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It's batshit - I love it.

I noticed that the newspapers the day after the Prime Miniature's speech had all touched up the photo to make him look less pathetic...apart from the Daily Mirror, whose front page showed him walking away looking like a drowned rat, with the headline "GOODBYE".

I saw "Drown & Out". Newsthump had fun with "Rishi Sunak still not dry".

One has to assume that this is not how they wanted things to play out (re. Regened), so they're making the best of a bad hand. Like Devlin, they're making a good fist of it.

In terms of the economics (re. the idea that they could cut out a bunch of stuff and still have it be viable), I assume the bean counters at Reb-Central know their shit from their Shinola.

Lastly, cast your minds back to March 2000, and Megazine 3.63. After two years of Preacher reprint (and Daily Star Dredd, with only one new story per issue), we were heading for a relaunch. The event was marked by a Wagner-scripted Dredd analogy of the Megazine's woes: J.D. Megson: A Near-Death Experience. "Half of it's recycled - old fittings they picked up cheap from Ennis Dillon Conapts."

Twenty-four years later, it's still standing.

Sir Jaysen of Kangsley's entirely fictional response that I'm making up for the purpose of satire:

"In medieval times, talking genital automatons were often part of family entertainment. This time on Modern History, we reenact a typical village play involving a gay, vampiric exorcist, filled with ennui, whose only companion is a jolly phallus possessed by a demon!"

I dipped a tentative toe into the 77 Farcebook with my cornflakes this morning. One thing that struck me as amusing was how many people equate mature comic content with swearing, as if being a grown up means having access to swears. Then they'd linked the Regened announcement to some kind of imagined threat of their swears being taken away.

Coprolites.

(It does bend the mind a little to imagine some poor parent trying to do the right thing and maybe cutting out the Pandora Perfect pages so their little darling doesn't accidentally flip the page to a Titivillus scene.)

Tempting to imagine that Rishi has perhaps laid a large bet on Labour winning, and his decision to announce the election in the pouring rain was just one in a series of deliberately engineered moves. That would explain pushing through a doublethink law that says Rwanda is safe even if it isn't.

They really are the most reprehensible shower of fuckers.

They really are.

cancelling your sub cos your getting new content over reprint... really...

That is mad when you think of the history of the Megazine. If you made it through Volume #3 intact, then it's all gravy from there.

What Jim said. I'm not dismissing people who have constructive criticism and genuine concerns. I'm talking about people who are whining. I've seen enough bullshit about Full Tilt Boogie alone today to last me a lifetime. And that's not even going in the Meg. (And, yes, the "Regened crap" brush is being used often sine the announcement.)

Fair enough - it's a bit difficult when I'm not seeing the other statements - although that's not a request to print Farcebook/Twatter diatribes in here. (Just in case it's not obvious, I shy away from those platforms.)

I really liked the last series of Boogie Wonderland - I thought it built well from the first. If I was going to complain, it would only be about the time between series.

Regened, for whatever value it holds, has never really had a suitable home - and I don't think that's done it any favors in terms of perception (even if it has worked out in other ways).

Probably worth pointing out at this stage that it's perfectly reasonable to not like some of the proposed content ideas for your favorite (or second favorite) publication. You know, without that being "whining" or "bitching".

I was a big cheerleader for Regened for a good chunk of the run but, in all honesty, the significant lack of quality in some strips and then character missteps (with Dredd & Chopper) in others wore me down over time.

Folk have valid complaints. Even folk from the 90s.

[Definitely:]

I did want to play a game of which Regened thrills I'd like to see more of.

This is the listing to choose from:




Definitely:
 - Pandora Perfect
 - Mayflies
 - 'Splorers

Maybe:
 - Cadet Dredd, but only the version where they're climbing out of Grudzilla's arse at the end. They need Dredd and other cadets fighting alien or monstrous menaces. When he goes undercover and arrests teenage squatters he just comes off as a git. Judge Rimmer.
 - Department K - I thought the initial premise was promising but the follow-ups a bit less punchy.
 - Strontium Dug - first one was very good.

Especially Devlin Waugh and his... you know what...I'm not going to type it.

Moustache? Exquisite flower-arrangements? Impressive biceps?

[Dreadnoughts Daycare]

I'm looking forward to Scrappy-Jargo taking over editorial duties in the Meg.

++Harsh punishments bring results in Dreadnoughts Daycare!++
++Laugh as Devlin Waugh and his naughty demon sidekick, Cucumber Sid, get up to their usual shenanigans!++
++Armitage promotes welfare reform for youth offenders in Nappies for an Old Man.++

Phwoooaarrr! Eh? Eh?

[Fudge Bredd]

Fudge Bredd - excellently spooky stuff that (because of the artist) made me think it might be Dark Judge related - especially since those stories have started adding in newer DJ varieties. Now that I'm reading it, it seems more its own thing, but still has echoes (naturally) of Necropolis.

Blackhawk - a wonderfully done wrap-up to this section of the tale. I imagined that Nero (?) might mwuah-hah as soon as he was free, but the story usurped my expectations there. (I do wonder if there's still time, though - what with leopards and spots.)

Bumskulls Battalion - a really tight first part, and lots of fun to be had with the diagrammatic establishing view of their HQ.

■■■■■ - given that dialogue often drives this, I got a bit lost on a page where the two characters seem to be talking at cross-purposes to each other. Still very good, but that was distracting, and it felt like it might be a mistake. (I'm blathering on about "I can get you a tour." followed by "You're saying people disappear?" I realize it might just be Kurtis trying to stay on point and cut through the bull■■■■.)

Numskulls Vex - wait, is he full up with the little peeps, or is it like a married couple? It's reminding me a bit of that twin AI in The Algebraist (Banks), but I also like that these guys are little tardigrade things in a mad exoskeleton. Even though I can see a through-line from Nemesis to Shakara to Vex, this has become a firm favorite on its own merits.