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Spoilers => Megazine => Topic started by: Trent on 15 October, 2016, 12:16:43 PM

Title: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Trent on 15 October, 2016, 12:16:43 PM
Jam packed Meg and all Dreddverse just how I like it.
Very good Dylan Teague cover of movie Anderson who starts a two parter solo story. Good seeing the new universe being slowly developed and I can see these stories in my mind's eye when watching the film.
Monkey Business concludes. A fun tale that had much of what makes Dredd great with the sort of weird and wacky characters Dredd used to run into on a regular basis before it all got a bit serious. To be fair, losing 80% of your population will make things tough for a while although the post Apocalypsse War stories were still romps generally.
Blunt trundles on - sorry not for me.
Angelic is back. Sorry that should read; ANGELIC IS BACK!! Along with Lawless and Insurrection the best thing in the Meg for years. We meet an alternate Angel gang with the presence of a prominent bowler hat and metal capped dimwit. Hoping Pa Angel continues to establish his terrifying reputation that has been tarnished by Wagner. The Angel Gang of the Judge Child and Fink were easily my favourite Dredd villains but their reincarnation and comedy use of Mean has diminished them a la Dark Judges so this grim, gritty yet darkly comic take on them fills me with joy. Brilliant stuff.
Thrill Power update contines up to the end of 2011, so Day of Chaos etc. Feels a little too much like a listing of contents, would like more insight but those we do get are worthwhile.
Haven't read the two interviews yet but losing sweary vampires has given us a proper 64 pages of Meg with 38 strip pages, 16 pages of articles and even a letters page. I suspect budgets won't allow it but I think the Meg would get a much better reception if it were like this every month.
Floppy contains Malone and the subsequent SinDex tale. Even that struggles to fit running onto the inside cover.
A fabulous double treat of Prog and Meg today, best for ages.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 15 October, 2016, 01:23:47 PM
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/58d1fad9-fa47-4ac1-8737-a9eaf99eb968_zpszjl759bo.jpg)

Dylan sets the Lawgiver to Stunner!
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Richard on 15 October, 2016, 03:35:04 PM
Karl Stock makes it pretty clear that PJ is indeed dead.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: ZenArcade on 15 October, 2016, 04:12:48 PM
Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 15 October, 2016, 01:23:47 PM
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/58d1fad9-fa47-4ac1-8737-a9eaf99eb968_zpszjl759bo.jpg)

Dylan sets the Lawgiver to Stunner!

I'd be careful there, judging by the readout on the weapon, she's packing hi-ex!! Z
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: dweezil2 on 15 October, 2016, 04:16:51 PM
That cover is gorgeous!!!  :o :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Link Prime on 18 October, 2016, 04:40:07 PM
Quote from: Trent on 15 October, 2016, 12:16:43 PM

Floppy contains Malone and the subsequent SinDex tale. Even that struggles to fit running onto the inside cover.


So no Medivac 318 after all...

What was noted for next month's floppy, Trent?
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Trent on 18 October, 2016, 10:48:59 PM
Nothing, the story occupied the inside cover where next month's floppy is usually trailed. Guess we will all have to wait and see. Not too bad a spot to give SinDex a rest so maybe Medivac.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Link Prime on 19 October, 2016, 11:21:08 AM
Quote from: Trent on 18 October, 2016, 10:48:59 PM
Nothing, the story occupied the inside cover where next month's floppy is usually trailed. Guess we will all have to wait and see. Not too bad a spot to give SinDex a rest so maybe Medivac.

Cheers Trent.
As the previews can no longer be considered infallible, we'll just have to wait til Meg 378 drops.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: robert_ellis on 19 October, 2016, 10:47:09 PM
Possible Spoilers....












Is this the Movie version of Judge Death being set up in Anderson?
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: dweezil2 on 21 October, 2016, 08:56:17 AM
Just came across the rather sriking cover for Meg #379 (no sniggering at the back) and wanted if anyone knows who the artist is?

