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Gutted to hear about Tom Petty. The legends are going now, and there's no-one breaking through to replace 'em.

Radiator, if you ever wanna run for Tzar, I'm yer Rasputin.

Despite the lack of info on the spines rubbing my OCD bone the wrong way, the sheer handsomeness of the first volume persuaded me to sign up for more. Rather than subscribe and get free gifts (I've enough junk cluttering up me domicile, tank ya very mooch), I've got my local comic shop thrill - merchant to order me a copy. Which is lovely, because he's been looking for a way into 2000ad for years (despite me giving him a lengthy chat once a week when I pick up my prog, and pointing out all the jumping on isssues). 
So yeah, here's Halo Jones, the book looks gorgeous, and it was wonderful to revisit it again. Top collection, cheers Tharg.

What Wooly said ^ and that's being generous. My non comic reading friends have been loving it, but after last nights episode, I'm out for good. I think it's because I keep expecting it to hit one or two beats from the comic, and it steadfastly refuses to do so, preferring to waste time with interminable dream sequences (the LAZIEST form of padding out an episode), and pointless subplots. Ah well, I've still got me comics. And I kinda like the Lethal Weapon tv show.

Picked one up from WH Smith's in Preston. As expected, it looks GORGEOUS & I'll pick up a couple more to give to friends tomorrow. Still umming and aahing over whether I'm gonna get any others in the series though - I've got everything in back progs, a lot of it many times.

D'you know what puts me off, though? What really TINY detail gets right under my OCD? There's no title on the spines! How the hell am I to know which volume's which on my bookshelves? That actually is a deal breaker for me over whether to dip in now and again and get more. I know, it's some kind of autism or something, I guess.

Can't knock this for two quid though, can you?

Am I going mad or was Gene the Hackman driving a car and firing a gun in that?

I'm been saying this since the eighties, but please please please: John Cooper Clarke?

I've got one, picked it up for £40 from Argos last year. I use it every day, usually to just play music from Spotify. It's much more responsive than Siri, in that it generally gets what you're asking it to do. I've no doubt that it's useful for turning your lights on and off etc, but I usually get back home, pop my hat and coat on the rack and say words to the effect of "Alexa, play the album Magic by Bruce Springsteen" and she handily obliges. Very nice of her, I say.

...just sorting through some old comics to free up some space and got sucked into cracking open a bottle and having a Wolverine marathon.

Thing is, for such an iconic character, there's not really THAT many truly great Wolverine comics, are there? Seems to me that the character's arcs just keep being watered down in favour of keeping the same old same old going, ad infinitum, throughout his history. What do others think?

So for me, the truly great ones would be:
Weapon X (the original Barry Windsor Smith story)
The Claremont/Miller Wolverine (the Japanese one)
The first Origin series - vague, kind of inconsequential, but gorgeous throughout
The Old Man Logan arc
The first 20 or so issues of volume 3, where he's hunting down gangsters and people traffickers for no other reason than he's genuinely a flawed hero with a leather jacket & a motorbike.
Issue 32 of the same volume, where he's a prisoner in a WWII concentration camp, driving the nazis insane, one at a time
Obviously, the John Byrne & Claremont issues of Uncanny Xmen (First Alpha Flight, Days Of Future Past, etc)
...beyond that, I'm struggling to think of any ones where the character isn't just fighting Sabretooth or the Baddie Of The Month, or dealing with increasingly convoluted (and frankly bollocks) plot lines about his memories being tampered with.
Anyone got any more GREAT Wolverines stories or arcs that I've missed?

I managed to miss all the furore in the press at the time so was genuinely surprised when Dr Ecclestone thrust his head back and spouted orange fireworks at the end of the first revived series. It was a hugely exciting feeling, given how much the notion of new Doctor Who had gone from "well this could be a laugh" to "required viewing for me and the missus and continual talking points down the pub" in the space of about three episodes, when it returned. Would be great to feel that again, but they've obviously gotta capitalise on the publicity. Still.... whatta feeling...!

I still like Inferno and Frankenstein Division. And Helter Skelter.
Crusade's still a pile o' pish, though.

Ah, I was really hoping we'd only find out in the last 5 minutes of the Christmas episode. Suppose a surprise is impossible, these days....

I'm a big believer in the nature of the anthology meaning that there's always gonna be something I'm not fussed about: 'twas ever thus, even in the glory days of the eighties - cast your mind back, there were always things you didn't really like, but you were a kid, and so, had much more time on your hands to read them all. There wasn't the quick hit culture we have now, where new things are SCREAMING for you to read them on your phone, and you wouldn't rest until you'd read the prog cover to cover, many times, absorbing EVERYTHING. Hell, Ace Garp used to irritate the shit outta me, but I could still tell you more about what happened in it thirty years ago than what I watched on Netflix last night.

So are we all comparing the prog of now to our Glory Days nostalgia? Maybe. But there are some great points raised here. One of my favourite ongoing stories in the prog is Kingdom, for instance. Dammit, I LOVE Gene the Hackman. But I wanted his adventures to end two years ago. Seems to be getting dragged out a lot now.

Conversely, let's look at some of the reasons why British comics, in their heyday, worked: because they were always about CHARACTER. You saw Buster, or Dennis The Menace, or Desperate Dan, and you got it. There was no need to bring you up to speed. What's he up to this week? Let's see. And it was the same with Strontium Dog, or Robo Hunter, or Dredd. Hey this guy's a bounty hunter in a western in space, who's he after this week? Let's see. This guy's a cop in the future, who's he gonna shoot this week? Let's see. And then - check it out/ that guy he's chasing is his DAD! And bad shit's happening. Where are we going with this? Let's see.

I guess what I'm saying is this: we need more CHARACTERS in 2000ad right now, not more ongoing stories. We need more ADVENTURE, more devil - may - care, more this - week - you're - never - gonna - we - printed - this sense of sheer enjoyment, while still adhering to some deep story arcs.

I'm not finding much in the prog right now (Dredd and Grey Area, maybe Defoe), but I'll never drop the prog. There's always something just around the corner that'll blow my brain. But bring back those characters, Tharg. Not just the ones of our youth, but new ones who we recognise instantly as archetypes who are dealing with a world that'll expand as their adventures grow.

Because those adventures make our worlds grow, too.

I absolutely hated the first series, but this one's much more in line with the comic.

[Despicable Me 3]

Despicable Me 3

First, some background:
Tiny Rocka is now 10, about to finish primary school, and though she still loves Minions, they're not quite the all - encompassing force of nature they were for her a couple of years ago. So, after chips by the seaside (we're lucky enough to live near St Anne's Island Cinema, where every movie ticket is £4 and you if go to a premiere there are no adverts or trailers, just the movie coming straight on at the time on ticket. Imagine how we all freaked at the opening night of Force Awakens), we're in and down to business. I of course fall asleep ten minutes into it (I'm 44 now and a gigging musician, so the second I get into a comfy chair, I'm having a quick ten minutes, thank you very much), but I doubt I missed much.
We've loved all the Gru movies so far, and this one was ok, but showing definite signs of Franchise Syndrome. It's a kids film, fee Gawd's sake, it's not reinventing the wheel. That said, there were logic gaps left right and centre ("why are the Minions suddenly in jail, Dad?"), but it's a passable and inoffensive way of keeping your Small Folk occupied for a couple of hours.
That said, we both agreed our scores for the other Despicable Me movies (and Minions) would all be 8/10, and this one's a 5. Definitely one for the ickle 'un's. Or perhaps both of us Rockas are developing more sophisticated tastes?

Captain Underpants looks like being a riot, though.