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

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

Moderator: AndyB

User avatar
SID
Posts: 1744
Joined: 02 Oct 2008, 22:53
Location: Mancave.
Contact:

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

Post by SID »

Well, I have just set up my Sky HD+ to record Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD next Wednesday at 11.25pm on FILM4.

Looks like a great documentary.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

User avatar
Adam Eterno
Posts: 1471
Joined: 05 Dec 2014, 01:05
Location: Southampton/London
Contact:

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

Post by Adam Eterno »

SID wrote:Well, I have just set up my Sky HD+ to record Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD next Wednesday at 11.25pm on FILM4.

Looks like a great documentary.
Thanks for that, just done the same!

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

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

Post by big bad bri »

thanks been waiting to see this as its not on usual torrent sites

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

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

Post by Lew Stringer »

big bad bri wrote:thanks been waiting to see this as its not on usual torrent sites
Glad to hear it's not available from scummy pirate sites. You could have bought it on DVD for just eight quid when it came out a few months ago.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Shock-St ... rds=2000ad

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

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

Post by big bad bri »

Great documentary now i would love to see some more on the humour comics side on buster, whizzer & chips etc.Does anyone know who they were talking about when they said Simon Bisley put ???? bum bandit in graffiti in one of his strips.so they had to scrape the film so it can never be accidentally reprinted.

User avatar
colcool007
Mr Valeera
Posts: 3872
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 18:06
Location: Lost in time, lost in space
Contact:

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

Post by colcool007 »

big bad bri wrote:Great documentary now i would love to see some more on the humour comics side on buster, whizzer & chips etc.Does anyone know who they were talking about when they said Simon Bisley put ???? bum bandit in graffiti in one of his strips.so they had to scrape the film so it can never be accidentally reprinted.
I wondered what he had said. I missed what Bisley had done. And now I am giggling at the thought of Bisley doing that.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

User avatar
philcom55
Posts: 5170
Joined: 14 Jun 2006, 11:56

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

Post by philcom55 »

It flashed past very quickly but I'm pretty sure they showed the wrong Terrific cover.

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

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

Post by Lew Stringer »

philcom55 wrote:It flashed past very quickly but I'm pretty sure they showed the wrong Terrific cover.
Yes, they used a 1940s American comic by mistake. The other Odhams covers were from my blog I think. I got a thank you in the end credits for some reason so I'm guessing that's what it was for.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

User avatar
tony ingram
Posts: 1169
Joined: 12 May 2009, 18:20
Location: Suffolk, England
Contact:

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

Post by tony ingram »

Great documentary, informative, witty and very well put together. Made me remember again why I've aways liked Pat Mills.

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

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

Post by Raven »

I like Pat Mills, who's charismatic and talented, and lots of whose work I've enjoyed or found interesting (I bought 2000AD from issue 1 as a kid), and I could listen to him all night, but, to me, so much of this stuff is mythology.

Docs of this nature, on the likes of punk/alternative comedy/Action + 2000AD, always seem to replay the same simplistic myth: everything was rubbish and run by the Establishment in a Britain riven with strife, strikes and violence, until (cue Johnny Rotten giving the finger/Rik and Ade bursting through a wall, etc.) along came (punk/alternative comedy/2000AD) which finally spoke up for Ver Kids, sticking it to The Man by being snotty and violent, and then the old guard were booted out, and everything changed forever. People do seem to buy into it but, then, people love a good myth.

Why pick Paddy McGinty's Goat to typify how rubbish British comics were before Action and 2000AD came along, when that strip was an atypical anomaly, in no way representative of British comics in general, which were pretty fantastic and packed with imaginative fare? This time we hear that British comic editors were just hanging around hoping to get a proper job editing gardening magazines or whatever. I thought the usual complaint was that they'd been editing comics since the Fifties and didn't want anything changed?

And why was Paddy McGinty's Goat so old school kids' stuff cringey, and Tharg the alien who edited 2000AD, and Judge Dredd's pal Walter the Wobot weren't?

So while I thought it was, at times, more puff piece than documentary, there will, of course, be some truths in the myth (though I'd love to see film evidence of the day Action was cancelled and Ver Kids stormed the streets yelling "they've taken our comic!") and it can be fun to hear all the hyperbole. On the other hand, the 'British comic culture was rubbish before 1977' mantra probably helps feed the general lack of respect for British comic history and its talent.

Mind you, maybe 2000AD really was the single biggest influence on all world culture.

