Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Rebellion / 2000AD | Tagged: 2000ad, action force, diamond, gi joe, judeg dredd, london, mcm, Monster Fun, rogue trooper
Rogue Trooper, Steve Dillon & Action Force in 2000AD MCM Presentation
Steve Cook of 2000AD/Rebellion took to the stage this weekend at the Diamond Retailer event at MCM to talk through the publisher's plans.
Article Summary
- Steve Cook reveals 2000AD's future plans, including Judge Dredd Megazine/2000AD crossover.
- Rogue Trooper film in post-production; new comic content teased.
- Rebellion to publish classic Action Force comics with new volumes.
- Steve Dillon's ABC Warriors art to be featured in a special Apex edition.
Steve Morris of Rebellion Publishing, of 2000AD and Judge Dredd fame, took to the stage this weekend at the Diamond Retailer Day event at MCM London Comic Con 2024 to talk through the publisher's upcoming plans. Including a still-secret crossover between 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine in September.
With the Rogue Trooper movie starring Aneurin Barnard now in post-production, Steve Morris compared it to Tintin and Avatar as an animated film, as "all the actors came to the studio, put the ping pong balls on and filmed it themselves… and we're hoping for a uh release of that in 2025". And as a result they are ramping up the Rogue Trooper content from the publisher. Bleeding Cool already noted new Rogue Trooper stuff in their August solicitations, but Steve was keen to indicate more, including Essential-style Road Trooper volumes with cheap price points.
Collections of Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard's Rogue Trooper in World War I story, with a sequel launching in 2000 AD in September this year. This will be part of an all-new stories issues of 2000AD in September with a jumping on point for new audiences, as well as that 2000AD/Judge Dredd Megazine crossover of which we learned nothing more. There will be four volumes of the Complete Rogue Trooper ,which will collect every Rogue Trooper story chronologically… and we got a first look at the covers at show. "Rich getting an exclusive there". I did.
Monster Fun is now ongoing monthly, and Battle Action is returning for a ten-part run, with Brian K Vaughan and Chris Burnham joining for a revival of the famously banned Kids Rule OK. "I've read a bit of Brian's script and he's doing… something even worse." There's the Misty one-off special with Gail Simone.
The Sci-Fi Special for 2000AD as an amalgam comic, "every story in this issue is going to cram two or three of our characters into one so Judge Dredd gets merged into Strontium Dog and the result is Judge Alpha. With Al Ewing returning after several years to 2000AD with Boo Cook for Zombo The Undead Dead smashed up with Harlem Heroes.
They also talked about Leopard Of Live Street as Rebellion Publishing's version of Spider-Man aimed at a middle-grade audience, as a way to get kids reading 2000AD-style stories.
And there are plenty of big book collections. Rebellion, in association with Hasbro will be publishing the old Action Force comics, the British version of GI Joe, as Battle Action Force volumes, for the first time in forty years, with treasury size editions in time for Christmas.
The big books will be joined by more deluxe hardcover versions of Nemesis The Warlock…
…and massive Slaine collections for the summer, and they will be bringing Simon Bisley to San Diego Comic-Con to launch the new slipcase collection.
The late great Steve Dillion will be getting an Apex edition, in the manner of IDW's Artists Edition books, which reprints the original art boards, and will include the ABC Warriors comic he drew, written by Alan Moore.
Other Apex books include Judge Dredd by Mick McMahon Apex Edition, 2000AD by Kevin O'Neill Apex Edition and 2000AD by Mick McMahon Apex Edition, and the unseen The Complete Button Man Apex Edition by Arthur Ransom with the entirety of The Button Man story.
And to follow that, a reprint of the Brian Bolland Apex Edition, but now in in paperback as a Masterpiece Edition.
Here's the full Steve Cook Rebellion/2000AD MCM retailer presentation with even more, a bit juddery in places, but you'll get the idea…