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Underground > Comic Books >

Zenith?

  
  

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sleazenation
09:47 / 14.02.04
oddly enough the latest issue of comics international (issue 168) has a reasonably comprehensive guide to morrison's work - including his captain clyde newspaper strip...

Big dave was a bit of a working class hardman character whjo ended up shagging princess diana if memory serves - mark millar worked with him on it.

Outside st switherns day (reprionted a few years ago by Oni) and the bible john strips pretty much everything else is just short stories...
 
 
Dan Fish - @Fish1k
09:10 / 17.02.04
At the risk of repeating myself, people looking to read GM's Zoids, Hitler or Near Myths/Stargrave stuff should head over to my website...

FISH1000 COMICS
 
 
miss wonderstarr
19:40 / 16.04.04
Yeah has anybody seen that "zzz.zenith" story? I hear there was also another late, post-Phase IV afterthought episode or one-page shot, and while I wouldn't expect great things of them having been very disappointed with Phase IV, I'd love to know what they're like, see a scan or buy them cheep.
 
 
Dan Fish - @Fish1k
07:56 / 17.04.04
Post Phase IV, zenith has appeared in ZZZenith, and a one page appearance in prog 1280 (I think), an anniversary issue.

They are pretty much just jokey afterthoughts, not essential to the main 'Phase' stories.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
08:02 / 17.04.04
Have you or has anyone else actually got these? I'd love to see them in some form.

I remember Morrison saying in (?) 92 or something that the only other Zenith he was going to do would be a "fat Elvis" version. Even if the two post-IV episodes are jokey asides, I'm still kind of fascinated by them. That interview in Select and the polaroids one-page with Lenny Henry and Patsy Kensit were really appealling. But then, they tapped into that Zenith-as-Bros 80s naff/coolness and so have an appeal that anything post-IV would probably be lacking.
 
 
Mark Parsons
00:05 / 14.12.07
I, alas, only have v1 and now the prices are astronomical on v2-4.

I chatted to two 2000AD lads at SDCC and they indicated that all it would take to get the books back in print was an OK from their boss.

It is a huge shame that ZENITH and MARVELMAN are both unavailable due to suitish assholism (my assumption RE Zenith). Generations is kiddies are not being exposed to all that good madness.

Anybody heard any new news?
 
 
Spaniel
09:02 / 14.12.07
I wish.
 
 
Ron Stoppable
10:56 / 14.12.07
I spent the longest time - years - hunting down and collecting the five Titan Zenith TPBs (and some horrible, badly coloured Fleetway collection, too - load of rubbish.)

eBay was very much my friend on this and if I remember right (it was a few years ago now) Book 2 was the most expensive, and then only because it was in great nick. The others, a bit battered but completely readable, cost no more than c.£25 - c.£30, I think. Not chickenfeed, I know but not Amazing Fantasy #15, either. I just had to persevere until I could find a deal I could afford. A quick look through eBay shows an "excellent" quality Book 3 being bought for £29.99 last month. Still a wedge, though.

Never read the post-phase zzzenith.com, though..
 
 
DavidXBrunt
11:38 / 14.12.07
You've not missed much. Well you've missed the news that Robot Archie rapes Britney Spears and various other character updates but you could probably live without that.

Oh, that's a spoiler in the last paragpraph. Retroactive spiler space go!
 
 
Haus of Mystery
11:45 / 14.12.07
It was an extremely post-modern full stop to the Zenith saga, very much in keeping with Morrison's then-current writing style (Marvel Boy/Filth era)A sort of post millenial cumshot. It was funny and disrespectful, and featured some very lovely Yeowell artwork.
I guess it was to Zenith what 'And we're all Policemen' was to The Invisibles.
 
 
Ron Stoppable
12:09 / 14.12.07
"you've missed the news that Robot Archie rapes Britney Spears"

Wha? I... I don't know what to make of that. Is it metaphorical???

Thing is, I like Morrison's output at about that time. May well track it down and give it a look. Back issues of 2000AD are pretty easy to get hold of; in the UK at least. I've long had the idea that if I fell arse-backwards into a barrel of cash, I might go out and get the complete 2000AD run to date (I've probably got one third or so) and closet myself away for a weekend, subsisting on Pringles and Fanta and Revere and the V.Cs.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
12:17 / 14.12.07
Well, Morrison has always had a tendency to inject very dark surrealism reminiscent of Chris Morris' Jam into some of his work, sometimes with problematic results. The Archie thing is an example of that (but I seem to recall it was also a comment on double standards re: sexualised youth - Archie's circuits have deteriorated so he has a fervent hatred of paedophiles and wages war on them, but he can't control his own urges when it comes to a pop star who once dressed as a schoolgirl).
 
 
Ron Stoppable
12:27 / 14.12.07
And still without having read it, the Chris Morris comparison seems very apt: comment on salacious tabloidism informing (and being informed by) pop culture is right up Morrison's worldview, I'd say.
 
