MEG 219

[Dudley]

A rather mixed Megazine this month, starting with a cover that just slides away without really making any impact.  It must have seemed a nice design on paper, but a profusion of fonts, effects, and over-bright colouring all detract from its potential.  A missed opportunity.

Dredd: Damned Ranger.  Actually, I'm getting more used to digi-Ridgy.  But the story's a bit, well, uneasy, isn't it?  The sight of Mega-City freelance contractors beating up innocents has unfortunately acquired all sorts of overtones recently, and this isn't really the story to bear the strain.  Plus Ranger Whatsisface's lipstick continues to be the wrong shade.

Middenface: Brigadoom.  Maybe I need to watch Brigadoon after all.  The art makes the story worth reading, but it's a 5/10 overall.

Mean Machine - pure gold.  From Mini-Mean to the priest every character is brilliantly designed by Millgate.  Nice to see Portia gaining a third dimension as well.  The dialogue practiclly writes itself on a Mean story, but even so this one is beginning to rise above even Travels With Muh Shrink.  Good to see Junior making an appearance, too.

Gribligs - fantastic.  Actually, it's nothing more than an animated lesson in rat population increases, but very funny for all that.  And being a Steve Roberts fan, I'm in seventh heaven.  Increased only by the thought that Gerald Bostock will have been grinding his teeth throughout.

Black Siddha.  Pat Mill's take on prostitution is...interesting.  Can't really fault it as it's definitely satirical.  All in all, I'm really enjoying this.  So far, anyway.  Still got that uneasy feeling somewhere.

Charleysszzzzz - no, hang on, I actually read this through at one sitting with some interest.  Maybe it could turn out better than I thought.

Helltrekkers - not a fan so far, but I'll let it keep plodding along.

GRennie - funny AND right-on.  Sort of like early Ben Elton.

MetroDredd - Just fine.  I do like that Inaki-and-Eva art combo, rather a lot.

Matt letter - yay!  Linton letter - boo!  Matt W letter - yep.

Problem with the Meg is putting all the reprint stuff in at the back.  Means my thrillometer peaks early and then just
slides
back
to
normal.

Overall, 6/10

[Floyd-the-k]

Gary Leach cover not a classic, but cute

Dredd - Shivers I forgot the story, not a good sign. Oh yes, a variation on FOrt Apache and umpteen other westerns. In fact, the Megazines going all cowboy on us, what with that and the Helltrekkers. Like mark says; pretty standard story line but moving along nicely

Middenface - I`m enjoying this a lot - terrific art, a few nasty twists in the story. A little over sentimental mind. Do any actualy scottish people find it a bit touristy?

Mean Machine - Loving this. Mimi mean was a great idea. The fan club is a great idea

Whatever Happened to The Gribligs - cute art, one joke story (the joke being that Gribligs have a lot of sex). I never caught the originals, how were they?

Black Siddha - I hated the first one but I`m quite enjoying this. It`s wieghted down by a load of `look at all my research` type monologues, but so is a lot of Mills` stuff. It feels like the story has really gotten moving. I never cared for this art, but forgive it for the story.

Charley's War - what Mark said. quality - classic stuff. And there are lovable salt of the earth Aussies in this one

Hell Trekkers - Cowboy movie time again, yee hah!  Great fun. I wonder how many, if any, of the trekkers will make it. I keep waiting for the fat bloke in the moped to die

Metro Dredd - Good stuff,

You`re next - this has really grown on me, always kinda interesting. Nice picture!  

Dredd Files: no comment

all up a very good Meg! Well done Mr Barnes

[W. R. Logan]

>Whatever Happened to The Gribligs - cute art, one joke story (the joke being that Gribligs have a lot of sex). I never caught the originals, how were they?

Gribligs
Progs 464 to 465
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant
Artist: Barry Kitson

Reprinted
Classic Judge Dredd 6
Titan: Judge Dredd Chronicles Book 27
Quality: Judge Dredd Volume 2, No 30

A great two parter by Wagner & Grant and after the WHT story well worth a reprint? In fact how about a Dredd: Aliens story Extreme Edition.

it could include:
Night of the Bloodbeast
Prog 138
Alien Seeds
Prog 148
The Alien Way
Prog 204
The Perp Runners
Progs 211 to 212
The Stookie Glanders
Progs 220 to 221
Trapper Hag
Progs 305 to 307
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Dillon
Starborn Thing
Progs 309 to 314
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra
Nosferatu
Progs 430 to 433
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Ron Smith
Varks
Prog 503
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Kevin O'Neill

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

[Endjinn]

Cover: I liked, but not an earth-shatterer.

Dredd: The artwork. Like a long island ice tea, it's 10lb of shit in a 5lb bag, and it just don't work. Altogether it's been a bit too tedious and predictable for my liking.

Young Middenface: is class. The song parodies are spot on, and Middenface and the sheep raised a chuckle.

WHT: Haven't read the originals, but didn't matter too much as the premise is pretty basic. Above average.

Black Siddha: Is guff. Simon Davis is the only thing keeping me from skipping it altogether.

Mean Machine: Current highlight of the meg. Agree grade and comments from above about Mini-Mean, great dialogue. Art is spot-on, even if Porsha only has two facial expressions.

