Best / Worst Strip Endings

edgeworthy · 22 April, 2023, 02:43:20 AM

Mentioning Vanguard, again!

It just seemed to stop without an ending at all?

13school · 22 April, 2023, 07:14:17 AM

Pat Mills has rarely given any of his series strong endings, but his final installment of (ok, 2000AD-adjecent) Charley's War was absolutely spot-on as an ending, even if the series did continue with a new writer.

Le Fink · 22 April, 2023, 07:58:02 AM

Are we allowed to include story endings of epics in long running strips? I'm thinking of Dredd of course. The Dredd epics tend to have decent endings... Ones that didn't for me include Necropolis, a classic tale but which just seemed to end too damn quick after a long and gripping build up, couple of missiles and it's all over, and I didn't get the ending of Judgement Day, where they stuck the guy's head on the giant crystal thingummy for some reason. Last page brilliant of course but it's an aside to the actual story.

davidbishop · 22 April, 2023, 08:25:39 AM

ISTR Dry Run has not the greatest ending; don't they just ride off a cliff or something?

Vanguard was meant to the first book of at least two, but I stopped editing 2000AD and Andy opted not to commission more - a new editor's perogative!

GoGilesGo · 22 April, 2023, 08:54:53 AM

The entire run of Return of the Mean Team was one of slow decline but the (anti) cherry on top was the final panel. DEATH. Really?

Insurrection sort of found new life in the pages of Lawless but I was satisfied with how that story and its framing device ended.

Helltrekkers (even little Crustacia's escape to a happier life) was nicely wrapped, and Leviathan was pretty perfectly tied up.

I'm still in two minds about Absalom as Graduation Day leaves events wide open for a further series.

broodblik · 22 April, 2023, 10:03:22 AM

I hated Nikolai Dante's ending not because it was a bad ending because now I will not get more of favourite 2000AD story ever.

Barrington Boots · 22 April, 2023, 12:29:53 PM

Forgot about the Rogue ending, that was indeed awful. Agree that Mach 1 Ending is great.

I am a huge fan of the ending to Song of the Surfer - shame that got changed.

I recently read Dry Run and it does end with someone going off a cliff, but it's a villain. After establishing him as an evil scientist he just sort of rides up out of nowhere firing guns into the air, everyone throws katana at him and he rides off the cliff. It's pretty feeble but fits the rest of the story perfectly.

JayzusB.Christ · 22 April, 2023, 01:24:33 PM

As a huge John Smith fan I'm probably biased, but his best strips always ended perfectly - and it's just struck me that it's usually an apocalyptic frenzy of blood and dismemberment followed by a contrasting sense of calm.

I'm thinking Firekind, Cradlegrave, Cinnabar and Killing Time (where even the heroes got permanently maimed and / or disfigured).

Richard · 22 April, 2023, 01:46:43 PM

If you think original Rogue Trooper ended badly, remember that the reboot ended with Friday and Venus flying into a black hole, never to be seen again.

Wait... actually I'm glad that happened.

WhizzBang · 22 April, 2023, 01:47:51 PM

Quote from: 13school on 22 April, 2023, 07:14:17 AMPat Mills has rarely given any of his series strong endings, but his final installment of (ok, 2000AD-adjecent) Charley's War was absolutely spot-on as an ending, even if the series did continue with a new writer.

I just finished reading Charley's War this week and felt it kind of fizzled out at the end. At what point did Pat Mills stop writing? I was reading the 3 volume Rebellion version and it ends with a brief storyline about Charley fighting in the Russian Civil War.

I think with the older strips there was a different attitude to endings. Strips kept going while they were popular and I expect they would end when editorial would ask for the thing to be wrapped up, rather than due to a planned story arc.

Modern strips are written with an expectation of being reprinted as graphic novel collections. I think writers consider how it will read in the collected format and are more likely to plan for a satisfying ending.

nxylas · 22 April, 2023, 02:48:40 PM

Quote from: WhizzBang on 22 April, 2023, 01:47:51 PMI just finished reading Charley's War this week and felt it kind of fizzled out at the end. At what point did Pat Mills stop writing? I was reading the 3 volume Rebellion version and it ends with a brief storyline about Charley fighting in the Russian Civil War.

I can't remember the exact point at which Mills stopped writing, but I know that later episodes were credited to RE Wright, IPC's house pseudonym for writers.

GoGilesGo · 22 April, 2023, 04:23:07 PM

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 22 April, 2023, 01:24:33 PMAs a huge John Smith fan I'm probably biased, but his best strips always ended perfectly

true most of the time but Strange & Darke desperately needs to be brought back and wrapped.

broodblik · 22 April, 2023, 05:13:04 PM

Quote from: nxylas on 22 April, 2023, 02:48:40 PM
Quote from: WhizzBang on 22 April, 2023, 01:47:51 PMI just finished reading Charley's War this week and felt it kind of fizzled out at the end. At what point did Pat Mills stop writing? I was reading the 3 volume Rebellion version and it ends with a brief storyline about Charley fighting in the Russian Civil War.
I can't remember the exact point at which Mills stopped writing, but I know that later episodes were credited to RE Wright, IPC's house pseudonym for writers.

WW2

Richard · 22 April, 2023, 05:32:42 PM

The last episode that was reprinted in the Megazine was when Charley has been demobilised and is back home, and he sees a newspaper headline about Hitler, foreshadowing World War Two. IIRC, that was also Joe Colquhan's last episode. I thought that was a great ending.

As said above, Charley carried on in the Russian Civil War, still written by Pat Mills. Not sure when he stopped writing it; not sure if I realised he ever stopped actually, but I can't argue with a credit to RE Wright.

Richard · 22 April, 2023, 05:49:26 PM

Quote from: Le Fink on 22 April, 2023, 07:58:02 AMOnes that didn't for me include Necropolis, a classic tale but which just seemed to end too damn quick after a long and gripping build up, couple of missiles and it's all over

I didn't think it was too quick; I think there would have been a risk of a longer ending making it feel a bit dragged out. 26 episodes is plenty. Also, for me, the real ending of that story isn't the defeat of Judge Death and his Sisters, but the end of Kraken; a perfect scene.

Another 2000AD ending I really like is The Dead. Suitably bleak, and as a child it was quite unlike anything I'd seen before.

Another one which I've mentioned before in some other thread: the epilogue to Nemesis Book VI, about a massacre of Native Americans by the US army in the 29th century. Made quite an impression on young me at the time. Still a horrifying story now. And an excellent way to round off that book.