Yay, bagged the first Meg thread of the year!!! :)
Cover - Nice cover of Stan Lee's daughter.
(http://www.2000adonline.com/2000ad/media/index/megs/original/293.jpg)
Judge Dredd - Dog Soldiers starts off nicely, looking forward to where its heading (though I don't really think [spoiler]the Meg giving Dredd the coordinates to the villains hideout doesn't count as having "one or two friends"[/spoiler]).
Tempest - [spoiler]Tempest is now breaking into Iso Block 666 after the villains daughter uses the Hand of Unmaking on a poor sap[/spoiler].
Tank Girl - Meh, a flashback to TG's army days.
The Lost Cases - Dredd tackles some juves doing Block Mania after [spoiler]a Reverend of Grud persudes them to steal some Sonic Handguns from the judges[/spoiler]. Also, nice deaths from the villains to everybody including [spoiler]Judge Finbow[/spoiler]'s.
Interrogation - Interviews from Mike Carey, George Romero & [spoiler]James Cameron[/spoiler].
Various articles about Sitges Film Festival & about comics on the iPod while the movie reviews are about Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, The Road, Carriers & Ninja Assassin. Also, Buttonman will like the fact that there is a letters page.
Haven't read all of the reprint yet but its all Rogue/Friday stories.
Tempest IS Roger Godpleton!
your mum :D
I know we do this conversation a lot but... Robbie Morrison Dredd. It's just not quite right, is it? My biggest gripe was "They're no loss." Where is his sense of injustice? They've just been killed!
Anyway, I enjoyed the Meg overall, with Tempest the best bit.
- Trout
I tried to read The Meg last night- started off well with the Romero interview, then fell apart for me with the hatchet job of Survival of the Dead (along with, it seems, most every other film at Sitges!) which was an abomination of a review. Then the middle pages of the magazine fell out- a thing that would usually cause me to leap up, trudge through the snow and buy a new copy- instead I found myself not caring.
I tried to read the main Dredd, but managed two pages before it bored me to death. Tank Girl shocked me by still being there, I looked at Tempest but couldn't face it, and read PJH's Lost Cases, but it didn't "feel right". Nice art though.
I was, though, heartened that they printed so many letters complaining about TG- without the usual pissy response, and that they censored Romero's "fuck"s. Is this the start of the Meg and the prog pulling back on the swearing? I hope so.
I'm not fussed about the Rogue stuff, but I might give it a read later. Not the best £5 I've ever spent, and I thought the cover was massively underwhelming, but despite all that, a few green chutes of hope is enough to keep me buying, for now.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 09 January, 2010, 02:02:02 PM
I thought the cover was massively underwhelming
Yeah, me too. Sorry. I like his stuff inside the Meg.
Not a great Meg - the articles were probably the strongest aspect, never a good sign. It occurs to me that if I skip the next two I could afford the The Dead Man trade, and then come back when Lily Mackenzie makes her debut -tempting. Certainly next month's Breathing Space GN seems feels like it originally appeared about a year ago (I know it was a decade), so that's not essential. Anyone know what the one after that is?
The strip highlight was the delightful Tempest, which started with that lovely quote from MJ Hibbett which had me humming along all day (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfCdNrRNS4g) and then proceeded to make proper use of both the Undercity location and its two principals. Neat, and really well drawn by the massively improved Davis-Hunt. I have high hopes that this story can redeem the Deathfist brand.
Second place was, errr, Tank Girl. Sorry folks, but I've become a bit of a fan. I even took the Cream of Tank Girl book out of the library a while back (very good read), and I used to hate TG back in the Deadline days. And Rufus' art here is stonkingly good.
While fairly inoffensive the main Dredd story is doing nothing for me so far, and nor are Grant's Lost Cases, although the art on both is fandabiduzzy - strong flavours of Talbot from Leigh and a glorious synthesis of McCarthy and McMahon with a tip of the hat to Ron Smith from PJ. I love Leigh's mummified Dredd, and while after so long on Defoe it's good to see that he's not just a one-trick pony, I think the dark colours may not have suited his dense style. I will admit that the Lost Cases are better than I was expecting, but still feel fairly pointless - something like Ewing and Marshall's Christmas Dredd flashback would be far more welcome.
