Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on Film4

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: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by tony ingram »

geoff42 wrote:In view of my age; born in 1967, my love affair with comics burgeoned when they were beginning to wilt - circa 1975. For around six years thereafter, I was completely hooked with all things comics while little realizing that the game was up by this time. Then sadly, I eschewed the few British titles I was collecting in 1981 for US Marvel monthlies. I kind of feel ashamed in contributing to hammering in those last nails of an undeserved coffin. :cry:
I don't really consider that "the game was up" in 1975. I really got into comics around that time or shortly after, but still consider the early eighties to have been really the last great golden age of British comics, when there was just so much going on that interested me. Come to think of it, I probably consider the early to mid eighties to have been the last really interesting and innovative period for American comics, too.

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Re: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by starscape »

I'd certainly agree the game was from from up. Warlord, Battle, 2000AD, Krazy, The Crunch etc. etc. etc. (although maybe he means boys comics only really had another 10 years, rather than good comics were about finished mid-70s).

Late-80s mature comics (Crisis, 2000AD, Revolver, Viz etc.) were great around this time, I must agree. Comics did make a leap forward. Not entirely successful in some cases but probably necessary as I don't think the more mature audience would have accepted anything resembling the more traditional Film Fun etc.

Probably make a good thread to ask what people think should have been done in the early-mid 80s to save British comicdom as we knew it. Was boys adventure saveable? Was it just the Eagle, Victor and Battle Storm Force not being good enough? What would you have advised in those days had you been asked?
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tony ingram
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Re: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by tony ingram »

starscape wrote:I'd certainly agree the game was from from up. Warlord, Battle, 2000AD, Krazy, The Crunch etc. etc. etc. (although maybe he means boys comics only really had another 10 years, rather than good comics were about finished mid-70s).

Late-80s mature comics (Crisis, 2000AD, Revolver, Viz etc.) were great around this time, I must agree. Comics did make a leap forward. Not entirely successful in some cases but probably necessary as I don't think the more mature audience would have accepted anything resembling the more traditional Film Fun etc.
The early eighties gave us amongst other things the golden age of 2000AD, Warrior, Dr Who Weekly/ Monthly, The Daredevils and the UK originated issues of Star Wars, as well as from a more traditional viewpoint Speed and the revived Eagle (both of which I really liked). I realise these are not the kind of titles that are hugely popular with the majority on here, but frankly, they're the titles that made me an obsessive comics fan, and to me, they're a damn sight better than most of the earlier stuff. I think it's all down to when you were born, really.

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Re: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by geoff42 »

By "the game was up" I wasn't specifically saying: "British comics were dead and buried." 2000 ad and Beano still survive today, and Dr Who. Uk Marvel survived into the 90's as well as Victor and Eagle. Buster ran till the end of the nineties. I meant the whole ethos of British comics where you could walk into W H Smiths and find a rack full of British weeklies; at least 5 or 6 titles from Fleetway, the same for D C Thomson, and a handful from Uk Marvel (not monthlies) and think: damn, I only have so much money - so, what do I buy this week? By the mid-eighties, the British weekly was waning badly to a point where a teen-comic-enthusiastic would no longer have to contemplate his handful of pound coins from his or her paper round. By then, the humour comics had at least halved in volume. The boys' genre had receded as much; can't speak from the girls' spectrum - maybe someone could enlighten me. But, overall, compared to a wilting seventies, the eighties ended in a bad way where the British weekly was concerned.

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Re: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by Lew Stringer »

geoff42 wrote:By "the game was up" I wasn't specifically saying: "British comics were dead and buried." 2000 ad and Beano still survive today, and Dr Who. Uk Marvel survived into the 90's as well as Victor and Eagle. Buster ran till the end of the nineties. I meant the whole ethos of British comics where you could walk into W H Smiths and find a rack full of British weeklies; at least 5 or 6 titles from Fleetway, the same for D C Thomson, and a handful from Uk Marvel (not monthlies) and think: damn, I only have so much money - so, what do I buy this week? By the mid-eighties, the British weekly was waning badly to a point where a teen-comic-enthusiastic would no longer have to contemplate his handful of pound coins from his or her paper round. By then, the humour comics had at least halved in volume. The boys' genre had receded as much; can't speak from the girls' spectrum - maybe someone could enlighten me. But, overall, compared to a wilting seventies, the eighties ended in a bad way where the British weekly was concerned.
Comics evolved, as they always had. The weekly frequency became virtually obsolete but new titles, albeit monthly or fortnightly, came along. The market is certainly smaller now but comics survive, mainly outside of newsagents.
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Re: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD - Wed 6th 11.25pm on F

Post by SID »

I finally watched the programme. Very informative.

I agree that Warlord was the instigator of the IPC comic revolution even if the documentary didn't admit it.

Talking of DCT, what effect did Warlord have on their comics? I would say Bullet and The Crunch but were there others?
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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