MEG 270 : WEAPONS OF WAR

[Rio De Fideldo]

Who likes Armitage?

[Buttonman]

Treasure doesn't mind him much.

[Buttonman]

Actually I didn't mind it much and don't want to get involved in another witch hunt in case Dave Stone comes on and say his pecker dropped off during the writing or something.

It was a brave attempt to do something more cerebral, a bit of a locked door mystery with an emphasis on dectection and character rather than the classic Dredd approach of kick in the door and a kick in the nuts.

Brave as it was, it was dull and waffley and I had to force myself to plough through each week's text heavy episode. Once I lost the thread of it I couldn't face rereading the old stuff and once you get to that stage you have to wonder 'why bother?'.

Although I liked John Cooper's art in the old Eagle and others I'm surprised he avoided the 'too cartoony' brickbats that Nick Dyer is getting pummled with. The art is  OK but uneven in places and you never forget that it's a comic strip.

As I said brave effort but for me it has to be added to the hefty pile of non-Dredd Dreddworld failures.

[TordelBack]

The Interrogation is most interesting to me when it's full of these tales of human suffering.

So true!  What a piece of work is a man.

[Byron Virgo]

"The Interrogation is most interesting to me when it's full of these tales of human suffering."

You can tell you're a Goth, David...

;-)

"But where did the quotes come from? If they were interviewed, it should say so, and if these are quotes from books it would be nice, even customary, to be told which books."

It was all new (or at least it was a year ago, when the article was written) - the assumption is that, unless you specifically say otherwise, all interviews are done by the writer. It's a bit of a waste of space (at least in a multi-interview article) to have to explain in the text that this is an interview you conducted yourself, and you do sound like a bit of a pompous twat if you start every interview with introductory paragraphs like:

'It was raining up on the 50th floor, as if condensation were settling on the shoulders of a giant after a invigorating power-shower, and Mr XYZ laughed like a lithe jungle cat as champagne frothed and billowed from his exquisitely-moulded nostrils. I discovered the Eisner Award-winning, Oscar-nominated messianic goat rapist at his home within London's comfortably fashionable Mayfair district, taking pot shots at passersby with a high calibre hunting rifle from his exclusive penthouse suite. He poured me a measure of Bollinger into a waiting, pre-chilled crystal flute, quickly snorted back a line of purest Colombian and shot an elderly masseuse through the throat. Now was the moment: I was ready to present him with my devastating opening gambit.

'So, tell me - where do you get your ideas from...?'

[TordelBack]

I like that way better.

[Proudhuff]

Byron, shouldn't you have put a spoiler on that up and coming Dead Eyes script?  ;p

[Rio De Fideldo]

This isn't a witch hunt, I was just interested in who thought the story was good.

Nothing against the writer or the artists but I've just never warmed to Armitage or his world as it doesn't feel like the same world Dredd lives in.

I was dissapointed to see that Matt had green lit another story based on the apparent success of this one. If it does have to come back I'd like to see a story giving a potted history of Armitage to remind us what makes him so interesting. I'd love it if was a police procedural along the lines of Gotham Central with characters you care about however I believe Armitage and Steel are still cyphers. Even the villains are two dimensional and bland.

Ideally I'd be more interested to see if Dave Stone and John Cooper could come up with a new character as Armitage has so much back story and his appearances have been sporadic to say the least.

What about a disgraced Brit Cit Judge fighting for the Sovs during the Apocalypse War? (I'm only half joking as it worked for Major Eazy/Cursed Earth Koburn)

 

[TordelBack]

The only thing that ever really caught my fancy with Armitage were the Adlard-drawn B&W flashbacks to the Brit-Cit Civil War, and possibly the rather clever cross-over  with Judgement Day that followed.  This is about the only time Armitage came over as anything more than a watered-down considerably dumber version of Morse.  

I think there's a lot that could still be done with the character, and certainly police procedural is the way to go.  Less freemasons wouldn't be a bad thing either - besides, John Smith has borrowed them for a bit.

[TordelBack]

The only thing that ever really caught my fancy with Armitage were the Adlard-drawn B&W flashbacks to the Brit-Cit Civil War, and possibly the rather clever cross-over  with Judgement Day that followed.  This is about the only time Armitage came over as anything more than a watered-down considerably dumber version of Morse.  

I think there's a lot that could still be done with the character, and certainly police procedural is the way to go.  Less freemasons wouldn't be a bad thing either - besides, John Smith has borrowed them for a bit.

[worldshown]

What about a disgraced Brit Cit Judge fighting for the Sovs during the Apocalypse War?

You know, for a throwaway idea, that's a good one. I'd certainly want to read it.

Think of it. The only view of the war we got from the regular Sov-judges was that bit with Tolstoi and Podgorny in the Hall of Heroes, just before Dredd shot them. So to have a Brit amongst them as our way in to their thoughts (Why is he there? Do they trust him? What does he do when it all goes tits up?) is a good idea.

And he's got to be called Livingston or Hatton or something like that.

[Rio De Fideldo]

Livingston Red has got a nice ring to it.

[House of Usher]

"What about a disgraced Brit Cit Judge fighting for the Sovs during the Apocalypse War?"

Now, there's a thought. What would really have happened to Brit-Cit when the Sovs invaded Mega-City One?

Brit-Cit was (and still is?) in chaos. As far as I can see, the only reason the Sovs didn't invade Brit-Cit before attacking Mega-City One is that they didn't want to tip off Mega-City One that an attack was coming.

But as soon as the first Sov warheads detonated in Mega-City One, Brit-Cit should have been annexed by the Sovs. I know the Sovs had an entente with Mega-City Two and Texas City to stay neutral, but they could have got Brit-Cit for free and still kept the other Mega-Cities out of it, because their ally, East-Meg Two acted as leverage. It was a combination of the promise of non-aggression, backed up by the threat of East-Meg Two becoming involved that kept Mega-City Two and Texas City stood down.

[Robin Low]

"As far as I can see, the only reason the Sovs didn't invade Brit-Cit before attacking Mega-City One is that they didn't want to tip off Mega-City One that an attack was coming."

Maybe they remembered Savage.

Regards

Robin

[Proudhuff]

No oil, no Aircraft One, Why would they bother with a wee rad-pitted Bannana Kingdom?

Only thing of interest would be the Black Adlantic tunnel if a) It Was still intact and b) it comes out in Blighty. Even then a quick missle attack couple sort it out mid Adlantic

I thought Livingston Red would have been more like Johnny Red, get Garth ellis on it!

VladHuffski