What defunct character do you miss the most?

Discuss or comment on Britain's sole surviving boy's comic from the 1970's. The home of Judge Dredd, Slaine, Nikolai Dante, ABC Warriors and Sinister Dexter. Has been running since 1977.

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tony ingram
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by tony ingram »

starscape wrote:Finishing the Dan Dare story for me. I did enquire as to the possibility of reprinting the 2000AD DD run, with a conclusion to that story. The DD Corp didn't seem to have any idea that he was even in 2000AD. They then switched to a professional PR company to increasing the licensing of Dan Dare material. Who promptly didn't bother responding to emails.

Flesh and Invasion were the ones that were best for revival but, as they've already been done, I'm not sure where next. MACH Zero was brilliant but I'm unconvinced he could be handled right by todays writers. MACH One was of course 2000ADs most popular character in the early days. I could see that being a little too 'social commentary' if written today.

Actually, how about Inferno, the Harlem Heroes or Mean Team? These future sports stories were great. Pity we couldn't seek out Tom Tully for a return (if the rumours are true).
A revamped version of the Harlem Heroes, featuring Artie Gruber as the villain but none of the original Heroes, appeared in the 90s. It was absolutely dire. And while the rest of the Mean Team all died, bloke-stuck-in-a-panther's-body Henry Moon did return briefly in a four part story called Survivor.

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starscape
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

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Must have been poor. I had all those issues and remember nothing whatsoever about it.
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

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tony ingram wrote:Sinister Dexter is the name of the strip, but there are two lead characters, Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter. They are a pair of surprisingly likeable contract killers from the futuristic city of Downlode.
Thanks for that explanation, Tony. I suppose that apart from the strip creator knowing the Latin link, he will simply have considered the use of sinister with its English meaning to be appropriate for his characters and their job. A nice juxtaposition nevertheless.

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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by Muffy »

For me it would be Nick Stone from Meltdown Man [progs 178 to 227, as I recall from my brother's back prog cupboard] – whatever you do 2000ad editor don't bring him back now!
I want to remember him in his 1980/1981 glory.

In my opinion the artwork was Belardinelli's finest creation with an energy and dynamism in his work – the height of his future imaginings. The story earned the rare privilege to even have some colour work (rare for 1980). Stone's yugee companions a cat; a wolf; a bull and a scheming cobra Lord Seth were drawn with love and tremendous detail. We even lamented when the supporting baddie Tiger Commander met his destiny in the closing issues.

I wasn't alone, as at the time, this story challenged Dredd for the top-spot in the readers rankings.

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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

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Muffy wrote:For me it would be Nick Stone from Meltdown Man [progs 178 to 227, as I recall from my brother's back prog cupboard] – whatever you do 2000ad editor don't bring him back now!
I want to remember him in his 1980/1981 glory.

In my opinion the artwork was Belardinelli's finest creation with an energy and dynamism in his work – the height of his future imaginings. The story earned the rare privilege to even have some colour work (rare for 1980). Stone's yugee companions a cat; a wolf; a bull and a scheming cobra Lord Seth were drawn with love and tremendous detail. We even lamented when the supporting baddie Tiger Commander met his destiny in the closing issues.

I wasn't alone, as at the time, this story challenged Dredd for the top-spot in the readers rankings.
Nor are you alone now. Meltdown Man was one of my all time favourites and remember being upset when the story finished.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by SID »

starscape wrote:Finishing the Dan Dare story for me. I did enquire as to the possibility of reprinting the 2000AD DD run, with a conclusion to that story. The DD Corp didn't seem to have any idea that he was even in 2000AD. They then switched to a professional PR company to increasing the licensing of Dan Dare material. Who promptly didn't bother responding to emails.
I was really p***ed that Dan Dare never returned. I must admit that the Tom Tully/David Pugh version in New Eagle was my favourite (and that never reached its full potential) but Dave Gibbons (Drokk! It took me five minutes to the surname because my Samsung's predictive text thinks it knows better.) Any way, Tom and Dave's version was in the middle of a great yarn when it was aborted which I would love to see finished but only with Dave drawing or the current Savage artist (can't remember name).

Any yep, I know it will never happen.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

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tony ingram
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by tony ingram »

Muffy wrote:For me it would be Nick Stone from Meltdown Man [progs 178 to 227, as I recall from my brother's back prog cupboard] – whatever you do 2000ad editor don't bring him back now!
I want to remember him in his 1980/1981 glory.

In my opinion the artwork was Belardinelli's finest creation with an energy and dynamism in his work – the height of his future imaginings. The story earned the rare privilege to even have some colour work (rare for 1980). Stone's yugee companions a cat; a wolf; a bull and a scheming cobra Lord Seth were drawn with love and tremendous detail. We even lamented when the supporting baddie Tiger Commander met his destiny in the closing issues.

I wasn't alone, as at the time, this story challenged Dredd for the top-spot in the readers rankings.
I loved that series, one of 2000AD's greatest ever (along with the indescribably weird Return to Armageddon, which ran at the same time)! The secondary characters, like Tiger Commander, Billy the Pup and the unnamed rhino man who helped out T-Bone, were as compelling as the leads a lot of the time. Great stuff.

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tony ingram
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by tony ingram »

SID wrote:
starscape wrote:Finishing the Dan Dare story for me. I did enquire as to the possibility of reprinting the 2000AD DD run, with a conclusion to that story. The DD Corp didn't seem to have any idea that he was even in 2000AD. They then switched to a professional PR company to increasing the licensing of Dan Dare material. Who promptly didn't bother responding to emails.
I was really p***ed that Dan Dare never returned. I must admit that the Tom Tully/David Pugh version in New Eagle was my favourite (and that never reached its full potential) but Dave Gibbons (Drokk! It took me five minutes to the surname because my Samsung's predictive text thinks it knows better.) Any way, Tom and Dave's version was in the middle of a great yarn when it was aborted which I would love to see finished but only with Dave drawing or the current Savage artist (can't remember name).

Any yep, I know it will never happen.
Just because you asked, here is the final, never before revealed conclusion to Dan Dare: Servant of Evil.

Image

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tony ingram
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Re: What defunct character do you miss the most?

Post by tony ingram »

And while we're at it, the conclusions to two other long unfinished storylines from the 1970s...

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