Meg 244: Back from the Dead

ukdane · 03 April, 2006, 02:28:24 PM

Well, this is the Meg that'll get the tounges wagging. Is it value for money???
What are you getting for ?2.99

Well the squarebound spine has gone again.
The cover is paperthin.
(Both negatives IMO)

12 page Dredd tale complete.

7 Page text article on History of RT (why does there have to be an 8th -opening page of his head then and now?)

1 page Metro Dredd.

10? page Charley's War ending this issue "for now"

8 Page Cursed Earth Koburn ends this issue.

6 Page small press strip and article complete this issue.

12 Page Tales From The Black Museum complete tale.

The rest (10 pages) are all adverts, cover, subs, editors index page etc.

I haven't read the articles or strips yet, so can't comment on the quality, but quantity-wise it does look a bit thin.

In 4 weeks: Black Siddha 3, Fiends Of The Eastern Front: Stalingrad, Dredd, and Tals from BM, and "Much More".

Rio De Fideldo · 03 April, 2006, 04:24:14 PM

Heatseekers have gone. Thank God for that!

Dudley · 03 April, 2006, 04:24:48 PM

Who did the small press piece?

Wils · 03 April, 2006, 04:31:49 PM

The cover is paperthin.

The whole thing feels really cheap and flops around in your hands. The choice of paper stock for the interior is laughable, tbh. The printing from the other side is showing through on several pages, it's that bloody thin.

I *do* realise I'm in danger of sounding like Mongo here, but this really *is* a bad decision, production-wise.

ukdane · 03 April, 2006, 05:26:18 PM

It feels like a double sized prog now. So let's be positive about this, and call it a trial run before the prog doubles in size, and costs ?2.99 a week instead ;-)

Yes, thankfully heatseekers are gone.

Small Press text article is by Matthew Badham.
Strip is by Berridge and Keith Burns.

ARRISARRIS · 03 April, 2006, 07:44:40 PM

...love this new meaner and leaner megazine, but as you say its the paper thin feel of it all that lets it down, would love to see if it helps new readers find this magazine...

Noisybast · 03 April, 2006, 07:56:44 PM

'Course it's paper thin - it's made of paper!

IndigoPrime · 03 April, 2006, 08:09:50 PM

The stock seems the same as 2000 AD's to me. A thicker stock for the cover would be nice, but, frankly, I'm not that bothered if the content is good. And the content *is* good -- at least I thought so. Despite the drop in pages, the Meg doesn't seem any shorter, and the small-press effort was pretty good, as were the Koburn finale and Dredd efforts. The Black Museum story wasn't bad (and the art reminded me of a restrained Hickleton), although I pity the poor sod that had to try and figure out what was going on in the Rogue Trooper continuity.

Anyway, I enjoyed the Meg overall, and it did feel better value than the previous few.

Satanist · 03 April, 2006, 08:17:30 PM

"In 4 weeks: Black Siddha 3, Fiends Of The Eastern Front: Stalingrad, Dredd, and Tals from BM, and "Much More". "

Thatsa spicy meatball!

I aint got this months and I'm already looking forward to the next.

Wils · 03 April, 2006, 08:50:30 PM

The stock seems the same as 2000 AD's to me.

Wheras to me, the stock feels inferior to the prog now all round. If it *was* the same as the prog, I don't think I'd have a problem with it at all.

Content-wise, though, I did enjoy it a lot and read far more of it than I did before the change (although I'm still skipping Charley's Yawn).

Dan Kelly · 03 April, 2006, 09:30:24 PM

Have to agree with Wils here (more or less).

Paper feels poor, content feels great. Next month looks even better.

However the 2 Rennie Cursed Eart stories sat a bit oddly this month...

mechanix81 · 03 April, 2006, 11:19:22 PM

Is anyone else heartbroken at the fall from grace the meg has had over the past year? I mean, the content is still awesome, but its gone from a real quality feel to 'double size prog', which kinda defeats the point, I think. I know Barnes was criticised, but his magazine background really proves its worth now...

Robo-K33F · 03 April, 2006, 11:25:37 PM

Hi all.

From 245 onwards the Meg will be on the same paper stock as 2000 AD.

Robo K33F

Dan Kelly · 03 April, 2006, 11:58:41 PM

Cheers Keef - Good to hear ;-)

DavidXBrunt · 04 April, 2006, 02:11:08 AM

Dredd was very good though felt almost like a Wagner pastiche than an original story. Still, it was an accurate pastiche and read well, and looked pretty, and made me smile, so what nore can you ask for? A strong story for a relaunch issue.

Koburn - A quicker ending to this tale than I expected. It might be nice to see Bonaventura in a Dredd story sometime, and a speedy return for Koburn would be appreciated. Origins tieing up thet nice Mister Ezquerra and that nice Mister Rennies attempts to prevent over exposure for his creations imply it won't be back for a while.

Tales of the black museum - If it maintains this standard this will be a great story. The inclusion of the Maybe artefact helped the story greatly, and if anyones interested you can buy the 1950s radio series 'Tales of the Black Museum' narrated by Orson Welles from e-bay most of the time, or the similar themed and possibly better Whitehall 1212 Scotland Yard from the same sources.