Sci-Fi Special 2015

[JamesC]

Well I enjoyed it but Id have rather seen some more up to date content (kind of missing the point, I know).

A one off Kingdom or The Order would have been very welcome.

If we had to go old school, maybe a one off ABCs/Ro-Busters/Savage that ties in to the current continuity would have been good. And of course Strontium Dog is always welcome.

I realise this is all just pie in the sky and what we got was a solid, entertaining product, so no complaints really (Rogue Trooper and the Future Shock were the stand outs).

[Keef Monkey]

Was just about to go to sleep last night and opened this just to check it had downloaded, with every intention to keep it for lunchtime today. Before I knew it I'd read the whole thing and it was past my bedtime. Worth it though.

What a beautiful cover! A real classic.

Dredd: Great one-off, liked the premise, the art looked great and it had a nicely executed Dredd punchline on the end.

Robo Hunter/Ace Trucking Co.: Neither of these really clicked with me for some reason. Maybe it was the tiredness but I found Robo Hunter a bit manic (wasn't too sure what was going on at times) and Ace Trucking Co. was a nice enough little one-shot but didn't really grab me. Some good lines though. 

Future Shocks: The art on this is really, really striking, loved it. I didn't guess the twist but it was one of those ones I kicked myself for not seeing because in retrospect it seemed obvious. I guess I wasn't reading it with my Future Shocks Hat on.

Survival Geeks: I find Survival Geeks really likable, it doesn't thrill my socks off but I do love how crisp the art looks, and the characters are well defined so I enjoy spending time with them. Lots of goodness in this episode.

Rogue Trooper: Probably the highlight for me, I love Rogue's universe so much that I get super pumped whenever something is set there - it's one of the reasons I get really excited about things like Jaegir and 86ers (that and the fact they're brilliant). This was a really good Rogue story and I got chills at times, it really tapped into everything that's cool about the character. Art was fab too.

As far as the annuals thing goes, I think the year end prog does the same job but infinitely better. One of the highlights of the year for me is sitting down with it and it's usually the thing that gets me feeling the festive spirit The quality of the annual stuff was very poor at times (most times/all the time), I even found reading the Dredd collections of bonus strips that came out a while back to be a real slog at times because there really wasn't much care taken over the art or writing. Felt disconnected from the prog in terms of tone and quality. Nice items to have in the collection, but I'm way happier with what we get nowadays, especially with these specials being back.

[Proudhuff]

, maybe a one off ABCs/Ro-Busters/Savage that ties in to the current continuity would have been good.

A one off? that's someone's entire future 2000 career right there!

[Grugz]

got mine and the meg this morning,will peruse later with a glass of guiness Dublin porter but just flicking through it looks smashing.

[Colin YNWA]

Had this reserved in my LCS and got it this weekend. It's pretty good but like any special  should be a bit hit and miss. Though the Dredd was solidly old school and very enjoyable for that. Robo Hunter didn't  quite work for me, was okay, on both fronts. Hit then miss.

Thought the Future Shock was also a slice of old school gold. Simple  twist, I didn't get and brilliant art, loved it. Ace Trucking, much like Robo Hunter, didn't quite make it on either front. It was very okay. This however was a big surprise as I normally very Nick Do year's art, but didn't work on Ace for me. Hit then miss.

The last two stories buck the trend... only in that Survival Geeks kinda grated as noral, but I really enjoyed Rogue Trooper, so miss then hit here.

As I say just like a Special should be, mixed bag and that felt right!

[Pop Culture Bandit]

Bit of a delay in getting this out - but what an excellent special this was! Fantastic slice of retro-thrills with an excellent Future Shock on top!

http://www.popculturebandit.co.uk/2015/06/2000ad-sci-fi-special-2015.html

Top Thrill: Ace Trucking Co.

[Fungus]

Agree on Ace Trucking Co., much the best thing in the Special (an improvement on last year's return). Really well handled, first time reading Ace for me since the prog. Brought back bog paper & Belardinelli, no blubberoni!

[Theblazeuk]

Didn't like Dredd. Think it lost me the second he said "Shut up, I know a real gunshot" and the way he just threw the Cit/victims papers on the floor after checking them in the first few panels. This was routine for Dredd, not like him to be nasty for the sake of being nasty. That's usually the sign of a bent judge. Followed by the 'shut up' he sounded like a teenager...


Loved Ace trucking and the meta-jokes, though struggled to follow the weird aliens at times as this is the first I've read of the Co.

Rogue was great!

Enjoy Survival Geeks the strip, found this a bit hard going though as it was somewhere between a recap and an actual story, without doing the latter well enough to distract from the former.

Future Shock my favourite not least for the art.

Robo Hunter was good! Normally not my cup of tea, find Samantha Slade more enjoyable than Sam (robot sidekicks are less goofy in that run it seemed). Hard to follow at first but simmered down toward the end and enjoyed the Irn Bro double-pun. It's got girders in it.