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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

10 Comments

  1. Nyq Only
    January 9, 2014 @ 12:30 am

    City block names are such an eclectic mess as to be a special pleasure of Judge Dredd. Giant Haystacks Block for example.
    2000AD was a relief. I'd read a copy of Action and literally had nightmares for a week. Somehow the Sci-Fi setting was less scary.

    Reply

  2. Lance Parkin
    January 9, 2014 @ 8:38 am

    "the fifth page has a thinly veiled Margaret Thatcher being executed on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral"

    Lady Shirley Brown, I think, is a not-veiled-at-all Shirley Williams. Looking at the word balloon, it looks like 'Brown' may have been pasted over the original surname.

    Reply

  3. Lance Parkin
    January 9, 2014 @ 9:02 am

    Not to be too contrary about Action, because I think the broad thrust of 'it was violent, it was neutered, it led to 2000AD' is right, but weekly British comics came and went and merged and mutated all the time – titles like 2000AD, the Beano and Doctor Who that just keep going are exceptions to the rule.

    The broad arc of every single comic was that they'd start strong (or vanish instantly), then sales would slide and slide until cancellation. Action ran in 'neutered' form longer than it did before it was spayed, so the comic clearly didn't instantly collapse below viability because it had been neutered.

    Yes, I suspect sales were buoyant when there was all that free advertising from the media outcry and fell when people stopped talking about it. But no publication 'limps on' for nearly fifty issues.

    Reply

  4. Anton B
    January 9, 2014 @ 11:07 am

    Erm…couldn't think of any other thread to drop this into but while we're talking comics has anyone seen this? Marvel comics' Power Man and Iron Fist taking on a thinly disguised Doctor Who and the Daleks.
    http://comicsalliance.com/bizarro-back-issues-power-man-and-iron-fist-battle-the-daleks-1982/

    Reply

  5. Daibhid C
    January 9, 2014 @ 12:22 pm

    There is something about "Fictional violence is bad, we should inflict real violence on its perpertators" that is almost admirable in its honesty, directness and complete lack of anything remotely resembling self-awareness.

    My favourite block name will always be that Dredd himself – the Dirty Harry of the future – lives in Rowdy Yates Block.

    Reply

  6. ferret
    January 9, 2014 @ 12:50 pm

    British Comics were an ecosystem of sorts: survival of the popular. If they had anything at all worth keeping, they'd be consumed by another comic (X, now incorporating Y! in gradually smaller letters each week until the title of Y vanished) – I only got into The Eagle because, after 80 issues of MASK the title couldn't hold it's own and was incorporated into The Eagle.

    20 Issues later and MASK was gone forever from The Eagle, but it was no bad thing – eventually I would have grown out of MASK anyway, but now I had Dan Dare, Charley's War, Doomlord and all sorts of other good stuff to mesmerise me…

    Reply

  7. Josiah Rowe
    January 9, 2014 @ 8:38 pm

    Meanwhile, it seems that there has been a major escalation in the War:

    http://slovobooks.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/last-alan-moore-interview/

    Reply

  8. Carey
    January 9, 2014 @ 11:23 pm

    It's reached the point in the war now that it feels like mummy and daddy arguing all the time. Is there no chance of them just hugging and making up? Think of the children!

    Meanwhile, in a stunning display of synchronicity, there are a couple of new interviews featuring Grant Morrison on Chain Reaction: comedian (and occasional comic strip writer) Frankie Boyle with Morrison this week, and then Morrison himself interviewing musician and satirist Neil Innes next week. Innes, of course, is most famous for his imitation group the Rutles.

    Link lasts for the next few days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sf81

    Of course, within The War, Alan Moore got there first: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lgkzc

    Check out the archives, as there's some great stuff there (including Catherine Tate interviewing David Tennant).

    Reply

  9. Nyq Only
    January 10, 2014 @ 12:15 am

    Indeed a classic.
    The block names sum up the whole of Dredd – some are US film references, some are US political references and a whole bunch are references that only make sense in 1970s/80s British popular culture

    Reply

  10. David Anderson
    January 11, 2014 @ 3:31 am

    I'd heard about it. Who else now wishes we'd heard Matt Smith deliver the line, 'if you won't believe the evidence of your senses I can hardly expect you to take the word of a complete stranger.'

    Reply

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