What do you think?
Rate this book
Thrill-Power Overload
Hardcover with unclipped dust jacket. First edition, first impression. Seems to be signed by the author on the title page, but not verified. Pen marks from signature have been pressed onto following page. Minor edgewear to jacket and score to jacket rear. Contents are clean and crisp, illustrations bright and clear and the spine is tight. AD
- GenresComicsNonfiction
260 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2007
1 person is currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
David Bishop
141 books38 followersDavid James Bishop is a New Zealand screenwriter and author. He was a UK comics editor during the 1990s, running such titles as the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD, the latter between 1996 and the summer of 2000.
He has since become a prolific author and received his first drama scriptwriting credit when BBC Radio 4 broadcast his radio play Island Blue: Ronald in June 2006. In 2007, he won the PAGE International Screenwriting Award in the short film category for his script Danny's Toys, and was a finalist in the 2009 PAGE Awards with his script The Woman Who Screamed Butterflies.
In 2008, he appeared on 23 May edition of the BBC One quiz show The Weakest Link, beating eight other contestants to win more than £1500 in prize money.
In 2010, Bishop received his first TV drama credit on the BBC medical drama series Doctors, writing an episode called A Pill For Every Ill, broadcast on 10 February.
He has since become a prolific author and received his first drama scriptwriting credit when BBC Radio 4 broadcast his radio play Island Blue: Ronald in June 2006. In 2007, he won the PAGE International Screenwriting Award in the short film category for his script Danny's Toys, and was a finalist in the 2009 PAGE Awards with his script The Woman Who Screamed Butterflies.
In 2008, he appeared on 23 May edition of the BBC One quiz show The Weakest Link, beating eight other contestants to win more than £1500 in prize money.
In 2010, Bishop received his first TV drama credit on the BBC medical drama series Doctors, writing an episode called A Pill For Every Ill, broadcast on 10 February.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 18, 2014
Thrill-Power Overload is a tough book to review, because it so clearly overshoots the mark in so many ways and is so clearly commendable, and yet falls short in just a few crucial others.
First off, if you are a current, lapsed, or recent fan of British comics mag 2000 A.D., it is a tremendously enjoyable read and highly recommended. One of the marks TPO delightfully manages to overshoot is that of a coffee-table book celebration of the first thirty years of 2000 A.D.: it's well laid out with a tremendous number of classic illustrations, achieving exactly that act of "idle flip through that becomes obsessive browsing" that a specialist coffee table book aims to inspire.
But, again, TPO overshoots this mark but the mark beyond that -- especially in its early pages, it is a remarkably candid recounting of the magazine's launch, its early triumphs and several spectacular failures, and looks unflinchingly at the struggles between a management trying to do what's best for business and a group of fiercely independent and outspoken creators trying at first to create the best characters and series they can and then, later, trying to get something like proper compensation for it. Because of this aspect of the book (the part I'd always heard the most about), it's easy to assume TPO was published without the consent of 2000 A.D., but in fact 2000 A.D. and Rebellion are the book's publishers! (Yes, it really does deserve an exclamation point. That's how startlingly candid these chapters are.)
Even though such an achievement is probably made possible by 2000 A.D.'s shifting ownership over the decades -- eye-opening stories about the early days of IPC are unlikely to ruffle the feathers of anyone at Rebellion today (and, indeed, the number of conflicts between publishing and editorial disappear entirely from this book once the narrative gets to the period where Rebellion purchases 2000 A.D. from Egmont) -- it is nonetheless a refreshing and laudable achievement, nonetheless. Imagine Sean Howe's similarly candid Marvel Comics: The Untold Story being published by Marvel and you get an idea how unexpected and commendable TPO's forthrightness is.
Author David Bishop (former editor of both 2000 A.D. and sister publication Judge Dredd Megazine) has worked up a reliable organization that keeps the reader moving through the years: sections are broken into decades, and chapters focus on the notable storylines and characters introduced in each decade, with extensive commentary from the creators and editors. Chapters usually end as troubles loom on the horizon, either for creators, characters, editors, or the magazine itself. Because of his own experience behind the scenes, Bishop does a superlative job of making the stakes feel high for things as seemingly picayune as a format or distributor change, and one of the pleasures of the book is the number of times the magazine 2000 A.D., like one of its own characters, finds itself in a good old-fashioned cliffhanger, trapped in a no-win situation facing certain doom.
I did say the book does fall short in just a few crucial ways, most of which are inescapable for a project like this. (But of course being able to escape the inescapable should be what separates a five star book from a four star, right?) In order to talk about some of the great epics and stories from 2000 A.D., Bishop has to unfortunately spoil a few, and so I walked away from this book having learned the ending of more than a few Judge Dredd epics I was looking forward to reading.
