Meg 215

[Trout]

Damn fine Meg, leading me to make a bold assertion:

The lead story in this month's Meg, "My Brilliant Career," is the best Dredd tale we've had for at least the last couple of years.

Finally, all the old elements many of us have been shouting for are back!
Wagner describes about four types of Mega City job which, plus the introduction of Employees Anonymous, are the first concentrated addition to Dredd's world that we've had in ages.

Add to that the action in the strip, the strong storytelling and the pathos at the end - with a bonus insight into Dredd's, or possibly Wagner's character - and we have some wonderful stuff.

Even the art works. I admit to being surprised when I flicked back a few pages in search of the artist's name, and discovered it was Simon Coleby.
I used to hate his work but this dark development of his style is very good.

The rest of the comic is still a high standard, especially Maria, Charley's War (which is really growing on me) and Rennie's bile duct, a half-page filler which is fast becoming one of my favourite parts of the comic.

My only criticism is: Floyd! For God's sake, get outside and see the sun sometime! :-)

- Trout

[Dudley]

I thought it was a bloody excellent update on Maria - the revelations about her were absolutely in keeping while completely revising the character.  The highest compliment you can play a one-off story such as this is that it will make you read the old stories from a different angle.  Quite why I would go back and read old Maria-starring Dredd tales is beyond me, but if I do this strip will be there at the back of my mind.

Rennie's column also continues to amuse, are the indignant people out burning effigies of him yet?

On other fronts...

Half Life continues to be uniformly impressive.  Put me down for the graphic novel when it comes out.

Blood of Satanus continues to be flat and is beginning to look like one (10-page?) episode stretched out over 3 months.  Charley's War seems to mean a lot to some boarders here so I'll leave it alone.  Still can't see it, though.

Dredd - good tale from Wagner, with a nice distortion of a modern phenomenon into the logic of Dredd's world.  I don't like Simon Coleby'd Dredd though - the musculature is just way, way too overdeveloped, to the extent that I started thinking maybe they got the wrong superannuated 80s action star to play Joe...

Death didn't move forward too much, but I liked Irving's art on this episode almost more than anything he's done apart from Storming Heaven.

Floyd letter - yay!  Agree with everything you say (apart from C.W.)

Overall, the Meg yet again pips the 2kAD to the best of breed podium.

That's all, folks

...Dudley

[Trout]

Meant to add:

The dialogue on the Satanus story is absolute shit.

IMO.

- Trout

[JTurner]

This is one true return to form for the Meg.

Half life is the strongest 2K story I've read for a very long time, and is far more dsturbing than any of the Death tales. The Dredd stories are far more interesting than any of the tooth Dredds. Please, more characterisation like these!

Charlies War is very much as Rennie described it last month - 300+ episodes of the same thing. It's good, but I've a bad feeling it's going to turn into repetetive filler like Darkies Mob. Sorry to all the fans out there, but vintage comics arn't my thing.

[Proudhuff]

All the Things Troutpout said +

Does anyone think that strip along the top of the cover works? I know its fighting for attention with FM, SFX ETC but does it work?

Good old rant about LOEG in the editors letter, is Floyd K on piece work for Rebellion? what freebie has he got so far? the board has a right to know!

My Beautiful Career, Wagner back on form.What Trout said above.

Death: bit of a filler/linker this week I feel, art still barry, penultimate episode anyone?


Savage ad, hope the artwork is this good thro out, Patt Mills return to form?  hmmmm

Gold: Solid story, good too see again, bit of a filler but nothing beats the smell of fresh thrills.


Interrogation cube; nice, but i would prefer a wee bit of chat from the artists about treacle wells.

Charleys war: as good as I remember, and these stories have stuck with me from the first time round. I missed the later ones and its them along with the ones about his brother i would really want to see.

Blooody Dinos: couple of filler pages in there possibly? (again)

FS: filler?

Maria; hoped for a few more Sound of Music gags fi GRennie here, Good too see Maria was drinking 'Bampot' and also good to know she's out of the picture as she never quite fitted in Dredd's world, but the fact she was a mega(city)nutter born and bred seems to fit nicely.

Half Life: I've never been a fan of Anderson, always thought the after the first Boing! she'd served her storytelling purpose, but this is shaping up nicely as an 'Origins of...', will it snafu the continuity boffins at Anorak central?


Bit of an O'Briens sandwich: lots of good quailty staples pack with lots of good fillings, (pity about the Branson pickle).

ProudHuff Snr.

[The Amstor Computer]

"Does anyone think that strip along the top of the cover works? I know its fighting for attention with FM, SFX ETC but does it work?"

No - it takes up far too much of the cover & it forces the logo down & behind the artwork. Maybe I'm just a sad traditionalist, but aren't you supposed to be able to read the title on the cover of a mag?

[IndigoPrime]

I agree. It's a good Mills yarn, but there's some real 'foot in mouth' dialog, mostly from Dredd. The little monologue on p3/panel 6 was terrible.

[GermanAndy]

DREDD: What a great tale. The first page had me laughing, but this wasn?t funny at all. A biting satire, a prime example of how inhuman Dredd?s world is - which one tends to forget - and tragic. I don?t know how Wagner manages to do this time and again. Liked the art too.

SATANUS: well, this is rather blah.

JUDGE DEATH: had a few good chuckles, but frankly this gets a little bit long.

