MEG 286 - Psycho Killer

[Proudhuff]

okay, okay,    anyone know if the Moore stuff is collected in a trade?

[JayzusB.Christ]

That article gives me a goo, as they say here in Dublin, for Captain Britain. Wouldn't mind a look at the Moore ones. Mind you, I just had a read of "Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow'  - Moore, but not my bag at all. I'm just not familiar enough with the DC Universe.

Rufus - Good work! I wanted more little jokes in the borders and you have delivered!   Tank Girl is as good as it's ever been, except for that classic Kevin Keegan episode that I'll never forget.

[SmallBlueThing]

okay, okay,    anyone know if the Moore stuff is collected in a trade?

Marvel collected it all in a trade a few years ago- slighly buggered about with and coloured, because it was reprinted from its American packaging in some X-Men limited series or other. It's not a bad package, though.

Steev

[I, Cosh]

Doesn't seem as there are many boarders reading the Meg and commenting here, is it just there's nothing to moan about?

Personally, I was keeping quiet on the uncharacteristic "if you haven't got anything nice to say.." principle as I really can't think of a single positive thing to say about this month's Meg, but now you've gone and tricked me into moaning in public. However, when you can easily spend fifty quid on a Friday night out and not really enjoy yourself, a fiver for a 75% chance of a good Dredd story doesn't really bother me.

I was just thinking the other day that Wagner's quite keen on this whole insect DNA thing (that was the Chief Judge's Man's secret origin too) so I wonder if it's going anywhere or just something to hang a story round from time to time.

[Richmond Clements]

Ach, I forgot to mention the Bad Manners freebie. Lovely stuff (whatever happened to Wayne Reynolds, I was a big fan?) and I'd rather have mores story-centric collections like this than artist-themed collections. Makes for a more satisfying read.

Agreed. I read this this morning and it was superb. I've only the vaugest memories of the strips in question, but it was a great little story arc.

[Mike Gloady]

Dredd: I have enjoyed this particular tale.  A little too short, but lots to say about how we treat teh mentally ill and, as another poster put it, in the Big Meg most mental illness seems curable by Anderson giving you a head-massage for 10 minutes..  I leave you all to make your own off-colour remarks.  

Interrogation: As ever, this is excellent.  Very welcome.

Tank Girl: If I'm honest I never bother.  I always hated the character and never found it was nearly as funny as it thought it was.  But the diversity it brings, to say nothing of the character recognition value it brings (and possibly new readers) it's a welcome addition.  So long as the other strips are up to the mark, of course.  Were everything other than Dredd to suck particularly hard one month, I'd confess to feeling cheated that one of the few strip slots were, in my view at least, wasted on a one-trick pony who'd long ago been flogged into it's grave.  Rufus has a lot of charm to his art though.

Captain Britian: Never liked superheroes, least of all anything Marvel, but I'll confess this has rather made me reassess.  Not just because of Moore's involvement, but because of the general ambience.  Although seemingly the longer the strip went on, the more it kept being "Marvelised" (noun - meaning to invest with unnecessary backstory and continuity that nobody writing it seems to give a damn about until they run out of ideas).

TOTBM: I flat out LOVED this.  That whole justification for Dredd doing the Big Meg equivalent of taking a Greyhound bus never really worked for me anyway.  Nice to see a creative story grow out of it (and tie up a completely ignored piece of continuity into the bargain.  Arguably the highlight of this month's meg for me.  I read it three times, just because I was that impressed.  Nicely done.

You should be watching: No.  I really shouldn't.  There's quite enough derivative proceedural police drivel on television.  I don't want to give the makers any more encouragement than my mother already does (what can I say?  She loves shows where people meet grizzly ends).  As if I needed any confirmation beyond the episodes I've seen that it really isn't my bag, the reviewer (who, you'll remember, is trying to plead the case FOR watching the show) tells me all three major developments in the main character throughout the entire series.  One of which was leaving.  No thanks.  Good try though.

Clive Barker: Never been a fan of him or that sort of fiction at the best of times.  However I found this interview to be quite illuminating.  Maybe I'm missing something.  

Film review: I'll confess to not having read it yet.  I eventually get round to it, but usually only after a week or so...

