Meg 459: Eagle Eyed

[Tjm86]

A semi-new line up under a nice Teague cover lands on the mat at the same time as the prog, making for a rather pleasant distraction from the sheeting rain. 

For text pieces there are interesting interviews with Wessel, Stokes and Sampson.  I've always found Sampson's art fascinating.  At one and the same time is seems gloriously precise and grotesquely distorted in a way that intrigues.  It's always interesting to learn more about the creators of our tome, even those from way back.

In terms of reprints we have an early of Thirteenth Floor as a shameless plug for the forthcoming graphic novel.  Not a problem of course.  Another episode of the recent Titan Johnny Red mini-series.  Bit of a hiatus in this episode with lots of talk and little action.  Then again that is not a problem with the reprint of the IDW Rogue Trooper ...

... which I have to say does impress.  I have to admit a considerable degree of sympathy for Ponticelli on art duty.  Trying to fill the shoes of the likes of Gibbons, Wilson, Kennedy, Ewins, Ortiz, Dillon or Johnson is an impossible ask.  That said, he does a decent enough job.  He puts his spin on most of old Rogue reasonably well. 

It's not the art that makes it stand out though but the script.  When you consider the absolute dogs breakfast of Fleisher era RT, the potential for disaster has been clearly established.  IDW have also produced some absolute stinkers with their Dredd stuff.  This is nicely paced, introducing the elements of this version of Nu-Earth bit by bit and foreshadowing developments with subtle nods to old RT.  Rogue does appear as a slightly more vulnerable character compared to our version who is pretty one-dimensional in many respects.  Have to see how far this goes considering how short-lived it was but a promising start.

so, on to the rest of this month's meg ...

Dredd: Fitting the Description. A one-and-done with shades of 'Alone in a Crowd' from way back when.  The idea of Dredd chasing down a lawbreaker determined to get free, onlookers shying away from involvement.  Not going to say too much about the script to avoid spoilers but certainly there are considerable differences between this tale and Wagner's old one of the brutality of life in the Meg.  Assirelli's artwork is a pleasure and suits the tale perfectly.  Hopefully this is a sign of more work appearing by this guy.

Spector bounces along with another action packed episode.  Cornwell continues to do an excellent job of the daunting task of filling Ezquerra's shoes.  An unenviable task to be sure.  Wagner continues to weave a tale of corruption, double dealing and intriguing.  Many of his old favourite themes coming to the fore here. 

Finally found the Eagle strip that this one reminded me of, Detective Zed (not the Comrade Bromski one I initially though of, although there are quite a few similarities).  This had been bugging me for a while but given that it ran in 1990, just before Eagle went monthly, it's not completely surprising that I'd forgotten it.  This take on the concept is a much better one.

Niemand goes old-school with Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line.  Possibly a rare mis-step for Niemand as he tries to recapture the MC1 of early progs whilst updating it to a modern sensibility.  Given that by the time Dredd hit the prog, the idea of MC1 still having the remnants of the old-style police force had been abandoned, it is curious that he has chosen to make it the central focus of this tale.  The tale also rehashes quite a few moments from those early tales without really bringing anything new to it.

Perhaps the reason it doesn't work is Dreadnoughts though.  Carroll continues to develop that pre-Dredd world in a way that supports the idea that the police had pretty much been abandoned by Dredd's time.  Particularly when you factor in events recounted in Origins.  Perhaps Carroll's advantage is working in a world pretty much of his own devising and it works well.  Having Higgins on art is a definite help, mind.

Lawless: Most Wanted seems to be starting to bring things to a head with multiple players making moves and stepping out of shadows.  Cue moves, countermoves, threats and perils.  All gorgeously rendered as always by Mr Winslade.  There have been times on this run when it has seemed like this is taking a bit too long, characters moving in radical directions that don't seem to make sense.  It very much looks now like events are going to force them in directions that are perhaps truer to their identities.  Have to watch closely.

Overall then a strong Meg. Much stronger (personal take here) than it has been for a while but then Death Metal lost me quite a while back.  Some of the IDW Dredd stuff has been dire to say the least.  With that out of the way, new material coming through does seem to work better.

Next issue is the Battle Action crossover issue!  Not quite as insane as it sounds it would appear, given recent Dredd tales.  Intriguing to say the least.

[broodblik]

Cover by Dylan Teague:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[IndigoPrime]

Dredd was solid, even if it's an idea we've been before. Spector is starting to build, and I'm enjoying it more, despite Smurfette syndrome.

Thirteenth Floor worked nicely as a standalone slice, although I already have the HCs. MC 2099 didn't quite click as much for me as the previous one did. Feels like a lost annual extra from 1978. Which I suppose is the point.

The Rogue Trooper featured here is my favourite incarnation of the character. Frustrating that it's four issues and done. This should have run and run. Johnny Red lost me a bit plot-wise. Not sure why.

Lawless has some really good Brotherly/McClure exchanges that lift a strip that in this run just isn't doing it for me yet. (I suspect Lawson is deeply embedding herself in the criminal gang to wipe it out, but who knows? And Dreadnoughts is good too but for me not quite clicking to the same level as the previous series. Bit of a theme there.

