MEG 269 - STRIKE ONE!

[Buttonman]

Ten to six and no Meg thread? Guess John McCrea's colourful cover is putting people off!

Decent if familiar feeling GRennie Dredd with some nice Inaka  Miranda art with a tasty retro flashback Dredd. Returning villian but not in a consequential way.

Armitage was all yap and no action but at least Tempest is warming up (a bit).

John McCrea article OK but I'm not a fan of his flat and scruffy drawings. Comes across as very unprofessional in his dealings with editors - and he teaches too!

Still to read the rest and will do so when the throne calls. Not much that I really liked this outing, apart from my fantastic letter of course! The letters do seems somewhat delayed, mine at least concerns the Meg two issues ago and comments on Part 2 of the Alan Grant interview.

Prog still £1 cheaper and twice as good!

[Bad Andy]

Only managed to read Dredd so far. I'm sick of these loose end villains. Hasn't Rennie got about five of these on the go at the moment? It's about to start taking some to the next stage and make us interested.

[Trout]

Thank heaven for Tempest! He saved the Meg again. What a fantastic final page!

I read the whole Meg during Rose's nap and enjoyed all the text pieces, especially the John McCrea one.
The lead Dredd was entertaining enough but Armitage has lost me now. I'd completely forgotten what they were investigating, which is probably a bad sign.

The prog was better but the Meg's definitely worth reading these days.

- Trout

[Dark Jimbo]

Awful cover. There's better on offer in our art threads.

Nice bubble-helmeted retro Dredd. Is this baddie the one that appeared in the prog last time, drawn by Gibson? Fairly good Rennie tale, although the art doesn't seem quite as polished as when we last saw the team.

Considering Armitage is a slow-burn, grayscale, kitchen-sink character-based drama it should be bloody awful, but it keeps surprising me by being my favourite thing in each Meg. Loved that Carry On-style page. Cooper seems much more comfortable now, too, although I think if it's got too many more parts to run it's really going to start dragging.

I like Bob, even if no-one else seems to. Over-eloquent characters who never shut up are great, and I always prefer my Ezquerra black and white. Only thing that makes it feel a bit 'so what?' is the lack of a defined universe.

Still can't get into Tempest. So much running around. What's the point? And the main character is far too self-knowingly 'kooky.' For donkey's I've been waiting for a good Undercity-set tale, and this ain't it. All that said, this part was pretty entertaining, the 'Best. Human. Ever.' line made me cackle, and I didn't see that last revelation coming. It's the art that turns me off this strip most.

[Bad Andy]

Best. Human. Ever.

I agree with Trout. Tempest is by far the best thing  in the Meg.

[I, Cosh]

I thought the cover was fantastic. Something a bit different and Dredd almost seems to be leaping out of the page in three whole dimensions.

Dredd was alright. I do wish we could get a decent run of Rennie to see some of these plots actually developing. On the other hand, I don't want anything to get in the way of Wagner's storylines at the moment. The art was toned down a bit from the last miranda/cruz outing and I liked the old/new Dredd comparisons.

Armitage and Bob don't do much for me, but they're a lot better than Satanus. Tempest is pretty fun but could be better. Agree about the last page.

I'll get to the text stuff once I manage to finish my current toilet reading - Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy - but it's got a few hundred sheets left.

[LARF]

The cover has be the worst cover of 2008 so far. I really like M'Creas Artwork all in all but this looks rushed and the awful pshop cutout of Dredd with the Guassian blur background looks very amateurish - terrible. I have not read the Meg yet, but glancing through it and looking at the beautiful stuff he normally paints he can do far better than this. The meg is definitely the Marmite of the current Rebellion line up.

[worldshown]

Is this baddie the one that appeared in the prog last time, drawn by Gibson?

Yep, back in prog 1468.

However, last time Global Psycho appeared, she was a woman presumably in her early twenties. How could she have mentored someone who has been in the vaults for forty years? Bodysnatcher? Time in the vaults herself?

[Leigh S]

Do I care?  

Its the question the Meg still needs to get round to answering.

Do I care about MCrea?  Nope - By his own admission his work for 2000AD and the meg has been unprofessional and erm.. self pleasuring.  The cover hardly shows he's making an effort to rectify that - worst cover ever?  Maybe not, but its bringing back some pretty bad memories.

Do I care about Rennie's Dredd?  Well, only in the sense I care about what the future holds when we dont have the alternative of Wagners Dredd, and every story is as humourless, unresolved, wordy, po-faced, repetitive and "guest star" filled.  The Rennie ongoing stuff seems totally irrelevant in the face of Wagners much more interesting and fun Maybe as Mayor and mutant threads.  Maybe it'll all tie together in the end, and I'm not sure if that'd be for the better or worse.  

Do I care about Armitage?  The writer seems to assume I care about these characters, or about things that perhaps I should remember from previous stories.  Really, I just don't.  Is that ending meant to mean something to me?

Do I care about bob The Galactic Bum?  Not really, Its a curio that I could have done without - not Wagner, Grants or Ezquerras finest hour.  Despite the odd gag that works, it generally gives truth to the lie of Grant Morrisons opinion of Wagner/Grant, which is not nice to find myself half sympathising with.

Do I care about Tempest?  Actually I do a little bit.  I care that Al seems to be a decent new original  voice, though the art isn't helping me care - it's not bad, just seems a bit bland and the line width is a bit samey.  

When the prog is so good, it seems mad that the Meg is so pointless.  It still desperately needs a direction beyond self preservation.

[Steve Green]

Stookie user?

[Marbles]

"Grant Morrisons opinion of Wagner/Grant"

Which was ?

[Leigh S]

To paraphrase from memory that they produced stuff that a dad would if he as aiming a comic at his heavy metal loving teenager.

[Keef Monkey]

Haven't gotten round to reading this yet, but did skim the movie reviews. Thought the review of "The Cottage" was a bit unfair as it seemed to get torn to shreds, I thought it was really funny and genuinely seemed to have been made with a lot of fondness for the genre, and even if it's not brilliant this 1/5 review seemed more like a kneejerk reaction from someone who took an instant dislike and never gave it a chance. Ah well.

[DavidXBrunt]

Somtime I think we're reading different comics, The Watcher. I really liked this issue, it all clicked into place for me.

Anyone fancy a Bob verses Stronty short story at some point?

[Dunk!]

Didn't bother picking up the Meg but have to say that's a fuckin awful cover. Like those in charge know they have a guaranteed audience and need to make no effort. Just awful.