MEG 295 : HOUNDED!

[Proudhuff]

Al Ewing is a fecking excellent Dredd writer.  Hard to tell the difference between him and John Wagner sometimes.

Al is an artist's gift as a writer- had an indecent amount of fun drawing this one...

Mrs Collins: 'What the hell is that your reading?'
Mr C putting donwn Speedboat Special: 'Research dear, research.'

[Dandontdare]

Triffic Dredd tale. I laughed out loud as soon as I opened it and saw that front page, but what I thought was going to be a "sex-olympics" type comedy about Miss Booby-face quickly turned into something much darker. I liked the way the dog-judge was so eager and loyal, with a crisp 'Sir' at the end of every sentence.

Interesting addition to the "lawyers in Dredd's world" debate - Dredd says perp would have had a jury trial, but he "chooses" to judge him himself. Wonder if this is unique to the lawws governing the townships?

I'm still enjoying Tempest and the Lost Tales - I'd probably still (grumblingly) buy the Meg for the sake of one good Dredd story, so while I'm enjoying 3 strips I consider it well worth it.

Tank Girl - an anachronism. Enough already. Lets get the amazing skills of Rufus on a strip we actually want to read. And the usual crop of unread text articles.

Better than average free reprint comic, I'd forgotten about the Feral stories but this was a good one.

All in all, a pretty good Meg, I'm in no hurry to cancel my sub.

[Richmond Clements]

And the usual crop of unread text articles.

What... even the interview with me and Satchmo..?

[TordelBack]

Interesting addition to the "lawyers in Dredd's world" debate - Dredd says perp would have had a jury trial, but he "chooses" to judge him himself. Wonder if this is unique to the lawws governing the townships?

The townships only, I'm afraid, because the deputies aren't Judges, and thus not empowered to dispense hot cups of steaming summary justice.

This month was make-or-break time for my Meg buying habit... and it made the grade (which means something else has to go - Star Wars Legacy and The Walking Dead, your time is up).  

Cover:  Look, this is the biggest problem the Meg has right now - if I hadn't decided I was giving it one last chance I would not have picked the ulgy mess up.  The actual image is fine, but the cluttered design is a dog's dinner, and with the bag that's all a prospective customer gets to see.  I'm not a designer, but something needs to be done to showcase both the contents and the GN: this month it's a GARTH ENNIS story that hardly anyone has ever read - should be leaping out at the casual fan, not hidden upside down in a bin bag.  "Hey, did you see they're giving away a Garth Ennis book with that Judge Dredd thing?".  "No".

Dredd: Just brilliant.  Al effortlessly juggles the subtleties of Dredd's current world to deliver a fine companion piece to his two brilliant Christmas episodes.  Fun and poignant, with great new characters (Hibbet needs his own series) and realistic future-crime developments, superbly atmospheric art.  This was worth the cover price on its own, and I'd have kicked myself if I'd missed it.  Already as good as the best of Rennie's Dredds, and ahead of all the rest of the WagnAlts, IMHO.  In a week where I'd just read one of Wagner's best Dredd episodes in The Talented Mayor Ambrose, this more than held its own.

Tempest:  This is still great fun, but I fear it's suffering the curse of the Megazine that claimed Devlin and Fiends before it: the slow death of short episodes stretched over months.

Lost Cases: Okay Alan, I had my doubts, but you win: the concept works.  I had never thought of these as being showcases for such exuberant enthusiastic art, but they plainly are, and I'm now looking forward to more.  This was a pretty good story too.

Tank Girl:  Good to see it back.  I look at these light cheery pages and I wonder how they cause such offense - throwaway fun is still fun.

Articles:  Still digesting, early days.

GN: Monster:  I found it boring then, I find it boring now.   Pugh's art has some great moments, but generally suffers from the Simon Harrison problem that muties and norms are all-but indistinguishable.  Garth's story makes a decent fist of continuing the story post-Final Solution, but this isn't exactly the most digestible of his many Norn Iron analogies and digressions.
 

[Dandontdare]

And the usual crop of unread text articles.

What... even the interview with me and Satchmo..?

Well of course I'm going to have to go back and read THAT. I'll immediately move my copy of Meg next to the 'Throne of Justice', where I can catch up at leisure whilst straining on weightier matters!

Interesting addition to the "lawyers in Dredd's world" debate - Dredd says perp would have had a jury trial, but he "chooses" to judge him himself. Wonder if this is unique to the lawws governing the townships?

The townships only, I'm afraid, because the deputies aren't Judges, and thus not empowered to dispense hot cups of steaming summary justice.

That's what I thought, but it implies that the real judge in each township has personal discretion as to whether to hand a perp over for 'township justice', ie trials and lawyers, or impose their own judgment, right up to summary execution.

Wouldn't expect it any other way!

[HOO-HAA]

Dredd: Just brilliant.  Al effortlessly juggles the subtleties of Dredd's current world to deliver a fine companion piece to his two brilliant Christmas episodes.  Fun and poignant, with great new characters (Hibbet needs his own series) and realistic future-crime developments, superbly atmospheric art.  This was worth the cover price on its own, and I'd have kicked myself if I'd missed it.  Already as good as the best of Rennie's Dredds, and ahead of all the rest of the WagnAlts, IMHO.  In a week where I'd just read one of Wagner's best Dredd episodes in The Talented Mayor Ambrose, this more than held its own.
 

I wholeheartedly agree - Al's ever impressive handling of Dredd goes from strength to strength.

Tempest was also a hoot.

A good choice of 'graphic novel' this month, as well. Waters the mouth for the return of The Dog.

[Robin Low]

Lost Cases: Okay Alan, I had my doubts, but you win: the concept works.  I had never thought of these as being showcases for such exuberant enthusiastic art, but they plainly are, and I'm now looking forward to more.  This was a pretty good story too.

Sadly, they're not working for me. I'm finding them dull and inconsequential, although last issue's Apococalypse War tale at least felt right.

GN: Monster:  I found it boring then, I find it boring now.   Pugh's art has some great moments, but generally suffers from the Simon Harrison problem that muties and norms are all-but indistinguishable.  Garth's story makes a decent fist of continuing the story post-Final Solution, but this isn't exactly the most digestible of his many Norn Iron analogies and digressions.

Loathed it at the time - hated the art, hated the, as you put it, Norn Iron analogies. I reread it when it was collected in a Best of 2000AD and I remember liking it a lot more. I suppose I should reread it again and see what I think now.

Interesting choice for republication given the forthcoming Life and Death. Do we read something into this, or is it just a Garth Ennis cash-in or a conveniently sized series?

Regards

Robin

[JayzusB.Christ]

Loathed it at the time - hated the art, hated the, as you put it, Norn Iron analogies.

I thought it was ok; much better than the Gronk ones at least.  It was quite a good depiction of a post-Johnny SD world as far as I'm concerned; and I hated Garth Ennis's stuff at the time. 
Nice to see a huge walking cock in the mutie pub as well.

[radiator]

I have a soft spot for Strontium Dogs - I liked how bleak a lot of the stories were.

Also, I read them all before I had encountered any of the original Johnny Alpha stories, so all the references to to him in Strontium Dogs and the Durham Red solo series had the cool effect of really building Alpha up as this mythic figure, which made me really excited to read all the early material - something I didn't get the chance to do until years later.

[Robin Low]

Loathed it at the time - hated the art, hated the, as you put it, Norn Iron analogies.

I thought it was ok; much better than the Gronk ones at least.  It was quite a good depiction of a post-Johnny SD world as far as I'm concerned; and I hated Garth Ennis's stuff at the time. 

As I say, hated Monsters to start with, but then reread it in a collection a while ago and liked it better (although I still think the art is poor). The Gronk stuff, however, I liked from beginning to end, Ennis and Hogan alike. 'Return of the Gronk' suffered from Norn Iron analogies, but overall it was great fun - Nigel Dobbyn's art helped. 'How the Gronk Got His Heartses' is one of the most wonderful tales ever printed in 2000AD


I love this cover:

http://www.2000adonline.com/2000ad/media/index/progs/original/817.jpg

Who the hell's gonna mess with that quiff?


Regards

Robin

[HOO-HAA]

I have a soft spot for Strontium Dogs - I liked how bleak a lot of the stories were.

Also, I read them all before I had encountered any of the original Johnny Alpha stories, so all the references to to him in Strontium Dogs and the Durham Red solo series had the cool effect of really building Alpha up as this mythic figure, which made me really excited to read all the early material - something I didn't get the chance to do until years later.

Are they collected?

[Robin Low]

I have a soft spot for Strontium Dogs - I liked how bleak a lot of the stories were.

Also, I read them all before I had encountered any of the original Johnny Alpha stories, so all the references to to him in Strontium Dogs and the Durham Red solo series had the cool effect of really building Alpha up as this mythic figure, which made me really excited to read all the early material - something I didn't get the chance to do until years later.

Are they collected?

Some of us are hoping... but given that Monsters has only made it as far as being bagged with the Megazine, I think that's the best we can hope for. The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha will probably retcon it all anyway (boo! hiss!).

Regards

Robin

[James Stacey]

I had to look up what Norn Iron was 

[Dark Jimbo]

I had to look up what Norn Iron was 

If it makes you feel any better, so did I.

[Robin Low]

I had to look up what Norn Iron was 

If it makes you feel any better, so did I.

And if it's any consolation from me, I only knew what Norn Iron meant because the analogies were my main problem with 'Monsters' and 'Return of the Gronk', which made it easier to make the connection.

I wonder why Ennis did it, to be honest. I can only assume that he was young enough at the time to not realise how clumsy it was.

Regards

Robin