Although the mid-90s spends a certain amount of time detailing how American publisher DC drained 2000 A.D. of talent via the better page rates and creator participation offered through its Vertigo line, there's not much information about how or if Vertigo's decline in the early millennium affected 2000 A.D. at all, or really how the change of fortune in the American comics industry in the mid-90s might have influenced things. As it is, this aspect of the industry (which I suspect is more important than the coverage here would suggest) can only be inferred by a potentially over-imaginative reader such as myself.
I only bring this up because I cherished how TPO covers much more of the British comics industry than I would've expected -- by charting the rise and fall of competing magazines Toxic and Crisis, for example, and complications in 2000 AD's early years by things like workers' strikes. From what I can tell, TPO falls just shy of being a fine pocket history of the British comics market, one whose quiet, pre-2000 A.D. existence worked in a far different fashion from the way the American comics market industry.
I know it's churlish to mark TPO down a bit for not covering the whole of an industry, especially when such a overview is outside the goals of a book explicitly conceived and marketed as a history of just 2000 A.D. But Thrill-Power Overload is so ridiculously and remarkably successful in that latter goal that I can't help but wish the final yard of ground had been covered, so that I could recommend this book not just to those interested in Judge Dredd, 2000 A.D., or the many British comics creators that have helped change the face of comics, but to anyone interested in the comics industry or publishing.
As it stands, Bishop and the book's publishers will have to be content with only having released a lovely-looking, compulsively readable history capable of satiating the most insatiable of beasts: the true fan. My judge's helmet is off to all involved.
First off, if you are a current, lapsed, or recent fan of British comics mag 2000 A.D., it is a tremendously enjoyable read and highly recommended. One of the marks TPO delightfully manages to overshoot is that of a coffee-table book celebration of the first thirty years of 2000 A.D.: it's well laid out with a tremendous number of classic illustrations, achieving exactly that act of "idle flip through that becomes obsessive browsing" that a specialist coffee table book aims to inspire.
But, again, TPO overshoots this mark but the mark beyond that -- especially in its early pages, it is a remarkably candid recounting of the magazine's launch, its early triumphs and several spectacular failures, and looks unflinchingly at the struggles between a management trying to do what's best for business and a group of fiercely independent and outspoken creators trying at first to create the best characters and series they can and then, later, trying to get something like proper compensation for it. Because of this aspect of the book (the part I'd always heard the most about), it's easy to assume TPO was published without the consent of 2000 A.D., but in fact 2000 A.D. and Rebellion are the book's publishers! (Yes, it really does deserve an exclamation point. That's how startlingly candid these chapters are.)
Even though such an achievement is probably made possible by 2000 A.D.'s shifting ownership over the decades -- eye-opening stories about the early days of IPC are unlikely to ruffle the feathers of anyone at Rebellion today (and, indeed, the number of conflicts between publishing and editorial disappear entirely from this book once the narrative gets to the period where Rebellion purchases 2000 A.D. from Egmont) -- it is nonetheless a refreshing and laudable achievement, nonetheless. Imagine Sean Howe's similarly candid Marvel Comics: The Untold Story being published by Marvel and you get an idea how unexpected and commendable TPO's forthrightness is.
Author David Bishop (former editor of both 2000 A.D. and sister publication Judge Dredd Megazine) has worked up a reliable organization that keeps the reader moving through the years: sections are broken into decades, and chapters focus on the notable storylines and characters introduced in each decade, with extensive commentary from the creators and editors. Chapters usually end as troubles loom on the horizon, either for creators, characters, editors, or the magazine itself. Because of his own experience behind the scenes, Bishop does a superlative job of making the stakes feel high for things as seemingly picayune as a format or distributor change, and one of the pleasures of the book is the number of times the magazine 2000 A.D., like one of its own characters, finds itself in a good old-fashioned cliffhanger, trapped in a no-win situation facing certain doom.
I did say the book does fall short in just a few crucial ways, most of which are inescapable for a project like this. (But of course being able to escape the inescapable should be what separates a five star book from a four star, right?) In order to talk about some of the great epics and stories from 2000 A.D., Bishop has to unfortunately spoil a few, and so I walked away from this book having learned the ending of more than a few Judge Dredd epics I was looking forward to reading.
Although the mid-90s spends a certain amount of time detailing how American publisher DC drained 2000 A.D. of talent via the better page rates and creator participation offered through its Vertigo line, there's not much information about how or if Vertigo's decline in the early millennium affected 2000 A.D. at all, or really how the change of fortune in the American comics industry in the mid-90s might have influenced things. As it is, this aspect of the industry (which I suspect is more important than the coverage here would suggest) can only be inferred by a potentially over-imaginative reader such as myself.
