how to do a prog slog

[sheridan]

At some point before the end of this year I'm going to embark on a prog slog (or possibly a back prog slog), but as it means I'll be devoting quite a chunk of my time to it, I want to make sure I start out doing it right.  A quick study of the experiences of others (on here and elsewhere) suggests that I can expect to spend one year per 500 progs.  As there will be 2,000 progs by the time I'm a quarter way into it, that's quite a time commitment.  But I don't want to stop at just the progs - I want to re-read my Megs as well.  And my Starlords.  I don't have Tornado yet (except for one single, solitary issue) so that might present a problem.  And not leaving out the Sci-Fi and Mega-Specials, Annuals and Yearbooks.  By the time I'm up to the mid-eighties the next volume of the Daily Dredds should also be out as well.

But there's just a few questions I'm trying to resolve in my mind.  In what order should I actually read them?  Cover-to-cover as they came out, living the thrill-powered life of someone just a little older than I am?  Or starting at prog one and reading the storylines as they start?  Should I stop the weeklies every time an annual or special is released?  What do I do when I get to the nineties - do I read the weekly Progs and the monthly (and sometimes fortnightly) Megs in between?

Any ideas?  From others who have taken this journey, or who might be about to?  Speaking of which - how many others are there out there who have enough Progs and Megs to join me?

As I intimated earlier - this isn't something I'm about to start straight away.  Due to various house moves  my collection is mostly complete but pretty fragmented, so the first order of the day is to get the thing in order (and then replace those precious Progs which have gone missing in the last three-and-a-bit decades).  I seem to remember there was quite a disastrous distribution problem around the time that film came out which could cause problems too...

[Dandontdare]

You should read one prog a week with a bag of sherbert lemons in your den behind the garage.

it's the only way to recreate that thrill power experience.

[Albion]

I'm currently on a Prog Slog.
I started by reading all the Megs first as I stopped getting it for awhile and wanted to see what I had missed. I then started on the Prog from Prog 1.
I am missing out some stories, such as Dredd, Ace Trucking and Robo-hunter as I have read them in the collected books fairly recently. My next Prog is 250. This was such a golden era for 2000AD that I am getting through them quite quickly as I am skipping the previously mentioned classic stories.
The real joy for me has been the Future Shocks. I had forgotten a few of them and there are some real gems in there.

[sheridan]

You should read one prog a week with a bag of sherbert lemons in your den behind the garage.

it's the only way to recreate that thrill power experience.

Nice idea - though for me I think Space Raiders would be more appropriate.  I can't even remember if I knew Brett did the packet designs at the time, but I cut out the comic strips on the back, oily and greasy as they were.  I wonder if I still have them lurking in a box somewhere?

[sheridan]

I'm currently on a Prog Slog.
I started by reading all the Megs first as I stopped getting it for awhile and wanted to see what I had missed. I then started on the Prog from Prog 1.
I am missing out some stories, such as Dredd, Ace Trucking and Robo-hunter as I have read them in the collected books fairly recently. My next Prog is 250. This was such a golden era for 2000AD that I am getting through them quite quickly as I am skipping the previously mentioned classic stories.
The real joy for me has been the Future Shocks. I had forgotten a few of them and there are some real gems in there.

How long ago did you start?  Thinking about it I think I should try to get the Tornado set before I get into it, it'll be pretty early into the slog.

I'm looking forward to a lot of the shorts (even if they're not good, they'll be over in 4-6 pages).

[Dark Jimbo]

Nice idea - though for me I think Space Raiders would be more appropriate.  I can't even remember if I knew Brett did the packet designs at the time, but I cut out the comic strips on the back, oily and greasy as they were.

  Me too!

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah and you should have to fight with your brother about whose turn it is to read it first. If you don't have a brother just chose a random person in the street who looks about 3 1/2 years older then you.

Anyway its one of those things that you really have to decide for yourself (man maybe we can release a Prog Slog help guide like running a marathon guide or some such?). What is it your want to get from the experience. Last time I did a 'full' one I read a year of Dredd's then went back through that year reading individual stories as one, happily skipping stories here and there that didn't take my fancy. That's cos I just wanted to read the stories I hadn't read for years.

On my 'To Read' Spreadsheet about 1 year or more away I've put in re-read in but this time I'm going to read a year of Progs in a month (ish) have about 4 slots in my reading list 'section', 2 new material, 2 re-read if that makes sense, tends to take me a month to get through one of those, though with a year of progs in each section might take longer... anyway I digress that one I'm kinda thinking I'll be reading each prog as a whole, cos I want to know how each Prog read. I'd stick the relevent years annuals and specials at the end of the relevent year I'd guess but have over thought it.

