Cover Of The Day

[Alex]

I bought the graphic novel of that a few years ago and enjoyed reading it, and it made me wish that Bolland would go back to drawing comics rather than just the covers. He confesses to being quite a slow worker (which is understandable given the quality of his work) but it'd be great if someone wrote something specifically for him to draw and then didn't care when it eventually came out.

[MacNimon]

Speaking of Brian Bolland and covers, any excuse to post another one before we move on...

Today we have a special edition of 2000AD published in late December 1999 to celebrate the comic actually reaching the year 2000, with the issue number being given as Prog. 2000. Here, Bolland gave us a variation of the famous Marine flag-raising photograph from WW2 with 2000AD characters replacing the marines on top of a hill of dead old comics. This special issue contained a couple of Judge Dredd tales, along with one-off episodes of ABC Warriors, Nikolai Dante, Rogue Trooper, Sinister Dexter and Slaine, along with the final episode of Nemesis the Warlock, not to mention the first appearance of Strontium Dog for 9 years. All created by the likes of Dan Abnett, Brett Ewins, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Alan Grant, Mark Harrison, Cam Kennedy, Mike McMahon, Pat Mills, John Wagner and other greats.

Here's a cleaned up version to showcase his great artwork...

[Rob McCow]

Absolutely glorious. I remember seeing this in the shops at the time!

Why did I never buy 2000AD?

Why am I still not buying it? (aside from being in Qatar).

[Stuart Wallis]

Probably the best graphic novel I've ever read, and that includes V For Vendetta and The Nail.

[Andrew Curnow]

I think I mentioned on another thread at some time that I was an avid 2000AD-er from 1978/79 through to about 1987/88, when I lost interest - but then years later (well, 1997/98) Zel started buying it for me again. I think we got it for about 6 months or so, and then stopped - partly, I think, to save money but also because of that sense that "you can't go home again", that it wasn't the nostalgia trip I might have liked.

However (he said, finally dragging himself to the point) inspired in the main by this thread, I've dug out the 1997/98 Progs (or at least, those I could find) and have re-read them over recent weeks - your posting of that superb cover above prompted me to mention it today, Mac. And actually, in the main I quite enjoyed them - I never took to Nikolai Dante, I'm not really sure what they were trying to do there (he's a bit like a pre-Captain Jack Captain Jack, if you see what I mean, but maybe because they were still nominally a kids comic they couldn't go too far with it?). But Sinister Dexter was a superb strip, it had the ability to tell lots of different stories & styles of stories, and to be adaptable enough to be drawn in many different ways (like Dredd in fact), and was a very moody piece - and in fact I often use the opening phrase "And this is Downlode" even now. Dredd was as good as ever, Slaine as dull as ever, but all in all (ignoring the godawful Durham Red) it was probably as good in 1998 as it was in 1988, and even 1978.

And yes, superb Prog 2000 cover, very clever idea, and brilliantly realised. And was that genuinely the last appearance of Nemesis? My, my, I remember his very first appearance, Prog 167 I think it was, and then the big reveal of the creature himself in the Summer Special, them were the days... (And since I appear to have become Grandpa Simpson in rambling anecdote mode, I'll stop there!)

[MacNimon]

I've got to admit that I was well gone from the world of (reading) comics by the time that last cover appeared in the shops, but that didn't stop me from browsing occasionally (and giving in to temptation several times) over the years. I don't think I ever read 2000AD much at all after the late 70s apart from the occasional issue,(and so any info I've gleaned from sources online) but I certainly remember the cover above in the shops at the time. I was tempted to buy it but didn't, figuring too much time had passed and that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered it. I've never found out whether I was wrong or not...

Probably the best graphic novel I've ever read, and that includes V For Vendetta and The Nail.

I assume you're talking about Camelot 3000, Stuart, if so I certainly agree...I've read it several times over the years and still love it. I prefer it to V myself (which, while actually very good I think is a bit over-rated...although over-hyped may be a better description). I'm not familiar with The Nail though...but I've just Googled it and assume you're talking about the JLA mini-series by Alan Davis? I've never heard of it till now but it certainly sounds interesting...

I'll stick with great British artists for the moment. Another great of the same generation as Bolland is John Bolton. Bolton became the first of the great British artists to work for the big American companies, kicking off that phase of his career with the issue featured today. He started off in the UK working for Look-In, before moving onto such genre comic mags such as House Of Hammer and Warrior, where his work caught the attention of Marvel's US editor, Ralph Machio, who gave him the following gig...

