Thrown to the wall

Before we start two reminders...

One of which is rather long, the next page of kirbys 2001 does follow below - feel through to scroll down to that if you wish

I love February as it is:-

Doubtland Issue 1 Month - Doubtland is my redrawn and re-envisioned version of Jim Sternako's Outland - and I even got to hear from Jim himself!

This item is on sale here :- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160727755477

Now only £1 a issue!

The "Feedback competition" is now closed. Thank you to everyone who made a contribution, especially Ryan Cecil Smith!

London Super Comic Convention

This Weekend 25th and 26th February 2012 at the Excel Centre in London Docklands, Images Degrading Forever will be at its' very first big comic event - The London Super Comic Convention

When i say big, well do not take my word for it, have a look at the list of people at this event http://www.londonsupercomicconvention.com/guests/

Quite what i am doing there is anyones guess! (hiding in a corner most likely)

Anyway - this is what will be on offer at the IDF table:-

FREE advanced show special preview copies of Images Degrading Monthly - Yes, this is the all new title and replacement for Images Degrading Forever weekly. This is a 16 page publication nearly half of which is brand new and never seen before material and will also contain in print for the first time Kirby's 2001 from the beginning

You will not have to ask for a copy I will most likely offer to put one in your hands just for walking past!

I have a lot of copies of this to give away so you will be in with a very very good chance of getting one of these

I will have around 10 copies of Doubtland issue 1 and another 10 copies of the advanced show special preview of Doubtland 2 both on sale at £1 each.

I will have around 10 copies of Images Degrading Forever Collected Edition Volume 1 also on sale at just £2 a copy

Plus a selection of A3 posters and Hand drawn artwork which will be FREE on a first come, first served basis, if you want one of these items come to my table as early as you can manage. I will offer preference to anyone actually purchasing something!

I will also be tweeting live on the day - so keep an eye on @imagesdegrading if you are unable to make it on the day

For those of you who can't make it to the event, Doubtland 2 will be on sale in March at the same price for the entire month.  Images Degrading Monthly will also be available for FREE digitally, existing subscribers will automatically get this.  To subscribe, just email me at robin.barnard@ymail.com and I will email back a PDF the week after next

There will also be a distribution of print copies of Images Degrading Monthly to Orbital comics the week after next

Thrown to the wall

Is what happens to Woodrow Decker in this next completed page of 2001:-

Last week, Woodrow and his colleague Mason decided to go exploring, even though their space ship had burst into flames (Don't ask).  Mason had the hard luck to be grabbed by the tentacles of a very bug eyed monster indeed.  Deckers reaction was this was to grab hold of a rock and start to hit the "life on mars"

A instant regression to both primitive behaviour and indeed primitive tools, which on the surface seems ineffectual…

Mason meets his untimely end in the very first panel…

Then our friendly B.E.M. hits back at Decker, so his efforts was not as ineffectual as we thought.  Decker is thrown to the wall barely conscious

Mason is dragged down into the pit the "life on mars" came from - Decker recovering just in time to see the B.E.M. disappear - presumably to devour Mason (though this not made clear one way or another)…

But how does this fit in with the first half of the story?

Decker was confirmed to be the multi great grandson of "he who hunts alone" last week, but does not appear to have inherited any of his traits as a consequence.

Decker so far appears to have been a combination of rash and or lucky. He is only still alive as Mason was a few feet closer to where the B.E.M. was which certainly does not seem to qualify as survival of the fittest.

If Decker had produced some futuristic weapon and killed the B.E.M that would be a different matter…

This at least to me seems to be a fairly fundament point. In the 2001 movie, David Bowman was a bit of a nobody, very passive and almost indifferent - whereas Poole seems to be suspicious and more likely to act.

Its Poole who HAL kills first, Bowman only kills HAL as he has no other choice, but in doing so proves that man is still more superior than the tools he has invented  a genuine survival of the fittest.

One wonders what the outcome of the movie had been if HAL had been the only survival - presumably HAL would have gone through the monolith to be transformed as well?

Whatever the outcome may be here in this comic There is no similar elevation or re awaking for Decker…

But Decker himself doesn't get a moment to think or consider his actions as the entire landscape starts to disintegrate

And once again we ask will he survive and what does all of this actually mean?

Some of the answers will be here next week…

Images Degrading Forever Weekly 23
Its the penultimate issue as Turk crashes to the ground and the all-new text essay "lost in translation" comes to an end. Subscribe now and you will also get the first issue of Images Degrading Monthly when it comes out

To subscribe, just email me at robin.barnard@ymail.com