Messages

What's the best day for 'thought bubble' activities, I can only get to the saturday events?

Whose going where also, . . .  I would like to say hello to all you forum dudes.

Saturday is the only day for singings/ sketches and the majority of the panels.

Sunday I think they do like a comic mart thing, and they do that 24hour comic book challenge tomorrow aswell.

Cheers,
Lee

Cool man. I'll throw up a photo if I can find one that actually looks like me.

Cheers,
Lee

My missus is Japanese so we've got Totoro, Doraemon, Anpanman and Hello Kitty rubbish all over the house already. He's into One Piece and Dragonball now so I'll be on the lookout for some (cheap) toys.

Man your kid must be so cute. Is the wife along for the ride 'n all? I think there are all of like 4 or 5 other Japnese people in the whole of Huddersfield, so she has been connecting with people from all over. I think she knows a guy in Leeds actually.

I think Nana is coming with me, so I'll have to keep an eye out for you, I'm just worried she may get a little bored. She is really into her art and manga but she doesn't really read in english besides uni work, so doesn't really know much about western comics.

My plan is to hit up all the 2000AD artists they don't get so much of a big que. I am going to bite the bullet and go straight for JRJR though.

Cheers,
Lee

Yeah Tour of Duty and getting up to date with Nikolai Dante are a must.

I'm going to have to stop getting the MEG unfortunatley, I just don't have the funds. I was really liking Lilly Mackenzie aswell :-(.

I didn't realise it was the 2nd trade of Callabalistics Inc I bought so next purchases for me are probably that, and the Henry Flint collection they have in LCS for £4.

Cheers,
Lee

Don't think I'll be able to manage a beer as I'll be dragging my 6 year old boy round with me. He's only coming because I've promised to buy him some plastic anime tat.

Thats the way get them hooked early, I've got my four your old nephew hooked on Spider-man already. And when my girlfriend goes back to Japan I hoping she can bring him back a Doraemon and Totoro so I can get him into the anime too.

Cheers,
Lee

I'm game for that. My budget is whack, but who needs food anyway.

The Geek Syndicate talk show is meant to be on again, and that was a blast last year. Before/ After/ During I'll be hitting the casino bar, but I hear Sgt Peppers is a good night? A few quid in then free drink?

Cheers,
Lee

Yes.

SBT

Good good. Would have been a ridiculous over-sight otherwise.

Cheers,
Lee

Just give me a yes or no answer since I'm working my way through the trades. But is there any reason why I've seen it drawn as SONY in earlier progs too?

Also I re-read Dandridge wasn't too bad really. Quite looking forward to this weeks.

Cheers,
Lee

Leeds is a great night out.

After the con we go to a great bar called Sergent Peppers which is £12 to get in and then free drink all night (and it's in crawling distance of the Travel Lodge we stay at) 

The music in there is great too! :-)

I wanted to track the place down last year, but I was already half cut. I heard from a mate it's changed owners and its called Sweeny Todds or something now?

Cheers,
Lee

Cannot wait myself a JRJR sketch then the art droids. My mate has booked a hotel so if I get too hammered in the Casino afterwards he might be woken up by me looking to kip on his floor.

Cheers,
Lee

[Prog 2000]

I've only been around for 2 specials. How often does an ongoing story run through them? Like Tour of Duty did last year. Seems unlikely right?

I think the last time was the last big Dredd story Origins. Usually it's all new stuff, which seems more satisfying. While the end of year progs are always a treat, the first few were truly special.

If you get a chance, try and get a copy of Prog 2000 - hands down the best prog ever. Wagner and McMahon and Grant and Kennedy on Judge Dredd, Mills and O'Niell on Nemesis the Warlock, Wagner and Ezquerra on the first new Strontium Dog story for a decade, the opening shots of Tsar Wars - still Nikolai Dante's finest hour - by Morrison and Fraser, Dave Gibbons on Rogue Trooper (sort of), Greg Staples doing a fully painted Slaine and Kev Walker's amazing black and white artwork on ABC Warriors, and part one of one of the very best 'one-off' 2000ad stories, Glimmer Rats.

Sounds good. Defintley going to be worth picking up when I fill in the gaps between the bulk of progs I bought and when I started collecting.

