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Review
Most under-rated
The Total War collection
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Gavin Hanly: I'm
going to vote for Jonathan Oliver for this one. When
the trade collections were initially released in conjunction with DC comics,
it soon became clear that our expectations were not entirely met by the resulting
publications, with some dodgy choices for collections, heinous crimes in the
cases of stretched artwork and a feeling around most of the books of being "rushed".
Mr Oliver has managed to turn round
the reprint division into a powerhouse, with all the collections being thoroughly
deserving of a second outing, and some inspired choices on the Dredd front
(excellent Case Files notwithstanding). Couple this with an improvement in the
overall look and feel and a sense that the readers are being listened to, with
more "extras" being added and
titles that we're all clamouring for getting a showing.
2007's slate already
looks impressive - and perhaps it's even time to try an original graphic novel
line?
James Mackay: Steve
Roberts is one
of the truly great artists working for 2000AD, I don’t think a week goes
by without his stuff being dismissed as “cartoony”. I have
hope that the new Black Atlantic strip might finally see this daftness off. In
particular, I think his covers work is massively underpraised – although
not my cover of the year, every cover he’s done is in my Top Ten.
Robert Cornell:
Who under-rated “Cal Hamilton’s” noirish thriller, Malone?
I did, for a start. Sorry about that.
Reading through it again looking for clues, it’s pretty reasonable story
and, if nothing else, an excellent joke at our expense. (And the next time an
unknown writer does a story about a mysterious stranger with amnesia it won’t
catch me out. Oh no, you won’t fool me three times.)
Stone Island |
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Alex Frith: As far as series goes, it has
to be Stone Island, which by its end was lambasted for some storytelling errors.
But I say that readers were forgetting the sheer exuberance of an outrageous
set-up and the excuse to show some mad art, mad characters and serious gore.
Even more underrated, however, were Alec Worley's film articles in the
Megazine. Well considered, informative, and more readable than most
things in professional film journals. Yes, I'd like more comic strip too, but
I think I'd miss the articles.
Stephen Watson: The
centrespread Tom Frame tribute, a first for any
lost droid, had a great assemblage of talent on show was ground breaking and
touching. Top marks to all concerned, especially Rufus.
Linton Porteous:
Sinister Dexter / Malone.
Somewhat overshadowed by the hype behemoth of Origins (perhaps editorially on
purpose), Malone played the same trick on us as The Dead Man did as part of
the multi-layered lead into Necropolis: obfuscating the identity of a well-known
character for a shock reveal. It's testament to the powerful script and
atmospheric art of Malone that some readers felt disappointed that this was a
Sinister Dexter story and not the introduction of a new character. Where
this franchise has succeeded is in answering complaints of bullet-proof, morally
devoid central characters (with nowhere to go) by making them both physically
and psychologically vulnerable.
Andrew Howe:I
can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m giving the award
to Sláine. Mills’s opus started picking up steam in 2005,
and Carnival was packed with a memorable cast of weirdos, dialogue that
rose above axe-kissing in the narrow house, and an astonishing attention to detail
in the facial-expressions department. Only minus – Ukko’s
return cheapened the memory of Sláine’s poignant farewell in Prog
1326 (“Goodbye, my friend”).
Honourable mention – The Ten-Seconders,
which we’ve all
forgotten about by now but showed enough promise that its return in 2007 will
be more than welcome.
The 86ers |
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Bryan Coyle: The 86ers. Great
art and a good story that's been fortunate to surface just as sci-fi fans seem
to have taken the new Battlestar Galactica series to their man-bosum. With
a good push, this could be a major selling-point for 2000AD with American retailers,
and I think the trades could do well if they were budget-priced.
Adam Crabtree: This was SO going to be Malone.
Rolling into town come Prog 1500, this came out of nowhere and impressed me with
its sheer competence and confidence, its self assured sense of style. It was
reserved. It was credible and really rather literary. And as we all know, it
turned out to have a certain “Dead Man” style
connection to a more established strip. Without that connection, I’d fear
for this strip’s chances of being remembered and that just ain’t
right. But even then, I can’t award the dubious honour of “Most Under
Rated” to it.
Simon Spurrier’s Chiaroscuro didn’t fill
me with anticipation when an ad for it appeared in last year’s Christmas
prog. I don’t want to make any rash generalisations or broad over-reaching
statements… but horror comics are generally rubbish. They’re often
over preoccupied with Lovecraftian occult, and most heinously, aren’t scary
at all. Chiaroscuro was creepy, genuinely creepy, and original with it. Simon
Spurrier’s scripting has never been more comfortable and meditative, and
the mysterious “Smudge’s” art was solid and justified the strip’s
name (Chiaroscuro= “light and dark together”).
Did anyone recognise
these assets? Or did they just piss about with the name? ;-)
The 86ers |
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David Knight: There
are a lot of dissenters where The Red Seas is concerned:
readers who complain that not enough happens, that the characters drift from
one situation to another a lot, or that pirate stories set in the eighteenth
century don’t
belong in 2000AD. These objections miss the point that The Red Seas is a lovely
work of fantasy, set in a world where strangeness lurks around every corner.
The beauty of The Red Seas is that the story doesn’t end when one villain
is defeated or one mystery is solved; there’s always something else for
Jack Dancer and his crew to encounter.
Martin Charlton: A busy year for PJ
Holden, and one that saw his hard work pay dividends. Warzone kicked ass,
and his more recent 86ers stuff was of exceptional quality, the high point being
his contribution to prog2007.
WR Logan: Simon
Parr & Luke Preece. We
give credit to many droids whether they be art, script or editorial but with
the new line of graphic novels and other merchandise and apparel let’s
not forget the droids that seldom get praise but do a fantastic job with the
look of things. To that end the most underrated must be Tharg’s design
team and it’s about time they got some kudos.
A second vote goes to Dylan Teague a great artist who I’d love to see appearing
more within the pages of the galaxies greatest comic.
Pete McCosh: Synammon. I’m
not saying it’s my favourite story.
I’m not even saying it’s particularly outstanding. What I am saying
is it’s nowhere near as bad as it’s made out. It’s decent,
solid sci-fi with a sexy cyborg secret-agent superheroine. I’d much rather
see another series of this – exploring some of the background that’s
been set up – than more Low Life or Lobster Random.
Joseph Saxton: this is actually slightly
out of date now as The 86ers has started to get some
of the love it deserves. This
was heavily criticised at first as being another Rogue Trooper knock off, well
its not, it’s a space opera which if you’d all bother’d to
read it and ignore the blue lady you’d have noticed.
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