From the Prog 2150 previews. Wagner and MacNeil on top form here if this single page is anything to go by.
2000AD chat: "Gaze into the thread of Dredd!"
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Yup, definitely in for that.
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As an aside I read 2000ad through their app as it’s never going to be distributed here (although it did back in the day, they used to have a Malaysian price on the cover). They have these bizarre sales all the time, there’s a banner saying ‘sale’ and the reduction showed and usually it is in my local currency 1 Ringgit, which is about 18p. So they are trades costing the rough equivalent of about 8-12 pounds and they are headlining these discounts that are hardly worth the effort of programming in.
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I don’t know if anyone uses the app anywhere else or just gets physical copies but I’d be fascinated to know if it’s just peculiar to here or these rubbish discounts are a feature everywhere. -
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DREDD fans might like to check in with us at 5pm tonight (UK)
Interested given the quality of previous Planet Replica releases.
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The cover lists three authors so it looks like it’ll be three novellas rather than the two.
The Amazon listing states it has three novellas in it too. Looks like I may have been a bit hasty with my claims of it only having two.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781087938/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5.ASDbSZ1EQZD
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How about this. As I was reading this post I got a call on my mobile from a phone number marked +502 country code. It stopped after two rings (not that I’d have picked it up anyway).
So I Google where the hell is +502. The answer was Guatemala.
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Tom Muller invigorates an iconic brand in this Best Of 2000AD exclusive
Over the past decade, Tom Muller has emerged as the most exciting designer in comics, giving books their own distinct aesthetics that enrich the stories and make the product pop on stands. Muller recently helped Jonathan Hickman give Marvel’s X-Men line a drastic makeover, and in April, he’s tackling one of the most iconic brands in comics by designing the logo for April’s Best Of 2000AD series. The expansive world of 2000AD can be daunting for new readers, and Best Of 2000AD provides an accessible entrypoint to a library of comics that goes beyond the publisher’s signature character, Judge Dredd.
“Growing up in Belgium, 2000AD wasn’t readily available on newsstands,” says Muller. “So the majority of my exposure to 2000AD came from translated editions repackaged in the European album format, alongside translations of the Judge Dredd Eagle Comics. That’s how I discovered “The Cursed Earth” and “Judge Death” stories, and Slaine: The Horned God. It was in my late teens when I discovered a proper comic store in Antwerp that I was exposed to the 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazines. Obviously, once I moved to the UK at the start of the century it was everywhere.”
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Did consider the Trades thread but here feels more fitting, as I finally got around to starting on this:
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 1 – America
Collecting the America trilogy, itself a story that I doubt any other series could do in the same way, plus a couple of other short stories, this certainly kicks the collection off with a bang. I first read this probably 25 years ago, coming back to it now, it has a more sinister feel than it had then. The subtlety of the rape sequence in the second story went over my head entirely then, now? That second story looks oddly prescient with all the debate over trans identity.
The third story is the one I hadn’t read, where about 20 years later – both in and out of story, as time passes in Dredd at the same rate as the real world -Judge Cadet Beeny investigates her mother’s death, with Dredd as her co-investigator. This is a very clever story, which looks at the idea of where the line is between individual and organisational or institutional blame and fault. Was Dredd overly harsh in how he dealt with America’s Total War cell? It might be justifiable but not to an unquestionable degree. Wagner’s story explores this terrain with a great deal of subtlety and nuance. Could other stories do a similar move? Not without a blatant time jump.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 2 – Democracy Now
A collection of short stories, this shows up, for me, the advantages of a thematic collection in place of chronological for a charactger like Dredd, who has racked up 40 plus years of stories. At the same time it allows the swift development of plots that took years to get from A to B, from the first democracy story, to its successor, to the referendum tale – and after Brexit, that still hits a bullseye, in its portrayal of not only the Judges and activists, but the public who don’t give a shit about it all. Or they don’t understand it or both.
The collection also highlights the great flexibility with the character of Dredd. He varies from hero to villain and back again, depending on the story – it is to Wagner’s credit that throughout the character has a sense of consistency. He’s not always right but the reader can always have an understanding of Dredd’s MO. Disturbing as it will at times be.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 3 – Total War
Collecting both the preceding and aftermath stories to the Total War epic, this collection rounds out the democracy theme.
