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As I go through my back progs, I`m checking everything on the website, happily marking everything except letterers from 1-10 (nothing against letterers, I just can`t tell the difference enough to give them a score). Anyway, there`s a picture onj the back of prog 898 of Mean Arena. The website lists it as unknown but I think it`s by Anthony Williams, who did Babe Race 2000. Am I right? Can I tell Wake? Do I win five pounds?

Here`s a rant about the misuse of the word `literally`. If you`re not interested, don`t read on.









In the input page this week, Matt Pinder says that the Caballistics story has "literally" left him hanging off the edge of his seat. Either this means he has an enormous seat and was teetering on the edge of it while writing his letter, or he has misused the word "literally" and means that he really, really liked the story. I think "practically", "almost" would have been better, or he could have just said "Kristallnact has left me hanging off the edge of my seat".
  I`m not writing this to have a go at Matt Pinder, who writes a fine letter.  Private Eye readers will know that this is a common mistake (I`m thinking of the Colemanballs column here).  But the misuse of literally is increasingly common. `Literally` is there to tell us that something is not metaphorical. It`s useful that way, so when it`s misused for emphasis, it`s annoying.

cheers,

Floyd

 I thought I`d put in a word for DeMarco. She was a terrific character but was wasted in her solo adventures.  Those two stories with the gorilla sidekick were really bland.
  I`d like to see more DeMarco PI, but without the gorilla and with a bit of sex and possibly some Judge corruption.

Another one of my students is looking for a British penpal. Her name is Manami, shes a very bright student who is interested in music (jpop and the Beatles).
  She told me she wants someone about her age (20). Can anyone help out?

Can anyone tell me how to find the daily Dredd strip online? I have what I thought was the website for Metro (complete with Nemi cartoons) but so far no Dredd? I thought it would be my present for Australia Day yesterday (oh yeah, happy Australia Day).

Floyd

ps I promised not to rubbish Australia`s Prime Minister anymore but it`s spooky that he`s in today`s Phantom strip (if the link doesn`t work, try King Features on google)

Link: http://www.crayon.net/read.cgi?floydebo@gol.com" target="_blank">Floyd Enquirer

Lovely, funny Gibson cover
 Gibson`s style perfectly suits the Dredd story which is quite funny. It`s a variation on* that talking gun story which was done twice before. The Bureau of Creative Bureacracy stuff is brilliant, as is Dredd`s argument with the droid
 adequate but dated and fillerish Terror Tales....feels like it was reprinted from the late seventies
 Slaine is rattling along well...very Braveheart, not too much chat
VC`s was good but I spotted the twist on the first page. Do I read too much sf? Have I watched too many Twilight Zones? Or is it an old device.
  Red Seas keeps getting better, for mine. I really didn`t like it the first time around, thinking it was too juvenile. I`m still not crazy about the art but the story is coming along and there isn`t too much swaggery pirate stuff.
 On and Droid life is quite cute, also getting better

cheers,

Floyd


*polite for "rip-off of"

hello all,

I`ve found a comic shop that sells 2000ad graphic novels (and the megazine but not 2000ad itself). It has a small sign advertising "american comics here", and to get to it you have to walk up three flights of stairs, with walls covered with pornographic-looking pictures from Japanese comics; large-eyed busty schoolgirly types showing their undies....but I digress
    I can buy one graphic novel from this place but I have to choose between the Judge Child, the Apocalypse War and the Muzak Killer.  Any suggestions?

I just read an Ultimate Spider-man online. It wasn`t a bad comic but the online presentation was terrible, you had to read it pretty much panel by panel.
 2000AD and the other online comics do these things much better

does anyone know of any good online comics?

I`ve been thinking about more bring backs...this time series which weren`t all that good but which could be. For example, there`s no reason why Rose O`Rion couldn`t be good, although it was pretty unexciting last time. On the other hand Synamon was complete garbage and needs a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)
 SO here are my entries for the "not much chop but need another chance"
 Rose O`Rion
 Devlin Waugh (again)
 Bec n Kawl (risky but possible)
 errr I`m sure there`s lots more but I can`t think of any right now...What do you think?
 

Hello all.  I`ve just heard, via this board, that the 60s Batman tv show is on cable tv in Britain.  Would someone who can get this be willing to make a huge tape for me? Of course, I`d pay for the tape and mailing costs and throw in some other incentive (some 2000AD postcards?)

thanks in anticipation,

Floyd

One of my Japanese colleagues has the following question
"I've seen comics that are in 4 frames. We call them "4 koma mannga".
Is there an equivalent in English?"
   Can anyone shed any light on this?

