Happy Birthday, 2000AD

I wanted to write a piece about 2000AD's impending birthday as it is a comic that has been with me for most of my life, ever since Prog 1 landed into my thriteen year old hands. It is difficult to write a piece that is neither too dry nor waxes too lyrical so with due respect to the folks at Down the Tubes, I have lifted their questions to other comic creators and written my own replies. Well, nobody else is going to ask me!!





Name: Michael Crouch


Web site: www.stormcomics.com


Currently working on:
Harbinger graphic novel, concepts for Blackfriars II and freelance illos for Griff

First memory of 2000AD ?
I saw a four page flyer in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly and saw the teasers for Dan Dare, Invasion, Flesh, etc and knew immediately this was the comic for me. I can remember wearing the page edges out as I thumbed through that first issue so many times, re-reading everything umpteen times. I have never been so desperate for a week to pass so that I could get hold of prog 2 (hey, I was only 13 at the time).


Favourite Character or Story?
Initially I was drawn in by the prospect of Dan Dare to fulfil my love of space but in no time at all, Flesh was the real deal. Great ideas, solid story, tremendous illustration from Ramon Sola and dinosaurs. Old One Eye still has a special place in my memory. These days its probably Nikolai Dante, a modern classic with a strong supporting cast.


What do you like most about 2000AD?
The anthology format, once commonplace and now a rarity. I don’t think any comic has ever had such a diverse content over the years, both in story, artistic style and writing. You get a few clunkers now and again but on the whole the contents vary from pretty good and downright awesome.


What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?
Maintain a good diversity of stories, maybe get some new writers into the mix and find some new iconic characters. And much as I love Judge Dredd, I do feel it needs a bit of a reboot. Or maybe (dare I say it), give it a bit of a rest for a while (as if)!

God Help the Guilty

As a long-time fan of the short-lived series The Shadow by Howard Chaykin and later, Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker, it is great news to me that US publisher Dynamite are reprinting the four-part series, Blood and Judgement, by Howard Chaykin. This was the one which brought The Shadow up-to-date into the (then) 20th century. It was a great, self-contained series that paved the way for the ongoing series by Helfer and Baker (the first six issues were a tour-de-froce from Bill Sienkiewicz). It was very violent, satirical, bonkers and entertaining but came to a sudden end just as The Shadow (literally) lost his head and gained a robot body (I did say it was bonkers). I believe the owners pulled the publishing rights, presumably boggle-eyed at what was happening to their pulp fiction property. Alas the promised DC special to round the story off never came.

The fact that Dynamite are publishing Chaykin's revamped version and not one of the multitude of 1930's-set pulp series is a good sign that maybe, just maybe, we might see a day where the series is properly concluded. Either way, Dynamite have a good track record of taking licensed properties (The Lone Ranger, The Bionic Man and suchlike) so it will be interesting to see where they take their new addition.

The Shadow is back...God help the guilty!

Christmas in a Security State

This is a two page strip I did a few years ago for a satirical journal. I came across it recently and enjoyed seeing it again. I think there's a bit of Judge Dredd influence in there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and wish you all the best in this festive season.

In Review: Feynman

Everyone has heard of Einstein but not so many are familiar with Richard Feynman. Feynman was a physicist par excellence, a straight-talking, no-nonsense scientist who had an inate ability to impart difficult concepts in a simple and unfussy way. He led quite an adventurous life travelling around the globe, getting involved in such things as the Manhatten Project and the enquiry into the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. He was also the author of numerous books and essays aimed at layman and professional alike.

Feynman has long been a science hero of mine even though I don't grasp much of what he did. Here though, from Second-First Books, is a new biography of the man that not only relates his life, his friendships, his work and his legacy but also tries to impart to some extent the meaning and ramifications of his research. It is a wonderfully-told story, drawn in a kind of Herge TinTin style. The story is told by Feynman himself based upon many of his own works and the book constantly flits from one place or time to the next. It is bright, breezey, at time complex and manages magnificently to exude Feynman's own enthusiasm for science and the ability of absolutely anyone to grasp the basics of even the most complex ideas.

The book thus works on many levels but never stops being entertaining and thought-provoking. While undoubtedly he was capable of upsetting people with his opinions and ideas, his greatest legacy is to bring scientific fields such as quantum physics down to a mundane, everyday level that applied it to everyone's lives.

This is a great book and well worth reading. Indeed I think it is the sort of book that repays going back to again and again. And if you're even a little sceptical about the big ideas in science, this is a book that will open your mind and expand your horizons. And we all need a bit off that from time to time. Highly recommended.

Long John Silver, vol.3: The Emerald Maze

Of All the comics and books I follow, Long John Silver published by Cinebooks is one of the ones I really cannot wait to read. Volume 3: The Emerald Maze has been no less anticipated and more than lives up to expectations.

