Tag: interview

It’s a trying time for us all right now and we’ve never needed a good laugh more than now – and that’s just what the Cor!! Buster Easter Special will deliver. Page after page of funnies from the glorious golden age of Brit humour comics, brought up to date by the best in the biz.

Buy now in print and digital >>

There’s so much in here, some you might know, some you might not and all perfect for the next generation of comic readers who, after all this social distancing and staying at home, will be desperate to get their hands on something great to put a smile on their faces.

And here, we’re talking to Ned Hartley, writer on both Grimly Feendish (with artist Tom Paterson) and Ivor Lott & Tony Broke with Milly O’Naire & Penny Less (with artist Mick Cassidy).

The Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020 goes on sale Wednesday 8th April 2020 from all good newsagents, whatever comic shops may still be open (please support them however you can!), and through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics web shops.

So, let’s talk Grimly Feendish first. What’s it like being the man to bring the words to a Leo Baxendale creation?

Ned Hartley: It’s so much fun to be able to work on something this brilliant and silly, I absolutely love the concept behind Grimly Feendish – it mixes horror and crime, but in a ridiculous way. What’s not to love? Obviously working on a Leo Baxendale creation is a huge honour, my dad has original Leo Baxendale artwork on his wall at home, so I wanted to get this right!

What can we expect from the story this time round, more of the usual crooked carrying on from the ‘Rottenest Crook in the World’?

NH: DOGS! Big, evil scary, ridiculous dogs! Comics is a visual medium, so I love putting big stupid monsters in my comics, and I know that Tom will be able to make them look incredible.

In this story, Grimly decides he wants to win the local dog show.

Yep… it doesn’t go too well…

I know it’s a single page tale, is there any particular difficulty in delivering a satisfying and funny tale within the confines of just one page?

NH: I think it’s very much like telling a joke. You need a setup and you need a punchline. You need the setup of “Why did the chicken cross the road?” and the punchline of “Because Grimly Feendish had genetically altered it to become a monstrous super chicken.” But better, obviously.

In a sense, Tom Paterson is perhaps the one artist in the comic who has a foot in both the old and the new, having already spent many years himself working on some of these classic characters. What does it feel like to be getting to see his art to your story?

NH: Absolutely one of the best experiences of my professional life. How good is Tom? He’s an absolute legend! He is so funny – look for all the incredible jokes he hides in every panel.

And, just as an aside, do you find yourself singing the Damned song Grimly Fiendish whenever you think of Baxendale’s character?

NH: Bad lad, bad boy, bad lad, bad boy

Yep… wears a coat that’s black and long.

Going onto Ivor Lott & Tony Broke, it’s another of those so simple strips of two contrasting characters, one good, one bad, one poor, one rich… and of course, you’re also featuring another two characters here with almost identical themes, Milly O’Naire & Penny Less.

But like so many strips with a very strict and simple story device (for example, Spy Vs Spy in Mad and so many British strips such as Faceache), the joy is how the writers play with that simple concept, how far they can push the joke, or at least that’s how I see it.
What do you think?

NH: I think opposites are always good for storytelling because there’s a shorthand for understanding who the main characters are. Ivor and Tony live in a very rigid moral universe, Tony always has to win at the end. Everyone likes an underdog story, so that works really nicely.  

Hopefully, we’ll see more of these kids specials coming from the Treasury of British Comics. And thinking ahead, what other characters would you love to get your hands on in the future from the massive archive at the Treasury of British Comics?

NH: Odd Ball is such a strange idea that I’d love to do something with that. A sentient rubber ball? I love it!

The Cor!! Buster Specials, last year and this new Easter Special for 2020 is all about getting the comic into younger readers’ hands.

Have you had any feedback from people indicating that we’ve seen new readers picking the comic up?

NH: I’ve done some comic workshops for younger readers at various comic shops and it has gone down really well with the kids there! My daughters both told me they liked it too, but they know that they have say that because I have a very fragile ego.

What do you think is the way forward for kids comics? Is it something along the lines of the Cor! & Buster Special publishing a few issues per year and then delivering a bigger collection, or is it some type of original graphic novel format perhaps?

NH: I think both work really well for different sales channels, different stories and different age groups. I’d love to see kids exploring both. I think you can have fun monthly comics and then bigger graphic novels that kids can really get stuck into. I think that bigger bookshops are starting to see that kids want graphic novels, so we’ll see more of those in the next couple of years.

As for Cor!! Buster, I want to see them produced weekly, each selling a million copies!

Get ready for laughter with the return of the Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020, where the Treasury of British Comics brings you a very special special for the second year running. In these very difficult times, we could all do with a giggle, a guffaw, the odd chuckle, or just the chance to plain old laugh our socks off!

Buy now in print and digital >>

And opening the Special list year, just as they did last year, it’s writer John Freeman and artist Lew Stringer to give us another egg-citing adventure featuring a true gaggle of famous (and obscure) characters from the past of Brit humour comics in Buster & Delbert!

The Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020 goes on sale Wednesday 8th April 2020 from all good newsagents, whatever comic shops may still be open (please support them however you can!), and through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics web shops.

John, Lew, last year, you gave us Who’s In Charge?, featuring comics’ greatest editorial team-up of all time. This year, you’re both involved again with Buster & Delbert.

Now, I’d guess most people will be at least familiar with Buster, but fewer will know who Delbert is. So, first of all, could you fill us in on just who these two main characters are?

John Freeman: Lew can expand on this, but Delbert is a member of Buster’s gang, a group of kids who all feature in this story. Being incredibly ancient, my memories of Buster stretch back to the 1960s and 70s, but editor Keith Richardson is a sprightly young thing in comparison – and rightly pointed me toward 1990s Buster last year as a source of characters he rightly felt more potential readers would remember.

I dug out later copies of Buster from a box and plundered the local secondhand shops for copies and came across some hugely inventive stories, and quickly got to grips with the dynamics of Buster’s “gang”, I hope. I even found a map of the park the Buster gang run through in one issue!

Buster was in the comic from the start back in May 1960, drawn by the brilliant Bill Titcombe, who is still with us I believe, although I haven’t spoken to him for a while, and was originally sold to comic readers as the son of the Daily Mirror’s Andy Capp, which I gather Capp’s creator, Reg Smythe, positively hated. Buster is only mentioned once in the newspaper strip, I believe, although Andy does cameo briefly in a couple of Buster strips. The character had some great artists working on the strip down the years, including a personal favourite, Reg Parlett, Tom Paterson and Jimmy Hansen.

Lew Stringer: Buster originated in 1960 when he headlined BUSTER, the first of Fleetway’s new style comics that was offering something different to the old Comic Cuts style of weekly that had become tired and old fashioned. It was the new age of cheeky kid characters (instigated by The Beano in the 1950s) although Buster was more of a lovable rogue than a menace like Dennis! 

Delbert joined the strip much later, around the late 1980s, when editors decided to give Buster a gang, rather than the stories being just about him. There hadn’t been many black characters in humour comics until then, unless shown in a horribly derogatory racist way, so hopefully, the readers appreciated Delbert being Buster’s best pal. 

So, what’s the story in Buster & Delbert all about?

JF: Hopefully, we’ve managed to write a strip that older fans will love, new fans will enjoy without needing to know nearly 60 years of back story, and pick up a couple of gags from last year’s Special!

LS: It’s a busy, fast-paced script from John featuring Easter eggs, chase scenes, crowds of funny characters, and a slap-up feed. All the elements of a traditional UK humour strip!

JF: Editor Keith Richardson gave us an Easter theme brief. I grew up in St. Ives in Cornwall, where they have an annual ‘Feast Day’ that celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of the Parish Church of St Eia in 1434, and offers a rare chance to watch the game of Hurling the Silver Ball, a centuries’ old form of rugby.

So bearing in mind the Easter theme of the Special this year, after a pitching a number of ideas we have Buster and Delbert in an Egg Race – and hoping to keep the ceremonial egg until the end of the race, by fair means or foul (geddit?). Lew literally ran with it, adding all sorts of wonderful characters as cameos in the background from decades of humour comics.

It’s a real who’s who of some fabulous characters, with many familiar faces and quite a few not so familiar.

