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If, as you suggest on your blog, there's some manner of differing male / female perspective, that must make me a big girl, 'cos I definitely enjoyed Halo and the Gryphon the most (not that the others weren't good, mind.) Mind you, I also thought the cover was superb, so that puts me back to being a bloke again. Cue manly grunting and discussion of games featuring balls...

Well, if you've read The Fury #3 that was out the other day [spoiler]I guess you'll know it gets even darker, i.e, Britain gets blown up and Hellboy's dead![/spoiler] And Mignola says that [spoiler]although Hellboy will continue as a strip, he's not bringing him back to life, but instead exploring his adventures dead. Which in some ways makes sense, as ever since that one where he spent years under the ocean, he's drifted right out of mundane reality anyway into the realm of myth and folklore.[/spoiler]

Captain Zep! Wasn't he "creep Lucas" in Adrian Mole?

You are correct, sir! Well spotted.

Good choices, CF! Here's a couple more stalwarts:

• Hilary Robinson - she used characters she'd created and published elsewhere, so 2000AD never owned them (you'd have thought they might have specified this early on in their negotiations, the contracts must have been pisspoor then) but they didn't find out until they wanted to yank her off her titles. What I'd like to see if Medivac getting properly finished and reprinted.
• Grant Morrison - information is skimpy as the ambulance chasers are all over this but it seems like some (or perhaps) all of the Zenith paperwork is missing. This doesn't seem a unique situation

In TPO, Hilary Robinson says she "had never signed a document assigning her copyright to Fleetway", and that was why her solicitor was able to make a successful case that she had only granted Fleetway "a license to publish the work." As Chris Denton suggests, it does make you wonder if Alan McKenzie got the idea from her. I think you're right about 'Zenith', I think it's the case that if Grant Morrison ever signed any similar thing, there's no evidence of it. It is odd that Really and Truly appears to belong to him as well. Didn't he and Mark Millar plan to use Big Dave in Loaded, but it didn't happen? I assume they must therefore own that strip too?

Woah! Deeply disturbing but very impressive stuff.

Robinson's point of principle was sound, but it was career suicide. Alan Moore can get away with that kind of stuff because he's such a big name, but for someone just starting out - and not really making much of a splash at that - going down the legal route was tantamount to resigning from comics.

For all that you suggest that Robinson wasn't making much of a splash (and I am very aware that her work is not highly regarded by the fanbase at large, even if I think differently) she was omnipresent in the 600s... she must have had at least one story in almost every prog of that era. Someone definitely liked her work.

As for the legal stuff, Robinson suggests Alan McKenzie was making her life difficult anyway and she had nothing to lose - she had previously been under Richard Burton's wing, but says in TPO that she found McKenzie too critical and implies she felt he was "unprofessional". She says she could "afford to make a stand" - she'd been warned by others that 2000AD wouldn't commission her again if she pursued a legal route, so she knew exactly what she was getting into. She clearly felt that her time at 2000AD was drawing to a close anyway, so had the opportunity to stand firm for her principles and prevent her characters being taken from her.

Obviously, there's two sides to every story, and it's unlikely McKenzie will give us his, as he has declined to be interviewed on the subject of his editorship in the past.

I was reading recently that Tharg wanted to replace Robinson as writer on one of her strips and she took umbrage at this and instigated legal action, successfully, on the grounds she owned the copyright. I'm not sure what that achieved though except to ensure she never received another penny for her comic work.

Well, it made sure she didn't have to suffer seeing her strips bastardised and reduced to some kind of offensive parody of themselves, as would undoubtedly have happened (as per John Smith's recollection in TPO.)

As for Hilary Robinson's work there's some great stuff there, okay some comfortably miss the mark but Medivac 318, in particular the first book which is quite brilliant at times and Zippy Couriers is really good fun. As with Brigand Doom I didn't realise this was tied up as well?

I seem to recall that Hilary Robinson had used some of her characters in fiction published prior to them appearing in 2000AD, and the strips remained creator-owned. (Can't remember the exact details - it's in Thrillpower Overload.) I would echo Colin's praise of Robinson - Medivac 318 is great, Zippy Couriers was a lot of fun, she wrote some enjoyable S/D spin-offs, and damnit, I like Survivor!

When Pat works out his best angle of attack (I'm hoping for more superheroes in warzones, perhaps you could even work it into the Marshal Law universe, or some kind of future war parody, a bit like Starship Troopers) I'll be up for buying whatever he has to sell.

Yeah, as we all know, Pat is at his most potent when motivated by righteous fury (i.e Charley's War) - it's a shame Marshal Law has fallen by the wayside 'cos Kev O'Neill is otherwise engaged (and I don't imagine Pat'd ever do it without him.) But something in that style to give him an outlet for his justified venom would be great.

Ordered, sir! And may I say, bloody lovely cover from Mr. Askham.

Great punch in panel 2, Dave. Right in the chops!

Great entry (ooer missus, etc.), I found myself strongly in agreement with this sentiment:

Johnny Alpha did not become beloved in our hearts by collecting one bounty a year, Tharg.

I've found the sporadic appearance of certain strips, specifically, Nikolai Dante and Sinister / Dexter, the two that were on semi-permanent rotation during the Bishop era, frustrating at times. Dante just seems to be building up a head of steam (last brief but brilliant run) and then it's gone, whereas Sin / Dex is still written as if it was a regular, which makes its occasional drift onto the thrill-radar an odd experience, particularly given Abnett's ongoing over-plot. Now fair enough, Dante's coming to an end and Sin / Dex is probably past its sell-by-date, but I do agree there needs to be something other than Dredd that anchors the prog. I found this particularly noticeable over the recent period when Wagner wasn't writing Dredd. That said, I am rather hoping 'Dandridge' might rise to take this sort of position, its recent couple of close-together runs were a treat, and it's set up a world ripe for more exploration in frequent little 4-5 part bursts.

Know a taste for the X is considered heresy  in some quarters and admittedly of late even I have struggled to maintain an interest but ...

It's finally getting good again, y'know. Decent writers (Aaron, Gillen, and the ongoing genius of PAD and Rick Remender on the two satellite teams), the prospect of individual teams with limited rosters rather than the sprawling mess of the last couple of years... hallelujah!

Belardinelli's criminally underrated and undervalued - generally sees some of the lowest prices for any 'classic' 2000AD artist.  Grud only knows why; the man was a supremely talented artist.

I do agree - he was an astonishingly imaginative and skilful artist (he's one of my all-time 2000AD top 3) but he's also one of the more affordable classic-era artists to get hold of a few pieces by. I even managed to pick up the final page of Ace Trucking Co. in full colour, gorgeous as it is, for a reasonable sum.