Meg 252: A Bullet For Beeny

[paulvonscott]

Well... harsh should be acceptable on the criticism scale.  Harsh may be the last sane stop before madness, so I don't think funt deserves the hat, even if I don't agree with him.

I didn't think the Meg was that bad.

I thought the end of fiends was surprisingly... how can I say this... it's a difficult thing to say... it was... I mean the way I see it... it was... very good.  It was an average (and I don't mean bad) story with a very good ending.  The way the meg works I can't tell rememeber if was foreshadowed from the start, something that should have happened.

America.  I liked it.  For me America isn't the highest pinnacle of Dredd story.  John Wagner and everyone else may disagree, but I'm always pleased to read an America story, just as I would be a PJ Maybe or a Mrs Gunderson.

Don't think I'd read that reprint before, very good choice, it filled in a bit of the gap in my Gunderson knowledge.  Could we have a collection of Gunderson stories either in extreme or GN?

The article on Horror Remakes could have been inspired by our thread on Horror Remakes.   What a great article and it points out that remakes have been part of horror films fo a long time which is true of course.  House of Wax remake was fun but rubbish, though the ending was truly stunning.  Very tempted to watch the remake of Hills have Eyes after that as well.

And I'll read through the other bits at my leisure I guess.

If the meg feels a bit weak, then it's perhaps the lack of a couple of A-features and a general down note from things ending at once.  But as I said, it was okay.  Could have dine with soem Charley's War ;)

[Dark Jimbo]

I wish more of the creative team would realise that monthly stories need to be told in monthly segments - by that I mean, each installment should be treated almost as a 'stand-alone, mini-tale' within the overall story arc. XTNCT did this - each episode had the team in a new setting, facing a new enemy, then next month it was off again to the next adventure. Paul Cornell really seemed to understand the restrictions of the monthly format, and worked around them, meaning XTNCT reads equally well in monthly epsiodes or all together.

Now take something like Fiends, Black Siddha or the longer Devlin Waugh stories. UUGGGHHHHHH. It's not that I didn't like them, but they bloody went on forever. One episode of people running down a corridor, then we have to wait a WHOLE BLOODY MONTH to see them reach the end and go into the next one. It makes them feel turgid, boring, drawn-out and just DULL, and kills stone-dead any sort of tension or momentum. At the very least the editor should step in to try and inject some sense of momentum or variety. Monthly stories NEED to be treated as a collection of seperate episodes.

Hope this was a bit more constructive than 'The Meg is crap.'

[Dark Jimbo]

Oh, and while I love the idea, format and (for the most part) execution of Tales From the Black Muesuem, can we please have some exciting exhibits? Sunglasses, a pack of cards, a bullet, a knife, teddy bears... bloody hell, terrifying.

The problem is that every single writer seemed to think 'Hmm, I'll humourously feature an innocent-seeming, every-day item, when everyone's expecting something cool and gruesome. That'll be clever.'
So we then have Henry Dubble start EVERY BLOODY STORY by going 'See this? Doesn't look much, does it? But there's a horrifying story behind it...'

This was clever and mildly funny the FIRST time only. Seven months later, it's very, very boring. Sometimes, lads, it's okay to feature a mutant plant, rampaging alien, or undead serial killer.

[JOE SOAP]

I thought this weeks Black Museum was badly written, very confusing and devoid of any real story. Sorry.




>"America. I liked it. For me America isn't the highest pinnacle of Dredd story."



America for me is a story line that's unique in all comicdom so in it's own way it's a pinnacle which may definitely be the best Dredd story.

Where else is there a riff about ideals, dysfunctional families & surrogate judge-fathers.

[I, Cosh]

The Meg really is garbage, isn't it?

When the best you can say about it is that all the stories have finished, you've really got to wonder what's happening.

I exaggerate, naturally. The Cadet story's been excellent and I don't count the Dredd reprints when assessing the overall quality as it'd take a rare imagination to deliberately reprint a bad story.

[JOE SOAP]

I generally like Dredd, Fiends & occasionally the Black museum.


Most of the current meg articles were taken up by film reviews/discussions.

I think the film reviews are crap, skimpy, pointless & obvious filler. Better off without them as I can get decent film reviews on the net.
My feeling is that articles on horror films or most films in general don't belong in the "Judge Dredd megazine" unless they have some relation to the subject or ethos of 'tooth/Dredd in general. If I want to read film reviews I'll buy Sight & Sound, Total Film etc. I don't read them and they stick out like a sore thumb, same goes for any music reviews.

Previews/articles of other or future comics/stories/artists/writers are always welcome.

Interviews are great. Small press is okay.

I don't think the meg is crap at all, can't like all stories. Just needs a little editorial tightening.

[Funt Solo]

Wils - don't be a dick - what's so wrong with suggesting that one person shouldn't be doing the job of two?  Think about it.  Now shove your oh-so-clever mongo picture somewhere other than in my face.