The Rogue Trooper padding stories in the War Machine GN were so utterly pitiful that I actually started disliking the godly Chris Weston by the end. Is Tharg trying to remind us why Rogue isn't in the Prog anymore?
As to the articles, the Mike Carey interview/profile was a good read, the Podcast piece was nice to see, and I'd never heard of the Sitges festival despite being a big fan of the town itself, where we camped while visiting nearby Barcelona some years back. Seeing as I know that I want to see nearly all the films in the film review column, I decided not to read that.
Solid as most of the text stuff is, I know I wouldn't buy it if it was in a magazine without comic strip - and the bottom line there is the only strip I'd be sorry to miss next month seems to be Tempest, and maybe Tank Girl. When money's as tight as it is at present, it's quite hard to justify the purchase.
QuoteCertainly next month's Breathing Space GN seems feels like it originally appeared about a year ago (I know it was a decade), so that's not essential. Anyone know what the one after that is?
Breathing Space was around 5 years ago I think - good for me as I missed it first time round, but I expect they'll be a bit of a row next month as I can see how people might feel a little short changed. Month after that is
The Best of Pulp Sci-Fi, apparently.
Also not essential -thanks for that Radiator. The Dead Man beckons.
Quote from: King Trout on 09 January, 2010, 01:50:03 PM
I know we do this conversation a lot but... Robbie Morrison Dredd. It's just not quite right, is it? My biggest gripe was "They're no loss." Where is his sense of injustice? They've just been killed!
I really hate Morrison's Dredd so much. I thought he had done his worst in that story where Dredd [spoiler]switched off the life-support on a comatose woman[/spoiler], but nothing can compare to the truly horrendous ending he wrote for "Street Fighter", where [spoiler]Dredd arranges for Lee Walker to travel in the same catch wagon as Ty Vendrell, so that Walker can kill him[/spoiler]. Even a moderately gifted dolphin could figure out that there is absolutely no way Dredd would EVER do that.
Quote
Breathing Space was around 5 years ago I think - good for me as I missed it first time round, but I expect they'll be a bit of a row next month as I can see how people might feel a little short changed. Month after that is The Best of Pulp Sci-Fi, apparently.
I basically hated Beathing Space, but for some reason I'm considering picking up The best of pulp sci-fi, which was harldy a top-class series.
Tank Girl is still there? Can't it have a nice long rest now, please.
I liked Tank Girl even more this month. It had more of a story to it than recent months and the art is just delicious.
When do I stop the Meg? With money getting tight, I had held on hoping the lost cases would be brilliant...well not so far, but we're just starting. I hate to stop, but I don't much care for reading the Meg. It's like I'm buying it just because...bah.
I've only read the podcast article so far, fabulous and thanks so much to Alec Worley for the mention of Small Press Big Mouth. Totally unexpected, was exciting enough to see my mates in the Meg to have a lil mention ourselves - I nearly passed out with Thrill Power Overload!
I'm sure no-one cares about this, but today I made the decision to go (clickwheel)download only for the Meg from now on. I've a regular reader since 2003, but I've never felt so apathetic about it till now. In retrospect I was probably a little spoilt as my first few years of Meg-reading were when it was, to my mind, the best it's ever been. But now it's got to the point where the majority of content is making me wonder why I keep handing over my cash every month. At the same time I don't want to drop it altogether, at there's usually at least one thing worth reading(Tempest at the moment). And occasionally they can still pull something amazing out of the bag, like that great Ron Smith interview. But there's no way I can still justify paying full price for something which I usually skim through in half an hour and then never glance at again.
The more I think about it the more sense this decision makes, as I'm not really bothered about the reprints but at least I can read the bits I want to and don't have to fork out a fiver for the privilege, or worry about where the hell I'm going to store the damn things. Bye bye Paper Meg, hello Terrifying Digital Future.