The sugnature appears to say 'Lex', any ideas?

(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/mubhceeb/image_48.jpeg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/mubhceeb/media/image_48.jpeg.html)
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 21 October, 2016, 09:00:37 AM
Alex Ronald
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Trent on 21 October, 2016, 10:06:43 AM
Interesting as the letters page in 377 makes it clear Anderson finishes in 378. Guess we must be running straight into another story.
Oh, and the Death hints were pretty heavy handed so we'll have to see if it is a precursor to the Dark Judges or a deliberate misdirection.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: dweezil2 on 21 October, 2016, 10:46:32 AM
Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 21 October, 2016, 09:00:37 AM
Alex Ronald

Cheers man!

More great work from the RONALD droid!  :)
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: I, Cosh on 21 October, 2016, 10:49:04 AM
Quote from: Trent on 21 October, 2016, 10:06:43 AM
Interesting as the letters page in 377 makes it clear Anderson finishes in 378. Guess we must be running straight into another story.

Quote from: Previews, innit...and Anderson is under investigation in complete tale 'Judgement Call' by Alec Worley and Paul Davidson. Plus the usual features, and in the bagged graphic novel it's the final volume of Medivac 318 by Hilary Robinson and Nigel Dobbyn!
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: dweezil2 on 21 October, 2016, 10:53:20 AM
Quote from: Trent on 21 October, 2016, 10:06:43 AM
Interesting as the letters page in 377 makes it clear Anderson finishes in 378. Guess we must be running straight into another story.
Oh, and the Death hints were pretty heavy handed so we'll have to see if it is a precursor to the Dark Judges or a deliberate misdirection.

Pretty sure the NYCC podcast hinted at a movieverse Death story in the future.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Trent on 21 October, 2016, 11:03:07 AM
Cheers Cosh, rings a bell now.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Steve Green on 21 October, 2016, 11:30:54 AM
There is talk of a Death story, but there would be a heist story first.

Talking of which.

I wish someone would find a method of creating a dark judges font that would allow for multiple versions of the same letter, compared to the hand-lettered versions it doesn't look good when you get multiple letters of that sort in a row, which happenssss a lot with their dialogue.

Considering you've got a follow-up to Dark Justice, Tainted ongoing and this in the movie universe it would look a bit more natural if one was created for these strips.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 21 October, 2016, 11:53:03 AM
Quote from: Steve Green on 21 October, 2016, 11:30:54 AM
I wish someone would find a method of creating a dark judges font that would allow for multiple versions of the same letter, compared to the hand-lettered versions it doesn't look good when you get multiple letters of that sort in a row, which happenssss a lot with their dialogue.

When I lettered Rich McAuliffe & Conor Boyle's (excellent) 'Dark Judgement' specials for Zarjaz, I went back to Tom Frame's lettering, and thought that Comicraft's CCWiccanSpecial was the closest in 'feel' to Tom's work, although lacking as much variation in character shape as I'd have liked...

(http://mombcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Mortis-Judged.jpg)

Hand-drawing all those frickin' balloons was fun, obviously... :-)
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Steve Green on 21 October, 2016, 12:26:02 PM
Yeah, looking at it Judge Death Lives just now - the dripping style lettering is reserved for splashes and switches to something more normal and legible for the other pages.

Seems like a good approach.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Alec Worley on 21 October, 2016, 12:54:19 PM
Haha! Feel like I should chip in here, just in case false expectation spoils your enjoyment of the story: this one is most definitely NOT a Dark Judges tale. Hope you dig it all the same.
Cheers
WORL*E
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Colin YNWA on 21 October, 2016, 09:07:50 PM
Well entering the post Lawless world was always going to be a challenge, one I'd say Meg 377 handles with aplomb.

Dredd finishes its glorious Judge Heston story really well, Blunt continues to be a fantastic new thrill, one of my fav new stories for a while. The two new thrill offer much as well. I've never really got on with the Dreddmovieverse stories but this first part of a two part Anderson is really good and I enjoyed it immensely. Finally my first taste of Angelic and I like it. Really nice stuff with some excellent Lee Carter visuals.

