Meg 460: Prepare for War

[Tjm86]

As the other part of Rebellion's exploration of what a mash up of Tooth and Battle might have netted, the Meg takes a slightly different tack since it carries on as normal with Lawless, Dreadnoughts, Spectre and the reprints.  It does lack the usual text pieces, giving the space for these over to the mash up strips.

Flint's cover is up to his normal standards and a wrap-around to boot.  Wouldn't mind it on a coffee mug like the old McMahon 'civil war' cover that it seems to homage.

The contents page doesn't list all of the mash up strips, dealing with them all as part of Dredd-world.  Not entirely unreasonable since that is where they are all set.  Return to Billy Carter sets the scene with a casting back to the second Dark Judges tale from Niemand and Percival.  Setting this back in the early post-Apocalypse War era works nicely too.  It serves as a background to the later Darke's Mob.

Rad Pack comes to use from Stock and McKeown.  It takes the old Dirty Dozen concept that inspired Rat Pack but recasts them as Muties used as an expendable team by MC1.  Can't fault McKeown's artwork really.  Lots of dynamic visuals and accurate rendering. Stock serves up a relatively predictable script that barrels along.  In many respects it is in keeping with the old one-and-done style of the era.  There is potential there mind.  It's been a while since we've had a decent Cursed Earth set tale and this one is up there as a better example.  It would be interesting to see this return as a series of one-shots to see if it can be fleshed out.

Strato Squad sees Carroll and Johnson take Lofty's One Man Luftwaffe and give it a Dredd-verse makeover.  In all honesty the original was fairly unremarkable and unsurprisingly didn't last long or see a revival.  Setting this during the Apocalypse War in East-Meg territory works really well.  Carrol's script plays to Johnson's strengths and whilst it does share similarities with Rad Pack in terms of the 'crisis of the week' approach, sets up an ongoing series as a possibility.  Certainly one worth following.

Anderson gets to take on the Fists of Jimmy Chan in the Wolf and The Dragon.  In fact this one is a three way mash up as Wolfie Smith gets folded into the mix.  Worley and Goddard deliver the goods here with a relatively familiar 'misunderstood heroes face off and fight before realising they need to work together' plot.  Jimmy Chan now has psi / mystical powers.  It's a quality read to be sure.

Then we come to Darke's Mob.  De Campi and McCrea take on creative duties as the old Darkie's Mob is moved to Dead-world.  Rather unsurprising since it was such a strong influence, the script is reminiscent of Bad Company.  the other one I found myself harking back to was Glimmer Rats.

Cue lots of obscene creatures, plenty of maiming and an absolutely insane Darke.  One could almost be forgiven for mistaking him for one of the Dark Judges in places.  Given that the DeadWorld series has shown the potential for stories set in that world, it is easy to see why the approach was opted for.  In some respects it works better than some of the other tales we've seen recently involving the Dark Judges.  The foreshadowing in the final panel leaves plenty of options open.

Overall the experiment between the prog and meg this week / month has shown the potential for the ideas opted.  In some respects the Meg has, for my money, taken a far more successful tack.  Not just in terms of the mash-ups themselves but also in terms of showing the untapped potential of much of Dredd-world.  There's plenty to pique interest in something ongoing, that's for certain.

[The Monarch]

i obviously don't have it yet but this feels more like what would have happened to a comic in the 80s when it is forcibly merged with another. several survivors of the dead comic and the normal comic going on business as usual 

[broodblik]

Cover by Henry Flint:

[broodblik]

[broodblik]

Wrap around cover:

[IndigoPrime]

I got mine today but not 2000 AD. Does it make any odds if I read the Meg before 2000 AD this time? The stories aren't linked, are they?

[Jim_Campbell]

I got mine today but not 2000 AD. Does it make any odds if I read the Meg before 2000 AD this time? The stories aren't linked, are they?

As far as I know, no — it's not like the zombie specials, where there was an overarching plot.

[Tomwe]

Wrap around cover:

And this is apparently the new binder art too. Excellent!

[GordonR]

I got mine today but not 2000 AD. Does it make any odds if I read the Meg before 2000 AD this time? The stories aren't linked, are they?

As far as I know, no — it's not like the zombie specials, where there was an overarching plot.

In the Meg, the Dredd story and Darke's Mob are linked; set in the same alt.continuity, with the Dredd setting up the other story.

In the prog, I think my Major Eazy story and Arthur Wyatt's Hellman of Hell Force share the same Evil Occult Nazi Organisation, but it's not a super-important detail.

But, no, there's no overarching story, unlike last year.

