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Spoilers => Megazine => Topic started by: Freddychopper on 11 August, 2017, 07:09:50 PM

Title: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Freddychopper on 11 August, 2017, 07:09:50 PM
My Megazine arrived today which is very weird but very welcome as I just got back from work and had a quick flick through, just at the Dredd story, the Liam Sharp interview and the second part of Dominion. Will read properly after a late tea but looks like another great issue but a special shout out for Percival's art in Dominion, particularly the sequences of Judge Death sleeping and Mortis on the attack are simply stunning! Will be back after dessert!
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Frank on 11 August, 2017, 07:26:44 PM
Quote from: Freddychopper on 11 August, 2017, 07:09:50 PM
Will be back after dessert!

I'm starting a sweepstake:

2/5   ice cream (with or without jelly)
5/1   cheesecake
7/1   gateaux or any Iceland variant on the basic idea of cake with dairy topping
20/1 Vienetta (can you even get that anymore)?)
50/1 custard/trifle/semolina/anything else your gran would make
100/1 fruit

Minimum bet of £5, and remember, when the fun stops, stop.


Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Buttonman on 11 August, 2017, 07:50:29 PM
I prefer a flan. Can I have £1 on that?

BTW any Dreddlines? I've yet to letter from my new address. Thinking of moving back!
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Frank on 11 August, 2017, 08:12:21 PM
Quote from: Buttonman on 11 August, 2017, 07:50:29 PM
I prefer a flan.

Flan's just fancy bastard cake (see above). Unless you mean the pastry kind, which is really a tart. I suppose I should have included that and anything else North Americans mistakenly designate 'pie'.

70/1.


Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: dweezil2 on 11 August, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5jjXTPtyY
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: sheridan on 11 August, 2017, 08:26:32 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 11 August, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5jjXTPtyY

No, that's a desert, not a dessert :P
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: sheridan on 11 August, 2017, 08:27:08 PM
Quote from: Frank on 11 August, 2017, 07:26:44 PM
20/1 Vienetta (can you even get that anymore)?)
Yup - saw it about two weeks ago (Rackle is lactose-intolerant, otherwise I may have bought it).
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Freddychopper on 11 August, 2017, 08:51:27 PM
Dessert was chocolate brownie with ice cream, so a nice sugar rush as I'll read the rest of the Meg. Cover by Richard Elson who seems to be trying out a painterly style which looks quite nice. No Dreddlines - decent Dredd one off by Rory McConville & Joel Carpenter but Dredd does seem have a bit of a big/wide nose throughout the art. Good for sniffing out crime (I'll get my coat). Anderson continues nicely and Havn  finishes (great double page spread from Flint), which like most people have said, I really need to read it all in one go as the pacing seemed a bit strange in monthly chunks. Interviews with John Stokes who draws some nice foxes and Liam Sharp who does a nice Wonder Woman and focuses on his exhibition in Derby. Movie Dredd, Furies part 2 which is action packed and last but not least, part 2 of Dominion where Wagner & Percival really work well together with this feeling like a big budget, scary Aliens meets the Thing -really loving this! Detailed art with great lighting and atmosphere and Mortis looks as creepy as hell here as he dominates this episode.
Time for another brownie I think and a final read through.
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Frank on 11 August, 2017, 09:58:01 PM
Quote from: Freddychopper on 11 August, 2017, 08:51:27 PM
Time for another brownie I think

As Johnny Sahib said to Greysuit.

I'm paying out on ice cream, although I disapprove of sticking an item from the biscuit aisle in a bowl and christening it pudding. *


* My mum used to open up a three-pack of Cadbury's flake and stick them in a scoop of ice cream. I know that's exactly what the icey does too, but seeing the wrappers lying out on the bunker kills the magic.
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: dweezil2 on 12 August, 2017, 03:38:32 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 11 August, 2017, 08:26:32 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 11 August, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5jjXTPtyY

No, that's a desert, not a dessert :P

:lol:
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: sheridan on 12 August, 2017, 01:13:55 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 12 August, 2017, 03:38:32 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 11 August, 2017, 08:26:32 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 11 August, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5jjXTPtyY