Was it a case of getting together and deciding who was going to be in the strip, or was it more Lew dropping the characters into the background?

JF: Absolutely not as regards many of the background characters, although I did of course come up with the crew of Ken Reid’s Queen of the Seas relegated to hapless delivery drivers, using the Bumpkin Billionaires, and Shake (from Shiver and Shake) makes a cameo in his new guise as a Dragon’s Den-styled entrepreneurial elephant.

Lew has an incredible, encyclopaedic knowledge of British comic humour characters – he should be writing a book while we’re bogged down with this flippin’ Coronavirus Pandemic – and added in some fantastic cameos. I’m sure he can tell you who they all are, he even had some uber fans scratching their heads with some of them when Rebellion released a preview page!

LS: John suggested some who are in there (such as the ones who have dialogue of course) but it was mostly left to me. I’m a big fan of the 1960s comics and earlier so I thought I’d put in some characters from Wham! and Smash! Along with some even more obscure ones like Alfie the Air Tramp from the 1930s. 

Hopefully, we’ll see more of these kids specials coming from the Treasury of British Comics. And thinking ahead, what other characters would you love to get your hands on in the future from the massive archive at the Treasury of British Comics.

LS: Having drawn various ones in the crowd scenes this time I’d like to tackle some of the Smash! characters such as Bad Penny or Wiz War. I like drawing the vintage characters such as Weary Willie and Tired Tim, but they’re too outdated to return in anything but a cameo. Then again, I’ve worked on some 1930s characters for D.C. Thomson (Keyhole Kate, Big Eggo, and Julius Sneezer) so who knows? 

JF: It’s been a privilege to have had the chance to play with just some of Rebellion’s classic characters and I really hope sales success will lead to an increased frequency of these Specials, even a more regular humour title. Obviously they were good enough last year to get this Special greenlit, but let’s put the Pandemic in its place and make them even better this year, eh?

If there’s ever a regular humour comic from Rebellion, I’d love to write a new Mowser, the mangy cat strip who first appeared in Lion. You can’t go wrong with cats in comics in my book!

There are a number of adventure characters I have a soft spot for, too – Steel Claw and Adam Eterno among them.

As we talked about last year, it’s a great thing to see the Cor! & Buster Special out there, bringing these classics to (hopefully) new readers as well as those readers picking it up with nostalgic memories.

Have you had any feedback from people indicating that we’ve seen new readers picking the comic up?

LS: Yes, I’ve heard from people who have said how much their kids enjoyed it. Hopefully, it appeals to all ages.

JF: From what I can gather, sales of last year’s Special were good, which is what all involved hoped.

We’ve also seen Rebellion open up the kids market with the hugely sucessful Regened issues of 2000 AD.

But, it’s also possible to find dissenting voices, those who complain that these new versions of what they remember simply aren’t as good. And it’s more often than not a case of refusing to acknowledge that the comics of their youth, the things they loved, may not be quite right for an audience of very media-savvy kids.

JF: I think the comments made by fans of the original comics are sometimes interesting, but as Lew has pointed out, many times, comics have always evolved and moved on. The Dennis the Menace of the 1950s is nothing like the Dennis and Gnasher of Beano and CBBC, but he’s still hugely popular. I can see the same being done with classic Rebellion characters and welcome it.

You simply don’t sit still as a creator or publisher, you innovate, experiment, build on your audience. In the case of humour comics, the staple part of that audience is not fifty to sixty-year-olds who remember it first time around. Rebellion have released far more archive collections than any other British comics publisher and have had considerable success with Roy of the Rovers with a fantastic updating of the character and setting, and all power to them for doing that.

LS: Yes, some forget that everyone’s “golden age” is just a few years of their childhood and their disinterest in kids comics is simply because they’ve grown out of them! Today’s kids still love comics, when they can find them! I meet a lot of families at conventions (or did, before we shifted into this nightmare parallel world) and the kids are just as enthusiastic about today’s comics as we were at their age about the classics. 

Absolutely Lew, there’s certainly an appetite for kids comics. You can see that around the world with such authors as Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey selling their graphic novels in the millions year after year. Kids want to read comics, that’s a definite.

So, what would you like to see happening with both the Treasury of British Comics reprint collections and these new re-workings of classic characters in the Cor!! Buster Special?

LS: What I’d like to see and what may happen are two different things. A new weekly is not going to happen but I’d like to see Buster (or another humour title) return on some sort of regular basis. Perhaps monthly, or more realistically, as a seasonal quarterly special. Depending how the publishing industry gets through the current pandemic, it might be that books are more likely, in the way that the thrice-a-year Roy of the Rovers albums are working. I just hope that we see something!

JF: A regular humour comic, even if only quarterly at first, and a new adventure comic, too. Rebellion should build out from a subscription base on these projects, just like The Phoenix Comic has done, because the newsstand simply isn’t new launch friendly any longer, unless you already have a brand those “media savvy” kids recognise.

I’m patient. I’ve got my Trigan Empire. Projects like David Roach’s Masters of British Comics have helped stir all those nostalgia cells in my ageing brain. I laughed out loud at Alec Worley and Hilary Barta’s Kid Kong in this year’s Special. We’re in a good place right now in terms of the amount of classic material we’re being treated to, far more than we have for years. I’m an optimist, but the sales evidence is there to show that optimism is not misplaced. Exciting times are ahead, no matter what this bug throws at us. Let’s go!

Now, we’ll end with a simple one… What do you think is the way forward for kids comics?

JF: Obviously, with any creative enterprise, there will be some missteps, and not everyone is going to like everything that is being published, but the ongoing success of 2000AD, Beano and The Phoenix shows it is possible to make a success of the newsstand with some determination and ingenuity, for all the barriers in place courtesy and retailer idiosyncrasies and awkwardness.

Look at sales of Beano – they’ve come back from the brink and are around 48,000 a week, on average, with a huge element of subscriptions in that figure that was almost zero a few years ago. There’s still demand for comics; comic creators aplenty will tell you how much schoolchildren enjoy creating them when they do workshops, for example. Comics are hugely important for reluctant readers, too. Those that say comics aren’t for “media savvy” kids are, in my book, simply wrong.

Obviously, we don’t yet know how the Coronavirus Pandemic is going to play out and the impact it may have on the retailer environment. Worryingly, we do know that there will be comic shops that sadly will not survive this, unless their customers stay loyal and return to them. Goodness only knows what will happen to WHSmith. But local corner shops are benefitting from what’s happening, and hopefully will be even keener to offer a larger range of comics and magazines in future, when in recent years they have been stymied from ordering them for their customers by some distributors, which is utterly bonkers; and perhaps supermarkets will expand their range, although some already carry a huge range of titles.

Rebellion has been building its 2000AD brand in general, and the Treasury of British Comics, and it’s amazing just what a footprint they have achieved with, I assume, a small but dedicated marketing team and a budget in comparison with, for example, game companies, who in normal times don’t think twice about writing a cheque for £20,000 to boost the coffers of an event, seeing it as small change in the building of brand.

Comics publishing, like other forms of publishing, is a commercial enterprise. You pitch to the biggest potential audience. That is not a few fans in relatively small social media groups, simply because the algorithms of those platforms appear to give them a louder voice. You have to have your own vision; by all means listen and appreciate, but make your own creative choices based on facts and figures not misinformed conjecture.

If comics weren’t a vibrant, powerful medium, which has expanded massively over the past twenty years in terms of reach and audience, why are there so many comics projects on Kickstarter? Why are so many determined creative teams publishing their own independent comics anthologies and stories? Because comics are still relevant, that’s why – for all of us.

Well, you did ask!

It’s a trying time for us all right now and we’ve never needed a good laugh more than now – and that’s just what the Cor!! Buster Easter Special will deliver. Page after page of funnies from the glorious golden age of Brit humour comics, brought up to date by the best in the biz.

Buy now in print and digital >>

There’s so much in here, some you might know, some you might not and all perfect for the next generation of comic readers who, after all this social distancing and staying at home, will be desperate to get their hands on something great to put a smile on their faces.

And here, we’re talking to Rositsa Vangelova and Paul Goodenough, artist and writer on Deadly Hedley, vampire detective, who takes his sleuthing skills over to the neon-lit delights of Sin City, Las Vegas in this repeat outing!

The Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020 goes on sale Wednesday 8th April 2020 from all good newsagents, whatever comic shops may still be open (please support them however you can!), and through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics web shops.

Rositsa, Paul, lovely to speak to you both. Rositsa, it’s great to have you onboard for your first work here at the Rebellion family

Rositsa Vangelova: Hi Richard, thank you for giving me the chance to share some information about me and the cool project through this interview. Sorry for the late reply, but my kid was sick ( he is fine now) and I’m in the last month of a pregnancy and just couldn’t concentrate. Hopefully, it’s not too late! It’s been complete chaos here in Bulgaria as well. Hopefully everything will go back to normal soon and people can go out as usual again. Staying at home all the time it is really difficult.

Congratulations! Another 2000 AD family baby! Glad to hear you’re keeping safe and yes, we all hope it’s all going to go back to normal asap! As for Deadly Hedley, this is your first strip I can remember seeing (forgive me if I’m wrong) – what’s your background?

RV: I come from an animation background, having studied 2D animation in New Bulgarian University, Sofia city. I have been an illustrator for series of children books. Currently, I work for a gaming company in the casino industry. I also work as a freelance illustrator and 2D artist.

Is Deadly Hedley a strip you remember from your youth or are you far too young for that? If so, was it a case of going back over the old strips and studying the style of the old one?

RV: I’ve loved comics since I was a kid. When I read and look at them, I imagine that the comics are like little storyboards for animation and my imagination is playing the “movie” in my head. The old comics with the simple style and great, fun stories and characters had always amazed me. I’ve been learning from old comic artists a lot through my work experience. That’s why I was so excited to have the opportunity to study the style of these artists even more deeply and to draw a Deadly Headley comic.

And have you adjusted your style at all for this one?

RV: This is the first comic that I had done so far. Usually, for my illustrations and characters design, I use many colours all at once, but for this comic I’ve tried to stay consistent with the style of Deadly Hedley. To do that I did research and looked at many references before starting to draw. I had so much fun with this one and the process resembled a lot my usual workflow. To sum it up I usually have to almost always adjust to a specific style for the task at hand. I see it as a good thing, and a chance to grow as an artist.

Hopefully, we’ll see more of these kids specials coming from the Treasury of British Comics. And thinking ahead, what other characters would you love to get your hands on in the future from the massive archive at the Treasury of British Comics?

RV: I like that kind of spooky characters like Deadly Headly and the atmosphere that those characters create. I think it would be fun for me to draw a comic for Frankie Stein and/or Scream Inn.

Paul Goodenough: I’m a massive British comics fan – I’ve got everything from Valiant to Battle to Cor!! and Buster (of course) But for me, the one I miss most and think is most overdue for a renewal is Storm Force… I’m a massive fan of that strip and I’m desperate for it to make a comeback. It managed to connect my tiny child mind to a worldwide landscape of maniacal spider villains and weird with an amazing disregard for human life. What’s not to like?!?

Have you had any feedback from people indicating that we’ve seen new readers picking the comic up?

PG: Absolutely. Last year I bought a box full and gave them to local schools and reading groups, and from that I know a whole bunch of new young readers have picked up their own copies, and started reading comics.

Amazingly for me, many of them had never actually read a comic despite having Spider-man bags and Batman t-shirts. I find it such a shame that despite our best efforts, kids just aren’t really as connected or as able to get comics as my generation was – but I’m doing all I can to change that. 

What do you think is the way forward for kids comics? Is it something along the lines of the Cor!! Buster Special publishing a few issues per year and then delivering a bigger collection, or is it some type of original graphic novel format such as we see with Telgemeier and Pilkey?

PG: It’s a hard one. I personally love regular comics, so every Saturday becomes ‘comic day’ when kids can have their weekly fix. I personally find that an annual launch means there’s impetus lost over the year, and you need to reintroduce the characters and the brands again as readers will have forgotten what’s gone before. 

I do realise that Rebellion have a really tough job however, they’re doing amazing things when no one else was prepared to take the risk; so I’m personally really grateful that the team there is so invested in bringing the best in British comics back to life again. 

And what do you hope to see happening with some more adult-focused comics in the future?

PG: For more adult-focused brands, I’d love to see something akin to the Marvel Max imprint with brands like Punisher and Moon Knight. What I’d love to see is Rebellion commissioning or allowing a grittier reimagining of much-loved characters with some really inspirational and original storytellers. Storytellers who are prepared to take risks and make it ‘theirs’ rather than just playing it safe. I think this is needed if the brands are to penetrate a crowded marketplace while appealing to the core audience which let’s face it, is middle-aged men. In terms of comedy comics, I’d love to see them released three times a year (Spring, Summer and Winter specials), but given Covid-19, I can’t see that being possible anytime soon.

Thank you so much to Paul and Rositsa for finding the time amidst illness and quarantine to answer a few questions. Stay safe and keep happy everyone! Look out for one another, wash your hands, and remember that we’re all going to get through this… together apart!

The Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020 goes on sale Wednesday 8th April 2020 from all good newsagents, whatever comic shops may still be open (please support them however you can!), and through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics web shops.

Back in the 1970s, Action horrified prudes and censors alike, it really was the comic they tried to ban! But now, with the Action 2020 Special, it’s back and it’s looking better than ever!

Inside, you’ll find five all-out action strips, including the return of Hookjaw, Dredger, Kids Rule OK, and Hellman of Hammer Force featuring the return of Garth Ennis to Rebellion and artist Mike Dorey to the strip he court-created. And to round out the comic, you’ll discover a brand-new strip by the incredible team of Henry Flint and Jake Lynch, Hell Machine! And you can get your hands on it now from the Treasury of British Comics webshop.

The original Action ran weekly from February 1976 until a backlash over the violent content resulted in the 37th issue being pulled and pulped. The Sun called it ‘the sevenpenny nightmare’ and Mary Whitehouse & the National Viewers and Listeners Association campaigned to get the comic out of the hands of those impressionable ’70s kids. It was truly a comic that changed the face of Brit comics forever. And now, there’s a chance to find out just what it was all about as Action returns!

Richard Bruton caught up with writer/artist Henry Flint and artist Jake Lynch, although Jake appeared to be having a bit of a reaction to the intense fear of the whole thing…

Hell Machine, it’s a completely new strip for the Action Special 2020, nestling up against classics like Hookjaw, Kids Rule OK, Dredger, and Hellman of Hammer Force. So, Henry & Jake, let me guess, it’s one of those cutesy ‘short circuit’ type things where the sweet robot gets accidentally sent to hell and spends the entire strip making everything lovely and nice? Or maybe not…

Henry Flint: An incompetent government from the near future has accidentally commissioned an underground death machine that eats its citizens. Our hero is a tough 14-year-old girl called Taze. She rebels and is captured, placed on a conveyor belt and fed into the machine to be chopped into bits by saws and blades and other nasty traps.

It fits into one of my favourite genres, a fight-for-survival where the odds are stacked up against the hero, and 70’s boys’ comics did these kind of stories so well. So it’s a chance to have a go and get stuck in. Luckily Action is a great place for the story.

Jake Lynch: I still don’t know what’s it’s about, all I know is they made me sign in blood…IN BLOOD!!

Since then, things have started to become unglued, like reality has become elastic, a scratching behind the eyeballs, feels like something’s getting closer…CLOSER… What’s going on..?

I’m assuming you’re keeping all of the ultra-violence of a typical Action strip in place though?

HF: Yes, most definitely. It wouldn’t be Action if it didn’t have ultra-violence. But not in a detached way, hopefully the readers will empathise with the hero here, otherwise the violence wouldn’t mean anything. At the heart of every Action strip is a character to root for, whose shoes the kids reading can step into and ask themselves what they’d do in that situation. If you’re supporting the underdog you’ll keep reading however nasty it gets.

JL: It certainly has a bit of gore. Is that scratching behind the door..?

How are you splitting the art duties on this one?

HF: I’m writing and drawing the first six pages and Jake is taking over drawing the final nine pages. It’s been written in two parts so there’s a natural break between episodes, in the comic it can be split up.

