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

[TordelBack]

Maybe we need to accept Future Shocks/3rillers as a regular fixture...

Accept? Demand.  A prog without a Future Shockalike is always one strip shy of its full potential, IMHO.

[JLC]

Why would someone who had been reading for decades burn out?

I have been reading since Prog 127 and am just as enthusiastic now as I was back in the day.

In the last two weeks alone I have read the first two Kingdom TPBs, the last two Progs, the Meg, Nikolai Dante Tsar Wars part 2, the Vermin Stars and Helter Skelter and I did n't think it too many, indeed I didn't... You know the rest.

I burned out. In the early 90s. & returning a couple years back I tend to buy then binge on a few issues rather than clamour for it every week like I used to.

[Jim_Campbell]

I burned out. In the early 90s. & returning a couple years back I tend to buy then binge on a few issues rather than clamour for it every week like I used to.

Still waiting for you to explain why the many examples you've been given don't represent 2000AD actively seeking new readers, or to offer some idea of what you think they should have been doing instead of all that stuff.

Or is this another baseless assertion that you're going to refuse to defend?

[Frank]

Some shared strips would be quite good - an ongoing storyline, but episodes being created by different writers/artists, and a group overseeing the continuity of the whole thing

The only examples of editorially mandated strips I can think of are Outlaw and (sort of) Rogue Trooper.

Strontium Dogs and Robohunter went down the route of being passed around like Colin Farrell. The available evidence suggests that, for Tharg, that's not the way to go.

I'd actually love to see Strontium Dogs return.

You must feel the same way I do when the Summer Offensive is discussed, James.

I'm much more interested in reading original ideas from writers with a distinctive voice than seeing creators compromising their interests and aesthetics to fit into a straitjacket devised by someone else in another century. *

Not forcing writers onto house characters, who had the life shagged out of them decades ago, seems like one of the advantages Tharg has over other publishers.


* Or worse, twisting the original creation out of recognition, to (awkwardly) fit their interests and aesthetic

[Magnetica]

Whilst I do generally agree with what you just wrote, twisting the original concept out of all recognition providing a fresh take on a scenario can work.

The case for: Jaegir.

The case against: Hunted.

[JamesC]

Some shared strips would be quite good - an ongoing storyline, but episodes being created by different writers/artists, and a group overseeing the continuity of the whole thing

The only examples of editorially mandated strips I can think of are Outlaw and (sort of) Rogue Trooper.

Strontium Dogs and Robohunter went down the route of being passed around like Colin Farrell. The available evidence suggests that, for Tharg, that's not the way to go.

I'd actually love to see Strontium Dogs return.

You must feel the same way I do when the Summer Offensive is discussed, James.

I'm much more interested in reading original ideas from writers with a distinctive voice than seeing creators compromising their interests and aesthetics to fit into a straitjacket devised by someone else in another century. *

Not forcing writers onto house characters, who had the life shagged out of them decades ago, seems like one of the advantages Tharg has over other publishers.


* Or worse, twisting the original creation out of recognition, to (awkwardly) fit their interests and aesthetic

The best chefs in the world all start off learning how to make a perfect omelette.
As much as I love the thrills by Tharg's Michelin starred writers I'd be more than happy with a perfect omelette here and there.

[Smith]

I think the prog's greatest strength (Dredd) is also it's biggest weakness in terms of attracting new audiences, at least of the kind I see rocking up in comic shops and so forth. My anecdotal experience of new comic buyers (those who came about it independtly rather than inherited like myself) is young, more likely to be lasses and more likely to be interested in Image than Marvel or DC.

Comics like Paper Girls or Monstress or Locke & Key - not Spiderman or Superman. And 2000AD does quite a lot along those lines: Brink or Brass Sun spring to mind as having more in common with what my wife thinks of as 'Image' (not knowing the dark days of Rob Liefield) than DC or Marvel. I don't think

Anyway, I think anyone who has been reading for decades is likely to burn out.

A lot of good examples of hipster SF I cant stand.Just saying.

[Bolt-01]

James C- That's what the Thought Bubble writers comp is for: to see if any of the new writers out there have what it takes to make a tasty omelette for TMO.

For FutureQuake & Something Wicked I get to read a horrendous pile of scripts, there are plenty of folk out there who want to write- trouble is, not many of them actually can.

[Frank]

Not forcing writers onto house characters, who had the life shagged out of them decades ago, seems like one of the advantages Tharg has over other publishers.

The best chefs in the world all start off learning how to make a perfect omelette.

Your metaphor is so much classier than my own.

[The Adventurer]

A lot of good examples of hipster SF I cant stand.

What does this even mean? All great sci-fi is counter culture at its root. That's what made 2000 AD stand out in its classic era.

[JamesC]

James C- That's what the Thought Bubble writers comp is for: to see if any of the new writers out there have what it takes to make a tasty omelette for TMO.

For FutureQuake & Something Wicked I get to read a horrendous pile of scripts, there are plenty of folk out there who want to write- trouble is, not many of them actually can.

I think in some cases writing a good story and being able to have consistently strong original ideas are two separate skill sets. There are writers who get by mainly on the strength of their original ideas (imho) and others who may not be the most original but can crank out quality yarns like there's no tomorrow (Chuck Dixon would be a good example. Not the most original writer but he's great at character and mood and has written some of my favourite Batman and Punisher stories. I bet he couldn't get a Future Shock printed though!)   

[The Adventurer]

Chuck Dixon can write some damn good sci-fi and fantasy though. He was one of my favorite writers at Crossgen at it's peak. The guy's more then Batman and Punisher, and has more then his fair-share of science fiction comics under his belt.  EDIT: The guy wrote Alien Legion for goodness sake!

[JamesC]

Chuck Dixon can write some damn good sci-fi and fantasy though. He was one of my favorite writers at Crossgen at it's peak. The guy's more then Batman and Punisher, and has more then his fair-share of science fiction comics under his belt.

He did some Alien Legion which I liked (I think he did one with McMahon). I still see him as more of a character writer than an ideas man though.

[Frank]

Alan Grant modestly describes Wagner and Mills as creators, and himself as a developer of other people's work.

I'd point out that Anderson went into the weeds fairly quickly under his stewardship, but he seemed to do okay on Batman for a good few years.

[Theblazeuk]

Man, Watchmen was the Hipster comic of its day.