I don’t think I ever read the set-up story, Terror. It is mostly a surveillance tale, of Dredd in the position of operation lead, not in his preferred environment of the streets. The whole aim is to work their way through the terror organisation command chain. They do this by fitting very covert cameras and mics into the suspects! One guy ends up with a micro-mic up his arse. The stakes are set very effectively from the start with an initial small bomb detonation being the trap for a second much larger one – the target? Judges. At the same time, you end up ambivalent over the methods used to combat them.
The main story sees the terror group go for broke by deploying and detonating nuclear devices. After two detonations, Hershey opts for a covert ploy of giving in to buy time. It almost works – they get various individuals, have turncoats handing themselves in due to disgust with the tactics of nukes, but Texas City bungle the surveillance and the last device gets detonated. Of course, in doing that Total War practically hand the city back to the Judges, but they don’t care about that because this lot only care about killing. Wagner makes a smart point about terrorist networks, for those at the top it really is only about power – ideology, cause, morality, none of it really matters because they see everything as means to an end, if it doesn’t work to their ends, it has no value.
The aftermath stories are an effective set of short stories which emphasise the impact of detonations. Not only are millions dead, but millions are displaced and homeless. Even getting to them is difficult because the nukes took out all the infrastructure, including transport.
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Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 4 – The Dead Man
Even when you know where it’s going and how, the revelation in The Dead Man still hits hard. There’s a very ominous sense conjured of ‘if that’s here, what the fuck is happening in Mega-City One’ ? Although the edge is a bit blunted by the inclusion of a post-Necropolis story that picks up Massa’s story, but overall the volume works as a very effective scene-setter for:
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 5 – Necropolis
Flowing from the previous volume this is a mega-epic for the ages but it’s a surprisingly covert and quiet one. It is about the corruption, not entirely willing, of Dredd’s replacement, Kraken and the return of Dredd to save the city. Like previous epics, Dredd has to make some harsh but necessary decisions – which is what has always set the character apart from US superheroes. Told you have to kill someone to save everyone else? The likes of Superman and Captain America can’t go with that, Dredd? Sure. Even so, there’s that vein of ambiguity running through this one – had Dredd been in Kraken’s place, would he have fared the same? Dredd allows for the possibility he may have.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 6 – Judge Death Lives!
A collection of short stories, including Judge Death’s first appearance, this also has the four Dark Judges tale that has Bolland on art, with one of the most well-known single panels of comic art. And for good reason, ‘Gaze into the fist of Dredd!’ deserves all the praise it gets, it is a perfectly executed story moment.
The other stories are what you would expect, with only a couple towards the end taking the character more towards the dark comedy that Wagner has spent the last few years trying to get the character away from.
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This really was the perfect time to start on the Mega Collection:
Dredd Mega Collection:Volume 7: Young Death
For all that it gets talked of as a comedy, this is far more horror-comedy – some of the sequences with Sidney’s father are squirm-inducing. Sure, the road is set for a more darkly comedic character, but that certainly isn’t here. The other stories are more outright horror with the duo stories that have Irving on art, whose dark style is very well suited to them.
Dredd Mega-Collection: Volume 8: Psi-Judge Anderson – The Possessed
This features stories that see Anderson as she was, before she took a very different character trajectory a decade later. Yet, there are pieces here that would play into those later stories, especially where the character of Orlok is concerned.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 9: Psi-Judge Anderson – Engram
This is where Grant starts to diverge Anderson from the character she was when he and Wagner were writing her as a partnership and moves to his own take. That in turn means picking up and examining what being a Psi-Judge actually means and entails. Grant goes with the idea that the Psi-Judges are mirror images of the Judges, where the latter is trained to not feel, the former is encouraged to. But over time that depth of feeling and knowledge comes to sear and burn the mind and soul of a Psi-Judge and this is demonstrated in harrowing terms by the suicide of Psi-Judge Corey. And then, at the end, Anderson finds the suppressed truth of her life…. A revelation that, for now, has little impact.
It’s interesting looking at the art, as on these two collections there are very distinct artistic versions of th character – you can’t really mix up the Ewins, Roach and Ranson versions – and yet each nails the character.
Like in the earlier trio the afterword pieces are every bit as good as the introduction, which sets out how the particular volume works on its own and with the others. The interview with Grant where he talks of how his focus on the effects of abuse stem from his own experience as a four-year-old being physically punished for the crime of being left-handed, then punished for not writing well enough with his right hand, is particularly so.
