Meg 463 - Mega-City’s Skull Cracker!

[Le Fink]

The Xmas Meg is here!

Cover by Mike Perkins - Dredd with some Christmas lights on the daystick. Cliff Robinson, the master of the "daystick jutting out of the page" image, wins the battle of the Xmas covers this year with his robot rampage.

Dredd sees the return of a character I'd forgotten about. This story is a bit forgettable too. Ah well! Paul Marshall draws with his usual high standard.

Spector moves from detective story to political satire to caper story and John Wagner and Dan Cornwell make it so easy. Effortless to read, highly entertaining, colours and (fittingly old-school?) lettering work really well. Would be top thrill except for Lawless.

DeMarco still early days I thought, but we seem to have found some answers already? Not sure how many episodes of this we're getting? Decent thrill. Lovely art. The grater a nice/yucky touch.

Text pieces, Mike Collins and Rufus Hound interviews, and an Oliver Frey retrospective. The Hound one I read because of the fuss over his Strontium Dog tale, which he goes into. Some Frey-drawn Trigan Empire story follows.

Then we have Johnny Red reprint, which I've not been reading. Perhaps the last one? In which case I'll go back and read the lot. Always looks good.

There's a really fun Joel McCrea Elseworlds Dredd, the first of a series(?) called "Deviations Judge Dredd". What if... Dredd the Werewolf wasn't cured? Joel McCrea has a great time showing us. Is there more of this Deviations series? Hope it's as good as this!

Finally the best saved for the last we have Lawless which totally sticks the landing. It's exciting, and moving, ends properly and looks frikkin' magnificent. The creative team should be rightly proud of this - top thrill.

[broodblik]

Lawless action sequences must be rated as one of the best ever published in comics

[Richard]

That cover isn't by Cliff Robinson, it's Mike Perkins.

[Richard]

Sorry ignore me, I misread your post!

[Colin YNWA]

Yep this one is all about Lawless this story had a steady start, one I suspect will read better now this is done. But its really picked up over the last three months and as Le Fink says it absolutely nails the ending. Its has absolutely everything. I was genuinely worried about a couple of characters I love. The action was perfectly delievered. The art outstanding as ever. Just everything about this one screamed perfectly about everything that makes Lawless the very, very best of comics.

I adore this series and this episode is yet another highlight from it.

There is more in the comic but none of it can live up to that, however good it is.

Niemand shows once again why he's the best Dredd writer we have outside Wagner himself. A 'standard' Dredd, nothing special on the surface, but the execution by Neimand ably assisted by Paul Marshal is just fantastic.

DeMarco is okay. Loving the art, the story is... steady...

Spectre has been getting better and better as the series has gone on but this week has a bit of a misstep for me. The premise from the start seems great but then any tension is finally ripped from the strip as we establish Spectre is pretty undestructable AND the baddies are fooled all too easily. Shame, still we'll see how the ending goes.

Read both the reprint strips, but if you hadn't they'd be a right treat for you. Decent back matter.

None of that stuff matters Lawless makes it worth the price of entry alone!

[broodblik]

Cover by Mike Perkins:

[IndigoPrime]

A nice seasonal cover, followed by a solid Dredd featuring a foe I'd entirely forgotten about. Nice art and storytelling by Marshall. Then Spector, which has been fun enough, but I'm happy if this wraps up fairly soon. And I'd echo others in the lack of tension in the hero and goon-like villains. It feels a bit blast from the past, which I suppose isn't the worst thing. DeMarco... hard to tell how good this is going to be, but I'm very happy with it right now. It looks great. Script-wise, it's been intriguing and makes me want to read more. I hope it continues to be this strong.

Text-wise, it was enjoyable reading about Mike Collins and his long career, and then Gary Welsh. But I had a bit of a moment on seeing the Oli Frey spread. Honestly, I wish this had been longer. I crossed paths with the man a few times, being on the outer ring of Thalamus Publishing for years. He was a very friendly person, and always keen to talk about his past. Bit of a missed opportunity, IMO, for the piece not to reprint his sole 2000 AD output, though, a Rogue Trooper (Fr1day) pin-up. Alas, I'm not sure any excerpt of this kind of long-running series can work terribly well as a standalone, but it was good to see Oli's art, even if the repro has some nasty moire issues. The Rufus Hound interview was a good one too. Although a mite weird to discover how rapidly a celeb could get a commission, if I'm honest!

Next: Steve Sampson pinup! Blimey. Also: really nice. Reprint city then the conclusion of Johnny Red, which is clearly objectively impressive but totally not my bag. Deviations was great though. I bought a copy of this years back, and am glad many more people now get the chance to enjoy it, and in larger fashion (vs US floppy dimensions). For those wondering, this was it: it was a one-shot, not a series. Boo and hiss.

Despite that quality, the Meg saves the best until last with the finale of Lawless, which sticks the landing in every way. The art is full of energy (despite some sometimes questionable anatomy – when a certain gets shot, it's like their skeleton turns to jelly), and the integration of sound effects brings a real sense of chaos to certain scenes. The pace shifts really cleverly several times as well. In terms of what happens to who, everything felt earned. Big boots to fill for Harrower Squad next month, to say the least.

In all, a strong Meg, I thought, to end the year.

Lawless > Deviations > DeMarco > Dredd > Spector > Johnny Red > Trigan Empire

[Aaron A Aardvark]

I don't post often but I just have to say:

Lawless. Wow.

[scrotnig]

I never have words to describe Lawless. How it continues to be so perfect defies description.

Often people say "they don't make them like they used to". With Lawless it's "they didn't used to make them like they do now".

As I've said before, The Meg is worth the price for Lawless alone. I am, as always, bowled over.

[Swerty]

Yes Lawless is awesome.

[broodblik]

This meg without Lawless would felt quite empty. The Dredd story was okay, DeMarco is not really capturing me and the strangest thing is that a Wagner strip I find as just so-so. No need the praise the greatest of Lawless but it was a super strong episode (glad that it will be back).

[Richard]

Surprised about the negativity about recent episodes of Spector. I think it's going from strength to strength.

[staticgirl]

Dollman's Yuletide Massacre was fun. I vaguely remembered the antagonist.  I didn't like Spector at first but as it has gone on, the eccentric android has won me over. I like some of the retro-future design too. The art is fab. Demarco is okay - it's not wowing me but this character never has. Lawless is great but I actually had trouble making out what happened with all the detail. It's gorgeous but I don't think I am as crazy about it as everyone else.

The Johnny Red reprint I loved. I absolutely loved this character when I was a kid and I would quite happily see him as a regular strip. If 2000AD/Megazine can have historical fantasy and horror then why not a historical war strip too? I appreciate that as sci-fi fans there may not be many here who would share that position so it is unlikely.

The Dredd were-wolf thing was of no interest to me.

[broodblik]

The Johnny Red reprint I loved. I absolutely loved this character when I was a kid and I would quite happily see him as a regular strip. If 2000AD/Megazine can have historical fantasy and horror then why not a historical war strip too? I appreciate that as sci-fi fans there may not be many here who would share that position so it is unlikely.

I will definitely would like something like a Johnny Red strip in the meg on a semi-permanently basis.

[Tjm86]

Well, I would suggest checking out the last Battle series Rebellion put out if you've not already done so.  Definitely worth it and there's another one due next year.  Not only was Ennis on fine form but he has started to pull together a wider team of writers to give it legs.  Some bloody good stuff there.