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Any idea yet on a definitive number and issue list on the extension?

Numbers wise it's stil set to be 140. We've not had a definitive list of what's in there, it doesn't seem like they want to share that sadly. Plenty of speculation upthread.

Just bounced over to the FB page as I thought I might see if I could get any confirmation on how many SinDex vols we're expecting.  Spotted this:

Hi again, I've seen others ask but haven't seen an answer but will Armoured Gideon be appearing anywhere in the extension? Thanks.

Hey Dan,
We don't have Armoured Gideon on our issue listing.
Thanks!

How definitive that is who knows but I think pretty much everyone had that on their speculation list.

[Savage]

I've been trying to decide which way to go on this way. It's close - both series have some absolutely top moments. In the end I decided to go with Savage as I'd sooner read another series of that than more of the demon dildo era Devlin.

Add in the fact that Book 4 is volume 137 - making a Book 6 volume 139 - and does this pretty much confirm that there are four Sin/Dex volumes coming in the extension?

I'd been wondering the same thing Jimbo but I've not read any of these before so it's much harder to make the guesses (beyond what fits in the page counts). My only conclusion was that the next book(s) would follow the Meg floppies 376-379 which is basically the same list you've got. I'd actually be entirely happy with this being a 4 book run as that'd bring us pretty much up to where I started buying 2000AD.

[Kingmaker]

Darn just finished A Love Like Blood in the UC last night - if I'd got up earlier I might have just had time to sneak in a vote. Not that it would have changed anything as I'd have gone for Kingmaker. A Love Like Blood is good and Irving's art is suitably horrible but it does feel very compressed with the ending landing before it's really established it's world and characters. The current series of Kingmaker is loosing me a little but like the previous ones I suspect it'll read better in the trade.

What would you prefer? Brink or Brass Sun?

If fear this is entirely the kind of question we will soon be regularly facing in Colins current tourney.  And yeah there's no easy answer. I'd love to see Ampney Crucius get some more pages but would I sacrifice Thistlebone for them?

I'm not sure there's an easy solution where artists get to retain their own series/characters but we don't end up with some bottlenecks like these. Especially given that, for many, drawing comics is one of many income streams they're juggling. Would it be better to have more things follow the Slaine/ABC Warriors model where different artists take up the residency for a while?

It'd probably make it easier to keep them in the prog consistently but I'm guessing it's less popular with artists/writers.

Not many thrills break that 10% line do they.
Dan Dare (77-80)
Rogue Trooper (81-85)
Strontium dog (86-90)
Sinister Dexter (96-00)

It's also interesting to note that the modern graphs do indeed look a lot like 91-95 in terms of shape with nearly all the thrills hovering somewhere between 2.5% and 5% with maybe one pushing past that mark. I'd argue we're in a very different position though. In 91-95 the leaders just behind Dredd (Fr1day, Rebooted Robo-Hunter, Strontium Dogs, and Finn) are not hugely well regarded moments in the progs history.

I asked if the Mean Arena vol number was a mistake over on FB. Unsurprisingly it was.

2000 AD: The Ultimate Collection
Hey Dave,
This is an error on our website. this should be volume 118.
Thanks!

[Insurrection]

Tough draw for Abelard here. Whilst there are some continuity holes with respect to MC1s ability to fund vast interstellar wars it never really gets in the way of what is a cracking story. Combined with some absolutey stunning art from MacNeil this is an easy victory for Insurrection

That's almost exactly the opposite of the graph of the amount of each year hachette have reprinted so far .

I guess this makes sense given the nature of the Hachette collections. The Ultimate Collection has tended to focus on the longer running epics over the one and dones. The troughs on your graph are the eras where those epics were in heavy rotation so unsurprisingly they're also the years where Hachette have reprinted the greatest amount of the stories from the prog.

Just realised that it looks like the Dog-verse is set to have the most books in the run overall. Slaine was the clear winner in the original 80 with 13 to Alpha's 10. Since then we've had 1 more Strontium Dog book and what looks to be the first of at least 3 Dogs books which will take us to 14. I guess one could potentially count the Durham Red book from the original run too for 15, though that might be more contentious.

I've not been picking these up regularly, as with the Marvel collection, I grabbed one if I see it in WHSmith and it particularly appeals.

So I bought the latest, Sinister Dexter Vol 4, and have to sing its praises. Why we haven't had the whole lot collected is a source of mystery and frustration. I understand they haven't historically sold particularly strongly... but surely, Abnett's name and the artists' along with a recognised brand is enough to shift units. I mean, if Hope (which I love, and have bought both so far, but which surely mustn't have half the visibility of SiniDex?) can have nice paperbacks, why not Downlode's finest?

Anyway. Vol 4 is superb. But, after reading it I did notice that my hands smelled strongly of arse. Anyone else had similar problems lately?

SBT

Just finished mine this morning. Didn't notice any smell issues. It is top quality thrill power though. Superb selection of diverse art styles and Dabnett is on top form with some hilarious dialogue and top quality punnage. I really hope they stretch this to another 2 books, the first one is 137 so there's potentially space for 4! Not sure we'll be getting that many, although I wouldn't be upset if we did.

Mean Arena 1 is Volume number: 188 apparently. Is there something they're not telling us?

[Cradlegrave]

Just a week and a bit ago I was looking forward to round 2 and some draws where I'd read more than one of the thrills. Well I guess I should be careful what I wish for as now I'm landed with this stinker of a choice.

I love both these thrills and for entirely different reasons. Scarlet Traces is a grand intergalactic tale with world shattering events. Cradlegrave is a claustrophobic journey to the dark heart of suburbia. D'Israeli's art on ST is bright, innovative and experimental where Cradlegrave is more muted with a sense of realisim and grime. There both brilliant in their own rights.

gaaaaah I was hoping waffling for a while might lead me into a decision.....


Cradlegrave takes it by the narrowest of margins.

[Ichabod]

I missed the start of Mechastopholes and haven't quite managed to get a handle on it yet. Loved Ichabod in the UC though. Reardon's black and white art is gorgeous stuff and it's a great little story.

[Button Man]

Two tales of hard men with guns fighting against "the man".  Grey Suit has an overabundance of polemic and it's hard man lead has so little character I can't even remember his name (despite having read this fairly recently in the UC) . Button Man has the benefit of a coherent storyline and how could anyone forget Harry Ex. It's an easy win for Button Man.