Meg 464: Farewell, My Ugly

[IndigoPrime]

Surprised to not see a Meg thread up yet. Anyway, this was a slightly odd read for me. Not sure why. Maybe the replacements for last month's didn't all land in the same way.

Dredd was a good start for what looks like it'll be an action-oriented series. Great to see Anthony Williams back. Spector ends well enough. I thought the series as a whole was solid, if oddly retro in nature. It half read like something out of very early era 2000 AD.

DeMarco shows promise. Bit early to tell whether this iteration of the character will fulfil the promise that's largely eluded writers prior to Bailey coming on board, but here's hoping. Then plenty of text: Anthony Williams; Lee Milmore; Luke Horseman; and Frank S Pepper, which leads into a chunk of Black Max that's entertaining but very much an advert for the third (and final) collection.

Hook Jaw is the first new reprint, which I assume suggests some kind of deal with Titan as well as IDW? I actually bought this in a sale at FP a while ago, for a few quid. I'd not got round to reading it. This first episode is OK. The creepy nature of the sharks is the best bit; the caricature baddies, less so. Then the IDW well has seemingly run dry of the objectively great stuff like Deviations, Matt Smith's stories, etc (exception: Mars Attacks Judge Dredd), and so we're on to 'second tier'. Under Siege is by Mark Russell and throughout feels a bit off, in the way a lot of non-2000 AD Dredd does. It also in quite a few ways feels a lot like the Dredd movie, despite originally coming out years later. Still: reasonable filler, and I'm not upset about its inclusion. At least we're not getting 'Santa Dredd in the Stone Age' for two years. Yet. (Please, Matt, no!)

Black Museum then dredges up a character from Dredd's past in a way that I guess kind of works, but presumably has no future (since there's a direct clash with another type of story running); also, the way in which one particular person in this responds late on is hugely out of character. And then the final original strip is David Baille and Steve Yeowell's Harrower Squad, which returns us to Cal-Hab for the first time in a while. Mark this one down as 'too early to tell', but it kicks off with plenty of grimness and action, and suggests future Scotland is even more messed up than the Cursed Earth.

Next month, Devlin Waugh is back (hurrah!), as is Mega-City 2099.

[Barrington Boots]

That Hookjaw series is terrible.

[broodblik]

I really like John Wagner's joke with Judge Dredd in Spector

[IndigoPrime]

I imagine it was all he could do to not script a frame of Spector leaning into the frame and doing a big fourth-wall-breaking wink at the audience.

[broodblik]

That part put a big smile on my face. But Spector did a "wink" at us although his eyes where converted by his hat

[Hawkmumbler]

I swear I've read the Titan Hookjaw miniseries but damned if I can recall a single solitary thing about it.

Was that the one with Simon Frasier on art duties? Or am I thinking of one of the handful of attempted reboots in Clint and the like which simply never appeared...

[IndigoPrime]

Conor Boyle on art. Begins with a sweary Australian yabbering over the radio to a science person. A boat is boarded by pirates. Then idiot MEN WITH GUNS rock up and start shooting. It's not terribly nuanced.

[Colin YNWA]

To be fair though when I get a comic about a shark with a giant hook through its face eating folks I'm not always after nauance.

[Magnetica]

Neither the Meg nor them Prog are hitting the heights they did recently, at the moment, with great strips having finished and been replaced by ones that aren't at the same level.

Dredd was ok. Didn't realise it was so long since Anthony Williams had drawn for Tharg. It's good to have him back. He always does a decent job, but his art has always bordered on too cartoony for me.

I was expecting a bit more in how Spector wrapped up. Overall I've enjoyed it. Nothing wrong with more of an old school feel in my opinion. I'd definitely like to see more. Dan Cornwell's art suited it perfectly.


Maybe it's me, but the plot in DeMarco didn't make much sense.
Are we meant to know who the one-eyed chap is at the end?

Likewise a few of the things that happened in Hookjaw seemed a bit unlikely. As Mag said, I think you would tell someone if your boat had been taken over by pirates. And the Navy Seals just showing up felt a bit random.

I've read Under Siege before. It's not the worst IDW Dredd.

Tales from the Black Museum was good. One of the better ones and a good use of a classic character. I never would have guessed who that was from the cover.

Callable Justice TNG all seemed a bit random as well - stuff just seemed to happen for no apparent reason and didn't have much connection with what had just happened.

[Bad City Blue]

Dredd was pretty decent, and Spector, too. I'd be happy to see more of RobotCop,

Black Museum was awful, purely because of a script that any editor who has the faintest clue about Dreddworld would have bashed some fucking logic into it.

Gteat start to Callable Justice. Always nice to have Yeowell back.

the U.S Dredd was, I thought, pretty decent.

[Richard]

the U.S Dredd was, I thought, pretty decent.

I agree. IDW Dredd is very hit and miss, but this episode is good. And the writer (Mark Russell) has evidently done his research, as this version of Dredd is consistent with Tharg's -- I'd forgotten that Beeny used to have a pet lizard in America II !

[Colin YNWA]

Mark Russell is an astonishing writer. I adore his work, and thought his Dredd would be great. It was fine, not bad at all but not up to the standard of most his work alas.

[The Monarch]

Black Museum then dredges up a character from Dredd's past in a way that I guess kind of works, but presumably has no future (since there's a direct clash with another type of story running)

also the fact said character is very dead now kind of ruins things

may i also say i do not like the way we're playing fast and loose with dredd continuity this month? calhab justice being ignored fair enough i think i am the only person who liked that series....but citizen sump?!? i do not know how the black museum squares with that at all even if its set in some nebulous past.

[staticgirl]

I really liked the colouring in the Under Siege strip. I intend to study it....

It was a solid Meg, not massively exciting. I'm not sure about the Calhab one yet.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Black Museum then dredges up a character from Dredd's past in a way that I guess kind of works, but presumably has no future (since there's a direct clash with another type of story running)

also the fact said character is very dead now kind of ruins things

may i also say i do not like the way we're playing fast and loose with dredd continuity this month? calhab justice being ignored fair enough i think i am the only person who liked that series....but citizen sump?!? i do not know how the black museum squares with that at all even if its set in some nebulous past.

I was wondering about that too.  He had a perfect story arc from his rise to fame to his death, and didn't really need the old 'and so I became a P.I.' trope jammed awkwardly into it.