So, it’s a slightly different writer/artist setup, with an artist producing work to another artist’s script. It’s always struck me that this must be a strange situation to be in, a different dynamic than usual. Was it a little daunting for you here, Jake?

JL: Henry did the first six pages and I did the following nine. I really enjoyed doing it. Henry has a good writing style and I think it’s really aided by his artist’s eye. He has very definite shots in mind and that’s very useful because, hey, it’s Henry Flint, he knows what shots are going to work. Far be it for me to question it, I was just trying to learn from it.

That being said, it was very intimidating submitting the artwork. I have admire Henry’s stuff forever, but he has been very kind and gracious with what was produced. Personally, I’d like to see Henry continue his story so I can go back to where I belong – a fan.

(…It’s okay, there was nothing in the hallway, it was my imagination, silly me…)

HF: Jake has done a great job. I’ve loved getting the pages via email and seeing his interpretation. If Jake was daunted it didn’t show in his art. I have complete faith in his vision.

Now I know what it’s like to be a writer and see the finished pages, and it’s such a privilege to be on the other side for once. I’m not going to take writers for granted any more, not that I ever did but it’s a tough job. Ideas are easy to come by but communicating those ideas, sorting them out into something tangible is really the trick, it’s another skill entirely. I won’t be leaving the day job anytime soon.

I wasn’t quite old enough to get Action first time round and I think we’re about the same ages, so do you have any memories of Action or have you discovered it over the years?

HF: Action was always the scary one. I didn’t pick it up either, too young. I was still reading Buster and Whizzer & Chips at the time.

I did buy a bumper collection, but I’m sure it’s not the same as reading it as a kid. I love all the haircuts that cover the ears. Growing up in the 70’s you never got to see anyone’s ears until Madness. People look at long hair and flares and think of love and peace but I see older kids kicking younger kids. It was the same in Action, tough guys looking like hippies. Guess it was all the lead in the petrol driving everyone slightly crazy. 

JL: Same here really. Before I got into 2000 AD I used to read Look-In! The adventures of CHiPs and the A-Team were a bit tame by comparison I understand…!

…AIIIEEEeeeee…!

And with that, we left the Lynch-droid quivering in the corner, fighting off the imaginary monster… well, we thought it was imaginary, but we’ve been trying to get in touch with him to see if he’s all right and the phone just keeps on ringing.

Thanks to both Henry Flint and Jake Lynch for talking to us and filling us in on the thrills of Hell Machine in the new Action Special 2020, on sale from newsagents and comic book shops now.

Back in the 1970s, Action horrified prudes and censors alike – it really was the comic they tried to ban! But now, with the Action 2020 Special, it’s back and it’s looking better than ever!

The new Special features some of the absolute classics that made Action such a headline maker at the time (The Sun branded it “the sevenpenny nightmare”), brought to some of the greatest creators of today. Inside you’ll find the return of Garth Ennis to write the German Panzer action of Hellman of Hammer Force alongside artist Mike Dorey. You’ll find the classic killer shark tale , Hookjaw, by Dan Lish and Keith Richardson, merciless secret agent action with Dredger by Zina Hutton and Staz Johnson, and the return of the strip that really managed to offend Mary Whitehouse, Kids Rule OK, with its ultra-violent tale of kids in a world without adults by Ram V and Henrick Stahlstrom. And finally, an all-new strip with Hell Machine by Henry Flint and Jake Lynch.

The Action 2020 Special will be on sale from newsagents and comic book shops on Wednesday 23rd March.

A special edition, only available from the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webshops, will come bagged with a reproduction of the ‘banned’ issue of Action from October 1976.

Here, we’re chatting to Keith Richardson, editor of the Specials line and writer, as Quint Amity, of the new Hookjaw strip – featuring the return of the greatest of Great Whites, with a fisherman’s hook in his jaw, who ate his way through the supporting cast in Action. And we’ve kept it spoiler-free because, as Keith tells us, there’s a great surprise for readers in there!

Keith, as the editor on the Action Special 2020, was Hookjaw one of those strips you had your eye on from the start?

Keith Richardson: Yes, I’m the editor of all the specials including this one. Hook Jaw came about late in the day to be honest.

I had a strong line up that didn’t include the strip to begin with. It was a risk, but I just wanted to include another brand new strip (the other one being Hell Machine by Henry Flint and Jake Lynch). I had a few pitches, but nothing that really packed an Action-sized punch. It soon became apparent to my colleague Oliver Pickles and I that you can’t really have an Action comic that doesn’t include Hook Jaw. So I got a few other pitches for it and again, nothing really jumped out at me.

Oliver and I had an idea for a dialogue-less story that I think is a little different and when Dan (Lish) came to mind as the artist, all of a sudden I just knew that that script had to become a reality. His talent is off the scale. I’ve never been so excited waiting for pages to turn up in my inbox.

So, what’s it all about? And are you going to be having all the bloody violence and nastiness of the original?

KR: The Hook Jaw strip is seven pages. I can’t give too much away, because there is a nice surprise addition to the cast.

But in good old Hook Jaw fashion, it’s brutal and very bloody. He gets to munch some fish, some people and has an attempt at eating something else!

Keith, as the man in charge of the archive, how does it feel to see so much of the material coming back into print, both as reprints and new material?

KR: It’s awful! Come on, it’s obviously great. I get to put out collections that I would love to have had when I was younger. And it is a real thrill being able to champion the work of creators who I feel deserve a lot more recognition for their work.

Certainly, with this Action Special, you’ve had more than enough to pick from – any particular reason for choosing these strips rather than the likes of Blackjack, Death Game 1999, or the hard-hitting footy strip of Look Out For Lefty?

KR: I feel like we have included the strongest – at least the best-known strips that featured in Action. Sport strips are a difficult one. It is hard to find talent that have a vested interest in doing a sports strip these days.

What about more from Action? More from Hook jaw? Any plans as yet, Keith?

KR: There are plans, lots of plans. We will have to wait and see how this goes down.

Thank you so much to Keith for chatting to us amongst the chaos of the world right now! As we’ve told you already, 2000 AD and The Treasury of British Comics are continuing to publish weekly and monthly comics, including the Action Special 2020, but it’s vital that you get out there and spread the word! Comic shops around the country have had to close, but some newsagents and supermarkets remain open. If your local comic shop is offering mail order, you can order the Action 2020 Special, along with 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine from there to help the comic shops survive through this. And if your local newsagent doesn’t stock the Prog or these specials – get on their case to do so!

It’s a difficult time right now, so keep well, keep safe, wash your hands, follow the advice. We’ll get through this together.

Of all the strips in the new Action 2020 Special, none are perhaps more exciting than Hellman Of Hammer Force… and now acclaimed writer Garth Ennis (Preacher) and the definitive Hellman artist and co-creator, Mike Dorey, have brought the tank commander back in The Twilight Of The Reich.

Originally created by writer Gerry Finley-Day and Mike Dorey, Hellman was one of those classic examples of turning expectations around, making the enemy the unconventional hero, in this case, a German Panzer major. It was part of what made Action a 1970s phenomenon, terrifying the likes of The Sun (which called it “the sevenpenny nightmare”) and Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers and Listeners Association, which campaigned to “protect” the kids who absolutely loved the comic!

And now Hellman is back as part of the Action Special 2020, alongside the return of other favourites, Hookjaw, Dredger, and Kids Rule OK, as well as the brand-new all-action tale of Hell Machine. It all kicks-off this week in newsagents and comic book shops, as well as the Treasury of British Comics webshop and the 2000 AD app.

I suppose the first thing we should ask is exactly what the story is about this time – is it a return to a specific time in Hammer Force’s history, in which case are we looking at Europe, Africa, the Russian Front?

Garth Ennis: The story fits into my favourite Hellman run, when Hammer Force was no more and Hellman was falling back under the relentless Russian advance in 1945, along with his last surviving tank crew- Big Max, Dekker, Heiler and Kessel.

Those episodes – actually in Battle rather than Action – had a real feeling of doom descending on the whole German nation, as the vengeful Soviets killed everyone in their path, soldiers and civvies alike. At the same time, the strip didn’t flinch from revealing the worst excesses of the Nazis – at one point I recall our heroes running across a death camp, whose inmates had only just been liquidated. 

