Sci-Fi Special 2016: Happy Holidays Creep!

[I, Cosh]

Half and half for me. Good fun cover presaging a wonderful helping of McCarthy Dredd. As mentioned elsewhere, exactly the sort of inconsequential but entertaining strip the world needs more of.

A similar reminder of the way thrills used to be as Mr Abnett knocks out a breezy Sin/Dex with a stellar new take on the lads from Foster.

Guy Adams' Rogue Trooper one offs have been consistently better than any of his own stories. This was a suitably nasty outing with another great art job.

The comedy strips didn't fare so well. I've never been a Robo Hunter and, other than one or two decent lines this did nothing for me.

Conversely, while I'm normally happy to see a different artist's take on an existing strip, I'm too much of a Belardinelli groupie to see Ace Trucking as anything but a pale shadow of the master. On top of the that, despite a workable central idea, the writer seems to have missed the crucial point that Ace, like Arfur Daly, should absolutely never come out on top!

No poster for us digital scum.

[2000ADWebDroid]

Any idea why this is marked as not available on the iPad app?

Mine the same.
I want to the inline store and bought the digital copy there.
Came back and restarted the iPad app and then it showed up and downloaded.
Don't know if that helps.

Okay, we've managed to sort out the IAP for the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 with Apple and this is now showing as available to purchase via the iOS versions of the 2000 AD app, apologies for the problems with this.

We're still looking into the problem with the availability of the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 in iOS, but haven't been able to find the problem yet.

In the meantime, the above workaround will work i.e. go to one of our online stores, login using you usual 2000 AD / Rebellion email address and password, then buy the digital version of the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016:

https://account.rebellion.co.uk/products/product/SPE1601D (recommended link to use)
or
http://shop.2000adonline.com/products/digitalgn_2000_ad_summer_special_2016

Once purchased, if you're logged into the iOS app, your entitlements should sync after a little while (restarting the app should force this to happen) and then the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 should be available to download in the iOS app.

Will post again if/when we manage to sort out the underlying problem

The availability problem in the iOS version of the 2000 AD app is now sorted out, so you should now be able to purchase the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 through the app now, apologies this wasn't available to buy via the iOS app until now.

[2000ADWebDroid]

A splendid summer treat indeed.
But no poster in the digital version?

We're looking into what we might be able to do here, as a few people have asked about this, we may be able to either add it onto the end of the main comic PDF/CBZ, or else offer it as a separate download (from the Rebellion Account Portal website: https://account.rebellion.co.uk/2000ad/download ) for those who've purchased the digital version, but we need to look into how feasible this is going to be.

We've now added the poster towards the end of the digital version of the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 - if you've already downloaded the Summer Special, please delete the original version, then re-download the summer special. If you get a download error, please fully close the app, then restart it, then try again .

[Mattofthespurs]

Got this, the real version not some digital thingy  , this morning from the 2000 AD shop.
Wonderful, just wonderful.

[Eamonn Clarke]

A splendid summer treat indeed.
But no poster in the digital version?

We're looking into what we might be able to do here, as a few people have asked about this, we may be able to either add it onto the end of the main comic PDF/CBZ, or else offer it as a separate download (from the Rebellion Account Portal website: https://account.rebellion.co.uk/2000ad/download ) for those who've purchased the digital version, but we need to look into how feasible this is going to be.

We've now added the poster towards the end of the digital version of the 2000 AD Summer Special 2016 - if you've already downloaded the Summer Special, please delete the original version, then re-download the summer special. If you get a download error, please fully close the app, then restart it, then try again .

First of all, thanks to the 2000AD webdroid for the digital poster fix.
And as anyone who follows the podcast twitter feed @MCBCpodcast will have seen this morning I acquired the hard copy as well. Thrill power overload!

[IndigoPrime]

No Prog this weekend. "AHA!" I thought. "This is Tharg wanting me to go into town and get the Summer Special!" So off I trudged. Nothing in McColl's. Nada in WHSmith. Bah.

[Mattofthespurs]

No Prog this weekend. "AHA!" I thought. "This is Tharg wanting me to go into town and get the Summer Special!" So off I trudged. Nothing in McColl's. Nada in WHSmith. Bah.

