Meg 293 - Devil Child

[Goosegash]

I'm sure no-one cares about this, but today I made the decision to go (clickwheel)download only for the Meg from now on. I've a regular reader since 2003, but I've never felt so apathetic about it till now. In retrospect I was probably a little spoilt as my first few years of Meg-reading were when it was, to my mind, the best it's ever been. But now it's got to the point where the majority of content is making me wonder why I keep handing over my cash every month. At the same time I don't want to drop it altogether, at there's usually at least one thing worth reading(Tempest at the moment). And occasionally they can still pull something amazing out of the bag, like that great Ron Smith interview. But there's no way I can still justify paying full price for something which I usually skim through in half an hour and then never glance at again.

The more I think about it the more sense this decision makes, as I'm not really bothered about the reprints but at least I can read the bits I want to and don't have to fork out a fiver for the privilege, or worry about where the hell I'm going to store the damn things. Bye bye Paper Meg, hello Terrifying Digital Future.

[SmallBlueThing]

That's extremely brave of you Goosegash- I wish I had the bottle to make a similar decision. Alas, AT THE MOMENT, my terrible disability overwhelms my good sense and I keep adding to the boxes.

The truth is, it does have to stop sometime. Not because I'm being harrassed by my wife, or running out of space (though I am and I am) but because the rational part of my brain is finally beginning to see that paying a fiver every four weeks for something that I only skim read at best, and most times don't even bother. The current one, which I bought last week, has been skimmed- but has since been left unread on the shelf where, if I'm honest, it'll probably stay.

Rather than wait til cancellation, I should go the Clickwheel route... but I just can't equate this thing sitting on my lap, through which I'm accessing the Internet, with a "permanent part of my life", in the same way that my hands, eyes and comics, are.

So, at the moment, I continue to waste a fiver a month... for now. Let us know how it goes...

SBT

[Proudhuff]

I found this month's Meg very very light, Last month's was a gem as far as I was concerned, but this month's text stuff had no interest to me except the podcast thingy and Dreddlines, but that's the nature of the beast. The Wolfie Dredd done nothing for me while TG I skimmed... don't know why, I loved her when she was a two fingered salute to all those men in tights and was all new and fresh, now I'm just uninterested in her dispite Rufus' excellent artwork.
Tempest I enjoyed the most but it was all over too quick (heard that before). The Friday Rogue was, as last month, a surprise as I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great example of a good story spoiled by artwork that (sorry) wasn't up to scratch.

Still for the price of less than two pints or one and a half Yankee DC/Marvel comics its still excellent value and I for one will keep buying.

[Mikey]

Tempest, the Lost Cases yarn and Tank Girl (both particularly for the art) I enjoyed, but they still felt a bit forgettable. I like the Dog Soldiers themselves in the main Dredd too.

I subscribe so will be recieving the Meg up until my sub ends and like SBT, until they cure the symptoms I might still have the disease! If I ask myself 'would I miss the Meg if it folded?' I have to honestly say that no, I wouldn't. I hate saying that and I read tooth throughout the '90s for Grud's sake!

Hope springs eternal...

M.

[W. R. Logan]

Meg 293 will be my last, or at least I'm going to try and ween myself off it.

The lead Dredd story is generally Ok and I will probably kick myself for not keeping up with Alan's lost cases.

But after all the years of sticking with the Meg through thick and thin I just cant keep spending money on a Mag that that I only read part of month after month.

This month I read Dog Soldiers, decent enough story but the art didnt do it for me or more precisely the colouring was awful. This isnt a pop at Leigh its just this month was the month I decided to give up the Meg but it does semm that anyone can draw dead these days.

Tempest hasnt done it for me since it began and I'm sure theres a decent Undercity story out there somewhere but this isnt it.
Al may be a great writer of the future but as far as his Dredd's go he's got to stop standing on the shoulders of giants and come up with something better.

I've never been a Tank Girl fan although I love Rufus' art but good art cant keep me coming back alone.

