Flesh: The Dino Files

[Ancient Otter]

Contents:
Pat Mills introduction
Flesh Book I
Flesh Book II
Hand of Glory (2000 AD Prog 1526)
Texas
Carrion (2000 AD Summer Special 1977)
The Buffalo Hunt (2000 AD Annual 1978)
James McKay sketchbook (Seven pages)
Cover for Progs 87 and 93
and on the inside cover a "Future Advert" for FLESH meat

[Ancient Otter]

Forgot to say error free too!

[SmallBlueThing]

My copy arrived today, and in the absence of a dedicated thread...

Ooh, lovely! Flesh books one and two read so much better on this type of paper, rather than the shiny crap last time. And so does Texas, come to that.

If you know Flesh, you know what this is about, so i neednt say anything about the first two strips- other than i THINK they've corrected the error from the previous volume, and we no longer have a page printed twice. But without double checking my other copy, i can't say for sure. From memory, they have.

Additional material this time is Hand of Glory (prog 1526), Texas (1724-1733), Carrion (summer special 1977) and The Buffalo Hunt (annual 1978) plus james mccay sketchbook and a couple of Book 2 covers. Oh, and a full colour repro of kev o'neill's tran-time advert one page strip from prog mumblety.

It's all great, i love every page, and have no critical faculties when it comes to Flesh. Two niggles: Book one page one still has that annoying 'from the 2000AD memory banks' caption- which could have been easily removed by doing a black fill, as it's on a solid black background. I dont know why this bugs me as much as it does, but somehow it looks cheap; as if buying a reprint of a reprint is somehow less value than if it were taken from the original.

For my second vague annoyance, i'll hand you over to my guest reviewer, Mr. Gwangi:

"Rarrrrrr! Im not a t.rex, i'm a fucking allosaur, Mr. Mills! Tut tut. Rarrrrr!"

Anyway, other than that, it's bloody brilliant, worth anyone's cash, proof if any were needed that the prog is as good today as it ever was (texas) and that right from the start it was magnificent (books one and two).

SBT

[Colin_YNWA]

Uh I've never read 'Carrion' before! I shifted my copy of the previous edition on eBay so I could justify buying this and I'm now very glad I did.

[Colin_YNWA]

I don't know if its a coincidence that 'Flesh - the Dino Files' came out the same week as 'Planet Dinosaur'. If so with the BBC ident before it started focusing on a single dino eye, echoing the cover of the new book makes it pretty big one, one way or another.

Overall the product is nice but doesn't as yet provide me with my dreamt of definitive Flesh collection, but its a step closer. The inclusion of the latest story, some great bonus pictures from James McKay and the nice to have, if not well crafted stories from the annuals and specials mean this is a better product that the previous edition. Which also corrects the well known error in that edition too. Oh and it smells great too!

I'm disappointed, though not surprised, that the episode transitions from the first series haven't been tidied and remain inconsistent. Some seem to be from the original progs, some from the reprints from the annuals, which mean some of the inter-part transitions have been lost. I'd love these to be ironed out but its a minor complaint that I can live with.

Have just re-read Flesh before selling off my older copy to pay for this one when this arrived I treated myself to a re-read of the latest story from the recent issues. Its worth saying that any review of 'Texas' at this stage is also probably unfair Book 1 has the massive advantage of being a complete story. Brilliantly told with a wonderful sense of timing (see my reviews elsewhere) and tension building. 'Texas' is just the first part of an ongoing series (?) or at least has a second half coming. So its hard to make an overall comparison yet.

That said, as this is how 'Texas' is presented in this volume so have at it I will. In doing so again its worth looking at 'Planet Dinosaur' as it happens. 'Planet Dinosaur' (or the first episode that I've seen) is a direct next stage from 'Walking with Dinosaurs' in the way the current Flesh story is a direct sequel to Flesh Book 1. Both of the more recent iterations are fun and interesting but don't quite live up to their classic predecessors. 'Planet Dinosaur' has all these annoying silly fiddly bits that can be a distraction, those super-imposed computer filey bits are just a nonsense. I have a similar feeling about 'Texas' it tries too hard sometimes to be modern and throw in unsubtle satire to make it up to date. The prime example being the Trans-time boss all but directly quoting that BP boss fella wanting his life back. It seems strange to say that the strip over 30 years old aimed at young boys is more subtle but it is.

Anyway all that said 'Texas' is still a brilliant bit of work and on the whole looks just wonderful. Just as I'll be tuning into 'Planet Dinosaur' next week I can't wait for the next part of 'Texas'.

Overall this is a bloody great collection filled with great story and art, I've skipped mentioning Book 2 its fun and the art is some of Belardinelli's best. Its all topped off with some really nice curios and I couldn't recommend it to enough to any fan of Thrillpower.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

I'm My boy is getting this from Santa

[Hawkmonger]

Hurry up Birthday vouchers, hurry up!

[flip-r mk2]

Dino's and cowboys the reason I fell in love the prog,way back in '77.


filip

[commissioner fargo]

Like flip-r mk2, Dinosaurs and cowboy really did it for me.I can remember being genuinely scared for the characters in Flesh.Anyhow my copy arrived this morning and the missus has already hidden it, saying it's for Christmas.Iv'e warned her about the dangers of it giving off high level of thrill power, which could be dangerous but she just gave me a strange look.

[Hawkmonger]

Any colour strips?
I know that sound's vain but.......you know.

[Colin_YNWA]

Not sure why that would sound vain?

Anyway no, no colour, but if it counts for anything it really doesn't need any. Really

[Ancient Otter]

Hmm spoke too soon. There is no credit blurb at the back for Carlos Pino and on the title page for Carrion and The Bonus Hunt, there are no credits given, just mentions of where they were originally published.

[Richmond Clements]

Hmm spoke too soon. There is no credit blurb at the back for Carlos Pino and on the title page for Carrion and The Bonus Hunt, there are no credits given, just mentions of where they were originally published.

I suspect that this is because they probably don't have a record or clue who wrote or drew them!

[Tiplodocus]

So what colour flesh stories were there?

I'm obviously trying to forget LEGEND OF SHAMANA (or whatever it was called) but I have vague recollection of another colour story.  Or was that not by Mills?

[Hawkmonger]

So what colour flesh stories were there?

I'm obviously trying to forget LEGEND OF SHAMANA (or whatever it was called) but I have vague recollection of another colour story.  Or was that not by Mills?

Chronocide and 3000AD