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Underground > Comic Books >

zenith trade paperback

A

01:38 / 20.08.01

i don't know if anyone else spotted this, but according to Comic Shop News #735, Grant Morrison's ZENITH Phase 1 is being (or has been) released in trade paperback by Titan Books sometime in August.

It says the price is US$14.95, which probably translates to about 35 bucks Australian for me.

I've read the first half (i think) of Phase 1, which was reprinted in an issue of "The Best Of 2000AD", or whatever it was called, and it's freakin' great.

oh, and this was my first ever post to the underground.

adam

01:40 / 20.08.01

Wicked!

07:06 / 20.08.01

plan is to collect the whole of zenith, although the rumor I heard stated that phase 4 will need to be recoloured as the colour film had been lost

Our Lady of The Two Towers

07:56 / 20.08.01

And now the number one question, is it really any good?

Ganesh

08:37 / 20.08.01

Yes. Some of us reckon it's the best thing he's ever done.

Graeme McMillan

11:36 / 20.08.01

It's certainly the most focussed thing he's ever done, even if it falls prey to his traditional "losing interest towards the end and it shows" schtick - Animal Man must be the only long-running thing he's done which doesn't, I think.

And they've lost the colour film to Phase 4? Why not just print it in black and white? The colour wasn't THAT good...

Our Lady of The Two Towers

07:07 / 21.08.01

Phase 2 currently due in December according to Amazon...

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

17:29 / 21.08.01

how many issues was Zenith in 200ad?
i have a bloke willing to sell my 79 issues all grant of 2kad for 100 dollars US, worth it you think?

ENG

[ 21-08-2001: Message edited by: Elijah Non Grata ]

22:18 / 21.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh:
Yes. Some of us reckon it's the best thing he's ever done.

Mmmmm.... you know, that's a pretty bold statement when talking about the man who brought us Flex Mentallo/Animal Man/Doom Patrol/Invisibles/Spawn #16-18

, etc...

Man, I'm there!...

Jamieon

17:05 / 22.08.01

quote: It's certainly the most focussed thing he's ever done, even if it falls prey to his traditional "losing interest towards the end and it shows"

Arse.

MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember reading the end of Zenith and it blowing my little 15 yr old mind. I'd never considered 4 dimensional warfare before, and neither had the comics industry. The lloigor take the earth after hiding in plain sight; Peter St. John and Zenith killed; The Chimera as prison..... You will not believe the surge of "What the fuck?!?! We are fucking victorious!!!!!!" I got when the camera zoomed out, and we finally caught a glimpse of Peter's hand enclosed around that pyramid and realized who was talking.... That'll teach those rude Lloigor bastards to run around breaking other people's things.

"Infinity in the palm of your hand........"

Mad, mental, crazy!

I didn't get the impression he was bored at all. And it just might be the best thing he's ever written........

Our Lady of The Two Towers

06:26 / 31.08.01

Where is it? Amazon say it's still not released by the publishers? WTF is going on? Argh!

Graeme McMillan

12:07 / 01.09.01

quote:Originally posted by runt:
I didn't get the impression he was bored at all. And it just might be the best thing he's ever written........

The fight(s) drag on for too many episodes of people saying little more than "Ha! You're dead now!" "No, YOU are!" "BOOM!", and all the things that should've been shocking weren't played up or explored at all (*spoilers*: Zenith's son existing in the first place, never mind turning out to be the same lliogor that possessed Masterman); the whole series was good, but it still felt like it was rushed out and could've been so much better.

That's what I think, anyway.

Jack The Bodiless

14:22 / 01.09.01

Simon and Arsefunkel. It's brilliant. So there.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

18:23 / 02.09.01

are all the progs grant wrote (79 issues as i can see) of 200ad good?
i can get all of em for 100 bucks plus shipping, worth the cash?

ENG

07:32 / 06.09.01

Can't say whether they're worth the cash; some people spend that on a weekend's coke; some on a weeks food.

If you've got the money, and haven't got Zenith it's probably worth doing. as I recall there will be some other good stuff in there.

Zenith was outstandingly the best in twothy at this time though. I can't remember much else by GM

The paper used was not very good, so I'd have a look at the copies first. otherwise the trades are probably the best bet, and get Big Dave et al some other way.

