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Click on the link and Easyjet give 25p to cancer research.  I've checked it out and, for once with these things, it's genuine.  So click click away, bankrupt Easyjet, save kiddies.

Link: http://www.easyjet.com/EN/About/charity.html" target="_blank">25p to Anthony Nolan Trust

Matt Smith's small but informative interview linked below.

Link: http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/news/2006/2000adnewsround1703.shtml" target="_blank">News from Matt Smith

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4804334.stm" target="_blank">Bloody Scientologists

[Your challenge is to come up with a Rogue Trooper storyline that works]

Some of the greatest of Tharg?s droids lie, barely visible through the chem-clouds, upside down in muddy ditches, limbs missing, leaking oil everywhere.  They faced the greatest foe to storytelling yet produced by 2000AD, and have not survived the encounter.

That roll-call of the dead:

IAIN EDGINTON
GORDON RENNIE
MIKE FLEISCHER
JOHN TOMLINSON
STEVE MACMANUS
STEVE WHITE
SIMON GELLER
MARK MILLAR
DAN ABNETT

{The Last Post plays softly}  We will remember them.

John Smith and Dave Gibbons retired undefeated but now sit sulking in their tents, unlikely to return to the field.

So, to the fray!  Your challenge is to come up with a Rogue Trooper storyline that works and isn?t, y?know, a wee bit rubbish.

Rogue should be the central character, the story should be set on Nu-Earth, include the bio-chips, and not be a parody of the original strip.  Action adventure with a Gerry Finlay-twist.

Outlines only, please, no full scripts.  How would *you* do it better?

Yes, ten years ago this week, two hitmen arrived on the pages of 2000AD.  Quickly becoming firm fan favourites, Finnegan Sinister and Ramone Dexter have become one of 2000AD?s most enduring partnerships, racking up more appearances than virtually any other strip outside the comic?s mainstay, Judge Dredd.

This anniversary finds the Downlode Duo in deadly danger, with one of them possibly dead.  Will Tharg choose to mark the strip?s first decade with a hint as to what?s happening with Moses Tannenbaum?  Only time will tell?

Does any kind soul happen to have:

Megazine no?s 2.27-2.40
The 2000AD Yearbook 1994
Various issues of Crisis between no 39 and no 59
Progs from 750-900

And a scanner?


Help gratefully received?

If you haven?t seen it yet, there?s a really good interview with Mark Harrison in this month?s Megazine.  I guess you could argue that the rest of this question contains


SPOILERS


Aiee! {Cough}


Anyway, it raised a question which has always puzzled me, and which I was hoping all the artistic types who hang about here could help with.

Harrison talks about the process of rendering all his spaceships etc in some clever software that allows him to create 3-D models, spin them about to get the best angle.  He also talks about the integration of photography, paint and line art into one funky blended whole.  He admits that the process of rending these infinitely detailed miniature worlds became such an obsession for him that it started to be unhealthy.  He also mentions Clint Langley and says that the guy must be in heaven or hell?

So, here?s the question.  If both Harrison and Langley are working so hard and being so painstaking, and I have absolutely no doubt that they are, how come their art is frequently murky, obscure and difficult to make out?  So often I get the feeling that ?this would be such great stuff - if only they?d turn up the lights a little!?  It occurred to me that I might just be over-rating them, and all the murk and dinginess is there to cover up flaws in the art, but then I think back to Langley?s beautiful line work on Slaine, or Harrison?s astonishingly good early Dredds, and that explanation doesn?t seem to me to wash.  

So - is it a glitch in the process of transferring the image file to the printed page?   If so, isn?t there a way of compensating for it?    Or is it inherent in this sort of computery work?  Matt Smith clearly thinks that these two, among others, are redefining comic art (check the Meg editorial) ? so why does it feel so jerky?

Find out thanks to the scribblings of Johnny McMonagle...

Link: http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=input&page=thrillviewer&choice=RIP_flowers" target="_blank">The Incredible Ongoing Adventures of Jonathan Bran

Is Wake away?

If so, who should I send stuff for this site to?

Cheers
James

The 1,000,000th Wikipedian article has been created, and it's...

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.2000adonline.com/images/page/simond.jpg>

Am I the only person here who used to think that Simon Davis was a bit rubbish (round about the old B&W Missionary Man days), started to like him more as colour was introduced, and has suddenly realised that not only do I look forward to his lushly painted Sin/Dex and Black Siddha strips as much as if not more than I look forward to any artist?s appearances in the comic, but that looking back I like all his previous work (including the B&W Missionary Man strips) as well?  

How does this work?  Are we ? I know it?s not just me - more sophisticated in our tastes these days?  Or less sophisticated for that matter?  Or does Mr Davis, like the taste of whisky, take time to grow on you?

