Meg 451 - Scale of Justice

[Colin YNWA]

Interesting with such a big format change and shift in the Meg most of the stories are ongoing. So feels like a big change... but much stays the same. Decent text pieces, same design, in digital format the difference is hardly noticable.

The reprint using IDW stock seems like a good idea, alas when you have it already not perfect, but many won't so all good.

So big change and no change.

Dredd is a solid Niemand, not his best but fun energetic Stewart K Moore art helps it fizz along.

Storm Warning  slipping and sliding through time and place is a well used technic but I'm finding it a little of a barrier to tie everything together here, let's see how it gets sorted at the end.

Death Metal Planet remains excellent but, I mean you see it coming and the bands plan does kinda make you grind your teeth in frustration.

Devlin Waugh remains the best thing in the Meg. Ales Kot just gets the series and builds tension and then slam dunks the ending.

Surfer is beautiful and excellent. It pure craft, just need it to progress.

Good Meg. The more it changes the more it stays the same.

[broodblik]

Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague:

[broodblik]

Cover and Logo:

[nxylas]

I hadn't read the IDW stuff before. I don't know if it's just a case of lowered expectations, but it seemed like fairly solid Dredd to me. Not up there with the best, but not the disaster that a lot of people make it out to be.

[Leigh S]

The Year One stuff is Matt SMith penned with Coleby art, so veteran creators - the other strip I didnt partake of, so that will be new to me when the Meg turns up

[Jim_Campbell]

Meg most of the stories are ongoing.

Did you miss Dredd 2099, Colin? Tucked away as it is in the middle of the reprint, and omitted from the 'In This Issue' list of stories on the inside front cover, I missed it first time through, and I worked on the bloody thing! :-)

[Colin YNWA]

Meg most of the stories are ongoing.

Did you miss Dredd 2099, Colin? Tucked away as it is in the middle of the reprint, and omitted from the 'In This Issue' list of stories on the inside front cover, I missed it first time through, and I worked on the bloody thing! :-)

I most certainly did! I was wondering about that as I'd seen it advertised. I skipped the reprint as I've read both series before.

THANK YOU for the heads up... I'll be back...

[Colin YNWA]

So I've caught up with some 'hidden' thrills tucked away at the end of the 'floppie' pages... what do we call them now... reprint section lacks the charm of floppie... ANYWAY and nice little treats they are.

Loved Dredd 2099 - Niemand at his true best and great art from Conor 'once of these pastures' Boyle. Fun, but had a nice pointed point to it as well. I got the sense this was a series.

Dredd - Solo Occupant was a gem as well. I'm guessing this was previously in an older Meg? New to me and a great story from Rob Williams and Will Conrad.

On top of that a lovely tribute star scan by Stewart K Moore.

How and why this wonderful stuff is tucked away unannounced at the back of the flop... reprint pages is beyond me. But I'm very glad I found them (thanks again Jim) and will be more careful next month!

[broodblik]

Dredd - Solo Occupant was a gem as well. I'm guessing this was previously in an older Meg? New to me and a great story from Rob Williams and Will Conrad.

I think it is a completely new stop or rather it has never been printed before. This is from Rob's twitter: First time in the Megazine for a while. JUDGE DREDD: SOLE OCCUPANT by me ⁦@DylanTeague @SimonBowland⁩ and my OUT co-creator ⁦@willconrad⁩ - in shops today.

[nxylas]

Did you miss Dredd 2099, Colin? Tucked away as it is in the middle of the reprint, and omitted from the 'In This Issue' list of stories on the inside front cover, I missed it first time through, and I worked on the bloody thing! :-)

Yes, and your hand-lettered style really added to the retro vibe of the whole thing. My attitude to the strip is a bit "I hate myself for loving you". On an intellectual level, I'm in favour of 2000AD continuing to move forward instead of wallowing in nostalgia. But damned if this strip didn't make me feel 10 years old again, in a good way.

[IndigoPrime]

Well, this is very much a CHONKY Meg, although I guess we must all be mindful that the page count is much lower next month. It does, though, echo my favourite period of the publication, if not (currently) the diversity of strips that made that interesting when I was getting back into comics (what with the likes of Lazarus Churchyard and Hellboy).

The Niemand Dredd was another solid effort, if not as fun as the one over in 2000 AD. Storm Warning's chronology grates a little, but the strip is OK. Death Metal Planet has lost me as the Dark Judges veer back from terror to absurdity. (Judgement on Gotham was heavy on style, but the script was... yeah.) Devlin continues to be superb under Kot's pen, and I hope he sticks around long-term. Surfer is also great, as you'd expect from its creative team.

Then we hit the 'reprint plus' section. I recall enjoying Year One when I read it some time ago, and nothing here changes that. I'm not sure it's that different a take on Dredd, really, but Matt Smith gets the feel of the strip and it looks lovely. It's quite the contrast, then, to turn the page and end up in the mess that is City of Courts. I bloody love that DPS of the city, but the premise falls flat for me, the characterisation is off in that way US Dredds so often are, and Dredd himself looks strange.

Steel Claw is good enough for some old-school reprint and wisely kept down to a smallish page count. And then we get Mega City 2099. I'm not sure what to make of this. Is it a one-off slice of silliness or the start of something new? As a nod to dodgy early Dredd, it certainly raised a smile in me (UKK—!), but... one episode is probably enough. And then we got Sole Occupant, which got a proper guffaw out of me with the postal droids, and was a good one-off Dredd – although oddly dropped into the rear of this comic.

In all, a very good Meg rather than a great one for me. It'll be interesting to see what the split is next month. If we're going to get 23 pages of Year One and another 23 of City of Courts, along with maybe another ten of Steel Claw, that aligns with the page count of the floppy (IIRC), and so we're not 'losing' anything. It's just the comic itself will be more substantial again (and presumably simpler to produce, package and ship), with the 'downside' of not being able to store the floppies separately (not that I honestly really cared about that anyway).

Devlin Waugh > Surfer > Dredd (Year One) > Dredd (Sole Occupant) > Dredd (Dollman) > Mega City 2099 > Storm Warning > Steel Claw > Death Metal Planet > Dredd (City of Courts)

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

You won't believe me, but there used to be a time when this was posted to people!

[Richard]

I liked Mega-City 2099, and I hope we see it again.

I'm really looking forward to the thrill advertised on the inside back cover! Does anyone know who wrote it, or who that artist is?

[nxylas]

I'm really looking forward to the thrill advertised on the inside back cover! Does anyone know who wrote it, or who that artist is?

Not seen any announcement, but my money's on Niemand or Ennis.

[broodblik]

I'm really looking forward to the thrill advertised on the inside back cover! Does anyone know who wrote it, or who that artist is?

Not seen any announcement, but my money's on Niemand or Ennis.

I think the writer is Niemand, he left this message related to 451 on his twitter:
The unpredictable mail tides finally wash up Meg 451 on the shores of Niemand Island.
What strange thing is this, starting next issue?