Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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I think we all remember where we were when it was announced that war was finally over between Britain and the Netherlands.
Then again, we might not.
Bizarrely, wherever we were, that war ended in April 1986 when the two nations signed a peace treaty which brought to an end the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War.
I must confess I've never heard of it and have never been haunted by it but it was, apparently, one of the longest wars in human history. Therefore, I'm sure the cessation of it was a great weight off all our minds.
But for every good thing that happens in this world, a bad thing must occur.
But for every good thing that happens in this world, a bad thing must occur.
Clearly, with that going on, we were going to have to seek refuge in our cinemas. And, if we did, we'd encounter Critters, A Room with a View and Absolute Beginners which were all released that month. I must confess that Critters is the only one of those I've ever seen. I shall, therefore, nominate it as my pick of the bunch.
Absolute Beginners, of course, featured plenty of music, thanks to the likes of David Bowie and Ray Davies but a thing which featured even more music was the UK singles chart, and the month kicked off with Cliff Richard and the Young Ones at its summit, thanks to their re-recording of Cliff's 1950s' classic Living Doll.
But even Cliff can't reign forever and, before the month was through, he'd been deposed by George Michael with A Different Corner.
Over on the accompanying album chart, April 1986 was dominated by just two records. The first being Hits 4 by those ubiquitous Various Artists who couldn't be kept off the charts, and then Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music's Street Life - 20 Great Hits.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic, while all this tumult was going on?
Over on the accompanying album chart, April 1986 was dominated by just two records. The first being Hits 4 by those ubiquitous Various Artists who couldn't be kept off the charts, and then Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music's Street Life - 20 Great Hits.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic, while all this tumult was going on?
In fact, it was a significant moment in the history of the publication because I do believe that Prog 466 was the last issue of the comic I ever read. Given its significance, I would claim to have strong recollections of everything that occurred within it but, to be honest, apart from the front cover, I've no memory of it at all.
That aside, the strips we could find in the book during that spell were the usual suspects of The Ballad of Halo Jones, Tharg's Future-Shocks, Ace Trucking Co, Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog.
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25 comments:
I went to see Absolute Beginners.
On a date. It was with a school colleague’s cousin who I’d met at a party. But they both came along and it was a bit of a letdown as a result.
I remember liking bits of the film, it overall it meant nothing to me.
I think it’s parodied slightly in the recent ‘The Souveneir Part 2’.
I bought the Pet Shop Boys’ first album that day as well, so it wasn’t a total waste.
My Dad bought that Roxy / Ferry compilation, and I listened to it a fair bit when I started getting into that sort of thing. I still think Roxy Music were one of the greatest singles bands of all time.
So. 2009AD.
I like the Halo Jones cover, but mainly because it’s Halo Jones. The Cam Kennedy Dredd is a bit suspect. Quite a phallic hover bike there, Cam.
That Ewins Dredd is a nice concept but the execution looks rushed.
Ace Garp can F off.
Steve, why did you stop buying 2000AD at this point?
Sigh…
*but overall it meant nothing to me
*’2000AD
Matthew, I don't remember why I stopped reading it at this point. It was all so long ago.
Prog 466 featured the final episode of Halo Jones, Steve. Could that be the reason?
It was the end of the last really great 2000ad series...
-sean
The Dutch backed the war criminal Oliver Cromwell and his lot during the English revolution, Steve, and I think the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War thing came out of their navy threatening to attack the remnant of royalist forces on the Scilly Isles back in 1651. I'm pretty sure the 'peace treaty' was some pr gimmick set up by the islands' tourist board.
There were of course some real wars with the Netherlands in the second half of the 17th century, but they ended when the Dutch invaded in late 1688 and the Brits caved-in without a fight and made William of Orange king the following year.
What terrible records people were listening to in April '86.
My fave new release of the month - although it was quite hard to find in the shops back then, and I don't think I got a copy til late in the summer - was the 'Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America' album by whacky yank subversives Culturcide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMhbSVyMbQ
-sean
Sean, I don't remember liking the Halo Jones strip enough for its presence or absence to affect my willingness to buy the comic.