That's extremely brave of you Goosegash- I wish I had the bottle to make a similar decision. Alas, AT THE MOMENT, my terrible disability overwhelms my good sense and I keep adding to the boxes.
The truth is, it does have to stop sometime. Not because I'm being harrassed by my wife, or running out of space (though I am and I am) but because the rational part of my brain is finally beginning to see that paying a fiver every four weeks for something that I only skim read at best, and most times don't even bother. The current one, which I bought last week, has been skimmed- but has since been left unread on the shelf where, if I'm honest, it'll probably stay.
Rather than wait til cancellation, I should go the Clickwheel route... but I just can't equate this thing sitting on my lap, through which I'm accessing the Internet, with a "permanent part of my life", in the same way that my hands, eyes and comics, are.
So, at the moment, I continue to waste a fiver a month... for now. Let us know how it goes...
SBT
I found this month's Meg very very light, Last month's was a gem as far as I was concerned, but this month's text stuff had no interest to me except the podcast thingy and Dreddlines, but that's the nature of the beast. The Wolfie Dredd done nothing for me while TG I skimmed... don't know why, I loved her when she was a two fingered salute to all those men in tights and was all new and fresh, now I'm just uninterested in her dispite Rufus' excellent artwork.
Tempest I enjoyed the most but it was all over too quick (heard that before). The Friday Rogue was, as last month, a surprise as I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great example of a good story spoiled by artwork that (sorry) wasn't up to scratch.
Still for the price of less than two pints or one and a half Yankee DC/Marvel comics its still excellent value and I for one will keep buying.
Tempest, the Lost Cases yarn and Tank Girl (both particularly for the art) I enjoyed, but they still felt a bit forgettable. I like the Dog Soldiers themselves in the main Dredd too.
I subscribe so will be recieving the Meg up until my sub ends and like SBT, until they cure the symptoms I might still have the disease! If I ask myself 'would I miss the Meg if it folded?' I have to honestly say that no, I wouldn't. I hate saying that and I read tooth throughout the '90s for Grud's sake!
Hope springs eternal...
M.
Meg 293 will be my last, or at least I'm going to try and ween myself off it.
The lead Dredd story is generally Ok and I will probably kick myself for not keeping up with Alan's lost cases.
But after all the years of sticking with the Meg through thick and thin I just cant keep spending money on a Mag that that I only read part of month after month.
This month I read Dog Soldiers, decent enough story but the art didnt do it for me or more precisely the colouring was awful. This isnt a pop at Leigh its just this month was the month I decided to give up the Meg but it does semm that anyone can draw dead these days.
Tempest hasnt done it for me since it began and I'm sure theres a decent Undercity story out there somewhere but this isnt it.
Al may be a great writer of the future but as far as his Dredd's go he's got to stop standing on the shoulders of giants and come up with something better.
I've never been a Tank Girl fan although I love Rufus' art but good art cant keep me coming back alone.
The one thing I'll probably miss is Alan's 'Lost Cases' but I hope they'll be collected one day.
The interviews I read depending on who they are with or who has written them but I skip more than they read.
Movie reviews out of date as I've usually seen them before the reviews appear and if I want movie reviews I'll by Empire.
Meg 294 will be the first gap in my collection and theres sone Turkeys in there but Ive always bought anything the house of Tharg produces but I cant justify just buying the Meg just so I dont have any gaps.
Lets see how long I last before I crack.
Quote from: W. R. Logan on 12 January, 2010, 12:42:12 PM
Lets see how long I last before I crack.
First Wagner Dredd, I'd guess.
Quote from: W. R. Logan on 12 January, 2010, 12:42:12 PM
The one thing I'll probably miss is Alan's 'Lost Cases' but I hope they'll be collected one day.
The entire concept screams collection to me. Not that thats a bad thing, I'm really enjoying them. Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.
Quote from: James S on 12 January, 2010, 01:51:26 PM
Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.
