Garth Ennis - when 2000AD was the future

[Marbles]

Garth writes about his love for 2000AD on the Bleeding Cool website.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/24/garth-ennis-when-2000ad-was-the-future/

[Bolt-01]

that was nice.

[TordelBack]

Garth's love for 2000AD is touching.  It was less so when he was humping its leg.

[The Adventurer]

That was nice (and kind of cool how may of those references I now get, even though I am a very new, just 4 years on, I am to ol' Tooth).  Just wish I could stand the man's writing.

[TordelBack]

Ooops.  I sound like a refugee from the JBF.  I meant that to be funny, not nasty, 'epic fail', as the youngsters say.  Garth's early take on Dredd seldom hit the mark for me, but some of his later stuff worked, and he was basically a force for good on the comic, unlike some that came after him.

[Trout]

"This Cursed Earth will not break me! I am The Law! I am Dredd–JUDGE DREDD"

That's the line that hooked me!

Garth's stuff's been bloody fantastic in recent years. I never tire of saying it, but if you aren't reading The Boys, take a look.

- Trout

[The Adventurer]

Ooops.  I sound like a refugee from the JBF.  I meant that to be funny, not nasty, 'epic fail', as the youngsters say.  Garth's early take on Dredd seldom hit the mark for me, but some of his later stuff worked, and he was basically a force for good on the comic, unlike some that came after him.

While my experience with that particular era of Dredd (and 2000AD as a whole) is probably my weakest. I've yet to be really wowed by anything that came out of the Ennis/Miller/Morrison years.  Its become pretty clear to me, that the Rebellion take over/shake up really kicked 2000AD in the ass from that particular era.  Because everything after that point (coincidentally, exactly when I got involved in reading 2000AD) has been pretty damn dynamite.

[dweezil2]

Garth's Preacher series was a milestone in comic book writing. His run on The Punisher was equally fantastic and his stab at Dan Dare was none too poor. I don't get the hate.

[Richmond Clements]

That was nice!
It was a thrill to read all those great monemts together... and hopefully this'll inspire some more US comic fans to hop on board.

[radiator]

A nice sentiment, but sadly another example of someone talking about 2000ad's early years, and fostering the common conception that it ended twenty years ago.

It would be nice to get more publicity about how good it still is. IMO Nikolai Dante, Sinster Dexter, Kingdom, Button Man, Caballistics Inc etc etc more than stand up to anything from the early years - and Judge Dredd has never been better than it is right now.

[Buddy]

Garth's Preacher series was a milestone in comic book writing. His run on The Punisher was equally fantastic and his stab at Dan Dare was none too poor. I don't get the hate.

I never understood the popularity of Preacher.. I did try to read it several times but just never 'got' it.

I find that with a lot of Garths stuff, everyone else seems to rave about it, I'll give it a read and think 'what was all the fuss about??' The Boys being a prime example of this.

Too many nob gags maybe.

[Van Dom]

That was a really nice little tip of the hat, fair play to him for that.
Yeah I see where radiator is coming from - another paragraph at the end there to mention that the comic is still going strong and getting better all the time wouldn't have hurt. As it is, a lot of people will probably read that now and go, "ah yes, 2000ad I remember it well, used to be great..." and then think no more about it, assuming its dead and buried or something. Pity.

I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of Ennis' Dredd work because so much of it was dumb pastiche of contemporary tv shows. All that "The Word" stuff did my head in, along with Blind Made, The Magical Merrygoround... there were a lot more of them. Nothing from his era is really memorable to me except the Judge Joyce stuff. At the same time though, the work he did do was streets ahead of the stuff that came after when Mr. Millar was writing it. But I've heard other people say the opposite so its just a personal thing I Guess.

