Zenith Graphic Novel

[judge devs]

Is it my imagination or has there been no re-print of Zenith since the late 90's?

Anyone know of more recent re-prints or the reason why there haven't been any for ages?

I oddly feel like I've missed something, but I can't find a more recent issue then about 1998.

Ta

[Colin YNWA]

It hasn't been reprinted for sometime and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future due to a dispute between Grant Morrison and Rebellion over ownership of the characters.

Basically boils down (I think) to some poor admin, by Fleetway who had just bought the comic from IPC, at the time of publication of the strip that meant that they never actually got legal proof that Grant Morrison was signing ownership to them when they paid him for the strip.

I'm sure more versed people in the matter will correct mistakes and add detail. Boils down to the fact I wouldn't hold your breathe waiting a new printing.

[Jim_Campbell]

Anyone know of more recent re-prints or the reason why there haven't been any for ages?

Legal dispute. I believe that whatever paperwork Fleetway are supposed to have had in which Morrison signed over the rights is MIA, making ownership of Zenith a somewhat grey area.

Morrison is somewhat more pragmatic on issues like these than, say, Alan Moore is and (allegedly) some discussions have been had on the subject of the rights relatively recently that weren't catastrophic. Even so, I wouldn't hold your breath on this front.

Cheers

Jim

[Jim_Campbell]

Simultaneous post! Spooky. Must be true, then.

Cheers

Jim

[Colin YNWA]

Simultaneous post! Spooky. Must be true, then.

Cheers

Jim

Though I'd take Jim's word a million years ahead of mine on such matters! As it goes I think we're pretty much singing from the same hymn sheet, signed on the back or otherwise.

[judge devs]

Cheers fella, thanks for that. I guess I'll have to dig out the progs then if I want to re-read. Shame really that such a stupid thing should stop if from being re-done. Guess I woon't hold my breath about it 

[Taryn Tailz]

It is a real shame as Zenith is something I'd love to read. Hopefully one day the dispute can be sorted out.

[Goosegash]

I've no idea if this was really true or not, but I'm sure it was mentioned at one point that Rebellion had a warehouse full of "Phase One" books just waiting for the okay to ship...which never came. Perhaps they assumed the legal issues would be resolved in time to get Zenith in the shops, but a decade later and seems like it's still nowhere near being sorted.

[I, Cosh]

I've no idea if this was really true or not, but I'm sure it was mentioned at one point that Rebellion had a warehouse full of "Phase One" books just waiting for the okay to ship...which never came. Perhaps they assumed the legal issues would be resolved in time to get Zenith in the shops, but a decade later and seems like it's still nowhere near being sorted.

It's true. There are a few people on the board who have early copies of that book and I think it pops up on eBay from time to time.

For those that haven't read it, it's worth remembering that phases 1 and 2 were also reprinted in the old Best of 2000AD monthlies and you should be able to pick those up on eBay for buttons. Details can be found here: http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=2000AD&choice=ZENITH

[IndigoPrime]

Wasn't it a new Titan print where a few copies got out, though, not a Rebellion one? As for things being resolved, there must be hope—the Kingsleys were thanked in Rian Hughes's Yesterday's Tomorrows, which features Really & Truly, and Tales From Beyond Science is due from Image in November.

I'd still love Zenith to be tidied up a little for reprint, too: get Yeowell to redraw that coloured page in Phase 1 and also the annual/special stories illustrated by someone else (which could then be extras). Of course, that's totally unviable from a financial standpoint, but it would be fantastic. (In my dream world, there are also archived black-and-white page for Phase IV, which would be used for that book.)

[Jim_Campbell]

Of course, that's totally unviable from a financial standpoint, but it would be fantastic. (In my dream world, there are also archived black-and-white page for Phase IV, which would be used for that book.)

I thought all the third-party colouring from that period of 2000AD was done on photostats, rather than directly onto the art, which means there are original pages somewhere. That said, from memory Phase IV was done in a watercolour/inkwash style which should be fairly easy to separate from Yeowell's strong inks in Photoshop if film only exists of the colour pages.

Cheers

Jim

[Trout]

There's an interesting question here. I've never seen a Zenith page for sale. I hope Steve kept them all.

[IndigoPrime]

That said, from memory Phase IV was done in a watercolour/inkwash style which should be fairly easy to separate from Yeowell's strong inks in Photoshop if film only exists of the colour pages.

In the days when I had far too much time on my hands and the thinking that Lulu.com wouldn't just nuke self-made trades done for your own use, I did some experimenting. Some pages were quite easy to get down to b+w, but there are also quite a lot with pretty dark greys and browns that would be a nightmare for anyone but the most patient person to deal with. I certainly didn't get far in trying to automate the process.

Still: interesting thought about the possibility of b+w being around somewhere. That'd certainly be better for any Zenith trade if it ever happened. At that point, it's just a case of kidnapping Yeowell's favourite pencil and having him redo the art for Shadows & Reflections and Maximan. Job done! (As in, job done in my illness-addled brain that's a little short on reality today.)

[Robo-K33F]

Wasn't it a new Titan print where a few copies got out, though, not a Rebellion one? As for things being resolved, there must be hope—the Kingsleys were thanked in Rian Hughes's Yesterday's Tomorrows, which features Really & Truly, and Tales From Beyond Science is due from Image in November.

Correct.

[Ancient Otter]

Would anyone believe me if I said I saw a foreign language collection of Zenith? Recently I was in a comic shop in Madrid on my holidays when I spotted a couple of collections of the early Phases on the shelf (they were not recent though - early noughties if I remember correctly by the copyright information on the title page.)

Of course I thought since I don't have much space in the bag, I'll just order these off the internet when I get home but I can't find any trace of them on Amazon.es. Damn!