I think some people read a Prog a day which always seemed a nice way to do it, but not sure I have the patience or time, I'd miss some etc etc.

Its all about what you want from the experience I'd say, why you doing it. Main thing of course is you'll have a bloody good time and remember to keep us informed!

[Jock Savage]

In what order should I actually read them?  Cover-to-cover as they came out?

I would say so. That way you get an impression of the history of the comic as well as the development of the strips themselves.

Throwing in annuals and specials sounds like a great way of adding a bit of variety, but I'm not sure the complicated business of coordinating the Megazine's erratic publishing schedule with the prog is worth the bother. There are 2 or 3 epics where the Dredd strips in both comics hook up, but for the rest of the 25 years they're just 2 comics from the same publisher.

[Dash Decent]

At some point before the end of this year I'm going to embark on a prog slog (or possibly a back prog slog), but as it means I'll be devoting quite a chunk of my time to it, I want to make sure I start out doing it right.

Are you going to keep a prog slog blog too Sheridan, or are you rereading them just for pleasure?

I like the idea of reading Tornado or some other contemporaneous titles along with the weekly prog to get a sense of the past.  Nice one!

[sheridan]

Yeah and you should have to fight with your brother about whose turn it is to read it first. If you don't have a brother just chose a random person in the street who looks about 3 1/2 years older then you.

Anyway its one of those things that you really have to decide for yourself (man maybe we can release a Prog Slog help guide like running a marathon guide or some such?). What is it your want to get from the experience. Last time I did a 'full' one I read a year of Dredd's then went back through that year reading individual stories as one, happily skipping stories here and there that didn't take my fancy. That's cos I just wanted to read the stories I hadn't read for years.

On my 'To Read' Spreadsheet about 1 year or more away I've put in re-read in but this time I'm going to read a year of Progs in a month (ish) have about 4 slots in my reading list 'section', 2 new material, 2 re-read if that makes sense, tends to take me a month to get through one of those, though with a year of progs in each section might take longer... anyway I digress that one I'm kinda thinking I'll be reading each prog as a whole, cos I want to know how each Prog read. I'd stick the relevent years annuals and specials at the end of the relevent year I'd guess but have over thought it.

I think some people read a Prog a day which always seemed a nice way to do it, but not sure I have the patience or time, I'd miss some etc etc.

Its all about what you want from the experience I'd say, why you doing it. Main thing of course is you'll have a bloody good time and remember to keep us informed!

Here's a few reasons I have for wanting to re-read the lot:

• fill in those little gaps in my collection (mainly the afore-mentioned Tornados) - I'll give the phonecard stories a miss though, as I'm not made of money!
• because I haven't re-read some of them for many, many years
• to rediscover stories I'd forgotten
• so that those shelves of comics that I've been dragging across the country for the past few decades actually get read, and aren't just gathering dust
• so that I know who all of those old characters who get dropped in every now and then are (I'd completely forgotten about the Lawlords when they reappeared, and I wasn't alone judging by some of the online responses).

I'm thinking at the moment that I'll try to read them in the order they came out, including the erratic publishing schedule of the Meg (though excepting the Daily Dredds, as reading one weekly and five dailies in between progs would be a bit overcomplicated...)

[sheridan]

At some point before the end of this year I'm going to embark on a prog slog (or possibly a back prog slog), but as it means I'll be devoting quite a chunk of my time to it, I want to make sure I start out doing it right.

Are you going to keep a prog slog blog too Sheridan, or are you rereading them just for pleasure?

I like the idea of reading Tornado or some other contemporaneous titles along with the weekly prog to get a sense of the past.  Nice one!

I'm thinking of some sort of blog - trying to think of some sort of angle that others haven't covered before (though if I can't , I'll probably just do it anyway).  First things first - got to come up with a name for it...  Both ideas so far featuring travelling / journeying terms:

• Back Prog Hack
• Meg Trek

[Buttonman]

Prog Party? Issue Endeavour? Comic Quest?

[Fungus]

Prog Peregrination
Box of Progs
Prog Blog

[sheridan]

In what order should I actually read them?  Cover-to-cover as they came out?

I would say so. That way you get an impression of the history of the comic as well as the development of the strips themselves.

Throwing in annuals and specials sounds like a great way of adding a bit of variety, but I'm not sure the complicated business of coordinating the Megazine's erratic publishing schedule with the prog is worth the bother. There are 2 or 3 epics where the Dredd strips in both comics hook up, but for the rest of the 25 years they're just 2 comics from the same publisher.

I've also just thought that the Virgin and Abaddon shall need to fit in somewhere.

[Buttonman]

Prog Blog

This could reignite the old is it pronounced 'Pr-oag' or 'Pr-og'. I'm a 'Pr-oag' person as it is short for 'programme'.