The one thing I'll probably miss is Alan's 'Lost Cases' but I hope they'll be collected one day.

The interviews I read depending on who they are with or who has written them but I skip more than they read.

Movie reviews out of date as I've usually seen them before the reviews appear and if I want movie reviews I'll by Empire.

Meg 294 will be the first gap in my collection and theres sone Turkeys in there but Ive always bought anything the house of Tharg produces but I cant justify just buying the Meg just so I dont have any gaps.

Lets see how long I last before I crack.

[I, Cosh]

Lets see how long I last before I crack.

First Wagner Dredd, I'd guess.

[James Stacey]

The one thing I'll probably miss is Alan's 'Lost Cases' but I hope they'll be collected one day.

The entire concept screams collection to me. Not that thats a bad thing, I'm really enjoying them. Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.

[Dark Jimbo]

Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.

So basically, go back to the early Alan Barnes-era Meg. 

[W. R. Logan]

Lets see how long I last before I crack.

First Wagner Dredd, I'd guess.

I'll just read the script 8-)

[James Stacey]

Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.

So basically, go back to the early Alan Barnes-era Meg. 

Pretty much

[radiator]

This is becoming a bit of a habit, but I'll defend the Meg again this month, and suggest that while it may not be perfect, in the past it's been far, far worse. I actually think the last three issues have all been good to excellent.

The lead Dredd was weak, admittedly. It was interesting to see Leigh on Dredd, but I would agree with Logan and say that I really didn't like the colouring - the art style seemed to demand something more delicate.

Tempest was fun as always - and was the highlight of the issue for me.

Tank Girl is something I always enjoy, though I know I'm in a minority!

The Lost Cases was an OK story raised up by some gorgeous artwork. The Ron Smith tribute panel was a bit odd, and makes me wonder if this, like the Cam Kennedy tribute last week, is specified in the script or whether its the artist's decision.

The podcast article was great - exactly the sort of thing the Meg should be doing, and though I generally enjoy the movie bits, I have little interest in Mike Carey and the 5 or 6 pages afforded to the interview seemed a little excessive.

The reprint is a good one, and it's nice to have a copy of The War Machine again. The back up stories were an odd choice - there's better Friday material out there, surely? I was wondering whether we'd get the Mark Millar/Chris Weston three part RT strip (ISTR reading that MM was intended to take the strip over full time). Never read it and was curious to see what it was like.

[James Stacey]

It was more of a Ron Smith tribute eyebrow than panel wasnt it? I really like the Lost Cases, a lot of fun, nice artwork and the storys aint too bad either. Im still confused by Tempest though. As in who he is. I assumed he was some Judge who took the UC walk and went nuts but now they are saying hes some crimelord. Anywhere with a potted synopsis online ?

[Richmond Clements]

Al may be a great writer of the future but as far as his Dredd's go he's got to stop standing on the shoulders of giants and come up with something better.

Not only is this a load of shit (unless, of course you apply the same accusation to Alan and John when they wrote things like Batman and Star Wars) is also pretty fucking insulting to the writer.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I quite liked the top panel on the last page of Tempest. Bring it on, especially as we can see there is at least 16 of them.
Then again I bet they all get wiped out in a few panels next month.
As for the rest of the Meg, I read the 4 strips and then put it away (sorry I read the letters page as well) and unless I am extremely bored one day I won't read any of the articles. Saying that I may read the Mike Carey interrogation this week before it's too late and the whole thing is a distant memory.

As for the fiver debate, well it's only a fiver and I can live without that every month so I'll be buying it and before anyone says, I'm not rich

[pauljholden]

re: Lost Cases Ron Smith tribute. The strip ties into a Blockmania story drawn by Ron - that final page was specified to be a match up to the first page of the Ron Smith story. I didn't want to try and mimic Ron throughout (instead McMahon and McCarthy ), but did want to, at least, bring something of his to that last page (I accept I may have misjudged the mix, though)

-pj