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Post by Batflunkie on May 21, 2016 14:16:19 GMT -5
Join the club. Britain no longer produces much of anything. Shipbuilding, coal mining, all gone in my lifetime. And worse, so is much of the British comics industry. I could get behind the idea of "Let's Make America Great Again" if Trump of all people wasn't the person proclaiming it :S
And don't put yourself down too hard, at least you still make pretty good tv programmes. Sir David Attenborough's nature documentaries are some of my favorites. Though I find it hard to believe that the same network who shows that also shows violently loud chefs yelling obscenities over health code violations and what I can only describe as "jackass" with cars. But at least you folks are still rather classy even when you're shown the "lowbrow" side of your culture, I unfortunately can't say the same for America. The only shows here that I can think of that handles "the pride of ignorance" with some modicum of dignity are King Of The Hill, Swamp People, and Squidbillies |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,209 
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Post by Confessor on May 22, 2016 5:16:03 GMT -5
Ah, OK...that makes sense then. Although, the comics themselves would've still had to have been shipped back to the UK. Hmmm...I wouldn't say "regularly available". Their were certain independent newsagents where you could find U.S. comics, yes, but in my experience they tended to be the more, how shall we say, dingy, off-the-beaten path newsagent shops, rather than high street independants or big chains like your Martins or WHSmiths. For instance, in the medium-sized town in Buckinghamshire where I grew up there was something like 10 newsagents shops, but only two of those actually stocked proper American comics. And even then, distribution was spotty as all hell: you'd get regular comics for a month or two and then nothing for three months and then suddenly they'd be in back in stock. My understanding is that they were imported as ballast in container ships and then sold at a very cheap price by certain distributors, hence the fact that only certain shops carried them. Anyway, regardless of their origin, picking up every issue of a series was basically impossible, unlike homegrown comics such as 2000 AD, Commando or Star wars Weekly which were on sale each week, regular as clockwork. However, I remember those Eagle Comics reprints of Judge Dredd being much more widely available, even being stocked in places like Martins or WHSmiths. Ah, I see. Yeah, the follow-up Judge Death story was better, no doubt about it. But I remember reading that first appearance in 2000 AD back in the day and my friend and I thought he was a really cool and memorable character right off of the bat. I grew up in South London, just down the road from Crystal Palace. I think every newsagent I ever visited in the eighties (and late seventies, for that matter) carried American comics, including pretty much the entire Marvel, DC and Epic lines. There were at least five or six, maybe more, within twenty minutes walking distance of my house that did (though my usual outlet was Fosdicks in Penge High Street, which later became Finlays, a fairly sizeable newsagents and stationers). When I moved to Portsmouth in 1988, it was pretty much the same story; at least three small newsagents in Southsea carried about forty US titles per month, as did the larger ones in the town centre. I rarely missed an issue of an ongoing title without ever needing to go near a comics shop, for about ten years (though I still had to visit the speciality shops for Marvel limited series', which rarely turned up in the newsagents with any regularity). I assumed it was the same throughout the country. That's interesting. So, it seems that the situation with the availability of U.S. comics was, unsurprisingly really, very different in the big cities to how it was out here in semi-rural Bucks. You were lucky indeed to have had such a ready supply of American comics available as a kid. I've spoken a number of times in this forum and back on the old CBR site about what a revelation walking into a local newsagents shop and finding proper American comics for the first time was. Here were Spider-Man, Superman, Batman comics, but...but...they were all in colour! I would've been, I guess, about 10 years old and, prior to that, I had only ever read black & white reprints of U.S. Marvel and DCs, B&W Commando comics and 2000 AD (which had two, rather murky looking, pages of colour per issue, as you know). But I had absolutely no idea that comics could even be entirely in colour until the fateful day that I walked into that particular newsagents. It was, almost literally, like going from a monochrome world into a technicolor one. Tbe ballast in ships situation is true enough, but that was back in the fifties and sixties. By about 1976, Marvel, DC, Harvey and Archie at least all had proper UK distribution in place. Is that right? If it wasn't for the fact that I know that you know your stuff on subjects like this, I'd be pretty incredulous of your claim that Marvel, DC, Harvey and Archie had proper UK distribution in place by about 1976. Like I say, the situation that I witnessed with my own eyes concerning American Marvels or DCs (I never, ever saw an Archie on sale, but I remember Charltons being available on occasion) was that they were not supplied to stores with the same regularity as the British Marvel & DC reprints were. But again, this may have been because I wasn't growing up in one of the big cities. |
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Post by tingramretro on May 22, 2016 6:37:11 GMT -5
Charlton in particular were actually a very well organised operation, with a surprisingly long reach (mostly, I suspect, because they always handled their own distribution, as well as ther own printing). They only really disappeared from British newsagents a couple of years before they finally bit the dust in the early eighties, I think. I was somewhat addicted to their horror titles and still have a box full of them, somewhere.