The only downside is the text articles feel pretty light weight... though to be fair since I'm skipping the Thrillpower Overload stuff to save it until the book comes out that's entirely my fault!

So yeah while nothing lives up to Lawless' standard the fact that all four thrill and pretty much first rate makes this one of the best Megs for a while. Top stuff.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Frank on 21 October, 2016, 09:57:16 PM
.
I was worried editorial might be running out of psi wordplay, but abandoning the size/eyes puns for phrases that feature some of the same letters as psi opens up new vistas:

Taking The Psis

Psising Like A Racehorse

Eyes Like Psis Holes in Snow



Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Leigh S on 21 October, 2016, 10:26:19 PM
You're all just Psising in the wind...
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Trent on 21 October, 2016, 10:34:30 PM
Gotta say it just reaffirms my belief that cover graphics and phrases have declined since Pye Parr departed.
Lots of poor straplines, murky graphics and poorly laid out text the last year or so. I used to really enjoy 2000AD covers but these days there's usually something somewhere thar jars.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Geoff on 27 October, 2016, 07:22:07 PM
Anyone else think Dredd's boots looked very McMahon style on the DPS for Monkey Business? Harking back to Charles Darwin block....or maybe just my imagination..
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: DrJomster on 05 November, 2016, 09:03:08 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 October, 2016, 11:53:03 AM
Quote from: Steve Green on 21 October, 2016, 11:30:54 AM
I wish someone would find a method of creating a dark judges font that would allow for multiple versions of the same letter, compared to the hand-lettered versions it doesn't look good when you get multiple letters of that sort in a row, which happenssss a lot with their dialogue.

When I lettered Rich McAuliffe & Conor Boyle's (excellent) 'Dark Judgement' specials for Zarjaz, I went back to Tom Frame's lettering, and thought that Comicraft's CCWiccanSpecial was the closest in 'feel' to Tom's work, although lacking as much variation in character shape as I'd have liked...

(http://mombcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Mortis-Judged.jpg)

Hand-drawing all those frickin' balloons was fun, obviously... :-)

Those Dark Judgements were great work by all of you! Very entertaining! In an All Life Must Die kind of way, obviously...
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Magnetica on 07 November, 2016, 10:54:53 PM
It's taken ages to get round to the Meg this month. And without Lawless its just not as good.

Dredd wraps up well, I enjoyed Thrill Power Overload and the Tom Foster interview - on my can he draw. Really need to see more of him in the Meg or Prog.

But the rest was a bit flat for me.

Blunt seems to be the same every month. It's ok, but no more than that. Not a story I would be overly keen to buy a TPB of.

I am not sure who everyone is in Angelic (Pa Angel aside) but equally I'm not sure it is worth digging out the Megs this appeared in before for a re-read and will probably just go with it for now.

Anderson was ok; I preferred it to Blunt and Angelic anyway.

I'm saving the floppy til later.

I thought the cover was good though.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: TordelBack on 08 November, 2016, 06:48:28 AM
The floppy was just superb. I'd worried about how Malone would work without the 'surprise' factor (especially since it's spelled out on the back cover!) but in fact it is still a grand story, just coming from the perspective of seeing Finny hiding from himself. And Coleby's art is terrific, the sense of light and shadow amazing. Williams' art in the second story is also lovely: no-nonsense storytelling that glides across the page and realy suits the collected format.  This run of floppies can't resume soon enough.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 08 November, 2016, 08:41:52 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 November, 2016, 06:48:28 AM
The floppy was just superb. I'd worried about how Malone would work without the 'surprise' factor (especially since it's spelled out on the back cover!) but in fact it is still a grand story, just coming from the perspective of seeing Finny hiding from himself. And Coleby's art is terrific, the sense of light and shadow amazing.

