strontium Dogs run, dangling plot threads are always annoying.

At the time Final Solution was running, did readers know that it was leading up to the death of Johnny? (like how now days Marvel/DC advertises any major deaths months in advance) If not, this would have been a pretty shocking finale.

Very cool! Looks like he's going for a Mega City Zero Dredd look. Also, thats a great looking helmet!

Good to know, I have those books but haven't read them as of yet - Im actually starting the Kreeler Conspiracy this evening. I assumed that since these books were flashbacks that I wouldn't find the answers to my questions.

[Final Solution]

My thoughts on the Final Solution:
(*spoilers ahead*)

I understand why it was controversial - Alpha [spoiler]dies[/spoiler] is a pretty random way [spoiler](death by dragon)[/spoiler] and it was sad to see him go, maybe dying at the hands one of his bounties or in a more conventional way would have been received better. I'm not much of a fan of the sword/sorcery genera so [spoiler]seeing him laid low by a magical beast[/spoiler] was not my favorite, BUT I thought it was very creative and provided a good reason for Johnny to [spoiler]sacrifice himself[/spoiler]. I was sad to see him go but am proud of the old cucumber.

As always, I enjoyed the heavy inclusion of Middenface but really hated the character Feral - he embodies the extreme flavor of the 90's and it felt like they were pushing him as a replacement.

As I mentioned before, I missed Carlos Ezquerra's artwork for this book as he is the definitive SD artist, but Simon Harrison did deliver some excellent moody artwork (I particularly enjoyed his depictions of the portals at Stonehenge - I was glad it was B&W as it matched the tone of the book well). MacNeil's color finale was great too, [spoiler]especially when capturing the final death blow.[/spoiler]

My two main questions:
1) What was the political situation in London as a result of the fallout of Final Solution? (Do things get any better for mutants (unlikely I know), what happens to the royal line/parliament/governing body, and what of the S/D agency?) I would like to think his death added up to something more than[spoiler] just opening a portal. [/spoiler]
2) What happens to Feral? (hopefully they killed him off soon afterwards, he would make a great meal for Durham Red)

After finishing up some ABC warriors I have been reading, its back to SD again starting with the Kreeler Conspiracy!

Already ordered Agency Files 2.

If I'm planning to get all the Agency Files, and the Strontium trades after Final Solution, are their other trades I need to get characters like Durham Red/Middenface/etc?
(I did try Googling, but got a bit lost on it)

Glad you discovered Strontium Dog - along with Dredd it is my favorite 2000AD series. Here is what you will want to read (in order) for the essential S/D collection:

   Search/Destroy Agency Files #1
   Search/Destroy Agency Files #2
   Search/Destroy Agency Files #3
   Search/Destroy Agency Files #4
   Final Solution
   Kreeler Conspiracy
   Traitor to His Kind
   Blood Moon
   Life and Death of Johnny Alpha: The Project
   Life and Death of Johnny Alpha: Dogs of War

I have enjoyed everything SD I have read so far. All of the S/D Files are fantastic, I would rate them as follows: S/D #1: 8.5/10, S/D #2: 10/10, S/D #3: 10/10, S/D #4: 9/10, S/D #5 (Final solution): 8/10.

Solicits are up for issue 2:

JUDGE DREDD: THE BLESSED EARTH #2 

Ulises Fariñas (W), Erick Freitas (W), Dan McDaid (A), Ulises Farinas (C), Nick Roche (VC).

It has been 10 years since the events of Mega-City Zero, and Judge Dredd continues his mission to restore order to a lawless land. Behold the mystery and grandeur of The Blessed Earth!

JUDGE DREDD: FUNKO UNIVERSE 

John Layman (W), Francesco Gaston (A), Rob Schwartz (C), Photo (VC), Francesco Gaston (VC). Check out the funkiest Dredd of all-time as Funko takes over Mega-City One! Perps like Judge Death and the Angel Gang may strike fear in the hearts of citizens, but Judge Dredd is here to stop them! And he may be cute but never forget -- HE IS THE LAW!

Very nice Filippo! It appears to be a quality transfer, especially on the black shirt. Did you print this out at home and iron it on- if so what paper brand did you use? I have tried (years ago) to make my own shirt but the transfers only worked on white shirts. Yours looks great, I might take a crack at it again and copy you! (Except mine might not say Filippo  )

I don't speak French but good to see that thrill-power is getting over the channel unhindered.  I wonder what the French for thrill-power is?

"2000AD"










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Puissance de frisson