Not sure if it's me or the prog...

[Smith]

So fortunately/unfortunately we are the custodians of 2000ad based solely on whether we subscribe to it.
Does every story ring my bell. No. But use it or lose it. £2.75 is a small price to pay to support the British Comics industry.

Im going to be a jerk here,but no.Im not obliged to buy something I don't like.I am a fan(obviously),but I dont owe 2000ad nothing.And if I dont like 60% of a prog,no local patriotism is going to convince me to stick with it.

[matty_ae]

100% correct.

But if you don't support the weekly, don't moan if it stops.

[SIP]

I think that's the issue though, at this point I don't think I would notice if it was no longer there, other than not having the ongoing problems with finding somewhere to store my unread progs.

I'm holding on by my fingernails to the prog, and that's in the hope of the return of the elements that I miss. But I'm starting to feel like this is it. And if so, then much like Smith, I'm not going to just continue purchasing out of some blind loyalty. I've largely been doing that for the last couple of years. The occasional great story (in my opinion) cannot justify the price tag.

I'm probably the kind of reader at this point that would just be best served by collecting the case files and any future strontium dog trades and just calling it a day. Can't imagine 2000ad really wants a section of its readership to feel that way though?

[IndigoPrime]

This thread showcases the problem 2000 AD has as an anthology. There is no typical reader, and appealing to everyone at once is a monumental juggling act. The strip I referred to earlier about skipping was Defoe. I'm just totally done with it. I find it boring, preachy, messy, and dull. But others have cited that as a main reason for continuing with the Prog.

I definitely wouldn't keep buying out of blind loyalty, but then I still bought 2000 AD through its nadir, because there was always something worth reading in the Prog. If it ever gets to the point where that's not the case for any length of time, I'll ditch it, but I can't imagine how that would happen. (Five duff strips out of five, for a period of weeks, assuming Smith's still editing? Unthinkable.)

As for the general notion of support, as someone who's worked in publishing for a long time now, it does feel like everything is circling the drain, from the very largest publications down to everything in the niches. Every lost reader really is a hammer blow. So on that basis, I'd also give 2000 AD more rope than something I don't have the same amount of love for. (Hence 'something worth reading' rather than 60 per cent or whatever.) What comes next, I don't know, but I do wonder if in 30 years people will look at the media that's available and yearn for better days, wishing they'd paid for more stuff.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

I still think 2000AD is worth the effort. Highs and lows are inevitable in any industry and as many authors are finding rewards further afield perhaps the star of the British Comic Industry would be less appealing to them. I'll probably always read twoothy since it is the cornerstone of the British Comic Book Industry and like a lot of commentators have mentioned, not everything it does floats my boat or makes me feel the need to buy every issue but so long as the publishers continue to put it out on the Newsagents shelves count me in.

[SIP]

All fair comment chaps.  I'm going to bow out of the discussion at this point as feel like I have over-laboured my opinion and im now just coming across as moaning.

For me it is 5 out of 5 that isn't doing anything for me and out of my love for 2000ad I have continued to support both the Meg and tooth with a subscription for the last couple of years without much enjoyment.

But, I very much appreciate that one man's brass is another man's gold, and a lot of the readers will love it all.

As such, I wish for nothing but the continued success of 2000ad, but it's been slowly losing me since John Wagners increasingly long breaks. Think my ongoing love is entwined with that specific writers output at this point.

Cheers
Simon.

[Richard]

Im not obliged to buy something I don't like.I am a fan(obviously)

Well obviously. 

[Smith]

I was illustrating a point there...
I understand not every story is for me,and it doesnt have to be;but when the majority of it isnt for me,it makes me rethink if the whole prog is worth it.Its probably me and not the prog.
Well,what Simon said;I dont really have anything more to say.

[Prodigal2]

I haven't been on here in a while largely reflecting my malaise with the prog. I haven't bought the prog in a few weeks now but I have to say I assumed it was me and am genuinely astounded to read this thread today.

