(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/Caliban_photos/Meg360_zpsztmbm455.jpg)
Glenn Fabry cover
Dredd The Cop part five wraps it up
Andrew Currie interrogation
Reaper Files
Judge Dredd text story by Robert Murphy
Tale from the Black Museum by Alec Worley and Paul Davidson
Anderson by Emma Beeby and Andrew Currie
The Floppy is Interceptor by Ian Edginton and Steve Pugh
I thought that was pretty good on the whole. A strong Dredd ending, the only negative being that this is it from Ewing for a while. The chat with Currie was entertaining, and his and Beeby's Anderson does the job nicely, even if she looks a bit like she's had a rejuve job. (Beeby clearly has a handle on the character—I very much hope she gets to script more Anderson.) The Black Museum one-off was amusingly horrific, and a neat nod to a very old thrill. The floppy was quite entertaining. I'd totally forgotten Interceptor, although it ends like there was to be more. Harlem Heroes... well. I guess the fact it's taking a month's break before concluding says a lot.
And then there's Reaper. I honestly have no idea what's going on here. Maybe I've not being paying attention, but what the hell just happened? Was the [spoiler]'demon'[/spoiler] part of a previous arc? It does really feel a lot like Mills [spoiler]pitching a continuation rather than providing a full stop[/spoiler]. If this really is the end, I'll be thrilled to see the back of it; I won't hold my breath on that though.
Cover: Striking old school type image. love it.
Dredd: Sad to see the end of this one, a very enjoyable tale.
Interrogation: Skipped as always.
Ostiches: Fucking burned out with this utter drivel. Yeah, I know 'moderate my tone', but believe me, that IS moderate compared to what I'd like to say about this garbage. At least it did have 2 words that made me smile though. THE END.
Dredd 'Back up Required': Minty-esque goodness.
Tales From: Lovely B&W art, and an interesting tale.
Anderson: Meh. Distinctly Meh.
Once again the Meg has more fluff than substance for me. Hoping the new line of tales next month starts something more worthwhile.
What a blinding cover - with a painted logo at the top no less. Can't get enough of Fabry's work.
The Cop has been pure class and comes to a very satisfying conclusion.
Anderson has been disappointing - would like to see Grant and Dowling back with her.. I can't help but feel that Michael Dowling is the natural successor to the great Arthur Ranson..
Nice to see ol' Henry Ford in the Meg.
New logo next month?
Going by past experiences characters wrecking logos lead to a new one
Yes, this is confirmed in the editor's intro.
Thanks for the fix, IndigoPrime
I enjoyed this issue. The Cop ended well, and had more gruesomeness. I feel like reading it all in one sitting now, along with In Cold Blood and that other Deller story.
A rather bizarre epilogue for American Reaper, but with some great art.
A decent Black Tale.
And I'm delighted to see Finn Book 2 is in the floppy next month. It's about time!
What's with the quadruple amputees in the Holocaust Squad - have we seen that before? And is Deller a potential recruit now...?
Haven't read the floppy yet, and can't remember much about the story in question. Usually a good sign, means I get to enjoy it all over again!
Cover: Lovely, very old school and love the idea of literally destroying the old logo.
Dredd: Been a great series, and one with a lot of backstory and twists to take in so have been enjoying it while knowing that it'll really come into its' own when read in a oner. That double page spread of the Holocaust Squad arriving was fantastic and very well played. I made a little involuntary noise when I turned that page, a little excited bibble escaped my lips.
Interrogation: I haven't read one of these for over a year now, I just look at the pictures I'm afraid. I don't begrudge their inclusion as I'm sure people enjoy them, but after reading a few interviews with artists I found they're all sort of the same (sorry)!
American Reaper: What? Is? Even? Going? On? Have never been as down on this as others. Yes, the photo strip look of any panel with a person in it is massively distracting, but every panel that doesn't have a person in it looks lovely. I've always found the writing endearingly schlocky and bonkers too, but this might have bonkered right off into the sunset in the most bonkers manner possible. Is this really the end? Because if so it feels a lot like Mills rebelled against that by writing the most perplexing last episode he could just to annoy the haters. If that's the case then well played. Mental.
Back up Required: Quite enjoyed this, worth it for Dredd's last line in particular.
Black Museum: Enjoyable enough, art looked really nice in places.