Cheers,
Lee

Yeah I missed out The Family, that was quite a nice one sitting read too.

Cheers,
Lee

I've only been around for 2 specials. How often does an ongoing story run through them? Like Tour of Duty did last year. Seems unlikely right?

Cheers,
Lee

Well with that awesome Mongoose 1.99 trade deal going on, and my local comic book store offering quite a few 2000AD trades for a fiver, in about the last month or two, I've bough around 20 2000AD trades!!! And after recently buying a bundle of old progs from around 400-1200. The last few months have literally just been a 2000AD binge.

I'be beem getting the Prog about 3 years now, but in the last year it's become pretty much the only comic I pay any attention. And I have to say. It really is the Galaxies Greatest Comic. There is nothing like this anywhere else, I've never seen such qaulity week to week, such beautifully put together trades going at a fraction of their RRP, and with so much talent going under the radar of your average comic reader. I've put quite alot of effort on various sites and forums and in prasing the book in comic stores trying to spread the word, to Yanks and otherwise. But people just don't seem to care.

Well... F**K 'em. These are our comics. I wish I'd been around to read this stuff when it was first coming out. But digging into pretty much every era simultaneously now is a treat in itself.

Trades-wise I've been reading:

The Read Seas: Under the Banner of the King of Death. Edginton is one of the top guys now, and Yeowell's art here is as good as you will ever see from him. The pacing in this book shows you what makes 2000AD great, every page is just crammed full of action, awesome ideas and character moments.

Sinister Dexter vol 1-3: Downlode like Mega City-One just offers so many potential stories and mixing up the comedic one shots with longer more serious stories works well. These guys came along just when the Prog needed them and they're still welcome today in my books.

Storming Heaven: The Frazer Irving Collection: It was inevitable he was going to get
picked up by one of the big 2. And even though I wasn't a huge fan of the stories in here, his art defintley made them worth a read. Even John Smiths A Love like Blood was about as cliched as you can get but was totally enjoyable.

Amerika: Yeah, I've finnaly read it. And I did it in one sitting. I can see why people may have thought the 2nd story was unnecessary, but it holds up as part of the trilogy in my eyes. The story and art are rightfully inconic to AD readers, there in such perfect sync, and after seeing them together again for Tour of Duty I still think Macniel and Wagner is one of the strongest pairings in the industry.
Also this is probably one the most tragically hilarious things I've ever read. Genius.

Shamballa: Beautifully wrote, beautifully illustrated. Some seriously tasty splash pages in here.

Shimura: Robbie Morrison manages to establish two chracter and a whole city taht deserve as much exploration as Dredd & Mega-City One. Macniel kicking ass again.

Mega-City Undercover: Probably one of the greatest AD chracters ever is introduced here, Dirty Frank! Low Life expands the Mega City mythos even further and art from two of AD's modern greats Henry Flint and Jock.

Devlin Waugh Volume 1 & 2: John Smith is bonkers right? The character and the ongoing story of the 2nd trade are certifiably nuts and the art is pretty much gorgeous throughout.

Thirteen: Another story where shit just happens and it happens fast. Somtimes you feel you haven't got your moneys worth when you finish a trade in one sitting, but  this is just such an immensly enjoyable read you won't care.

Also a big thanks to betel UK thanks to whom I've not got all of Zenith. I just need to decide whether to wait till I read it in order as I work my way chronoligcaly throug my bundle of Progs or fish them out and get stuck in straigth away.

Cheers,
Lee

Is Indigo Prime starting next week? Please please please let it be.

Is there evidence it will? My understanding was that it was quite a long story and might not fit in the space there is available before the end of year special.

It's just a few weeks since it's been teased and Dandrige came around rather unexpectedly, I knew it was coming but had no idea so soon. But I guess with the end of year replacing, is it 3 progs? It is a bit of a tight fit.

Shame, I'm really looking forward to it. But perhaps I am being a little harsh on this weeks prog/ current line up. We might get a couple of cracking one offs between now and christams, and Dandrige does show promise.

But With Defoe and Low Life on the form they were, it was inevitable there'd be something missing when they end. Plus with some half decent Dredds, Nikolai Dante and AoTW the prog had a very nice vibe to it for me.

Cheers,
Lee