Meg 230: Blazin' Squad.

[GermanAndy]

Gordon: I will miss your column. It was the only one which was funny and had some sparks in it. Oh, and happy B-Day.

I normally like columns, but frankly, most of them in the Meg were and are kind of blah. Especially the Scott Gray piece irked me this time.  I mean, come on, either write about decompression or write about a series you think merit some attention.

But do it right. This whole decompression nonsense - especially Marvel - is a typically story-telling fad, lifted from Mangas. Of course the Japanese understand it, as most American?s don?t. This is no invention for superheroes, as the article seemed to suggest.

And She-Hulk btw got canceled some time ago with a relaunch in sight.

Dredd: I liked it. Especially the first page. have to confess that I thought it was Dredd who did the killing, so after a hearty WTF went checking the writername again cause I thought this out of character. Then again ... :-)) The art wasn?t perfect, reminded me a bit too much of D?Israeli, but it was interesting.

Shimura: I am not a big fan, but the conclusion was okay. And hey, in both the Meg and the Prog nudity, and nobody here on the board complained? What is wrong with you? :-)

The Kennedy interview is great. And btw, please reprint "The Diery of Adrian Cockroach". I have to read a tale with this title.

Loco: Sorry, this character doesn?t work for me. I love Gordons stuff, but this is not for me.

Whatever happened: as I didn?t knew the backstory, it didn?t do nothing for me. But the part with the neon-cone let me chuckle.

Bogie Man. Now I read that this character is dear to Wagner and Grant and Smith, but I guess the idea is funny, but this one isn?t for me either.

Cardboard City: I hate you. Now I have to re-read WHT Maria, which I didn?t knew the backstory at the time and which I didn?t get therefore.

Anderson: Conclusion was a bit of a letdown, but nice that Anderson didn?t end in Boing for a chance.

[Bad Andy]

Following on from my Teutonic counterpart...

This Meg was a real let-down for me. Dredd was a little empty. Another character mined from the past, but with no real reason. Is this the best you could have done with wee Brycey? Predictable.

Shimura - promising if confusing first part fell away. Some good killings though. What happened to the child? Is this a loose strand to be picked up later?

Bata loco - Again promising first episode degenrated into a rubbish farce with murky artwork. What the hell was going on?

Bogie Man - Already expressed my feelings about this before but it just aint working for me.

Cardboard City - okay. Not read this before. Weird in how Maria turned out.

Anderson - lovely artwork but nanobots for crying out loud? Nice twist for it not to be possession mind, but nanobots are such a twatty sci-fi staple now I shudder everytime I hear the term.

Melda's return was a bit pointless too.

Sorry for being down on this issue. I've really enjoyed the past 12 months. Strange to think I am geting the value out of it because of the text articles.

[Proudhuff]

Cards?  Yipppeee! who wants a game of snap?

Cover fair enough, liked the burnt touch and at last Anderson got a decent hairdo, will we ever say that about Dredd?.

Ad: Bobble Heads? WTF..who who would buy this pish?

Dredd: Judging Ralphy, good stuff, pity we see its not JD on the first page,or the shock would have been well placed. colour and art are fine by meski.

Shimura: never used to follow this the years I left the megazine, enjoyed this but the knobby ending a bit suspect. Might buy the GN.

Love Cam's art loved the interview, how up-beat is that compared to previous 'moanin minnies' ?
Aside- Have to say I stopped getting the L+D Wars as I saw it as horribly racist:  no yanks on the dark side? all the Vetcong on the darkside?

bato: fine eposide not so much chat and big guns, explosions and boots. BDAMBDAMBDAM! Thats a good dredd.
WHT? fine nice mix of old and new art and images.

Dredd files enjoying this stragely enough... reminds me of how Dredd has changed and that not every story was a winner back then.

Bogie, sorry not my cuppa.

Cardboard City: reminds me of how Dredd has changed and enjoyed Cams artwork.

Rennie: Boned?!! The is he the next Kilroy-Silk of Comics? what's next, writing for Vanity?

Anderson enjoyable shot em up, but please Thargy give her a long rest, in Boing if needs be.

letters /input interesting points for once

Over all a fine show all round.

