Messages

Yeah, sometimes its better not to know how long is left. A while ago I was going to ask John Wagner (via facebook) how many more episodes of Tour of Duty there were, and though he probably wouldn't have told me anyway, I stopped myself because I'd rather be surprised.

Do you fellas think there'll be another Book's worth? I can't see it myself, but stranger things have happened.

If this was the final Dante story, wouldn't you feel it was a slight anticlimax? The Arkady/Dimitri plotline has been building for many years now, and to see him despatched in a single story arc would be a slight let down - the subplot of his obsession with Jena is also yet to be resolved.

In a way I'm hoping that Dimitri will triumph and take control of the empire, becoming a far crueler and more brutal dictator than even Vladimir, and Dante will return to his roots as an outlaw and fugitive, before rallying his last remaining few allies for a final showdown with Dimitri. I'd like things to get really dark and bleak before a truly spectacular finish.

But seriously, I thought there were hints from the creators that this was the final nail in the coffin. Were there?

There's no doubt that we're approaching the end, but I'm just saying that perhaps we're not quite as close to the end as we think?

Dmitri will meet his end at the hands of Jocasta. Probably after an episode of him goading her and her seeming to back down, only to kill him in the last panel, possibly while mortally wounded herself. There you go.

It would be fitting for Katarina to play a part in Dimitri's death, owing to their history. I still think its going to take the combined efforts of all the surviving Makarovs and Romanovs to take Dimitri down.

I still don't think that this latest series is the final confrontation, though. Dante has been through several distinct acts to reach this point, and I hope instead that what we're witnessing is the set up to the final act of the saga. Didn't Tharg say fairly recently that the series would be with us for quite a while yet?

ISTR reading in the paper a few years ago about a hugely successful artist who had made a fortune from selling prints of his work - it was then later discovered that at least one of his 'compositions' was simply some costumed figures copied straight out of a anatomy reference book!

This discussion reminds me of this old quote from John Wagner:

I feel genuinely privileged to have worked with people like Carlos and Cam, Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon and the others. Sometimes I look back over old stories and I'm just awed by the genius some of them possess. I'm serious, genius. You see some of the stuff that passes for art these days, Turner Prize material, and you can't help thinking ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'll show you fucking art, Tracey - I'll show you art, Damien.

I couldn't agree more. Though I'm an artist (of sorts) myself, I have no time for or interest in the vast majority of conceptual art, and never have done. To me real art with real meaning comes from the 'commercial' or 'lowbrow' side - comic strip artists, cg artists, animators, illustrators, textile designers, creative retouchers, pixel artists.

What a talentless charlatan this guy is.

Art colleges are full of people like that, and I should know through years of experience in the places - while I was a student we were taught very little in terms of practical skills, and in many cases we were actively encouraged to essentially bullshit our way through - forget discipline, craft and practice, it seems that the ability to spout bollocks about your work is more important than the work itself.

I'm particularly reminded of a girl in the second year of college whose final piece was a large canvas with a badly copied painting of the cover of Aphex Twin's Richard D James album, which was not an homage - she was actually trying to pass off the image as her own work.

Mike McMahon has more talent and creativity in his little toe than a thousand so called 'conceptual artists'.

Can't see these films being any good, to be honest - for a director of his stature, Scott has made startlingly few decent films in his career and this seems like a blatant attempt to recapture past glories.

They're from late seventies/early eighties - much of the stories are set in the aftermath of the Apocalypse War to give you an idea of the era.

Personally I think Dredd only really got interesting slightly later on - somewhere between The Apoc War and Oz - everything before that is too simplistic and hokey to really stand up today. I thought the book was ok, but mainly enjoyed it for the fantastic McMahon art - I suspect the only people who will really enjoy the actual stories will be the ones who remember them from their childhood.

The Byrne story in my copy is pretty much unreadable due to dodgy printing.

Its pretty good - the stories are very retro, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view, but the artwork (mostly by McMahon and Ezquerra) is amazing - loads of absolutely gorgeous colour McMahon art and double page spreads, all of which was new to me.