I can never find the special in any newsagents around where I live, even ones that carry the prog and the meg so I always order it from the 2000 AD shop. I think that's how Tharg wants it and who am I to argue?

[Woolly]

No Prog this weekend. "AHA!" I thought. "This is Tharg wanting me to go into town and get the Summer Special!" So off I trudged. Nothing in McColl's. Nada in WHSmith. Bah.

Got mine from Smiths to get the 49p discount (yoink!). Strangely, it wasnt stocked next to the Prog or Meg, but with the Marvel stuff. Might be worth having another look?

Thought it was great from cover to cover, if not outstanding. Really enjoying the slow return of Ace, Rogue and Robo-Hunter. Good stuff.

[2000ADWebDroid]

No Prog this weekend. "AHA!" I thought. "This is Tharg wanting me to go into town and get the Summer Special!" So off I trudged. Nothing in McColl's. Nada in WHSmith. Bah.

Got mine from Smiths to get the 49p discount (yoink!). Strangely, it wasnt stocked next to the Prog or Meg, but with the Marvel stuff. Might be worth having another look?

I'm afraid to say that I've heard that the pricing for WH Smith has now been corrected, consider yourself lucky if you managed to snag a bargain before then!

[AlexF]

That poster from Chris Weston was a) magnificent and b) quite different from what I think of as his usual style. Anyone seen any strip work from him in a similar vein? Kinda Staples-ish, I thought.

[BPP]

Totally ace summer prog.

You can't call it a 'special' tho as there was no quiz or 'top ten bad guys stomped by Judge Dredd' lists!

Hope Tharg can get McCarthy back for more Dredd soon.

[IndigoPrime]

I'm afraid to say that I've heard that the pricing for WH Smith has now been corrected, consider yourself lucky if you managed to snag a bargain before then!

I'd consider myself lucky if I could find the bloody thing. Absent locally. Gnash. Wail. Etc.

[Tjm86]

Totally ace summer prog.

You can't call it a 'special' tho as there was no quiz or 'top ten bad guys stomped by Judge Dredd' lists!

Hope Tharg can get McCarthy back for more Dredd soon.

Aye, missing a film review as well and reprints from obscure 60's and 70's strips.  (or am I confusing this with annuals?)  Still thoroughly enjoyable though.

BTW - FP Cardiff had copies earlier in the week for those still looking.  Not to mention the tried and tested (and makes up for Smiths selling 'em cheap) direct from t' shop.

[SpongeJosh]

The first summer special I've ever read.

Brilliant stuff, maximum enjoyment. 

[TordelBack]

Wow, all thriller, no filler!  Even the poster (I am no longer 12, alas) was ace, and on lovely stock too: heading for my sheffice wall.

The Dredd was sharp little idea just beautifully drawn by McCarthy. Pure quality throughout.

Sinister Dexter was a nice little in-continuity tale giving another taste of the new status quo, but the words were dwarfee by the art: Tom Foster delivers an even more mature take on the art that made Storm Warning such a joy. One to watch, this fellow.

Rogue Trooper was a rather brutal take on the character from Adams (does every protagonist practice torture these days?. Certainly all of Adams's characters do!), with superbly moody art from Buxton. I felt the Nort seaside installation was a bit vulnerable if they hadn't considered the risk of a tactical tsunami of poison, but then these are the lads with cloth gasmasks after all.

Ace Trucking Co is always a hard sell, when its soul was 100% Massimo, but aside from the usual oddness around Ace's eyes, this was a fun entry. Perhaps the joke went on a bit long, and as Cosh points out Ace incorrectly got the last laugh, but it was enjoyable enough for me to want to read more from this team.

Robohunter, one of Tharg's most grievously abused strips in its many posthumous incarnations, was the big surprise for me: a really good version, packed with the kind of cute childish gags that made the original work. Hoagy in Chewie's bandolier being a personal highlight. Still find Stogie bizarre now I'm surrounded by non-ambulatory versions.

I don't know what I was expecting when I heard a special was being forged from the leavings of the FCB prog, and only 64 pages, but what I got was a terrific read cover to cover. Well done all!