Topics

...in Slaine?

Seriously.

I liked the wicker man scene, with all the criminals stuffed inside. It's a pretty horrible subject but that Massimo art is fantastic.

But my favourite art - and overall story - has to be McMahon on the Shoggey Beast. Scratchy and wonderful.

- Trout

I found myself fascinated by this. I wonder what comic he's reading?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8203923.stm

Andy DuFresne
butane
Saddam Hussein
mark of Cain
acid rain
aquitaine
express train
inhumane
lumbar vein
Mary Jane
whooping crane
castles in Spain
electric main
malacca cane
diseased brain
Frankfurt on the Main
bahrain
military campaign
Ukraine
jugular vein

Do you think Slaine recycles? We have to.

The strip itself is recycled, over and over.

...seems so silky and soft, even when it's spiky.

I wonder what shampoo he uses?

I wonder where he buys them?

I wonder how his name is pronounced. Does anyone know?

Isn't it great when we get a subs prog on a Saturday? It steals two whole days from the previous schedule, and Saturday's a great time to read a prog.

Well done to the mechanised minions who make it possible!

- Trout

Did I bag both threads this week? Ha!

John Smith's Wire-inspired two-part Dredd ends well, with lots of shooty chaos. Nice detail on his use of stumm gas, too. I loved the art on this one, especially.

My highlight, yet again, is Tank Girl. It's full of fun, beautifully drawn and properly chaotic. Plus some knob gags.

Darren Dead had me chuckling. He's a bit of a twat, isn't he? I'm keen to see where this is going.

Finally (strip-wise) Armitage engaged my interest a bit more this week. What's the mystery in Steel's past? It was satisfying to see Armitage take on some detective work, even with help from a bit bucket of luck.

I'll nibble away slowly at the text stuff, which always comes second for me, but it looks good.

Overall: not a bad Meg at all. The prog overshadows it, but it stands alone as a good read.

- Trout

Ah, the postman's early arrival makes getting up with the bairn a bit less painful on a Saturday.

MC-1 is under new management and that's a hell of a city scene on the front cover. Nice.

Then I opened the comic and laughed out loud at Droid Life. This bodes well!

Wagner Dredd awaits!

I haven't started this thread in bloody months. 

- Trout

...on the arrival, at 02:10 today, Thursday, August 13, weighing 8lb 5oz.

Mother and baby well, Rob says.

Another Belardinelli fan in the world is no bad thing.

Hooray!

- Trout

THE MAGIC GLUE RADIO SCOTLAND FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST 6.10PM MEDIUM WAVE

A fellow comics fan has a comedy Sketch show being aired on Friday. I hope nopody minds me plugging it here! It may even be funny!

Fraser Campbell says: "Hi folks, please, please, PLEASE tune into my radio sketch show The Magic Glue on Friday 14th August at 6.10PM on BBC Radio Scotland 810 medium wave.
"If you can't listen to it this coming Friday, please tune in and give it a listen on the iplayer - it'll be there for the week after broadcast.
"Some of you will have tuned in when it was originally broadcast in January of this year - so why are we asking you to tune in again?
"Well, as some of you may know, we're up against a bunch of other comedy pilots all trying to get a show commissioned.
"When The Magic Glue was broadcast in January, lovely people tuning in and listening to it on the iplayer meant it got great figures - part of the reason the BBC are repeating it we think is because they're trying to see if that was a fluke.
"It's hugely important we get as many people listening as possible - you tuning in could really be the difference between getting a series or not.
"Please also pass the word on to any or your friends colleagues or associates you think would like the show. If you've listened to it before, just turn the radio on and put the sound down!
"Thanks for all your help past, present and future, Cheers, Fraser"

As I never tire of saying, my wife's going to have a baby boy in November.

Annoyingly, though, we can't decide on a name. We have a few possibilities, but with Rose (now three and a half) we set the bar quite high. We love her name - and so does she - and we're having problems coming up with something that good for a boy.

So... I wonder if the hive mind can help? Here are a few conditions:

1) We'd like a short first name, as our surname has three syllables.

2) Our surname ends with a "ee" sound - it's Donachie - so rhyming first names sound a bit daft. That rules out the like of Tommy, etc.

3) Something easy to spell would be good, due to having to spell our surname to everyone.

4) Suggesting names that are obviously comics references is already getting me told off. Please be subtle.

So... demanding or what?

Can anyone help?

- Trout

Please.

I know Si's gone all continental, and he's writing stuff for the Yanks now, but surely he can persuaded to do a tale or three for his top-hole creation?

We could at least have a go.

Oh, go on.

Any other comebacks we'd like to see?

- Trout

The Dredd strip is often used to reflect UK society, especially in terms of that desire we all feel sometimes - go on, admit it - that you'd like to string someone up.
Dredd is, in many ways, an outlet for anger at injustices, I've always thought.

With that in mind, here's an interesting question...

Imagine you're Dredd, and you've just arrived in present-day UK (with proper jurisdiction).

Who do you arrest? What's the crime? What's the sentence?

Vent your rage!

- Trout

A postal strike on a Friday is definitely bad news for the Saturday prog deliveries we've been spoiled with.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8149463.stm

Perhaps Proudhuff, the lefty ex-postie that he is, can defend these pinkos? ;-)

- Trout

[Zenith]

Hi, everybody.

