Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Welcome to the TPO blog

THRILL-POWER OVERLOAD is a book detailing the life and times of legendary British comic 2000 AD. It is being published in February 2007, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Galaxy's Great Comic. This blog will chart the writing of that book and its progress towards publication, hopefully acting as a nexus point for the project.

THRILL-POWER OVERLOAD [TPO for short] is a real labour of love. It began life in 2002 as a series of articles commissioned by Alan Barnes to coincide with 2000 AD’s silver anniversary. What seemed a simple project soon grew into a massive narrative, trying to discern the facts from conflicting memories and opinions gleaned from dozens of interviews. Originally planned as a dozen features, TPO became sixteen articles and more than 80,000 words. The articles drew acclaim from Megazine readers and reviewers, even if they angered some of those involved in the events detailed.

The book version will revise, massively expand and update those articles. It reveals 2000 AD’s secret history, as told through the words and recollections of those involved: writers, artists, editorial staff and publishers. It details the comic’s troubled genesis, how the weekly was almost cancelled twice within three years of launch and the various editorial teams’ frequent battles against management interference and censorship. The book offers a unique insight into Britain’s most acclaimed comic, as seen by those who were there.

Current wordcount: 2830. Wordcount target: 120,000.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mr Maskrado said...

This is terrific stuff! I read all of those Megazine articles and thought they were great; they became the first thing I read when I got a new issue. I'm so happy that they'll be expanded into a book (looks like it will be juicier). Even though it'll cost me a fortune in US dollars, I's gots to get me a copy from Amazon UK.

By the way, I kinda liked the somewhat anal-retentive History of Dredd that followed: there were some things that I didn't know; a lot I had forgotten.

Anyway, thanks for posting to tide me over...

6:24 PM  

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