And without giving the story away, what can we expect from the return of Hammer Force?

GE: So we join our ragged little band and their Panther tank as they struggle to stay one step ahead of the Red hordes, falling back on Berlin along with the rest of the German army. A chance encounter with a little group of civilians sees the tank men battling for their lives, and some nasty secrets coming out of the woodwork. The story’s title is The Twilight of the Reich, which I think sums things up quite neatly.

How did the project come about for both of you? Garth, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen you in the pages of anything from Rebellion and Mike, as far as I can find out, you’ve been largely absent from comics for a long while.

Mike Dorey: The first I heard about Rebellion publishing the Action Special was when Garth emailed and asked if I would like to illustrate a 10 page Hellman story.  Of course, I said I’d love to.

GE: Rob Williams gave me the heads-up about the new line of specials, and I got in touch with editor Keith Richardson to offer my services.

Garth, obviously your love of telling war stories is well-known, with such titles as War Stories, Rifle Brigade, Battlefields, Johnny Red, and World Of Tanks. But I imagine that something like Hellman of Hammer Force is a bit of a dream project, especially getting to work with the original series artist?

GE: By a complete coincidence, another friend of mine put me in touch with Mike, who he’d met at a con the week before, and I wasted no time asking him if he’d like to draw Hellman again.

Obviously I leapt at the chance to work with the strip’s original artist, who both began it in Action in 1976 and ended in it in Battle two years later. I’ve always been a big Mike Dorey fan; his work is dynamic, dark and brutal, but at the same time there’s a wonderfully subtle sense of character in there. 

What was it that really attracted you to war stories, especially given that, unfortunately, it’s a genre of comics that has fallen foul to the dominance of superhero work? I know you’re not exactly a fan of superheroes and your career has been one of finding other genres to work in or, when you do touch on superheroes, mercilessly subverting the supers genre. Because after all, it is just a genre of comics, one that’s dominated for far too long, to the detriment of the art itself.

GE: Agree completely. I read war comics as a kid – Battle, Warlord, Commando and the various Picture Libraries – and I suppose I have the same affection for them that everyone else has for superhero comics (were it not for a quirk of distribution in the part of Northern Ireland I grew up in I’d have been reading superheroes too, so obviously I dodged a bullet there- I’d have nothing really different to offer and would just be one more guy writing the X-Men!)

But the war comics I read led me to one crucial little insight, which was that – allowing for the hyperbole involved in comics at the time – they were based on reality, on things that people had actually done. To me, this has always given war stories a vitality that no fantasy story can ever possess.

Garth, you’re of a similar age to me, and I never saw Action the first time around. Was it the same for you, and if so, what was your first exposure to it?

GE: The funny thing was that I always used to think I’d read Action as a kid, but it wasn’t until I got a look at a full run as an adult that I realized that this was one of those tricks that memory plays on you. I’d seen a few issues back then, and I was familiar with the characters- Hookjaw was hard to miss, and Hellman, Dredger and Spinball Wars were all running in Battle when I started that in 1978.

But in fact, I hadn’t really read Action itself. I was a bit young for it; my first real encounter with the great British comics of the ‘70s was 2000 AD. So working on Hellman now is more about the character and stories I knew from Battle – having read them all now, I think that those stories are actually superior to the Hellman material in Action. Certainly, the Action art is just as good, but the writing towards the end of the Battle run is streets ahead.

Mike, over the years, we’ve seen a few reprints of the material, yet nothing comprehensive. I imagine I’d be right to think you’d love, as would we all, to see your Hellman work back in print from the Treasury of British Comics and Rebellion at some point?

MD: Yes, I would love to see a book of Hellman stories. Rebellion sent me copies of books featuring my work on Invasion, Ro-Busters, and Rogue Trooper which I thought worked well.

GE: On that note, it would be fantastic to see a complete collection of Hellman from the strip’s run in both comics- great stories, and all that fantastic art by Mike Dorey and Pat Wright. 

Going back to your work on the original Action, Mike, did you have any idea at the time that it was going to be so incendiary? After all, Hellman was really the first strip to attempt to show the war from the enemy point of view in comics and, back in the 70s, it was definitely a difficult subject to tackle, just three decades on from the end of WWII.

MD: For the first few episodes of Action I worked in the same room as Pat Mills and it was obvious that he relished the prospect of launching such a ‘hard-core’ comic – MORE BLOOD, MORE GORE!  we loved it!

Having drawn so many war stories featuring British heroes it was quite a treat to draw a German one – especially as I had recently been reading some of Sven Hassel’s books. It was after this that DCT decided that they too should have some German heroes and so I drew for them Iron Annie, Kampfgruppe Falken, Big Willi, and The Fighting Condor.

Your work on the original was in wonderfully stark b&w. And quite rightly, it’s coming back as a b&w strip. But was there ever a question about adding colour to it and how would you have felt about that?

MD: As the story concerns action on the Eastern Front it works best, I think, in b&w. One always thinks of how cold, miserable and grim it must have been – unlike, for instance, battle in a tropical area which would be better in colour.

As regards working in colour I remember that a story I drew in Eagle, Computer Warrior, went from b&w to colour and was much improved.  So I never had a problem with doing the colouring.

Mike, you brought a wonderful style, full of great textures, to your comics work, whether it was the war strips such as Hellman, Cadman, Big Willi, Iron Annie or Sergeant Rayker, or the strips, including Ro-Busters, M.A.C.H. Zero and Rogue Trooper in 2000 AD.

As I said earlier, you’ve been away from comics for the longest time, was it something you ever thought you’d come back to?

MD: Having been out of comics for close on 30 years it came as a complete surprise that people were interested in the work I did so long ago. I only found out about this when my wife and I were on holiday and just happened to come across The Lakes International Com Con.

But now I have been a guest at a few comic cons and they have whetted my appetite to get back into drawing some strips – so I was especially pleased to do the Hellman story.

Mike, it’s wonderful to hear that you’re finding out what we all knew – that there are so many fans of your work out there! So now that you’ve come back into the fold, can we expect/hope to see more from you soon? Maybe more Action and more Hellman?

MD: Yes! If the chance comes to some Hellman or some other story from the distant past – let me at it!

Garth, are the ideas for more strips already percolating around your head?

GE: As far as new material goes, I’m talking to Rebellion about a couple of projects and I’d certainly like to try my hand at other Battle characters- writing Johnny Red a few years back was a dream come true. Regarding Hellman in particular, I have no specific ideas right now- but if Mike was available for another Action Special you can bet I’d come up with something to suit him.

I should point out that PJ Holden and I have a new graphic novel out in May from Dead Reckoning, The Stringbags, based on the exploits of the Royal Navy’s Swordfish torpedo-bomber crews in WW2. 

Now that definitely sounds like it’s a date with Garth for the Battle Special that you’ll see later this year!

Make sure you pick up your copy of the Action 2020 Special on Wednesday 23rd March. There’s also te special edition, only available from the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webshops, which comes bagged with a reproduction of the ‘banned’ issue of Action from October 1976!

2000 AD 2170 is out now – the first of four 2000 AD Regened Progs for 2020, with the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic getting an all-ages spin. Classic characters and new strips in a 48-page special, perfect for readers new and old, with five strips designed for all-ages.

But no special Prog of 2000 AD would be complete without the bite-sized sci-fi masterpieces we know as Future Shocks – and the all-ages Regened Progs are no exception to that.

We spoke to writer Karl Stock and artist Luke Horsman about what to expect from Living Your Best Life…

Karl, first of all, what’s your Future Shock all about?

Karl Stock: Living Your Best Life is set in a near-future where humanity hasn’t only discovered that reincarnation is real, but that people can be so desperate to try a new life that they’ll pay to be in the next. What happens when a spoiled brat with more money and ammo than sense turns up and demands to be made new?

The Future Shock is the time-honoured entry point for creators to 2000 AD, but with Regened, seeing as the 2019 Regened Prog was the best-selling issue of the year, there’s even more exposure. How did it feel to get the gig and how did it come about?

KS: I knew there was a new Regened coming up and – having written a ton of features and some strips for 2000 AD and associated titles, including the Shock in last year’s all-ages special – I pitched something.