It was especially interesting to hear about some of the later behind the scenes tensions.

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

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

Post by Lew Stringer »

Raven wrote: Why pick Paddy McGinty's Goat to typify how rubbish British comics were before Action and 2000AD came along, when that strip was an atypical anomaly, in no way representative of British comics in general, which were pretty fantastic and packed with imaginative fare? This time we hear that British comic editors were just hanging around hoping to get a proper job editing gardening magazines or whatever. I thought the usual complaint was that they'd been editing comics since the Fifties and didn't want anything changed?

And why was Paddy McGinty's Goat so old school kids' stuff cringey, and Tharg the alien who edited 2000AD, and Judge Dredd's pal Walter the Wobot were not?
I found Paddy McGinty's Goat quite poor, even as a child.

Regarding their comments about the old guard of editors etc I think we have to accept that they're speaking from experience. I've heard similar things over the years about how comics were "just a job" to most of that generation, and some did feel they were slumming it in comics. There were gems of course, and even poor scripts were often worth following because the artwork was great, but, yeah, IPC's comics were looking pretty tired before Battle / Action / 2000AD. Having read the first two years of Scorcher in recent times, I'm afraid the scripts really were dire for the most part. Plots shifted on a whim, story resolutions contradicted previous episodes, there was obviously little planning or continuity to a storyline, and most scripts felt like they were rushed.

One comic that I think should have been mentioned in the documentary is D.C. Thomson's Warlord. To me, that seemed to be the one that started the shake-up of boys adventure comics, with dynamic splash pages, more direct dialogue, and a bit more edge to the stories. IPC followed with Battle of course, which in turn influenced Action and 2000AD, but I do wonder how things would have turned out if Warlord hadn't spurred IPC into livening up their own comics.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

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

Post by Raven »

Lew Stringer wrote: I found Paddy McGinty's Goat quite poor, even as a child.
Yes, but it was atypical, wasn't it? The comics weren't full of Paddy McGinty's Goats.
Lew Stringer wrote: There were gems of course, and even poor scripts were often worth following because the artwork was great, but, yeah, IPC's comics were looking pretty tired before Battle / Action / 2000AD. Having read the first two years of Scorcher in recent times, I'm afraid the scripts really were dire for the most part.
Around the same time, Valiant in its Smash and TV21 merger years was at an all-time peak, with a stellar line-up, and Score and Roar had good stuff; Nipper was especially well plotted, Tom Tully a good comic scripter. Lion had some good stuff. I've only read a couple of first year Scorchers recently, and a few later ones, and thought they were quite good fun.

I noted that nicely written review of a 1971 Scorcher on Great News For All Readers the other day: "Football comics were a bit mad, back in the day, but also a bit brilliant ... (Scorcher) tells of club boards picketed by gangs of street urchins and convicts, of footballing robots and magical boots and of gypsies and nobility selected to save the fortunes of struggling clubs. There’s little concession to reality, but Scorcher’s a lovely comic and – like the beautiful game itself – an arena for dreams" - http://www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/b ... 1-scorcher - and have found myself thinking along similar lines about the comic.

Remember, all-football comics were a fresh idea in themselves at the time. Not tired, something new.

Anthologies do tend to be a mixed bag; some of 2000AD's strips were quite pedestrian, too. In some cases, as you say, the artwork makes up for it.

User avatar
Robbie Moubert
Posts: 198
Joined: 18 Dec 2008, 14:12
Contact:

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

Post by Robbie Moubert »

Raven wrote:
Around the same time, Valiant in its Smash and TV21 merger years was at an all-time peak, with a stellar line-up,
I'd put Valiant's peak a little earlier. I think those mergers diluted it and it was on a downward trajectory in the seventies.

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

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

Post by Raven »

Robbie Moubert wrote: I'd put Valiant's peak a little earlier. I think those mergers diluted it and it was on a downward trajectory in the seventies.
I don't think you can beat a line-up like Raven on the Wing, Janus Stark, The Swots and the Blots, Return of the Claw, Kelly's Eye, and The Ghostly Guardian, etc.

User avatar
Robbie Moubert
Posts: 198
Joined: 18 Dec 2008, 14:12
Contact:

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

Post by Robbie Moubert »

I never cared much for Janus Stark or The Ghostly Guardian. Kelly's Eye was my favourite strip but I think it was running out of steam after the Romans story. They should have ditched the time clock and done something different.

Post Reply