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I thought there was a new Stickleback scheduled for the prog in the near future?
I'm sure I saw that somewhere...  wasn't it a trailed as a Thrill of the Future recently?

Pokes around - yep looks like it was Prog 2173 https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=46320.msg1024330#msg1024330

First 2 Flesh books are 165 pages according to Barney which is pretty much perfect for a single volume so I doubt we'll see Shako added there. It does seem the best choice for a classic early strip though so I'll be surprised if that's not on the list.

A "monsters" or "creature feature" volume would seem the obvious way to bundle Shako up. Not sure what other options there are though, Ant Wars?

I'm wondering how much more Sinister Dexter we're going to get. I guess a lot depends on where book 3 takes us to which we won't know until July. I'd love it if we could get enough to catch us up with the current story threads in the prog, not sure how realistic that is.

Similar question for Dredd I guess. Hoping we'll get the recent Machine Law & Guatemala as those both deserve hardback treatment.

I think we can safely assume the continuation of series started in the intial run which is 7 books worth:
Absalom
ABC Warriors (probably 2 books for the Return To stuff)
Stickleback
Strontium Dog
Dominion
Fall Of Deadworld

I'm really hoping we get another Kingdom story in the prog in time to make a 3rd Kingdom volume but I'm not sure how realistic that is.  The 2 remaining stories aren't enough to make up a volume alone.

A volume with Thistlebone in it would also be well received here. Not sure what else to bundle in with that one, more Edignton tales or other horror themed stories I guess.

I crunched some numbers on books and strip page counts a while back using data from Barney. Some strips fit the Hachette format of 160-220 pages of strip per book better than others.  There are a few to either side of those numbers but not many (interestingly the recent Strontium Dog and Ampney Crucis books were the largest we've seen in the collection going by this metric - also much better value than the largest Dredd book which was Behind The Iron Curtain).

Anyway I digress the problem both Harlem Heroes and Mean Arena have is they don't fit the page count very well.  Pre-Inferno Harlem Heroes is too little content for one book but you'd have to split Inferno if you include it but that then gives you a second book you need to fill and I get the impression the later stuff is not particularly highly regarded.  Mean Arena has similar problems. I've not read any of the strips before so I've no idea if there are short tales that could be cut from the run or alternatively if there's a few good Future Shocks that would tie in to a future sports themed book to pad something out. Could they assemble a "Best Of Future Sports" volume or would that be non-sensical.

For early stuff my bets are on:
Flesh (books one and two are a perfect fit)
The VCs (if you include the 2nd run it fits nicely into 2 books)

With strong possibles:
Fiends of the Eastern Front (again filling the book out with the new run)
Ro-Busters (I'm not expecting complete here but a highlights volume would seem plausible)

I'd love to see Shako but it'd need pairing up with something - not sure what would work.

Is Zenith creator owned? Not that that should necessarily be an impediment if they strike the right deal.

Stainless Steel Rat would be good too, as would both old and modern Fiends of the Eastern Front. Brink is an an obvious choice, and stuff like Button Man and Mazeworld would go down well I think.

I think they've said before there wouldn't be any of the creator owned stuff - might change in the extension but I doubt it sadly.

Brink would fit nicely into 2 Hachette volumes and does also seem an obvious choice.

Sintec, that link isnt working- at least for me.

SBT

oops think I screwed up my URL tag - this one worked for me in the preview hopefully good for others too

A Toxic 'Infodemic': The Viral Spread Of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories | HuffPost UK

Some useful info on the source of some conspiracy nonsense I've been seeing trapsed around on other social media; A Toxic 'Infodemic': The Viral Spread Of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories

Seems some people don't realise that an osteopath may not be the best source for advice on the spread of infections. Although tbf the individual I encountered spouting this nonsense felt that QAnon was a better source of info that The Lancet so I'm not sure there's any helping them tbh.

Excellent news - looking forwards to discovering some new worlds filled with ThrillPower.  Hopefully we'll get the rest of Stickleback.

I really hope you're right Jimbo.

Ugh the end of the Ampney Crucis book is indeed frustrating.  Which is a shame because everything else about it is fantastic and I'd love to hear that we're getting a 2nd volume in that rumoured extension but alas there is no more.

Do wish we'd get some kind of announcment on the extension - I've been putting off buying some of the recent Rebellion trades in case it ends up duplicating content that ends up being part of this collection. With only 6 more deliveries to go it's starting to feel like maybe they've decided to end it at 80 after all.

That Thrud hardcover is great, grabbed myself one of those a while back.  Got a 2nd copy for a birthday present for my brother in law a couple of months later too.

Yeah I'm hoping for a Jaegir volume in that rumoured extension, the bits I've read have been fantastic.

The fact they, the BBC, had Stanley Johnson on, and didn't challenge him on his previous, distasteful, ignorant and dangerous comments on Coronavirus is a disgrace.

Yeah I heard them quoting him all day yesterday on radio 6 until I eventually lost patience with it. I'm sure the first report quoted Stanley as saying Boris had "taken one for the team" which was particularly rage inducing. They had the good sense to select a different quote for later news reports.

I think grooming is precisiely the right word Rately.  As an anecdotal example I watched this happen with an old contact from my DJing days.  Over the course of a few months he seemed to go from relatively normal human being to being radically anti-Islam, anti-EU and pro-Trump and Nigel Farage.  It was genuinely quite scary to watch.  He's since unfriended me as I think he got sick of me challenging his bullshit "news" posts about muslim refugees from weird new sources that usually seemed to end up linked back to Russia or the Ukraine if one did some digging. I think Gamergate was his entry point to the whole mess but by the end he was parotting Alex Jones and Breitbart and sharing articles about eugenics. Presumably he's still shouting them out to his echo chamber of true believers. It was a really scary view into just how dark that little world of paranoia and conspiracy gets.

980 deaths recorded today ...If it refuses to report this, it is the end of it being a reputable source of information.

Quick correction - it is reported, about halfway down the 'Herculean effort' Matt Hancock article.

It does feel like the BBC have decided to keep these figures out of the headlines this week. When it was Italy that was topping the figures the death toll there was headline news each day. Now it's hitting closer to home it's fluff pieces about the prime minsters recovery at the top of the billing and the death rate is hidden away where most people aren't going to see it. Feels a lot like an editoral decision to keep the public in the dark and focus their attention elsewhere. Or being less cynical it's an attempt to avoid panic by not telling people how bad the situation really is, which seems misguided to me as it risks people becoming complacent.

Quick addendum to my previous post; Cinnabar is glorious, superb stuff.  Grim, gritty, and action packed.

Working my way through a bumper pile of thrillpower as 65 and 66 got delayed in the postal service for "reasons".  Thoughts so far:

Ampney Crucis is brilliant stuff. Trying to take this one slowly so I can savour it. If we're still getting an extension then it needs more Edington tales imo.

Slaine - Carnival was a real low point, that whole story seemed like an incoherent mess and I couldn't care less about any of the characters it introduced.  Gong Beater and Smuggler were both good little short stories though; I kinda feel like Slaine is at his best in these shorter tales rather than the big epics Pat keeps spinning.

Strontium Dog - wow they really wanted to trash Feral, a revenge killing and a brutal one at that. Only half way through and McNulty really is the star of this one so far.

Rogue - this is the only one I've not started on yet.