Oops, that should be 'Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America'
Duh. Obviously I'm not thinking straight because of those useless #@&*ers West Ham earlier.
And Sheffield Utd not beating Spurs either, which would at least habe been something (I don't suppose it was on the cards that they'd win... but 3-0?!?)
-sean
You don't recall liking Halo Jones, Steve? Huh.
Well, its a curious coincidence then.
-sean
Pretty sure I’ve seen ROOM WITH A VIEW. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it was kinda gloomy and depressing.
Was CRITTERS that ultra-low-budget Empire Pictures knock-off of GREMLINS? Or was that GHOULIES? Hell, maybe they were both knock-offs of GREMLINS…
The covers of Progs 464 and 467 look almost ‘mainstream’; neither are quite as ‘punk rock’ or ‘underground’ looking as is usually the case with 2000AD covers. 464, with Our Hero looming menacingly over fleeing criminals is similar to any number of old Golden Age comics (and pulps like THE SHADOW) and I feel like I’ve seen that 467 composition on a Golden Age AIR FIGHTERS cover, with Airboy’s plane Birdie in place of that steel dildo.
b.t.
Nope. I’m getting ROOM WITH A VIEW mixed-up with another Edwardian period piece starring Helena Bonham Carter, WINGS OF THE DOVE. ROOM WITH A VIEW was much more light-hearted.
b.t.
Room With A View was adapted for radio and I've heard that version but not seen the film.
I think Absolute Beginners demonstrated Bowie still had it, when he could be bothered. I avoided the movie after seeing a making of feature (possibly on Barry Norman’s show) which didn’t fill me with confidence (and also didn’t it feature the Birdseye peas girl?).
The final episode of Halo Jones probably became bittersweet a year or so later, when it became obvious it wouldn’t continue (as work for hire). Fortunately Moore would go on to own all his future work and so there wont be any further problems or falling out with publishers, editors, collaborators, etc…
I really like Zenith (particularly brook 3) and so, while toothy will lack bite for a few years, it still has good times ahead.
I’d normally look forward to the end of a premier league season, for improved sleep patterns (if nothing else), but with the upcoming European Championships and T20 cricket World Cup, having terrible broadcast times in Australia, not so much this time.
Charlie, if you haven’t watched the European Championships before, you’ll love them. They’re almost identical to Eurovision, but with more kicking and better outfits.
DW
Book 3, even.
DW
I like Zenith as well, though I'd be hard-pressed to say it was particularly original. It did feel fresh and current though.
I really enjoyed Book 3 as well because I liked that period in Steve Yeowell's art when he went blocky and angular.
I forgot to say I really like the song 'Absolute Beginners'. I know Bowie in the 80s in still out of fashion, but a good song is a good song.
Charlie is all over EuroCup DW!!! Now… just need to figure which channel of television I have to pay for, to watch it. Also, I need to schedule my “work from home days “ to sync up with the big games, lol. though, now that I think about it, I should actually be in Europe with the Mrs. while Euro cup is taking place. Going back to my mother’s homeland… Charlie is 50% Magyar… which may explain certain personality traits i have.
Zenith not particularly original? You don't say, Matthew...(;
It really seemed like an attempt to imitate the Moore Marvelman and Captain Brexit, mashed up with a bit of Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy's Paradax. I didn't hold that against the creative team at the time - it seemed pretty likely that's what Tharg asked for - but I didn't like it.
To an extent 2000AD, like Action beforehand, always jumped on bandwagons, but usually with their own unique spin. It was sad to see them becoming that derivative.
Ironically, around the same time as Zenith a more authentically 2000AD-style approach to superheroes did appear - Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill's Marshall Law. And published by Marvel, of all people.
The post-prog 466/Halo stuff that I liked was the final run of the b&w Sláine drawn by Glenn Fabry. And The Dead, which probably isn't too far off from appearing in this very feature (along with the return of the Massimo Belardinelli debate to the comments no doubt).
And despite finding Brett Ewins stuff somewhat lacking in execution generally, I have to admit I kinda liked Bad Company. A bit.
