Script Pat Mills, art Kevin O'Neill and Jesus Redondo. All illustrations are ©Rebellion A/S.
Published by Rebellion in August 2013 (ISBN 978-1-78108-172-3, 10.5 x 7.5 inches or 27 x 19 cm, 240 pages, 40£) this hardcover book comes with a fully illustrated dust jacket and a red ribbon bookmark. This edition was limited to 200 copies and could only been purchased on 2000 AD online web shop. It also displays 2 exclusive numbered bookplates signed by both Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill. Note that there is a regular edition of this book called the "Deviant" edition (see the end of this article).
One of the pictures below is for size comparison with the previous Titan Edition (reproducing the original material in B&W), and one of the colored Eagle Comics issues reprinted in this new edition.
 |
| both bookplates share the same back |
The inner book comes in a white faux leather hardcover (no illustration on the back).
Original material originates from 2000 AD, bus this book reprints the US Eagle Comics miniseries with modified material (re drawn and coloured by the artists).
Note that this reprint is a little bigger than the Eagle Comics hence perhaps a reproduction that is slightly degraded from the original material (this remark is in no way a mean to denigrate the very good work of Rebellion's people ). The black rendering is on the other hand better in this reprint.
 |
| one of my favorite panel by Kevin O'Neill |
 |
| mek quake style! |
The book also features:
- all the Eagle Comics miniseries covers
- a reprint of "The Tomb of Torquemada" which was originally published in 2000 AD poster prog Nemesis #1
 |
| a comparison with the original cover shows a difference in color intensity |
Looks good! I was just about to order a copy of the regular (Deviant) edition of this collection. Must say I'm a little disappointed to find that (unlike the earlier Titan Books editions which I owned) the hardcover is in the standard American HC comics collection size. I was rather hoping it would be the same size as IDW's Judge Dredd Artists series or Rebellion's ABC Warriors The Mek-Files hardcovers. Nice and big! Ideally I would like to have all the stories I like from the first decade of 2000 AD in tabloid or "Treasury Edition" size, AND in color. After all, the original 2000 AD comic paper as published by IPC/Fleetway (before it became a magazine) was much larger (although mostly in black & white, and low-quality printing on cheap paper). The other thing is that the original art is wider by relative proportions than American comics, so when squeezed down to fit into standard American formats there's a lot of wasted margin space at the tops and bottoms of the pages. I have to say that (apart from not printing everything in color) IDW did right by Judge Dredd with their deluxe hardcovers. Thanks for the peek!
ReplyDeleteRebellion choice to go with the standard american size was dictated by the fact that the material reprinted here was first published in that colorized re-do art form in US comic format. There is some bit of original art here not present in 2000 AD or the Titan reprints but specially produced for the eagle comics mini series.
DeleteBut like you I will not say no to a Mek-files treatment of the original B&W Nemesis Material!
On the other hand, I guess it can fit neatly on the shelf next to my copy of DC's 2013 MARSHAL LAW: THE DELUXE EDITION, so there's that.
ReplyDeleteEven though Eagle produced the comic in standard American page size, I don't see why they couldn't have expanded the art and color to fit a larger omnibus-sized edition. DC and Marvel do it all the time. But Rebellion's MEK FILES is perfect size-wise, and IDW's JUDGE DREDD: The Complete Brian Bolland (and other artist collections) hardcovers are the same size, which I would have hoped to see become the standard to which deluxe collections of 2000 AD material aspired to.
On a side note, it's curious to me that A.B.C. WARRIORS has so far been the only classic 2000 AD series to be honored with deluxe treatment in this extra-generous size (apart from, as I mentioned before, IDW's hardcovers showcasing the best of Judge Dredd artists). Subsequent to THE MEK FILES volumes, the most recent A.B.C. Warriors story arcs (RETURN TO MARS, RETURN TO EARTH, and RETURN TO RO-BUSTERS) have all been issued in identically-sized hardcovers, as have 2 volumes of RO-BUSTERS: THE COMPLETE NUTS AND BOLTS (which can arguably be called part of the same series, featuring Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws).
ReplyDeleteI know that all 4 volumes of THE VOLGAN WARS were also available in hardcover (I don't think THE SOLO MISSIONS received the same treatment), but I don't know if The Volgan Wars hardcovers were the same size as the earlier Mek Files and later hardcovers. The Volgan Wars hardcovers are out-of-print now and pricey, so I'm hoping someday for a MEK FILES 04 volume collecting all 4 plus the solo missions.
Yet it makes me wonder why other classic 2000 AD characters that were/are just as popular (if not more so) than A.B.C. Warriors weren't afforded the same honor of this deluxe treatment in hardcover?
Yes, all ABC/Ro-Busters related HC have the same size http://www.thearchdeviant.org/2012/10/abc-warriors-uk-market.html (see the last picture in this aticle). Indedd the solo mission were not printed in HC form. My guess is Sláine will probably be next to receive the Mek-Files treatment.