No, that's a desert, not a dessert :P

:lol:

I had to follow that link again to figure out what I was talking about yesterday (the video is the clip from Phantom Menace when Annie goes on about not liking sand).
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: dweezil2 on 12 August, 2017, 02:15:02 PM
Attack Of The Clones, but I can forgive you for wanting to forget it!!!!  :lol:
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 12 August, 2017, 02:21:45 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/zeVbzju.jpg)

Richard Elson cover
Title: Re: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: glassstanley on 15 August, 2017, 02:27:24 PM
Cracking issue. Nice to read the Lawless Touch again, but the cover for the floppy has a touch of the 'f*ck it, it'll do' about it 😁


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Title: Re: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 15 August, 2017, 05:59:43 PM
Quote from: glassstanley on 15 August, 2017, 02:27:24 PM
Cracking issue. Nice to read the Lawless Touch again, but the cover for the floppy has a touch of the 'f*ck it, it'll do' about it 😁


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it's more likely that the budget for the floppies doesn't allow for new covers and there just wasn't any available art that could be cannibalised.

I'm not privy to the ins and outs, but I'd expect that whatever money is spent on the floppies goes to whatever repro is necessary (and on Lawless Touch they'll have already had to pay someone to scan and prepare the strip - from the original comics, by the looks of it) and there likely isn't anything in the budget for much beyond that. Given that I don't think there were any appropriate covers/pin-ups for the strip that could be cannibalised (which is what happens on almost all of the floppies) a simple "logo on a black background" is probably all that was manageable.

I remember Pye Parr doing a new cover for a Disaster 1990 floppy a while back, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was him either going above & beyond, or if it wasn't as expensive as commissioning a brand-new cover.
Title: Re: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: glassstanley on 16 August, 2017, 12:49:04 AM
I suspect budget and time were the key elements, though issue 11 had a decent cover that wasn't obscured by any text. As there was no greyed-up image for the strip title pages, or a penultimate page 'Why not try these titles?' page, it felt like the comic book equivalent of a box of Black Magic chocolates. An appropriate choice given the ads that ran when Tornado was around 😁I was impressed that the strip from the Tornado annual was included. Given that the Treasury titles are not as well documented as 2000ad, It was good to see someone going the extra mile there.

As there are so many references to the Tornado aircraft I'd guess that this strip was devised after the comics name had been changed from 'Heroes' The first part does have a natural split half-way through which makes me wonder if the strip was originally planned as 3 pages a week, which was the norm for comics of the time.

It's also fun to see the Volgans play a role. Around the time of the strip Disaster 1990 was running, so it felt like a celebration of Invasion! Hammerstein's War Memoirs was also around that time, referencing the Mega-Cities and Harlem Heroes, so it was a time when there was an attempt to build a common future history into which all strips could slot.


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Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Proudhuff on 16 August, 2017, 10:26:13 AM
Quote from: Buttonman on 11 August, 2017, 07:50:29 PM
I prefer a flan. Can I have £1 on that?

BTW any Dreddlines? I've yet to letter from my new address. Thinking of moving back!

Nope, now back to the pokey, the pillow slip and Mr Big.
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Proudhuff on 16 August, 2017, 10:28:28 AM
Good Megazine, when did that logo come in on the cover?...I really should pay more attention..

Dredd's are all good, skipptyskipped the Four Stoogies of the Apocalypse, text didn't really interest me this month.



Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Proudhuff on 16 August, 2017, 10:43:54 AM
sorry for three in a row...

But there's an ad for Dundee comic courses too...

can anyone scan that and post it?
Title: Re: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: The Amstor Computer on 16 August, 2017, 03:04:44 PM
Quote from: glassstanley on 16 August, 2017, 12:49:04 AM
I suspect budget and time were the key elements, though issue 11 had a decent cover that wasn't obscured by any text. As there was no greyed-up image for the strip title pages, or a penultimate page 'Why not try these titles?' page, it felt like the comic book equivalent of a box of Black Magic chocolates. An appropriate choice given the ads that ran when Tornado was around 😁I was impressed that the strip from the Tornado annual was included. Given that the Treasury titles are not as well documented as 2000ad, It was good to see someone going the extra mile there.

