I mentioned always being up for a Quality/Fleetway reprint, but I bought this one and felt a little burned by it. (So to speak...) Which didn't stop me from picking up another quarter-book copy of it to blog about it! From 1987, Sam Slade, Robohunter #6, featuring a Ro-Busters story written by Alan Moore with art by Steve Dillon! Which is probably why I could've picked up another three or four copies if I wanted to: I'm pretty sure the name of Alan Moore was a selling-point by this time, so why not reprint some of his old 2000 AD work for a quick buck? Which is fine, most of that stuff probably hadn't been widely seen in America.
All well and good, except as the GCD points out, "Bax the Burner" was originally a six-page story, expanded to nineteen by enlarging panels! (Marvel and other companies would use a similar technique in their Marvel Illustrated Books paperback reprints; but those were different page sizes.) So it doesn't read especially well, but it was a bit slight anyway: a pyrokinetic mutant stalks his former nurse, having fallen in love with her.
(That song is far better known for the cover by A Perfect Circle, which is neither here nor there.)
Ro-Busters Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws manage to blow up Bax after he turns on his "love," and that's that. Hammerstein also appears in the next story, which continues from their last reprint appearance in Rogue Trooper #5: putting his team together, 'Stein fights the mysterious, mystical Deadlock and brings him onboard, but balks at his next potential recruit, General Blackblood. ("The Tournament of the Damned" Written by Pat Mills, art by Brett Ewins.)
Finally, it was Sam Slade's title, but his story was pushed to the back of the book! Framed, Slade may face a prison worse that Judge Dredd's iso-cubes: New Sing-Sing, a prison with mandatory songs, robot guards, wardens, and doctors! None of which are big fans of Robo-Hunters like Slade, but to investigate the planned "Day of the Droids" he'll have to break out...which means relying on his self-appointed assistant, Hoagy. (Story by Alan Grant, art by Ian Gibson.)
The print and color quality isn't great in this one, but I like ABC Warriors and Sam Slade, Robohunter enough to pick up cheap reprints; I wouldn't spring for glossy paper and archival collections.
3 comments:
Interesting stories. How many of these and or/trades of these do you have, and what of those, or these, would you recommend to a newcomer?
Remarkably few trades! Fleetway/Quality was a company reprinting Dredd, 2000 AD stuff stateside...late 80's, early 90's? I mainly read Dredd at the time, eventually falling off it when I realized man, Dredd was kind of a dick. (And I missed the stories that were starting to acknowledge yeah, Dredd and that justice system were terrible...)
I enjoy plinking away at the quarter books and randomly picking up books, but I'm pretty sure 2000 AD's digital set-up is getting thicker all the time.
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