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.
Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkBqyytXwAkm6F-?format=jpg&name=large)
Cover and Logo:
(https://i0.wp.com/downthetubes.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/img_5212-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1009&ssl=1)
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.
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
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 December, 2022, 08:15:16 PM
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! :-)
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 23 December, 2022, 06:54:44 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 December, 2022, 08:15:16 PM
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...
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!
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 23 December, 2022, 08:15:44 PM
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.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 23 December, 2022, 06:54:44 PM
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.
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)
You won't believe me, but there used to be a time when this was posted to people!
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?
Quote from: Richard on 31 December, 2022, 02:50:11 PM
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.
Quote from: nxylas on 31 December, 2022, 04:42:57 PM
Quote from: Richard on 31 December, 2022, 02:50:11 PM
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?(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlFj2jRXwAgqYpx?format=jpg&name=large)
Quote from: broodblik on 01 January, 2023, 05:17:31 AM
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?
Yay, I'm off to the pretend bookies to collect my pretend winnings.
The art on that looks loverly... but if it isnt Wagner, I'll be somewhat disappointed. Given Wagners opinion on such crssovers, I'm guessing it isn't and they just started feeding Pre-Dredd Wagner scripts into the Niemand algorythm.
Not a bad meg with some great moments but with a few minor flaws and one big mishap.
Dredd – Another Niemand Dredd with some great art by Moore. Maybe not the most xmas like but still a fun little story.
Storm Warning – Little bit of frustration creeping in here as the creative team makes it difficult to follow with the jump between timelines. Still an interesting story and I believe it will read easier as a whole than monthly.
Dark Judges – Mmm, it might be me, but the Dark Judges are getting boring and the story itself does not help. I still love Nick's art, but the story cannot decide if it wants to be a comedy or a horror.
Devlin – Kot is nailing Devlin and is a fantastic read. At first, I did not like the idea that art duties are done by Rob Richardson, but I must confess it works for the story (I always like to be proven wrong). The last page just wants me to read the next episode.
Surfer – Poor Zane as he just cannot geta break. This is another great Wagner/MacNeil Dredd-verse story.
Year One – The first of the IDW Dredd stories. I have a big dislike in most of what IDW did, but I must say that the story has a great starting episode. The story is compelling and interesting and is certainly worth your time to read and do not forget some great art from Simon Coleby.
Mega-City Two – Well if you want to waste a few minutes of your life which you will never get back this right here is the story to invest in. This is the reason why I do not like IDW Dredd-verse stories. A nothing story with even worse art sorry but give this one a wide berth.
Mega-City 2099 – This is an interesting new story from Niemand and it tries and succeeds in trying to replicate classic Dredd. Dredd looks like the first few progs Dredd appeared in especially his helmet, kudos to Conor Boyle on art duties. Hope to see more of this one.
Dredd (Williams) – A good one-shot by Williams.
Hell of a lot to keep track of in this bumper edition, not least the scattered timelines.
I think chronologically, the stories unfold something like this:
- 2080 Year One
- 2094 City of Courts
- 2099 Rampage
- 2144 Dollman / Sole Occupant / Surfer / Karma Police
- 2147 Dead & Gone
- 2169 Death Metal Planet
I enjoyed most of them, despite initially misreading the title of the first Dredd and thinking 'Great,
Dolman is back at last'
Like Broodblik, I think the only misfire is Mega City Two: City of Courts. In the abstract, this is a great idea but it's let down by poor art and a boring story. Which is disappointing since Douglas Wolk (https://dreddreviews.blogspot.com/) is an otherwise great writer and knows his Dredd lore inside out.
I've finally caught up with the Meg. Like the last poster, I had mistakenly thought Dolman was back, which would have been great. But no it's Dollman with two "l"s. An extra letter makes a big difference. I don't think this one is going to remain in the memory for long. Nor will the bonus Dredd strip.
Storm Warning, Dark Judges and Devin are only ok. And given that, the Meg for me is not as good as it was when Lawless, Dreadnoughts and Megatropolisnwere running. They can't come back soon enough for my liking.
2099 was fun and very much had a Prog 2 feel about it. So much so that that opening picture of Dredd feels like it should have an "after Carlos Ezquerra" credit attached to it.
Best thing by miles was Surfer. Given the creative team that was to be expected. It's great to still get the occasional piece of Wagner magic.
As to the reprint and the change of format: I had read both IDW strips before, but there is something about having them in the main magazine that encourage me to read them again. If they had been in a floppy I don't think I would have bothered. Especially with Mega City Two. Year One was much closer to normal 2000AD Dredd than I had remembered; I had always though IDW Dredd was a bit "off", but this could easily have been written specifically for the Megazine. I guess being written by Matt Smith helps. As does having art by Simon Coleby.
