Meg 440: Fully Loaded!

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Ooh – wraparound cover. Alas, no print for me. (Is that the case for everyone?) Anyway, on with the strips…

Tharg has spoken on Facebook (sorry can't copy and paste the text) basically to try to avoid a price raise with increased cost he's gone with stopping adding the print.

I’m sorry but what do you lot mean by the Cover Print?

[IndigoPrime]

For a while, the Meg came with a print of the cover, minus the logo and cover lines. This month, that stopped.

[Richard]

It was only for subscribers.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Thanks everyone for the answer, but as a subscriber , I really can't remember this. Can I get a (hopefully) photographic example of this please...?

[broodblik]

A good meg again this month with Lawless and Surfer the stand-out strips. Keeping Hawk for the weekend.

Dredd – The previous arc of this series was not my favorite storyline, but the new arc starts of on a good footing. Let’s see were the story take us.

Death Cap – I liked the opening episode, but this now feels much generic than I hoped for. Just an interesting point how long does the mushroom disease take to claim his victim because my understanding was that this might not be the only series.

Diamond Dog – Not the most dynamic story but enjoyable nonetheless and it ends on a nice cliffhanger.

Lawless – Nudge nudge, know what I mean, say no more say no more. What is there to tell anyone if you do not read Lawless you are missing one fine piece of comic. So, what are you waiting for get the collections catch up and enjoy. I forget to add my review: this is another fine chapter in one of many fine chapters, so say no more

Surfer – Great storytelling by Wagner and great art by MacNeil. Great to have the meg and prog both having surfer stories in.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Thanks everyone for the answer, but as a subscriber , I really can't remember this. Can I get a (hopefully) photographic example of this please...?

This suggests that scrapping it is the correct course of action...

PM me your mobile and I will happily take a few snaps for you, but I can't face the trial of getting a picture on the forum. I am sat beside a pile of subscriber Megs!

[broodblik]

............Keeping Hawk for the weekend.

Well stuff that and I am not a person whom can wait so here goes:

Hawk is 30 pages of stupendous awesomeness. We start the first chapter or let’s put it this way a what happened before and then we off with the new storyline. Flint’s artwork is just plain super, and his panel layout adds to the enjoyment of the story. He treats us with not one but two double page spreads with those last 3 pages just brilliant. Now script wise the story flows and there is never a dull moment. Good to have Ennis and Flint back in action. Cannot wait and I am sure I will sucker myself in buying the collection.

So get the meg people and do not miss out. Hawk, Lawless and Surfer must surely be the any sane person's reason to get the meg. 

[Colin YNWA]

This is a good Meg, in fact very good indeed but the thing that stops it being a GREAT Meg is there's a curious lack of tension in it. A numebr of the stories are builders, but don't yet have a clearly defined threat or villain, or conflicit yet.

Dredd - its an excellent opener. Taking a really fresh angle on things and setting up necessity of the caper. Loved Logan at the 'UN'. But at this stage its a bit like the first 10 pages of an Asterix travel story. We're setting up the need for Asterix to go on his travels BUT we're not on the adventure yet and we have really got a sense of where the danger will come from. Still immensely enjoyable.

Death Cap okay so this one has a more traditionally formed structure. I know the danger, I see the disease and I'm introduced to the baddies, the challenge and there a good beginning, middle and end to the episode which really nicely drives the overall story. Just as Indigo Prime says at this point I don't really care too much as I'm not sold on the protagonist.

Diamond Dogs I need to re-read this as if I'm honest it wshes right over me. I read it and the moment I've finished I don't really remember a thing about it.

Lawless now this is brilliant. Its a fantastic character piece and Metta's journey around town and loneliness as her friends reject her is just fantastic. There isn't though really any meat to the caper yet... though Dadnett and Winslade are building that as a protection racket is creepily revealed. This is building and while I'm not sure where, the craft taking us there - wherever that is, is fantastic

The same could be said for Surfer its good stuff, it has moments of drama and tension I'm just not quite sure what's driving it all yet. This one is also building.

Then we get to Hawk the Slayer and I say this as someone who doesn't like the movie at all for full disclosure this is AMAZING... welllll almost. Firstly 30 pages of Ennis and Flint comics essentially for free in what is normally a chunk of cheap reprint is a pretty great thing. That Henry Flint's art is just next level good is quite something else. The art is just breathtaking. The story is developing nicely - its just like elsewhere - I'm not sure where or why. Hawk puts the band back together to... well I dunno yet really. I mean there are some creepy baddies popping up so we're not short of action I'm just not sure of what's motivating the badness yet. Still its fantastic stuff.