It’s always a massive thrill to see my work in print in 2000 AD, and what I’ve seen of Luke’s art is stunning; I realise it’s a necessary cliché of these interviews, but good artists go beyond what the writer imagines in their head, so it’s like reading your own story for the first time when you see it again.

When I was writing the strip I didn’t realise last year’s Regened was the best-selling prog of 2019, but it was great to hear the news.

Luke Horsman: I was over the moon to be able to contribute to 2000 AD, especially for the Regened all-ages Prog. I actually got the gig after a chance conversation on Instagram with long-running 2000 AD artist Karl Richardson who thought my art would be fitting and put me in touch with Editor Matt Smith.

Given that Regened is an all-ages special and that the Future Shock tales have, over the years, had a tendency to become somewhat darker than when they began back in the 70s, how did you approach an all-ages Future Shock for Regened?

KS: For this one in particular, I kept the tone and feel of 2000 AD‘s early Future Shocks in mind – after all, it was a kid’s comic to start out with, even though the editors and creators were visionary enough to make something which also worked for adults. I had in the back of my mind that children’s comics don’t have to be childish.

LH: After reading the script, I thought Karl’s humour was perfect, so I tried to reflect that as best I could with enough levity and wit, but also tried to keep a little grit that you tend to see in an average Future Shock.

Did writing and drawing for an all-ages audience with Regened mean you needed to change your styles at all?

KS: I don’t think I’m experienced enough to have a style – getting there, though! But that can be a benefit, it means you’re more aware of the demands of the individual story, which you have to be for all-ages work.

LH: My artwork tends to swing between a dark over-blacked style and light cartoon work as I get a variety of Indy comic scripts – so I have the luxury of swapping in and out now and again. So I could really get my teeth into this and make all those animated style embellishments.

Finally, seeing as this is your first 2000 AD credit Luke, and I’m not sure we’ve ever done this with you Karl… a few old favourites…

What are your first memories of reading 2000 AD? Did you read it growing up, or as an adult?

KS: I’ve been a continuous reader of 2000 AD since the early 1980s and the buzz of getting a new prog every week throughout childhood was something to relish, but at the moment the bridge between the Beano and something like 2000 AD is too big for young readers to easily cross in the same way. Hopefully, Regened is a first step towards at least offering an alternative.

LH: My first memory of 2000 AD was the 1984 Annual with that great Dave Gibbons cover. That really cemented my love for Dredd and the Sci-Fi genre. I’ve been collecting on and off ever since.

Luke, how did you make your way into comics and what work have you done already?

LH: Well, I’ve been a freelance illustrator for a long time, starting out in graphic design for packaging, publishing, and web. I always wanted to work in comics, so the last seven years or so has been focused on doing just that – over time the business and the portfolio have grown and now that’s all I do, so the inner child is happy right now!

I’ve worked with a good amount of independent authors over the years on a variety of books and pinup cover pieces for small press Indy books, including variant cover work for Last Bastion Studio’s Luchador,  The Elemental Balance 6 issue run for Insane Comics, Odyssey: Initiation For Jettison Zone, and the Endangered series for Ishan Comics. Plus many more titles in the works.

I also have a creator-owned book called Edengate, which I work on from time to time – but as with most side projects, it’s a slow burn labour of love.

2000 AD Prog 2170, the first Regened Prog of 2020, goes on sale from newsagents, comic book stores, and online on 26 February 2020. Future Regened Progs will be Prog 2183, Prog 2196, and Prog 2206.

And you can find more Regened action, including another fabulous Future Shock by heading to the 2000 AD shop to pick up 2000 AD Prog 2130, the Regened Prog from 2019.

Earthlets old and young have thrilled to the all-ages adventures since the first Regened in 2018 and this 48-page special is the first of a quartet of 2000 AD Regened Progs for 2020.

Alongside Cadet Dredd, returning strips Finder & Keeper and Rogue Trooper, a new Future Shock, you’re heading to the planet of the Gronks, famous from the pages of Strontium Dog, with writer David Baillie and artist Rob Davis.

So, what are you waiting for, say ‘Oh my poor heartses’ and get ready for The Trouble with Gronkses, just one of the all-ages awesomeness coming your way in Regened…

In the first Regened Prog of the year, Prog 2170, you’re responsible for bringing back one of Strontium Dogs’ weirder characters, The Gronk, in The Trouble With Gronkses… Oh my poor heartses! So, what’s it all about?

David Baillie: I’ve been a fan of The Gronk since I was knee-height to a Strontium Dog, and when Tharg asked if I’d be up for penning a new tale starring one or more of the belly-mouthed, furry little rascals I literally jumped at the chance. (I’ve set up my phone to send template emails based on its interpretations of my physical movements. It’s saved me a lot of time this year so far!)

DB: So this story takes place on the Gronks’ homeworld, Blas in the Galago system. Which a universe-famous reality holo-star called Atlantis Valentine has decided to make his new home. Atlantis is four metres tall, and looks like a T-Rex with claws and fairy wings. I’m not known for my subtle conflict set ups.

The Gronk(s) have long been friends to Strontium Dog Johnny Alpha but they’re singularly unsuited for the adventuring life, given their natural timidity and the unfortunate tendency for keeling over with heart failure at the slightest bit of excitement.

So, given that any hint of excitement kills them, is this going to be a very sedate, even boring tale of the Gronk staying home for a Netflix and chill?

DB: Far from it! When your protagonist has a habit of clutching their chest and whimpering, ‘Oh! My Poor Heartses!’ when anything exciting happens in the plot, the only solution is ensure there’s another Gronk to take up the slack when the current one falls over.

And so this is a tale of The Gronk as a species, rather than a single fallible, fall-overable character.

With Regened, we’re obviously looking to attracting younger readers to the Prog, keeping it fresh and alive for the future. And obviously, a cute alien works perfectly well for the Regened all-ages vibe. But why did you pick the Gronk?

DB: I was as surprised as anyone when Tharg decided to turn his Mighty hand to creating tales for Sproglettes, but he quickly assured me that this was simply his latest tactic for corrupting the Squaxx at an even earlier age than usual.

It was Tharg Himself what done chose The Gronk, and assigned Rob and myself to the case, and I for one am too terrified to question his judgement.

Rob, you’ve got a style that adapts and changes depending on the work. Whether it’s your Motherless Oven trilogy (which EVERYONE should be reading, although maybe not necessarily the lower age range for Regened), Roy of the Rovers, Don Quixote, Doctor Who Adventures, or Nelson. And of course, this isn’t your first time doing some more all ages work with 2000 AD, with your work on Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future back in the 90s. And then there’s a fair bit of illustration work to your name as well. So, what sort of look do we have here?

RD: The script David sent over had weird and wacky aliens (Gronks) being menaced by a weird and wacky alien who is then in turn menaced by even more weird and wacky aliens. So I went for weird and wacky with this one.

Any particular ways you’ve adapted things to bring the Gronk back?

RD: The script required a Gronk with a bandana which kind of invoked Axl Rose to me. Other than that I think all the familiar Gronk attributes are present and correct.

Both of you, what’s coming up next? Will we be seeing you in the
pages of 2000 AD or the Meg any time soon?

RD: I am at the mercy of Tharg’s whims as regards what I do next for 2000 AD. I have a new book in the works that I am planning with Rob Williams, a regular script droid on 2000 AD, so that may be the next big project for me.

DB: I have a ten-page Tales From The Black Museum currently being drawn up by a very fine droid indeed (nope – I have no idea who!) and coming soon in the Megazine. It’s a terrifying story about an arcane summoning ritual gone wrong, or perhaps right, in our favourite Mega-City.

With more and more classic 2000 AD characters being brought into Regened, do you have any particular faves you’d like to get involved with?

RD: I would love to draw (or write) a Regened Robo-Hunter. Or Nemesis! I could probably reel off a list, but those two spring to mind as Thrills I’d love to have a go at. The early adventures of Sam Slade all droid-noir, or winding Nemesis back to the Terror Tube… all sounds good to me.

DB: Zenith, Babe Race 2000, and Big Dave all spring to mind. (Please, Tharg – please!)

(Not wanting to speak for the Mighty One, or his nephew, but I think you’re out of luck there Mr Baillie)

DB: Okay, then… I genuinely think an all-ages ABC Warriors could be amazing.