Huff: A dour tornfaced Scotsman no less.

 




 

[Trout]

Something has struck me, while reading this month's Meg: even when I'm not interested in bits of it, this versatile publication still makes me very happy.

A few comments:

I'm distraught to read confirmation of the end of Bile Duct. I will miss it desperately. Despite not liking it at first, I eventually started to look on it as Best Thing In The Meg.

I read and enjoyed bits of the other columns. Si's film piece is getting better every month, I must add.

Highlights: the fantastic free gift, various bits of Art including Shimura and the overall readability of the whole thing.

There are bits, like the Dredd Files or Bato Loco, that I don't have much interest in, but none of the comic is actually bad.

I'm looking forward to the fourth suit of cards. At least I can stop buying an extra Meg every month when I have two full sets!

- Trout

[Krustabi]

Bloody hell, this sank to the bottom fairly quickly.

Cover - Ok picture, shoddy design. I'm not adverse to a bit of gimmickry, but still...

Dredd - Liked the art a LOT (apart from his tendency to draw heads exploding from a solitary bullet). A reassuringly good Wagner script, and it 's nice to see Sanchez on duty, now that's she's grown out of her rookie-nerves.

Shimura - This looks as if it was written by a 14 year old boy. I preferred the Clarke of old, as here his stuff looks a bit flat. If the obsession with hyper-realistic amputations can be reined in (Not sure who this is due to), I would like much more Shimura, especially now that some sort of direction to the story has been added.

Cam interview - Fascinating, plus some great pictures.

Cardboard City - I love these classic Dredd's. good balance between comedy and the dark (and relevant) plot. How odd that this is printed at the same time that the Sun launches it's new "Murder all Gyppos" campaign.

Dredd files - OK

Bogie man - Was suspicious at first, but this is bloody hilarious. I'm completely sold.

Anderson - No complaints, glad to see that this is virtually a permanent feature nowadays.

Heatseekers - I really liked Si's column for a change, and good to see that the "It's laughably shit, don't watch it" aspect has disappeared. Rennie goes out with a bang and a half.

Letters - Blimey, that's a bit much.

Next Month - Can't. Wait.

Very good Meg, truth be told.
Bato Loco - A bit too throwaway, but hugely enjoyable nonetheless.

WEHT - Steve Roberts is always a good thing. Slightly ho-hum script though.

[Smiley]

Ace cover and I really liked the last panel of Anderson. Hats off to Ranson. And Andy Clarke doesn't half draw a cracking fight.

SynchroMeg? strikes again, this time with closure for both Ralph Bryce and Melda Dreepe (frankly, barrel scraping on a par with the resurrected Angel Gang and bound to leave a few readers head-scratching.) The swipes and imitated styles for both stories were bloody awful and didn't work. The intent's appreciated, but...

[Oddboy]

Disagree with you there - in the Dredd story I though they'd actually reprinted the original art for a moment!

And I really liked the way that Steve Roberts style was very apparent, yet Dreepe herself looked McMahon drawn - but not in McMahon's style from the time he drew Block Mania, but more like his current style: presumably as he'd draw her now...


Other Meggy bits:
Liking the cards,
Liking Shimura,
Anderson's pretty good, but nanobots?

[Tiplodocus]

I think I quite enjoyed my Meg this month.

DREDD: I'm a big fan of Dave Taylor's art but the story was a bit ho-hum for me.  Didn't really see much point on chasing up a character from twenty five years back.  I actually quite liked the different art style pastiches - was there more than one Ralphy story or is it just a clever way of showing time passing?  I particularly liked the full page panel of Sanchez in the die Dredd room.  It had good impact - showing not only the extent of Ralphy's obsession but, to my mind, what could await a still fresh faced (blurry lipped) Judge like Sanchez in the future. BUT I would have also liked a full page panel of Dredd blasting away from his lawmaster. There's been a lot of this tying up of loose ends been going on lately - reminds me of the time my mother set off for Australia. She started visiting the family and leaving us gifts "Here's my food processor, I won't be needing it" as if she wasn't coming back. Is Wagner tidying up before he retires when HISTORY OF VIOLENCE becomes a mega-hit?