Anderson: Had a bit of a struggle to figure out what was going on in places, it seemed to jump around in a way that was a bit disorientating. Will need to read the whole thing and see if it works better.
Overall wasn't a great meg for me, only Dredd was really firing on all cylinders personally.
the Dredd wrapped up very nicely, with room for a sequel; Anderson wrapped up too quickly for my taste - I think cadet Flowers makes a good sidekick for Anderson, so I'd like to see more. Always enjoy Black Museum strips, and this was no exception
I've been bored by Reaper for a while so maybe I haven't been paying attention, but this last chapter completely baffled me - when did other dimensions suddenly come into this story? This would normally prompt a re-read but you'd have to pay me to read any of that again. Glad it's over.
Haven't read the text stuff yet, and I'd totally forgotten Interceptor, but it wasn't bad at all.
Glad it's not just me wondering what the hell's going on in Reaper. A cyclical man might wonder if it's prepping for a sequel of some sort, rather than neatly wrapping things up...
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 21 May, 2015, 10:03:00 PM
wonder if it's prepping for a sequel of some sort
Please, for all that is thrilling, NOOOOOOOOO!!!
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 21 May, 2015, 10:03:00 PM
A cyclical man might wonder if it's prepping for a sequel of some sort, rather than neatly wrapping things up...
Sweet weeping baby jeebus, No!
Just read the floppy, and Interceptor is fairly fun. Can't remember if there was ever any follow up? It sets up a lot of world in that first series.
Harlem Heroes has been dragging for me, not helped by how spaced out the installments have been. Steve Dillon's art looks fantastic though, always a pleasure.
Got the Meg this evening, in Eglantine Inn having a couple of scoops. Home, food and the Meg. :-) Z
I definitely want to see more Cadet flowers and watch his career progress. He is interesting and I'd like to see Anderson as mentor.
I hope that if American Reaper gets a sequel it is published as a standalone graphic novel rather than in the meg. I was also completely perplexed by the end and I think that that sort of narrative works better as a book. It's not fair to write something as a book and completely ignore that you are actually getting it published in an episodic medium - something a lot of writers do now. I often see people say - maybe it'll be better when it's collected together in a book. It still looked pretty stylish and the world it revealed was interesting. It's a shame.
I liked the floppy and Dredd is almost always good so, yeah.
I think that Andrew Currie should not be so hard on himself. He is very good. I rather like his cartoony style best - it is much more expressive and recognisable as being his than the other styles he uses but the likeness he achieves in his other work are very good.
I rather enjoyed this issue for the most part, though it's not helped by two glaring negatives - Reaper and yet again chopping up Harlem Heroes.
Judge Dredd: I actually went back and reread all the previous chapters before settling down to this and it really does flow so well. A brilliant climax, and what I took away from that last panel was Deller pulling off Dredd's grimace, possibly thinking about posing as him as part of his revenge in the same way he posed as DeGuerre's son.
Black Museum: I loved this! I'm still quite new to the whole 2000AD world and this is only my second Black Museum strip. There's a very definite Tales From The Crypt feel to them which I love, so please do more of these soon. Great story here, really grabs you which is a feat considering it's a one-off.
Anderson: Too short. Far too short. Two parts is not enough here. Emma Beeby is superb for Anderson (her Thrillcasts were great too by the way, complete with hints that [spoiler]Flowers could return[/spoiler]) and I loved the expressive artwork but I wished it had been a lot longer. Hopefully we'll see her back writing for a longer Anderson in either comic soon.
Prose Story: Really enjoyed this too. A quick hit indeed but a really enjoyable short story.
Interrogation: I don't understand why people skip these automatically, surely they're one of the things which set this apart from the 2000AD comic and make it a Megazine? This one was interesting too, to see an artist who has been working so long in the industry be so self-deprecating.
Floppy: The floppy hasn't grabbed me yet and I'm about halfway through and struggling to want to finish it, but what does annoy me is this unnecessary stretching out of the Harlem Heroes story. I was really enjoying it and a third volume could've wrapped it all up, but giving us just a few episodes a month in order to fill space is very, very annoying. All momentum is now gone from the first two volumes.
