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Meg 441 - Surfing the Mega-City Skies !

Started by broodblik, 16 February, 2022, 08:44:37 AM

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Goosegash

QuoteDiamond Dogs - I've missed all the previous instalments of this but there's nothing here that makes me want to go back and read them.

I've read the last Book of this but I don't think I could in all honesty tell you a thing about it. Who are the characters? What are their relationships? What are they trying to achieve? Why should we care what happens to them? If a story can't answer those basic questions then it's unfortunately failed to engage an audience.

Out of all the cast Armitage is the only one that sticks in the memory and that's only really because of his familiarity and history in his own strip. He's also far more subdued and passive than in his previous appearances so it doesn't even really feel like the same character.


Proudhuff

Another great megazine to balance the lacklustre Prog.
Hawk the Slayeris what I'd hoped Kingmaker would have been.
DDT did a job on me

Mudcrab

This Meg compels me to post, as I often don't.

Fantastic cover, classic surfin' goodness! That B&W version is particularly lovely.

Dredd: How could I resist such marvellous Zoidberg/Cthulu worshipping people (missing my old avatar). A not so subtle representation of one of those crazy religions humans have, at least in my head, but it's great fun, hail Profundia!

Death Cap: Creepy mushroom action, great stuff. A long time ago I criticised Boo's art, in a way that came across worse than intended and if I didn't apologise at the time I should now, as he's one of my favourites these days and indeed, for many years (Sorry Boo!). The horse reminds me of the old Ron Smith horse from the black plague, one of those visceral images that has always stuck with me, that bit when he got bitten. The art has that same "in your brain" effect.

Diamond Dogs: I'm afraid I don't like this much, so in the interests of not repeating the aforementioned sin, I'll skip on...

Lawless: Holy sneckin' funt! Like pretty much everyone, I've been loving Lawless since it started. The writing is Abnett, so that goes without saying at the worst of times but Lawless has been the best thing in the Meg without doubt for years now I guess. The artwork started out great and has only improved over the years. It's what we all used to say we missed from the golden years, B&W artwork with a crazy amount of detail and obvious "work", in the manner of O'Neil, Belardinelli, McMahon et al. This copies none of those in any way yet has that same awe-inspiring effect. That's up till now. This month, it's been kicked up a notch. Is it the lockdown effect? How long did that first page take? And the rest? The detail, the crazy reflections in the SJS helmets, I was stunned. Took me nearly an hour to get through that I'm sure, just beautiful. 

Surfer: However good Lawless is, it's certainly equalled by the privilege to read that is Wagner and MacNeil doing anything. Chopper has sometimes felt a bit overdone on occasion, but not this time. A fresh extension of the story with some fantastic boarding action, more than worthy of the promise in the cover. I sense dark times ahead...

Hawk the Slayer: The best extra to come with the Meg ever. I can't remember if I ever saw the film and if I did it was once, back in the mists of the 80s. As someone else said, I was more of a Krull man too :) Absolutely loving it though. Ennis moves the action along nicely with some great characters, new and old and you don't get much better than the Flint droid for artwork (apart from everyone else above that is also "brilliant!"). It's cheesy fantasy of course but it's raised well above that somehow by these masters. I don't know how he does it but his art has always looked at first glance a bit scrappy and rough, yet it's not by any means. Loved those red and black pages, very Shakara and a nice evil contrast to the "real world" parts. 

This slightly tipsy review has been brought to you by Ardbeg, with musical accompaniment by Dälek.
NEGOTIATION'S OVER!