Obviously, Regened is all about opening up comics to new, younger readers (as well as giving the existing ones something fun and different)… what are your thoughts on getting kids and new readers involved?

RD: Reading comics is second nature for kids; they just get how comics work instinctively. The problem is that there just aren’t enough original comics being made for kids. 2000 AD is well placed to make that connection because it is one of the few comics that still has pride of place on the newsstands in the UK, plus it has a rich fictional world that kids can delve into.

DB: Vital, if the comic and the comics industry as a whole is to survive in any shape. To be selfish for a moment, I’d really hate to do anything else for a living!

Finally, with Regened being all about getting younger readers into comics, how about your own experiences of discovering both comics and 2000 AD?

RD: I’m old enough to have lived in a world when every kid read comics (that world being the 1970s), so the only question was which comics you bought. I got Prog one the day it came out. Invasion, Mach One, Dan Dare, Flesh, Harlem Heroes, space spinner down the back of the fridge. That was how I shifted from Whizzer and Chips, Krazy and the like to the kind of comics I’d spend the rest of my life making. It was exactly what this eight-year-old needed.

DB: I first discovered comics when I was about four. I lived in a tiny mining village in Scotland and our local shopkeeper, a lovely woman called Esther, used to save stacks of pre-ordered comics that weren’t picked by customers for me. I have really vivid memories of whole worlds opening up before my eyes thanks to her generosity. In fact, now I think of it, I probably owe her a cut of my earnings.

It’s how I first saw 2000 AD, Marvel comics (old black and white Stan and Jack reprints) and all sorts of other very cool stuff.

Now my own daughter is discovering comics, she’s three, and every day is a Proustian rush recall of those first doses of four colour magic.

You’ll be able to get hold of the first 2000 AD Regened of 2019 as 2000 AD Prog 2170, a 48-page special on sale from newsagents, comic book stores, and online now. Future Regened Progs will be Prog 2183, Prog 2196, and Prog 2206.

2000 AD Prog 2170 is out now, the first of four Regened issues for 2020. Since 2018, Regened has taken all those greats of 2000 AD and given them an all-ages spin.

Making a return this time, after his first Regened appearance in Prog 2130, is the greatest G.I. of all time, Rogue Trooper. So get ready for all-ages action as writer Cavan Scott and artist Nick Roche take us back down to Nu-Earth, as Rogue enters The Savage Swamp…

Cavan, Nick, in Prog 2170, you’re back with another Rogue Trooper tale for all-ages. Your first, in the 2019 Regened Prog 2130, was a great intro to the character, where all the familiar things older readers love about the character; Rogue on Nu-Earth, hunting the Norts, complete with his three Biochips, Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm.

You told a simple old-fashioned war story with that one, with Rogue getting captured by Nort General Frost, wanting to use the biochips to get access to the legendary Nort Keep.

Now, in Prog 2170, you return with Rogue in Savage Swamp.

Ok then, where are we at? What’s it all about?

Cavan Scott: Rogue is still hunting the Norts, his mission taking him into an irradiated swamp with vicious vines and toxic sinkholes. There he meets some survivors from the original Genetic Infantry programme, which hark back to one of my favourite Rogue Trooper stories, Milli-Com Memories way back in Prog 319.

Nick Roche: Rogue is in upbeat mood after passing the 1000 subscriber mark on his Twitch channel and getting a double-yolker in his runny egg that morning, so there’s a skip in his step and a song in his… oh.

No, my mistake. Continue.

My take on that first Rogue Trooper was that it was a perfect little sci-fi war tale, designed to be more like an old fashioned adventure, with the clearly defined good and bad guys, lots of action, and some very big robots – all the sorts of things that kids enjoy.

So, with this new strip, are we going in the same direction?

CS: There’s definitely lots of action. It made sense to set the story in a similar part of Rogue’s life. As for the well-defined bad-guys, well, the Norts are still there, but maybe there are a few shades of grey when it comes to the other antagonists.

NR: Amongst the grey area Cavan describes, there’s still a nice strong sense of ‘right and wrong’ in our story, with a lovely streak of justice running through the strip.

Rogue Trooper is one very dark idea, an apocalyptic wasteland, a lone trooper, a war that never ends. What adjustments have you had to make to bring it in line with Regened’s all-ages tag?

CS: Barely any to be honest. You have to be responsible when it comes to showing violence, but I tried to keep the tone and content similar to what we saw in those early Rogue Trooper stories.

NR: We’ve given him 1007 Twitch subscribers. AND a double-yolker.

And even though you’re writing and drawing it for that all-ages audience, are you still consciously putting in all the things that older readers, familiar with the character, will love?

CS: Absolutely. I think people immediately think that all-age means kiddie, but that’s wrong. It just means that everyone can enjoy it, both young and old. And, as I said, the inspiration for this particular story came from one of my favourite old-school Rogue stories, so there’s hopefully some nice little easter eggs in there to reward long-time Squaxx dek Thargo.

NR: You always remember being spoken (or written) down-to as a kid. But more than that, you remember the thrill of being addressed in a way that made you feel grown-up. And that’s our aim for new readers, to tell them -as 2000 AD has always has – ‘We know you can handle this. Come on board.’

What is it about Rogue that’s both a perfect concept that makes him one of the comic’s favourite characters and also allows it to be adjusted and altered for this all-ages audience?

CS: I think these types of stories are timeless. Kids like war stories. They like stories with action, humour and thrills. 2000 AD is the perfect playground for them.

NR: His nomadic nature means he brings as much or as little baggage as you need him to. So he lends himself well to long-form tales or tight little pick-upable chunks like our two (so far) Rogue tales.

Nick, in terms of the artistic design, how did you go about creating this new look for an iconic character?

NR: I think the trick is to keep everything that works, and whatever space is leftover, have fun with that. I tried to think in terms of an action figure, and gave some more boldness to the shapes of his tech and general silhouette, while also being mindful of staying true to Rogue’s classic look. I’ve always enjoyed how rangy and sinewy he appears, and that he’s not a bulked-up musclehead with shoulders the width of a bus. I tweaked him a tiny bit between the last Regened and this one; I scaled down the oversized gun and brought it more in line with its established proportions. I like my blasters chunky, and will not apologise for my (garish) tastes.

NR: I tend to lean into a cartoony look as my natural style, though I’ve always felt at home switching gears by altering the look of my art to suit and better tell the story. I guess I aimed to keep the look of our Rogue a little cleaner than his regular appearances, with bold lines, and nice straightforward layouts. It can be a tricky thing with the art, making sure you don’t leave behind the longterm readers while still trying to catch the new ones, but it feels like we’ve found a good groove. I think this second tale looks a little more like Regular Flavour Rogue, or at least less stylised than our first jaunt. It’ll be interesting to see what people prefer…!

This is now your second Rogue tale – any plans for more in future Regened?

CS: I have another Regened story in the works, but it’s not Rogue this time! I hope to return to Blue at some point, either for Regened or the regular Prog, but Tharg offered me another character I couldn’t resist!

NR: Nothing on the slate at this point, but I very much want to stay in Tharg’s good graces and come back for more of whatever he’ll have me for!

Regened has brought back some classic characters… any you’d really love to see given the all-ages Regened treatment?

CS: Judge Death! Seriously! A creepy all-ages take on the Dark Judges! It would be amazing.

NR: Ooh Judge Death, yesssss pleassssse…!

I’ll just revert to type here and say Robo-Hunter or ABC Warriors. (Though Indigo Prime might be fun too…)

Now, with Regened all about getting new and younger readers into comics, into 2000 AD, how about your own experiences of discovering both comics and 2000 AD?

CS: I started out on humour comics like the Beano, Nutty, Whoopee and Whizzer & Chips, coming to 2000 AD when I spotted it alongside a copy of Star Wars Weekly. Comics were my first true love, British comics especially. Like many, I moved to US comics over time, but I always kept coming back to the UK newsstand to pick up the latest Prog or other titles like Scream, Toxic and Crisis.

NR: British weekly newsstand comics are responsible for my love, and my having a career. From adoring Marvel UK’s Transformers (a great example of a comic that talked UP to its readers) through to Death’s Head, and then onto Overkill and back to 2000 AD when I was a teen, these titles were the only game in small Irish towns way back when.