Armitage: I've always loved the character and setting.  Dave Stone's Brit Cit always appealed more than Wagner's version - which always felt like a cut-price Mega-City One rather than something peculiarly British.  I'm presuming that while Treasure is inside she'll come into contact with the rather unpleasant lady we met last month.  Am I wrong in thinking she's the "culling crew/wetworks" character?  I think Armitage has suffered what Dante's "pirate" era stories suffered from and perhaps if we'd had more regular Armitage it'd be as popular as I always thought it deserved to be.  Fun, but far too short.  More.  More.

[Mike Gloady]

Ach, I forgot to mention the Bad Manners freebie. Lovely stuff (whatever happened to Wayne Reynolds, I was a big fan?) and I'd rather have mores story-centric collections like this than artist-themed collections. Makes for a more satisfying read.

Yes, I forgot to mention that too.  All three stories appearing during my period of unfaithfulness, this is something I'm looking forward to tomorrow afternoon.  

I'd also appreciate the collections being more themed according to story or character elements rather than creators.  Although there IS a place for both.

[TordelBack]

Dave Stone's Brit Cit always appealed more than Wagner's version - which always felt like a cut-price Mega-City One rather than something peculiarly British.

Wagner's problem is that his MC-1 is so British that there's nowhere new for his Brit Cit to go.  I too rather prefer Stone's version, even if I wouldn't be a big fan of Armitage.

[Richmond Clements]

Am I wrong in thinking she's the "culling crew/wetworks" character?

I was thinking the same thing!

Perhaps Mr Stone, if he's reading, could pop up and let us know...

[Mike Gloady]

Please Mr Stone, we'll be ever so grateful!?

John Cooper's art on Armitage is an excellent fit by the way, and I really enjoyed that interview too.  Well done to all concerned.  Nice to have him back in the fold.

[JayzusB.Christ]

By the way, does anyone know whether those are up-to-date photos of Clive Barker? If so, he's doing very well for a guy of 57 or something.
Seems there's a lot to be said for the rejuvenating properties of a twisted, degenerate imagination

[Robin Low]

(whatever happened to Wayne Reynolds, I was a big fan?)

I'm a huge fan, too. He went on to do lots of fantastic work for various role-playing-game companies, particularly Wizards of the Coast's 3rd Ed. D&D (among other things). He did most of the covers for their Eberron setting books, and they are stunning:

http://www.waynereynolds.com/WotCGallery2.htm


I wish he was still drawing Dredd, or at least doing covers for 2000AD.

Regards

Robin

[SmallBlueThing]

By the way, does anyone know whether those are up-to-date photos of Clive Barker? If so, he's doing very well for a guy of 57 or something.
Seems there's a lot to be said for the rejuvenating properties of a twisted, degenerate imagination

I'm not sure- a lot of the recent promo stuff he's put out has been of the 'hugely-muscled man standing by the pool in black tshirt and medallion' variety... but the special features on the recent DVD release of 'The Midnight Meat Train' (catch it, it's really very good indeed) reveal a wizened, very old-looking, gravelly voiced munchkin in one documentary, and the buffed-up stud in another. The discrepancy is alarming- and even made my wife (not one for the European tradition of "cursing") sit up and shout "Fuck! What's happened to him- he looks a hundred years old!".

Amusingly, the docu about his parallel painting career also reveals a man who appears to be going quickly round the bend. At one point- which if memory serves is the end of the piece- he is shown attempting to explain his approach to art and narrative, by painting a black spiral, and becomes almost incoherent.

Now, I remember Clive from the old days- and indeed have met him a few times- and yes, he was always a bit pretentious and prone to rubbing people up the wrong way, but he was always very much "the young, fresh, face of horror" and immensely likeable. The man I saw in the Meat Train extras is distanced from that individual not just by time, but by something else entirely. It's like the intervening twenty years were forty. And forty very trying ones, at that.

All that said- if he can one day "get the keys" to the room with the Nightbreed footage, and comes good on his promise to "do something further" with the Cabal story, then I will be first in line to shake his hand. I'm not holding my breath, Nightbreed is twenty years ago, and he's been saying that since day one.

Steev

[Dog Deever]

First review from me in ages- I liked the cover, kind of reminds me of another cover that I haven't quite remembered yet.

Dredd: This has been a great story- nice artwork on it too. I was never a great fan of Wilsons 'classic' work on Dredd- it was fine, I just preferred McMahon, Carlos, Ron Smith, Steve Dillon etc. I do remember liking his run on early Rogue (was it the Filth Column story with the traitorous nurse?) I liked his Souther battlesuits and things.
This has been really great, though and I must admit I have a new enthusiasm for his stuff.

