This is where the tension went up to 11 in the last ever Nikolai Dante story.
Simon Fraser has given his thoughts and thanks not the last Nikolai Dante story is out:
So the very final episode of Nikolai Dante is now published and available to buy. It may not be the ending that you wanted, but it’s always been the ending that was planned. Whatever happens next he won’t be the same character he was before.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the many many people who have been a part of Dantes adventures with us. Dante was the first story that Robbie and I did for 2000AD and it was John Tomlinson who commissioned it, he also came up with ‘Tsar Wars’ as a title. David Bishop was there at the birth, was a firm supporter of the early stages of Dante and wrote several novelisations of Dante exploits. He’s still the only other writer to ever write Dante’s adventures. I’m not sure we would be here to day if he hadn’t had a lot of faith in us. Thanks to Andy Diggle for his ‘Shotglass full of rocketfuel’ . Thanks to Matt Smith who has really supported Dante in the best way possible, by just letting us do what we wanted to do and giving us a great comic to do it in. Annie Parkhouse has had a hand in every single episode of Dante right from the beginning, her deft and confident lettering is a big part of how this story looks. Thanks to the many other artists who have drawn Dante’s rascally countenance. To Andy Clarke, Charlie Adlard, Chris Weston, Paul Marshall, Steve Yeowell, Henry Flint and lastly the legendary John M. Burns. There are no finer artists working in comics.
My first colourist was Ally Kirkpatrick who did a wonderful job until her family life took over. Gary Caldwell has been a complete rock for me , I can honestly say that if Gary isn’t colouing my stuff, it just doesn’t look right. Gary is a superb collaborator and this has been the best professional relationship I have had with anyone… ever.
Robbie Morrison IS Nikolai Dante, in his heart and soul. He cares about what he does and most importantly he can make us care, there is no greater attribute for a writer in my opinion. Robbie’s passion, conviction and ambition is what has brought us to this day. He is a great storyteller and a great friend.
Special mention should go to Deborah Tate, who influenced the story in many subtle and less subtle ways over the years, always to its betterment. Thank you Deb.
2000AD is blessed with an extraordinary fanbase, many many more than I can name and many of whome I only know by your talkback handles. Rest assured we know who you are and we appreciate immensely the dedication you have shown to our story over the years. It has meant a lot.
Finally I need to thank Anne, who came in at the beginning and showed me what a romantic leading man needed to be . Mia cara, era tutto per te.
Simon Fraser
Brooklyn 2012
Kev Walker’s next Megazine work was as co-creator on Wynter,(Megazine2.70,6Jan’95)with Robbie Morrison;a short lived tale of a Mega-City Judge sent to the Antarctic Territories as punishment on disciplinary charges.
Unfortunately Wynter only lasted as a one-off,which is a shame as it had in it all the things that Walker draws really well:weird,deformed characters,futuristic vehicles and especially,cool weapons!
Gorgeous Simon Fraser art on the first Nikolai Dante series. Really should pick up the Dante trades, especially as the main alt artist is the great John Burns.
Everyone should as it is an epic tale of love, families and revenge. The big classic of recent years. Start here (or here in the US)
Jimmy Aquino reviews the US edition of the first Nikolai Dante graphic novel, this is where the epic story starts and you will want to get in on the ground floor. Plus it isn’t too late to get for Christmas.
