Sinister Dexter - should the gunsharks be permanently retired? No - they've many more stories to tell! Yes - to the electric chair with them!

RSS Feed   Small Press   Links   About 2000AD Review   Email us

Home ¦ News ¦ 2000AD News Round Up 25/5/05

Oeming back on Dredd

Dredd by Oeming (view larger version)

But 2000AD has finally coaxed the top American artist back for another go at Dredd and we contacted him to find out more.

2000 AD Review: What made you decide to come back to Dredd after all these years?

Mike Oeming: I was never happy with what I did back in the early 90s. It was great to sort of make up for that in some small way. Hopefully, more Brits will know me for this short story than the series I did.

I was too young when I got the gig really. One of the first things you have to learn when your young is how to say "no". Not that I should have said no, but maybe I shouldn't have inked it- or have taken on such a huge series as my first gig. It was a great learning experience and I walked away with some great friends as well.

Any ideas on why the character doesn't seem to have really taken off in the States?

I think in the states, people are just too conservative for Dredd. They don't get that he's a parody. I'd love to do more work with him and working with Robbie Morrison was great.

Powers (view larger version)

What do you think are the main differences between American and European comics, both in the work produced and the working practices?

Tights. Americans can't get enough of the underwear look for some reason.

I love that in the UK, the readership has a great balance of the love of superheroes and the European feel of comics. It also seems that in the States, we have to work differently as most of our books are monthly, where many of the European books are done in big books where you can take a bit more care.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, as I really have no preference. I'm not a superhero guy though.

And the differences between European and American comic conventions?

In the UK it is so much more about the art and creators than the characters. It's so "fanboyish" in the states and I think for many readers, the characters come first, then the story, then the creators.

In Europe, it seems to be story first, creators second, then characters. At least that's the way it seems. No one asks me in Europe: "who's stronger, the Hulk or the the Thing?".

Cross Bronx (view larger version)

I'd love to do something creator owned there. Robbie and I are talking about doing something together, because I love and understand British humor, but can't reproduce it in any way.

I think 2000 AD would be a great place to something.

What else have you got planned for this year?

I have more one-shots from Image, a Powers-like Mini Series called the Cross Bronx, and new Thor Mini drawn by Scott Kollins - not to mention more Powers. I'm looking to come back to the UK as soon as I can, and plan on doing a UK tour of stores in a year/year and half.

You can find out more about Mike Oeming at his official site or subscribe to his newsletter.

2000AD Bristol update from Matt Smith

At the Bristol Con this year, Matt Smith and the Rebellion crowd unveiled an ambitious trade collection program, that makes the parting of DC and Rebellion even more palatable. There were also a number of revelations about what to expect from the Galaxy's Greatest later in the year. We asked Matt for more info.

Xtnct by D'israeli

2000AD Review: You unveiled a huge array of trade collections at Bristol this year - most gaining far better fan reaction than the first ones announced as part of the DC/Rebellion partnership. Has the break helped Rebellion to focus more on what it thinks the fans want?

Matt Smith: I think it was more of a case of a different set of preferences taking over after Jamie Boardman left. The original line-up was comprised of Jamie’s choices – presumably in tandem with DC’s agreement – and to my mind veered a little too much towards material that Titan had already published some 18 months earlier: ABC Warriors, Anderson, Skizz... And there seemed to be not much Dredd in there, considering he was our lead character. So once we realised we could re-evaluate the list after DC dropped out, we could collect stories that were more contemporary and that hadn’t been reprinted before, such as Frazer’s Judge Death stories, Chief Judge’s Man, Total War, Sin City [now called Satan’s Island, because of the movie] and The Hunting Party, rather than another repackaging of an old favourite like The Cursed Earth. Obviously, at the same time, we’ll continue to reprint classic material like Strontium Dog and Robo-Hunter.

The way the schedule has been worked out is that there will always be a Dredd book every month – newer material one month, then a Complete Case Files the next, with the Rebellion Euro books dropping in every other month too. The Rogue collections have been brought to the fore to coincide with the computer game, and we’ll reach the end of the Gerry Finley-Day stuff by the time the game’s out in early 2006.

Has there been any movement on a new American partner?

No news yet, to my knowledge, of a US distributor.

What format will the complete Dredd collections take? Has a price point been agreed yet?

The Complete Case Files will be the same dimensions as the DC books, with a slightly more design-led cover, and will be around 350 pages in length. The first book reprints the Dredd stories in order from Progs 2 to 60, the second collects Progs 61 to 115, and so on. Price will be probably between £10-£12, I expect.

Savage by Adlard (view larger version)

It came about as an opportunity to give some new writers and artists a break, which I don’t often have room for in 2000 AD. With an ever-shrinking comic market, professionals are just as much looking for work as newcomers, so I don’t have the opportunities to try out new talent as much as I would like. The Winter Special seemed an interesting experiment – five stories in which I give the writer a title and a vague premise and see what they can come up with. I won’t reveal who’s involved just yet – you’ll have to wait and see, though some of the names will be familiar to regular readers.

If successful, do you see this as a regular occurrence or will you try to look at different ideas for future specials?

If successful, yes, it could become a regular event.

The "design a villain" competition, with the winners also to be part of the special, seems a welcome hark back to the days of involving the readers far more in the comic.

The competition came about after meeting with Stabilo, who were keen to get involved in a project with 2000 AD. It’s like a nationwide talent search, and I’d especially welcome it if younger readers were to be inspired by it – maybe even get their schools involved.

