2,000 A.D., where to begin?

Zombiemambo

I've had a growing interesting in picking up some comic books for entertainment and art purposes (I'm an art student and a career in comics interests me), and 2,000 A.D. caught my eye. ABC Warriors and Rogue Trooper in particular. Being that I live in the US of A, I'm not sure how easily available they are in stores. Do I have to order them online? A subscription is kind of pricey (about $20 USD a month, I think), but I don't think I've ever seen a physical issue of it before (not that I've looked). Also, where should I start? I know Rogue Trooper has been through a couple of incarnations, which is the best and what issues should I be looking for? Any advice is certainly appreciated.

bobgorila

If you're interested in the characters there are fucktons of trades for them. Rogue Trooper has at least six of his own, maybe a lot more? Check on Amazon or whatever for them~

If you're after issues then I wouldn't bother hunting for back issues unless you chance across a big pile really cheap. And even then, there's no real jumping on point that springs to mind since there are several stories going on at once, rarely beginning or ending in the same issue.

Wildcat

You may want to look into the trade collection of Alan Moore's Future Shocks, too.

Rogue did go through two re-vamps, but neither were huge successes to my knowledge. The original version has, as bobgorila pointed out, 6 trades:
The Future of War
Fort Neuro
Eye of the Traitor
To the Ends of Nu-Earth
Re-Gene
Realpolitik

I think that covers the entirety of the first incarnation's appearances, but I'm not 100% sure. There were three novels released recently, too.

The original version of Rogue re-appeared around 2002 but I don't think those have been collected yet.


As for 2000AD itself, if you're not averse to digital distribution you might want to check out Clickwheel, which stocks a downloadable version of 2000AD. Don't forget that whilst $20 a month sounds pricey, it is a weekly publication!

bobgorila

Oh, so awesome art.

Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood
Sinister Dexter: Slay Per View
Slaíne: The Horned God

Bogart

The first revamp of Rogue Trooper was fantastic (called War Machine and painted by Will Simpson), the second much less so.

Yeah, trades are the way to go for a new reader. They're reprinting collected editions of Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nemesis and (I think) Rogue Trooper right now, but I don't know how available they are in America. You should be able to pick up some specific story collections regardless (pretty sure you can get Judge Dredd: America, Slaine: The Horned God and Halo Jones over there, and they're all absolute masterpieces).

Wildcat

They're also doing ABC Warriors trades I think, along with Anderson: Psi Division - a Dredd spin-off.

SalmonOfDoubt

Every few months or so they time it so that all the current stories finish in the same issue so they can start with a new set for people to jump on with. The same thing sort of happens at the end of each year as well, as the supermassivesized issue tends to be either one-shot stories or new ones.

There's also trades of Nikolai Dante out now as well, which are awesome. So awesome. Even if you're not a fan of most of Robbie Morrison's work, this is so much better than anything else he's done.

I think the first two books of Atavar are out in trade now as well. If you've been enjoying the groovy space stuff Abnett has been doing for Marvel recently, look into that.

BigDes

Nikolai Dante is the best Tsarist Russian Swashbuckling bounty hunter in space there is.

EDIT: Also if you go in for trades of characters that are well established and old then the early stories are often full of really bad dialog. Like one of the ABC Warriors will shoot a bad guy and say something like "Using my laser I'm shooting you with this laser"

Zombiemambo

Thanks for all of the advice. Guess I'll go after the trades.

DouglasDanger

The ABC Warriors stuff sounds awesome in summaries and stuff, but the pages I have seen for some of it... not really my thing.

Bogart

The ABC Warriors have their moments. As with most Pat Mills stories there are the preachy Kaos Magick Good Boring Order Bad bits, but balanced against that you have the likes of Bisley and Kevin Walker turning in some of the best work of their lives drawing robots brutalising all and sundry, and Joe Pineapples, the cross-dressing robot assassin with the grooviest name in history.

Nemesis the Warlock has some good ABC Warriors stuff in it as well, and has Bryan Talbot, Henry Flint and Kev O'Neill (among others) on art duties.

