3 out of 5

Strip was a handsome magazine-sized collection that attempted to find a middle ground between Marvel and a UK 2000 AD vibe, and I can’t claim to have read the majority of the 20 issues run, but I sampled a few issues from the beginning and middle and end of the run to convince myself of the general gist and… that I won’t be hunting down the rest.  Even though the mag looks great, and it feels great (like, the vibe it gives off in the way it’s put together), there wasn’t – from the issue I read – but also doesn’t appear to be, looking at the entire run – a particular stand-out strip that defines the vibe.  You could say Marshall Law or Death’s Head, or Genghis Grimtoad – characters that came away from or came to the book and certainly have their followers – but though those former two could’ve been considered mascots for the series at various points, it lacks that cohesion that, say, Dredd brings to 2000 AD.  Mind you, this is also my problem with the current print version of Dark Horse Presents.  The old version, even though it spanned tons of story styles, had, for some reason, a unity in presentation and feeling.  You could sense that if you liked one issue you’d probably like the next, and there was a careful distribution of longer running tales and tales the editors probably saw as “wins” versus risks…  The new DHP just feels like a random compendium.  Some things are good, but it’s so scattershot it wasn’t worth my money.  And so was the case with ‘Strip,’ and hence, I must believe, why it only lasted 20 issues and was seemingly canceled without too much notice, as issue 20 talks about issue 21…

It is an entertaining magazine in the sense that it’s readable, with moderate chuckles or action, and obviously if you dug any of those cult characters you were on board.  They also reprinted some Conway Punisher stuff, which was great (but does that count, being a reprint…?).  And as I said, the presentation was aces – clean colors, the over-sized panels are clear, and it has that more detailed UK style but the printing was just very crisp, whereas that era of 2000 AD looks sort of muddy to me.  So, boom, I picked up a stack out of a dollar bin and I ain’t ashamed.  But if I had been following this at cover price at the time, I would’ve ended up dropping it.  It’s just missing something.