So basically, go back to the early Alan Barnes-era Meg. :)
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 12 January, 2010, 01:59:45 PM
Quote from: James S on 12 January, 2010, 01:51:26 PM
Cmon Tharg, drop the cover price a quid or even 2, drop the 'free graphic novel' drop Tank girl, perfect bind the mag and we are sorted.
So basically, go back to the early Alan Barnes-era Meg. :)
Pretty much :D
This is becoming a bit of a habit, but I'll defend the Meg again this month, and suggest that while it may not be perfect, in the past it's been far, far worse. I actually think the last three issues have all been good to excellent.
The lead Dredd was weak, admittedly. It was interesting to see Leigh on Dredd, but I would agree with Logan and say that I really didn't like the colouring - the art style seemed to demand something more delicate.
Tempest was fun as always - and was the highlight of the issue for me.
Tank Girl is something I always enjoy, though I know I'm in a minority!
The Lost Cases was an OK story raised up by some gorgeous artwork. The Ron Smith tribute panel was a bit odd, and makes me wonder if this, like the Cam Kennedy tribute last week, is specified in the script or whether its the artist's decision.
The podcast article was great - exactly the sort of thing the Meg should be doing, and though I generally enjoy the movie bits, I have little interest in Mike Carey and the 5 or 6 pages afforded to the interview seemed a little excessive.
The reprint is a good one, and it's nice to have a copy of The War Machine again. The back up stories were an odd choice - there's better Friday material out there, surely? I was wondering whether we'd get the Mark Millar/Chris Weston three part RT strip (ISTR reading that MM was intended to take the strip over full time). Never read it and was curious to see what it was like.
It was more of a Ron Smith tribute eyebrow than panel wasnt it? I really like the Lost Cases, a lot of fun, nice artwork and the storys aint too bad either. Im still confused by Tempest though. As in who he is. I assumed he was some Judge who took the UC walk and went nuts but now they are saying hes some crimelord. Anywhere with a potted synopsis online ?
QuoteAl may be a great writer of the future but as far as his Dredd's go he's got to stop standing on the shoulders of giants and come up with something better.
Not only is this a load of shit (unless, of course you apply the same accusation to Alan and John when they wrote things like Batman and Star Wars) is also pretty fucking insulting to the writer.
I quite liked the top panel on the last page of Tempest. Bring it on, especially as we can see there is at least 16 of them.
Then again I bet they all get wiped out in a few panels next month.
As for the rest of the Meg, I read the 4 strips and then put it away (sorry I read the letters page as well) and unless I am extremely bored one day I won't read any of the articles. Saying that I may read the Mike Carey interrogation this week before it's too late and the whole thing is a distant memory.
As for the fiver debate, well it's only a fiver and I can live without that every month so I'll be buying it and before anyone says, I'm not rich :lol:
re: Lost Cases Ron Smith tribute. The strip ties into a Blockmania story drawn by Ron - that final page was specified to be a match up to the first page of the Ron Smith story. I didn't want to try and mimic Ron throughout (instead McMahon and McCarthy :P ), but did want to, at least, bring something of his to that last page (I accept I may have misjudged the mix, though)
-pj
Well I've finished reading it and I can't understand the negativity, I'm with radiator me. I really liked the Dredd, I love Tempest I LOVE Tank Girl and I really enjoyed the Lost Cases Dredd. I enjoyed the Mike Carey interview, and obviously the podcast article ROCKED THE BIG ONE! Overall - smashing!
QuoteI accept I may have misjudged the mix, though
Not at all PJ, it was supoib stat to finish. Care to let us know what approach Alan takes to his scripts? If Wagner is a 1 and Moore is a 10, where does Alan fall on the detail scale?
I've great respect for Logan's opinion on all matters both Dredd and Wagner, but I have to take issue with this:
QuoteAl may be a great writer of the future but as far as his Dredd's go he's got to stop standing on the shoulders of giants and come up with something better.
