Matt Smith, Tharg the Mighty Discuss The Future of "2000 AD"

[CBR News]

Matt Smith, EiC of "2000 AD" under the strict supervision of evil alien boss Tharg the Mighty, answers CBR reader questions about what's currently going on and what is yet to come in the Galaxy's Greatest Comic.


Full article here.

[HipsterDad]

Have to say, this current Lenny Zero story is just about every kind of legal fun, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Anybody who enjoys Andy Diggle's work should pick up prog 1792 and hold on for a wild and very silly ride.

[nomadic writer]

Good to see CBR covering more 2000 AD news lately. Now that it's gone same-day digital on the iPad maybe it can start getting some much deserved love from the US comic sites. It's a crime such a high-quality comic gets so little attention outside of the UK.

[shaxper]

Good to see CBR covering more 2000 AD news lately. Now that it's gone same-day digital on the iPad maybe it can start getting some much deserved love from the US comic sites. It's a crime such a high-quality comic gets so little attention outside of the UK.

Sometimes I think the reason it gets ignored is that its just too much content to keep up with. I collected for exactly one year and found, both, that I couldn't keep up with reading the current issues, and that saving them as back issues for later perusal was impractical because 1)there was too much of it 2)it was a bitch to store so many issues and 3)there was still new stuff coming out once a week!

And, of course, let's not forget how much each of those issues that you're trying to get through quickly and probably are never going to read again cost!

I honestly think that if they released a monthly volume in the US instead that cut out half of the content and cost the same as two progs, it would do better with readers, collectors, and collectors who re-read as well.

[nomadic writer]

I've been buying the progs on digital since about 1740. Much easier than storing that many weekly issues. Can't say I've ever had any problem keeping up, but then I don't buy that many other comics.

It'll be interesting to see how well the IDW Dredd series does, if that's in a more standard monthly format. I just hope they get the tone right.

[fredmanson]

Miserable Earthlets. I have been collecting 2000 AD since the Prog 1606, the Judge Dredd Megazine since the #325. I have bough the Progs 1500 to 1605, and near 1000 "old" Progs from the IPC years.

You made me laugh with "there are so many things new each week in 2000 AD!!!". You, the US colonists have the laziest brain on this planet. You can not read more than 5 stories once a week with start/middle/end phases in it and that they are only of 5-6 pages each?? Are you freaks??

On my side, I can not read an US comic book without cursing the minds behind the worms which have developed this foolishness which is "decompression". In an US comic book of, said, 22 story pages, the story could be reduced to only 6 pages. Are your brains not so developed and that you n e e e d t i m e a n d s p a c e t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e s t o r y ?

i am dropping almost all of my US comic books for this "commercial disease". I am not a plonker to spend a lot of money for... nothing to read!!! To wait 6 to 8 months to have a shitty story at last, it's very lost money.

I spend more time in reading a copy of 2000 AD than a copy of an US comic book. And with all these superheroes titles, it's really kids comic books there!!!! Fortunately enough, there are the indies which are into the market. And I agree that, there, some stories are near the ultimate qualities of the Prog's stories.

But, fuck!!, to pay $3.99 for very good 22 story pages, is very a shitty trap there. I pay £ 2.25 my weekly 2000 AD Prog (FC comic magazine size of 32 pages, with a standard of 27+ stories pages) and only one in-house ad for the GN and another for the books from Solaris/Abaddon which are the SF/Fantasy imprints for the prose books of Rebellion (if there are any ads in it!!! Sometimes, it's a complete 30 stories pages!!!!).

And to collect them is very easy: they can be stored in A4 archival boxes (2 for a year or a big one for the complete year).

So, move your neurons and synapses and start to made your brain functioning again. Creeps.

Thank you, US citizens, to have read these some text lines. Now, move. Public crowds are illegal if not declared to the Hall of Justice, Division - Citizen Authorized Actions. Report to your main block entry gate. Any transgressor will be sentenced to death with immediate execution. You will be charged 10 creds for the Resyk facilities. Perps.

And, for you, the editotrs of CBR, Tharg is not a fictional editor. You are sentenced to 20 years to the Titan Penal Colony for spreading false informations.

All Hail The Mighty Tharg. Grud.

[colin.ynwa]

Great to see these interviews with Tharg finally getting started, we've been teased about these over at the 2000ad message boards for a while now. Hey America if you fancy checking out 2000ad now is the perfect time with the new 'day and date' release of the digital version now available via iPad and what not AND at a bargain price AND with a free sampler. So go on check it out, its so worth it. If you have any question don't forget to pop over to http://forums.2000adonline.com were a friendly bunch of fans of the Galaxies Greatests will be more than happy to help.

Specific to this can we read that as confirmation that more Indigo Prime will be coming, even if it might not be soon... I'm going to take it as such, I'm optimistic like that!

[The Adventurer]

Great Interview! Its always cool to get under the hood of Smith/Tharg to get a sense of the excitement that goes on behind the scenes at the Galaxy's Greatest.

Do my eyes's spy a preview panel for the next Strontium Dog installment, yet with no accompanying discussion about it in the article? Tharg is such a tease.

[stk]

Do my eyes's spy a preview panel for the next Strontium Dog installment, yet with no accompanying discussion about it in the article? Tharg is such a tease.

Yeah, I had to go back over the interview to make sure I hadn't somehow missed something.

Miserable Earthlets. I have been collecting 2000 AD since the Prog 1606, the Judge Dredd Megazine since the #325. I have bough the Progs 1500 to 1605, and near 1000 "old" Progs from the IPC years.

I don't even remember my first prog at this point, other than it was somewhere in the mid-400s. And the Megazine didn't even exist yet.

[HipsterDad]

If I understand Shaxper's complaint, and this from a fellow with Batman and Robin as his icon, it's okay for DC Comics to publish 52 titles every month, but Rebellion's publication of five leaves him confused. And the suggestion to finally break into the American market is to... publish even less material?

Just to defend my fellow countrymen against fredmanson's charge, however, while it is certainly true that "decompression" is a pathetic problem in American funnybooks, I think you'll find that the practice was pretty much the fault of England's Warren Ellis, who spearheaded and popularized it.

[The Adventurer]

Yeah, a complaint about the variety of content in 2000 AD compared to the shear volume of US comics is... baffling to say the least. I bet the poster who said that reads more then 5 comics a month. Of which 4 weekly issues of 2000 AD is equivalent to.

[PreacherCain]

Looking forward to seeing the IDW Dredd comics, should be interesting. 2000AD has been going through another golden age over the last few years, anyone who likes comics should be going out of their way to read this!

Brass Sun sounds cool too. Loving The New Deadwardians from the same creative team.