[The Monarch]

Darkes mob is amazing and i wish it could continue as an ongoing

[IndigoPrime]

i obviously don't have it yet but this feels more like what would have happened to a comic in the 80s when it is forcibly merged with another. several survivors of the dead comic and the normal comic going on business as usual 

Heh. Having read it now, that feels spot-on. What I will say is that I've not enjoyed an issue of the Meg this much in a while. And it's not like I've disliked the Meg of late. This was just on another level. Lots of fun. It felt packed with comics – far more so than usual. And what's interesting from my standpoint is that I'm only slightly aware of the original strips and so almost everything had to succeed on its own merits, not as the result of nostalgia.

Dredd (Billy Carter) was a solid opener. Nice callbacks. Quality art. Rad Pack was even better. Dredd looked nicely grumpy (hints of Yeowell) and the script blazed along, with distinct characters. I chortled at the twist. The one bad bit? That there isn't a new mission for Rad Pack next week. I'd happily read these as a bunch of one-shots across six months,

Strato Squad didn't quite land as well for me. Not sure why. It looks great. It's well written. Maybe I was too tired or something. It also felt like it was left hanging a touch more than the other strips.

Anderson was a fun one-and-done that worked without any prior character knowledge. And then... Darkie's Mob. This is one I have read – a kind of porto-Bad Company with some culturally insensitive elements when viewed under a modern eye. This take looked fantastic (I mean, it's John McCrea...) and read well too. Nicely pulpy. The hint in the tail that the mob turned into the DJs. But this could easily be a series. (Weird production error on the last page, alas.)

Then there was still the rest of the Meg. Blimey. Spector is still fine. Rogue remains a favourite. Johnny Red isn't my tea. Lawless picked up a notch. And Dreadnoughts was packed with tension but I hope the last panel does something unexpected, given that this is one direction a few of us thought might happen and that would be... unfortunate. Bit tropey.

Ten strips! Loads of great stuff. This must surely be in the running for the best Meg to date. Thanks to all involved.

Rad Pack > Darkie's Mob > Rogue > Anderson > Lawless > Dreadnoughts > Dredd (Billy Carter) > Strato Squad > Spector > Johnny Red.

[nxylas]

i obviously don't have it yet but this feels more like what would have happened to a comic in the 80s when it is forcibly merged with another. several survivors of the dead comic and the normal comic going on business as usual 

The Tharg strip at the end of the prog does lead into the Meg, so it was obviously designed to be read in that order. But it's not a huge deal.

[Colin YNWA]

First and foremost we have to say what a lot of bang you get from your buck with this one. At first I figured the regular ongoing stories would be parked for the Battle Action stuff, but nope. Then I figured the reprints would go, nope you still get two US size reprint stories. So for this issue you get 3 extra comic strip stories instead of the text pieces. That is very generous of Tharg and makes this a bumper package.

That said I think the 'cross-over' Battle Action stuff is much weaker here than in the Prog. Both Rad Back and Strata Squad twist, and turn to get their connections to the classic strips in and to be honest feel a bit contorted and out of shape. Nothing felt natural about them, they felt forced.

The Dredd into Darkie's Mob where much better and the fit of the classic strip into the Dreddverse was much more effectively handled. Both worked really well.

Anderson was a lovely looking fun distraction. Assuming that is Wolfie Smith (it kinda feels like it is) did someone just misread the brief? Any way decent fun.

The regular strips however raise the quality above even Dredd / Darkie. Spectre is getting better and better and rally enjoyed this episode and Dan Cornwell, well he's superb isn't he. Lawless has one of its more regular action episode which often don't work quite as well as the more character driven pieces but this was was great. Brilliant action adventure with characters I'm already fully invested in.

The star of the whole thing is Dreadnoughts. Its takes quite something for anything to top Lawless in my eyes but this episode of the pro-Dreddverse was just perfect in its execution. Fair to say its nothing we haven't seen many times before. Cop fighting out numbered, burdened and having taken a lose BUT I doubt the old story has ever been done quite this well. And how Glover deals with Braun's fate is chilling in its lack of drama. Brilliant.

Two nice reprints as well, all be it I've got Johnny Red already. So yeah its a shame a couple of the 'event' stories are misfires the rest more than makes up for it.

[Jim_Campbell]

Anderson was a lovely looking fun distraction. Assuming that is Wolfie Smith (it kinda feels like it is) did someone just misread the brief? Any way decent fun.

Wolfie is a bonus — the Battle/Action tie-in is The Fists of Jimmy Chang who, per Alec's script, is "an unashamed Bruce Lee clone created by Eric Bradbury and Scott Goodall and who debuted in Battle Action in 1982 and has been completely forgotten ever since."

Which seems accurate since he was certainly forgotten by me and (apparently) by you as well.

[Something Fishy]

Loved this concept.  Darkies mob really stood out.  A goldmine of potential new battle action 2k strips have been unearthed here .