Bolton illustrated a couple of Kull tales (classy work really worth checking out just for the brilliant art, even if you're not a fantasy fan) and did some other stuff for Marvel and DC, but later in his career concentrated on horror stories (such as Hellraiser and other film adaptations). As for Bizarre Adventures itself, it was a b&w comic magazine variation on Marvel's colour try-out series, Marvel Premiere and Marvel Spotlight. It began life as Marvel Preview and had changed its title with the previous issue to this one...it was just a more adult-themed try-out title which featured a lot of really good stuff, every issue featuring different characters ranging from superhero to spy/thriller to fantasy. This issue featured a new story based on Robert E Howard's other barbarian character, Kull, a precurser to Conan...Demon In A Silvered Glass by Doug Moench and John Bolton was fantasy at its best!

[Stuart Wallis]

I'd advise anyone to go and read Doug's early Moon Knight strips.

[MacNimon]

He was in top form in this period...an excellent writer. I agree about Moon Knight, particularly that period when Bill Siemkiewicz was the artist.

[MacNimon]

A complete change of direction today...something that no-one alive today could remember being on sale. I'm including this simply because I like it and find it fascinating...it may not be the earliest comic ever printed, but it's certainly one of the first to ever use colour. The Christmas 1887 issue of...

In an age when everything was printed in b&w, this cover with its bright and vibrant colours must have stuck out in shops. I just find it interesting to see what people were reading 125 years ago.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow!

[Rob McCow]

That's really amazing... I wonder what the contents were inside? All Dickens rip-offs by the look of it.

And a Union Jack waistcoat! He was the Geri Halliwell of his day, clearly.

[Nyder]

Great picture!

[Stuart Wallis]

A complete change of direction today...something that no-one alive today could remember being on sale.

Speak for yourself!

I just find it interesting to see what people were reading 125 years ago.

For example, this issue coincided witht he release of the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow!

Will we honestly be able to tell the difference?

[MacNimon]

A bit of superhero action today, with one of those iconic covers of the 1980s...

When DC decided to reset their entire range back in the mid-80s because there was simply too much back-story and characters for new readers to easily get into (it's funny how history repeats itself, isn't it?), they came up with a year-long saga called Crisis On Infinite Earths which was used to change the status quo. Numerous much-loved characters were killed off in an attempt to tidy up the DC Universe to set up a new beginning; and one of the changes they were bringing in was taking Superman back to his roots by making him the sole survivor from the planet Krypton...

Not only was Supergirl killed off here, a few months later in the new setup all memory of her was gone. She was simply wiped from existense, had never even existed in the first place for anyone to remember her.

[Andrew Curnow]

Sorry, who was killed off? I don't remember her at all.

[Rob McCow]

It might be shocking, but I really don't like that cover. It's far too over-staged and super-dramatic without being iconic. Might have worked if they'd gone for a more realistic style of artwork?

Perhaps it's all the characters in the background just standing there. What are they all staring at?

[Alex]

Not only was Supergirl killed off here, a few months later in the new setup all memory of her was gone. She was simply wiped from existense, had never even existed in the first place for anyone to remember her.

Ah, if only superheros could stay dead. She did quite well by modern day standards, remaining six feet under until 2004, but then they somehow reintroduced the character. It had something to do with the 31st Century and the Legion of Superheroes, but I got bored reading up on it, which can't be a good sign!

[MacNimon]

Ah, if only superheros could stay dead.

There are the occasional ones who buck the trend, though. While it's unfortunate that Bucky Barnes was eventually revived, that probably means that this guy is the longest-lasting dead superhero...

I much prefer this one to the Superman one above, the design of which was obviously inspired by this much earlier cover from 1982, when a graphic novel was exactly what it sounded, a new previously unpublished story rather than a collection of previously published comics. Here, we have the character of Mar-Vell on his death-bed dying of cancer, surrounded by many of the Marvel characters he considered friends. He has one final battle in his final moments of life (in his mind only, presumably a dream/hallucination), but seemingly passing away peacefully to his surrounding friends and family.

[MacNimon]

Another of IPC's much-loved humour comics today. Whoopee ran from 1974-1985, when it merged with Whizzer & Chips, itself swallowing up Shiver & Shake, Cheeky and Wow! over the years. The cover featured today is a 2000AD parody, with the comic's logo even changed to resemble that of 2000AD at the time.

