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Nikolai Dante comes to en end

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VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
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#1: Jul 12th 2012 at 3:43:38 PM

This week, the final installment of Nikolai Dante was published, bringing an end to 15 years of adventure, murder, intrigue, backstabbing, war, action, and lots and lots of sex.

I have to say, the finale left me a tad underwhelmed. Since this was such a big, popular strip, I would have expected the last ever installment to at least be double-length. Now, granted, with the way things were going, a grand finale was probably out of the question; a quieter end did fit well with the last few storylines' themes of winding down after the epic bloodshed that was "The Wedding of Jena Makarov", and the game of Russian roulette told us a lot about Vladimir and the nature of power.

And yet, this didn't really feel like a finale. The characters are still in the middle of events, and there is little sense of one era closing and another beginning. Also, Nikolai and Jena are starting to have marital problems even though we never get to see their wedding. Overall, it seems like there should be one more installment to sort this out.

I got into the series rather late; the first storyline I read was "Lulu's War", which by various accounts was not a good starting point, but I enjoyed it. As a result, I suspect I missed out on a lot of references that would have been caught by those who have been reading from the beginning; however, it's still been a wild ride, and Katarina's death still packed a major punch.

As it happened, I picked up the "Too Cool to Kill" trade earlier this week. Wow. Jena is a completely different person in those early stories. Also, Viktor Romanov sneakily stealing Urko Kong's banana and allowing Nikolai to take the blame was... surprising, to say the least.

So, anyone else read this?

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kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#2: Jul 12th 2012 at 5:13:15 PM

[up]Nope. Mind telling me what it's about? The T Vtropes description page doesn't really do that good a job, in my opinion.tongue

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Calendar enthusiast
#3: Jul 13th 2012 at 3:23:31 AM

Right. This is going to be a bit tough.

Some time in the future, some sort of global political upheaval happens. The Mafiya clans take control of Russia, and Russia ends up emerging as the dominant world power. Then, they colonise several other planets, but that's not a major part of the story.

The Mafiya clans, hoping to become more dignified, recast themselves as a new aristocracy, so the world now resembles the Napoleonic era with super-advanced technology, though with far more gender equality. Also, women are as interested in sex as men, and there is no particular stigma attached to this.

By the 27th century, the houses of Makarov and Romanov have become the dominant families within Russia. Prior to the start of the series, the two families united and overthrew Tsar Ivan the Oppressor. Vladimir Makarov, known as Vladimir the Conqueror, became tsar; Dmitri, patriarch of the Romanov family, is not pleased by this, believing that he has a greater claim to the throne due to his ancestors having been tsars in the first Russian Empire.

Meanwhile, in another universe, the people developed a type of living weapon which bonds with a human and provides them with unique cyborganic weaponry as well as the ability to hack any computer. However, the weapon crests as they are called could not be controlled, and mutated their bearers into a technorganic form bent on assimilating all organic life. Dmitri Romanov opened a portal to this universe and traded crest technology for prisoners with which the Red Guard (the good guys) could fight the White Army (the monsters).

Dmitri adapted these crests to be more controllable and bonded one to each of his children; he also gave himself one that had all the powers of the others, as well as the ability to cancel and override the effects of any crest that might be used against him. Also, he programs them to only be bondable to members of the Romanov family.

And this is where Nikolai Dante comes in. Nikolai is a notorious thief, gambler, casanova, rogue, and later revolutionary and champion of the downtrodden, who as it turns out is the bastard son of Dmitri Romanov and pirate queen Katarina Dante. After one two many sexual escapades, he is taken prisoner by Tsarina Eugenia "Jena" Vladimirovna Makarova, and offered a deal - join the army, or have his skin peeled off. He chooses the former.

For his first mission, he is assigned to investigate a crashed Romanov plane, during which he bonds with the last weapon crest, which was meant for Dmitri's youngest son, Arkady. Vladimir wants to vivisect him to reverse engineer the crest, Dmitri thinks he can use him, and Nikolai himself thinks he can use his newfound connections and powers to improve the lot of the downtrodden.

From there, Robbie Morrison gives us 15 years of action, thrills, swashbuckling, betrayal, and a whole lot of sex, brilliantly drawn by Simon Fraser and John Burns. It's probably one of the best British comics of recent years - so much so that Nikolai is the only character ever to have taken the Eagle Award for Best British Character away from Judge Dredd.

So, yeah. That's more or less what it's about. Does that help any?

Ukrainian Red Cross
TiggersAreGreat Since: Mar, 2011
#4: Jul 13th 2012 at 6:05:42 AM

Perhaps the Nikolai Dante page can be improved? After all, it Needs A Better Description, at least! grin

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#5: Jul 13th 2012 at 10:02:05 AM

[up][up]Yeah, it does. It actually sounds like a pretty good read. (Providing I can find it.tongue Do you know if it was collected in any trades?) Anyway, thanks for the description; maybe it should go up on the actual Description Page.wink

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
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#6: Jul 13th 2012 at 12:51:04 PM

Most of it is in trade form, though the first few volumes are out of print; you'll need to look for them on Amazon and eBay, though the first has been reissued under the title "Too Cool to Kill" for the US market.

This page has a list of the volumes currently in print; there's a final collection coming out in October which will collect the last couple of years worth of stories.

Wikipedia has a decent list of the other trades; at present, "The Great Game" and "The Courtship of Jena Makarov" (volumes 2 and 3) are out of print, so you'll need to find them second-hand.

And yes, it is a really good read.

Ukrainian Red Cross
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#7: Jul 13th 2012 at 1:39:42 PM

[up]Thanks. Your link had everything from vol 4 and up, and I found the first two on Amazon. However... Amazon doesn't have 3. Hopefully though, I can find it somewhere else. (I don't do Ebay.tongue)

edited 13th Jul '12 4:21:52 PM by kkhohoho

Shiningknight S.E.A captain from Professor Xavier's school for gifted lesbians. Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
S.E.A captain
#8: Jul 13th 2012 at 2:07:11 PM

I thought the ending was perfect. Also I do a series of articles/blog entries on the everything comes back to 2000ad website. Its gotten a lot of attention and Artist Simon Fraser and editor David bishop has been a big help

http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/too-cool-to-kill/

http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/too-cool-to-kill-ep1/

currently up to 13 entries thus far

also good luck finding the courtship of jena markarov...its near impossible to get

edited 13th Jul '12 2:09:17 PM by Shiningknight

" I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#9: Jul 13th 2012 at 3:26:35 PM

Challenge accepted! smile

http://www.eruditor.com/books/item/9781904265443.html.en

Mind you, it could be one of those "We say we have it, but..." kind of deals.

edited 13th Jul '12 3:27:32 PM by TamH70

Shiningknight S.E.A captain from Professor Xavier's school for gifted lesbians. Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
S.E.A captain
#10: Jul 13th 2012 at 3:33:52 PM

three to six weeks usually means they need to outsource to get it. and since its kinda rare and all

" I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."
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