2000AD general discussion

I know there are at least a couple of other squaxx dek Thargo on this board, so let's talk a bit about the galaxy's greatest comic.

Two recent events jump out. First, "Trifecta", to which I can only say, WOW. That was impressive. The planning and cooperation that went into it, and taking advantage of the anthology format like that... it's the sort of thing that nowadays can't really be done in other comics (well, maybe Phoenix, CLiNT, or Heavy Metal, and even then...)

Also, prog 2013. Really good December special, and a really good place to jump on board for new readers.

prog 2013 felt like a bit of a let down after the amazing trifecta story. I have to agree about all the planning that must have went into that story

So, I got myself one of those three-month subscriptions that comes with a free months backlog on the iPhone. At first, I was totally lost—thank god three issues earlier was a jumping-on point. Quickly went back and scooped those up. I'm just got up to speed. So, time to necro the thread so I have folks to talk to!

I got into 2000AD via the Dredd movie that came out last year and later by reading a fuckton of Complete Case Files, so I'm pretty thrilled to see Wagner's name on another Dredd comic. Sadly, I'm not entirely interested in what happens to a bunch of block investors. We'll see what happens next week.

I'm having trouble getting into Defoe as well, though I'll admit maybe it's my own fault because I don't have any background with the series. Last week was also heavily decompressed, which didn't exactly get things off to an exciting start. And I'm having trouble getting invested in the plight of Titus. Is it an issue on my end or are fans of Defoe also having trouble getting invested?

I'm liking the Cadet Anderson story, but the way Ezquerra's linework kinda trips over the coloring bugs me. It's mostly in the way he shades with both, making the extra lines kinda redundant. Besides that it's pretty good.

Sinister Dexter has done a pretty good job of tossing me into its world and getting me invested while providing background on previous stories where necessary. I'm loving the way Sinister lampshades his narration—in fact, most of the dialogue is pretty awesome, even if Sinister's phonetic accent gave me trouble at first.

And the Future Shock was pretty damn funny. I've got no background with those beyond knowing it's a series of one-shots, so I've got no way of knowing if all those stories mentioned are actually real ones David Baillie wrote or even if the author character is literally supposed to be Baillie, but I got the gist of it.

Overall, I'm not looking forward to next week as much as I could be, but I'm optimistic Dredd is going somewhere and I am excited for the next Sinister Dexter.

Defoe is quite a popular series, so I guess the current arc just got off to a bad start. It's normally quite a bit better, with Cromwellian-era soldiers fighting off hordes of zombies. Pat Mills actually does a decent job of portraying the mindset of that era - in the last arc, there was a nice scene where two of Defoe's people casually discuss whether zombies make better slaves than Irish.

It seems like we're on the cusp of such a thing, with the last panel of last week's Defoe showing battle preparations, but as is the last two weeks have been underwhelming—though I do think it's more likely I don't care about Defoe's flashback since I have no background with the character.

That's the trouble with coming into the middle of an ongoing series - stuff that's important to the established fans can leave newcomers cold.

Point. Perhaps I'll go back and read some of the old stuff eventually.

It is amazingly drawn, though. I'll say that.

most of defoe is available in trades and I bet a new one containing what isn't availible will appear once this story finishes in the prog

I know it's available in trades (Tharg mentioned it at the beginning of the arc)—but they're trades I can't afford at the moment, and even if I could the current run hasn't entirely convinced me its worth it.

edited 25th Jun '13 9:12:25 AM by Wackd

ah i see

Yeah, for a black and white series, the Defoe trades are distinctly pricy. I really wish Rebellion didn't feel the need to reprint everything on glossy paper.

Actually, Defoe would probably be a good fit for the manga format Rebellion just recently moved into.

Dredd's gotten better. Doesn't seem the whole block-renovation subplot is particularly relevant to anything, or at the very least is hiding something larger. Not sure how I feel about the caption boxes, but if you have to give Dredd an internal monologue you could do worse than being curt.

The Terror Tale plays like a cheap 50s monster movie, which is okay, I suppose. There's a lot of details dropped that don't seem relevant to anything, like the new assistant and Ruth's mom's dementia. And I'm wondering why the hell the hicks called Ruth when they pretty clearly already had a game plan and wouldn't listen to her advice. Ah well. I've seen worse, and at least it's a one-shot.

