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Every time I read an interview with Ennis, I'm struck by how perceptive he is about his own work.  I'm really not a big fan of Ennis' output, having found signature projects like Preacher to be both boring and unpleasant, but I have enjoyed some of Hellblazer and 2000AD stuff (I still rate 'Monkey on my Back' very highly, incongruous West Wall aside).  However, he comes across as having such a keen self-depreciating awareness of where his scripts  (in my opinion) went wrong that it's impossible not to like the guy, or believe that he could do something I really enjoyed in the future.  His analysis of Judgement Day and Strontium Dogs are spot-on, in terms of both strengths ans weaknesses.  The Return of the Gronk is the best of the stories, the Darkest Star story, while not qite working is a good try, and Nigel Dobbyn's art is terrific, and underrated.

Sorry to hear about your non-interview Bishop, there's nothing more frustrating than looking at your CV, looking at a rejection letter, and wondering where the fuck you went wrong - at least with an interview or some feedback there's some learning to be had, and you can get some sense of what to do next.

Let it go, Moonbeam.  Step away from the keyboard.

The name fits, but the M.O. is a bit off.  Benefit of the doubt for now.

Cool.  I always thought Bachelor's Walk needed more booby traps.  

Bit of an exercise in showcasing SFX environments, but very impressive nonetheless.  

Sheesh DXB get it right:  it's shatter:Light.  I'm really not knocking Gordon's Dredd, I like it a lot, better than Alan's certainly.  I'm just noting that it's precisely his avoidance of Dredd as solo-subject that marks his strips as being second-fiddle to Wagner's - if (Grud forbid) Wagner stops writing Dredd, I would hope that Rennie will grab the chance to work directly with the big guy.  Right now, it feels (to me) like Gordon is playing with the supporting cast rather than the star, and that's fine - and frequently excellent.  

I'll go out on a limb here, and say that Gordon's Dredd, unique amongst all non-Wagner Dredds including Alan's, actually sounds and even acts like Dredd.  That this is spectacularly difficult to achieve is well described by Ennis in Bish's Blog.  

Where Gordon still falls slightly short (for me) is in the stories themselves - Gordon's MC-1 seems full of people that Dredd knows, and can have a bit of a chinwag with (admittedly usually while taking on an armed gang of kidnappers).  This happens to Wagner's Dredd so rarely it's actuallly noteworthy when it does - I still remember the shock when he first paused for a chat with Morph during the Daughters of the Apocalypse(?) parade, or even much later when Renga showed up to warn him that SJS are pulling in his Hotdog Run cadets.  Gordon's Dredd always seems running into Guth, or Giant Jr, or even poor old Ocks (not seen since Shanty Town).  

I've suggested before that this seems to reflect a lack of confidence in working with Dredd himself, despite being able to write him 'in character', possibly coming from playing second fiddle on the strip.  If Gordon could get beyond that, get to grips with stories that just feature Dredd, he'd be on the right track.

Plus, there's a lot of apparent ESP going on about what Alan Moore meant, or what he thinks, or what his motives are.

Impromptu bannings, unsanctioned mind reading, it's all gone John Byrne!  I kid, I kid...  

"Without that, I would -- presumably -- still be dealing drugs in Northampton somewhere or, possibly, now be in prison."
Well, it's nice to see a change from all the balanced discussion.

I dunno, Funt, it's fair comment - that's pretty much how Moore describes his pre-Curt Vile days.  I do suspect however that a mind like Moore's would have got to the top with or without 2000AD.

But Alan Moore made a deal.

Very well put, PVS - that is the bottom line, and like yourself, and I speak with the gretest respect for both Moore and Morrison.  It would be sensible for companies to reward creators when their creations take off financially, if only to encourage the best work from their writers/artists (witness the recent tale of Tom Tully on over Bish's Blog, needlessly padding his stories out because he was being paid by the page, and that was the only money he'd ever see for his work), but if it wasn't part of the deal in the first place, appealing to common sense and fairness in the business world is a fool's errand.  

It does seem logical and just that any writer/artist should retain the rights to his work, but you just have to look at the wasteground that swallowed the early 90's Sim-inspired self-publishers to see why a publishing company structure is useful, if bloody annoying.

Not every creator is as competent a publicist or businessman as they might wish, and not every creation is profitable enough for a publisher to promote without the enticement of the rights.  

There's room for both models, and as no kind of a fool,  Moore must have been aware what he was getting into with 2000AD.  I always feel that the poor treatment of his co-workers on Swamp Thing, and the endlessly-in-print Watchmen issue has retrospectively soured him against his early publishers to a degree out of proportion with his actual treatment by 2000AD.

Unbelievably great suff - great Living Axe accessory, lovely touch with the peg-holes intact/removed!

Aren't they supposed to be nose guards, like on a Spartan helmet.

Well yeah, but their position in many, many versions would seem to partly block the wearers vision - which I imagine many real-world noseguards do too, but must be unacceptable for a judge.  Hence the suspicion that they may be transparent from the inside.

I've always thought of them as being opaque, like a two way mirror.

Hmmm, me too, but now I think about it, that doesn't gel with how the visor breaks - witness City of the Damned and even Origins.

More grea twork, Mike.  The crease in the corner of the packaging is pure genius.  

On the excellent Johnny head, it's worth noting that the boss on the front of his helmet is a vid-camera, complete with removable slugs- so some form of aperture and hinge-line would work well as detail.

Only one possible reaction to that animation:  hubba HUBBA!

Now we know why it takes so long between Harry Potter novels.  You are that young person's author, aren't you? ; >