Meg 246: Invasion!

ukdane · 30 May, 2006, 01:39:41 AM

No Bank Holiday in DK, so I got my Meg and Prog today! Nah! Nah!

Nice retro-cover from Rufus.
Molcher does Moore!

(Now, if I had had a bank holiday, I wouldn't have been at work, and would have had plenty of time to read it!)

The Amstor Computer · 30 May, 2006, 01:50:33 AM

Molcher does Moore!

The mind boggles...

;-)

Mattriceten · 30 May, 2006, 05:47:40 PM

and no holiday here in Spain, either... well, not on Monday... we've got one on Wednesday though...(which actually means I have three days off, the Monday and Tuesday becoming a 'bridge' to the real holiday! So I had a chance to read my Meg in the sun with the promise of two more days of bugger-all work cluttering my well-earned slobbing!Oh, how I wish I was back in good Ol' Blighty!)
Ahemm... anyway, Meg 246...
Not bad, actually, with 'Fiends' being my fave... Two Dredds, 'Black Sidda' and a 'Tales from', with a pretty good small press story...

However, I'm not so enamoured with the rather lengthy piece on Mr Alan Moore... I know he's an important chap and all that, but 7 pages of the Blighter!? No, no and thrice no! Surely this space could be better taken up with another story? especially as we now have fewer pages and all...

Floyd-the-k · 30 May, 2006, 07:23:36 PM

Overall I liked this Meg. Sprout's piece on Moore was funny, in sharp contrast to his previous, very lame peice.

The serious Moore article was quite good. One quibble; the writer says "it is dangerous to lionize Moore". This strikes me as silly. How is it dangerous? What might happen? Isn't it a bit rich describing the danger in yet another article which lionizes Moore? Apart from that it was a good read.

Fiends was brilliant.

Invasion is promising

and, off to bed

Keef Monkey · 30 May, 2006, 08:35:02 PM

I agree Floyd, Sprout's piece was much much better this month and raised a few chuckles.
Dredd was great, the story is very topical and has a lot of implications for Dredd's world so will be nice to see how it winds up. He really needs to lay off the steroids though.
Fiends is still intriguing me more than anything else, and the artwork is brilliant.Enjoyed the Moore thing immensely, and it didn't spoil any of the stuff I haven't read yet which is nice.
The Dredd reprint was cracking, and it was pretty damn cool so see Sihdda flip out in a blood frenzy. Decapitations ahoy.
The small press story was my favourite so far, worked great as a stand alone tale and had a nice twist.
The Black Museum story was the best yet, and apart from Dredd the best thing this month. Twisted as hell, loved it.
Add to that the fact that I got the ABC Warriors GN (which I was thinking of buying tomorrow)for getting my letter printed and this has been one of the best comic mornings in recent memory!

IndigoPrime · 30 May, 2006, 10:29:19 PM

:: He really needs to lay off the steroids though.

Mm. The art for this reminded me of vol. 2 Megazine work?and not in a good way. Good script. Extraordinarily variable artwork.

nick-is-at-home · 30 May, 2006, 11:01:35 PM

that cover is awesome

more of the same please,

the rest of the meg looks pretty good too apartfrom that ToP 20 bit, they always seem a bit pointless

Keef Monkey · 30 May, 2006, 11:08:23 PM

"Extraordinarily variable artwork"

Yeah, I was loooooooving the artwork for the first couple of pages and then Dredd turned up looking like the Incredible Hulk. I thought everything else looked great though.

The Amstor Computer · 31 May, 2006, 01:45:45 AM

Interesting Meg.

The cover is a corker, even if it does wear its influences on its sleeve. I'd love to see Rufus' style evolve beyond the heavily McMahon & Ezquerra inspired work he's produced so far for the prog & Meg, but you'd have to be a bit of a git not to get a kick out of cover art like this.

Dredd: Regime Change is interesting, and even manages to handle foreign Judge forces well - something that has often gone haywire in the Meg before. It's a little bit cliched - the corrupt, violent South American Judges & the bleeding-heart Euro Judge feel a bit like cardboard cutouts - but I reckon Rennie can do something interesting with this. The nod to Kazan is intriguing & it's nice to see that Gordon might have some kind of arc laid out for the nasty little Sov - why fight directly with Dredd & Mega City One when he can manipulate them into hurting themselves?