-sean
The first book of Zenith was pretty derivative but Yeowell’s art developed across book2, and (subjectively, of course) peaked across book 3, to something quite different (and superior) to anything then coming out of the US. The use of the old UK characters was obviously lifted from Captain Britain, but was done with a high level of flair. We’ll no doubt dissect in due course.
Agree re. Fabry’s swan song on Slaine, and we will get more Mills/O’Neil. I look forward to everyone’s (all three of us ;-) thoughts on the upcoming Metalzoic.
Charlie, Optus sport (Singapore telco) are broadcasting the Euros in Oz. The same company that broadcast the Premier league (amongst other comps). The T20 World Cup (probably not as popular in the US) is, fortuitously, on Amazon Prime. Just a shame about the timings, given the games tend to go around four hours.
Still a great summer (winter for me) of sport, if you’re that way inclined.
DW
Oh, I forgot Metalzoic, DW. Although I first read it as a DC Graphic Novel, so it's not something that made an impression on me in the progs. I didn't mention O'Neill's brief return to Nemesis because it just underlined how much the series was past its sell by date.
The problem for 2000AD is that Tharg really needed new talent by this point and it just didn't arrive, not at the level required to replace the droids that had been lost to the transatlantic brain drain. Except for Simon Bisley, who was obviously a great artist but sadly for me his work just wasn't to my taste.
-sean
Sean-
The Dutch accomplished a lot in history, considering they come from a very small country. They could on occasion even hold their own against the English.
A foreword-thinking, progressive people, generally speaking. An artistic folk!
Unfortunately, here in the upper mid-west, most of their descendants have turned out to be complete cement-heads. Utter morons. I dunno how that happened.
I can say that because I am one of them.
...Well, 50% anyway.
M.P.
You know what the bumper sticker says MP! “You ain’t much if you ain’t Dutch.” Much of what, though, is the question.
I quite liked Zenith, though I think its reputation has ballooned a bit out of proportion these days. It’s not a stone-cold classic, but it did at least feel comparatively fresh at the time. That’s comparing it to the recycled sludge of Ace Garp, Dredd, Strontium Dog etc though, which is a low bar.
DW - I’d say the later books aren’t really any less derivative: the whole multiple dimensions thing was another rip from Captain Britain, though the HP Lovecraft angle was interesting [and I’d just started reading Lovecraft].
I wouldn’t say it was superior from stuff coming through from the US though - not at this stage. We’d already seen Moore’s Swamp Thing, which was pretty much done and dusted by the time Zenith appeared, wasn’t it? And Watchmen.
Was there anything in 2000AD at this point to compete?
Sean - I like Bad Company a lot more now than I did then. I think the problem with 2000AD at that point [and for me at that age] was that scrappy little weekly episodes that still had half a foot in the playground - and Bad Company was mainly shooting the enemy and zombies etc - didn’t compare to what people were doing with 22-30+ pages in the US.
I never warmed to Simon Bisley. I think his stuff just looks like 6th-form doodles: the story-telling is non-existent.
Metalzoic was amazing. I picked that up as a GN from Forbidden Planet. I think I got Bill Sienkiewicz’s Dune adaptation the same day. Both in dire need of a reprint.
The Dutch, forward thinking people, M.P.? Have you not heard of the Orange Order? Or Apartheid?
Seriously though, I liked Holland when I spent some time there years ago. My theory on why the Dutch seemed reasonably open-minded was that they had the good sense to get rid of most of their dodgy reactionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries, sending them to Britain and South Africa. And, as you say, America.
-sean
My father liked Dutch Edam cheese but I thought it was a bit bland.
Okay, Sean, I kinda forgot about that Apartheid business.
Not their finest hour, although colonialism has brought out the worst in people.
As you're well aware...
Still. I am disappointed in many of my fellow Dutch-Americans here in the Mid-west.
Many of them don't believe in or understand the theory of evolution. But the problem isn't that their ancestors may have evolved from the same evolutionary tree as other primates.
The problem is that they're in danger of being surpassed by other primates.
M.P.
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