I just read the first trade of Nikolai Dante by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser (with a little art help from Charlie Adlard, Henry Flint and Chris Weston). Thanks to 2000AD/Rebellion for the review copy. I freakin loved it! Basic wiki plot for you:
“Set in the twenty-seventh century…
Colin Smith has been reflecting on this year’s comics and rather than just a list of the best or the worst, he points out 8 major problems he has seen and comics that buck that trend - 2000 AD sneaks into both categories:
1. Problem The First:- The Death Of Narrative Comics
A mass of full-page money shots. The predominance of the wide-angle horizontal panel. The absence of guttering. Pages consisting of little more than two or three frames. A spartan approach to narrative techniques, a wilfully self-lobotomised attitude towards the wonderful examples established by eighty and more years of comic book tradition. The sense of a page reduced to a post-modern collage, stories collapsed into successive slaps of shock and spectacle. Muscles, costumes, energy bolts, super-punches, and very little else. 2011 has, quite unbelievably, seen the further rise of adolescently Luddite storytelling. It’s reached the point at which those creators who focus on the connective tissue of their work, as much as they do its most crowd-pleasing grand moments, stand out from the pack like a team of white-coated health professionals in a crack house.Neither (1) Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser’s Nikolai Dante: Bad Blood nor (2) Roger Langride and Chris Samnee’s Thor The Mighty Avenger could be accused of any such industry-killing ineptness and decadence. Both teams of creators focused with exceptional skill and discipline on producing work which was as beautifully paced and transparent as it was touching and exciting. Without a stroke of self-indulgence, ignorance or idleness apparent on any single page of either story, each serves quite literally as a masterclass in how to achieve merit without pretension. Sadly, Thor The Mighty Avenger was cancelled because of low sales in the spring of this year, and Dante will soon be concluded after the property’s many years of publication. The industry can ill-afford, for whatever reason, to loose such excellence.
2. Problem The Second:- A Fundamental Lack Of Heart
Clenched fists, clenched jaws, clenched buttocks.The super-person comic remains almost entirely characterised by, if not always machismo, then the most narrow range of melodramatically adolescent emotions. It’s a wearisome business, a vision of adult life as the equivalent of a secondary school playground as seen from the perspective of an emasculated,uncertain teenager, longing for the power to deter his persecutors, impress his acquaintances, and attract whatever significant other it is that he’d like to generate friction burns with.The reason why the mass of the mainstream’s product is still considered to be largely for rather maladjusted children of all ages is because that’s the level of emotional literacy that’s needed to engage with the bulk of it. There’s little of intimacy and subtlety that’s present in the pages of most super-people books, while the range of body language often appears to extend little beyond the most wooden and generic of poses.
I’m more than simply happy to argue the already well-established case for (3) Low Life: The Deal, by Rob Williams and D’Israeli, and (4) Life Support, from Action Comics # 900, by Damon Lindelof and Ryan Sook. Williams and D’israeli’s work is a wonderful example of how exquisite characterisation in both script and art can transform an already brilliantly constructed adventure into something that’s significantly more entertaining and moving than any widescreen popcorn shoot-em-up ever could be. Without ever stinting on a sequence of action-filled set-pieces, both creators succeeded in making Judge Frank as vulnerable as he was ultimately to prove formidable. As far as this blogger is concerned, Dirty Frank was the comicbook character of the year; perpetually baffled and yet often strangely sanguine, implacably loyal and inevitably put-upon, and as wise and amusing as he’s clearly and disturbingly disordered.
I am also happy to throw my vote for Best Character of 2011 behind Dirty Frank too.
Tharg is filling our stockings with festive treats and here is the cover to Prog 2012 - the end-of-year special designed to fill the gap while Tharg has the droids broken down for annual sandblasting and it also serves as a jumping-on point for new readers, as all the new stories next year start here - there has never been a better time for getting thrillpowered. So what’s in it?
On sale for three weeks from 14 December, this Earth-shattering Thrill-powered compendium of awesomeness is the perfect antidote to your anodyne Yule or the horror of another slab of mother’s Christmas cake.
What awaits you in this momentous publication? Observe:
JUDGE DREDD: CHOOSE YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS by Al Ewing & John Higgins
NIKOLAI DANTE: THE WEDDING OF JENA MAKAROV by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser
GREY AREA: MEET AND GREET by Dan Abnett & Karl Richardson
ABSALOM: SICK LEAVE by Gordon Rennie & Tiernen Trevallion
SINISTER DEXTER: NOW AND AGAIN by Dan Abnett & Anthony Williams
DANDRIDGE: A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY by Alec Worley & Jon Davis-Hunt
AQUILA: PROLOGUE by Gordon Rennie & Leigh Gallagher
And all capped by this gorgeous cover from Greg Staples! Truly, with this festive treat Tharg shows that he is indeed Mighty and Benevolent!