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Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 10 – Psi-Judge Anderson – Shamballa
The first full-colour story Grant did with Ranson, this sees Anderson’s blasted spirit take a grievous blow, which is only amplified further by the subsequent Jesus Syndrome story. Like America, that tale casts the Judges in a much darker light than readers may have been accustomed to. After this it jumps forward to the Satan arc, which gives a neat sense of artistic continuity. The other element that comes in here – and plays out in the other volumes – is that of time. Anderson’s older than she was, the world no longer looks as it used to to her.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 11 – Psi-Judge Anderson – Childhood’s End
Filling in the gap sees Anderson head to Mars, encounter Orlok once more and, in the process of dealing with a pair of genocidal god aliens, that relationship is utterly recast. The mirroring of her and Orlok’s judicial experiences is effectively executed. The rest of the volume is of Anderson’s adventures while not being a Judge – they are Ok, but a bit aimless.
Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 12 – Psi-Judge Anderson – Half Life
This picks up Anderson’s story in the wake of My Name Is Death – and Grant really seizes the opportunity to spin a trippy series of linked stories, all illustrated superbly by Ranson – the last of his work before retiring. Nor is Anderson getting any younger. How many comic series feature a lead female action character who’s 50? Sure, there’s Agents of SHIELD but that’s relatively new, Anderson’s been active as a lead character for over 30 years. The idea that she changes greatly in that time is more radical than it sounds for the medium comics, as is the notion of time passing. Most comic stories don’t want to acknowledge either of these things, but the world of Dredd addresses both head-on. This volume also had the most new material – I hadn’t read any of the content in this one.
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Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 10 – Psi-Judge Anderson – Shamballa The first full-colour story Grant did with Ranson, this sees Anderson’s blasted spirit take a grievous blow, which is only amplified further by the subsequent Jesus Syndrome story. Like America, that tale casts the Judges in a much darker light than readers may have been accustomed to. After this it jumps forward to the Satan arc, which gives a neat sense of artistic continuity. The other element that comes in here – and plays out in the other volumes – is that of time. Anderson’s older than she was, the world no longer looks as it used to to her.
This is one of the few volumes I read before giving up on the Mega Collection. I was blown away by Ranson’s art, really amazing stuff.
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The collection editions are the most comprehensive ones I know of.
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There are the Button Man collections and Mazeworld which are all drawn by him. I believe someone is collecting his Sapphire and Steel stuff too.
His Anderson stuff is collected in various ways, Psi-Files/mega collection etc.
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Button Man is a really good story too from Wagner, so well worth buying.
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Thanks – looks like there’s a complete collection of Button Man available at a decent price that might be worth a look.
One of Wagner’s best – and coldest – stories.
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Ok, sold.
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Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 13 – Stars of Psi-Division
Compared to its predecessors, this is a weaker volume in comparative terms. The stories here could be seen as a failed attempt to replace Anderson as the leading Psi-Judge but, while wanting to expand the roster of female characters might have been part of it I don’t think these are that.
Instead they are attempts to get new characters to fly but each one didn’t succeed. Despite some very distinctive Miller Sin-City style influenced art, Karyn didn’t have much to latch onto as a character. The stories with her are pretty good, but neither do they have that special something to render them more. And then there’s Psi-Judge Janus…. A like wholly irritating character. Created by Morrison and Millar in their early days, Janus verbal tics make for an irritating character. But though the character might be lacking, the art from both Ezquerra and Johnston is nothing short of superb.
The ending pair of short stories focus on November, a pyrokinetic auxiliary drafted in by Justice Dept. In character terms, she us more effectively rendered than either Karyn or Janus, but her creator is Alan Grant. Grant knows how to create characters the reader cares about and you do quickly care about November, despite the tragic events that befall. Oh and it doesn’t hurt that the intro story for her has Ranson art.
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I did think of spoilering that but the other side to an anthology is if you tradewait it’s impossible not to know first.
This latest twist in particular was impossible to avoid given it’s splashed all over the cover too.
I’m several weeks behind given the lockdown and the fact the comic shop is shut (and not getting any deliveries). I wonder, once things are open again, whether I’ll have weeks/months of Progs to collect or if the deliveries will just pick up from that back to normal week and I’ll have to get back issues from the 2000ad webshop.