I continue to not be thrilled with the Anderson storyline, though this week the writing seems worse than usual. There's an astounding lack of subtlety in things like the name of the restaurant chain and the reference to the 1%, we get classic-comic-obvious-dialogue like "they're wearing masks", and the whole thing lands on a super-cheesy one-liner.

Defoe, on the other hand, has my attention this week! Even without the wealth of background I'm invested in Tomazine's choice, and I love the fact that the demons pretended to be angels to avoid being obvious. Why can they undo a pregnancy but can't climb walls? Eh. I could care less. This is gripping stuff.

Sinister Dexter continues to be hilarious and interesting. Only problem is the "lol" at the end but beyond that, I think this is second only to Dredd as far as comics I've been regularly looking forward to.

I am curious, from a new person point of view what do you think of tharg and his recaps? do they work well enough as someone who hasn't read stuff like sinister dexter and dredd? and what do you think of the whole fictional editor thing which used to be a thing in the uk but sadly 2000ad is the only comic to do that now?

I looooooooove Framing Devices, and Tharg's existence is more-or-less the reason I decided to give non-Dredd stuff a chance. That said, his recaps tend to be "it's too much to try to explain here, go buy the trades," which is a little irritating.

edited 26th Jun '13 9:18:39 AM by Wackd

it must be particularly bad for dredd (which has went through chaos day, a near coup and other shit in the past two years and sinister Dexter which got really complicated past couple of years. I am happy with the current story feels almost back to basics on that one.

I'm actually having no problems following either comic. The in-comic recaps work fine, it's Tharg's explanations shills that suck.

the recap boxes or the nerve centre?

the nerve centre more or less exists on plugging the trades and other stuff...

I also love the letters page....you get to know what others think of the stories....though sometimes they let any old guy get a letter printed◊

What're you referring to when you say "the recap boxes"? It doesn't sound like something from the comics themselves, which as mentioned usually do a reasonably good job getting me up to speed. If it's the little blurbs in the table of contents, those aren't very helpful as they're more focused on the basic premise and only offer one line in reference to the actual plot.

The Nerve Centre is, you're right, pretty much just a shill. The letter page is great, though.

edited 27th Jun '13 9:30:28 AM by Wackd

ah yeah i keep forgetting the megazine ones are better...

yeah it is the blurbs

Have you noticed Damage Report yet? If you haven't, it's the tiny text right at the very bottom of the inside cover.

...holy shit. Thanks for pointing that out.

Man, Dredd is seriously losing me. There's some glacial pacing here, and a whole lot of time introducing perps that get unceremoniously shot up that very issue. The two creeps who are after them are kind of curious, but we're also still hung up on the funding of that damn block. The writing itself isn't bad but nothing really important happens this installment.

Dafoe kinda lost me again this week—the zombie leader was kinda fun, and we got an nice bit of characterization from Titus, but I can't stand mole-hunt plotlines especially when they make protagonists so quick to turn on each other. So I guess it was really just the last page that lost me.

A "good riddance" to Cadet Anderson, which totally fails to stick any sort of thematic landing. What does cadet suicide rates have to do with cannibalism? Hell, any pathos to be rung out here is only in the narration, with a left-field bit of lip service in the last panel. And, of course, same problem as weeks past—cheeseball dialogue, distracting linework, etc. etc.

Sinister Dexter, like Dredd, also goes nowhere, but unlike Dredd it has a hell of a lot of fun getting there. Sinister is just a great character, and his quips are hilarious. I also love his targets' panicked reactions—they put up virtually no fight at all, instead merely blubbering and whining. One wonders why the hell Loeb didn't have these guys taken out sooner if it was gonna be so easy, but it's a minor point.

Thank fucking God The Ten-Seconders starts with a recap—though the whole thing seems like a rather standard superhero-deconstruction, there's a lot of specifics to comb over. (And how appropriate that it should start in the wake of Man Of Steel, eh? Especially given where the ship is.) I also like the way it got actual emotional stakes in there as well—though it's entirely possible those are recapped too, it's a very very good entry point. Looking forward to next week.

edited 3rd Jul '13 3:34:14 PM by Wackd

Yeah sin/dex and ten seconders are the only things i liked this week and thank god for that recap...been a few years since the last series of it...totally forgot what happened

I just realised where the title of She is Legend comes from. If I'd noticed when it first started, perhaps I'd have seen where it's going.

never liked this story

spoiler alert for sin/dex

Ramone dexter is back and has brought simon davis with him