Messages

woohoo! Thought the Stront was put back to November.... off to check emails....

snip> that Corbyn was treated badly by a lot of people. <snip

It's not that Corbyn was treated badly by a lot of people that gets me, it who those people were.

Adam West, Burt Ward, Alan Napier, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Julie Newmar... especially Julie Newmar.

now Dredd is Rob Williamsy meaas I'm a little disengaged in it already I'm afraid - the fact it plays with something I think marrs his work for me, the idea of fiction that knows it is fiction.  One way it would have won me over, peculiarly, is if [spoiler]the head had been the Millar/Morrison Crusade macguffin head[/spoiler] - I'd have laughed my socks off over that!

Another good Future Shock, a sure sign of the End Times as advertised on the lovely cover, which I had* to buy as my sub has yet to land.....


*didn't have to, but they had about 4 copies in the shop, and it's been a while...

That would be Prog 2-1-84, not 2-8-14, mod type peoples....

Weirdly I find that image to be Harrison's most successful attempt at the character (the lessi said about Red, possibly the better, though you can hardly say he isnt following Carlos's lead there either).  Alpha actually has a face there for a start, and one that is a pretty decent match for how he has been established to look.

Sidney Falco is Alan McKenzie being as cool as Tony Curtis, naturally..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success

Simon Harrison Durham Red / Johnny Alpha pin-up on the 2000ad tumblr.

still not a fan of this image!

At this point I'd say the comic was still up and swinging punches, but signs of fatigue were showing.

That's pretty generous - I think fatigue was showing when the prog failed to stick the prog 650 upsurge - I forgive them some of the problems before then as Crisis et al roll out and sap away Pat and Carlos and John (S) and Jim (B)... by prog 700 the fatigue is showing for me, and this is three years on and still in decline - well, maybe not all decline, the Robo Hunter is a marked imprvement, if still not quite anything that fits into the clssic continuity.  Can't deny some lovely art though, to be fair

It's interesting to note that both of Wagner's top creations for 2000AD have daddy issues - Johnny always trying to undo the legacy of his father, while Dredd is trying to live up to it...that was hat was so amazing about the end of Origins and sadly not really picked up.. Fargo giving Dredd a new slant on what he was born for.

prognards

Tordelback wins the Internet - your prize is writing Young Dredd.

11 in Stranger Things is a good modern parallel to Dredd, no?

It's interesting to look at marketing and focus groups - I think Harry Potter may have moved the window on what kids like towards liking what kids do to some degree?  That said, what cemented my love of Strontium Dog was starting reading when he was being an abused kid, so that's a bit telling.  Tordel's take on Dredd's own traumas sounds like very rich and kid enticing material - All these orphans/no parent types are big business!

I seem to  recall reading that when Doctor Who was prepping for return, the focus groups were damning about the idea of its return and the BBC really started to sweat it - turns out, sometimes people don;t know what they want until they get it.  And of course, unless you are a Super Forecaster Big Brain like our mate Dom, how can you know what will break the mould?  Until then, you only really have what can be gleaned from such groups to go on and the problem lies much deeper than simple analysis and number crunching might tell you. 

To quote myself in the Space Spinner episode wot I was on, sometimes there is a big hit and it's hard to learn the right lessons - Most people didnt like those 80s Alan Moore strips primarily because they were adult, they liked them because they were good.

So for me, the main thing to be is to be good - In that regard this Special is about standard for current 2K - some good, some OK, some not my thing with an occasional but thankfully rare  "what were they thinking?"

thought this came up for sale a short while back?  Maybe the story came out, but the auction is only now!

I'll stand up for the Anderson and Stront strips, even if the latter does suffer the curse of Alpha's eyes gaining a power that is a bit like one he has dispalyed, but not quite shown in the same way - the mind control thing being a long lasting effect rather than just sowing temporary confusion - I mean, he can wpe minds with it when he was little, so maybe his power diminished as he went on... but I came here to praise it more than thwup it.  Same with the Anderson and to some degree the Dredd (though I agree with Tordelback's none story comments), they basically seem aimed at old grognards like myself, which I suppose is also a criticism... gah! Tharg can't win  - maybe he should just try changing the logo and seeing if the readers stick around irrespective of the content?

a certain PVS late of this Parish continues to delight  - check out the video!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1662635043/book-of-the-dead

Yeah, the idea there are cosy Mutant communities in Britain where tehy are fishermen or farmers doesn't fit at all with the established continuity - at best I view the bulk of TFTDH as shaggy dog tales.

It's 100% not explained. Nor is this mutant settlement she helps (or the fisherman in the Cockles & Muscles storyline). Honestly if I'm stretching my comic explainer legs I'd be more likely to suggest that these Hilary Robinson Tales of the Doghouse might all take place on an Ireland planet instead of Ireland himself. Sort of like that Scotland planet we saw at the start of the Outlaw story in Strontium Dog prime.