Down the Tubes' 2000AD birthday celebration

[Emperor]

I think the 'wow' gives it away.

Well given that the list of contributors like Alan Grant, Garth Ennis, Gordon Rennie, Arthur Ranson, etc. the wow could have been for that.

I believe the plan is to run tributes from comics creators, at all levels in the industry, throughout the month so there will be a nice variety giving different perspectives on the comic. I'm not sure it'd work so well if only the famous were allowed to contribute or there was some notional line in the sand that made you worthy enough to be included.

[Emperor]

Dave Taylor:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_1993.html

[Emperor]

David Bishop:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-former-tharg_09.html

[Emperor]

Martin Baines:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-artist-and.html

[Emperor]

Matthew Badham:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-feature-and.html

Steve White:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-script-droid_10.html

Richard Elson:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_10.html

[maryanddavid]

Great Stuff, I love Garen Ewings Nemesis.

David

[Emperor]

Gibson Quarter:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_4014.html

[Emperor]

Keith Page:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_12.html

John Higgins:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_508.html

[Emperor]

Alwyn Talbot, with a damn fine Nemesis:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_13.html

Cy Dethan:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-writer-and_13.html

[Emperor]

Paul Rainey:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-artist-and_13.html

[Emperor]

Boo Cook:
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_14.html

This seems to be news:

I'm currently working on a new five-part Judge Anderson, Psi strip called 'Stone Voices' with Alan Grant. That should be surfacing in the Judge Dredd Megazine in the summer

[Colin_YNWA]

Yeah yeah lovely story about Boo Cook meeting his wife yadder yadder. What we ALL want to know more about is surely.

I have loads of anecdotes about the 2000AD crew to tell, from Colin MacNeil's wife punching Dom Reardon over a hedge

Don't tease us like that Mr Cook!

[Emperor]

Next up Smuzz, the artist formerly known as SMS (when that seemed so cutting edge), which some gossip:

Chief editor Richard Burton delayed and withheld my scripts "To teach Pat (Mills) who the editor is" (This is a common story amongst Pat Mills artists, aside from Simon Bisley). Steve [MacManus] tried - and failed - to get the last two episodes to me, as requested by Pat.

Years later, Burt was still telling writers I'd "Turned their scripts down". Apologies to the writers I'd "Turned down". I was never offered 'em.

Thanks Steve, for your help at a difficult time. Appreciated. Decent chap.

http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-birthday-2000ad-from-art-droid_1442.html

I had always wondered where SMS had got to, now we know (TPO page 123 says editorial got rid of him "with some glee" despite him having Pat's support). I'm happy to see he is getting another crack at comicdom through Strip.

Yeah yeah lovely story about Boo Cook meeting his wife yadder yadder. What we ALL want to know more about is surely.

I have loads of anecdotes about the 2000AD crew to tell, from Colin MacNeil's wife punching Dom Reardon over a hedge

Don't tease us like that Mr Cook!

You expected Colin's missus to be anything other than mighty???

[TordelBack]

I had always wondered where SMS had got to, now we know (TPO page 123 says editorial got rid of him "with some glee" despite him having Pat's support).

One of Tharg's greatest mistakes that, the man is a genius, and his ABC Warriors some of the greatest art to ever appear in 2000AD.

If SMS's story is even slightly more than just one man's perspective on complicated events, Burt deserved a trip to MekQuake.

[Emperor]

I had always wondered where SMS had got to, now we know (TPO page 123 says editorial got rid of him "with some glee" despite him having Pat's support).

One of Tharg's greatest mistakes that, the man is a genius, and his ABC Warriors some of the greatest art to ever appear in 2000AD.

If SMS's story is even slightly more than just one man's perspective on complicated events, Burt deserved a trip to MekQuake.

From TPO page 123:

Mills split the series between Bisley and another newcomer to 2000 AD called sms. "I loved his art," the writer enthuses. "I believe many readers did too - I just wished they had spoken up a bit more! sms had some serious science-fiction connections I thought would be extremely good for 2000AD. The comic was growing up and this was yet another direction it might mature into, that's why I chose him. I did not want the Warriors to simply be an action heavy metal story, so I gave the science-fiction episodes to sms and they were right up his street. Editorial didn't like sms. They didn't like his 'intellectual' manner or his eccentric initials name, as they admitted to me. They couldn't see why I'd picked him. If they couldn't see it, I couldn't explain to them. When the series ended, they got rid of him with a fair amount of glee I believe, which was a great, great shame. Frankly I enjoyed his eccentricity. After all, who wants to be normal? That's for bank clerks, not comic artists"

Although possibly not the worst thing that happened under Burt's watch but considering this was 1988 and he'd only had his feet under the table for a year, it was clearly The Shape of Things to Come, we just didn't know it at the time.

Given the fact that he was great then and has got better over the intervening years, would it be too outrageous to hope to see him back in the prog at some point? Although if I was John Freeman I'd make sure he was shackled in my basement and Tharg couldn't find him