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No, you're good. Same creative team, and Maelstrom has the advantage of being a complete story...

[Bato Loco]

Sorry to break the pattern here, but I'm voting Bato Loco. It's very silly, but an enjoyable silly. AHAB is merely OK, and didn't improve even after I actually read Moby Dick and got more of the references.
(Moby Dick is really good, btdubs)

[The Scrap]

Totes agree with Dark Jimbo, except for the bit about really liking Lenny Zero. I remember being mighty impressed when it first ran, part of a wave of things that reinvigorated an ailing Megazine - but re-reading those early stories it's kinda smug. Diggle's plotting and Jock's art (not to mention Ben Willsher on Zero's 7), all great, the actual script, not so much.

The Scrap is more ambitious than successful, but it sure is doing something new and different for 2000AD, and more than earns my vote.

[Outlaw]

I genuinely have a soft spot for Outlaw, which has quite a lot in common with early Sinister Dexter: same story every episode, but with a new, kewl artist each time, accompanied by arch dialogue. Except that Outlaw pretended to be telling an ongoing story which it didn't do very well. At last those artists did all have a good crack at comicsifying that most cinematic of sequences, the gunfight.

Ordinary is just a really great story that I slightly resent voting for because although it did run in the Meg and totally qualifies, it kind of doesn't quite feel like a Megazine story, just one that happened to be printed there.

Screw it it's not gonna win, I'm voting Outlaw on the strength of Simon Davis, and indeed Tom Carney, whose style was the most ridiculous but as a result the most fun for this very silly story.

[Stalag 666]

These draws, man, they really are somethin'. Would never have predicted Stalag 666 to go beyond round 1 but the creature design alone is enough to let it soar high in the sky above por Harry Angel, the thrill that didn't thrill.

Stalag 666

[Finder and Keeper]

Hah! Despite that intro I have a lot of fondness for both these stories. Not sure why Finder and Keeper hasn't been back in the Regened, I always enjoy it. And 'Beyond Science' was a real blast of fresh air from my early days as a 2000AD reader. Obviously because of Rian Hughes art, but somehow the format seemed to galvanise people who would otherwise write only medoicre Future Shocks. If you've even a passing interest, I highly recommend getting a copy of the (out of print) collection. There's some great bonus stuff in their from Hughes, mostly his intro and a bunch of covers for imaginary comics of yesteryear.

Doesn't help me work out which thrill ot vote for! I've spent more minutes of my life reading and enjoying 'Beyond Science' but I'd be more exicted to see a return of Finder and Keeper.

I wonder if what it needs a bit of a kick up the setting, taking it away from the real world feeling and adding in some other fantastical / sci-fi element beyond the ghosts..?

[Maelstrom]

Look, Black Shuck is good and all, but I did not find Steve 'clean' Yeowell to be the best fit for this Medieval tale of dirt, blood and body-morphing horror. Sorry. Even the story was too much politics, not enough horror for my taste.
Maelstrom is one of the most difficult stories to make sense of, but if you put the effort in there's lots of weird ideas, and boy does Colin McNeil know how to draw moody space mercs and mutating madness.

Maelstrom.

So true - new thrills are the lifeblood and it's so gratifying when they're good.
I'd also say that of that list, only Dept K was a thrill that I disliked - not even that it was badly crafted, I just wasn't into it. And 1 miss out of 16 hits is astonishing for an anthology comic!

I don't look in on this thread too often but my goodness, people do have spuggy shit happening in their lives, and I'm glad there's a place to share it and get support. Hope 2022 treats folks more better. House blown up and still time to plot a fiendish crossword! That's impressive.

[Zippy Couriers]

Zippy Couriers has serious 2022 legs, Regened or not. (Quite apart from the Delivery driver thing, it was also something of a sitcom in the Friends vein). It never quite reached the comedy heights of Ace Trucking though.
Still, it's for sure better than Tharg's blandest ever thrill. There must have been some reason why McKenzie and Williams decided to populate their future-wrestling strip with entirely normal-looking humans, and really dialling down the cyborg/mutation/freaky-body-enhancement options, but I damned if I can think of it. See also 'Killer', which at least had the decency to give its own bland hero a cool-looking gladiator outfit.

Zippy Couriers

[Ro-Jaws' Robo-Tales]

Bits of the 86ers are great, and reading the trade collection helped a lot with making sense of the overall narrative that I 100% did not follow when it first ran. But it's a mess. Ro-Jaws Robo Tales is one of the most consistent one-off series, with cracking art from Gibbons, McCarthy, Richardson and so on. Amnd also the first Abelaard Snazz with Dillon art, which isn't the snazziest Snazz, but is still pretty snazzy.

Ro-Jaws' Robo-Tales

[Silo]

I want to vote for Space Girls because there really is something to hte idea that could have worked, especially in 1996/7, but boy did Bishop 'n Tomlinson not find the actual story to tell with the characters. Would it not have been enough just to have them loosely modelled on the Spice Girls' personalities, without also having to have some guff about manufactured bands?

Agree with Funt that the ending of Silo makes little sense, but for me the atmosphere of the opening three episodes or so are REALLY very good, and bless 'em, the Space Girls can't compete.

Silo

[Ant Wars]

Always wanted to like Calhab Justice but could never quite wrap my head around it. Ant Wars has the extreme benefit of being easy to read. Also the episodes with Alfonso Azpiri art don't hurt! I can't agree with Colin that's it's GF-D's best, but it's up there with Shako as far as "rampaging monster strips that try very hard not to be racist" go.

Ant Wars

Hard one to judge, this. First, i have bought/read very few of these specific collections. Second, do i reward the choice made to collect a strip, or the format used, or the whole package? Brink is super mega excellent, but the trades so far have been v. basic, for example, and its no great skill to make a trade of the most popular thrill of recent years.

Guess i'll stick with trying to combine all thoughts into which collections gave me joy...

1) Flesh: Midnight Cowboys
2) Full Tilt Boogie
3) Thistlebone

(I didnt buy any 'Treasury' collections this year, and theyre often the best overall packages)

1) 'Splorers
2) Trash Culture
3) Enemy Earth