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Underground > Comic Books >

2000 AD - it's shit again, isn't it?

11:21 / 13.12.01

Okay, I've held off on this for some time now, but I feel it needs to be said - after something like three months when this, the only decent major Brit-published comic that isn't the Beano, was actually worth reading again - the Ennis Dredd storyline, The Vermin Stars, , the final book of the Tsar Wars serial, even, god help us, Pussyfoot 5 - the forces of really crap stories have taken over once again.

I mean, what do we have? Dredd - as ever, doing his usual languish between the essentially repetitive epics by appearing in a series of occassionally interesting one-shots. Okay, fair enough. The new Future Shocks run - okay as far as it goes, but I started being able to guess the twists when i was around fifteen and they're not really that interesting now. On the one hand, though, they aren't bloody Telguuth.

Killer? Don't make me laugh. Haven't we already seen this story told at least three different times before, but with different-looking aliens? And as to the other two stories - I can't even remember wtf they are. Which isn't very good, is it?

So - am I the only one who's noticed it, and, if not, how the hell can the damn thing be improved?

14:11 / 13.12.01

I really want for 2000AD to be good again, and I've bought odd copies, but I've got little hope.

I really think the anthology title is an anachronism, and early toothy was just dead lucky to have a special balance between action adventure, wit and irony. Certainly my old favourites were always funny as well as thrilling, and even the notion of thrill power was quite a pisstake.

I've got a 2000AD mug! Anyone else?

14:41 / 13.12.01

When the hell is Bad Company back?
That may convince me to buy a copy again!

14:41 / 13.12.01

i think this should be a rallying cry and open challenge for all those who think they can write comics.

5 pages.

A story that keeps you guessing until the end.

that doesn't resort to tired cliches or already familiar characters

the details of 2000ad's submission guidelines are on their website.

Think you can make great comics?

Prove it.

15:49 / 13.12.01

Well said, sleazenation.

Bad Company returns next issue. That's Wednesday 19th December 2001 to you. A 100 page special prog costing just shy of £4.

Killer is shit, but that's about it.

Helter Skelter was shit as well, but not too many people like to say that because Garth Ennis is too sacrosanct or something. Well he completely ballsed up writing Dredd so perhaps he'd better go back to scribbling the word fuck, a lot.

The way I see it is if you don't like one prog then there's not much of a wait till the next one. There's always something good in there. ALWAYS.

Not like slowly watching a favourite US title spiral down to the ground, month after protracted month, when it showed so much promise in the beginning.

Did I mention that Bad Company are here in less than a week?

yawn - thing's buddy

17:03 / 13.12.01

quaekem blag!

I will buy for Bad Company - yessly, fuckin rightly.

And i will be the next thrill powered script droid to wet your circuits earthlets.

I will fix dredd for you thrill seekers.

And vandal - you'll be my lettering droid.

hah.

17:29 / 13.12.01

dear Sleazenation, where on the website?

good advice... "if you don't like the news today go out and make some of your own."

17:36 / 13.12.01

submission guidelines here for both writers and artists

17:41 / 13.12.01

(Nelson Munce) Ha ha

Prisoner no. 1300

18:40 / 13.12.01

A lot of the recent future shocks have made me want to cry with boredom.
However, prog 2002 coming up and YEEEEESSS,
Shakara! dunno if its goin to be subversive or anything interesting like that, but look at that bloody big metal alien!!

18:52 / 13.12.01

i didn't like bad company first time round - over-angsty - and yes the future shocks are painful, and killer has no redeeming features at all, but for some reason i keep buying.

the durham red was good, i must say, but that finished a while back now

The Natural Way

08:17 / 14.12.01

Now, I've got loads of friends who've submitted some really good stuff to that rag (you'll just have to take my word for it), and they've all received responses a la:

"What we need....more imagination. I want to say WOW!"

And everyone nods their heads and then reads the comic and.....

Eh? "Imagination"? What? Big Tits and guns? "Wow"?!?

08:52 / 14.12.01

I couldn’t agree more with Sleazenation on this – it’s not as easy as one might imagine to write a Future Shock.

Curious to know : does anyone actually think any of the recent one-offs have been particularly dire/impressive ?

DBC

11:28 / 14.12.01

Of course one of the stories I couldn't remember was Anderson - but my defence is that the fact I couldn't remember an Anderson story, for fuck's sake indicates just how lacklustre that story is.

Still cannot for the life of me remember what the other one is, though.

Parl't of Fools - I actually liked Helter Skelter, but I think it was paced totally wrong. Evidence, perhaps, that Ennis has became too used to the American style of writing, and can't properly time a multi-week, six-page-an-issue storyline.

17:29 / 14.12.01

If you send any stuff to 2000ad it becomes the property of a shady little games company in Sheffield called 'Rebellion',whose website claims that if you don't already know who they are,they don't want to hire you,as such,their webpage tell you nothing about them.Smart.
If I didn't find work I was going to send them some artwork,but I can't bear the thought of those greaseballs fingering the rights to all your intellectual property.
I guess,if you do get published it doesn't really matter that your ideas might all sjow up in a half assed PS2 game in the next few years....ho hum.
Simon Bisley has done some work for them as a conceptual artist,but if they need to buy out the rights to these properties and pay established artists for ideas,they don't strike me as a particularly impressive owner.
Apparently they are like slave drivers to the guys at 2000ad,and some of the artists have depicted the staff at rebellion as particularly fascisistic robo-droids with big whips and razor teeth.-Those crazy kids.

17:49 / 14.12.01

Uh, hate to piss on your chips here, but that's a 2000AD tradition.

Rebellion are creators of the original Aliens VS Predator PC game. They bought 2000AD with the intention of making it half-way decent again - as far as I know, they're the people responsible for getting Morrison to write that Zenith one-shot last year.

10:05 / 15.12.01

Consider the chips justifiably ed in then.But I remain unconvinced at the quality of 200ad,and I would love to see it kick some ass again.I think I started to be put off it at around the beginning of the Dante stuff,and I remember The JD stuff with perhaps too much nostalgia.
If rebellion are really doing a good job,then perhaps it will take them more time to marry the success of their game company with the renaissance of comics,even though in terms of production time those two industries could'nt be placed further apart.

[ 15-12-2001: Message edited by: kobol strom ]

15:31 / 15.12.01

Rebellion, from interviews, seem to have a genuine love of classic 2000AD strips. The Dredd game that they're working on could be spectacular - with Aliens VS Predator managed to create exactly the right atmosphere for the subject matter.

I can't get rid of the feeling that maybe 2000AD is beyond saving. For years it was simply the Dan Abnett Magazine, which can't be a good thing in anybody's books.