DeleteThanks for that URL, vark! I'm always looking for online resources for information regarding the multiple versions of 2000 AD collected editions. I've assembled some rough lists, so I'm starting to sort most of it out. I've almost assembled the complete Ro-Busters/A.B.C. Warriors chronology in book form (just missing the first 2 volumes of The Volgan Wars now, but I bought the 3rd and 4th volumes in TPB before I was aware that hardcover editions existed ). Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteLet me see whether I've got this right. If I understand correctly, the chronological reading order should go something like this:
ReplyDeleteA.B.C. Warriors: The Mek-Files 01 HC/The Mek-Nificent Seven TP
Ro-Busters: The Complete Nuts and Bolts Vols. 1 & 2 HCs
Nemesis the Warlock: Deviant (or Termight) Edition/The Complete Nemesis the Warlock Vol. 1 TP
- Picking up the A.B.C. Warriors chronology with Book 4, The Gothic Empire, after which Nemesis and A.B.C. Warriors continue on their separate paths, with The Complete Nemesis the Warlock Vol. 2 & 3 TP/The Mek-Files 02 & 03 HCs, The Solo Missions, The Volgan War 1-4, Return to Mars/Earth/Ro-Busters.
Have I got that right?
It is a tough one Dennis, and kind of opening the Pandora's box! That's been ages that I haven't done the exercise but I will put my mind on it. Thing is, all linked stories have not been yet collected (I have Savage series in mind), so the list above is not complete nor chronologically accurate from a certain point of view (Return to Earth tells stories that precede the Ro-Busters' Mek Files).
DeleteI think that's one of the reasons I drifted away from 2000 AD in the early 1990s, as things got a little confusing for a non-UK resident after Titan Books lost the contract to reprint albums. Other features that typify the confusion would be Rogue Trooper (beginning with the whole WAR MACHINE thing, which is explained away later as 'not-a-reboot', but a *different* Genetic Infantryman named Friday), and Strontium Dog (beginning with THE KREELER CONSPIRACY, which I later discovered was written by Wagner based on an unproduced movie treatment script, and is kind-of a retro/continuity-implant thing, but also sort of reboot-ish). Now that the internet is full of helpful information about that kind of stuff, I'm beginning to sort a lot of it out, but I can obviously never have the kind of understanding about the stories that someone who had been following 2000 AD weekly for the last few decades has.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of stuff is still going on with 2000 AD, even though they "kind of" straightened out things like Rogue Trooper and Strontium Dog. I recently read the first 2 BAD COMPANY trade paperback collections (GOODBYE, KROOL WORLD and KANO) and started to read the 3rd, FIRST CASUALTIES, reprinting the BC story from 2015-16. Even though it's written by Peter Milligan, who should obviously know, it contains a lot of discontinuities (in the form of characters who died but are now alive a decade later, which goes unexplained in the story), which makes it almost like some alternate-future Bad Company story where the timeline deviates from previous stories even before the ending of the very first BC story arc!
ReplyDeleteI mean, don't get me wrong... I totally understand how the comic industry works, and in a feature like Judge Dredd, it's perfectly understandable/expected that after 40 years of weekly appearances and stories (in addition to 28 years of the monthly Megazine, and about a dozen solo strips featuring characters whose adventures occur in the same world), even editors and writers with an excellent working knowledge of the history are going to let various discrepancies and discontinuities creep into the stories. What's harder to understand is how it happens in those features whose history is much shorter in terms of the number of stories involved, especially in cases where (unlike Rogue Trooper, for example) the feature is (almost) entirely the product of a single writer. I know John Wagner has expressed his regret over ever killing off Johnny Alpha. I guess I have to chalk the Bad Company story First Casualties up to a similar feeling, in hindsight, that what was originally intended as a one-off story arc had such continuing popularity in the minds of readers that they wanted to see something like "getting the band back together" (i.e. a return of the original group of Bad Company characters that had mostly been killed off by the end of the first story).
ReplyDeleteThere are probably indeed continuities glitch in the Savage/ABC Warriors/Nemesis story lines, but I find it nice that Pat Mills tries for some times now to fill some of the gaps in the ABC time line, and also create a unifying universe with his Savage strip.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's good that he tries to fit most of his 2000 AD creations into his own "Millsverse", and it's definitely less of a problem if for example, the original Mek-Nificent Seven story arc was designed as a prequel explaining the backstory of Hammerstein prior to Ro-Busters. Trying to fit series like Invasion and Nemesis that weren't originally conceived as part of the background universe of Ro-Busters is a little more problematic. Still, I appreciate that Mills is trying in his own way, while you maybe get a little bit of an impression that it doesn't so much matter to a writer like John Wagner or Peter Milligan, as long as they can get to tell the story they wanted to tell, or at least the story that they thought the readers would want to read.
ReplyDeleteHi Dennis. Someone has also opened the pandora's box on a 2000 AD forum thread (perhaps it was you). Here it is http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php?topic=43146.45
ReplyDeletelots to read!