So yeah the craft in lots of the Meg is fantastic its just weirdly a little flat as a number of the better stories just haven't quite got the punch and thrill that they need. Now one or two like that is absolutely fine, in fact I'd welcome it. Its just read as a piece it leaves the comic overall a little flat... which feels very odd to say as its really very good... maybe I'm just a little over tired!

Oh and excellent text pieces too.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Thanks everyone for the answer, but as a subscriber , I really can't remember this. Can I get a (hopefully) photographic example of this please...?

This suggests that scrapping it is the correct course of action...

PM me your mobile and I will happily take a few snaps for you, but I can't face the trial of getting a picture on the forum. I am sat beside a pile of subscriber Megs!

I've sent you a PM.

[gogilesgo]

Dredd returns to McConville’s time-travel shenanigans, which feels a bit like it’s talking place in an alternate time stream from the main Dredd strip, to some degree.

I found myself thinking much the same thing. I enjoyed the strip, especially the Walk and Talk scene in the Hall of Justice - very West Wing, but it feels like it's floating outside of the current Dredd continuum. A line like "Chief Judge Lewis has guaranteed Texas City is on side, and of course the Guatemalans will support us now El Presidente is gone." would have anchored the story nicely.


Maybe I am reading too much into this but the whole "Profundia?" "But the optics of this..". seemed to hark back to Theresa May's semi-desperate negotiations with the DUP post 2017 election day. 

[Woolly]

Confession - I've not been following the Meg for about a year now, but restarted last month what with yer Wagners and yer MacNeils. I'm not missing out on Hawky-Flinty goodness either!

Only reading Dredd and Surfer in the Meg itself:

Always a pleasure to see Staz Johnson's work, and I found this easy to follow considering I've missed the story it's referencing. Always a pleasure to see Logan too - best Chief Judge yet IMO.
Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

Surfer is comics bliss - Wagner and MacNeil are a match made in heaven, no-one here needs me to tell them that. Every panel, every line of dialogue is just so perfectly economical. Again, looking forward to where this goes.


And then we get issue one of Hawk The Slayer for free!
I absolutely adored every page and panel of this, and once again cannot wait to see where this goes!
Best thing about it? Henry Flint is doing his own colouring again. And it's so fucking good!
It all seems so simple at first glance, and yet there's a depth to those colours that I can't even start to explain. The Flint droid is an absolute genius, and Tharg should do everything in his power to keep said droid welded to his desk for as long as possible.

And that last splash page..... I would happily sell a kidney if I knew it would guarantee me that page!

[Jim_Campbell]

Only reading Dredd and Surfer in the Meg itself

You really need to give Lawless a go, if nothing else. I know I work on it, but I've been a fan since long before then…

[Woolly]

Only reading Dredd and Surfer in the Meg itself

You really need to give Lawless a go, if nothing else. I know I work on it, but I've been a fan since long before then…

Bit of a problem there....

I had all my paper Megs stacked up - for reasons unknown I'd lapsed reading Lawless after the first series, but was planning a big catch-up read.
I then had to move house. With limited room.

Sooooo... I donated all my Progs and Megs to the Ben's Center in Sheffield, which is a homeless shelter and charity run by a good friend.
It felt genuinely great to finally offload all the thrills I knew I was never going to bother reading (The Order, I'm looking at you!) but the down side is I've missed nearly all of Lawless.

I await my Rigellian Hotshot, and promise to buy the collections when I can afford them!

[Woolly]

It's also worth saying that I donated the 2000AD Ultimate Collection as well. That was to The Special Branch in Sheffield, a charity and sanctuary for injured birds. They're on Chesterfield Road.
It's essentially everything up to about 3 months ago (except Dante - I kept him!), so if you're in Sheffield and fancy a bargain, seek them out

[AlexF]

I'm one of those people who would 100% NOT have bought a standalone Hawk the Slayer comic. And, despite Ennis and Flint's best effrots, I can confidently say that I still have little to no interest in watching the movie, and although I will happily read the free comic, I'm not piqued enough to become a Hawk fan.

What can I say, I'm a Krull man.

Agree with the general opinion that the political shenanigans of this month's Dredd are top notch, very intrigued to see where this story goes!