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Dredd Mega Collection: Volume 17 – Weird Science
This collection really shows up the sheer array of flexibility that exists within the world of Dredd:
- Pussyfoot 5 – Yes, really, about a Vatican-sanctioned investigative squad.
- Strange & Darke – This was one of the better stories in the volume for me. Smith’s style with MacNeil art, with the quirky leads of Strange and Darke made it work very effectively.
- The Inspectre – A soviet Psi-Judge, who tried to assassinate War Marshal Kazan, rescued from a gulag and tasked with investigating in the rebuilt city of Megagrad, built on the ashes East Meg One. These stories are good but they never quite match the art and quality of that first origin stor.
- Cabal – Does Mega-City One need exorcist judges? This was intended as a starting point for a character but it didn’t happen.
It also show up how much they’ve slammed into each single volume of the collection. Each is around 200 pages, substantial for a normal trade but add in the density of 2000AD and Megazine material and it’s a hefty read.
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Can’t wait for this. Williams is hinting at the return of a classic character.
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Can’t wait for this. Williams is hinting at the return of a classic character.
I didn’t expect that classic character!
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I’ll only read it tomorrow but had a minor spoiler it’s a character not considered in the Dredd Universe. More comments then, once I’ve read it and with spoiler text.
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By the way, on PJ Holden’s offer. Our old pal Umar Ditta replied and PJ offered to draw and joint pitch any Future Shock he writes. Super cool.
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Subscribed to 2000AD digitally today, with a burning desire to read “End Of Days”, and not wanting to wait a year or more before it comes out in TPB.
I last read the weekly Prog back in 2003, so there’s a lot of water under that bridge. The other stories in 2184 did next to nothing for me, other than Burnham’s Future Shock, which made me smile.
The missus tells me I should just stick to the trades of stuff I know I’ll like, but part of the fun is discovering new stuff too. So I’ll give it a month or two to win me over.
If anyone can give me a potted history of what I need to know re: The Order, Diaboliks and Sinister & Dexter that would be helpful. Ta!
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Ha, by coincidence I just posted something very similar in the New Comics thread.
Reposting it here as it’s probably a better place for further discussion.
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I rarely buy 2000AD these days, but I tend to try the “jumping on point” issues if I can, so I picked up Prog 2184 to give it a shot.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I found the whole thing a bit underwhelming. The Chris Burnham written and drawn Future Shock was a silly bit of fun, and the Dredd story was ok (if basically just a long teaser), but the rest of it just didn’t grab me at all.
Is this indicative of the current standard of 2000AD, or were they having an off day?
Also I have to sympathise with them for releasing an issue with that cover the same week as the police clashes worldwide (I got it by post so it’s a little late). Unfortunate and obviously completely accidental but still poor timing.
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Is this indicative of the current standard of 2000AD, or were they having an off day?
I don’t think it’s a question that can really be answered because of the nature of the book.
I started reading the progs again in 2011 when I got a tablet and saw they had digital subscriptions. I’d not picked it up since the mid 90s when it was in a fairly bad place (something acknowledged by pretty much everyone nowadays). It takes some time to get back into the groove of reading a weekly anthology, both the pacing and accepting not every story will be your cup of tea. You get used to the idea that a few stories return after like 3 years and you have to a have a little wiki catchup to remember fully what happened. In the end though once back into that groove
We have had fairly constant debate here between the likes of me and Bruce and Chris S on which ones we like. Chris has far more time for The Order than I do which I think had loads of great ideas and art but storywise is usually impenetrable. He hates the humour strip Survival Geeks which I think is fine (and love the artwork).
Is this a strong lineup for me? Not hugely but come a few weeks and strips’ll switch out. The Future Shock replaced by a new series Full Tilt Boogie the following week. It’s quite unusual for them to put a Future Shock in a jump on issue but I think that’s all on the back of it being by Chris Burnham and not up and coming artists and writers as usual.
As to the current lineup and some potted histories
Rob Williams is the best Dredd writer right now by quite some way (barring when Wagner comes back every now and again in his semi-retirement). The first episode here is a lot of setup but I have every faith it’ll be great because all his recent stuff has been.
The Order – I’ve got used to reading Kek-W work with an acknowledgement I won’t really know what’s going, he’s similar to John Smith in that way which is probably why he took over most of his strips. John Burns artwork is great. The gist as far as I can ever get is there is a strange alien Wyrm force in the world and to fight it various characters travel through dimensions and time, you can have some fun with the various historical characters but good luck getting the overall story.