Reaper: What? What? Eh? What? I'm not a fan I have to say (it feels like a 90s photo story when those things were the "in" thing to do) and seems to take ten pages to tell what any other strip would tell in two. But this last part was just.... what? Another dimension? It just felt tacked on, no need for this additional two-parter, it should've ended a couple of months ago when he got his daughter back. (I'll admit I wasn't gripped by it but the final two parts of the story were entertaining and interesting... should've quit while ahead.)
Looking forward to the new look etc, Pye's swan song and all that.
Quote from: JudgeOiNK! on 25 May, 2015, 05:09:12 PM
Interrogation: I don't understand why people skip these automatically, surely they're one of the things which set this apart from the 2000AD comic and make it a Megazine?
I used to read them all the time, sit and read the whole meg cover to cover articles and all. Nowadays I read the Meg on my lunch break and only have time for the strips so started skipping the articles and going back to them later. Then eventually I just stopped going back to them! I'll read the occasional one if it's a writer or artist I'm particularly interested in, but they've been going for a while and there is a sameyness that sank in eventually.
I do get that other people like them though, I just find after reading so many the stories are all very similar.
Didn't get a whole lot from the Meg this time and while Interrogation is welcome, 7 pages is too much...
The Cop was the highlight but the month gap between parts breaks dense stories up too much for me. This loss of momentum sometimes happens with the Prog, but it always seems to happen with the Meg (unless very cleverly written to compensate). Someone mentioned a monthly 'pure' Dredd title and although I don't see the Meg format changing, I can see the appeal of longer format tales. Done by Tharg, not IDW, obviously.
Steve Pugh's stylish art reminded me of Animal Man, and made the floppy readable for once. Read Finn book 2 on the slog recently, so I get to skip it next month :)
Paul Grist, Carlos and Tom Foster (and a new logo) mean 361 looks like being a cracker.
Quote from: Fungus on 26 May, 2015, 01:07:15 PM
The Cop was the highlight but the month gap between parts breaks dense stories up too much for me. This loss of momentum sometimes happens with the Prog, but it always seems to happen with the Meg (unless very cleverly written to compensate).
That was part of why I dropped the Meg some years ago. It was very hard to stay invested in multi-part stories across 3+ months - even though I remembered what was happening, I found stories just took too long to unfold in real-time to remain interested right to the end. The occasional few that avoided this, as you say, were those few written in distinct monthly chapters rather than as a long-form prog story.
Regarding American Reaper.
The basis of the story is people Cheating Death. Wouldn't it make some sort of sense for the Afterlife to have something similar?
Cheers
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 26 May, 2015, 02:25:03 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 26 May, 2015, 01:07:15 PM
The Cop was the highlight but the month gap between parts breaks dense stories up too much for me. This loss of momentum sometimes happens with the Prog, but it always seems to happen with the Meg (unless very cleverly written to compensate).
That was part of why I dropped the Meg some years ago. It was very hard to stay invested in multi-part stories across 3+ months - even though I remembered what was happening, I found stories just took too long to unfold in real-time to remain interested right to the end. The occasional few that avoided this, as you say, were those few written in distinct monthly chapters rather than as a long-form prog story.
I always wait until every meg story has finished before I read. This means I miss out on the episodic nature of the storytelling and have to avoid spoilers, but there's no way I could remember what happened between episodes otherwise. I'm just about to sit down and read The Cop with little idea of what it's about.
Quote from: flesario on 31 May, 2015, 11:39:06 AM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 26 May, 2015, 02:25:03 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 26 May, 2015, 01:07:15 PM
The Cop was the highlight but the month gap between parts breaks dense stories up too much for me. This loss of momentum sometimes happens with the Prog, but it always seems to happen with the Meg (unless very cleverly written to compensate).
That was part of why I dropped the Meg some years ago. It was very hard to stay invested in multi-part stories across 3+ months - even though I remembered what was happening, I found stories just took too long to unfold in real-time to remain interested right to the end.
I always wait until every meg story has finished before I read. This means I miss out on the episodic nature of the storytelling and have to avoid spoilers, but there's no way I could remember what happened between episodes otherwise.
That became my method, in theory - in practice I ended up rarely going back to them, so the Megs just built up largely unread! It seemed silly to keep subscribing to a mag I was rarely reading through.
A build up is an easy problem to fall into, I'm often six months to a year behind! A friend of mine cancelled meg and prog subscriptions out of sheer fear of his unread pile.