 
Haus of Mystery
12:38 / 14.12.07
Slightly tangentially I'd like to say that Archie's appearance in Phase 3 where he turns up riding a dinosaur, daubed in acid house iconography, yelling 'MAD, MENTAL, CRAZY!!' is still one of my all-time favourite moments in comics.
I'm not saying I can forgive him for sullying Britney, but...
 
 
FinderWolf
17:07 / 14.12.07
when will these be released from their legal limbo, so the paperback collected-total versions can leave the lonely, desolate warehouse they are currently residing in? OH WHEN, LORD, WHEN?!?!?!
 
 
Mark Parsons
15:17 / 15.12.07
Apparently, when the honcho at 200oAD/Rebellion stops being a hater and gives a simple OK to the release.
 
 
Mark Parsons
15:21 / 15.12.07
eBay was very much my friend on this and if I remember right (it was a few years ago now) Book 2 was the most expensive, and then only because it was in great nick. The others, a bit battered but completely readable, cost no more than c.£25 - c.£30, I think. Not chickenfeed, I know but not Amazing Fantasy #15, either. I just had to persevere until I could find a deal I could afford. A quick look through eBay shows an "excellent" quality Book 3 being bought for £29.99 last month. Still a wedge, though.

I'm in the US, so those auctions have exchange rate and shipping complications. I'd wind up paying three hundred bucks for v2-4. And when I check US based auctions (or Amazon), the prices can be exhorbitant. Granted, I do not look for Zenith on a monthly basis, but the general US/dollar price has been jacked up in the last three years or so.
 
 
DavidXBrunt
19:18 / 15.12.07
It's not as simple as saying it's the head of Rebellion that needs to make a move. Morrison wants ownership of Zenith, that's what's holding it all up. If they give way to him then a precedent has been set and they could, potentially, lose all their assets. Creators come and go but the characters are the backbone of the comic.

John Wagner is keen on creator rights and ownership, and why not, but if he could take Dredd away then Rebellion would be fragged, funted, drokked, in deep stomm, and utterly fuocod.
 
 
sleazenation
18:46 / 16.12.07
And intellectual property was the main driving force behind Rebellion acquiring 2000AD in the first place.
 
 
Ron Stoppable
12:57 / 17.12.07
yeech. Mark; that sucks, mate. Not sure if there's an easy way around that.. If you wanted to, I'm sure you could get hold of a scanned copy on CD but even aside from the legality of doing that, it's no substitute for owning the actual thing.

(With apologies to any creators reading who may be put out by the suggestion of piracy; it's not something I'm advocating.)
 
 
Essential Dazzler
23:40 / 17.12.07
I've given up totally on having a print copy of Zenith, but I'm pleased by 2000AD's recent announcement of a downloadable comic service, which means I may one day have a legal copy to replace my (actually stunningly designed) pirate CD.
 
 
Mark Parsons
02:45 / 18.12.07
It's not as simple as saying it's the head of Rebellion that needs to make a move.

Maybe the convo I had at SDCC was an indication that things have moved closer to a resolution between parties. One can hope, anyway.
 
 
Mark Parsons
02:51 / 18.12.07
Morrison wants ownership of Zenith, that's what's holding it all up.

Does he WANT ownership, or does he think he already has/had it?

I was under the impression, from where I do not recall, that ownership was in dispute for legitimate reasons (contracts, I'd assume), rather than GM somehow throwing a spanner into the reprint works by abruptly demanding ownership. Presumably Morrison wants ownership because his contract, or some subsequent deal, gave him a stake in the character, and the interpretation of that deal needs clarification.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
11:56 / 18.12.07
The issue is, as I understand it, whether the purchase of 2000AD by Rebellion included the purchase of the intellectual property of IPC.

To which the answer is "yes", incidentally, but it doesn't really disadvantage Morrison not to have an edition out there that he is not being paid for, and a re-release would probably not make enough money to justify the legal expenses for Rebellion. The individual progs aren't that expensive second-hand - cheaper than the collected editions, certainly.
 
 
DavidXBrunt
15:04 / 18.12.07
Well as he's demanding/claiming ownership he clearly does want it.

I believe the nub of the argument is that he didn't sign the document that gave ownership of his works to Murdoch, or Saunders, or whoever the ultimate Tharg of the day was. He pocketed the cash though.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
15:21 / 18.12.07
Tharg of the Day would make a great entry in a seafood menu...

Actually, this is inspiring me to start looking at ebaying my Titan collections. Did you know you can print out special delivery labels from the Royal Mail website? How cool is that?
 
 
Ron Stoppable
15:32 / 18.12.07
Oooh forget eBay - isn't there a Pimp My Shit thread around here somewhere?

What've you got?
 
  

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