[Pete Wells]

C'mon then guys, let's see if we can name all the references:

Thank you for two Tyrannosaurs fighting to the death on the rim of a volcano;
Bofors gunners shooting it out with UFOs;
Old One Eye's last and greatest kill;
the only Bear on the CIA death list;
"Quack-quack, Volg!";
the truly unstoppable Artie Gruber;
Dan Dare at the battle of Jupiter;
Conclusion: MACH One terminated. Now closing down transmission;
the Space Fort's final battle with the Starslayer Empire;
I came into the apartment blasting. I've been at this game for forty years and there's one thing I've learned- never give a robot an even break;
"Goodbye, Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein. Little Mo and I will always remember you";
Blackhawk and his comrades at the Event Horizon;
"When you get old, you start gettin' strange notions, like maybe people aren't so bad. Maybe if we treat 'em with kindness, the good in them will come out. I guess that's when it's time to quit";
I was there the day the heavens turned to hell; an ammo belt of silver Spandau bullets;
the madness that was Meltdown Man;
"Boys, you're making a big mistake. I'm the one you should be afraid of. And here's why";
"Perhaps we could all do with a little more of what Dredd's got".

Thank you, also, for the night the G.I.s died;
the Dark Judges on the loose in Billy Carter Block;
"Is that what people are? Are we robots too?";
"Vape, baby, vape!";
And there was great celebration which went on all night... and the night went on forever;
"An' the name's Thompson–Harry Thompson!";
Carefully–oh, so carefully–creeps the Starborn Thing;
"And some of them... some of them are stars";
Johnny and Wulf fighting dead men in an alien churchyard;
"There's a moral here somewhere, Grobbendonk";
"Grim"; Red Planet Blues; "Welcome to the wound-feast!";
"But the third word is probably oranges";
"I know many things, Old Red-Eyes";
For you are a Judge. And it is your duty;
"Wake up, guys...we're home,";
"Fancy that for dinner, George?";
The city screaming Chopper's name;
"Been nice knowin' ya, good buddies. Guess this is it. Truck tucker, y'hear?";
Halo Jones eating breakfast in the ruins;
And let the Third Law be that anyone says different's a dead man;
"Because I hate you."
"This Cursed Earth will not break me! I am The Law! I am Dredd–JUDGE DREDD!"

[Mike Gloady]

I got goosebumps and almost a bit teary there.  God the man can write, even if his reverence for Dredd & Twoth in general meanas he can't quite manage to bring us Squaxx his "A" game.  I seem to remember him saying something about his ability to write American superheroes so successfully (commercially if not necessarily to everyone's taste) had something to do with him not actually caring TOO much about the characters in question which allowed him to be irreverent.

A nice sentiment, but sadly another example of someone talking about 2000ad's early years, and fostering the common conception that it ended twenty years ago.

It would be nice to get more publicity about how good it still is. IMO Nikolai Dante, Sinster Dexter, Kingdom, Button Man, Caballistics Inc etc etc more than stand up to anything from the early years - and Judge Dredd has never been better than it is right now.

I am in TOTAL agreement with you there, Radiator.  Although the mention of Twoth's birthday does (although rather obliquely I'll admit) suggest that the comic is still being published.  I wonder if Garth still reads his weekly prog?  The lack of mentions he gives for the strips you mention would suggest otherwise. 

If Garth's missus is reading this get him a sub for his birthday, he'll thank you.  The last few years are more than a match in terms of quality for the period he's just so beautifully eulogised. 

Garth's early take on Dredd seldom hit the mark for me, but some of his later stuff worked, and he was basically a force for good on the comic, unlike some that came after him.

I really liked a lot of his stuff at the time, and still hold lots of it in great affection, but then I've never been one of the subscribers to the "Wagner Dredd or nothing" phillosophy.  Millar & Grant Morrison are harder to defend.  Ennis, for all his faults, GOT the character.  Mark & Grant just didn't.

[Emperor]

An excellent piece by Garth Ennis on all the things he loved from the early days of 2000AD:

www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/23/garth-ennis-when-2000ad-was-the-future/