I loved the bundled floppy of Interceptor. Really great to catch up on lovely art & good story. I t's funny how Harlem Heroes seems to go on forever - much like during its original printing!
Funny to look back now and think that I started regularly reading 2000 AD with #651, not long before it jumped off a cliff. Amazing I kept subscribing with rubbish like Harlem Heroes slowly becoming the norm. Still, at least some of the art was nice.
RE: NapalamKev & Reaper
Yes but throwing in multiple dimensions and a badly written personification of Death at the last hurdle is an odd way to finish off a series. Particularly since he was 'saved' by acting exactly the same way as he has done all series... refusing to let the young die just so the old can live.
I disliked almost all of it until the bits where he was saving his daughter but the art never grabbed me as anything more than a distraction. For some reason I'm relatively ok with it in ABC warriors.
Quote from: Theblazeuk on 06 June, 2015, 01:34:43 PM
I disliked almost all of it until the bits where he was saving his daughter but the art never grabbed me as anything more than a distraction. For some reason I'm relatively ok with it in ABC warriors.
ABC Warriors plays to all Langely's strengths (i.e. very few humans, arguably the biggest weak point in his art).
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 31 May, 2015, 11:44:33 AM
Quote from: flesario on 31 May, 2015, 11:39:06 AM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 26 May, 2015, 02:25:03 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 26 May, 2015, 01:07:15 PM
The Cop was the highlight but the month gap between parts breaks dense stories up too much for me. This loss of momentum sometimes happens with the Prog, but it always seems to happen with the Meg (unless very cleverly written to compensate).
That was part of why I dropped the Meg some years ago. It was very hard to stay invested in multi-part stories across 3+ months - even though I remembered what was happening, I found stories just took too long to unfold in real-time to remain interested right to the end.
I always wait until every meg story has finished before I read. This means I miss out on the episodic nature of the storytelling and have to avoid spoilers, but there's no way I could remember what happened between episodes otherwise.
That became my method, in theory - in practice I ended up rarely going back to them, so the Megs just built up largely unread! It seemed silly to keep subscribing to a mag I was rarely reading through.
In my opinion that means you are missing out on some great stories. Dredd has been excellent recently, especially The Cop and Lawless was the one of the best new series in ages.
I totally get the issue you are referring to you though, and tend to have an extended flick through last month's before reading. If that fails I may even resort to an actual re-read, but depending on what else I am trying to read at the time that can be too time consuming.
On the other hand I have let the last 4 months or so of IDW Dredd pile up though and have yet to read the last part of the IDW Anderson a good few months on.
I don't understand the downsides of a stockpile of thrillpower.
Other than having to forego the monthly/weekly dosages that is.
Quote from: Geoff on 16 May, 2015, 04:56:57 PM
Anderson has been disappointing - would like to see Grant and Dowling back with her.. I can't help but feel that Michael Dowling is the natural successor to the great Arthur Ranson..
Nice to see ol' Henry Ford in the Meg.
Sorry everyone, I'm a stockpiler and just finished this Meg.
I didn't think Anderson was bad, but I didn't think it was any good either. Dowling brought a maturity to the character that's just been ditched and we are back to Anderson's zip being halfway down her uniform again. Some of the dialogue was pretty clunky & although Flowers has potential, I still don't see how he didn't have half his shoulder torn off by the big mo fo radbeast thang...
Tales of the Black Museum was brilliant, great story (the ending reminded me of an old Indigo Prime story) and Paul Davidson's art is fast becoming a new favorite.
Soooo, El Mestizo, I mean El Maldito next!
;)
Si
So I'm slowly catching up on recentish Megs thanks to the 50p sale. I really enjoyed Beeby and Currie's Anderson two-parter, and was a bit surprised to see it being poorly received here. I get the objection to Anderson's look reverting to her 20s, but I thought the story was fun and a good exploration of Psi judges, the townships and Anderson as mentor. And Currie's art is just so lovely, I can forgive him wanting to go for a more classic Case.
Do I have more from this team to look forward to? Cos let me tell you, aside from this and Carroll's Mean Machine Black Museum tale in 359, I'm glad I paid 1/11th of the cover price: and even at that price I feel ripped off everytime I see ink wasted on yet another episode of New Harlem Heroes...