Thats what I was thinking, with the cover proudly boasting an "All ages issue" which is clearly aimed at children and not teens (who are now teenagers at 10 years old).
The Phoenix’s stated age range is 7–14, and I don’t think any of the Regened Prog was any more kiddified than what’s in that comic. Also, notably, there are plenty of ‘big two’ strips with similar vibes – even when you head to some of the heavy hitters. (Natch, this is not consistent.)
I do however agree that 2000AD needs to attract a younger audience, but just wish that they wouldn't land this in the middle of a run. A more sensible way not to hack readers off is to whack it in after all the stories have concluded just before a jumping on Prog. Or have them as specials to buy seperate.
I’ve here and elsewhere said the former. Specials would be fine as well, but it seems Rebellion wants to spend time testing the waters with its other brands (which makes sense – we will only get more comics if they find out what sells). So I’d hope if this becomes a regular thing, we get end-of-run/Regened/jumping-on.
Rebellion seem to be broadening their comic empire to the younger reader, which is ok, but it feels like it's all starting to render the regular prog a bit secondary at times
There are, what, 49 Progs per year? So now 45 out of 49 are still standard 2000 AD. The Meg is monthly. Most of the trades are still 2000 AD. Even a decent chunk of the Treasury archive is geared towards older readers. (I don’t recall how the stuff Rebellion owns was years back, but on reading The Beano I’d be cautious about my kid reading any pre-2016 Dennis the Menace. I’d therefore probably want to check archival IPC/Fleetway stuff first.)
and I'm pretty sure I'll not be wearing a 'Gums' T-shirt this summer...
I really loved the Gums strip.
I see. But is there any evidence that these Regen progs increase readership in a significant sustained way? If younger readers pic up this prog do they go on to read it on a regular basis?
I’m not sure the first of those questions matters. If the worst-case scenario is these Regened Progs provide a single-issue bump in sales and don’t impact on 2000 AD negatively as a whole *and* create content that can later be collected and re-sold in trade form, that’s a net plus for the health of the overall portfolio. The only way this becomes a net negative is if enough old gits get furiously angry about reading stories designed for younger eyes four times a year, and throw their toys out of the pram in protest. (From what I’ve seen online,
most such people don’t even read the Prog anymore anyway. And the vast majority of commentary
on this forum has been much more nuanced and measured.)
As for regular reads, that’s the bit I still struggle with. When a kid loves Regened, what next? Some Treasury bits? OK, but what then? Same with Tammy/Misty/Cor. “There will be another issue next year” or even “in three months” is a tricky one. But then the minimum six-figure launch costs for a new title are a major spanner in the works.
My take on this is Rebellion as an organisation is rightly being cautious in a truly horrible print environment. The company has made some smart decisions regarding archive, and has been putting out content in a way that rewards comics fans. I mean, think about it: we’ve seen a big range of stuff, rather than just usual suspects; and money has been spent remastering pages for the Meg floppy, when Rebellion could have taken a much easier and cheaper route of just shoving in some more old 2000 AD reprint instead. And with the old brands, new strips have been commissioned, rather than Rebellion just scanning some old issues of Cor, Buster and Whizzer and Chips and charging a fiver for that instead.
So from a personal perspective, I’m happy to see where things go. I’d love in particular to see Cor/Buster go monthly. It’d be interesting to see a younger SF/fantasy title on the newsstands also (although 2000 AD branding might prove confusing next to the regular Prog). The worst thing would be for Rebellion to do nothing – and that’s precisely what the owners of all the old stuff were doing prior to Rebellion picking it up; and, arguably, it’s largely what 2000 AD itself had been doing for younger readers for a number of years as well.
