The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Do You Have The New Saga Trade?’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
The Sunday Spotlight, where I ask you to indulge me as I give you whatever I’ve noticed in comics-related news this week …
Jamie Smart on the current heatwave sweeping the UK and Europe …
It is a bit hot right now over in the UK and Europe. As in pavements (sidewalks), melting hot. As in schools closing, trains not running, and people basically living in a hellish landscape of high temperatures and high humidity, where air conditioning is something other countries have.
Basically, it’s very, very hot, and it’s absolutely hellish.
Here’s Jamie Smart, you know, that funny guy who makes million-selling Bunny Vs Monkey comics, on the whole thing …
2000 AD is 50 years young in 2027 — plans are afoot …
Since 1977, 2000 AD has given us readers weekly Thrill Power and some of the very best in comics. Judge Dredd, Halo Jones, Future Shocks, Zenith, Nemesis, Judge Anderson, ABC Warriors, Brink, Brass Sun, Strontium Dog, Nikolai Dante, The Out, Slaine, and so many more. Nearly 50 years later, as my Weekly 2000 AD column hopefully shows you, it’s still going strong.
And with 2027 being the 50th anniversary year, you’d expect them to be doing something special, wouldn’t you? Well, there’s this…
And in other 2000 AD news — the Rogue Trooper movie’s coming. ..
Hopefully, you’re aware of this, the Rogue Trooper animated movie, helmed by Duncan Jones, is wrapped and getting preview showings right now.
There’s video of co-creators Dave Gibbons and Gerry Finley-Day‘s reactions to seeing the movie here – they were given a private screening in advance of the movie’s premiere at the Annecy Festival, and they did seem to rather like it — Gibbons describing it as ‘Completely mind blowing.‘
As for the Annecy Festival and the premiere, there was a bit of excitement before the event, as Rogue himself, actor Aneurin Barnard, rugby-tackled a purse snatcher outside the premiere. And now that the premiere is done, the first reviews have come rolling in. Now, like you, I always treat movie reviews with a little disdain, as I’m well aware that what the reviewers love and what I love often don’t line up at all. And some of my favourite movies and TV shows have their own share of really crappy reviews. But, until we actually get to see the Rogue Trooper movie for ourselves, these give us a little glimpse of what some reviewers think of it — and it’s looking pretty good.
Deadline’s Damon Wise called it a ‘fast, funny, visually mind-blowing old-school war movie.’ Drew Taylor at the Wrap talked of it as ‘An otherworldly war movie populated by anthropomorphic weapons, arcane mythology and the kind of go-for-broke 1980s fantasy movie spirit that is (sadly) in short supply these days.’ Whilst, for Screen Daily, Wendy Ide talks of Rogue Trooper looking like a Hollywood action feature, but … ‘it is distinctively British both in its sensibility (no Avatar earnestness here, just a bracingly sarcastic and pitch black humour.)’
The movie’s now in the trying to get a distribution deal stage, so hopefully we’ll all have the chance of seeing it for ourselves later in 2026. Meanwhile, Duncan Jones will be at San Diego Comic Con on 25th July (2-3 pm PDT at the Rebellion stand, booth number 2121) to meet fans and sign a limited run of the Rogue Trooper hero image.
Kieron Gillen’s Reddit The Power Fantasy AMA…
Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard‘s The Power Fantasy should be on your must-read list, a bloody great book, one that we’ve been championing here on Comicon, with Olly MacNamee covering it extensively (go here to see).
Gillen’s always been one of those who reach out, interacting with fans right from the early days. If you’re not signed up to his newsletter, rectify that here. Most recently, he had a Reddit AMA on The Power Fantasy Reddit thingy. It’s good reading.
Comics Cultural Impact Collective’s latest online discussion event — This Mess Won’t Fix Itself’ — 9th July…
The Comics Cultural Impact Collective are doing good things, bringing together those involved in the business of comics, gathering the data, talking to creators, giving ideas on how to improve the industry and raise the standards (and the income) for all those involved.
Their next online discussion event, ‘This Mess Won’t Fix Itself’ takes place on Thursday, 9th July, 7.00 pm. They’re promising they’ll be looking at the entire comics industry here, trying to break it down and working out how to fix things — as they say — ”We’ll be stepping back to evaluate the entire comics industry. Which parts of this machine need recalibrating? What bottlenecks might be hindering growth? How can we improve that pipeline between audiences and creators? Are we finally gaining traction with the wider social acceptance of comics? And what, if there were no limits to our ambitions, would an ideal future for the comics scene look like?’
Big ideas, sure. But they’re talking about them, and they’re actually taking positive steps to attempt to make life as a comics creator just that little bit better.
The event is open to all working in comics in the UK – book your place here.
As for what happened at the last roundtable, ‘Comics Livelihoods,’ that had just shy of 100 in attendance, talking about money (or lack thereof).
