GRIMDARK - A Very British Hell

[Voros]

Another interesting looking book from Strange Attractor Press via MIT.

Grimdark

On Warhammer 40,000, Britain's most excessive sci-fi franchise, and its vision of a hellish postindustrial future.In the grim darkness of the British imagina...

mitpress.mit.edu

On Warhammer 40,000, Britain's most excessive sci-fi franchise, and its vision of a hellish postindustrial future.

In the grim darkness of the British imagination, there is only Warhammer 40,000…. Featuring demons, chain swords, and supermen in power armor, Warhammer 40,000 is Britain's most excessive sci-fi franchise. For thirty years this cult war game and its tie-in media have enticed thousands of fans to build, paint, and play with armies of toy soldiers taken from the battlefields of the worst possible future. Why has this fantasy proven so irresistible?

Part collection of essays, part ravings of a cult prophet, Grimdark examines Warhammer 40,000's place and impact in pop culture, and how this unique vision of a hellish future arose from the subconscious of postindustrial Britain.

 

[CRKrueger]

Bah, released in July.

 

[CT_Phipps]

I should get a copy to review for GRIMDARK MAGAZINE.

 

[James Gillen]

"Why has this fantasy proven so irresistible?"

Cockney Orks.

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, if that's hell apparently I'm fine with it. Excellent. As for the book, it sound very serious, which isn't how I deal with 40K.

 

[Torque2100]

I really hope that this article understands the frankly incestuous relationship between Warhammer 40,000 and British comics of the mid-late 80's.

Warhammer 40k, especially in its First and Second edition incarnations is a love-letter to 2000 AD strips. Most of the artists who worked on early 40k also worked on 2000AD. Reading Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Nemesis: the Warlock stories from that time period is a trip because the art styles will suddenly start to look very familiar.

It's really a shame what the new owners have done to GW. All of the quirky Britishness of their game worlds has been stripped out and they look more and more like generic Chinese mobile games.

 

[Kobayashi]

And let's hope that beyond the "grimdark" aspect the book will also delve into the dark humor (that almost disappeared from the W40K franchise at least in its RPG products) and the political undertones (re-reading Third World War by Pat Mill makes Frank Miller's Give me liberty look pretty dumb in comparison). Because it's not all "subconscious", in fact, I'd say it's pretty much the opposite.

 

[zanshin]

I really hope that this article understands the frankly incestuous relationship between Warhammer 40,000 and British comics of the mid-late 80's.

Warhammer 40k, especially in its First and Second edition incarnations is a love-letter to 2000 AD strips. Most of the artists who worked on early 40k also worked on 2000AD. Reading Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Nemesis: the Warlock stories from that time period is a trip because the art styles will suddenly start to look very familiar.

It's really a shame what the new owners have done to GW. All of the quirky Britishness of their game worlds has been stripped out and they look more and more like generic Chinese mobile games.

Nemesis onto ABC Warriors. The Chaos concepts that infuse the warhammerverse nod to Moorcock and to Glorantha as well.

I found GW's chaos charts very handy for my Runequest campaign to spice up those broo.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

I really hope that this article understands the frankly incestuous relationship between Warhammer 40,000 and British comics of the mid-late 80's.

Warhammer 40k, especially in its First and Second edition incarnations is a love-letter to 2000 AD strips. Most of the artists who worked on early 40k also worked on 2000AD. Reading Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Nemesis: the Warlock stories from that time period is a trip because the art styles will suddenly start to look very familiar.

It's really a shame what the new owners have done to GW. All of the quirky Britishness of their game worlds has been stripped out and they look more and more like generic Chinese mobile games.

Also worth mentioning that the links between 2000 AD and Games Workshop went further than just Warhammer. GW had the board game and RPG licenses for a lot of 2000 AD projects.

 

[Séadna]

Did anybody read this? If so, any thoughts on it?

 

[Voros]

Did anybody read this? If so, any thoughts on it?

It will be released in April 2023. I was planning on getting the Kindle edition but it is only a few bucks cheaper than the hardcopy so I pre-ordered the hardcopy.

 

[Séadna]

It will be released in April 2023. I was planning on getting the Kindle edition but it is only a few bucks cheaper than the hardcopy so I pre-ordered the hardcopy.

lol, the Irish bookstore I order from has "buy it now". Should have checked Amazon. Looking forward to it.

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

Oooh... Could be interesting.