How long has Dante got left?

[dodsy]

Hi All,

I've been visiting these forums for years and reading 2000AD even longer and decided to finally become a part of the community.

One thing I really wanted to ask (and especially after this weeks cliffhanger) do we know how long Nikolai Dante has left in it? It's obviously in the finally throws now but is Hero's be Damed the end of the series or is there more to come? Don't want to see it go but also don't want it to outstay its welcome if you know what I mean.

So, can anyone offer any insight for me?

Cheers

[radiator]

No one knows yet.

I think (and hope) that there is going to be at least two or three more series after Heroes Be Damned.

I want the end to be suitably epic, and don't want it to feel rushed in any way.

[Tweak72]

I am thinking that this is it for the series. However this arch ends its going to be Dante's 'The Horned God'. Which is where Slaine should have stopped IMO.

Things being as they are though it is likely that if they continue after what ever happens now and Dante will, like Slaine, turn in to the tied, overdone shark jumping shadow of its self. (Sorry TS but it, for me, has for the most part been utter Ball-licks since THG ended).

 :'(

[radiator]

As far as I know, Morrison has had the ending roughly planned out for years and Dante has always been a finite series, so there's no chance of it carrying on past it's natural end.

[Jared Katooie]

I hope it ends soon.

 

[red_fan]

I hope it's as spectacular as the Oracle predicted.

[Mike Gloady]

Jared, there's not a lick of poetry in your soul sir. 

I challenge you to a duel, for I am Mike Gloady and I can out eat, out drink (pop) and out... SIT any man woman or... hoover in the ... country!

[Jared Katooie]

I you challenged me to a duel inside the pages of Nikolai Dante, odds are very good I would come back from the dead somehow.

[Mike Gloady]

GAH!  Foiled again. 

Andreas Romanov hasn't come back from the dead.  Or the Grozny gang.  Or ..... OTHER CHARACTERS!

[red_fan]

Which brings up the question: who else remains now, after so much butchery this last few episodes? And who will fall next before the very end?

We need a list of those who have fallen, whose stories we shall never read again. If only to remember them.

[Dandontdare]

Well I thought this chapter was going to be the last, but it looks like there's at least one more, but I reckon that'll be it.

[Mike Gloady]

Major characters only, by no means exhaustive....

Definitely dead:
definite being a vague term, oxymoronic I know, in Dante's world obviously

Nikolai's crest (sniff)
Jocasta Romanov (burnt to death by her ex/brother)
Papa Yeltsin (decapitated by ArkaDmitri)
Andreas Romanov (he's buried)
Valentin Romanov (sucked into mini-black-hole)
Nastashia Romanov Konstantin melted her (his own sister!)
Aleksandr & Aleksandra Romanov Dante murdered both of them in first storyline
Julia Makarov (Konstantin chopped her in half)
Viktor's new wife (sniff)

Not sure:
Vladimir Makarov (he looked alive)
Lulu Romanov (she's tricksy, reckon she's ok)
Victor Romanov (sadly, much as I love the silent fella, reckon he's toast THIS time)

Very much alive:
Dmitri/Arkady Romanov
Konstantin Romanov (shagger)
Jena Makarov (Dmitri/Arkady has set his hopes on marrying her remember)
Flintlock & Spatchcock (they HAVE to have lived, right?)
Elena Kurakin (not looking well)
Nikolai Dante (not looking happy OR well and without his crest)

Someone else take over, ok?

[Edited by Craig to add spoiler tags]

[radiator]

Well I thought this chapter was going to be the last, but it looks like there's at least one more, but I reckon that'll be it.

I think there's more than that to go - Tharg said last week that there's still 'plenty of twists and shocks to come'.

I'm hoping what we're seeing now is the start of the final 'phase' of the Dante saga. The staus quo of Dante seems to shift every couple of years, so far we've had:

The Great Game (Nikolai Dante to Love and War)

Tsar Wars (The Rudinshtein Irregulars to The Romanov Empire)

Hell and High Water (Return of the Gentleman Thief to Dragon's Island)
 
Sword of the Tsar (Sword of the Tsar to Amerika)

Hero of the Revolution (Prisoner of the Tsar to A Farewell to Arms)

So now the goalposts have moved again, we have a new staus quo, and the stage is set for the big finale. I'm hoping we're going to have a decent run of stories to round things off - it looks like dark times are ahead and I think there's plenty of mileage for some exciting stories with Dimitri in power and Dante on the run again. I'm hoping there's at least another trade's worth to come.

[Tweak72]

Major characters only, by no means exhaustive....

Definitely dead:
definite being a vague term, oxymoronic I know, in Dante's world obviously

Nikolai's crest (sniff)
Jocasta Romanov (burnt to death by her ex/brother)
Papa Yeltsin (decapitated by ArkaDmitri)
Andreas Romanov (he's buried)
Valentin Romanov (sucked into mini-black-hole)
Nastashia Romanov Konstantin melted her (his own sister!)
Aleksandr & Aleksandra Romanov Dante murdered both of them in first storyline
Julia Makarov (Konstantin chopped her in half)
Viktor's new wife (sniff)

Not sure:
Vladimir Makarov (he looked alive)
Lulu Romanov (she's tricksy, reckon she's ok)
Victor Romanov (sadly, much as I love the silent fella, reckon he's toast THIS time)

Very much alive:
Dmitri/Arkady Romanov
Konstantin Romanov (shagger)
Jena Makarov (Dmitri/Arkady has set his hopes on marrying her remember)
Flintlock & Spatchcock (they HAVE to have lived, right?)
Elena Kurakin (not looking well)
Nikolai Dante (not looking happy OR well and without his crest)

Someone else take over, ok?

Fixed that for you. Some people like Blue Meanie have not read the later books

[radiator]

Also still alive:
Katarina Dante

Brown Bread:
Count Pyre
Lauren Stone

Is the Coutessa de Wynter still alive? I think she was killed in Thief's World, but can't remember.