The art is... changeable. There are some fantastic moments - the depth of field effects are nicely handled, and the third page splash (gurny face aside) is a great, dramatic intro to the story. That said, the depiction of Dredd is pretty ropey - more Thrud than Dredd, to be honest - and I'm not enamoured with the faces.

Fiends... seems to be taking a while to go anywhere and would perhaps have benefited from a higher page count. The pacing feels more like it belongs in the weekly, and as with previous tales like Red Tide that could end up being quite corrosive over a long run.

The Moore article is solid, even though there's nothing particularly new in there. That said, it'll no doubt be of interest to readers unfamiliar with Moore or his work for 2000AD, and it's well-timed to coincide with the release of another Moore TPB.

Dredd: It's Happening on Line 9 is an interesting little story and - unusually for the reprint slot - is one I've never read before. Do we have Rufus to thank for the gorgeous repro of Ezquerra's artwork, or was it just a particularly good bit of work by Rebellion's staff?

Black Siddha is a little bit muddled this month, but I think that's more to do with me forgetting half of the previous two stories. I've got to dig out my comics for a tidy-up this weekend, so I'll re-read then and try and catch up. Lovely art, though.

Not read the small press bit yet, though I did skim the credits - was this section always intended to cover international indie titles? I thought it was a British thing...

Top Twenty. Yes. Well. It's not really my kind of humour, and stretching it out over three pages just felt like padding - a feeling bolstered by the BIG NUMBERS and great swathes of dead space. Not impressed.

Tales from the Black Museum closes the Meg on a high, though, reclaiming the format from Abnett's limp attempt last month. Grimly funny, gruesome and told with a bit of wit - and all wrapped up in some nice greyscale art from Manley (much improved since his stint on Juliet November IMO).

Pretty good Meg, despite some hiccups, and it looks like the format could work well, though I do miss the chunky, read-in-several-sittings Megazine...

I, Cosh · 31 May, 2006, 02:32:46 AM

I liked the lead Dredd story, despite the art. So many stories like this (this, Spurrier's Dominos, that rubbish one with all the GI rejects) does make me wonder if the writers all get together and decide to write a particular kind of story for a while to further some nefarious agenda.

I also wonder what Pat Mills is going to think when he finds out Rennie's got Blackblood working as a corrupt Chief Judge somewhere in South America?

One more. Did it used to be Ciudad Barranquilla?

Leigh S · 31 May, 2006, 03:20:32 AM

Great reprint - nicely reproduced...but who's idea was it to cut of the bottom half inch of the pages rather than add a few mininal borders to the art? This works Ok for some pages, but the last 2 are pretty badly served by this method - Larrys face is only half visible, which kind of ruins the panel and also makes it unclear whats going on - similarly, the last scene of the wreckage being cleared is hobbled by this weird choice

The main Dredd story art is not ringing my bell - the colouring is lovely, but thats got to be my least favourite Dredd ever - The Hulk indeed.

The Tale from the Black museum was probably the best, though Dubble talking in Spurrier speech pattern 01: smart arse wise cracker was annoying - perhaps if i read the other two(?) he's doing the same, but to be honest, my prog and meg enthusiasm is too low to bother - best wait til 1500 comes along and hope things suit me better then, i think.

Small press thing was good, and I'll read the rest once my "meh" mood passes.

Buddy · 31 May, 2006, 03:59:28 AM

Had a wee sneek peek of the cover a few weeks ago and I think it's a classic.

More Rufus please Tharg, much more.

opaque · 31 May, 2006, 05:25:32 AM

Cover: I wondered why I recognised the artist, very old school Rufus

Regime Change: Simply Wonderful artwork (apart from the size of Dredd obviously)This is EXACTLY what I want to see! The military uniforms as they get off the Manta is great.
100% for this story.

The bleeding-heart Eurojudge isn't bleeding heart Eurojudge, she's a bleeding-heart Peace Ranger, totally different! ;)

Fiends: Lovely artwork and a good story but I hope it speeds up a bit.

Alan Moore: Man on the Outside: Very informative

It's Happening on Line 9: Very vivid colours

Black Siddha: Ok, not bad, still really don't care that much about the character but thats just me

I Married Ghost Girl: Lovely artwork. Is this a reprint from somewhere?

Love the Thrill power advert after the above, who did that?

Tales from the Black Museum: Bloody hell. Such perfect artwork and a killer story

Overall I'd say one of the best Megazines in a long time :)