Sinister Dexter – a Dan Abnett staple. This is a generally light hearted action story. It doesn’t rest too much on old continuity, the leads are two assassins in a city called Downlode but who generally target the bad guys and have a conscience. The only back story to know really is not so long back they had their identities completely wiped from all systems and memories.
Diaboliks – this is a new series but featuring characters from an old story called Caballistics Inc that I haven’t read fully. This seems to be the setup to where they are now: Solomon Ravne and Jennifer Simmons were once part of Caballistics, Inc., a private paranormal troubleshooting outfit put together by reclusive rock star Ethan Kostabi. Jennifer, however, was thrown into Hell, and became possessed by a demon. After Caballistics was disbanded with the death of Kostabi, Ravne and Jenny became a couple, having a baby together — one that attracts a lot of attention from certain quarters… (So she’s a demon and everyone wants to kill their kid)
Full Tilt Boogie – another new series although the characters debuted in just a single one-off story in a re-gened issue. The summary of that can be found here:
So for me I know the Dredd will be great, I won’t much like The Order, Sinister Dexter is generally good, the other two are new so I don’t know yet.
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I think following US comics is like watching a TV drama show, you watch it until maybe one day it loses interest and you give up. I think reading 2000ad is more like being a football fan, fortunes go up and down a lot more but you know a win is always around the corner.
For all its faults after getting back into being a weekly reader if I were left with only one book I was allowed to read it would be the one.
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Just read the latest prog – the last page of Dredd was great.
“Famine, images of people starving to death…..I’ve got a location.”
“where? Desert Regions? Pan-Africa?”
“Brit-Cit”.
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It looks most likely that my local comic shop will re-open on the 29th June so I’ll finally see if I’ve a big bundle of Progs waiting or whether I’ll have to order from Tharg directly. The talking horse had genuinely piqued my interest as I seem to remember a horse being a reoccurring theme in Rob William’s Dredd stories.
Judge Dredd: America is getting another release, this time as a script book:
The lost scripts of Judge Dredd: America to be revealed for the first time
John Wagner himself had this to say about it on his Facebook page:
We started by following each script with the full lettered art, but that seemed to defeat the purpose of the book, so the complete story is now at the end of the book. Two of the seven scripts are missing. I’ve had to summarise those episodes. Oliver and the people at Rebellion have tastefully chosen pictures to illustrate those episodes and the rest of the scripts. It looks a bit classy.
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I might have to grab that. Sounds like they’ve remastered the art too.
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Michael Carroll, John Higgins launch ‘Dreadnoughts: Breaking Ground’ in 2020
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Judge Dredd: Live!
Looks like fun. It’ll be interesting to see how aspects of Dredd’s world are brought to life.
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It’s funny. I recently had a work colleague donate me his 2000AD collection. Almost a 1000 Progs, starting with that very issue (280). I’ve read a lot of this beforehand, but not everything. Be good to read this stuff. Looking forward to the Alan Moore and Grant Morrison (and Peter Milligan to a lesser extent, as I’ve already read Bad Company beforehand) work in particular.
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Even from a distance the late 800’s/ 900’s were not a particularly great time for the Prog. I don’t blame you for jumping ship!
I think everyone pretty much acknowledges now it was a low point around that mid 90s period until Rebellion bought them. A lot of creators had left for the US, Pat Mills was in a strange mode co-writing with Tony Skinner with material that seemed to lack any depth his work had before and has regained now.
There’s some good stuff in there still (I see Judge Dredd: The Pit and Nikolai Dante started just after I jumped ship) but quite a lot of crap too. Looking at the covers on the 2000ad database they were still obsessed with the sub par Bisley clone painted stuff and they all end up looking rather alike.
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For those of you digitally inclined there is a 2000AD related Humble Bundle on sale for the next 2-3 weeks. Highlights include all volumes of Grant Morrison’s Zenith, Alan Moore’s Halo Jones, Dan Abnett’s Kingdom and Brink, plus 5 Judge Dredd Case Files. I got all of that, and more, for £15.
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Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/judge-dredd-2000-ad-more-books
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I only subscribed to the Prog this summer because Judge Dredd “End of Days” looked great. And, it is. An epic throwback story, with lots of action, satire (especially in the Covid nightmare we’re living through), and gorgeous art.