Marvel actually had a rather peculiar distribution policy in the UK in the 70s; pretty much all their second tier titles, like Nova, Defenders, Ms. Marvel, Captain America and Howard The Duck, were widely availabe on a regular basis, but they severely restricted distribution of books like Amazing Spider-Man quite deliberately so that the availability of the imports wouldn't impact negatively on Marvel UK titles like Super Spider-Man. That policy seems to have ended somewhere around 1980 though, as after that, their entire line began to appear regularly in the newsagents. The only exception was their limited series' (when they began to appear, in about 1982), which never had general UK distribution outside comic shops. Curiously, DC mini's were freely available.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 23, 2016 13:41:42 GMT -5
Judge Dredd #2, published by Eagle in December of '83 for a dollar
Serials published
-Oxygen Board (prog 57)
-The First Luna Olympics (prog 50)
-Land Race (prog 47)
-The Face Change Crimes (prog 52)
Overall Thoughts: most of the serials in this issue are standard Dredd fare of the time; short, sweet, and full of sociopolitical commentary that boarders on the macabre. It's certainly a much stronger issue than #1 was, with the general theme of the book focusing entirely on Dredd's escapades on the wild west inspired moon colony "Luna-1". It also features the first appearance of the notorious Sov-Judges from East Meg-One, which would go onto play much larger roles in the continuing saga of the series, namely the "Apocalypse War". One of my favorite aspects of the Luna Olympics is that every applicant hast to be thoroughly checked to make sure they don't have an excess level of bionic and prosthetic limbs that would give them an unfair advantage. All of the issue's serials also feature beautifully colored versions of Brian Bolland's lovely black and white artwork that really make the book "pop"
Rating: 4.5/5 |
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Post by Batflunkie on May 23, 2016 14:46:29 GMT -5
Judge Dredd #3, published in Jan 1984 for a dollar Submitted for your approval, in all it's anarchic insanity, is "Judge Death Lives"; with a Brian Bolland cover that speaks volumes without saying one single word. I created this thread based on this issue alone, the impact it had on me, and the history behind it (which tbh, is rather boring but also interesting, to me at least) Let's go back for a moment to the early 00's, Hurricane Katrina had hit, and nearly wiped Louisiana off of the face of the earth. The place where I grew up, my one and only home, New Orleans, was left in utter ruin. I don't cry over a lot of stuff, damn if there wasn't tears in my eyes that day when I heard the news. The one bright side was the fact that my best friend since childhood and recently made cousin by marriage, Luke, had come to stay with us along with his mom and little sister. Those months together with him were some of the happiest in recent memory and made living in the suburban hellhole of Mobile, Alabama a little more bearable. One day, me and Luke decided to go to this Walgreens that's right across the street from me and adjacent to the most bizarre intersectional layout that I've ever born witness to. Let me put this in perspective, the street I live on is so off the beaten path that you could more than easily miss it as it's located right between a Chiropractor's office and a Korean Baptist church that used to be a funeral home. During that time, the Baptist church was still under construction, being renovated from it's more grim heritage. It was there that me and Luke happened upon something, a twenty dollar bill laying out in the middle of the grass, untouched. We were both utterly baffled as this was not a common occurrence. Being the rational youths that we were, we found it only fair to split the twenty down the middle, but save it for something more worthwhile than drug store junkfood; comic books. As I've said before comic book stores are not a luxury that Mobile often enjoys, the ones that do often come around hoping to exploit a potential market, usually end up closing within a year. And that was most certainly the case with Ground Zero. Ground Zero's main shop was comparable to that of the Dutch discotech "Popcorn" in that it was nearly impossible to find and buried under miles of back alley farm roads throughways. Their second shop was a little more easily to find was in a cramped space located next to the local close-out store chain "Hudson's Treasure Hunt". The new location struck me more as being a candy shop that happened to sell comics. Like I said, the place was incredibly cramped, not leaving much room to browse through the stacks. It was there that I found Judge Dredd #3 amongst old discounted issues of 2000 AD that I foolishly did not know of at the time. Luke had wanted to purchase an old issue of Spawn, but unfortunately I did not bring the twenty dollar bill with me, so we both had to make due with Judge Dredd #3. Reading it for the first time set my young mind ablaze with thought provoking, body horror level imagery that I can only compare to a David Cronenberg film like Videodrome or Naked Lunch. It was unnerving, morbid, and indescribably psychological. To someone who hadn't experienced something like this before, it like opening a Pandora's box with all sorts of Lovecraftian terrors. Though it's lucrative significance is small at best, it's personal significance to me however is insurmountable, and reminds a highly prized reminder of my love for the medium; right up there with Elseworlds Annual Robin #3 Rating: 5/5
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Post by tingramretro on May 23, 2016 14:59:22 GMT -5
Now this was a much stronger story than the original Judge Death story, I always thought. And just like Marvel's Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, Death works far, far better as part of a team...
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Post by Batflunkie on May 23, 2016 15:31:01 GMT -5
Now this was a much stronger story than the original Judge Death story, I always thought. And just like Marvel's Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, Death works far, far better as part of a team... I agree, and they're all given such unique personalities (except for Fire, he's always seemed totally uninspired to me). Fear and Mortis are probably my favorites visually speaking 
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Post by lobsterjohnson on May 23, 2016 15:45:43 GMT -5
I just noticed this thread, and have really been enjoying it so far. I just recently started to read more Judge Dredd comics, so I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about them.
I actually started reading Judge Dredd because of Mezco's action figure that I obtained earlier this year. I had previously read a few comics here and there (I remember reading Origins and being very impressed with Kev Walker's art), but I had lost interest. Then I picked up the action figure and decided that I wanted to know more about the source material. If you are a fan of Dredd (or even if you aren't), the figure is definitely worth the money.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 23, 2016 15:58:34 GMT -5
I've got my sights set on the Three A figures, they're kind of pricey, but gorgeous. And yes, I would definitely recommend the old Eagle reprints if you want to get into Dredd, the Dredd Crime Files more specifically
Newer Dredd in 2000 AD kind of lacks the pure grit and rawness that the original had, almost like a punk rock concert in comic book form. There was almost something magical about the pure anarchy 2000 AD's writers and artists exibited back then, it almost seems kind of like a lost art these days |
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Post by tingramretro on May 24, 2016 1:16:37 GMT -5
Now this was a much stronger story than the original Judge Death story, I always thought. And just like Marvel's Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, Death works far, far better as part of a team... I agree, and they're all given such unique personalities (except for Fire, he's always seemed totally uninspired to me). Fear and Mortis are probably my favorites visually speaking
Judge Fear has always been my favourite visually, but Mortis I think is the most interesting as a character. I do agree that Fire pales in comparison, I think he was probably something of an afterthought to make up the numbers. |
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Post by tingramretro on May 24, 2016 1:20:24 GMT -5
Newer Dredd in 2000 AD kind of lacks the pure grit and rawness that the original had, almost like a punk rock concert in comic book form. There was almost something magical about the pure anarchy 2000 AD's writers and artists exibited back then, it almost seems kind of like a lost art these days Sadly true. It's still worth reading, indeed it's better than most of the other comics out there these days, but I don't think 2000 AD wll ever again have the sheer energy and intensity that it had in its golden era, which for me was probably between about 1980 and 1985. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,209
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Post by Confessor on May 24, 2016 6:53:31 GMT -5