As for The Steel Claw- it's very much of its time and I'd rather see stuff like this remain in Treasury of British comics volumes. But the seems to be a move to use the reprint as an advert for a trade. I notice there is a Steel Claw Reign of the Brain trade on the 2000AD store right now, which judging by the preview seems to have another story before this. And in 447 there was Feral and Foe, which contained the first part of the trade for that (although I'm not sure which Progs that goes up to).
I'm OK with the 'advertising' angle, as long as what we get isn't something really recent, and if it's self-contained. Feral and Foe felt very odd in the floppy – like a last-second replacement for something else, or an option designed to radically reduce costs.
I'm not looking forward to more MC2 next month, frankly, but Year One is good stuff.
I know the point here is really to focus on the new stuff, and indeed it's floating my boat pretty well, but I do want to rise to the defence of 'City of Courts'. The art is gorgeous and not like any other Dredd artist, which I always like. And the basic concept of what a future Califronia might be like, law-wise, is a solid one. I can agree that Wolk doesn't quite nail Dredd's character (although he is working to 2094 Dredd, so in theory has no template to match), but I for one am excited to see what happens when an actual American living his entire life in modern-day America dreams up for a weird sci-fi take on the place.
That Dredd 2099 strip, though, that was next-level 'I get Dredd, even from yesteryear, and can make it sing' comics-making from Neimand, Boyle and Campbell.
It's interesting also to compare Niemand's 2099 with the Christmas episode in 2000 and the latest part of his 2000 AD run. They all feel like very different things – as they should – and yet they all nail the character. Let's just hope no-one at Marvel or DC notices. It'd be nice to keep him in the Prog, and not having another Mr. Ewing.
So the Meg got another make-over.
When I first subscribed to the Meg and the Prog in 2001 - my first issue was Vol.3 No. 77 -, it still had the old, larger format, which benefitted the art, but the page count was much less, also there were no articles. Then came Vol.4 with 100 pages a few month later, still no articles at first, but more stories. As a newcomer I liked the reprints. When David Bishop's Thrill-Power Overload started, it was as interesting as it was helpful for the decision what to buy of the classics.
22 years are a lot of Megs. I started at 11.45 for both the Meg and the Prog a month for Europe, at the moment it is 25.50. (No complaint, just a fact.) There were good times, there were bland times and there were tiring times as a reader. Which is to be expected.
But the last few years I often thought about cancelling the Meg. Without Lawson, the odd Dredd and some interviews or articles I guess I would have. Too many series I either didn't like the story or the art. Or both. The monthly format can be difficult for long stories, and nearly a year of this or that can be endless if you don't like it. I often questioned the wisdom of running these stories in the Meg.
Dredd was also a mixed bag. Basically it is standing still, looking too much backwards instead of going forward. But this has nothing to do with the Meg and may be a better topic for the Prog. The most enjoyable Meg of last year was the zombie edition (and I can't believe I write this). It was nonsense, of course, but it knew it and still – or because of it - everybody had fun. And this translated on most pages.
We will see how long the new format will be. Back then it didn't last long. 18 months.
I am years behind on reading the Meg and only just remembered to check what has happened to the insert. I was surprised in December no polybag and thought that it had been put out of its misery at last.
A positive is that it seems it is material I haven't ever read, I have to be choosey about what I buy as with approaching 25 boxes on racking I can't spare the space for American titles.
It also saves me 12 bags and boards a year.
You are correct, the Meg has had a checkered past - I can still remember reading Preacher and not knowing why and for me the lowest point was an article about pirates that nearly made me write in it was so abominably and memorably bad.
I have a complete collection and don't get around to reading it for years at a time, but there are also times I considered giving up, the only reason being I am a completist and would have regretted trying to find them on ebay afterwards.
My benchmark is that any issue that doesn't contain non-2000ad wold reprints and articles about pirates isn't at the bottom of the barrel.
Don't remember the article about pirates, but reprinting Preacher, a comic by two 2000AD creators with a very 2000AD sensibility, made perfect sense to me. More so than Hellboy, whose connection to the House of Tharg seemed much more tenuous. That's not a comment on its quality, I just thought it seemed like an odd fit.
Not really, the Meg at that point was as I understand it on the edge of folding and went to reprints to what turned out to getting it through.
Without going back and polling the stories - it was a Dredd world monthly, to all of a sudden go to non-2000ad world stories didn't make any sense at all. Judge Dredd Megazine featuring mostly reprint stories from the non-2000ad universe other than the Dredd story .
Would Preacher fit into 2000ad? Not sure as I didn't really enjoy it, but it would make sense as it could comfortably fit into the anthology universe of the weekly.
I don't remember Hellboy and likely a lot of the other reprints (Tank Girl?) but again they simply didn't fit in a Dredd centric title.
There have been a lot of anthology titles over the decades that I have read and didn't survive very long, some of them new material others with collated more well known titles.
The strength of the Megazine is supposed to be the core of Dredd and the spinoffs.