Robo-hunter: Metrobolis

[Colin_YNWA]

So started chugging through the 900s now and while I wasn't particularly looking forward to this chunk of my re-read as it was the time I dropped 2000ad after what had been 12 years I've already come across my first gem. Peter Hogan and Rian Hughes 8 part Robohunter story is fantastic fun. There's a line from Helena the Major in the 7th part

"Could you stop all the macho posteruring now please?"

That could have been speaking to Millar and his Robo-hunter. Hogan seems to really see what made the original series so popular, not the souless teenage violent nonsense Millar produced rather the wit, charming if simple characters and a sense that everyone involved is having a great slice of fun with the whole thing that made the original stories charge along so effortlessly.

Also Rian Hughes. Now don't get me wrong I love me a bit of Ian Gibson, the original artist is brillant BUT Rian Hughes was just born to draw Robo Hunter. I adore his work on this strip its simply brillant. He's robots look so robotic and fun at the same time. Its such wonderfully light and energetic art.

Fantastic fun.

[The monarch]

I felt bad about this run....It was fantastic but it just came in after Millar near raped the character to nothingness. It truly is a shame I would have loved to have seen more of this run of robohunter.

It didn't help that the bishop droid seemed to hated hogans work

[Grant Goggans]

You're absolutely right.  The Hogan-Hughes team were just wonderful on Robo-Hunter.  Metrobolis is a good wrap-up for their short run, but in a perfect world, they would have continued for a few more years.  I've blogged about their run twice and don't have much more to add, but if anything from the '90s warrants rediscovery, it is this.

[Jim_Campbell]

I agree with all the above. In the midst of 2000AD turning into a vile parody of itself, the Hogan/Hughes Robo-Hunter was a tiny spark of hope, a reminder of the wit and charm that the title seemed so hell-bent on purging from its pages at the time.

I note from Wikipedia's entry on Hogan, that David B regrets brushing him off quite so summarily, and I'd like to think that the title might be able to find room for Peter's gentler, funnier take on SF at some point in the future.

Cheers!

Jim

[M.I.K.]

Yep.

[Trout]

Hogan's work on 2000ad's Dark Age in the 1990s was sadly under-rated. A couple of years ago, after filling the gaps in my own collection, I did a big re-read and was similarly impressed.

Where is he now? Is he still writing comics?

- Trout

[Robin Low]

Hogan's work on 2000ad's Dark Age in the 1990s was sadly under-rated.

Indeed. As some of you will know, I've been banging on and on and on about his Strontium Dogs run for years.

Regards

Robin

[Colin_YNWA]

Hogan's work on 2000ad's Dark Age in the 1990s was sadly under-rated.

Indeed. As some of you will know, I've been banging on and on and on about his Strontium Dogs run for years.

Regards

Robin

I've just read his Strontium Dog run this morning (as it all seems to interconnect I read from Crossroads through the end of the Mark Harrison stories in one go (I've skipped the Durham Red mini solo story after the 3 issue as I think that slips off on a tangent on its own). And for me there lays the problem. Its all great fun to read but it doesn't seem to get anywhere. I suspect it would have all led to a great epic storyline BUT when I skipped ahead to the next part after Gronk and Moosehead are discovered by Middenface I find that Bishop seems to have driven off Hogan already and someone (I must check in my copy of Thrillpower Overload) under the name Alan Smithee has taken over. Deflated I decided to stop skipping ahead and retreated back to the beginning of the 900s with only prospect of Button Man II to console me.

What all that woffle is meant to point to is I think Hogan being driven from 2000ad I thing might have robbed us of a classic story (nice bit of Meladrama there!) as everything was building up well but hadn't quite got there yet.

[Jim_Campbell]

someone (I must check in my copy of Thrillpower Overload) under the name Alan Smithee has taken over.

Pretty sure it was David B himself who re-wrote Hogan's scripts, since he shared your (not unjustified) opinion that they weren't going anywhere much. Peter asked that his name be taken off the scripts, so extensive were the re-writes, so David put the scripts out under the name Alan Smithee, a credit long-used in Hollywood when a writer or director asks for their name to be removed from a film.*

Cheers!

Jim

* Although I believe Hollywood now uses a different name, because everyone is wise to the Smithee alias ...

[Robin Low]

What all that woffle is meant to point to is I think Hogan being driven from 2000ad I thing might have robbed us of a classic story (nice bit of Meladrama there!) as everything was building up well but hadn't quite got there yet.