Set some years after the titular character’s source novel, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Long John here engages in a quest for untold riches in a far off land and acts as a kind of first officer aboard the hulk, the Neptune. The books are populated by an engaging cast of characters and it is their relationships and interactions which is really the driving force in these stories. Each book can be read as a standalone but the main quest arcs throughout the series as we learn more and more about the devious nature of our protagonist and the lengths these men (and one woman) will go to fulfil their ambitions.

The Emerald Maze takes us into the mysterious lands of Guiana-Capec in scenes reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark with lots of decaying statues and building being subsumed by the immense jungle around them. Men venture off into the jungle never to be seen again. Tales of treasure abound and yet is never found as the Neptune is gradually whittled away bit by bit. Eventually the treasure party return to base only to find it sailing off in the eerie green fog. And from there we have to wait with them for volume four sometime later.

The dialogue is very sharp, the characters all very individual and the sense of menace and intrigue grows with each turn of the page. The art more than emulates the same sense of drama and scale and as such this is a book I end up flicking through over and over again as a result. It is rare, I find, for a comic book to consistently carry with it a heavy sense of atmosphere but this one does so with panache.

Cinebooks have produced some great lines of translated books from Europe and while series such as XIII and Blake and Mortimer seem to draw the most attention, this series for me is the real highlight. Long John Silver is a true classic and easily a match for the original novel. Robert Louis Stevenson, I think, would be proud.

Here Comes... Daredevil

Some time ago I wrote about my disappointment with Marvel's continuity-laden storylines and how they had finally drag their characters into long drawn out sagas for ages afterwards. My favourite, Daredevil, was recently brough into the fold. For me, part of the reason I've always liked the character is that he was a part of the Marvel Universe without becoming too involved in all those epics like Secret Invasion that weighed other characters down in endless continuity for months or years afterwards. Daredevil was an outsider and I liked it for that.

Then came the build-up to the thankfully short crossover series, Shadowlands. Daredevil, having become almost megalomaniacal in his control over Hell's Kitchen was finally exorcised of the demon that had possessed him and that had taken him to darker places than most superheroes ever experience in their pages. I almost gave up on the series by that point and the only thing that stopped me was the four-part standalone series, Daredevil: Reborn by Andy Diggle. This story which I won't spoil for you here but comes out shortly in one volume, came as a breath of fresh air after the darkness before it. Here, Matt Murdoch escapes the city in a kind of journey to find himself and rid himself of the Daredevil mantle. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men.

Needless to say his sojourn was brief and in the meantime, another Marvel character, Black Panther, arrived in Hell's Kitchen to take over the role of the Man Without Fear. That has also been a really good series despite my initial reservations. After a few months break, Daredevil has finally returned as one of Marvel's Big Shot characters, alongside Moon Knight and The Punisher. I have really enjoyed all three of these series so far but Daredevil, for me, is back up there where it belongs. Mark Waid has reinvigorated the character, and with his superb art team they have instilled a sense of fun back into the strip. Daredevil has become like the superhero who came in from the cold. Mark Waid is doing for him what Grant Morrison is doing for Superman (Action Comics #1).

At a time when all the comic news forums are going on about DC's new 52, Daredevil seems to have slipped under the radar a bit. I really hope that this new approach continues a while so that we can just enjoy a good character in proper stories and minus all the baggage that comes with those big crossover events. Unfortunately Daredevil has now been taken in as one of the New Avengers so I'm not overly optimistic about it but for the moment, the title is one worth savouring for a bit.

In Review: Alan Moore - Storyteller

Having finished and thoroughly enjoyed Grant Morrison's very personalised account of superhero history in Supergods, my attention has been turned to Alan Moore - Storyteller by Gary Spencer Millidge.

This is a great looking book split into several chapters and each chapter broken down into themes or comic titles upon which Alan Moore has cast his pen. It is mostly chronolgical so we begin with Moore's childhood, his emergence into comics via the local newspaper and music magazines, through to 2000AD and the so-called 'British Invasion' of comics talent to America which hasn't stopped since.

It is an easily digestavle book to read. I could spend hours (and probably have) poring over the samples of art from his various works, quite a few I am familiar with (Halo Jones, Swamp-Thing, Watchmen, V for Vendetta and even Maxwell the Magic Cat) through to popular titles which for one reason or another have passed me by (Promethea, Vigilante, The Lost Girls and Supreme). Even less well-known works find a place here including a long-time favourite of mine, Brought to Light, a secret history of the C.I.A.

The book is almost a bible to Moore's incredible output and his cultural influence which extends well beyond comics. The breakdown of titles though are largely summaries of the content with occasional quotes from comic luminaries. Most of the quotes from Alan Moore himself seem to have come straight from The Mindscape of Alan Moore, a DVD released by Snakedance Films some years back. So for afficianados, there probably isn't going to be much new in this book. It is nevertheless a nicely produced book, well-written and illustrated and a nice compendium of the work produced by a modern master. Less personal than Grant Morrison's book but worth having if you're fan. And if you're not an Alan Moore fan then you might be after reading this.

Now it's about time I took a look at Promethea and see what all the fuss has been about...