Charley's War: Saving it to read all in a massive re-print indulgence session.

Helltrekkers: Bored me senseless.

Dredd Files: Nice to dip in to.

Rennie: Seems to be getting better (and he started off good) every month.

Metro Dredd: I'd got all of it except the last part, but wasn't too enamoured by it the first time round. However, the final panels were genius, and I've got to admit Miranda and de la Cruz make Dredd look great, even in tiny panels.

[House of Usher]

I enjoyed Meg 219, but as usual, it benefitted from being 100 pages long! How can you go far wrong when it contains that quantity of material?

I hated the cover. It was the worst ever. Did anyone else notice they didn't use it to advertise Meg 219 on the back of 2000ad? The used a montage instead, with the actual cover in pink only, as the background, with a much stronger image of Mean superimposed, with extra gribligs.

Mean Machine was the best strip this month, even if Cyberfreak was an unlikely name for a villain and his whole demeanour rang false.

A very average Dredd, with some shocking computer graphics. "Black Siddha is guff"? Straight to the point there. Endjinn! It's not my favourite strip by any means, although I liked the Norman Wisdom touch that left the hero stranded on the roof.

And Pat's having a go at 'man-hating feminists' now! I'm sure it's just tongue-in-cheek, or that's the character's opinion, and not Pat's own, or whatever...


(can I say, just for the record, some of my best friends are man-hating feminists?)

[W. R. Logan]

>I hated the cover. It was the worst ever. Did anyone else notice they didn't use it to advertise Meg 219 on the back of 2000ad? The used a montage instead, with the actual cover in pink only, as the background, with a much stronger image of Mean superimposed, with extra gribligs.

Read the editors letter, there was amil strike in Oxford for nearly three weeks.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan

[Leigh S]

This thread is making me think the hive mind has rejected me!  I thought the cover was great - it really showed up the art on the actual Mean story inside - the characters actually look three dimensional!  It looks as if some thought has gone into composition!  Theres actually some nice emotion showing on the faces!

AS for Mini Mean being well designed,  well its a short version of Mean - whats there to design?  The other cyborgs (especially Cyber freak) look cliched, unoriginal, dated and rushed)  - Well designed stuff would surely have a touch of originality or invention.  There's a great tale under that art, but its really difficult for me to see it when we've got art that looks like doodles from the back of a bored kids exercise book rather than something polished or even vaguely professional looking.  If you can't tell yet, I'm really, really disappointed by the art on this one!

[Dudley]

+++INCORRECT+++INCORRECT+++INCORRECT+++INCORRECT+++

YOU WILL BECOME ONE OF US

[Bolt-01]

Ah'm sidin' with Watcher on this one.

The art on Mean Machine is very poor. I have to admit that it is one of the few stories I have stopped reading because the art was so weak. Poor composition and finishing, well below par.

I'm growing on Black Siddha though, quite enjoyed this episode despite it being very out of place in the meg.

Bolt-01

[Marbles]

Cover: Absolutely dire.

Dredd: Binned. A lot of Meg Dredd stories seem far too drawn out and this is definitely one. (I reckon you could easily read part 1 & 3 of this and not realise you'd missed part 2).

Young Middenface: Binned.

WHT Gribligs: Binned. Amusing non-the-less

Black Siddha: Binned.

Mean Machine: Scanned. Great stuff. Instant classic.

Charley's War: Scanned.

Helltrekkers: Scanned.

[test 4 echo]

just go my meg.

cover will never make the top 10, or bottom 10. just average

the art in dredd just aint working for me. it looks like one of those rub down transfer things i used to do as a kid. big empty background with art stuck on looking out of place. and where did those trees and grassy hills come from? i thought this was set in a dustbowl nuclear wasteland. looks like they are camping in a national park. story seems a mix of western and current american foreign policy, i'm reading it as a gungho western and expecting man with a deathwish to get it at the end.

nothing in the rest of the meg grabs me enough to read right now. black siddha is the only one i'll make time to read, and thats cos of simon davies art. the rest of it will have to wait till i need a crap.

 

[Smiley]

Cover's alright, nice composition but it looked like it was referencing heavily on the strip, which was a bad move IMO. The Ridgy-Digi was as bad as I'd heard, and apart from Siddha the art throughout this Meg just doesn't do "it" for me. All the new stories are ace, mind.

Charley's War's a good read, but I can't wait for the bleedin' HellTrekkers to hurry up and die again.

[philt]

mmm I'm nearly at the point again when I stop buying it...

Dredd - awful art - John loose the PC
Middenface - I would imagine if I had submitted this story Mr Barnes would have binned it - utter crap.
Mean Machine - please make it stop - Mean machine ceased being either a) funny or b) interesting round the time of Travels With My Shrink ..is that another shark i see swimming into view
Black Siddha - don't know don't read it
Whatever happened to - you know I thought this was a really good idea - perhaps the Giant episode raised the bar too high - the rest? They are the sort of filler that used to populate too many of the Summer "Specials" and annuals
Helltreckers - didn't think it was any good first time round - still don't think it's any good
Charley's War - the only reason I'm buying the Meg - as soon as it's finished unless things improve I'm outta here