Rogue Trooper > Spector > Dreadnoughts > Lawless > Dredd > Thirteenth Floor > MC 2099 > Johnny Red

[Richard]

Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line.  Possibly a rare mis-step for Niemand

Nah, I liked it! Would happily read more of these.

[A.Cow]

Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line.  Possibly a rare mis-step for Niemand

Nah, I liked it! Would happily read more of these.

Ditto.

[JudgeJudi]

I thought it was fine - If you think about it - you could answer the "so what happened to the police?"

[Leigh S]

Only read the two Dredds so far

The "present" one was fine and worked for me though I felt it had an unnecessary wrinkle in making the guy a mutant - just have him be a Wally Squader would work a lot smoother (though ight make it more like an existing story?)

the 2099 one was also decent - the retro art is very well done - mybe setting it in 2079-2089 might make it more credible to have that many cops still wondering about

The Rogue Trooper I;ve read before - the story is ery well done, though I still think a bit bland in comparison to original Rogue - the art is a big OOF for me though - design wise, everything looks ten times worse than the Gibbons original designs for Rogue, Norts and Southers etc. Theres a reason why all of the covers for that series ignored the look of Rogue inside

WEirdly, I havent read Surfer or Spector... nt sure whats going on there, as Wagner is my top tier reason for still reading.. maybe dont want to exhaust his work when he inevitably retires for good.

Havent read the Steve Sampson interview yet, but if it isnt just cut and paste quotes from GQ magazine I wll be sorely disappointed.

[IndigoPrime]

I think 2099 is meant to be alt-history, in the comics sense: what if those weird early Dredds were the continuity, rather than some odd aberration.

[Woolly]

Havent read the Steve Sampson interview yet, but if it isnt just cut and paste quotes from GQ magazine I wll be sorely disappointed.

Heh. I see what you did there...

[Colin YNWA]

Read this last night but got distracted from my write up. I'm sure you got over it. Good Meg, but somehow feels like it should be more given the line-up.

The Dredd was great in that I was sat there thinking what on earth is this trying to do. We've seen the panicked citizen storyline so many times... ohhhh... so the twist hit (literally) really well. Nice one Mike, just a shame it had to be so annoying to get there!

Spectre continues to frustrate. It should be stella but feels little tired. It looks stunning and Dan Cornwell continues to be brilliant, just feel its not offering anything I haven't read before. That said this episode did build things up a bit, so maybe its heading to a decent ending.

Mega City 2099 was so close. Lovely to see Conor Boyle once of these pastures doing an excellent job on the art and nice to see the police force addressed. Except it didn't seem to have enough punch around that element. They disappeared so quickly in the series it felt like we needed to understand that more rather the way this illuded their demise. Maybe this will be played with more. A decent Niemand, but I expect more from him!

Rogue Trooper is new to me - having heard good things I was a little underwhelmed as this was setting the scene, which in the context of its publication makes perfect sense, but felt a little tired to an old skool like me. That said good interaction between the chips and Rogue and liked the end and have optimism this will build well from here.

The back end should be amazing but isn't quite. Lawless is building super nicely but isn't yet this strip at it best - which to be fair is comics at their very best so high benchmark! BUT is setting things really nicely and the tension is ratcheting up really well and genuinely excited for what's to come so that's pretty damned successful I guess!

Dreadnoughts let's ripe but doesn't quite give the sense of scale of the attack a few panels aside. Its good, genuinely exciting but needs to next couple of parts I suspect to really hit home. I mean this is good its just not quite GREAT.

Lots of decent filler and text stuff so yeah a good Meg but a little frustrating in that it all feels like its building to great things but in many cases not quite getting there yet.

[Barrington Boots]

A couple of just fantastic pages from Dan Cornwell on Spector this month. Nice Lego visual joke too.
I'm really into this story. It's far different from what I expected, which was robot misunderstandings of human ways / ultra violence. I'd like to see more Stevens, as Spector himself isn't the best defind hero due to his nature, but I think this is excellent.

Two decent Dredds, and Lawless finally starting to kick into gear - this has been the weakest run of the strip so far for me, but it feels like all the pieces are set up now and it's about to get very interesting again. I found Rogue a bit ordinary, but others here rate it so keen to see where it goes.

[Richard]

Look at Steve Sampson's art now!

https://www.darkinker.com

[GordonR]

Look at Steve Sampson's art now!

https://www.darkinker.com

So he's got better at copying likenesses from photographs, except now using digital techniques.

[Proudhuff]

Rogue Trooper is new to me - having heard good things I was a little underwhelmed as this was setting the scene, which in the context of its publication makes perfect sense, but felt a little tired to an old skool like me. That said good interaction between the chips and Rogue and liked the end and have optimism this will build well from here.

I found Rogue's dialogue grating, He's been raised in a test tube a fighting machine, he should be shouting about 'whores' sorry not got it to hand so it may have been something similar.