Meg 233... Buzz Off!

[Dudley]

So few reviews?  What's going on?

D'Israeli's covers never do that much for me.  I can see that it's a great use of bold, original colour and wonderful linework, blah blah blah, but I just can't see myself buying this on the basis of the cover alone.

Judge Dredd was not entirely unexpectedly awesome.  While PJ is a firm fan favourite anyway, and thus always likely to get a good reaction, this isn't just PJ.  This is the two top creators of Judge Dredd working together, enjoying themselves, and producing a twisty-turny plot that should remind everyone of exactly why they continue to pick up the comics.  Can't wait for next issue.

I've been a fan of Devlin Waugh since his first appearance, but last year's long chase was a severe disappointment.  This story dives back into John Smith's personal universe of the wierd, however, and produces absolutely superb results.  I like the way that the strip is tenuously anchored in the Dreddverse, but Smith has the confidence to go his own way without actually contradicting the logic of Dredd's world.  This is another superb episode of what's promising to be the best Waugh series so far.

Ranson and Grant are clearly having a ball on Anderson, Psi at the moment, as the funky page layouts and zaftig dialogue attest.  I like the fact that you start out on each episode not having a clue where it's going to end up.  Am looking forward very much to the inevitable collected edition.

Si Spurrier's Zancudo finally makes me see the point of Cam Kennedy.  I'm not sure it's ever possible to use the adjective "hoary" in a good way, but suffice it to say that this was a hoary old tale that I'd very much like to see a sequel to.

However, and apologies in advance to all the Bogie Man fans, Return to Casablance was just a bit underpowered all the way through.  And whoever pointed out the rubbishness of the final panel was spot-on.  Just a bit cack.  However, it's good to see the Meg branching out away from sci-fi/fantasy/war, and if this strip had just been a bit, well, better, then the strong characters and central premise would have guaranteed it another outing.

Johnny Woo - was a bit cack, to be honest.  Not so cack that it wouldn't be worth another go, but it needs to stop wearing its influences on its sleeve like this.

I'm not going to review all the text features, but a special mention to British Icons - Sapphire & Steel, which was just superlative.  I was in contact with the writer briefly when researching the 2000adreview Ranson interview, and he was very helpful, but I hadn't realised how good a writer he was or how indepth his knowledge went.  I'm disppointed that the interviews seem to have stopped, but this is a more than worthy replacement.  

[House of Usher]

PJ Maybe was good yet again, but I didn't see any great advantage in substituting an impostor for the real heart in the Black Museum. The judges have Maybe's genetic fingerprint on file, so the chances of them ever going back to the stored heart for a fresh sample should be slim at best.

Zancudo was fair enough. Lots of bits of it didn't add up, but who cares? It had giant mosquitoes and ants in it, and that, surely, was the point.

Johnny Woo was a character I didn't like, in a story I didn't like, in a genre I didn't like.

The Bogie Man was good up to a point. The last panel mystified me a bit. I'd like to have been better able to gauge their chances of survival from seeing just how perilous a drop they'd leapt into.

Devlin Waugh continues to be good, if accepted on its own terms.

I can't really remember what happened in Anderson, Psi-division. And I didn't notice the cover.

Taken as a whole, I did enjoy it though. There were some good vintage Dredd reprints, with the possible excepted of the timely Jackson Prince reprint, which was a bit rubbish.

[Bad Andy]

I suppose people would have to be familiar with the geography of Edinburgh to know the fate of the Bogie Man, but it is a LONG WAY DOWN.

Good. Hopefully we won't see a return of it. Too long, too 'zany', too stupid. And I usually like stupid stuff.

[Artificial Idiot]

'Good. Hopefully we won't see a return of it.'

God... You'll be disapointed then...

[The Amstor Computer]

"God... You'll be disapointed then..."

Indeed. I believe Bogie is back for another run, in a tale provisionally titled "Key Largs", at some point in the next year or so. I did enjoy it myself, even if it wasn't as great as the older stuff.

[Bad Andy]

Hmmmm.

I hope its a much shorter run then. Although I will give it a second chance because of some of the supportive comments the early stories have had.

This storyline has been more like 'Carry on up the Golden Mile'.

I've tried to like it, but it just hasn't done anything for me. Maybe the strip is 'cursed' by bad luck for a reason...

