A message from the writer of STALAG 666

[Proudhuff]

What Tordelback said, as for the offender...who knows!

[locustsofdeath!]

You bastards have totally ruined this for me.

[Mike Gloady]

How?

[locustsofdeath!]

How? Here I am, expecting something so dreadful that it would cause readers to do awful things with poo - and you're all telling me 'it's not that bad'. Oh woe is me, all that anticipating the Ed Wood of Twoth strips for nothing. Damn you all - damn you all to hell!

[Mike Gloady]

If you've read Junker you've read the worst thing in Twoth history - although that also had a great artist on it, so even the worst of Twoth isn't that bad.

[Van Dom]

I must be the only one in the galaxy who actually didn't mind Junker. Like Stalag I found it a simple, straightforward "boys own" adventure yarn. Even when I read it again last year I still didn't think it was THAT bad...... Maybe I'm just easily pleased!!

[TordelBack]

The best thing about Junker are Ridgeway's recollections of having to draw it - hilarious stuff.

[Van Dom]

Oh yeah I remember that from TPO. Its all coming back to me now, it was Fleisher wasn't it? Well, as far as Fleisher's strips go I think Junker was the least offensive one after the travesty of his Harlem Heroes and the dog awful Rogue Trooper stories....


But back on topic, I'll be interested to hear locust's reaction to Stalag when he does get down to reading it. I personally didn't try to read it in one sitting so not sure how well it works in that format. We await your verdict Mr. OfDeath!

[scrotnig]

Only just seen this thread, and I'm appalled at what happened to Tony.

For the record, Stalag 666 was actually my favourite story of the time and the one I turned to first every prog. That's the honest truth. Whilst it may not have been the most original premise ever, it was told well and in an "old skool" style that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I was aware it got some stick at the time and could never quite work out why. But I'm horrified to read what someone did to Tony.

I enjoyed this story. Not sure if Tony still comes to the forum but if he does, he should know that Stalag 666 had more fans than perhaps he realises.

[John Caliber]

At least one fan, any way! 

Is Michael Fleisher the same man who wrote Jonah Hex for DC in the 1970s? He did a sterling job on that title (my favourite Western comic). Offhand I'm note sure what else he did in the USA. I can well understand why his style did not gel with 2000AD readers. It's interesting how much better UK writers fare in the States than likewise.

Do British scribes have an easier or a harder time on the European continent? I don't know of any other than Pat Mills and his Vampire Knight series.

[Mike Gloady]

Indeed.  The very same Michael Fleisher.  It's astonishing to think that someone who did so well (apparently, I don't/didn't read any of the titles in question as I'm not really a western/superhero fan) in US comics failed so spectacularly in Twoth.  I put it down to his missing the beats of compressed storytelling required by Twoth.  It's probably easier to spread out into the larger canvas of American comics after working on UK comics, hence the success of our writers over there.

[John Caliber]

I'm not certain about the USA writers struggling so much with compressed, 5-6 page storytelling, since there are a fair number of UK writers (sometimes those whose only experience to date has been with 2000AD) who can't correctly pace anthology-scaled multi-parters (that, or they are only thinking of the bigger, more glamourous picture: a TPB where cliffhangers inserted with surgical regularity don't matter).

[The Cosh]

How? Here I am, expecting something so dreadful that it would cause readers to do awful things with poo - and you're all telling me 'it's not that bad'. Oh woe is me, all that anticipating the Ed Wood of Twoth strips for nothing. Damn you all - damn you all to hell!

If it's any consolidation I think it's fucking godawful rubbish of the first water and Lee's subsequent badmouthing of the artist in IIRC a Meg interview left a very nasty taste in the mouth. I do, however, feel that anybody who sends their own faeces through the mail should be stood upside down in a vat of it.

[Roger Godpleton]

Lee's subsequent badmouthing of the artist in IIRC a Meg interview left a very nasty taste in the mouth

Maybe he was the poo sender?

Poo Sender/
He'll send you his shite/
Poo Sender/
Does it out of spite.

Poo Sender/
Fucking hates Tony Lee
Poo Sender/
He's a busy bee

[Jim_Campbell]

I put it down to his missing the beats of compressed storytelling required by Twoth.  It's probably easier to spread out into the larger canvas of American comics after working on UK comics, hence the success of our writers over there.

The Fleischer thing was pretty straightforward as far as I could see: he appeared to think that every episode required a bona fide cliff-hanger ending. The problem being that this effectively renders story-telling impossible, if you're trying to bend the plot into delivering a cliff-hanger then you lose at the last page of each episode manoeuvring into position, and then at least the first page of the next episode extracting yourself from it.

Cheers

Jim