1990: JUDGE DREDD DATABASE: FLEETWAY MERCHANDISE STYLE GUIDE

From 1990: The thrill of the hunt is always that you don't know what you might find next... and this is a good case in point: THE JUDGE DREDD DATABASE, a styleguide for merchandisers published in 1990.

This was never meant to be seen by or circulated to the general public or readership but one escaped into the wild and - decades later - I found it lurking in a back issue box for a few pennies.

I've not scanned the whole thing but I have included a few pages so that you get the idea.

The purpose of such a 'bible' is to ensure consistant standards or applied across the brand to prevent licensees, deliberately or accidentally, going off-message.

I'm sure such guides, or their modern (and no doubt more detailed) versions, are also familiar to any editor of publisher working on a licensed comic or magazine that has to carefully adhere to the 'masterbrand' at all times and at all costs.  Long gone are the days when Marvel UK could run a backcover advert for a piece of bootleg STAR WARS merchandise without anyone being too bothered.

Clearly the makers of the (under appreciated) 1995 movie didn't read it too closely...

1979: LAST ISSUE ALERT! TORNADO CRASHES.

From 1979: Last Issue Alert!  After only 22 issues, IPC's TORNADO ran out of luck and announced its impending merger with 2000AD.

I posted the first merged issue the other day but this is the last of the vanquished, complete with the customary 'great news chums' cover splash... an announcement that meant either an impending freebie (this was the time when announcing an announcement was almost as big as whatever was being announced... sometimes bigger if it was just going to be a Heinz badge taped to the following week's cover) or the axeman cometh.  

It's interesting that the merger page goes big on the 2000AD characters and only mentions Tornado's lucky survivors as an afterthought.  Maybe no one thinks they are a strong selling point!  I'd have also changed how I presented the logo so that - in the advert at least - Tornado didn't look like such an afterthought.

On your marks... Get set... Stop!

1994: 2000AD's STRONTIUM DOGS THE POSTER PROG ONE-SHOT

From 1994: STRONTIUM DOGS THE POSTER PROG issue 1, a one-shot spin-off from Tharg's Command Module.

Poster mags were quite a sideline for Tharg between 1993-95 with five dedicated to JUDGE DREDD and one apiece for SLAINE, ROGUE TROOPER, NEMESIS and the Dogs.

The format consisted of a giant poster with an original six page strip printed on the reverse.

The very first, albeit unofficial, 'Poster Prog' was published within months of 2000AD's launch making it one of the very first spin-offs.  The DAN DARE POSTER MAGAZINE hit newsagents in August 1977, tucked into the schedule between the first 2000AD SUMMER SPECIAL (not yet the more familiar Sci-Fi Special) and the first 2000AD ANNUAL.  

1978: MERGER ALERT! 2000AD AND TORNADO

From August 1979: Merger Alert!  Tharg reluctantly welcomes the refugees from another defunct IPC weekly with the first combined issue of 2000AD AND TORNADO.  It is unlikely that anyone in King's Reach Tower, or indeed the nation at large, was celebrating.

The collapse of STARLORD, covered in a previous post, had been something of a shot-in-the-arm for 2000AD, shoving it out of a creative slump and introducing new strips that would become bedrocks of the title.  Not so much with the scruffy band of survivors from TORNADO.

I think the cover designer was taking the pee slightly by announcing 'at last' considering Tornado had only mustered the IPC-standard 22 issues before the accounts department despatched it.

And, did anyone call their comics 'papers'?  It's an IPC term (possibly also so used by their Dundee rivals... I didn't read many) that survived into the eighties.  But, as a buyer, I never used the term and I don't know anyone who did.  Not even my parents.  Newspapers were papers.  Magazines were magazines.  And comics were comics.  It has the whiff of an in-house term that they forgot no one in the real world used.

Not the nice rich colours on the cover as well.  That's not some fancy bit of digital clean-up, the IPC weeklies really did have better printing prior to the 1980s shift to newsprint.

1978: MERGER ALERT: 2000AD and STARLORD

From October 1978: The first combined issue of 2000AD AND STARLORD.

Most mergers tended to be half-hearted affairs with incoming strips shoehorned into the existing title (and foisted on an editorial team who had no part in their creation or interest in their long-term success) at the behest of the circulation department in the hopes that some of the readers of the just-defunct book would switch sides and start reading the victorious weekly.