Floyd

well, I`m up to prog 988 now. Sinister Dexter have just finished their first run of one-off cool stories. The art on some of those reminds of a comic I saw once called Rank Xerox. Sinister looks as if his face has been torn apart and sewn back together in some of them.  
 The Pit is as terrific as ever...I really think it`s the best thing Dredd`s done
 Sadly Canon Fodder has wound up never to be seen again and there`s a dose of forgettability in Ram Raiders, a very daggy story about a pair of computer repair people who make vast and dull leaps of logic "this computer is about to sacrifice us"
  Vector 13 has dated as fast as the X-Files, but has its fun moments

  I`m about to get 15 new back issues in the mail, so I can delve into the past again

cheers,

Floyd

Hello there. One of my recent resolutions was to only give Tharg one "bring back" list each year. This is more to stop me obsessing over it rather than to spare Tharg. I`ve just sent off the list which includes:
Canon Fodder
The Balls Brothers
Venus Bluegenes
WitchWorld
Carver Hale
the Gronk
a few others I can`t remember right now

and I forgot to say Missionary Man! I`m pretty sure he`ll be back soon anyway, but could someone please send Tharg a missive asking just in case?

Floyd
wasting time he doesn`t have

...as an Australian poet said (think it was C.J. Dennis), to the subs department. My megazine and latest prog were damaged, so I sent a complaining email. Right away, a prompt apology telling me they`ll send undamaged copies.
  It`s great to see them doing a good job.

this topic has probably been done before but I`d like to see more reprints of 2000 AD stuff around.
- more of the Digital Archives
- bespoke reprints. Wouldn`t it be great if someone could place an order for progs 300-312 to be reprinted rather than buying second hand progs? Surely they have the technology
- more magazines like they used to have, such as Classic 2000 Ad etc

Credit where credit is due...I wrote an angry post about Debitou Arudo (ex David Arnold) after his letter about Darkie`s Mob in the Megazine. I thought it was silly to get upset about Darkie`s Mob being inaccurate in its` portrayal of the Japanese in Burma during the war.
   Today, I found an interesting article by him in the Japan Times about racist DNA testing. The Japanese police are going to spend 1.6 million USD developing a test for foreignness. The underlying assumption behind this test is that Japanese DNA is (a)pure, uncontaminated by foreign DNA and (b)that foreign crime is a big problem in Japan. Both assumptions are wrong, and Arudo worries that since practically everyone in Japan has bits of Korean, South American, Chinese, Ainu and whatnot in their DNA, the tests will be used to blame unsolved crimes on foreigners.
 Anyay, I thought the article was interesting, so here`s the link.

Furoido Kerumodoh (your name Japanised free!)

Link: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040113zg.htm" target="_blank">Debitou Arudo`s article

 I`m not going to start a new poll, but I`ve found out more about the manga kissa or comic cafes.
  They charge about 3 pounds an hour (400 yen to be precise) for which you get
- all the comics you can read
- internet access
- free drinks (non-alcoholic)

if anyone can be bothered telling me if that makes a difference to their vote, I`d be grateful.

cheers,

Floyd

In an effort to purge the negative feelings aroused in me by the "who would you kill" thread, I`m starting a "who would you resurrect" thread.

my entries are:

1/ George Bernard Shaw
2/ Humphrey Bogart
3/ James Joyce
4/ Joan of Arc (so I could ask her what really happened and see if she looks like that woman from the movie)
5/Boadacea
6/ Queen Liz 1
7/ The Tasmanian Aboriginals
8/ P G Wodehouse
9/ Edith Nesbit
10/ Jane Austen (see how she likes the new book of sex scenes from her books)

over to you,

Floyd

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Like madigirl I dont see many movies, especially not on the big screen.  But on December 28 a momentous event ocurred. I took my son out to see a movie for the first time in his life. He will be four soon so I wasnt sure if he was too young.
  Many suggested Finding Nemo, but I went for a double bill of the Hamutaro Movie and Godzilla,Mothra and Mecha-Godzilla SOS Tokyo, old sentimentalist that I am.
  The Hamutaro movie was a movie of a tv cartoon about cute hamsters. Even by Japanese standards it was sickeningly cute and I think diabetics should have been warned off seeing it.  Roy liked what he called the funky music.
  The Godzilla movie was okay - G squashed Tokyo tower and a lot of the rest of the place before being stopped by (Im not spoiling this for anyone am I) Mothra and Mecha-Godzilla.  Disturbingly for people like me who dont want Japan rearming, Mechagodzilla was staffed by heroic Self-Defence Force personnel...perhaps theres an underlying message that such nice people should be allowed to have a real army again. Perhaps not. Mothra was particularly self sacrificing and Christ-like, as giant moths go...at one point a cross appeared behind Mothras two miniskirt clad helpers as they sang a song about how heroic M was (I think thats what they were singing about)
  Roy stayed awake long after bedtime for both movies and had a ball.  Am I a bad parent? Should I have gone with Nemo? Will Godzilla be back (there were only 15 people in the theatre)

cheers,

Floydzilla

Hello all,happy year of the monkey

one of my resolutions is to get an icon for this board. I`d like to ask someone with more web-fu than me (ie someone with any web-fu)if they could please capture the face of b1 from the link below to make an icon for me.
  Thank you very much in anticipation,

Floyd

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/children/bananas/default.htm" target="_blank">the horror, the horror