Good catch on Tornado #11 - I'd forgotten about that until I went looking when you mentioned it. The logo and "MEET JOHNNY LAWLESS INSIDE!" look relatively straightforward to finesse out of the image, and it's not too bad a cover image after that (though a lot would depend on how the scanned colour cover held up on reprinting).
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Colin YNWA on 16 August, 2017, 09:09:12 PM
Well behind a cover I'd never had guessed was by Richard Elson in a gazillion years we have a bloody fine Meg.

Really enjoyed Dredd have we seen Joel Carpenter before? I'm not familar with the name but something is niggling at me that we've seen this work before? Either way its excellent and while this is a fairly story has a fairly typical 'hoist by your own petard' conclusion its a fun story with a good target and nicely executed. Beginning to think this Rory chap has a future writing Dredd I've enjoyed his offerings of late.

Anderson is two seasoned pros at the very top of their game, loving it. Turning Anderson into a caped hero on the first page is such a fantastic touch. You wonder of it was scripted by Grant or added by Marshal both are so good. Love the way the stakes are raised in nicely fresh ways and I'm bought into this big time.

Havn as I've said before lost me a while ago BUT there's so much to enjoy I'm really looking forward to 'one sitting' this soon as I think its an absolute gem with a great final episode. Though that 'Expelling all Aliens' line at the end will inform by new read no doubt.

Movie Dredd is pretty good if not earth shattering.

Finally in a fifth thrill I'm finding I'm enjoying Dominion FAR more than I expected. I'm so done with the Dark Judges, Dark Justice did absolutely nowt for me... this though, this is entirely different. The atmosphere is superb, I'm finally spooked by Dredd's nemeses (yes I looked that plural up!) and that Alien tribute is sublime. Hats off to all concerned for returning these baddies to LONG lost glories.

Oh I say finally but both text pieces are excellent this month and so they make a fitting finally...

... oh except the inclusion of Lawless Touch from Tornado, a strip I've never read means the floppie for just about the first time is a must read for me... not that I've got to it yet though... the fact I need to means all of a sudden The Meg represents simply incredibly good value.

Truly the Meg has been good since I've need on board and while the quality here, while excellent, might not be quite as good as the very best its been, the simple quanitity elevates this to another level.
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Richard on 26 August, 2017, 06:09:11 PM
Finally started reading The Lawless Touch, and it's actually really good. I hadn't had high hopes for a strip from Tornado, but I like it. It's a shame it didn't transfer over to 2000AD instead of The Mind if Wolfie bloody Smith.

I don't have a problem with the cover, as it's such a striking logo.
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Magnetica on 14 September, 2017, 12:40:01 PM
I'm amazed at the limited number of actual reviews we seem to get in the Meg thread these days.

Here is mine.

Dredd: sorry, for me this wasn't great. I found it hard to engage with the idea that the whole city was in peril. After such events as the Apocalypse War, Necropolis, Judgement Day, Doomsday, Day of Chaos etc, the peril here was didn't seem that ...well...perilous.

Most interesting thing was the panel on the bottom left of page two, where the badge of the judge standing next to Dredd, says "Dredd". (Hmmm?)

Anderson: this is beginning to drag a bit now (counting the previous story as part of this one.)

Havn: I have enjoyed this strip. Nice to see one trying to do something different. It certainly went I a direction I didn't expect.

Movie Dredd: enjoyable if nothing new.

Dominion: I am enjoying Nick Perceival's art far more than before (it seems less "stiff"). The story seems to be good too- but why would Death and Fire risk discovery so early by killing the two crew from the ship ( but guess that will become academic once it all kicks off)?
Title: Re: Meg 387 - Skyhigh!
Post by: Bolt-01 on 14 September, 2017, 02:50:07 PM
The Lawless Touch was a lot of fun, but it wears its 'Stainless Steel Rat' influences very openly. Some lovely art as well, really enjoyed that.