Messages

>>Laughing? I don't get it. I thought it was meant to be *elegant* dialogue? Those ignorant fools...

Indeed.

"This rapidheal medipack will provide temporary cessation of the pain."

and:

"Your uniform protected you from much of the conflagration."

Tres elegant, n'est pas?  ;->

>>Perhaps this scojo should speak for himself?

No need.  You strangely seem to be doing a good enough job for him as it is.

>>Having to wade all the way through them is probably why there's been no news on the Shoreline front since Dec 2001, poor bastards...

Maybe they're too busy reading out their favourite parts to each other in the office and laughing.

"Let only the guilty fear me. Justice has a face. And I am it. For I am the law. I am JUDGE DREDD!!!!!!"

>>BuT I have this suspicion he is watching you know............ :-)

Really..!!???  Blimey.  Who could it be, I wonder?

My (next ;->) sardonic point was, though, that illegal sugar dealing is an obvious metaphor for drugs, done at a time when anything involving a drugs story would have been a big no-no in a boys action-adventure comic.

20 years later, however, 2000AD and its readers are a bit more mature, and you'll notice that Dredd doesn't spend much time these days busting up sugar-dealing rings etc.  'Cos, frankly, making sugar illegal on health grounds is a bit nonsensical, especially when alchohol and fatty foods still seem to be perfectly legal in MC-1.

A moment's thought by any sane, rational person would realise that doing a modern sci-fi action movie for an adult audience in which your ultra-tough guy main character spends his time investigating the heinous crime of sugar-dealing is basically going to get laughed off the screen by its target audience.

No surprise, then, that Scott 'Herman J. Mankiewicz II' Nestel's script should have illegal sugar dealing as a major part of its plot.

A pretty likeky scenario, I think, considering the high standard of his ideas.

HIs 'Judge Dredd Versus The Evil Sugar Dealers' script certainly had everything a modern, tough, gritty, sci-fi action movie requires.

I think the idea's a bit of a non-starter.  It's a real "yes, *shrug*, but what would be the _point_?" kind of deal.

John Wagner and successive editors of the Meg and 2000AD apparently think likewise, especially if it went on into any 'Dredd: Year One' nonsense.

There was the Armageddeon series in the early Megs.  It was supposed to be the real 'secret' histoy behind the origins of Dredd's world.  It only lasted a series, reportedly because all the parties involved more or less lost interest in the whole dumb idea.

>>Wasn't some guy locked alone in a nuclear bunker or something. Was someone trying to get in?

Yes, the producers of Die Hard, outraged at the shameless 100% direct lift theft of a scene from their movie.

The makers of The Shining were also out there hammering on the door as well, I gather.

Caballistics Inc (Arcane Affairs and Paranormal Investigations) is a horror/occult/killing things with chainsaws and shotguns/monsterfest by myself and Dom Reardon, who's replacing Frazer Irving on it now that Frazer's fucked off to do The Authority.

Asylum is the first 2000AD series by Rob Williams, who wrote Class War for com.x.  I have no idea what it's about or what it might be like.

Past Imperfect is a series of one-off alternative history stories by various 2000AD regulars, and will probably be temporarily replacing Future Shocks.  I've done two (one, with Ade Bamforth, about the McCarthy era, the other about Pearl Harbour), Si Spurrier's done at least one, David Bishop's done at least one, I have no idea about who else has done any or what they might be about, but Dan, Robbie, Andy Diggle, Steve Moore etc were all invited to contribute.

Hmmm, I think some of the cheeky monkeys on the message board have been pulling your leg a bit, Tu-plang...

Dredd.  The Phantom of the Shoppera.

Next!

I'd be rather surprised if Frank Miller, at this stage in his career, welcomed or paid any attention to editorial input, especially on a really minor (from his POV) one-off gig like this.

I think that if David had given him a detailed brief on what he wanted, or asked to see sketches or pencil roughs for the proposed cover (as might normally be done with other artists), we might have seen the Great One stomping off in a fit of ego-bruised pique a lot earlier than he actually did.

Which would have made the whole thing even funnier, imho  ;->

It's bloody awful, and I thought it was very funny when David rejected it, especially with the details of Frank's reported reaction.

Obviously, the guy simply hasn't heard the word 'no' from an editor's mouth in a long, long time and wholeheartedly belives his own press.

Anyway, it wouldn't be so bad if he'd maybe actually taken the time to turn in a finished piece of work.  What happened?  Did he run out of ink?  Was it almost dinner time and he couldn't be bothered drawing the lower half of Dredd's body?

Why does Dredd have one enormous club foot?  Why is his other leg apparently been replaced by a plank of wood?

Questions without answers, mysteries without solutions...

Yep.

If you have to ask, then you ain't gonna get it.  Sorry, but them's the rules.

I'm not at all offended.

Just bemused and amused that you were hoping your self-crowning monarch escapades had somehow made it into the comic ;->

To answer your question:

That story was written last year, so nothing in it has anything to do with anything that's happened on this board anytime recently.