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    #76
    I got case files vols 1&2 at Christmas. I didn't start reading them until lockdown, and soon I had 3,4 and 6 for my birthday. I also had some birthday money so bought 5 and 7. I'm now nearing the end of vol 7 and have bought a second hand vol 8 off eBay.

    I think someone pointed out how many of the big stories happened early on, like Judge Caligula or the Judge Child. What struck me is how keen the writers were to get Dredd out of Mega City One. He spends six months on the moon in vol 1, treks all the way across the Cursed Earth to Mega City Two in vol 2, goes into space to find the Judge Child, and so on and so forth.

    The werewolf story in vol. 7 is really well done.

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      #77
      I got volumes 15-17 of the case files for Christmas. Started reading vol. 15 which is the aftermath of Necropolis and thought "Hang on..." Then realised I had 2 unread vols on the shelf. Not sure how that happened.

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        #78
        https://twitter.com/newscientist/status/1629391413564567552?t=QRAfZEFUAD8aKnTq8p606w&s=19

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          #79
          Oh yes, I was going to post about this a couple of weeks ago then promptly forgot. He's done a couple of appearances to promote his book. Forbidden Planet in Birmingham which I couldn't get to. I think he might be doing one at Gosh comics in London too. Not heard the podcast yet, nor read the book but it looks right up my street.

          While I'm here, has anyone given The Best of 2000AD a go? I've tried getting back into 2000AD a few times over the years but the weekly comics are just not enough for me. I need something more substantial. Plus a weekly, or even monthly, comic is a road I don't think I'll ever go down again. I tried to read a Judge Dredd Case Files over lockdown as it was made free digitally by Rebellion. Maybe it was because I was having to read it on my laptop but I just didn't really get into it. But this Best of 2000AD format is great. It's keeps the anthology format of 2000AD but in a trade paperback. And they pick the best stuff - some old, some relatively new. The blurb on the back calls it a mixtape and that's a good analogy. I hope it succeeds in introducing new readers to The Galaxy's Greatest comic. I've read vol 1 and have got vol 2 to read now. It seems to be coming out quarterly.

          First story - Mutie Block. I think this is a completely new Judge Dredd story so it's not broken down into 5 page 'chapters.' Basically, Dredd takes out the whole of the bad guys who are causing havoc in the Norma Jean Baker block. So there's a chance for someone to say 'Goodbye Norma Jean' when it looks like it's going to explode. Absolutely loved this. Art is by someone called Kev Walker who I've never heard of but he's very good. John Wagner writes it. Dredd is always my favourite 2000AD character by a mile.

          Then it's Brink by Dan Abnett and INJ Culnard. This is a new one to me. Started in 2016. It's really good. A hard sci-fi police procedural. Lots of good worldbuilding and it has me really intrigued. They are doing the next installment in vol 2, which is good.

          After that it's the whole of book 1 of The Ballad of Halo Jones, in colour. The colour works really well and I'm tempted to buy the hardback of all three books in colour that has just been released. It still holds up extremely well and is fucking ace.

          A more recent Strontium Dog than normal so it's in colour but still with great Carlos Ezquerra art. Short and sweet.

          Shamballah, which is a Judge Anderson story from the late 80s. This is regarded as a real classic. I'd never heard of it though. There's an essay in the volume where its compared favourably to the best comics of the 80s and seen as something of a lost classic.. A bold claim to make but it is very good, in my opinion.

          A second Dredd story from back in the day with art by Brendan McCarthy and Jamie whatsisname, the guy who did Gorillaz. Hewitt. I'd love to know who did what on the art. Essentially, a Hewitt/McCarthy mashup.

          Finally, there's a one page DR and Quinch at the end. An Alan Davis one, not Alan Moore.

          A great read and I can't wait to read vol 2. Face front, true believers and make mine IPC/Fleetway/Egmont/Rebellion.

          I also saw today that there is a new 2000AD humble bundle.

          https://www.humblebundle.com/books/2...rce=search_bar

          Finally, I was going to put this in Current Watching but it might get more interest here. Alan Moore's foray into film, The Show is free on something called Freevee. (No I hadn't heard of it either but you can access it via Amazon Prime). I enjoyed it. Quite David Lynch in parts. And very Alan Moore in others. So not a bad combination.

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            #80
            Originally posted by Jon View Post
            After that it's the whole of book 1 of The Ballad of Halo Jones, in colour. The colour works really well and I'm tempted to buy the hardback of all three books in colour that has just been released. It still holds up extremely well and is fucking ace.
            https://downthetubes.net/in-review-t...nibus-edition/

            Here's a review of the new colourised omnibus hardback edition of Halo Jones. Not bought it yet but it's so tempting, even though I've got the stories in black and white. One of Alan Moore's crowning achievements, in my opinion. I was at a convention once and they asked his daughter, Leah Moore, a comic book writer like her father, what her favourite Alan Moore story was and without hesitation she plumped for The Ballad of Halo Jones.

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              #81
              I'm slowly working my way through the Best of 2000 AD compilations that have been coming out in the last year or so. Highlights have been Brink - mentioned upthread - and the first book of Nemesis the Warlock. The only downside is the size of the volumes - smaller than the original comic, more like your American size. And, in the case of Nemesis, they have reprinted it in a colourised version. Neither the smaller size nor the poor colouring does justice to the amazing Kevin O'Neill art.

              I am also thinking of taking out a print subscription. My son has been reading the Phoenix for years. It's a weekly subscription anthology comic for kids but he's growing too old for it now. So 2000 AD seems a natural progression. I will be back with my field report in a month or so.