If anything Al's handful of Dredd scripts have been characterised by a really solid degree of originality - the intelligent uniform, Community Officer Joe, Little Juvey Jovus, the Eisnerish Christmas story, the Harry Lime story: all made me smile, all were memorable, and all still felt like Dredd. With all due respect to Rennie, I don't think
any other non-Wagner Dredd scripter has hit the ground running quite as sucessfully as Al has. I'd like to see him handle a longer and more serious story, but I'm really excited to see what he does next.
Quotere: Lost Cases Ron Smith tribute. The strip ties into a Blockmania story drawn by Ron - that final page was specified to be a match up to the first page of the Ron Smith story.
Ah, I thought it might be something like that - Block Mania/The Apocalypse War is one of the Dredd epics I've read the least amount of times, so I didn't spot the reference. For some reason I only picture McMahon, Dillon and Bolland when I think of Block Mania.
QuoteNot only is this a load of shit (unless, of course you apply the same accusation to Alan and John when they wrote things like Batman and Star Wars) is also pretty fucking insulting to the writer.
Apologies, I forgot that your not allowed to have an opinion.
You grumpy fucker! :D
Everyone's allowed an opinion but it's better to express it with a bit more respect. You're a good guy, Logan, but this time you got a wee bit personal.
- Trout
I thought the Meg was okay this month, but it could be a lot better. I think most people's problem with the current incarnation is the format/price issue and whether the Meg should be a comic or a more rounded, try-and-cover-everything magazine. I'm of the mind that there is a middle ground to be reached but as of right now, the Meg is too much of the latter and too little of the former.
There's only four strips in an issue (not including the attached reprint, which I really like and enjoy 90% of the time!) and far, far too much 'magazine' content. In my opinion they need to reign back not only the number of articles, but also their lengths. Even decent, interesting stuff like the podcast article in the current issue outstays its welcome at three pages.
There's a three page article on a Spanish genre festival (where the reviewer seems to dislike everything, even The Road which I thought was very good. Reminded me a little too much of a tabloid reviewer too, the guy was does the normal film reviews is much better) and another three pages of film reviews later, which covers TWO of the same films (the Road and Carriers). I have issues already with film reviews in what is primarily a comic but having two reviewers covering the same films is a bit ridiculous! Add another two pages of director interviews and you've got quite a large chunk of the Meg covering films, a medium that is already well taken care of by four or five magaziners (Empire, Sight & Sound, Total Film etc.) and pretty much every other newspaper/magazine out there.
If the text articles have to be there as a necessity, I'd much rather they cover comic-related subjects, stuff like creator interviews (which are great and I hope they stay for a long time indeed), You Should be Reading (not watching, which usually covers TV shows that have already been over for a year or two), and articles which cover more niche/left field stuff like Manga (not really my thing personally but I can still understand it's being there). I'd quite like to see some articles on some of the independant American/European guys like Chris Ware, Eddie Campbell etc.
It feels to me right now that the comics in the Meg (Dredd et al), regardless of quality, are an aside while I feel they should be the focus. It needs to be a tighter, leaner beast than it is at the moment. If it's a case of not being able to afford more comic strip, I really do wish they'd just come out and say it rather than try and sell the Meg as something it isn't or call a lot of the written content as anything but filler.
I also wouldn't mind seeing a return to printing some of the small press stuff if it means we get less guff about crap horror films that I never intend (or most likely would even get a chance) to see.
This turned out longer than I expected :o
Why would the (presumably) American Tempest say "mum" instead of "mom"? For this reason I am forced to label Al Ewing "Worstest writer ever and most likely a HOMO".
Hmmm. You know, "Roger", it's against the board rules to have more than one user account, even if you're a comics writer?
;) ;) ;)
Quote from: King Trout on 12 January, 2010, 10:16:43 PM
You grumpy fucker! :D
Everyone's allowed an opinion but it's better to express it with a bit more respect. You're a good guy, Logan, but this time you got a wee bit personal.
- Trout
Wasn't my intention to be personal, my intention was to give my opinion and so I shall elaborate. I like Al, hes a strange and unique individual and I've liked his work since he would run round conventions giving away his home made mini-comics, his disco dancing Rogue Trooper still remains one of the best comics handed out at any con.
