2000 AD online

When asked for my comics secret origin, I normally say something like “I didn’t really read comics until I was in my twenties” because it’s easier that way, and also dodges a lot of awkward follow-ups. But it’s also a lie. I just didn’t read many comics when I was a teenager When I was a proper kid, with chirpy optimism and undescended gonads, I read whatever comics I could find. And even if I didn’t buy them as a teen, if they were left around, I’d totally have a good old flick. I’ll read anything, especially if it involves a dude’s head exploding in a suitably transgressive fashion. Or emotions. Always up for head-exploding and emotions, me.

Anyway – this is everything you need to know about five great British comic characters you probably won’t have heard of, unless you have, in which case well done you. I find you alluring. Yes, sexually. I’m going to try and choose ones which won’t have appeared in Zenith or Albion or in the corner of a panel in whatever League issue Moore’s putting out. Because talking about them is Jess Nevins’ job, and I’m no scab.

I really do find you very alluring, by the way.

“

—

An old article where I wrote about my top five semi-Obscure British comic characters, off the top of my head. It’s cheery nonsense about characters who are clearly great. Yes. (via kierongillen)

Yes. Especially as Nemesis the Warlock gets a mention:

4. NEMESIS THE WARLOCK

This neatly follows on from the above argument. It’s another Mills joint, this time in 2000AD and working with the divine visionary power of Kevin O’Neil. When Rebellion released their first enormous collection of Nemesis, I hastily bought it and shoved it in the hands of a visibly confused Matt Fraction. It was my way of showing him the reason why British creators are different (i.e. mentally disturbed people who should be shunned) was that when we were eleven we were reading stuff like this instead of – oh, I don’t know – Archie.

(The biggest difference between UK comic readers and US comic readers is that we have literally no idea of Archie. It’s much like Twinkies – something we only know exists due to it being alluded to in other media. But I digress. Oh – read CRIMINAL: LAST OF THE INNOCENT. And I digress again. I’ll stop digressing. I’m not being paid by the word. I’m not being paid at all.)

Nemesis the Warlock is about an alien terrorist trying to kill as many humans as possible. But he’s the good guy, because humans really are right bastards, aren’t they?

It does raise a question though: What did Matt Fraction think of it? Or is he still bewildered?

karlurbaninternational:

EXCLUSIVE: The Villainous Ma-Ma of “DREDD 3D” Leaps From Big Screen To Comics

Since it was announced, the promise of Lionsgate’s “DREDD 3D” film being an adaptation of the Judge Dredd character that hews closer to 2000AD’s original hardcore law enforcement officer than ever before. But even as the film takes its cues from the classic British publisher, 2000AD is drawing from the movie to entice fans of the film to the comics line.

This August sees the release of a “DREDD 3D” digital comic prequel to the film, which will feature the first comics appearance of Ma-Ma — the villainous prison warden played in the movie by “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey.

Today, CBR News has an exclusive first look at the digital story’s painted cover by Greg Staples. The final story, written by 2000AD editor Matt Smith and approved by Dredd’s co-creator John Wagner and “DREDD” screenwriter Alex Garland, will feature the interior art will be by Henry Flint – a longtime 2000AD artist so associated with the character, his surname is used for one of the cell blocks in the film. (x)

radrecorder:

Judge Dredd: When Judges Go Bad, cover by Will Simpson.

Looking forward to more Dredd, and I hope the new movie will be better that the Stallone one. Saw that one at the cinema, it kinda sucked, but I liked the comic book so I had to get the Game Boy game, which sucked way, way more.

Via ComicBookResources.

There will be a new regular running feature on Comic Book Resources where they politely ask the prog’s munificent editor questions and you too can submit ideas for this by adding them to this thread:

Comic Book Resources is proud to announce that 2000 AD and CBR are teaming up for a new recurring Q+A feature, similar to the Cup O’ Joe or Axel-in-Charge features. Very tentatively titled “Tharg’s Tantalizing Thrill Tease”, we need your questions for this to be a success, from the mundane to the inane. Ask about upcoming stories, past continuity, creators, movies, what kind of tithings Tharg prefers from his followers and anything else you can think up.

Questions collected from this thread will be answered by Tharg, with a lot of help from Matt Smith, and will be coupled with other announcements and exclusive art from Rebellion. Look for the first feature to go live at comicbookresources.com later next month!

mooseharris:

Dark Judges Teaser Campaign

Simon Parr’s series of teaser ads for the return of the Dark Judges to John Wagner’s current Judge Dredd epic Day of Chaos.

The images have been running on CBR News, and Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis returned to 2000AD at the beginning of May.

CBR have an interview with John Wagner, Henry Flint and Colin MacNeil about bringing back the Dark Judges:

CBR News: You’ve waited a long to bring back these fan-favorite Judge Dredd characters. Why did you decide that now was the time for the Dark Judges return?

John Wagner: I didn’t realize it had been so long! I hadn’t intended to use them in “Day of Chaos,” but as the story developed, I saw they would fit in very nicely. The idea was to start off slowly and gradually build up to a thoroughly chaotic conclusion. By the final days, I was holding nothing back. Dark Judges? Sure — stick them in the pot and give it a stir.

Is “Day of Chaos” a story newcomers intrigued by the Dark Judges return will find it easy to jump into?

I hope so. All you need to know is that the ‘Sovs,’ Mega-City One’s great foe, have been planning revenge for 30 years, since Dredd’s destruction of East-Meg One. The return of the Dark Judges is but one of many strands of the Sov plot to return the favor.