Then again it might just be me. Odd that I can easily suspend my disbelief to have nanobots being trasnmitted as a telepathic virus in a future totalitarian state, yet I can't do it for Scottish gangsters making shortbread using Albanian refugees.

[Bad Andy]

That should read Royal Mile. Edinburgh and Blackpool are pretty similar places though.

Actually Bogie in Blackpool might work. Its insane there already. He could think its paris. by the sea.

[Smiley]

Could work. As Rab C. Nesbitt said, "Blackpool! L.A. fer scum!"

Or Saltcoats.

http://www.visitsaltcoats.com/postcard/images/card05.jpg>

[Funt Solo]

I dislike the cover although I can see why it's a good cover in lots of ways.  A woman on the back of a giant flying ant should certainly pull in the punters (if that's the aim).

New Strip:

Judge Dredd
Whose heart is where and why?  Oh my, these are indeed mysterious machinations.  I love flights of fancy such as the Roc:  great Wagner, great Ezquerra.  That Judge Gordon obviously plays for the other team, though.

Zancudo
I absolutely love this narrative style whereby the narrator talks about and to the characters, and often in such a heightened state of drama:

"How it was not they alone who were changed - mutated! - but the diseases in their blood!"

I also love Cam Kennedy's art.  It's effortless, somehow, in that I'm totally drawn into the story and never remember until the end that I'm reading a comic.  You can't say the same about a lot of other artists.

My only regret - despair! - is that it's over.

Johnny Woo
I dislike the script, the art and the concept.  Johnny Woo...poo.  

Devlin Waugh
If this was just the art it'd be wonderful.  As it is, I also love the high concept "delve into hell" storyline.  I really hope this takes its time:  no need to rush.

The Bogie Man
No more "scuzi" jokes.  Thank f*ck.  For some reason, a compiled version of this, read on a long train journey, would probably be fine.  Don't ask me why.

Anderson Psi Psi-Division [well, that's what it says]
Really enjoying this:  the counterpoint of increasing mayhem on the streets and the internal investigation being carried out within the division is compelling.  Add to that the enigmatic work from Master Ranson and the cliffhanger where we're left wanting to get inside that traitorous bastards head ourselves and this approaches sheer genius.


Reprint Strip:

The Comeback
Too close to reality and the cult of celebrity that surrounds a seriously off-kilter personality:  didn't like this first time around and I don't like it now.

10 Years On
Seems like I'd forgotten how good an artist Leach was - I was looking at this and thinking "is that Bolland...no...Dillon...no".  It's a great story, with some classic Dredd moments:  giving up his gun, berating a junior judge, puting the citizens first et al.

Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman!
I love the last panel, where Dredd is all bandaged up, on crutches, but still wearing his dented helmet.  It defies logic but it's a nod to the reader saying "we're not going to show you, whatever happens".

Coast To Coast
It's political:  I can't read these without remembering that Metro is a free paper given away at the same locations that people sell The Big Issue, and is therefore taking money away from homeless people.  I'm disappointed that Rebellion take part in such an activity.


Articles:
I might read them at some point in the future...but I probably won't.  (I'm happy if other people enjoy them, though.)

[Dudley]

Mate, don't miss out on the Sapphire and Steel article - it really is a gem.

The rest of them are pretty missable, of course.

[Carlsborg Expert]

Well I kept rereading the end of Zancudo this month.

Thought it was terrific.

[SamuelAWilkinson]

>I can't read these without remembering that Metro is a free paper given away at the same locations that people sell The Big Issue, and is therefore taking money away from homeless people. I'm disappointed that Rebellion take part in such an activity.

Since when did they sell Big Issues on the bus? Anyway, they're different market segments. Admittedly, Metro's not a real newspaper, but it does tend to do stuff a good deal differently from yer Big Issue.

[Funt Solo]

:: "Since when did they sell Big Issues on the bus?"

The Big Issue is sold at bus and train stations.  The free Metro at the same locations directly undermines the market for The Big Issue.  You can argue about the extent of the loss, and the variety of content, but there is a loss.

If the Metro was somehow helping the homeless as well I'd just put it down to market forces and shut up, but it isn't and so I won't.

My disappointment with Rebellion on this issue stands.