Also, in a separate question, who else out there is doing work like Mr Davis, with the thick paints n stuff?  What influences do the more comics knowledgeable see in his work?

Link: http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=SIMOND" target="_blank">http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=SIMOND

Is it 2000 AD or is it 2000AD?  Both appear on the home page.

Cover by Cliff Robinson.  It?s a Cliff Robinson cover, i.e. quality.
Dredd ? hats off to Gordon, that was genuinely unexpected.  Great dialogue, too.
Bec n Kawl ? oh, Wils isn?t going to like this one.
ABC Warriors ? I?m trying to like this through gritted teeth.  Great art, shame about absolutely everything else.
The Ten Seconders ? Back on form after a couple of weeks? dip in quality, and the best thing in the Prog.
Rogue Trooper ? Ian Edginton demonstrates that, no, there really isn?t any life in this character.  Game looks awesome, though, so maybe that?ll prove inspiring to some droid in future?

Letters ? I see no evidence of that wider readership, away from the internet wierdos, who love Synnamon.  Where are the letters clamouring for her return, then, eh?

Nerve Centre ? 2000AD in ?sponsoring Battlestar Galactica shocker?!  Possibly, just possibly, Tharg is onto a winner with this particular idea.  First really great marketing idea I've seen from the House of Tharg since... well, possibly ever.

Little copyright bit: sheesh, PYE-01, cheer up, dude!  We all love ya, baby.  And what?s the love of an actual woman compared to the sweaty, clammy love of the messageboard?

This is... this is... just horrific.  HORRIFIC!  Why, why WHY would you do something like this?  Haven't they suffered enough?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4725742.stm" target="_blank">Krusty, this one's for you...

Thought y'all Mac users might appreciate the heads-up.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4723390.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4723390.stm

Lissen up!

You folks are hereby cordially challenged!  Are yer man enough to tote yer pencil?  Or are y?all some kind of scum-suckin? chicken-livered yankee?  

If you think you got what it takes t? walk tall, I jus? gotta see one thing.  Thet Judge Dredd fella ? what would he look like if he were a cowboy?  

Absolutely no points whatsoever of any kind will be awarded by yer judges for artistic ability.  What are you, boy, some kinda limp-wristed freak?  Comedy?s the only value recognised in these here parts.

Competition deadline ? when the town clock strikes midnight.

Get drawin!
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/c/c5/Yosemite-sam.jpeg">

Howdy, pardners, lissen up.  Ah officially declare today to be th? grand ole Friday fanzone hootenanny, also to be known as The Day Of Talkin? Like You?rn A Hog-Hollerin?, Foot-Stampin?, Rootin? Tootin? Sunuvabitch Southerner Day.

I?ll hand over to my good friend an? cousin Johnny-Jeb McMonagle to explain th? fine detail:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/johnnystress/rednecks1.jpg>

Thanks, Johnny.  You git back to yer cellar, now, boy!

So there y?have it, all you true sons and daughters of the south, it?s time to declare this hootenanny open to all.  Best use of deep-fried Southern insults wins?

Good thing?
Bad thing?
A Phoenix's egg?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4715788.stm" target="_blank">Monkey

Good thing?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4709258.stm" target="_blank">Bus queues just became safer...

[Pat Mills Thrillbox Bingo]

Looks like Mr Mills is gearing up for a showdown.  Seven ABC warriors ? the toughest robots ever constructed, the hardest fighting force for Khaos the world has ever known ? go up against seven Shadow Warriors.  At stake: the future of Mars!  And their lives!

Well, let it not be said that we don?t know how to celebrate REALLY BIG FIGHTS on this messageboard!  Yes, it?s time for a round of Pat Mills Thrillbox Bingo(?)!!!

All you have to do is guess the answer to the following questions:

1)   In what order will the Shadow Warriors go down?  (Will any survive?)
2)   Which of the ABC Warriors will die?  (If any?)

And then provide your answer to Bully?s Bonus Round:

3)   What will Doc Maniacus do (or try to do) to Hammerstein???

Closing date for entries: Prog 1476

TEAMS:
The Shadow Warriors ? Dogtag, Warmonger, Dr Maniacus, Bootleg, Deus X Machina, Mr Lovebomb and The Rev
The ABC Warriors ? Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol, Joe Pineapples and Mek-quake.

The person who gets closest to second-guessing the ?godfather of British comics?, Pat Mills, wins a very special prize.  Prizes in the past have included a free graphic novel, a signed photograph of Robin Askwith and a signed Dredd annual: it?s a grab-bag of unearthly delights from beyond the stars!