I only bring this up because I cherished how TPO covers much more of the British comics industry than I would've expected -- by charting the rise and fall of competing magazines Toxic and Crisis, for example, and complications in 2000 AD's early years by things like workers' strikes. From what I can tell, TPO falls just shy of being a fine pocket history of the British comics market, one whose quiet, pre-2000 A.D. existence worked in a far different fashion from the way the American comics market industry.
I know it's churlish to mark TPO down a bit for not covering the whole of an industry, especially when such a overview is outside the goals of a book explicitly conceived and marketed as a history of just 2000 A.D. But Thrill-Power Overload is so ridiculously and remarkably successful in that latter goal that I can't help but wish the final yard of ground had been covered, so that I could recommend this book not just to those interested in Judge Dredd, 2000 A.D., or the many British comics creators that have helped change the face of comics, but to anyone interested in the comics industry or publishing.
As it stands, Bishop and the book's publishers will have to be content with only having released a lovely-looking, compulsively readable history capable of satiating the most insatiable of beasts: the true fan. My judge's helmet is off to all involved.
January 9, 2008
Every now and then a publisher has the good sense to release a book catering to a certain fringe audience that not only gives the faithful something they would absolutely enjoy, but also goes above and beyond in filling those pages with material so fucking awesome that you just might be inspired to jack off to it. Such a volume is the long-awaited THRILL-POWER OVERLOAD: 30 YEARS OF 2000 AD.
This huge hardcover edition is culled and expanded from a series of articles by David Bishop for the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE, articles chronicling the warts-and-all history of 2000 AD, the landmark British sci-fi comic that's been running since February of 1977 and introduced the world to many phenomenal comics and creators, some of whom would go on to comics-biz superstardom. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN), Grant Morrison (ANIMAL MAN, DOOM PATROL) , Brian Bolland THE KILLING JOKE), Alan Davis (EXCALIBUR, THE NAIL I & II), Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon and Glenn Fabry (PREACHER), Kevin O'Neill (THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN) and many others would make quite a splash once they branched out to the more lucrative work found at DC and Marvel Comics, but the stuff that first brought most of them to the astonished attention of UK comics readers started in Two-Thou (as it's lovingly referred to by us geeks).
Rising from the ashes of the controversial and cancelled due to public outcry ACTION, the creators behind that incredibly violent comic learned their lesson and filtered their bloodthirsty sensibilities through a sci-fi disguise, thereby allowing for ray-gun blastings, dinosaurs eating people's heads, and other assorted mayhem unhampered by any sort of "realistic" setting. Thus freed, the creators went apeshit, and over its first five years 2000 AD unleashed a pantheon of far-flung classic characters and stories, such as JUDGE DREDD, THE A.B.C. WARRIORS (my all-time favorite robot comic), ROBO-HUNTER, NEMESIS THE WARLOCK, ROGUE TROOPER, FLESH, THE V.C.'S,
flagrant THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN ripoff M.A.C.H. 1, SLAINE, and of course the series that got me hooked on this stuff in the first place, STRONTIUM DOG. An impressive roster to say the very least.
The birth pains of 2000 AD are covered in highly entertaining and exhaustive detail, placing the book among the most informatve and compelling behind the scenes books ever written on the comics industry, and it's a fascinating read for both the hardcore fan and those curious about publishing and the creative process. I can't recommend this book highly enough, but keep in mind that here in the States it's an import and retails for around seventy to seventy-five bucks over the counter at the comic shop. I almost didn't buy it today when I found out how expensive it was, but there was only one copy in the place and once I looked at it I decided to go for it anyway and sacrifice a bit of carousing and collecting of other things. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION
This huge hardcover edition is culled and expanded from a series of articles by David Bishop for the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE, articles chronicling the warts-and-all history of 2000 AD, the landmark British sci-fi comic that's been running since February of 1977 and introduced the world to many phenomenal comics and creators, some of whom would go on to comics-biz superstardom. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN), Grant Morrison (ANIMAL MAN, DOOM PATROL) , Brian Bolland THE KILLING JOKE), Alan Davis (EXCALIBUR, THE NAIL I & II), Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon and Glenn Fabry (PREACHER), Kevin O'Neill (THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN) and many others would make quite a splash once they branched out to the more lucrative work found at DC and Marvel Comics, but the stuff that first brought most of them to the astonished attention of UK comics readers started in Two-Thou (as it's lovingly referred to by us geeks).