Quick bit of news: we're going to have a boy! My wife had her 20-week scan and all is well with our growing and very active baby son. But I need to get organised with clearing out the-room-formerly-known-as-the-spare-room, so my prog and Meg doubles must GO!

I'm not looking for much - maybe a token tenner, if you can get the lot off my hands. If you want individual issues or shorter runs, give me a shout. Again a small payment would be welcome. (I have Paypal.)

But I'm not too bothered about getting money for them. The priority is passing them on - to a fan, and not a skip.
First come, first-served.

They can be collected from the Perth or Dundee areas (of Scotland, of course), or you can pay postage or arrange collection however you like.

These came from two sources: a collection I bought from another boarder, and a whole load of stuff my mate gave me when he was moving house. In each case, I took what I needed for my own collection, but there are still many complete or near-complete runs here, and some great stuff - including many issues featuring Grant Morrison's Zenith, which can't be reprinted these days.

There are also lots of doubles. This list should be accurate (it killed my Sunday afternoon), but I didn't count the duplicates. All are complete and in what I consider good condition, with wear. Many have a name written on the cover. They are stored in three large boxes and one small (A4 paper) box, plus a wee pile of about 20 Megs.


Here's the big, scary list:


Progs

432, 433, 436, 443, 495 (cover torn).

503 ("VARK!"), 507, 519, 531 to 535, 537 to 539, 544, 547, 549 to 551, 555 to 560, 562 yo 564, 567 to 572, 574 to 599.

600 to 611; 619, 621 to 623, 628 to 655, 658, 659, 661, 663 to 670, 672 to 679, 682 to 684, 687, 688, 693, 694, 696, 699.

701 to 718, 720 to 742, 745, 747, 759, 761, 763, 780, 784, 786, 787, 790, 791, 793, 795 to 799.

801 to 805, 809, 811, 814, 815, 817, 821, 830, 838, 879, 889, 891, 893 to 899.

900 to 940, 958 to 960, 962 to 964, 966.

1035, 1040 to 1043, 1045, 1048, 1050, 1066, 1073, 1086, 1089, 1090 to 1095, 1097 to 1099.

1100 to 1105, 1107 to 1173, prog 2000 (which was next in sequence), 1174 to 1178, 1181, 1185, 1187 to 1199.

1200 to 1207, 1209 to 1216, 1218 to 1222, prog 2001 (again not breaking the run), 1223 to 1233, 1235 to 1240, 1289, 1298.

1307, 1309, 1335 (two, with alternative Dredd/Aliens covers).

Also, and I forget where they come in continuity, Progs 2003 and 2005.


Megs

(I always get very confused about Meg volumes, so have scattered added a couple of dates. Please correct any mistakes I've made about volumes!)

Volume one
2 to 13
15 to 19

Volume 2
2 to 12
14, 16 (1992)
45 (1994), 46
50 to 53
56 to 71
74, 75
77 to 83

Volume four (I'm confident of that - it says so on them!)
1 to 5
7 to 16 (when I think it was rebranded to...)
201 to 244


There are also many issues of The Best of 2000AD and The Complete Judge Dredd, many of which are from my own collection. They're great wee compendiums of top stuff, just right for a new fan or a catch-up.


I'll keep clearing out over the next few weeks and post more!

If you're still reading at this point, you have very large and attractive testicles.

Cheers

- Trout

Who wants a fight? Come on, you ugly bastards! I'll take you all on!

There's a plonky-plony song being played on the piano, I'm brandishing a bottle made of that soft glass they use in the films, and there are plenty of chairs to break over people's backs!

Yee-haaaaa!

- Trout

Hello from Canada! I'm over here visiting relatives and for a bit of a holiday - and to root around fleamarkets and comic shops, armed with my trusty wants list. Yes, I'm having a great time!

In the process, I've picked up the fascinating 12-issue series that is The Outcasts (for about a tenner, which seemed like a good deal). Produced by DC in 1987, it's written by Wagner and Grant, with amazing pencils by Cam Kennedy, despite occasionally-dodgy inks by some other guy.

Anyway, I'm two issues in and loving it. The main reason it's fascinating is the obvious similarity to Dredd. It's almost like a lost Dredd story.

Spoiler space, just in case...

.

..

...

....

.....

......

It's set in "Big City," a dystopia in the USA of 2049, and the story centres on mutant rights and an effort to clear out the mutant population.

There are several other very recognisable features, like B. D. - a cyborg type who's similar to Mean Angel in many ways - "enclaves" named after former presidents, a populace with high unemployment who spend all their time watching trash on TV, a very bad crime rate, the suggestion of some chump-dumping and even a guy who can swallow a whole person after detaching his own jaw!

Does anyone know the story behind this comic? Did Wagner and Grant simply take big chunks of Dreddness and try them out in the American market?
It seems vaguely familiar, so maybe someone can point me at a Meg interview (probably the Alan Grant one, I expect) or a section of the Mega-History or Thrill Power Overload.

Opinions or comments from people who've read it would be interesting, too.

Cheers

- Trout

Hello!

I'm off to Canada this weekend with my daughter. It's been a bit spur-of-the-moment - I only booked last night - but we need the break. We'll be staying with my parents in Brantford, Ontario, which is about an hour from Toronto.

Anyway, I was wondering if there are any boarders in that neck of the woods. I'll be getting up to all sorts, but might manage a mini-Shedcon at some point.

We have plenty of people in Australia and Vancouver, it seems. Anyone in Ontario?

- Trout