Nothing to add on top of what better informed folk than me have already said. I would like to say though that 2000AD has been brilliant and perhaps set impossible standards for itself.

[Magnetica]

Some excellent points over the last day. I'm certainly not going to tell someone to buy something they don't like. For me, the key things are:
- Grant is totally right about the scheduling. If the ten weeks then a year's break stories could just run consecutively until done that would solve the "I can't remember what is going" on issue (apart from The Order obviously....). But it is probably too many competing things and lower pay on 2000AD that is causing this.

- the large number Dredd writers isn't a problem but Pete is absolutely right that the lack consequence in one writer's Dredd world to another's is a problem. I think it needs an overall "show runner" to co-ordinate the various threads.

- if too many people opt for only the trades, then Tooth and the Meg will stop and so will the trades, so yes there is an element of needing to support it, even if only 2 strips grab you - or be prepared to lose them too.

- I guess it also depends what else you read. I only read 2000AD and the Meg (and related  stuff like IDW) so giving up the Prog means giving up comics altogether. I'm not going to get into anything else at this point, I don't think. If you read multiple titles of which 2000AD is just on, then maybe it's not a big deal.

Personally once I was properly on board I have never even considered stopping. Never crossed my mind. Quite the opposite, I would be very unhappy to miss even a single issue.

[Steven Denton]

The thing Simon said earlier really resonated with me, 2000ad had been so much a part of my creative ambitions for so long I wonder how long one would survive in my life without the other.

The prog has a very difficult balancing act between nostalgia and modernity. Appealing specifically to nostalgia is always going to be tricky because after 40 years that nostalgia casts a wide net. The best way in my opinion to deal with that is a ready supply of collections of classic strips. Nothing new is ever going to of your childhood favourite like a collection of your childhood favourite.  Appealing to a modern audience (some of whom may be the same as the old audience) is the only way to keep the weekly going. Appealing to a dwindling core of lifelong fans is not a strategy with infinite millage. The fans who grew up with tooth are starting to push 50, it's only a matter of time before you can add mortality into the list of reasons for core fans drifting away.

It doesn't matter if old buggers like me start to drift off as long as there are younger fans to take my place. 2000ad has to keep changing or it will die.

[Magnetica]

Quite right. Think Jason Kingsley said pretty much that at the 40th.

[Steve Green]

It's not that which I have the problem with.

I'd argue that having a good chunk of stories in limbo is not great for anyone, old farts or not.

Does it really make jumping on for new readers any easier if you've got all this baggage?

I find it frustrating that there's whole raft of stories in a holding pattern for years, and we still get new stories popping up. I'm not sure it's particuarly retro to finish the story you've started before starting another one.

If Andy Diggle's memo was a shotglass of rocket fuel, it feels like we've got a whole load of half-finished pints.

[Steven Denton]

It's not that which I have the problem with.

I'd argue that having a good chunk of stories in limbo is not great for anyone, old farts or not.

Does it really make jumping on for new readers any easier if you've got all this baggage?

I find it frustrating that there's whole raft of stories in a holding pattern for years, and we still get new stories popping up. I'm not sure it's particuarly retro to finish the story you've started before starting another one.

If Andy Diggle's memo was a shotglass of rocket fuel, it feels like we've got a whole load of half-finished pints.

That is a problem. One largely created by either creator owned strips or remaining faithful to the original writer.

Either series need each chunk to stand on it's own or, they need to change the writer to keep it going, just like the artist would ne changed to keep a strip going.

[Steve Green]

Maybe it's unavoidable, I know writers have waited for artists to become available which causes delays, but it's frustrating where there's an instance of two Edginton/Disraeli strips hanging around (one getting on for 4 years) and they start another Scarlet Traces.

Why should a reader invest time in something that's going to be left hanging?

The second series of Brink has also lost me, I was expecting it to kick into gear after the reveal at the end of the first series. Another 16 episodes in and it looks like it [spoiler]It's going to end on another cliffhanger based on the cover previewed[/spoiler].