For the record (and christ, but it's only an opinion), I think 2000AD is as strong as it's ever been - and I think it struggled to get here.  But here it is - firing on all cylinders.

On the other hand, I think the Meg's pretty much at rock bottom.  Next month might show me up as very wrong indeed - I hope it does (sincerely) - because I'd be getting a good read.

Clearly, it's the same person editing both publications, so it must also be clear that I don't think he's bad at his job - I just wonder if he's good enough for two jobs.

[Bolt-01]

Hmm, have to disagree with you Funt. Think that the Meg at the moment is ticking along nicely. A bit of a shame that so much is finishing in one issue, but thats the way it works.

Thought fiends ended very quickly this issue, and Cadet was a top tale.

One other piece to note: Congrats to Byron for the Kidnapped article. Didn't expect that.

Bolt-01

[Wils]

Wils - don't be a dick - what's so wrong with suggesting that one person shouldn't be doing the job of two? Think about it. Now shove your oh-so-clever mongo picture somewhere other than in my face.

And *you* can fuck right off, cock-pouch.

If you know me at *all*, you know that I only trot that pic out when someone on the board exhibits Scojotastic traits in a post (in your case it was talking directly to Rebellion telling them how to improve things), and I'm *always* just pissing about. I've awarded it to, IIRC, Art and 54 Jones in the past, and they didn't throw a fucking hissy fit like you just did. Unlike them, you obviously can't take light ribbing from a fellow messageboarder. Twat.

[Concrete Block 15]

I had my Mongo Award printed on a t-shirt and regularly wear it with pride!

Then again, I AM a twat.

[Funt Solo]

A light ribbing - there's a joke in there somewhere.  It'll be handbags at dawn if we're not careful.

[Concrete Block 15]

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby6D1XFtFU_MAhI2jzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=128smd1h8/EXP=1163701877/**http%3a//www.313merch.com/big_images/get_loose_big.jpg">

[Max Kon]

who is the guy whose photo is the mongo award?

[johnone]

And So another Meg what can I say?

Cadet......fine , a nice wrap up to to a solid tale but something tells me we're going to see more of cadet beeny and this is just a little filler story until the next part ...is it me or ddoes anyone else get the feeling that Beeny will end up chief judge someday?still a knife up the Jacksie eh? thats gotta hurt

Fiends you know what I read Mr bishops original idea the one that was turned down for this and I have to ask Why?this was I'm afraid deeply average at best, and it was virtually a carbon copy down to the end of the original so just why?

Alec Worley must be doing well if he's getting paid by the word not one but two articles about film , not complaining mind I would disagree with some of his arguements in the Horror remake article but he is always fascinating to read.

The Dredd reprint..feh  once again its fine no complaints , I love the fact some of you are puzzled why its been reprinted , I remember a time (Showing his age) where any one of the comics in the old Fleetway group  would wait five years and reprint the entire bloody series
"Because you asked for it" or even better publish the damn thing in their yearly annual so they didn't have to pay for original material, battle annual 1982 comes to mind, christmas morning and I had just gotten my own Action Man officer (You Know the ones that spoke, actually he still works 24 years later)and With it I got Battle and 2000ad annuals , 2000ad only printed half of the bloody Flesh saga and Battle filled 64 pages with a "cowards brand on bradley" I was eight and I knew I was being ripped off!now wheres me horlicks mutter mutter

Tales of the black museum ....again fine as always , its a shame that its ending hopefully not for good.

Small press..Hmmm just didn't like it, I can see why its small press still it was a hundred times better than ......

Black Siddah now I know I have been complaining about this every month like clockwork but come on you have to admit WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT SH**E! So the jester was driven to insanity because of School WTF?!?!?!and was it me but Simon Davis art was easier to follow when he was trying to imitate a childish scrawl!!!!No I'm sorry but it was cack pure and simple and I think Mr Mills knows it too , never have i enjoyed the words THE END so much  all I need now is an ad blurb saying "Back Siddah will not return EVER to this paper" I've said it before if you want to give mr Mills money than reprint Charleys War , the meg actually stopped printing just before he returns to france and the finest moments of the story so please bring it back

So overall it was an ok issue , I'm looking forward to the christmas issue , the new line up seems interesting, now I'm going to see if five tin plates can stop a 303 round penetrating your heart it must be true cause thats what happened in "a cowards brand on bradley"...mutter ...mutter ...Horlicks!

[Matt Timson]

"I've awarded it to, IIRC, Art and 54 Jones in the past, and they didn't throw a fucking hissy fit like you just did"

WHAAAAT?!  WHen was this*?!  Don't you know who I am?  STRIKE OUT HIS EYES!  In other news, did the Funtster really call somebody else a dick?








*not really- I remember it quite clearly.  It was the same week I snapped, like twigs, the arms and legs on my Wilson voodoo doll...