Just listing this kind of stuff reminds me of the fucking talent that's passed through 2000AD. It's beyond belief. Literally every big British name in comics made their name in 2000AD (Neil Gaiman is the only one I can think of that didn't).

SalmonOfDoubt

Bogart wrote: »

Just listing this kind of stuff reminds me of the fucking talent that's passed through 2000AD. It's beyond belief. Literally every big British name in comics made their name in 2000AD (Neil Gaiman is the only one I can think of that didn't).

Neither has Warren Ellis. He mentioned it in an interview once that it was something to do with the editor of 2000AD at the time being someone he didn't trust, apparently.

Desktop Hippie

SalmonOfDoubt wrote: »

Bogart wrote: »

Just listing this kind of stuff reminds me of the fucking talent that's passed through 2000AD. It's beyond belief. Literally every big British name in comics made their name in 2000AD (Neil Gaiman is the only one I can think of that didn't).

Neither has Warren Ellis. He mentioned it in an interview once that it was something to do with the editor of 2000AD at the time being someone he didn't trust, apparently.

He mentioned in the Freakangels interlude that he avoided it because he likes to own the things he creates. Which is why he's working on his own webcomic instead.

Freakangels may interest you actually. Post apocalypse near future stuff. The art is good too. And it's free, so - yay!

Munch

I wanted to point out that you can purchase some 2000 A.D. stuff from the digital comic shop Clickwheel, right here. It's a bit cheaper than buying the physical copies. They've been steadily adding more stuff to the archive over the past few months too.

Wildcat

Quick off the mark there Munch

Munch

Sorry Wildcat, I've actually had you on ignore for like, ever. No reason.

Seriously I just skimmed the thread and missed your post. Oops.

Wildcat

Hah, no worries Munch. I've never actually used Clickwheel yet though, is the service decent?

junglistgamer

you're all just gonna end up bowing before deputy chief judge fish.





BLOOP

Servo

i recently started picking up those big collections of strontium dog, and i have to say i'm really enjoying it. the whole visual design of the series is really appealing to me, so much so that i've just flipped through it more than i've even read it. i've always liked carlos ezquerra's art, and it can be tough to find stuff by him in the states.

Bogart

Strontium Dog has some of my favourite moments in comics.

Spoiler for the end of Strontium Dog: Rage.

Deliberately wounding Max Bubba and pretending to leave him for dead just so Max would wake up, think he was the luckiest guy in the world for about an hour and go skipping through the streets. Then Alpha confronts him and cuts him in half with blaster fire. "Why are you doing this? *sob*" "Because I hate you." BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM

And Middenface McNulty, who probably gets my vote as best supporting character ever. "LET'S GI'E EM LALDY!"

Servo

i also just picked up judge dredd: america. the copy i grabbed only had british pounds on the price (11.99, specifically), and nobody knew what the conversion rate should be, so he gave it to me for 14.99, which now that i've looked up a currency converter i see is like a ten dollar discount. nice!

Bogart

If you see it, pick up Alan Moore and Alan Davis's DR and Quinch. It's violent, satirical, and features the funniest stuff Moore ever put down on paper. It's lightweight, but feels like he's letting his hair down and just pissing about, and of course Moore pissing about is worth ten other writers on their best day.

From DR and Quinch Get Drafted, the justly famed Space Marine anthem:

"We're Space Marines, we're glorious
We're steadfast, brave and true.
So don't you dirtbags mess with us,
Or this is what we'll do:"

"We'll nick your dogs, we'll nuke your schools
We'll stretch you on a rack.
We'll borrow all your garden tools
And never give them back."

"We'll sneer and spit and call you names
Tip napalm down your shirt.
Your chest will be consumed in flames
And that will really hurt."

Eustace

Bogart wrote: »

If you see it, pick up Alan Moore and Alan Davis's DR and Quinch.

Mandatory reading for Penny Arcade, not least as a source of sig file quotes (e.g. "Many people are of the opinion that you should live fast and leave a good looking corpse but, in my experience, it's usually better to make sure it's someone else's."

Moore's "Ballad of Halo Jones", despite its comparatively brief run, is also a good introduction to 2000 A.D.