Characters to appear in Whoopee included cover star Sweeney Toddler (originally from Shiver & Shake), Blinketty Blink, Bookworm, Calculator Kid, Lolly Pop, Smiler and Supermum. Other characters such as Frankie Stein, Cheeky, and Paddywack appeared after mergers with other comics.

[MacNimon]

It's easy to forget that there was once a large girls comic market as well. We'll come back to American ones at a future date, but in Britain many of these comics were simply given girls names such as Mandy, Bunty, Judy etc and more often than not featured stories about horses, ballet dancing, piano lessons...stuff that would obviously appeal solely to girls rather than boys. However, on more than one occasion there was a genre comic available in the girls market to prove that there was a female audience for thrills, horror and excitement...

Misty ran for 101 issues from 1979-1981 before being merged into Tammy. It was a comic which concentrated on supernatural and horror stories. These consisted of complete stories, text stories, and serials. Complete stories focused on come-uppances, monsters and other menaces, tales of sorrow etc. Text stories were initially fictional, but later shifted to retellings of true British ghost stories. There weren't any regular characters in the comic (with the exception of a lighthearted cartoon witch), they preferred to just stick with telling seperate stories. Serials were written by veteran writers such as Pat Mills and others.

[MacNimon]

Today we feature a character who has had a long history in comics publishing, as well as his more famous exploits on film, tv and books. Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan Of The Apes has been published in magazine and comic format since 1912 and is still being published today, with only a few gaps in publication in comparatively recent years. The first comic strip version was published in 1929, and the character featured in several titles in the 1930s before getting his own title from Dell in 1938. Tarzan was published almost continuously by various companies including Dell, Gold Key, DC and Marvel until around 1980 when Marvel lost the licence. He has had a patchier history in more recent years, with Dark Horse publishing him for a while and, more recently, Dynamite Entertainment.

He has long had a history of British reprint comics running from the 1940s through till the late 70s, comics which took a range of formats. Todays is one of my childhood favourite series, a fortnightly full colour series (very unusual for British comics of the time) which ran from 1971-1975 for well over 100 issues and was possibly my introduction to the character (although that's debatable because the Ron Ely tv series was running at that time as well!).

Can't say that I actually remember this particular cover, but I love it because it just reminds me of those cheap old paperback books that were around at the time...

[Stuart Wallis]

(although that's debatable because the Ron Ely tv series was running at that time as well

And I remember there were the Ron Ely shows on ITV during the 1970 (IIRC) while the BBC were showing a Tarzan cartoon series by the people who made the Star Trek cartoons.

[MacNimon]

Back to the late 80s and Marvel UK again. Today we have a character with an unusual history, Deaths Head was a cyborg bounty hunter who began life as a back-up strip (for copyright reasons) in Transformers before actually appearing as a character in the Transformers strip itself, then spinning off into his own series.

Once he had his own title, he began making appearanced in other Marvel comics/magazines, with the Doctor (yes, our Doctor) having a big influence on him with guest appearances in the main DWM comic strip as well as the Doctor appearing in Deaths Head. In this issue of Deaths Head, the TARDIS lands on the Fantastic Four's building thus placing the Doctor in the Marvel Universe, and Deaths Head himself goes on to integrate himself into the wider Marvel Universe.

[Rob McCow]

Oh I remember this well!

I'm pretty sure Deaths Head was never a back-up strip, that he started in Transformers proper before spinning off everywhere, but then my memory may not be perfect.

Like Whack-a-Rat, you never knew where Deaths Head would pop up next and if you wanted to follow his adventures, you'd end up buying every single Marvel Comic line. At least I'm sure that was the plan. Handily they've all been collected together into a couple of graphic novels now. It suited his character to be a bit mercenary anyway... except don't call him a mercenary, yes?

We could all spend hours working out how or if the continuity of Transformers mapped onto Fantastic Four and Doctor Who. The answer is that it doesn't and that Deaths Head is the one character responsible for buggering the whole (fictional) reality.

[SiHart]

But the Doctor shrank him, yes?

[Rob McCow]

That's right, with one of the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators. He was on his way from Transformers to the short-lived Dragons Claw series, featuring humans set on a future dystopian Earth (again, buggering up everyone's continuity). Unfortunately he was about 60ft tall in Transformers. Hence his stop-off with the Doctor and the Time Warden...