Zombo, love it, Dredd's are fine but as with many new Dredd writers and at times even Gordon and Garth fell into the trap of having to show how much of a fan you are by getting as many references to old Dredd stories in as possible. Gordon's weakness was the Apocalypse War and I feel that Al is going down the route of getting in as many references as possible to show his love of the character.
When Al has to come up with his own characters and stories he mostly gets it right and as much as I like most of his Dredd's I'd rather see him dropping the fan pleasing refernces and just wrote about Dredd & the City.
Quote from: W. R. Logan on 13 January, 2010, 08:18:22 AM
Wasn't my intention to be personal, my intention was to give my opinion and so I shall
When Al has to come up with his own characters and stories he mostly gets it right and as much as I like most of his Dredd's I'd rather see him dropping the fan pleasing refernces and just wrote about Dredd & the City.
Fair points all Mister Logan, but it's subjective really, innit? Where you see fan pleasing references I see natural and continuing, erm, continuity. I mean, our own world is
still to some extent being informed and infuenced by what happened during WWI and II. It boggles the mind that the Mega-City wouldn't still be suffering ramifications from an event as massive as the Apocalypse War or Necropolis, even if it is twenty years down the line. You say you'd rather he wrote about 'The City' but heck, an awful lot of what makes up that city and the people in it is the past events they've suffered through.
For what it's worth I agree with you about G Rennie - he did tend to over-use the back references, which was fairly baffling for me because when he was at his height in the prog I'd yet to read most of 'classic' Dredd. One of the best regular writers Dreddworld's had, no doubt, but for me he never quite shook off the feeling of a 'fan writer'. But I think Al's just about avoided this so far (only just, mind). Give him time to really come into his own.
Funnily enough, I was thinking of posting something similar to Logan but as a more general thread.
I really like Al's writing and look forward to him staying around for a good while, but I was wondering if we're all starting to get a bit bogged down by momentum/continuity? (I understand Wagner doesn't!)
Dredd is such a powerful character - does the undoubted genius of Wagner mean the character has been 'ruined' for anyone else? Is it likely to mean we won't accept the inevitable future Dredd writers?
M
I think Al Ewing's Dredd perfectly complements Wagner's. It really works for me that Wagner deals with the main Dredd continuity in 2000AD while Ewing has the chance to explore Dredd's situation in the Cursed Earth in the Megazine. I often thought that Ewing's trick for getting things right is by focussing more on the citizens of MC1 or the oddballs of the Cursed Earth but that's not always the case. Even when Dredd is the main focus he gets that right. I am always guaranteed a laugh out loud moment with some trashy dialogue. Can't say I see too many 'fan pleasing references'.
Mind you, I think he has been taking some writing tips off Godpleton. Your mother this, your mother that...
Good for you for taking the time to respond in full, Logan.
the 'fanboy references' criticism may be valid in an everyday Dredd story, but surely that's the whole point of these "lost cases" - they are specifically designed to reference old stories. It's like complaining there are too many robots in the ABC warriors, or that you don't like twist endings in the Future Shocks.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 13 January, 2010, 03:45:06 PM
the 'fanboy references' criticism may be valid in an everyday Dredd story, but surely that's the whole point of these "lost cases" - they are specifically designed to reference old stories. It's like complaining there are too many robots in the ABC warriors, or that you don't like twist endings in the Future Shocks.
The lost cases are written by Alan Grant though.
oops, I think I'm confusing two different arguments from the last couple of pages of posts! I thought the gripe was that the lost cases rely too heavilly on references to old stories!
:-[ Just pretend I'm not here....
Maybe I'm easily pleased. But I have been buying the meg almost constantly since 1995 and in recent years have a subscription.
My favourite period in meg history was 1995 (though some consider this a weak point). I have to say, the past 18 months I've enjoyed the Meg as much if not more than at any time in its history. I think it's a real high at the moment. Sure, Tan Girl isn't my favourite strip and you do sometimes wonder why it's in there, but nonetheless I enjoy reading it, it adds a bit of variety and it's worth it for Rufus alone.