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                #82
                I've started buying it again after seeing a couple of things about a defund the police Dredd story. I love the Henry Flint art, and I'm going to be sad when the story ends badly.

                I started with that so most of the other stories mean nothing to me. It's worth it for the Flint art though.

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                  #83
                  Originally posted by Levin View Post
                  I've started buying it again after seeing a couple of things about a defund the police Dredd story. I love the Henry Flint art, and I'm going to be sad when the story ends badly.

                  I started with that so most of the other stories mean nothing to me. It's worth it for the Flint art though.
                  Like I said upthread, I've been buying 2000ad weekly, prompted mostly by my enjoyment of reading the best of 2000ad volumes that have come out recently.

                  And it looks like we started reading at exactly the same time, Levin - the start of the new dredd storyline. I think I prefer stand alone dredd stories on the whole but this defund the judges storyline is very good and, as you say, great artwork too.

                  I think the fact that it's a weekly comic really helps with the satire and the social relevance. I also love the anthology nature of it. Don't like one story/artwork? Another one will be along in five pages. But most of the other stuff is enjoyable too. Thistlebone is seventies folk horror with almost photo-realistic artwork. There's a new Paul Cornell three parter which looks interesting. Plus, I've never read Alex de campi before but full tilt boogie looks a promising space opera.

                  The one that I'm not feeling, both in storyline and artwork, is Enemy Earth, which was originally published in 2000ad regened, an all-ages sister publication. Every week, I'm hoping this week will be the final chapter.

                  Good news about the rogue trooper animated film. Directed by Duncan Jones, no less.

                  ​​​​​​
                  Last edited by Jon; 12-02-2024, 08:02.

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                    #84
                    The more of Flint art I see, the more I find to admire. The story is good as well, the right balance of thrills and politics.

                    Full Tilt Boogie does seem promising, I'm very down on things where I can see the 'inspiration' at the moment (see my last post in current reading). I'm also rewatching Cowboy Bebop, so my first instinct was to thing, 'ugh, original'. But I've really liked the couple of bits I've seen so far.

                    I think I may have been a bit hard on Thistlebone, the art is good it might just be the pace is very slow?

                    I agree completely on Enemy Earth.

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                      #85
                      I've seen so many comments on the 2000 AD message board to the effect of "Enemy Earth should be in the Regened progs!", I've forgotten that's where it actually started (albeit for one installment, I think). I presume a major factor in most of it running in the regular prog was that the protagonist had one of their arms ripped off in an early episode and spent the rest of the story sporting a bandaged, bleeding stump.

                      Must admit I skim-read most of it - not because the story was bad but because the art is so relentlessly loud. It's like a modern pop song where the tune and lyrics are pretty good but the production is so ramped-up and over-compressed, paying attention becomes a chore. Still, it's no Skip Tracer.

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                        #86
                        That's spot on. I've bounced off it as there is no depth to the art. It's all in your face.

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                          #87
                          To be fair, art droid Luke Horsman did come up with one of the best covers of last year's progs...

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                            #88
                            Just read last week's. And. Well fuck.

                            What a spread as well

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                              #89
                              And it didn't mess up the landing either. I can't believe I've never noticed Henry Flint before. I absolutely love his art.

                              I'm going to have to subscribe to the mag though, at the moment I'm having to go to to London terminals to find it. Newsagents just don't exist anymore do they?

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                                #90
                                Originally posted by Levin View Post
                                And it didn't mess up the landing either. I can't believe I've never noticed Henry Flint before. I absolutely love his art.

                                I'm going to have to subscribe to the mag though, at the moment I'm having to go to to London terminals to find it. Newsagents just don't exist anymore do they?
                                Just finished the last part this morning. Agreed, great artwork and no I'd never heard of Flint either which is shocking as he's been around since the 90s and just goes to show how UScentric my comics taste is, something I am trying to rectify. Storywise, I would have liked it longer by a few more issues but it was strong stuff. I haven't read Miller's Dark Knight Returns since the 80s but I could see a touch of Miller's influence in there. If I remember correctly, Dark Knight Returns used TV station news coverage in quite a similar way than Williams and Wyatt seem to do here.

                                As far as getting copies, if you have a WHSmith near you, they should stock it. And I have also been able to pick it up at a large Tesco near me too. But yes, sadly, the era of local newsagents is almost gone.

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                                  #91
                                  Having read to the end of the Dredd storyline, I have now caught up with the rest of the strips. None of which are really engaging enough for me to continue buying weekly though, unfortunately.
                                  a bit
                                  Well, maybe I'm being harsh - Full Tilt Boogie has been good but has dipped in quality a little and Thistlebone is an interesting, evocative take on 70s folk horror but I don't find enough happening in each episode to keep me coming back for more. The other two - Indigo Prime - impenetrable in the main, and I say that as someone who has both read and seen American Psycho so I get many of the references and - the worst of the lot - Deadworld - are written by the same writer, Kek-W.

                                  I've enjoyed buying a weekly prog for mainly nostalgic reasons (plus I thought my son might be into it but he bailed after the first few issues). And the Dredd storyline was very well done. But I've been reading trade paperbacks and graphic novels for such a long time now. The prog would have to be of a really consistently high quality for me to continue with the single issues. Plus you can't stick them on your shelves, can you?

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                                    #92
                                    I - erm - acquire the thing weekly and it's one of those points where the Dredd story is the only thing worth reading. I'm skipping everything else bar Thistlebone. This happens from time to time.

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