…

When the other three Dark Judges show up, the original super-fiend himself can’t be far behind! Will we eventually see Judge Death again?

I have to confess that part of the reason I brought Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis back is that I’m considering writing a new story to reunite the four, with the excellent Greg Staples on art. My problem with the Dark Judges, and the reason that I’ve left them so long, is that I find it difficult to write any story without adding large dollops of black humor. This, however, tends to diminish characters like Judge Death, to dilute their level of menace. If I couldn’t handle them in the way they deserved, then it was better to leave them alone. So I’ve been prevaricating on a new story ever since Greg suggested it — until last week when he sent me a Dark Judge illustration he’d done. It was out of this world, simply stunning, and it made me think more seriously about a comeback. I’ll be considering it over the coming weeks. If I can find a way to make it work (without the humor!), then the project is on.

The interview comes with the previous two installments of Judge Dredd, so you can catch up on the last 12 pages of Dredd story before jumping in on to the latest prog.

The Greg Staples piece mentioned in the interview might be the one in the next post.

sjhawkins:

Fallen waaaaay behind with nabbing the Complete Case Files of Dredd, and am years behind what is going on right now but damn - these teasers are tempting me to pick up Prog 1781.

Hmm. We’ll see.

Pick it up citizen, you will want this as Day of Chaos gets turned up to… 13.

Art is by Pye Parr.

Oh, and welcome to Dark Judge Day.

detrocboi:

Brendan McCarthy

The Zaucer of Zilk

A new comic on 2000AD, coming March 2012

For more details read the interview with Brendan McCarthy, and the one with Zaucer of Zilk’s writer Al Ewing. This is going to be a series you’ll want to read.

2000adonline:

Comic Book Resources take a look back at a little gem of a story from the archives:

Recently I had the very good luck to get my hands on a copy of the Garth Ennis and Phillip Bond 2000AD series; Time Flies. After years of searching for back issues, a friend who collects 2000AD gave me a “spare” copy of 2000AD Extreme Edition #19, which compiles the entire series. It isn’t that I’m any kind of fanatic for time travel stories (though I do like science fiction), but more that I adore Bond’s art and Ennis’s writing. For a long time I’ve been wanting to check out this early work of theirs, and I was very excited to see how the two would collaborate.

Time Flies comprises of two separate stories; Time Flies (from 1990) and Tempus Fugitive (from 1996.) With the first story being written very early in Ennis’ career, you would expect it to be sillier and more ridiculous than the first, but in many ways it is the more structured of the two rather silly stories.

…

It seems unlikely to me now, but apparently, back in 1990 Ennis was a bit adorable. Far less bitter and far more amused by the stupidity of the world, which I can relate to a little more. Basically, he was a much more of the normal level of grouchily pissed of with the world than he seems to be these days. Nowadays his vitriolic depictions of the powerful and ignorant are terrifyingly intense, his hatred is tangible and slightly disturbing. But with Time Flies, for the most part, Ennis and Bond reserved their most damning little digs for the more annoying aspects of popular culture

…

What I came away from this with, was a bit of a yearning to see Ennis return to a more affectionate humor in his books. There is a difference between gentle derision and gross-out, angry mockery, and lately he’s moved into the latter camp. Please don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy both of his takes on the world, but I honestly had no idea he was capable of writing something so playful and sweet and I enjoyed it. Simultaneously, I very much enjoyed reading a funny story drawn by Philip Bond, he’s very, very good at humor. With the strange addition of Langridge, who has become an award-winning writer in the intervening years, I’ve decided that what I’d like next is to see them collaborate on a comic book someday soon.

lazymercenary has asked if this will be reprinted. The answer is probably not, as this review is of a reprint already, but you can still buy Extreme Edition #19 from the 2000AD shop.

Comic Book Resources take a look back at a little gem of a story from the archives:

Recently I had the very good luck to get my hands on a copy of the Garth Ennis and Phillip Bond 2000AD series; Time Flies. After years of searching for back issues, a friend who collects 2000AD gave me a “spare” copy of 2000AD Extreme Edition #19, which compiles the entire series. It isn’t that I’m any kind of fanatic for time travel stories (though I do like science fiction), but more that I adore Bond’s art and Ennis’s writing. For a long time I’ve been wanting to check out this early work of theirs, and I was very excited to see how the two would collaborate.

Time Flies comprises of two separate stories; Time Flies (from 1990) and Tempus Fugitive (from 1996.) With the first story being written very early in Ennis’ career, you would expect it to be sillier and more ridiculous than the first, but in many ways it is the more structured of the two rather silly stories.

…

It seems unlikely to me now, but apparently, back in 1990 Ennis was a bit adorable. Far less bitter and far more amused by the stupidity of the world, which I can relate to a little more. Basically, he was a much more of the normal level of grouchily pissed of with the world than he seems to be these days. Nowadays his vitriolic depictions of the powerful and ignorant are terrifyingly intense, his hatred is tangible and slightly disturbing. But with Time Flies, for the most part, Ennis and Bond reserved their most damning little digs for the more annoying aspects of popular culture

…

What I came away from this with, was a bit of a yearning to see Ennis return to a more affectionate humor in his books. There is a difference between gentle derision and gross-out, angry mockery, and lately he’s moved into the latter camp. Please don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy both of his takes on the world, but I honestly had no idea he was capable of writing something so playful and sweet and I enjoyed it. Simultaneously, I very much enjoyed reading a funny story drawn by Philip Bond, he’s very, very good at humor. With the strange addition of Langridge, who has become an award-winning writer in the intervening years, I’ve decided that what I’d like next is to see them collaborate on a comic book someday soon.