Congratulations Alan.

[Thread Zero]

Got the new look meg today. Must say it looks rather good!

Small spoilers revealed. Not about any story content though!

We have a nice, new extended editorial section called sector control. Alan explains why he loves Dredd. Nice touch and makes the meg feel like a proper mag, if you er... see what I mean.

Sector control has an item on the new audio stories and reveals the voice of Dredd!

I personally wouldn't have chosen Dale Winton but...

We have new Dredd, inspired by tv show Survivor I think. Typical Wagner stuff but enjoyable.

New Missionary Position Man tale. Haven't read it yet but John Ridgeway is on art duties and I like him.  

Most interesting is the 8 page 2k article. Charting the history of our favourite mag and genesis.

I thought it was better when Phil Collins left too.

Plus new look reprints Of Stronty and Bad Company. And Warthog is still there.

Two suggestions.

1)Can we have regular articles in the meg?

2)Please only have typed letters printed in the dreddlines section. My eye sight is bad enough (see scojo repetitive typo syndrome for more) without having to strain myself to read the 'real' letters.

All in all, a great new start Alan. 9 out of 10.

scojo

[Leigh S]

Totally agree Scojo - the new look Meg appears to have a real sense of direction.  There is certainly enough going on at the moment to warrant a page or two of feature material, (RPGs, Audios, Titan books etc.) and I've made my feelings plain about the Secret History - fantastic stuff!  You can't have enough of this behind the scenes stuff, IMO.  IIRC, It was the first 2000AD annual I ever got that had a feature on how a story is developed from scripted page to finished artwork and from that moment I was hooked!

That said the Dredd was very lightweight Wagner, with some real scrappy art from Doherty. Missionary Man wasn't the best either - I like Gordons stuff generally, but if one of his characters repeats himself again in the same speech bubble I swear I'll get a big pen and cross it out!! "Remember me....Remember what you did","You earn it with this.You earn it ...","My Law, the law of Kortez","Welcome to the Kingdom of Kortez. Welcome to Mictlan."  - AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!  While this is a nice device for effect every now and then, Gordon uses it nearly every other panel!

Now all we need is the return of the Daily Star Dredds and I'll be a very happy watcher!

[nathan]

"Missionary Man wasn't the best either - I like Gordons stuff generally, but if one of his characters repeats himself again in the same speech bubble I swear I'll get a big pen and cross it out!! "Remember me....Remember what you did","You earn it with this.You earn it ...","My Law, the law of Kortez","Welcome to the Kingdom of Kortez. Welcome to Mictlan." - AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!! While this is a nice device for effect every now and then, Gordon uses it nearly every other panel! "

Have to disagree with you there Mr Watcher.  I thought the dialogue (and the whole strip) was very well done. Kortez was the only character repeating himself and it seemed perfectly appropriate to me. He's a charismatic, apparently unhinged cult leader and the repetitiver rhetorical speech patterns you mentioned helped to get that across, IMO.

N

[paulvonscott]

I think, though the Watcher probably doesn't need me to say this, that Kortez is only one character among many who do this and he probably wouldn't mind if it was just him.  But it's not...

[Leigh S]

You've got it PVS.  It's not the use of this device for effect that bothers me - it's the fact that everybody uses it and it happens in damn near every episode of Gordon's stuff.  As a random example, look at Missionary Man in prog 1178 (I'm ignoring Glimmer Rats here, where whole episodes are made up of characters repeating themselves)

Missionary Man:"I'm betting they're already here. I'm betting they've been watching us since we crossed over into their territory"

Missionary man: "But you think it's just coincidence (the death belts) are centred over the Ghostlands? You think all that's up there is radioactive dust clouds an' atomic wars debris?"

Mutie: "He says something's out there. He says -"

Missionary Man: "No Sudden Movements. No reaching for your guns."

This demonstrates a few more subtle versions of the same device (a favourite version being the third example here - the "cut short" repetition.)

Storming Heaven and Satanus Unchained were also littered with these IIRC, and once you've noticed them, you can't ever avoid them again!  Don't get me wrong - I  really enjoy Gordon's stuff on the whole, especially the Satanus story and a few of his dredd stand ins. It's just that I'm now so sensitive to its constant use that it has absolutely no impact for me anymore.  

[The Amstor Computer]

Same problem I have with Steve Moore's stuff - the gimmick where he finishes a sentence in the next panel/page. It's a neat device to employ occasionally, but there was a period when it seemed to be appearing *every* bloody week.