It's certainly a much stronger issue than #1 was, with the general theme of the book focusing entirely on Dredd's escapades on the wild west inspired moon colony "Luna-1". It also features the first appearance of the notorious Sov-Judges from East Meg-One, which would go onto play much larger roles in the continuing saga of the series, namely the "Apocalypse War". I loved the adventures set on Luna-1. They were some really fun comics. I always loved the Sov-Judges' uniforms too and the epic Block Mania/Apocalypse War story arc (reprinted in issues #18 - #24 of this Eagle Comics series) is one of my favourite Judge Dredd stories of all-time. Judge Dredd #3, published in Jan 1984 for a dollarSubmitted for your approval, in all it's anarchic insanity, is "Judge Death Lives"; with a Brian Bolland cover that speaks volumes without saying one single word. "Judge Death Lives" is another of my all-time favourite Judge Dredd stories. Now this was a much stronger story than the original Judge Death story, I always thought. And just like Marvel's Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, Death works far, far better as part of a team... Agreed on all points. |
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on May 24, 2016 7:22:16 GMT -5
Newer Dredd in 2000 AD kind of lacks the pure grit and rawness that the original had, almost like a punk rock concert in comic book form. There was almost something magical about the pure anarchy 2000 AD's writers and artists exibited back then, it almost seems kind of like a lost art these days Sadly true. It's still worth reading, indeed it's better than most of the other comics out there these days, but I don't think 2000 AD wll ever again have the sheer energy and intensity that it had in its golden era, which for me was probably between about 1980 and 1985. I've been working through the last 3 months worth or so, and am pleasantly surprised at how good its been. Dredd has been fairly lacklustre for a while, other than when Henry Flint (or is it Flint Henry  can never remember...BTW is he the same person that did Grimjack for a while in the 90s ?) is on. However the Dredd strip in these current issues shows much of the biting satire of those early stories. Dredds internal monologue about his struggle to NOT kill a Klegg was very good.
I was there for 2000AD right from the start, and wholeheartedly agree that the book was at its finest in the early 80s, through to around 6-700 or so, hmmm ancient brain cells refusing to fire too well there...
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Post by Batflunkie on May 24, 2016 7:32:52 GMT -5
I always loved the Sov-Judges' uniforms too and the epic Block Mania/Apocalypse War story arc (reprinted in issues #18 - #24 of this Eagle Comics series) is one of my favourite Judge Dredd stories of all-time. As someone who's infatuated with the history behind the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, I obviously do have a lot of love for the Sov-Judges, though I kind of prefer the ones from Hondo city more I was there for 2000AD right from the start, and wholeheartedly agree that the book was at its finest in the early 80s, through to around 6-700 or so, hmmm ancient brain cells refusing to fire too well there... And I felt like 2000AD was still an amazing book well into the 90's. Finn, Durham Red, Deat Meat, and Soul Gun are probably some of my favorite strips to come out of that era |
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Post by tingramretro on May 24, 2016 8:38:53 GMT -5
Sadly true. It's still worth reading, indeed it's better than most of the other comics out there these days, but I don't think 2000 AD wll ever again have the sheer energy and intensity that it had in its golden era, which for me was probably between about 1980 and 1985. I've been working through the last 3 months worth or so, and am pleasantly surprised at how good its been. Dredd has been fairly lacklustre for a while, other than when Henry Flint (or is it Flint Henry can never remember...BTW is he the same person that did Grimjack for a while in the 90s ?) is on. However the Dredd strip in these current issues shows much of the biting satire of those early stories. Dredds internal monologue about his struggle to NOT kill a Klegg was very good.
I was there for 2000AD right from the start, and wholeheartedly agree that the book was at its finest in the early 80s, through to around 6-700 or so, hmmm ancient brain cells refusing to fire too well there...
Henry Flint and Flint Henry are not the same person, no, though people do get them confused a lot. Flint Henry drew Grimjack, not Henry Flint. |
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can never remember...BTW is he the same person that did Grimjack for a while in the 90s ?) is on. However the Dredd strip in these current issues shows much of the biting satire of those early stories. Dredds internal monologue about his struggle to NOT kill a Klegg was very good.