This tie-up, it has to be said, is probably one of the most successful in the STARLOGGED era.  Not only did it give Tharg a stonking line-up of strips but the arrival of Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters transferred two strips that would become synonymous with the galaxy's greatest.

I've seen some reports that suggest that STAR LORD was still actually outselling Tharg when the decision was made to close it.  The logic being that its sales were dropping faster - and it was a more pricy proposition - so the older of the two weeklies was deemed to have the best long-term chances of survival.  At least that turned out to be right.

Tharg didn't make a habit of providing sanctury to his fallen colleagues.  After the less successful merger of TORNADO, the alien editor put a stop to all future shotgun weddings and - after a bedding-in period - the EAGLE became IPC/ Fleetway's main vehicle for mergers as the the number of victims really started to pile up.

1988: 2000AD'S THE BALLAD OF HALO JONES ON STAGE

From 1988: Does anyone remember the stage production of THE BALLAD OF HALO JONES?

i'd completely forgotten about it (and certainly never saw it) until I was flicking through the 1988 2000AD SCI-FI SPECIAL and fond this photo-feature.  It certainly looks cool... in a very 1980s sort of way.

Did anyone see it?  Do you have any other material - or reviews - related to it?

1997: COMICS INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 83: JUDGE DREDD AND PREDATOR

From July 1997: A very eyecatching franchise mash-up cover for COMICS INTERNATIONAL issue 83, promoting (from memory) a JUDGE DREDD/ PREDATOR crossover event.

1983: ADVERT FOR 2000AD PROG 300

From January 1983: 2000AD celebrates surviving 300 issues in print (and several behind-the-scenes close calls during the first few years) with a special issue... and a free metal (of some sort) JUDGE DREDD badge.

Unfortunately, the Mighty One couldn't stretch the budget as far as putting a pin on the back so the badge had to be affixed with some double-sided spongy tape stuff stuck to the back. 

The other attraction was one of those multi-week, build-it-yourself, cut-out-and-keep booklets beloved of the IPC Youth Group of the time: an eye-straining reproduction of the very first prog.  Which was at least pretty cool.  

This advert appeared in the pages of the EAGLE.  

1980: 2000AD IN BEM ISSUE 29

From August 1980: Tharg's droids come under the spotlight in a themed issue of British comics fanzine BEM.

A great little issue looking at British comics, a slice of the market usually overlooked by Britishh fanzines of the period in favour of flashier imports.

1994: STAR TREK GENERATIONS IN 2000AD PROG 928

From February 1994: The Mighty One shamelessly chases the notoriously free-spending (in those days) STAR TREK fans with this STAR TREK GENERATIONS cover and competition.  

1995: 2000AD INCURS THE WRATH OF THE LUCASFILM LAWYERS.

From June 1995: More STAR WARS related legal action.  This time the Lucas legal guns were pointed at Tharg's Command Module and the galaxy's greatest comic.

The Mighty One Versus the Bearded One.

This time the Lucasfilm lawyers objected to the cover copy, related to the Rogue Trooper strip, which they felt was a triffle misleading.  I don't think this went any further but the Mighty One's green knuckles were well-and-truely rapped.  

1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN ISSUE 5 (IPC)

From 1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN bows out with its final offering... You Are Ronald Reagan! Yes indeed.

As I've said before, I put DICEMAN's failure down to the whopping cover price (way above the weekly or IPC's holiday specials), sporadic scheduling (although the issues were given hefty promotion in 2000AD itself which did at least alert readers thst the new issue was due) and some random racking by newsagents which saw it flip-flop between the bottom shelf and buried with the hobby magazines. These were the days before comics would legitimately make a land grab for space on the upper shelves.

Nevertheless, it was a bold experiment which did - at the very least - explore the different ways Tharg's growing stash of intellectual property could be deployed in different creative ways.

Anyone for You Are Donald Trump?

1986: 2000AD'S DICE MAN ISSUE 4 (IPC)

From 1986: the fourth issue of IPC's comics/ Fighting Fantasy hybrid 2000AD'S DICEMAN.

This time the line-up was Slaine and the eponymous Dice Man, both scripted by Pat Mills.