SHIMURA was a bit of weak ending - Shimura can survive crashing through plate glass windows now? Looks good but is, ultimately, stupid. I've also forgotten who everybody is in this story so maybe it needs rereading in one sitting. I think Clarke's fight scenes always seem a bit flat and static. Good backgrounds and nice tits, though.

Enjoyed the CAM KENNEDY interview (he's a great bloke to interview).

BATO LOCO was enjoyable as well - I think Coleby's art is great for this sort of overly macho tale (though I was slightly disappointed by Carlito actively getting the better of DREDD at the end - I prefer the crazy luck to keep going).

WEHT MELDA DREEP was a pretty pointless exercise - in fact, imho, most of these have been. I think I enjoyed the Giant one but that had a place in a GINAT themed issue - haven't really enjoyed the others.  I think Steve Roberts art looks a bit bare in black and white.

DREDD: CARDBOARD CITY was a pleasant re-read and complemented the Kennedy interview nicely.  I like the way that he (the colourist) uses the patches of colour and light to suggest backgrounds that aren't actually there.  And the skull on the exploding body is pure class.  Surely DREDD should be up for littering though?

BOGIE MAN - I'm actually just skim reading despite loving the original.  Maybe I'll pluck up courage to read it all in a oner some night - I feel it might be more enjoyable that way - escalating idiocy and all that.

ANDERSON - I'm annoyed because it's only part of a story really isn't it.  That seems to be the way these are going these days for Anderson.  I don't mind episodic elements in a big arc (see Caballistics) but these either come over as a story cut in two or slightly randomly thrown together.  And another problem with these shorter stories is that I seem to have forgotten what happened two months back.  I don't envy Mister Barnes task of trying to juggle variety and story length.

HEATSEEKERS - as I've said elsewhere, I'll miss Gordon's column.  Enjoyed the rest of them. I feel Si could have doe a column on each of his pet peeves (I thought the Spartacus one was an urban myth or was that cars in Ben Hur).  


Aren't these playing cards the best gift evah. Fact.

Link: http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=droid&page=interview&choice=8" target="_blank">Tiplodocus interviews Cam Kennedy

http://www.2000adonline.com/images/page/boba.jpg">

[The Monarch]

Ralph Bryce who?

[Jared Katooie]

Cards: Alright. 45%

Cover: Decent enough. 58%

Dredd: Good but could have been better. The recaps were drawn very close to the original style which impressed me. 64%

Shimura: This wasn't bad. I was dissapointed that the story didn't really go anywhere but for Robbie Morrison this is good. 58%

Interview: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 40%

Bato: A bit dull. 43%

Dredd files: Sort of informative. 45%

Bogie man: Okay, but not for me. 46%

Cardboard City: Good art. Okay story. Glad they reprinted it but it's not a classic. 47%

Rennie: Bye. 46%

Anderson: Not quite right, but close. 54%

Letters: L E T T E R S. A few annoyed me so, mission accomplished. 44%

Overall: 57%

[Oddboy]

How are you judging 'Overall'? You've given it quite a high overall figure considering the average of your stats comes out at 49%

[GordonR]

It's the exactness of jared's reviews I enjoy.  'Shimura: 58%'.  What were the crucial factors that prevented it getting a 59% rating? Or 57%?  Alas, we're never told.

I think he should start taking it to decimal places, just to make it *even more* exact.

[Trout]

It's the exactness of jared's reviews I enjoy. 'Shimura: 58%'. What were the crucial factors that prevented it getting a 59% rating? Or 57%? Alas, we're never told.

I think he should start taking it to decimal places, just to make it *even more* exact.


I felt the above post lacked punch and characterisation, and should have been written by someone else, such as John Wagner. He would have done it better.

Rating: 32.765%.

:-p

[SimonC]

How does Jared reach his 'overall' score?

An average of the ratings given would seem to be the most obvious way, but this, in fact, yeilds a score of 49.166666666666666666666666666667%

Just tryin' to be helpful :-)

SimonC

[Oddboy]

Yeah, I just rounded it to 49% to match his other figures...

Perhaps it's weighted by page count? ie - above average cover of one page has more bearing then a below average score for a 6 page story?