Interviews: I'm not a big novel reader so I'm not wowed by an interview with Barker, although I can see it's a major scoop for the Meg and they may sell a few extra ad-hoc copies this month, which can only be a good thing. It was an interesting read though, as I have enjoyed a few Barker films. Nice quinceyquonce with the mention of Martyrs as I'd just watched it the night before I got the Meg.
The John Cooper interview was well written, I like the way Mike Molcher left John's accent apparent in the text- Ah'm intae regional accents, ye ken. I think what also came across well was a real fondness for comics and 2000ad. This is the kind of thing I like as articles.
A couple o' photos o' the man would've been good- I like to know whit folk look like for some unexplained reason- a face to the work and the voice. I'd also have liked to see some of his marine paintings and caricature work too. If this board can be taken as a cross section of the 2000ad fanbase, then there are more than a few of us interested in looking at paintings and illustration as well as comic work. Good article.

Tank Girl: Skidmarks seemed to suffer from a lack of confidence on the art, not enough drawing, too much open space which needed filled with tone. This tale and the last have seen Rufus Dayglo seem to grow in confidence (IMO). It's busier, less self-conscious and much more fun to look at. The writing is also getting more nonsense and stupidity in- which is where Tank Girl should be at- Skidmarks was too much of 'a story'. I think the short, one-shot runs are really beneficial for it and should maybe have been attempted before a long tale.

Captain Britain feature: Don't really give two hoots about this, but then it's only two pages and I read it anyway. I do remember the character from Marvel Team up comics I bought when I was younger- I liked the mix of fantasy/ Arthurian mysticalismness but other than that I know bog all about costumed capers.

Black Museum: I'd like to add my voice to the praise of Nick Dyer- I said of his earlier Dredd work that, although I couldn't suffer the huge eyes, there was a lot to like. This was great- amazing what a few published stories can do for an artist and I can see Nick becoming a modern great in the comic- like Jock and Flint have done. That's if he doesn't fuck off across the Atlantic! Good, solid story too.

[rant]
You should be watching: Bleurgh! I'll watch whatever the fuck I want. It's purely subjective. Not a comment on how well/ badly it was written- I never read these. Waste of a page.

Film review: Once again- please stop this tripe. I don't care who writes it, how it's written or even what they think of any film- again it's subjective. It has nothing whatsoever to do with 2000ad or comics. I would rather have seen a two/ three page  showcase of John Coopers marine paintings, or Barkers paintings/ Illos for interest. This is and has always been the biggest waste of space in the Meg since it started. It's been going for ages and it's drivel- it really winds me up now- I have never read any of them. Just drop the pages (and hence price) and be done with it. [/rant]

Armitage: Surely this has to rank as the dullest strip ever in 2000ad history. Nothing ever happens in each episode, the characters are flat and tedious, it really bores the arse off. Reading it is like a monthly exercise in tooth-pulling.
[rant]
I can't stand Treasure Steel- she seems like a ham fisted attempt to tick every PC box possible- an intelligent, tough-talking, black, lesbian, female, arse-kicker with real-life issues, a disadvantaged background, a same gender relationship and an adopted kid to boot. Please! So anti-cliche that she's actually a horrible cliche, if you understand. KILL HER OFF, SHE'S A SHIT CHARACTER.
Anyway- you forgot autism, dyslexia and a wheelchair. [/rant]
The art work is good but not great. Really great figure drawing that I'd expect from someone of Cooper's calibre, though I hope John moves toward a wider tonal range in his work, as I often feel it's too bland with the greyscale being 'stuck in the middle' which takes away from the dramatic impact. (Though Armitage stories IMO lack any drama anyway). 'Mair dark wouldna go amiss, John!'

Floppy Extra Baggage: Filed away- along with most of the others, unread because it's either
a} a load o pish that didn't deserve printing first time round let alone reprinting or
b} (as in this case) it's not old enough to warrant a reprint yet.

I wish they'd do something useful with these extra comics, or else drop them altogether (and hence the price). It's only a good idea if it's utilised properly.
I will continue to support the Meg, despite its usual high cost/ low return situation. I bought every EE despite some of it being hogwash. It's not the cash- I have (a) decent job(s) and can afford to spend a £5 a month, it's the principle.

[Old Tankie]

Really enjoyed this month's Meg, in fact, I think it's been great for a long time now.  Sacrilege, I know, but I quite often prefer it to the Prog!!  I realise that I'm probably in a minority of, errr, one on that, but there you go!!