[2000 AD:]

I have to say I'm not thrilled by the news of more Tales from the Black Museum.

Agreed. There have been a couple of good ones but the vast majority of them have been dull. It would be nice to have a few Low-life, Tempest or Devlin Waugh one-offs to fill the gap, or if they just replaced it full-time with The Lost Cases.

2000 AD:

Savage Book 6: Crims by Pat Mills/Patrick Goddard - starts May 2010
Lowlife: Hostile Takeover by Rob Williams/D'Israeli - starts TBC
Strontium Dog: The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha by John Wagner/Ezquerra & Son - starts June 2010
Kingdom: Book 4 by Dan Abnett/Richard Elson - starts TBC
The Red Seas: Hell and High Water by Ian Edginton/Steve Yeowell - starts TBC
Defoe Book 4: A Murder of Angels by Pat Mills/Leigh Gallagher - starts 2010
Shakara: Book 5 by Robbie Morrison/Henry Flint - starts TBC
Sinister Dexter by Dan Abnett/Anthony Wiliams (ongoing)

Judge Dredd Megazine:

Lilly Mackenzie and the Mines of Charybdis by Si Fraser - starts Meg 298
Johnny Woo: A Hong Tong Ghost Story by Gordon Rennie/PJ Holden - starts Meg 298
Tales from the Black Museum by various writers/artists - starts Meg 298
Judge Dredd: Meat by Writer/Artist TBC - starts Meg 299
Judge Anderson: House of Vyle by Alan Grant/Boo Cook - starts 2010
Strange and Darke: New Blood by John Smith/Colin Macneil - starts 2010

Megazine Graphic Novel Supplements:

Mean Machine: Travels With Muh Shrink (Meg 298)
Brit-Cit Babes (Meg 299)
The Balls Brothers (Meg 302)
Sinister Dexter: Downlode Tales(TBC)

2000ad Graphic Novels and Books - UK:

Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files 02 - June 2010
Leviathan (paperback) - June 2010
The Stainless Steel Rat - July 2010
The Complete Al's Baby - July 2010
Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files 16 - August 2010
Harlem Heroes - August 2010
ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 3 - September 2010
Judge Dredd: Tour of Duty - Backlash - September 2010
Judge Dredd: Tour of Duty - Under New Management - September 2010
Zombo: Can I Eat You Please? - October 2010
The Complete Fiends of the Eastern Front - October 2010
Meltdown Man - November 2010
Durham Red - Isle of the Damned - November 2010
Chopper: Surf's Up - December 2010
Mega City Undercover: Volume 2 - December 2011
Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files 17 - January 2011
The Complete Taxidermist - February 2011
Harry Twenty on the High Rock - TBC
Missionary Man - TBC
Daily Star Dredd - TBC

2000ad Graphic Novels and Books - US:

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 - June 2010
The Complete DR & Quinch - June 2010
Judge Death: Death Lives! - July 2010
ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven - July 2010
Harry Twenty on the High Rock - August 2010
Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters 01 (Artists) - August 2010
The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones - September 2010
The Complete Nemesis the Warlock 01 - September 2010
Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters 02 (Writers) - October 2010
Zombo: Can I Eat You Please? - October 2010
Slaine: Warriors Dawn - November 2010
Hewligan's Haircut - November 2010
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 02 - December 2010
Missionary Man - TBC

I don't have any interest in getting the DVD - in the IMAX it was a cool experience, but it is a film that is so reliant on the visuals and the plot is so simple I'm not that fussed about seeing it again, especially on a small screen.

That said- for a tenner, I reckon I'll get this too.

Don't do it, man. You'll only encourage them.

Noticed they had it for either £5 or £7 (I think £7) in Tesco, but you have to buy another chart DVD when you buy it.

Quite surprised to see the film doesn't appear to have done that well at the box office - I was convinced that it would be a big hit. To be fair the marketing has been poor - they haven't done a very good job of conveying the tone of the film in promos, and the poster is awful, it wouldn't impress me had I not been aware of the film before it came out.

Perhaps its one of those films that will do better on DVD through word of mouth.

Tan lines are a bitch.