Cover by Brendan McCarthy.

1986: 2000AD'S DICEMAN ISSUE 3 (IPC)

From 1986: the third issue of the glossy spin-off 2000AD'S DICEMAN, Pat Mill's bold experiment to meld Tharg's inventory of established characters (and new creations like Diceman himself, on the left) with the Fighting Fantasy boom.

1986: 2000AD'S DICEMAN ISSUE 2 (IPC)

From 1986: the second issue of 2000AD's DICEMAN, Tharg's short-lived  venture into the world(s) of Choose Your Own Adventure books and Role Playing Games.

This issue actually gets around to including the eponymous hero, created by Pat Mills and Graham Manley. Rick Fortune is a 1930s Private Detective with psionic powers.

Slaine (Mills and Williams) and the ABC Warriors (Mills and Dillon) also appear.

1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN ISSUE 1 (IPC)

From 1986: the first of five issues (all of which I'll post in the upcoming days) of 2000AD's DICEMAN from IPC.

This was an attempt by comics innovator Pat Mills to fuse 2000AD's bankable roster of characters with the burgeoning worlds of Fighting Fantasy/ Choose Your Own Adventure and Role Playing Games.

Creatively the concept worked (although it must have been a brain strainer to plot and plan everything) but some odd decisions hampered its chances of success. The cover price, compared with that of a normal weekly, was whopping and it bought you heavy paper stock and more pages but still didn't drag IPC into the age of colour interiors.

Newsagents also seemed unsure ahst to do with these periodically published specials. It was a bit pricy for a comic which meant some didn't rack it in its natural home next to the weekly. Some placed it next to WARLOCK and the games/ hobbies mags... but Tharg's loyal and lapsed readers may not have thought to adjust their eye line to a different part of the display.

And this cover is stunning... but doesn't do much to attract the Tharg followers. Maybe that was the idea. Maybe IPC figured the extensive advertising in the weeklies (which I've posted before) would ensure buy-in from that crowd and the more ambiguous design was intended to capture the attention of older would-be readers. Even so, I think Judge Dress or Slaine might have drummed up a bit more interest.

1981: 2000AD CELERATES 200 ISSUES... AND STARLOGGED MARKS 2000 POSTS

From February 1981 (again): 2000AD celebrates reaching its 200th issue - ahem - prog.

The official organ of the Mighty One is about to celebrate its 2000th issue (who would have imagined?) but I've posted this today to mark STARLOGGED's 2000th post. Yes. Really.

I noticed a couple of months ago that I was approaching the unexpected landmark and I thought this was as good a cover as any to hold back for the big one.

I never thought STARLOGGED would chug on past the first dozen or so posts so this whopping figure is a revelation to me as well. It also means that I have posted well over 2000 different items on here, which is a sobering thought as 95% of things come from my own collection. No wonder I have no space, no money and a frustrated flatmate.

Last week I took one of Starlogged's periodic rest weeks but I used the time constructively (so say I) to dive deep into some previously uncharted boxes to scan some more goodies. I also travelled a little further than usual (not far) and used the opportunity to tawl some outlets I don't usually get a chance to visit and picked up a few bargains (RED DRAWF smegazines for 25p each for example) that will also pop up here in the months ahead.

Thanks to everyone who stops by regularly (go spread the word) and especially thanks to everyone who comments occasionally or regularly.

If you are a relative newcomer, don't be afraid to dive into the Starlogged back catalogue that dates back to 2012 (those early posts were written at Cafe Nero, a relative stone's throw from the banks of the Thames and the one-time HQ of MARVEL UK) and see what you discover.

1991: JUDGE DREDD 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (TITAN BOOKS)

From 1991: Titan Books celebrated a decade of publishing JUDGE DREDD and 2000AD reprint albums with this special anniversary edition of the first JD book.

The Titan albums were regularly advertised in the pages of 2000AD but, unless you happened to live near Forbidden Planet or another comic book stockest, hard to find in the real world. That gave them something of a holy grail quality... a perception enhanced by their substantial cover price (for kids) for soft cover black & white reprints (with no royalties paid to the creative teams... although they were commissioning new cover art).