And finally, what do you think about bringing new readers into comics in general and 2000 AD in particular?

CS: It’s vital. Without new readers the comic industry is sailing into troubled waters. We need to welcome new fans, throw gatekeepers into a toxic swamp and grow our fandom if we want to survive!

NR: I like it when they buy our books, but not when they grow up to take our jobs.

You’ll be able to get hold of the first 2000 AD Regened of 2019 as 2000 AD Prog 2170, a 48-page special on sale from newsagents, comic book stores, and online on 26 February 2020. Future Regened Progs will be Prog 2183, Prog 2196, and Prog 2206.

And as for the first episode of Rogue Trooper Regened, head to the 2000 AD shop to pick up 2000 AD Prog 2130, the Regened Prog from 2019.

2000 AD Prog 2170 is out now – the first of a quartet of spectacular 2000 AD Regened all-ages 48-page issues for the year!

Regened brings you classic 2000 AD characters reimagined for a younger audience alongside all-new strips, all done by some of the Galaxy’s greatest creators. So, strap in, get ready for Thrill-Power for all. It’s time for the younger Earthlets to get Regened…

After debuting in the 2019 Regened issue, Finder & Keeper, from Leah Moore, John Reppion, and artist Davide Tinto, are back for more ghostbusting adventures.

One half of the Morre/Reppion team was under a mountain of work, but Richard Bruton chatted to co-writer John Reppion and artist Davide Tinto.

Back in 2000 AD Prog 2130 we met Meera Hundal and Eliot Hunter as they set about a bit of community clean-up in a big old house, with the attic and cellar full of all sorts of creepy things. Meera found herself some supernatural specs, Spectral Vision Goggles, so that she could see demons and nasties, while Eliot discovered the journal of Professor AJ Mortimer from 1892, full of all sorts of interesting details into the spooky goings-on and details of a spectral capturing apparatus.

Oh yes, it’s ghostbusting time…

So, John, Davide, what can we expect from the pair of young ghostbusters this time round?

John Reppion: Just a couple of ghost-hunting kids skulking round a graveyard looking for spooks, really. Which, as Meera does point out, is kind of stupid because no-one ever dies in graveyards, but they do find something.

Davide Tinto: What to expect in this new adventure? It will be decidedly less urban. The two protagonists will be dealing with a monstrous ghost guardian of their city cemetery. The interesting thing this time, in my humble opinion, concerns how strangely radio technology can affect the ethereal plane where Ghosts live (so to speak). This will give the plot a new twist that I hope will affect subsequent F&K stories.

Last time we spoke about Finder and Keeper, you knew that the artist was going to be Davide, whose work you loved, but you hadn’t seen any finished pages. Now you have, what did you think?

JR: Leah and I both loved Davide’s artwork on the first F&K story, which really did pack a lot in as it was setting everything up. Hopefully, we’ve given him a bit more breathing space on this one, and we know he’s going to do a fantastic job.

Davide, your style seems perfect for all ages work and you’ve done great things with your work on Spider-Man amongst other strips. How did you approach the style of Finder & Keeper? Any particular changes needed to get a bit more spooky stuff in there?

DT: Regarding the style of drawing that I have adopted for F&K, I can only say that I have entrusted myself to a direction more suitable for a horror film. I also thought about the static shots you see in the Resident Evil games which were very suggestive and functional to drag viewers to sudden unpleasant surprises and also to some horror cartoons for children such as the old Ghostbusters, which was a Horror product but designed for an audience of Children. These elements, combined with a slightly more ‘teen’ style of drawing than the one I usually use, have allowed me to find a perfect balance to narrate the plot of Meera and Eliot.

In some ways, the other teams in Regened have it easier, taking existing strips and adapting them to an all-ages vibe. You have it harder I think, as there’s none of that familiarity, none of the existing readers to play to. Thoughts?

JR: We had more of a task ‘setting up’ the characters and the world than we would have with established ones, I suppose. Then again, there’s no baggage attached to the title, so we can’t get anything wrong. 2000 AD has been around for so long that a lot of people have very fixed ideas about how a character and their world should be. The Regened issues do (or can) reset that stuff to some extent, but I think it’s nice coming in with a ‘clean slate’ and starting something new too.

We’ve talked before about writing for all-ages, with both Finder & Keeper and your Conspiracy of Ravens graphic novel with Sally Jane Thompson being great examples of how to get kids properly scared without going too far.

What sorts of things might we see in Finder & Keeper that will put a little shiver down the kids’ spines?

JR: Well, I can’t really give too much away about what Meera and Eliot come across lurking in the graveyard in this story, but I hope it gives kids that thrill they get when you’re exploring some of the weirder little corners of their neighbourhoods. I spent so much of my childhood climbing about in parks, woods, and strange, overgrown and forgotten places where, even though you’re in the middle of a city, you can feel the magic in a very real sense.

And what is it about writing all-ages material that’s so much fun for you?

JR: Having three kids ourselves, most of the stuff we end up reading these days is All Ages. Although that’s more the case for prose rather than comics. Leah reads the kids Diana Wynne Jones, I’ve been through all the Famous Fives a few times, and we’re in the middle of Narnia at the moment. There’s so much magic and wonder in those books and their worlds, and increasingly we just seem to gravitate towards trying to put some of that into our own work. Kid-friendly books don’t have to be childish. The best of them make adult readers remember how amazing it was to be a kid. 

This is the second Finder & Keeper, what are the plans for more?

JR: Yes! A third F&K is coming later this year in the very next Regened issue.

So far, we’ve seen Cadet Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, DR & Quinch and more in Regened so far. What classic bit of 2000 AD would you like to see given the all-ages Regened treatment?

JR: Ro-Busters could work! Maybe a young Nemesis the Warlock? Hmm, probably not that actually.

DT: Very interesting… Can I say that I would like to see them all! Trying to reinvigorate Classic Stories with drawing styles more suited to our time is something that Marvel and DC is already doing and is doing quite well, and for those 2000 AD classics, I’d love to do that with Regened for 2000 AD.

Finally, with Regened being all about getting younger readers into comics, how about your own experiences of discovering both comics and 2000 AD?

JR: I didn’t really discover 2000 AD until I was about 13 or so and I convinced myself I’d ‘grown out of’ comics when I was about 15 up until I was in my early 20s, so I didn’t really give it much of a chance the first time round, I’m afraid. Apart from the Beano and loads of old annuals though, some of the first comics I ever read and became obsessed with were knackered copies of Vulcan, Valiant, and Fantastic & Terrific which I bought second hand from a market stall. So, I’d read and love classic British strips like Steel Claw, Mytek the Mighty, and Janus Stark before even got into my Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase in the early to mid-nineties.

DT: I’ve known 2000 AD for a long time now and had hoped to work for them one day. So, when I got the call, I was very happy. 2000 AD is the comic that shows the excellence of the English comics market and I feel honoured for this experience and I hope it will last much longer.

With Regened, we’re obviously looking to attracting younger readers to the Prog, keeping it fresh and alive for the future. And it looks like the concept’s a success, with the 2019 Regened Prog the best-selling issue of the year. What are your thoughts on bringing new readers into comics in general and 2000 AD in particular?

JR: Comics seem to be on the up again with the younger generation just as happy reading graphic novels as they are prose, and crucially with schools seeming to have embraced comics in a way I don’t think they had previously. I think an all-ages 2000 AD is a brilliant thing for kids, and I’m confident the success of the first Regened will be repeated.

DT: Well, first of all, I’m very happy that the Regened Prog 2019 was the best-selling issue of that year. It’s proof that many new readers have come to 2000 AD. I think that when your products are high quality you can almost say that they sell themselves, but I think it’s safe to say that the comics industry still has a very long life.

And as for Regened this year, I would say that with 2020 we can break the record of 2019 don’t you think?!

You’ll be able to get hold of the first 2000 AD Regened of 2019 with 2000 AD Prog 2170, is on sale from newsagents, comic book stores, and online now. Future Regened Progs will be Prog 2183, Prog 2196, and Prog 2206.

And you can catch up with the first episode of Finder & Keeper with Prog 2130, the 2019 Regened Prog.