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So, was it Colin's own choice to abandon painting for FOTL, or it was purely an editorial decision? I think I remember in the interview he did for the Meg in 2004, he said he felt massively under pressure to maintain the standards of his early work and was finding it very hard to finish anything. I thought that was the reason he stopped doing his own colouring, but I could be wrong.

Didn't see any sign of this in WH Smiths Luton today. They also seem to've stopped carrying the weekly as well(although the Megazine was still there). 

I can now report the weekly is back and the Mega Collection is in stock. Phew!

Didn't see any sign of this in WH Smiths Luton today. They also seem to've stopped carrying the weekly as well(although the Megazine was still there). 

I have three more of these up at the moment. Two days left on the current auction, but they will be relisted if they don't sell.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251732282056?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251732286588?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251732288870?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

There was a young Russian called Nik
Whose wits were especially quick.
But the Romanov son
Was second to none
When it came to defending his...honour.

On a recent trip to Sainsbury's, I was pleased to discover my local branch is now selling the Fleetway annuals range, if anyone is still trying to get hold of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251715994027?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251716360143?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251716396078?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251716423086?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I'd be amazed if Rebellion's lawyers haven't issued a Cease and Desist yet. I know they've been extremely  protective when it comes to their IPs before now, so why is this any different?

It's not the same situation as fan films like Judge Minty, or that Slaine movie trailer, which are usually made for the love of it and ultimately respectful of the characters and the creators. This cartoon on the other hand just seems like an arrogant rich kid seizing on a tenuous connection to another project in order to raise his profile, and it treats the franchise like a joke. It does no-one any favours, and isn't going to help the cause of a potential Dredd sequel in the near future.

Also the fact that someone associated(but not creatively) in the last Dredd film is behind it gives it a legitimacy which it almost certainly doesn't deserve.

I didn't find any on my first trip, I'm just about to go and check out a different branch of Sainsburys to see if the selection's any different.

Excuse this rather self-serving post, but I'm flogging a few of these on ebay if anyone wants them that hasn't been able to get them. Only managed to get the DC Thomson ones so far, but I'm hopeful the Egmont books may make an appearance.

http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php/topic,41317.0.html

Glancing through these has been something of a nostalgia overload, particularly when I come across a strip I recognise from the annuals I inherited from my dad. That said, it's weird just how few memorable characters The Topper actually had, compared to other contemporaneous DCT titles. Other than Beryl The Peril, it's a struggle to think of any Topper regulars an average person could name off the top of their head. Even the annuals resorted to reprinting ancient funny pages-fodder like Nancy and The Katzenjammer Kids in amongst all the forgotten nonentities like Keyhole Kate and Figaro. I think the worst (and possibly most offensive) was Dopey Joe, whose sole characterisation was "a stupid indian".

The Beezer strips seem so much more fun and colourful by comparison. They had a strip called "Our Sheriff's An Ape", for goodness' sake!

If anyone's having trouble locating these or isn't in the vicinity of a Sainsbury's stocking them, I've bunged a few up on ebay at the moment. So far I've managed to get the Topper, Beezer and Hotspur collections, if there's any interest in these I might make another trip to see if I can get hold of the others.

I'm selling them at the labelled price plus £2.38 postage.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251694369369?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251694397190?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251694601614?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Oh, if we're talking heavy riffs, then this is The Daddy.

The Wildhearts - Anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfsAwxVj4UI

Amazingly, this got on TOTP once!

And one amazing riff every guitarist should know but hardly any do for some peculiar reason.

Cardiacs - Is This The Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAEO3Dvugcw

I feel like I was the only person that genuinely didn't care for the GC RE1 remake. The majority of "improvements" just seemed to undermine what I liked about the original, while not addressing some of the things that were wrong with it. I could never understand why, in a game released in 2002, we were still stuck with 1996 "tank" controls(just compare it to Eternal Darkness which came out around the same time - a world of difference). And dumping the wonderful, downbeat soundtrack in favour of bog-standard "spooky" ambience was a crime.

Don't get me started on the regenerating zombies either. Urghhhh.

I was just sorting through some back issues it just occurred to me it'll soon be a year since the last issue of Strip. I think we can conclusively say it's not coming back at this point.

You can't help but feel cheated on behalf of everyone who obviously put their all into keeping this thing afloat, but saw all their efforts go to naught due to incompetence/indifference. I hope some of the unpublished material(assuming there is any) will see the light of day at some point.

That whole fuck-up with republishing a Moebius strip that led to the entire run of the Christmas issue being pulped...I mean, for goodness' sake. The rights issues regarding translated Moebius material have been a minefield since his death. Print Media should've been aware of this, but they went ahead and printed it anyway, presumably incurring massive losses as a result. It seems like they managed to stumble into just every pitfall that was going.

Remember this mysterious(now deleted) message posted on the Forbidden Planet site, just after it was first announced? Seems like whoever posted this was right on the button, unfortunately.

This Bosnian publisher? It's a scam.
[...]
What Ivo Milicevic seems to do (although this is also questionable because he does not communicate with any publishers from Bosnia, or Croatia and Serbia, markets that are closest to us; or the comic book people in general) is obtain the rights for a title (most famously, Modesty Blaise, which has seen at least a dozen different incarnations in his magazines in the past 20 years) and then promise that he will publish something and expect it to hit off from number one. So that, when it doesn't, he just gives up until he gets more financing so he can cover the losses he incurred on himself for the first magazine.
At least, that's been the practice so far. I really, really hope that this time it's different, especially since it's obvious that some serious British names and authors are involved, but I wouldn't get your hopes up, at least not until you see an issue number 5 or so in a bookstore near you.

Oh, I've no problem with Harrison's art, I think his work on Revere was stunning. But I've never understood the appeal of Bradley as a character or a strip. I feel like it's a concept that might've been funnier under a better writer, but MacKenzie just didn't have the comedic chops to pull it off.

Timehouse was just too childish for the prog for me, although I'll concede it was better than Tao De Moto ("Where did she go? Nowhere in particular!"  "What did she do?  Nothing of any interest whatsoever!"). 

I am however intrigued by this comment:

I second the view that there are, at worst 2 progs ever with nothing good in them

Which are the 2 progs???  I want to dig them out and have a look!

I remember a good thread on here a few years ago arguing Prog 827 as the absolute lowest of all low points, a notion it's hard to disagree with. It's a perfect storm of shite, a toxic combination of Bradley, Millar's Robohunter, the utterly pointless Kelly's Eye reboot and a truly appalling Future Shock from the unlamented Frances Lynn. On top of that it had the one of the most offensively bad Dredd stories Ennis ever penned.

Just the week after, you had Firekind, Armoured Gideon 2 and new Bad Company all starting. Talk about swings and roundabouts.