GOLD: Dredd is okay, guess Tharg wants to pave the way for the Chopper revival. (which imho isn?t a good idea), Charley?s War is great.

FUTURE SHOCK: well, okay ...

HALF-LIFE: I am a Anderson fan. Like it.

MARIA: as a rather newbie this character didn?t do much for me.

DREDD-FILES: interesting stuff, but I get the feeling that they reach the bottom of the barrel *g

All in all a great Meg. If this is a omen for the year this one is a happy subscriber *g

[SmallBlueThing]

Shan't comment on the stuff that did nothing for me, as I have dinner cooking and an increasingly irate lady downstairs.

Anderson: Pure and unadulterated class. I don't like Arthur Ranson's art and even I am forced to bow down and prostrate myself before one of the best Dredd Universe things the Meg has ever printed. I sincerely hope this is lined up for collected format in the not too distant future.

Charley's War: Why do we have to have umpteen pages of Dredd reprint and a measely amount of this? Surely a two part Dredd and a couple more episodes of CW would have ebeen a better balance?This is by far the best strip in the comic and deserves a) more space, b) more publicity- or more than just tiny print on the cover and c) a cover all to itself. It's lovely to see it and Alan Barnes should be lauded to the skies for running it, but I really do feel it could be treated so much better.

There. That was brief. Not cos the Meg was bad, but simply because the sheer quality of the above strips caused everything else to pale into insignificance.

Steev

[McNulty]

Re: Charley's War. That Lieutenant Snell is a b*st*rd. This story, which I am reading for the first time, is absolutely great. Instead of the sterotypical British troops=good, German troops=bad, we are given a much better story. In this episode, for example, we are shown German soldiers looting the dead, but we also have German soldiers wishing to put aside their differences and enjoy Christmas with the Tommies.
Again, we are given diverse officers, not just the "Lions led by Donkey's" we are so often given. Leiutenant Thomas is a decent man, while Snell is a murdering b*st*rd who deserves death (I do not like him at all!)
I can see how "Charley's War" is so acclaimed.

[The Amstor Computer]

"The little monologue on p3/panel 6 was terrible."

I don't have my copy in front of me - wasn't that the one that mentioned Orlok? Horrible and clunky.

[IndigoPrime]

That's the one. I can't for a second believe Dredd would say Orlok's crimes and stealing pens are equally loathsome - that makes Dredd sound like a twat and not a stern upholder of the law. Oh well. (This strip feels very 1970s, in terms of script and art.)

[The Amstor Computer]

McNulty - you've got it spot on. Films & novels had tackled this more complex view of WWI - and war in general - before, but Charley's War was, unless I'm mistaken, the first time the same approach had been attempted in a comic.

IndigoPrime - I've got my copy in front of me now, and it doesn't look any better:

"I've always believed in *zero tolerance*: not paying on public transport; stealing pens from work; fiddling expenses, killing cats... in my eyes, these crimes are *all* as loathsome as Orlok's, and should be punished with the full rigour of the law."

Even writing it out makes me cringe - it really is a spectacularly bad line (echoes of Scojo :-))

[W. R. Logan]

Just got in from work and had a quick flick through the Meg, my only negative comments about it are that I agree with Trout, the dialogue in the Satanus story is diabolical plus the Orlok reference, is it just there to show us that Pat still reads the occasional Dredd story?

What ever happened to Maria, really like the story but it seemed to have fanzine art. Nothing wrong with fanzine art in a fanzine but I do expect something better in the Meg.

Otherwise the Meg goes from strength to strength and in my opinion has never been better.

La Placa Rifa,
http://www.2000ad.nu/classof79/>W. R. Logan.

http://www.2000ad.nu/classof79/images/Co79_logo.gif>

[stront692]

i thought the meg was rather heavy with filler material this issue

i wonder if its a coincidence that when 2000ad GETS REALLY GOOD, THE MEG GETS RATHER GETS RATHER LEAN (and vice versa the autumn offensive being bad and the last few months of dredd being great)

HALF LIFE

briliant, excellent and im intrigued as to how it ends - MR RANSON is back

HITMAN
i didnt like the art in the story first time round but it was a 'great' story, its a key point in dredds timeline as well when continuity seemed to be pretty tight - the art actually looks worse now (even by jim baikies standards)

MY BEAUTIFUL CAREER
seemed like a return a return to bleak humour that reared its ugly head in a few one offs here and there, i dont actually like this as it also seems inconsistent (especially with the long walk storyline etal), sometimes dredd very harsh and arrogant sometimes not and occasionally theres a puchline - what is dredds actual stance (or does he just like to keep us geussing)

FUTURE SHOCK
not bad, its a credit to the earlier writers that many of the older ones are remembered or worth reading - they lose their edge and descend into monotony eventually (but its the hardest thing to do to write a killer story in 2 or 3 pages with a shock twist that also hooks the reader - alan moore was a master at it)

SATANUS
run of the mill and doesnt suit black and white anymore

interogation cube
very good but lets have an longer or more worthwhile interviews

the dredd going over the first 28 episodes or so isnt catching my attention either)

DEATH
seems to be building up to somethng, started off very well but has descended in to bolocks

MARIA
pure filler with absolutely no point to it whatsoever, if u were just going to kill the character off u may as well not have drawn it out over the number of pages it was and tagged on, 'oh maria died by the way' in another story

poor

YOURE NEXT, PUNK
i have rated down every piece of work gordon has ever done accordingly with this piece (that made me feel much better)