Will you be attempting more events like this from now on?

Again, if successful, it could be something we could attempt again in the future.

Have you had any responses yet?

We’ve had a few entries in so far, but early days at the moment.

Leatherjack by Marshall (view larger version)

The Rogue game’s release date has been moved back to early 2006. At the moment I ‘ve got two 3-part Rogue stories to run in the Autumn - ‘Condor Six Down’ by Gordon Rennie and Simon Coleby, and ‘New Model Army’ by Ian Edginton and Steve Pugh – plus another one-off Rogue story in the Winter Special by Gordon, which will all help raise Rogue’s profile as the game gets nearer to release.

I’ll probably do some more Rogue early next year to tie in further, which will then segue into Gordon’s new war series ‘The 86ers’, which is set in the Nu Earth universe, but doesn’t feature Rogue.

At Bristol there were rumours about the continuing adventures of Synnamon and American Gothic. What more can you tell us about that?

The next Synnamon series is a 4-parter called ‘Arc of Light’, by Colin and Chris and artwork by David Roach, in which Synn finds out a bit more about the truth behind the organisation she’s working for. Not sure when it will run – might be not until next year. Ian and Mike are keen to do an American Gothic sequel, and Ian’s idea for it sounded quite groovy. Again, I won’t have room until next year.

And can you shed any light on the continuing adventures of Slaine and Dante?

There’s going to be an epilogue to The Books of Invasions, as Slaine looks for his son Kai, and then he’ll be taking a rest for a while. The next lot of Dante stories will wrap up the plot threads regarding his mother and Sagawa, then he’s heading back to Russia.

You've hinted at a new artist starting on Dante after the pirate saga is complete - can you let us know who that is yet?

Er... I don’t know yet. I’ll wait until I know what the story and the situation is. It’s all quite a way ahead.

Breathing Space by Peter Doherty/ Laurence Campbell (view larger version)

SCB was unusual for a 2000 AD story in that it was something I had a fairly strong idea of what I wanted, rather than a writer pitching an idea. It was John Wagner who first suggested a future sport story and running it at the same time as 2004’s Euro football championship, after being surprised at how few kids there were at DreddCon 3. It seemed like quite a good idea of grabbing a captive audience, and plugging into the national mood.

I started thinking about how we could do a sports story differently – in the past, team stories like Harlem Heroes and Mean Team had always been about a team at the top of their game. I wanted it to be about a group of kids from the wrong side of the tracks, who had to work their way up from the bottom, and that it was as much about their relationship to each other as it was about the game. Kek-W came up with the game and all the plot twists – which I think caught a few readers out, and made them enjoy it all the more – and I thought Warren would be good at capturing the sense of the kids wanting to escape from their humdrum lives. I was familiar with his work from True Faith in Crisis, and the Vertigo series Deadenders, which were along the same lines. As it turned out, he ended up pencilling a DC book – Kinetic – at the same time, which meant the deadlines got pushed back and it ended up running later than was originally intended.

I guess the readers either bought into the pulpy nature of it or they didn’t. For me, it had a mania and a sense of fun and imagination that made it uniquely 2000 AD. It’s got a Brummie Squid drug dealer called Kevin Blackcloud, fer crying out loud!

Will there be a sequel?

At the moment, there are no plans for a sequel.

What have you been most proud of in 2000AD in the last year?

In the last 12 months? Prog 1387 was a good little issue, I thought – Dredd, Savage, Chopper, Low Life, AHAB. And so was 1400. And later Prog 1408 in September had a line-up I was pretty proud of – the start of Total War, Caballistics, Robo-Hunter, Stront and Asylum. It’s good to see stories like Low Life, The Red Seas and Caballistics develop – I like these stories that have the potential and breadth to come and go the same way Stront and Rogue used to in the early 1980s. Savage worked out well. And the current Dredd stories for the most part have a nice sense of continuity to them.

Dredd by Winslade (view larger version)

Prog 1450 is the Summer Assault issue, with a Dredd story ‘Caught in the Act’ by John Wagner and labour-of-love art by Phil Winslade, the start of Leatherjack by John Smith and Paul Marshall, Savage Book II: Out of Order by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard and Robo-Hunter: Stim! by Alan Grant and Ian Gibson.

There’s a major new Dredd story called ‘Mandroid’ by John and Kev Walker starting in Prog 1452. The long-awaited Breathing Space by Rob Williams and Pete Doherty/Laurence Campbell starts in Prog 1451.

Later in the year we’ll have more Red Seas, The Ten-Seconders by Rob and Mark Harrison and a new Stront tale ‘The Shaggy Dog Story’ by John and Carlos.

And if you could attract one 2000AD all time great back to the comic, who would it be? (You're not allowed to say Alan Moore here...).

All-time great? I’d like to get Steve Dillon back to do a Dredd story – his storytelling is effortless. Or maybe Kevin O’Neill... Or Brian Bolland... Agh, too many! I’d quite like it if Garth Ennis could do something new for 2000 AD - ‘The Punisher’ is my favourite US comic at the moment. You never know what’s going to happen in his stories, which makes them consistently gripping – turn the page and Frank’s throwing a penguin at someone.

And which American or European comics artists or writers would you like to see in the comic?

I liked Pascal Ferry’s artwork in Adam Strange... And if Bill Watterson wanted to do an all-new Calvin and Hobbes strip for 2000 AD, that would be fine by me!