Yup. I don't always read the floppy, but Malone really stood up on a re-read. Thoroughly enjoyed the main Meg, too.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Link Prime on 08 November, 2016, 12:24:13 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 November, 2016, 06:48:28 AM
And Coleby's art is terrific, the sense of light and shadow amazing.

It was nice to revisit Malone.

Two points the forum will never disagree on;
1) Simon Coleby is brilliant.
2) We need to see more of his work.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Molch-R on 08 November, 2016, 12:26:58 PM
Quote from: Link Prime on 08 November, 2016, 12:24:13 PM
2) We need to see more of his work.

It's not 2000 AD but I can heartily recommend his 'Dreaming Eagles' series with Garth Ennis - Simon draws one mean Mustang!
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Link Prime on 08 November, 2016, 12:29:36 PM
Noted.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Hawkmumbler on 08 November, 2016, 02:37:50 PM
Weather it be Jaiger, Malone, The Royals or Dreaming Eagles I always adore Coleby's art. It's just some next level perfection.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Fungus on 08 November, 2016, 03:07:42 PM
Best floppy I've read, Malone read and looked fantastic.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: DrJomster on 08 November, 2016, 09:19:55 PM
Another vote for Malone here. That was a great read and gorgeous art, to boot!
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: The Adventurer on 18 February, 2017, 04:34:03 PM
Late to the party, a couple things about this Meg. Is this the first Meg in a while not to have a creator owned strip in it?

Angelic is a sequel? When did it first run? And this is an origin story for Pa Angel?

What's up with Malone not getting the cover of the Floppy? I mean I guess this isn't a great cover to adapt to a trade cover, but I'm still disappointed the collect edition cover spoils the twist!
http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=1506&Comic=2000ad
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: sheridan on 19 February, 2017, 12:05:28 PM
Quote from: The Adventurer on 18 February, 2017, 04:34:03 PM
Late to the party, a couple things about this Meg. Is this the first Meg in a while not to have a creator owned strip in it?

Angelic is a sequel? When did it first run? And this is an origin story for Pa Angel?

What's up with Malone not getting the cover of the Floppy? I mean I guess this isn't a great cover to adapt to a trade cover, but I'm still disappointed the collect edition cover spoils the twist!
http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=1506&Comic=2000ad

And I thought Malone was a recent story - prog 1506 and now we're on 2019!
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Steve Green on 19 February, 2017, 12:36:33 PM
Quote from: The Adventurer on 18 February, 2017, 04:34:03 PM
Late to the party, a couple things about this Meg. Is this the first Meg in a while not to have a creator owned strip in it?

Angelic is a sequel? When did it first run? And this is an origin story for Pa Angel?

What's up with Malone not getting the cover of the Floppy? I mean I guess this isn't a great cover to adapt to a trade cover, but I'm still disappointed the collect edition cover spoils the twist!
http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=1506&Comic=2000ad


Started in Meg 356, I'm not sure how many parts.

http://www.comicbooknews.co.uk/article/dredd-megazine-issue-356.html (http://www.comicbooknews.co.uk/article/dredd-megazine-issue-356.html)

It's an origin story, but left open to how it may play out - it may not be the Angel we know, I think the Hannibal TV series was mentioned, so it's not locked to continuity.

There was a thrillcast with Gordon which explains it - and sidesteps the whole 'we know how this turns out'

Well worth a read.
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Leigh S on 19 February, 2017, 01:09:19 PM
I Look at Angelic as a reimagining/repositioning of the angel gang origin.  It feels like an attempt to do something akin to an Urban Dredd-iverse version of the Angel gang - it certainly wouldn't be out of place (though we see more trad Judge uniforms I think in the first series, so it isn't likely as simple as that!).
Title: Re: Meg 377: Psink or Swim
Post by: Dandontdare on 19 February, 2017, 05:12:31 PM
Yeah I think of it more as an "alternate " version - I was totally wrong footed in the second series when it became clear that the other family was the Angel Gang we know, rather than our amnesiac protagonist