Messages

I'm feeling pretty close to resigning - and, for some reason, my mind always takes that a step further and suggests that the ultimate panacea would be just to resign from life. But then I feel like a fraud because I'm not that committed or wedded to any particular idea. Anyway - it's proving to be a difficult semester.

I don't often com in this thread but I sincerely hope this is just a fleeting thought that you're not planning to follow up. You can always talk to someone, even me if you need to. Although the topic would mostly be data structures.

I want to know why you have Wingspan and Catan in German.... Very suspicious.

Not that suspicoius. I live in Switzerland.

[Strontium Dug]

Thought Strontium Dug was laugh out loud funny and probably the best Regened strip to date. Two important aspects of that: it can only ever be a one-off rather than a pilot for a series and Colin MacNeil. Not sure how it'll work for the Non-Scot bairns but I don't really care either. Impenetrable Scottish accents have been part of 2000AD since I was a lad.

Enemy Earth was yet another pilot but I felt it worked better than many others because it had some actual nastiness. Not quite Please Kill Me Before the Giant Scorpions but a good old-fashioned eaten little brother. Good stuff.

The most interesting thing about Scooter & Jinx is that it finally proves beyond reasonable doubt that Skip Tracer is named after a Sonic Youth song and the occupation came later. And one of them is a Bone Machine. Looking forward to seeing what relatively obscure musical references our man comes up with next.

Not convinced by the Time Twister. Pleasant enough but it seems like every Future Shock in Regened has centred around the idea of social media. Not sure the kids give as much of a shit (or would be as shocked by the idea of it being bad) as teh knicker-twisting adults writing this stuff.

Dredd was fairly nothingy but actually highlights my own reservation about the Regened Progs. Wouldn't it be better to try and get material from the best  creators into these issues? I'm not sure many people are running to their local Thrill merchant for 12 pages of Liam Johnson's Dredd. Of the current top flight writers I think only Rennie has had a strip in this year. Of course new talent is always welcome but how do you attract readers without a core of strong material?

Anyone interested in some spine chat? Great!

Did a bit of rearranging last night after liberating some stuff from Scotland recently.


 
Wait! What in Fuck's name have they done to those Trigan Empires! The titles align on 1 & 2 but the diagonal stripe on 1 & 3 and none of the big blue on white numbers at the bottom do at all. Oh, woe!

I remember watching this with my dad when it was on telly one night in the mid-80s or maybe a little later. Didn't have much of a clue what was going on and I've never had any interest in rewatching it (also had no idea it was a beloved cult classic rather than a weird curio) but there are definitely scenes or images from it seared into my memory. "Fiddle about" being one and some sort of toilet seat covered in toothpicks another.

Quadrophenia next?

[Bradley]

Rick Random. Never read it.

Bradley. I remember the early stories being fun in an anarchic way and the later ones getting  bit tiresome but Simon Harrison.

Bradley.

[HAVN]

Diamond Dogs is a cavalcade of ciches piled on top of each other with almost no attempt to make something original out of them. I'm a huge fan of seemingly generic action, sci-fi and kung fu films and comics and whatnot. An old story told well is a joy forever.  It always needs to have some little twist to make it stand out: a nice aesthetic, a memorable villain, a comically dickish hero. None of that here.

I remember IP's comments about HAVN while it was running and maybe I'd feel the same way I had an Icelandic partner. But I don't. No tired, corrupt undercover cops here, just a mad mind control plan and very lush art.

HAVN.

Quite annoyed that I accidentally ordered the paperback of Third World War 2 instead of the hardback. What will the neighbours think of my spines!

[13]

Angel Zero has left almost no impression on me, sadly.

13's slightly radge protagonist gave it a nice bit of character and set it apart from the Hellblazer stylings of its' contemporary Carver Hale.

13

[Brigand Doom]

Disaster! 1990 invented the London Duck Tours and for that it should be celebrated.

However:

Brigand Doom was completely style over substance - but what style!

Brigand Doom.

[Zaucer of Zilk]

Zaucer of Zilk. The first story was wonderful stuff. Marvellous McCarthy art with a suitably breezy story tying it all together. The disappointing second story showed that daftness isn't as easy as it looks.

Young Middenface. I've only read a couple of stories but I would've liked to see more. Am I right in saying it reflects Scottish politics in much the same way that Billy the Fish reflects the fortunes of Newcastle United FC?

Zaucer of Zilk. Just

[Project Overkill]

Bob the Galactic Bum has nice art but is painfully unfunny. I find it fascinating that the incidental humour in the average Wagner & Grant strip is hilarious yet when they try to write a straight up comedy it falls flat. The first Bogie Man might be the only exception.

Project Overkill I can only vaguely remember from the old EE. It was quite of its time but it least it was a genuine Thrill!

Project Overkill.

[Judge Death]

Scarlet Apocrypha I've never read.

Judge Death wins by default.

[Fervent & Lobe]

American Gothic was perfectly fine but never really got started. I much preferred the Vertigo series Hinterkind which it morphed into.

Fervent & Lobe is irritating because of the deliberately obscuring meta-narrative device Smith insisted on using in all those early IP stories. It's also great because of some the gruesome imagery that Smith and Hadley cook up.

Fervent & Lobe.

[Past Imperfect]

Necrophim was a quite terrible Thrill. Swearing and saying you're nefarious isn't really the same as characterisation. The best I can say about it is it gave Lee Carter some exposure and room to improve his art.

Past Imperfect is a largely forgotten (by me, anyway) banner but looking at Barney I remember liking Monty Nero's one and the first Dandridge was one of several Alec Worley one-offs that went above and beyond in creating a world for a short.

Past Imperfect.