18:25 / 07.04.03

from All The Rage: at www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com:

------------------------------------------------------------------
April 6

Have We Reached A Zenith?

So does this mean the rights issues between Grant Morrison, Rebellion and Titan books over his classic superhero strip Zenith have been resolved? It would appear that things are at least more squared away than that little niggle over Marvelman / Miracleman. Over at Amazon.co.uk is a solicitation for release of a collected edition the day before Christmas 2003. That would be 12.23.2003… or is it 23.12.2003… I get so confused.

The Amazon synopsis reads as follows:

A record in the charts, a page-three girl in each arm...all's right in Zenith's world. He can fly; he's all but invulnerable. Nothing can harm him. Or so he thinks. Zenith is about to get a huge wake up call, courtesy of a WWII legacy that won't stay buried and a multi-dimensional race of soul-eating gods that want to reshape the Earth and its inhabitants in their own image.

While the back of the collection sports the following:

Image is everything, life is one long party, and saving the world is just a pain in the arse! Meet Zenith, all a good superbeing shouldn't be. From the labyrinthine mind of Grant Morrison (The Invisibles, JLA) comes the weirdest, wildest counter-culture hero of all.

A record in the charts, a page-three girl on each arm ... all's right in Zenith's world. He can fly, he's all-nut invulnerable, nothing can harm him. Or so he thinks. Zenith is about to get a huge wake-up call, courtesy of a WWII legacy that won't stay buried and a multi-dimensional race of soul-eating gods that want to re-shape the Earth and its inhabitants in their own image.

This Has A “But When Will It Be Available HERE?” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten

--------------------------------------------------------------

I'm psyched for this. Can we Americans buy it from Amazon UK, I wonder?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

18:35 / 07.04.03

Yeah, I read that too, but am not as psyched as the bloke writing it. What he hasn't noticed is that it's been listed as soon to be published since 2001, and Amazon simply keep putting the date back rather than scrapping it totally. All this item is is business as normal.

18:43 / 07.04.03

I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but that solicitation is bullishit, or at least its automated inaccuracy. Basically, when books are have been registed for publication but for various reasons get delayed (due to legal/ownership issues uin the case of zenith) amazon automatically re-solicitate the book 3-6 months after it was orginaly due. The do this without consulting the publisher (in this case, Titan) and as such their solicitation has no baring on what will eventually happen. Zenith is still in limbo. Its been printed, but tha because of the legal hassels the entire print run has been stored in a warehouse in grantham until those legal questions have been answered.

I wouldn't advise waiting up for publication. Your best bet for zenith action is still to buy the original issues or the original trades, or even the few issues of the best of 2000AD that collected zenith on ebay.

A

02:23 / 08.04.03

Wow. The first thread I ever started is still in action. So many memories....

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

04:18 / 08.04.03

Hmmm
------ the entire print run has been stored in a warehouse in grantham -------------

so, balaclavas and plane tickets anyone, i have my grapple and decoder ring ready...

09:49 / 08.04.03

Right, where's Grantham?

11:28 / 08.04.03

of course, grantham, birthplace of thatcher,zenith was for me a great distillation of tory britain at the time, selfish, shallow, narcisistic and apparently invulnerable

put me down for best thing he ever did too.

andrew

15:57 / 12.04.03

Strange that this has come up now. I received another email from Amazon about this, but rather than the usual "We regret to inform you that release of this item has been out back until..." guff, this one was "We are very sorry to report that the release of the following
item has been cancelled."

Got to be fairly final, really, considering that they've been sending me one 'releaase delayed' email every two months up until now.

01:12 / 13.04.03

Titan never got around to publishing Zenith (and never will). The reason for this is that in 2001 it tried relaunching the best of zooad, and hoped that trade for the _good stuff_ would do as well/outstrip the crappy Dredd collections. They tried the long out of print complete DR and Quinch which did OK, then Halo Jones which flopped (and confused booksellers and fans alike by claiming to be book 2 according to the bibliographic data) quite horribly. Zenith was due to be next. Then brief pause, 9-11 and retrenchment and back to faithful old cacky Dredd reissues.
I would urge everyone to cancel their orders. The money you all have tied up in Amazon's bank accounts could have earned you all a few nice fizzy lollipops in interest since then.