But, by far, my favourite story is The Out. It’s such a great series by Abnett & Harrison. It sounds so dull on paper – the story of a photojournalist travelling through the galaxy, capturing what she sees as she goes – but, in practice, it’s a deeply engrossing travelogue with a wonderfully written protagonist and beautiful art. This week’s episode in particular was something really special. Top stuff, that I hope has found an audience, because I desperately want to see more.
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I agree Vikram.
The Out has taken me by surprise how really good it is.
There’s a little Halo Jones vibe to it without it being at all derivative but the idea she has no real agenda outside exploring the far reaches of space. Not a bounty hunter or on the run from bad guys or anything.
I really loved the bit where she met another human, the first ever on her travels, and circumstances mean they never get to spend more than 5 minutes together. The kind of instant sexual hints with a complete stranger which is probably more practical than romantic, living around aliens for years on their own where Harrison’s designs don’t suggest there’s a possibility of them being compatible in that department.
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As mentioned up thread, having recently been donated a huge collection of 2000AD’s, I’ve slowly started to read them over the last few weeks. The first chunk being Progs 280 through 300, published circa 1982.
Whilst doing this, I decided not to read any stories that I already have in TPB – that excludes the likes of Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, and Nemesis – so that I can focus on the often more obscure stuff that I’m less familiar with. And Dredd. Because who doesn’t enjoy a regular dose of Joe.
First observation is that the newsprint this stuff was printed on is toxic stuff 😲 It literally sucks the moisture from my hands whilst handling these, which is quite uncomfortable. Still, working around that, the content within has been pretty great overall.
Judge Dredd was mostly a mix of Ezquerra and Smith swapping in and out for each other. I’ve never been particularly keen on Ron Smith’s art before, but it has really grown on me over these short 1 or 2 parters. I think I’ve always viewed him less favourably against contemporaries like Ezquerra or Dillon, but viewed independently there’s a lot to like here. That’s been a bit of a minor revelation.
Harry 20 on the High Rock is pretty terrible. Lovely early Alan Davis artwork, but the story by Gerry Finlay-Day is just terribly dull and cliched.
Ace Trucking Co is always a decent, if throwaway thrill.
Sam Slade, Robo- Hunter has been more entertaining than I remember too. There’s the World Cup football themed short in this run, and the start of the darker “Play it again, Sam” which is remarkable for how politically powerful it remains today, almost 40 years later – commenting as it does on the far right movement and xenophobic rhetoric.
The rest of the run is made up of mostly forgettable, albeit enjoyable, Future Shocks and Time Twisters. There were one or two in here by Alan Moore too, although his contributions really come to the fore in the set of Progs that I’ll be moving on to next.
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I’ve always liked Dan Abnett’s superhero work at DC & Marvel, but his 2000AD work is on a whole other level.
Since subscribing, I’ve recently been reading a lot of the more recent back issues too. The series that have immediately become my favourites are Lawless (in the Meg) and Brink (in the Prog).
Both are strong female lead, science fiction stories, with amazing (albeit very different from each other) artwork.
I came into both series totally cold, not knowing anything about either – the characters, the settings, everything was new to me. But, within a handful of pages, Abnett had explained pretty much everything I needed to know and made me eagerly want more. I’m genuinely amazed. He makes this look so easy.
I wish I could say that of all the other longer running strips in the anthology. But, I can’t. I’ve got no f*cking clue what’s going on in The Fall of Deadworld. It’s just episode after episode of random bollocks that doesn’t match up with what came before or after, and makes no concessions to new readers at all. The Order is exactly the same. Are all of Kek-W’s stories as confusing and impenetrable?
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Are all of Kek-W’s stories as confusing and impenetrable?
Yes.
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Agreed on Abnett by the way. He has done his fair share of superhero comics but it’s pretty obvious his first love is Sci-Fi so 2000ad suits him to a tee.
Lawless and Brink are great and I’d also recommend his Grey Area strip which is about an immigration control unit on a future Earth with frequent alien visits.
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It’s impressive actually how Rebellion have pursued the rights for virtually everything in British comics so they could reprint it. That Stainless Steel Rat stuff could so easily be left in limbo because it belongs to Harry Harrison’s estate I’d presume.
I think I should challenge them to try and get Zoids by Grant Morrison reprinted.
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There’s no way you can pick up Deadworld part way through. I think Kek W needs a stronger editorial hand as he has good ideas but they become a mess on the page. He’s given good artists to work with so it’s unlikely the problem lies there.