It took a few more years for IPC themselves to realise that their inventory could have value in the UK. In the mid-Eighties they launched a range of BEST OF monthlies built around the back catalogue (traditionally used to take the pressure off origination budgets in the weeklies and to pad out the specials and annuals) with varying degrees of success. The 2000AD edition, later joined by a separate Dredd spin-off, ran for a decade (and a bit longer if you count the post-movie relaunches).

Titan milked the Tharg franchise as long as possible and used it as the launch pad to expand further into book publishing (including UK editions of some DC trade paperbacks as well as the original STAR TREK novels) followed by magazines, UK comics and - now - the extensive range of US format comic books.

1995: JUDGE DREDD MOVIE ADAPTATION - DC COMICS EDITION

From 1995: the US bookshelf edition of the JUDGE DREDD MOVIE ADAPTATION, published by DC Comics.

I've posted the UK edition on STARLOGGED in the past. This is the classier package but the downside is that the page dimensions are standard American size which gives the art less room to breath compared with the more generously proportioned British edition.

Why both DC and Fleetway editions? Different markets obviously (although Fleetway had been publishing the Quality Comics line in the States) but also part of the licensing deal between the two companies that allowed DC to publish two ongoing DREDD books with all new material.

I rewatched the film at the weekend, and although it is a flawed beast in many ways, I don't think it deserves its reputation as a Dredd disaster. The combination of the plot and the casting dictated several changes to the lore (it would have been dumb to keep Stallone's face obscured throughout when the plot demands that he's stripped of his uniform and helmet. Plus, of course, he was a considerable international star which it would be nuts not to exploit) but - all told - it felt a lot more faithful to the franchise than the more recent, stripped back, version. I don't agree with the armchair critics who advocated bring in the Dark Judges as the first villains... I think its too much to ask a mainstream audience to accept the future of Mega City One AND supernatural villains from another dimension.

Stallone probably wasn't the best casting for the role (and some of his delivery is suspect for an actor who clearly can deliver the goods when he puts his mind to it) but its hard to imagine which of his contemporaries would have been a better choice in terms of star power and suitability. And, to his credit, he did apparently immerse himself into Dredd's world when he took the part.

The whole comedy sidekick routine, our way into Dredd's impenetrable world, was much beloved of Hollywood and clearly some computer somewhere decreed Fergie (not that one... or that one) was essential to opening up the film for a mainstream audience.

Sadly it was all for naught as it failed to catch fire at the US box office and actually raked in less cash (partly because of its kids and teens unfriendly rating) than minor Disney effort THE GOOFY MOVIE. Oh dear. But it did fare better overseas where the Stallone brand of action was still capable of pulling in the punters. But this was still a time when US BO and merchandising (which also took a hit because of the film's older viewers
rating) were the only true measure of success as far as Hollywood was concerned... overseas grosses helped the bottom line but weren't valued as much as domestic success.

1988: CRISIS ISSUE 1 (FLEETWAY)

From September 1988: A British comics landmark (even if it didn't actually last that long) that largely passed me by at the time... the first issue of Fleetway's "grown up" comic (politics and stuff): CRISIS.

Thanks to some deft PR in the trendy mainstream media, the slipstream of Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns, some top notch creators with established pedigree and the 2000AD connection, this grabbed the lion's share of the coverage of comics coming of age. 

It was also a canny move by IPC/Fleetway who were finding, in no uncertain terms, that the next generation of would-be readers were not flooding to their weeklies (toy and computer game promotions were helping stem the tide but the direction of travel was undeniably downward). So the other solution was to try and hang onto current and lapsed readers longer with titles that still held some appeal.  

Crisis was an early hit (although the US editions didn't fare so well) which opened the floodgates for every publisher who fancied a crack at the audiece. REVOLVER, STRIP, BLAST, TOXIC, MELTDOWN, SPACE JUNKK, the JD MEGAZINE and others all launched (and shuttered... with one exception) over the next few years. 

As you can see from the back cover, the launch was promoted with a national tour by the creative team. 

DEADLINE (we'll get to that in a future post) hit specialist stores at virtually the same time and enjoyed a more sustained run through to 1995. 

Crisis itself ran for 63 regular issues (issues 1-48 sold fortnightly before, in a familiar move, the frequency was cut to monthly for the remainder of the run) and two specials. 

Issue 39 continued the politics, and generated some more publicity, by teaming with Amnesty International.