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Meg 448: Graveyard Shift

Started by IndigoPrime, 20 September, 2022, 10:06:35 PM

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Leigh S

Swings and roundabouts I think and theoretically thats good - the Prog got to do something a bit different to the Meg.  If we had had two publicatons doing the same thing it would have got a bit tedious - to be honest, while I found this more cohesive, I did find it suffered more from repetitiveness -whether that was due to being the second half or more due to the rinse repeat of finding a "team member" then hopping to the next one.

The ending also made a lot of the previous actions to save a few individuals a bit redundant, but that comes with the territory I suppose.

The thing I found most interesting here was a couple of new and newish names here -I'll always applaud Tharg trying out new writers as thats the biggest problem 2000AD faces going forward - new voices that might enthuse me in the same way Al Ewing and Niemand did/have in recent years (though both mostly impressed working on Dredd rather than their own stuff, Zombo excepted, so still not the "Saviour" I think the prog needs)

Honor Vincent's Anderson isnt setting the world on fire, but it does tell the story clearly, as does Liam Johnsons Devlin Waugh.

However, the writing also remains my big issue elsewhere, where the thing just hits a wall.

Two glaring examples:

The Kill Dozer section assumes you read it as Alpha driving the Dozer, then being far away from it and blowing it up - theres a missing panel establishing Alpha as the driver or Alpha exiting the vehicle.  Otherwise it is a muddied sequence that should ahve been rejiggered

Worse is the flashback(?) sections of the Armitage story, which I still dont really get - whats happening on the first page?  When is that happening? They are holed up in MacHarrods which is a "facility" for state secrets? They have the ability to "see" who is teleporting in - its a stream you can reject?  I think Mike Carroll is "the loveliest man in comics" TM, but this suffers from the same mangled storytelling that keeps shaking me off Proteus Vex.  I've read it a few times now and I still cannot make head nor tail of the time line and the events or motivations... now they have the numbers on page 4... Anderson, Cain and Alpha, presuably? To get somewhere else, where tehy will be safe  - Its clear to Anderson Armitages "people need him more"... but his people are gong to be wiped off the face of the earth with everyone else in short order - theres no bigger need than succeeding in their mission if that's the path they have decided is the only one left.  Preacher Cain prays for their safety... for the next couple of days presumably?

Sorry to be a grinch on this one, but it was like a real roadblock in the narrative.

It doesnt help that I really am not a fan of the "Marvelisation" of 2000AD "IP"  - so every writer has a go at every character, and this is designed to make full use of the ability to do just that. I prefer creatives to create their own new stuff and I like to see the old stuff written by their creators - call me a simple man!

It's an interesting exercise, certainly worked better than the SCi-Fi Special, but fundamentally, this isnt for me.

Looking forward to next months Meg for more Surfer and (to be a hypocrite) Waugh, if its more Kot, who has done the very rare thing for me and made someone elses creation interesting to me.

Over in the prog, it looks very Dredd world heavy - Hershey & Chimpsky and launching with Future Shocks, so only one other ongoing none Dredd story?






The Enigmatic Dr X

The Meg was fun.

The floppy was incredible. And, yes, my cover was on the wrong way too. But still, one of the best in a long time. Really interesting
Lock up your spoons!

Darren Stephens

I don't normally pick up the Meg ( cost of living crises, innit), but really enjoyed this story. Look forward to the inevitable trade.
https://www.dscomiccolours.com
                                       CLICK^^

Daveycandlish

I really have no interest in zombies so this whole event gets a big PFFT from me but the Robin Smith floppy was something special and worth my Meg monthly subscription on its own.
An old-school, no-bullshit, boys-own action/adventure comic reminiscent of the 2000ads and Eagles and Warlords and Battles and other glorious black-and-white comics that were so, so cool in the 70's and 80's - Buy the hardback Christmas Annual!

WhizzBang

I really enjoyed the floppy too. I had always assumed that the artists just came up with the cover ideas themselves rather than working to a sketched requirement.

Swerty

I was surprised to see the print edition is sold out in the shop.Ill have to traipse over to Smiths.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Swerty on 25 September, 2022, 11:04:08 PM
I was surprised to see the print edition is sold out in the shop.Ill have to traipse over to Smiths.

Yeah couldn't find it on ebay either. Seems to be doing well!

broodblik

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 26 September, 2022, 05:50:37 AM
Quote from: Swerty on 25 September, 2022, 11:04:08 PM
I was surprised to see the print edition is sold out in the shop.Ill have to traipse over to Smiths.

Yeah couldn't find it on ebay either. Seems to be doing well!

Well that it is a good sign and shows that the concept worked
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

M.I.K.

It certainly shows that Rebellion are in the habit of printing fewer Megazines than progs and that they haven't fully anticipated how many extra folk are going to show up to read a story to the end.

(though it wouldn't surprise me if sales of 2000AD are up a bit as well)

Colin YNWA

I wonder how many folks were after the floppie too? I know I was?

Jamie1000013

How likely is it that they reprint this meg? Or Should I look on ebay?

Going for like £15 at the moment on ebay lol.

IndigoPrime

https://www.newsstand.co.uk/502-comics-magazines/3488-subscribe-to-judge-dredd-megazine-magazine-subscription.aspx

https://www.magazinesupermarket.co.uk/magazine/judge-dredd-megazine

Possible options. Can always call to confirm stock. (You're obviously paying for shipping, etc, but it beats eBay if you can't find one in WHSmith or something.)

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Richard on 22 September, 2022, 06:06:38 PM
I think the Meg worked better than the prog actually. The prog's stories had nothing to do with each other really. The Meg, while it's still an anthology of different stories, held together as a coherent whole storyline.

The whole thing worked much better than the attempt to do something similar in last year's Sci-Fi Special.

I thought the same - really enjoyed the way each story flowed to the next, with Niemand's alt-Dredd strips being the star of the show.  Just horrific and brilliant.  Devlin Waugh's story was a bit slight - he didn't really have a whole lot to do but tell the heroes which way to go, like a random character in a Fighting Fantasy book.  I'm not quite sold on Steve Yeowell's Armitage or Johnny Alpha, but it was a nice little interlude. 

The ending of the whole show was great ([spoiler]though isn't the whole multiverse infected with the zombies, rather than just one planet in one universe?[/spoiler]).



"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Swerty

Picked up the last copy in my newsagent.The floppy is wonderful and great to see Johnny back in the limelight.More events like this pls.

norton canes

Controversially I'll say I slightly preferred the Prog to the Meg. The tongue in cheek, chaotic nature of the former suited the provided more scope for fun and invention, while the serial form of the latter meant at times it read like a Strontium Dog tale (which is no bad thing but perhaps not the order of the day). Not having read any Diamond Dogs it was nice to see James Peaty serving up something so much better than Skip Tracer.

Anyway, shocking as they were, the contents of the Meg pale into insignificance compared to those of the floppy. I still can't quite get my head around the idea that dozens (scores? Hundreds?) of the prog's most iconic layouts were originally sketched by Robin Smith in layout form. Mind blown.

(My cover was on the right way, BTW)