I think Hogan was doing the absolutely right thing by drawing heavily on the original series, Ennis's contributions, and Alan Grant's Island of the Damned, and then rebuilding the Search/Destroy Agency. However, a genuine problem arises from the way the story appeared. There were number of short runs, not to mention all the single, related stories that appeared in various specials, and even a Poster Prog.

I was going to argue that this awkward structure stemmed from having fully painted art, which took too much time. However, Dante has managed to do the epic thing with a lot of very good painted art along the way. I don't know if the problem with Strontium Dogs comes down to the way Hogan wrote and plotted his stories, Mark Harrison being too slow, or lack of proper co-ordination from Bishop's predecessor.

What I'm certain of, however, is that we did lose out on a classic story that would probably have kept Strontium Dogs alive and well to this day. Instead we got Abnett's Durham Red which had absolutely nothing to do with the source material and left the character dead in the water.

Regards

Robin

[Colin_YNWA]

Pretty sure it was David B himself who re-wrote Hogan's scripts, since he shared your (not unjustified) opinion that they weren't going anywhere much.

Should just say I think that it was probably going somewhere. Just hadn't arrived and cos of David Bishop  we'll never know what it was all leading to. Mind guess I have to remember Bishop had more information than we probably ever will have so I guess I should be careful judging him too harshly.

[Colin_YNWA]

Well I've just read the ending that Bishop hurried out for us and man its terrible. That's such a crimal waste and shame on you Mr Bishop.

[The monarch]

Yes I remember being pissed off about it at the time

[Mike Gloady]

I think Hogan was doing the absolutely right thing by drawing heavily on the original series, Ennis's contributions, and Alan Grant's Island of the Damned, and then rebuilding the Search/Destroy Agency. However, a genuine problem arises from the way the story appeared. There were number of short runs, not to mention all the single, related stories that appeared in various specials, and even a Poster Prog.

I was going to argue that this awkward structure stemmed from having fully painted art, which took too much time. However, Dante has managed to do the epic thing with a lot of very good painted art along the way. I don't know if the problem with Strontium Dogs comes down to the way Hogan wrote and plotted his stories, Mark Harrison being too slow, or lack of proper co-ordination from Bishop's predecessor.

What I'm certain of, however, is that we did lose out on a classic story that would probably have kept Strontium Dogs alive and well to this day. Instead we got Abnett's Durham Red which had absolutely nothing to do with the source material and left the character dead in the water.

I quite liked Abnett’s Durham Red stories, but I agree that you could almost have replaced Red with some other character in limbo (perhaps one with less potential) and still HAD those stories (albeit not as Durham Red ones….).  

I agree that one of the major problems s/dS had was what we now know as “The Curse of Pirate Dante” - dribs and drabs can make even well-conceived and executed material seem a little ropey.  Read them in one bunch and you had a pretty good tale.

That Strontium DogS was seeming to find it’s feet (at least from the point of view of the reader) made it a huge shame when that conclusion was published, but I guess only Mr Bishop & Mr Hogan could tell us just how accurate that impression of “feet-finding” was.  This whole sorry affair mirrored very closely the Rogue TrooperS storylines.  I think the average reader had enough intelligence to figure out that Friday was a reboot - once they started printing stories purely for continuity clarification purposes you may as well have flushed the character down the loo (arguably the original Rogue was presumably already blocking the sewers, still gibbering inanely about “hits” and “aliens”).

Back on topic, however,

…in a perfect world, they would have continued for a few more years.  I've blogged about their run twice and don't have much more to add, but if anything from the '90s warrants rediscovery, it is this.

Hogan and Hughes were the perfect team (other than the original creators, naturally) with Hughes in particular seemingly grown in a vat with just this purpose in mind.  It’s a shame the more light-hearted material seemed to go by the wayside in that period but I think it’d be a mistake to blame David Bishop for either this trend or the abandonment of Strontium DogS - some strips seemingly required too much work to make viable and, while I regret that, I couldn’t honestly say I’d have done any different.

[Jim_Campbell]

I think the average reader had enough intelligence to figure out that Friday was a reboot - once they started printing stories purely for continuity clarification purposes you may as well have flushed the character down the loo

Couldn't agree more. I never understood why they started trying to drag the rebooted Friday into original Rogue continuity. I understood what War Machine was entirely: a different take on the same basic idea, I never wondered how the story fitted in with Original Rogue because it was bloody obvious that he just plain didn't.

Which made those stories doubly annoying - given that they were 1) unnecessary, and 2) not very good, and 3) managing to insult my intelligence at the same time!

Cheers

Jim