Rising from the ashes of the controversial and cancelled due to public outcry ACTION, the creators behind that incredibly violent comic learned their lesson and filtered their bloodthirsty sensibilities through a sci-fi disguise, thereby allowing for ray-gun blastings, dinosaurs eating people's heads, and other assorted mayhem unhampered by any sort of "realistic" setting. Thus freed, the creators went apeshit, and over its first five years 2000 AD unleashed a pantheon of far-flung classic characters and stories, such as JUDGE DREDD, THE A.B.C. WARRIORS (my all-time favorite robot comic), ROBO-HUNTER, NEMESIS THE WARLOCK, ROGUE TROOPER, FLESH, THE V.C.'S,
flagrant THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN ripoff M.A.C.H. 1, SLAINE, and of course the series that got me hooked on this stuff in the first place, STRONTIUM DOG. An impressive roster to say the very least.
The birth pains of 2000 AD are covered in highly entertaining and exhaustive detail, placing the book among the most informatve and compelling behind the scenes books ever written on the comics industry, and it's a fascinating read for both the hardcore fan and those curious about publishing and the creative process. I can't recommend this book highly enough, but keep in mind that here in the States it's an import and retails for around seventy to seventy-five bucks over the counter at the comic shop. I almost didn't buy it today when I found out how expensive it was, but there was only one copy in the place and once I looked at it I decided to go for it anyway and sacrifice a bit of carousing and collecting of other things. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION
Read
December 29, 2011The problem with authorised histories is that authorisation tends to mean politeness. How many pointless 'making of' featurettes have you seen where everyone's blandly pleasant about all their colleagues? This is one of the honorably vicious exceptions, with a bunch of incompatible personalities still bitching about each other decades down the line. Excellent fun - though probably fairly pointless if you're not already at least a bit of a 2000AD fan.
September 18, 2020
Because Bishop was once the human representative of Tharg the Mighty this book has a brilliant insight into what making 2000AD must be like - but it also has the opposite problem of the usual authorised white wash history: in essence it’s an opportunity for everyone to air dirty laundry. Alan Moore has long since started holding grudges better than he can write comics; Mills is somehow both brilliant and fizzing with ideas whilst also being an insufferably petty and arrogant arse; John Sanders manages to be politically reactionary AND entirely blasé about the impact his comics had to readers (no, merging comics was often traumatic to us kids you huge arsehole)... others just have a sense of being traumatised by business decisions or shaken by some editorial ideas from above. It’s quite bleak reading at times
But it also manages to ruin the insider opportunity the book is given: we do indeed get a chance to see why the Prog had such a rough nineties (directionlessness, no guidance from above becoming active resistance and stacks of terrible scripts that had been ignored for years but had to be contractually published at some point) but we mostly get what I would call a Les McQueen “it’s a shit business” history. It does sound like a horrendous workplace but endless stories about editorial mistakes or management issues just get blunted when the book is so bogged down in it. Bishop needs another writer to steer him from the self pity/ resentment and focus on the better stuff. It’s a key part of the story but makes for eventually quite boring reading and a sparkier collaborator would have ended up making this closer to Rude Kids, the history of Viz. I hope they correct this for the inevitable 50th anniversary tome in seven years time
But it also manages to ruin the insider opportunity the book is given: we do indeed get a chance to see why the Prog had such a rough nineties (directionlessness, no guidance from above becoming active resistance and stacks of terrible scripts that had been ignored for years but had to be contractually published at some point) but we mostly get what I would call a Les McQueen “it’s a shit business” history. It does sound like a horrendous workplace but endless stories about editorial mistakes or management issues just get blunted when the book is so bogged down in it. Bishop needs another writer to steer him from the self pity/ resentment and focus on the better stuff. It’s a key part of the story but makes for eventually quite boring reading and a sparkier collaborator would have ended up making this closer to Rude Kids, the history of Viz. I hope they correct this for the inevitable 50th anniversary tome in seven years time
January 26, 2024
2000AD is the best comic ever and when it turned 30, it deserved its history written down the best way ever.
Very interesting, loads of bits of behind the scenes info to enjoy.
Very interesting, loads of bits of behind the scenes info to enjoy.
July 30, 2011
I bought this book from Amazon mostly because of the artwork inside. I was surprised when I found myself enjoying each chapter. Bishop spends a lot of time illustrating the publication politics and the characters involved, its very interesting to see how 2000AD emerged, developed and survived. I'd probably only recommend this book to fans of 2000AD (both lapsed, like me and present).
October 20, 2007
The history of Britain's premier sci-fi comic, 2000AD. Although the cover featured here is different from the copy I have which features the characters that have appeared and still appear in the 200AD comic.
April 19, 2013
Zarjaz! I was fascinated to read about the behind-the-pages stuff of this long running comic. The clash of egos, the frank assessments by the many people involved, the rationale behind various strips and their timing. Lavishly illustrated. This is essential reading for all Squaxx dek Thargo
January 31, 2011
In-depth history of one of my favorite comics.
August 23, 2013
Ultimate history of this iconic sci-fi weekly.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews