megazine 290

[TordelBack]

There are plenty of places to discuss world issues and I'm sure some boarders partake in those discussions too.

Aye.  As long as we're all relatively polite and don't get genuinely upset by it, I think it's great that we're impassioned about the minutiae and ongoing trials of a 30-year-old kids comic.  I come here precisely to escape the often-crushing reality of the world in favour of an unreasonably deep consideration of one of its more interesting (if miniscule) corners.  To see a world in a grain of sand and all that.  

[Jim_Campbell]

is it really that important?

Yes.

Jim

[Richmond Clements]

Our Meg is still in the envelope- haven't had time to read it yet- in fact, I'm still reading last months issue.

But, what the fuck was that all about. Sorry, Virgil, but I get suspicious when someone pops up out of nowhere to defend (or attack) something in the fashion you have just done.

I'n not a Tankie fan either, for many of the reasons SBT states- does that make me a bad person?
We are, after all, paying for the comic, so I think folks are entitled to have an opinion on it that may be contrary to yours or mine.

And lambasting people for expressing opinions about a comic on a board and thread dedicated to that comic... well... makes you look like a bit of a cock.

[Mike Gloady]

What Rac said. 

I knew if I just read to the bottom someone would do it more politely and succinctly than I ever could.

[Grant Goggans]

I'm getting a little tired of Tank Girl, too, and I think I started out as one of its happiest supporters.  I'm realizing that the only time I ever laugh at it is when Rufus draws something hilarious, like flying through the double-decker bus.  Script and story-wise, it's incredibly weak.  The one about building an amusement park to destroy all her enemies was pretty dire.

As for its long, unhappy, rave-culture pedigree, I found a couple of Tanky-free Deadlines (1992 issues) some months ago and those really are some terrible comics in them.  You had some pretty wonderful contributors - Philip Bond, Glyn Dillon, Nick Abadzis, etc - but their comics were, start to finish, horrible, amateurish crap.  Seriously, the best thing in either issue, by leagues, was a Manic Street Preachers article by the late, great Steven Wells.

By a bizarre coincidence, I also picked up an issue of the American-sized A1 in some other store's cheap bins (no Bojeffries, darn) and read it around the same time, and was amazed to see that "Cheeky Wee Budgie Boy" ran in BOTH Deadline and A1.  And was terrible.

Maybe if all that, including whatever the heck that strip was that Hewlett did after Tank Girl, was any indication of what the young, up-and-coming comic artists wanted to draw in 1992-93, it's no small wonder 2000 AD hit a slump around that time.  How were McKenzie and Burton meant to encourage new talent when there was so little of it in the water?

Anyway, I'm all for resting Tank Girl and bringing back the small press pages for a few months.  Or if we try the reprint route, The Titan books have passed the point we left off Charley's War, so I think that's out, as are most of the other Battle strips - Johnny Red's due next year and I understand they're planning Eazy, Rat Pack AND Darkie.  Maybe reprint something from Action or Misty or Toxic?

[Mikey]

I read the Meg last night and for the first time (I'm a forgiving person ) I thought it was a bit of a non event - it obvioulsy wasn't just me then. I've put it down to a hopefully brief... I didn't read the Tank Girl text because I've found the recent run boring.

I understand, and support, the reasons for reprint/licensed material but the only thing that stood out for me was the Bryan Talbot focus because I didn't know about Grandville.

Disappointed.

M.

[Trout]

my point was about the ANGER in some of these posts.

it's a comic
is it really that important?

I agree with him. It's not that big a deal. I used to get much more upset about stuff I didn't like in these comics (chiefly Blood of Satanus III) and then I realised it's not that important. It's only a comic.

By the way, I really like Tank Girl. It's good fun and I think it's a nice contrast to darker stories in the Meg.

- Trout

[Colin Zeal]

Bought my copy of the Meg today but haven't got round to reading it yet. I'm not a fan of Tank Girl either, and thought it was going to have a longer break from the Meg than just one issue. I think it could certainly do with one.

[Bolt-01]

I really liked Cheeky Wee Budgie Boy....

[locustsofdeath!]

Last month's Meg was, to me, the best in years. This month's may sadly be the worst. Besides Dredd and the Kev Walker interview, there wasn't much here to enjoy. The few postives that had develpoed in Armitage over the last couple of installments were wiped out by a rather limp ending. Stopped reading the Tank Girl strip so I wasn't inclined to bother with the text story.

I hate to be negative - and this is this first negative post I've written on a Meg or Prog in the 6 months since I've been on the forum - but when it's bad it's bad.

Oh well, win some lose some.

[locustsofdeath!]

So as not to be entirely negative, I want to make mention of how much I like Kev Walker's Dredd. Snakebite wasn't a 'great' tale, especially when compared to the epic we're being treated to in the Prog, but it was good, good fun and I really enjoyed it. So there.

[TordelBack]

my point was about the ANGER in some of these posts.

it's a comic
is it really that important?

I agree with him. It's not that big a deal. I used to get much more upset about stuff I didn't like in these comics (chiefly Blood of Satanus III) and then I realised it's not that important. It's only a comic.

Well, yeah - getting angry about a recreational activity/hobby is just self-defeating, but I think Virgil was having a bit of a straw man moment there.

Steev actually said:

I fucking HATE Tank Girl. It's a waste of space- a nineties-timeloop of a strip that was mistakenly told it was funny nearly two decades ago, and like the pilled-out Bez-wannabee "can't go to raves anymore cos my doctor says it'll kill me" bore that it is, refuses to shut up and quietly die.

and

I really resent paying a proportion of my fiver each month for it.

The only 'angry' bits I see there are the CAPS and the swearing, and that's probably a matter of interpretation.  The man hates Tank Girl.  Plenty do.  Plenty don't.  He's expressing a strong opinion, but I don't see him getting angry about it.  Passionate, yes, but that's a good thing.

Anyway, his real; beef is probably that it takes away valuable time from hanging around the changing rooms of burlesque shows, helping the ladies with their stays and such.  Git.

[Proudhuff]

a Manic Street Preachers article by the late, great Steven Wells.

How were McKenzie and Burton meant to encourage new talent when there was so little of it in the water?

I did not knoe that Mr Wells was dead, I'll be off checking the old interwebby thing, a sad loss.

on the other bit what you perhaps miss is what a breath of fresh air things like Dealine were at the time, there were exciting new artist doing things differently and experimentation and a bit of fubbling was allowed even encouraged, no doubt in retrospect it all looks a bit ham fisted but but some of our best comic creators came out of that frission

[Proudhuff]

sorry for the spelling typed whilst scoffing sanies

[I, Cosh]

Nice to see the boards are as negative and bitchy as always.

Tee hee. If by that you mean "about the same number of people vociferously supported something as went over the top for internet comedy effect and everybody else was sort of not fussed either way" then you're quite right.

Queen bitch:

Tank Girl's marvellously entertaining, as usual

More relentless negativity:

Man, I thought that Bato Loco strip was fantastic!
...
Up to now, the only other thing I've read is the Tanky strip and it was frigging hilarious.