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I think Kek W needs a stronger editorial hand as he has good ideas but they become a mess on the page. He’s given good artists to work with so it’s unlikely the problem lies there.
Honestly the only enjoyment I get out of his stories now is the artwork. Still can’t get over that John M Burns is 82 years old and still turning out that volume of quality work on The Order, a completely unreadable mess of a strip, he deserves better.
Then I found out today that Ian Kennedy is 88 and doing two new painted Commando covers for DC Thompson every month.
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Then I found out today that Ian Kennedy is 88 and doing two new painted Commando covers for DC Thompson every month.
And regularly putting out commission work too.
Mine! 😄
There’s often stuff goes up on his instagram page too.
https://instagram.com/iankennedyart?igshid=6pgc3czjux9u
He does the odd bit of teaching for the Dundee Uni comics course too. Come a long way from colouring in the black squares in the Sunday Post crossword.
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Re The Order.
I had a huge backlog of Progs due to lockdown fucking up my regualr deliveries to my comic shop. I read the 5 month backlogue a story at a time. The Order didnt really make much more sense than reading week by week. Regularly asking myself “who the fuck is this?”
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Regularly asking myself “who the fuck is this?”
That really is the main issue, characters just flit in and out and you have no idea who they are or why they are doing anything.
I suppose there must be an audience for it and recent Indigo Prime which is exactly the same. It’s not me though.
Deadworld is more straightforward but suffers from “who the fuck is this?” too.
It’s such a stark contrast when the same editor commissions the recent Wagner and Rob Williams stuff which are great examples of clear storytelling done brilliantly.
PS – well jealous of that Kennedy commission, nobody does better planes.
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Regularly asking myself “who the fuck is this?”
That happens as you get older, @Bruce.
Which is my way of saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
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Is today your birthday, Bruce?
If so, Happy birthday!
If not, Happy belated birthday, I guess!
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Someone asked Pat Mills about the long awaited Simon Bisley painted Joe Pineapples series on Twitter. Apparently Clint Langley has taken over from Bisley after just 2 parts and is working on the rest.
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That’s a pity, I was looking forward to a full series of painted sequentials from Bisley for the first time (in decades?). I guess it’s better we get some though than it sits in limbo forever.
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Anyone receive their annual bumper prog yet?
I think Royal Mail backlogs have held mine up…..which meant I couldn’t read on Xmas eve as I normally do.
i just got 2211 through yesterday !
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I’m a digital reader I’m afraid Chris so can’t say about the postal issues. It’s a good issue though, love Williams and Fraser on Hershey. Manco’s art on Slaine is really good, that strip has had some amazing work over the years.
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Anyone receive their annual bumper prog yet?
I think Royal Mail backlogs have held mine up…..which meant I couldn’t read on Xmas eve as I normally do.
i just got 2211 through yesterday !
I get my Progs from the comic shop so got the year end one a couple weeks ago. I was missing 2207 (the start of the Dredd simps story) for ages tho. Prog deliveries to the comic shop have been screwy ever since the first lockdown ended with random Progs taling weeks (sometimes months) to appear.
I’m on a couple 2000AD groups on Facebook and, going by the posts others have made, it seems you are not alone with subscription Progs being delayed in the post.
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Every so often I pick up one of the jumping-on issues of 2000AD and give it a try, despite having not read it regularly for years. And the big bumper 100-page Christmas issue was the latest.
To be honest I struggled with it a bit. Obviously with anthologies it’s always going to be a bit hit and miss, but I only really liked the Time Twister story out of all of them.
Strontium Dog had nice art but I was baffled as to why it switched to black and white halfway through. Slaine has amazing art but I felt a bit lost with the story (and that happened with a few of these ongoing strips that I’m not up on). And the Dredd lead story all felt a bit silly and juvenile.
I think 2000AD is quite tough as a casual read, I think you either have to follow it in Prog form for years to keep up with all the strips (a bit like a soap opera) or you just pick up the collections once they’re available as self-contained books. Because trying to jump in and enjoy an issue like this one, even when it’s designed as relatively accessible, never seems to really work for me.
(The only time I’ve really been into 2000AD was when I followed it semi-regularly in my teens, and even then it was hit and miss.)
So I guess I’ll continue to just keep an eye out for recommendations of good strips and pick them up once they’re collected.
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