2000 AD Online Forum

Got it.
Yet another Floyd Kermode letter- well done that man.
Does gold = filler this week?

Another lovely Langley cover.
Shock ending to VC's episode.
More Droid Life.
Reviews will follow.

My word - havent got it yet, but that cover is excellent - well done Chris Weston, and hurry on back to our progs soon!

Got it also! Hurrah! My first sub-type-thing! Haven't slept in nearly 31 hours, but I'm still happy. Well done on the letter floyd! I have 2 questions (not read it yet, will post a report when I have) but from what I've read before, some subby people get their prog and meg together, some get them seperately... I got just the meg today, which is fine and dandy, but it worried me that on the label after my name it said 1372+ 215+. Are they just the issues that my sub is going from, or... what? Just hoping they haven't missed the prog.
   The other thing is a Charley's War question. I've read 3 megs worth of it so far, and haven't taken to it at all. However, Floyd, Douglas Martin, and Logan to name but a few, have all proclaimed how brilliant they find it, and I'm determined to read more (especially as I have nothing but respect for Floyd and Logan, and trust their judgement) as I think I'm missing something. Maybe if I tried it from the beginning. Where's it been printed before? Where could I get hold of it from? Any help would be appreciated.

Ok, I'm off to read the meg and smile, and sleep.

Bony Fellah - the 1372 means thats the first week your sub runs from - do you need 1371? If so, I have a spare...

Thanks for the offer, but I actually bought it after the fire, so I actually have that one - currently my only prog *sobs* and now I have a nice new meg! Things can only get better... Hopefully 1372 will turn up soon then! Hurrah! NOW for reading and sleeps...

Hitman is that the post oz story where a hitman who kills celebs takes his revenge on Dredd after his chance to off chopper was messed up?

Yup.

i was dissappointed by the amount of reprint filler in this issue of the meg and i knew they were bringing maria back but i didnt know that they were going to kill her off as well,

far too many of dredds supporting cast dont actually live very long (especially compared to him), crazy barry, little mo were great but dead within a month - the list is endless

>>far too many of dredds supporting cast dont actually live very long (especially compared to him)

Dude, Maria's been around for the last 27 years.

Yeah - she's not exactly been a flash in the pan or anything!!

Probably would have been a logistical nightmare but it would have been nice to have a Dredd story each month from those featured in the Dredd-history thing.

but the last story featuring her was 10 yrs ago (and i think u know what i mean really),

now she comes back and shes dead !!!

"now she comes back and shes dead !!!"

...and in a perfectly good short that treated someone who was, essentially, a comedy character with some dignity. It wasn't "Bury My Knee..." but it was a solid story.

I'm certainly not going to complain because Gordon killed off a one-note character who, IMO, had long out-stayed her welcome.

so that was gordon too, was it???

Damn fine Meg, leading me to make a bold assertion:

The lead story in this month's Meg, "My Brilliant Career," is the best Dredd tale we've had for at least the last couple of years.

Finally, all the old elements many of us have been shouting for are back!
Wagner describes about four types of Mega City job which, plus the introduction of Employees Anonymous, are the first concentrated addition to Dredd's world that we've had in ages.

Add to that the action in the strip, the strong storytelling and the pathos at the end - with a bonus insight into Dredd's, or possibly Wagner's character - and we have some wonderful stuff.

Even the art works. I admit to being surprised when I flicked back a few pages in search of the artist's name, and discovered it was Simon Coleby.
I used to hate his work but this dark development of his style is very good.

The rest of the comic is still a high standard, especially Maria, Charley's War (which is really growing on me) and Rennie's bile duct, a half-page filler which is fast becoming one of my favourite parts of the comic.

My only criticism is: Floyd! For God's sake, get outside and see the sun sometime! :-)

- Trout

I thought it was a bloody excellent update on Maria - the revelations about her were absolutely in keeping while completely revising the character.  The highest compliment you can play a one-off story such as this is that it will make you read the old stories from a different angle.  Quite why I would go back and read old Maria-starring Dredd tales is beyond me, but if I do this strip will be there at the back of my mind.

Rennie's column also continues to amuse, are the indignant people out burning effigies of him yet?

On other fronts...

Half Life continues to be uniformly impressive.  Put me down for the graphic novel when it comes out.

Blood of Satanus continues to be flat and is beginning to look like one (10-page?) episode stretched out over 3 months.  Charley's War seems to mean a lot to some boarders here so I'll leave it alone.  Still can't see it, though.

Dredd - good tale from Wagner, with a nice distortion of a modern phenomenon into the logic of Dredd's world.  I don't like Simon Coleby'd Dredd though - the musculature is just way, way too overdeveloped, to the extent that I started thinking maybe they got the wrong superannuated 80s action star to play Joe...

Death didn't move forward too much, but I liked Irving's art on this episode almost more than anything he's done apart from Storming Heaven.

Floyd letter - yay!  Agree with everything you say (apart from C.W.)

Overall, the Meg yet again pips the 2kAD to the best of breed podium.

That's all, folks

...Dudley

Meant to add:

The dialogue on the Satanus story is absolute shit.

IMO.

- Trout

This is one true return to form for the Meg.

Half life is the strongest 2K story I've read for a very long time, and is far more dsturbing than any of the Death tales. The Dredd stories are far more interesting than any of the tooth Dredds. Please, more characterisation like these!

Charlies War is very much as Rennie described it last month - 300+ episodes of the same thing. It's good, but I've a bad feeling it's going to turn into repetetive filler like Darkies Mob. Sorry to all the fans out there, but vintage comics arn't my thing.

All the Things Troutpout said +

Does anyone think that strip along the top of the cover works? I know its fighting for attention with FM, SFX ETC but does it work?

Good old rant about LOEG in the editors letter, is Floyd K on piece work for Rebellion? what freebie has he got so far? the board has a right to know!

My Beautiful Career, Wagner back on form.What Trout said above.

Death: bit of a filler/linker this week I feel, art still barry, penultimate episode anyone?


Savage ad, hope the artwork is this good thro out, Patt Mills return to form?  hmmmm

Gold: Solid story, good too see again, bit of a filler but nothing beats the smell of fresh thrills.


Interrogation cube; nice, but i would prefer a wee bit of chat from the artists about treacle wells.

Charleys war: as good as I remember, and these stories have stuck with me from the first time round. I missed the later ones and its them along with the ones about his brother i would really want to see.

Blooody Dinos: couple of filler pages in there possibly? (again)

FS: filler?

Maria; hoped for a few more Sound of Music gags fi GRennie here, Good too see Maria was drinking 'Bampot' and also good to know she's out of the picture as she never quite fitted in Dredd's world, but the fact she was a mega(city)nutter born and bred seems to fit nicely.

Half Life: I've never been a fan of Anderson, always thought the after the first Boing! she'd served her storytelling purpose, but this is shaping up nicely as an 'Origins of...', will it snafu the continuity boffins at Anorak central?


Bit of an O'Briens sandwich: lots of good quailty staples pack with lots of good fillings, (pity about the Branson pickle).

ProudHuff Snr.

"Does anyone think that strip along the top of the cover works? I know its fighting for attention with FM, SFX ETC but does it work?"

No - it takes up far too much of the cover & it forces the logo down & behind the artwork. Maybe I'm just a sad traditionalist, but aren't you supposed to be able to read the title on the cover of a mag?

I agree. It's a good Mills yarn, but there's some real 'foot in mouth' dialog, mostly from Dredd. The little monologue on p3/panel 6 was terrible.

DREDD: What a great tale. The first page had me laughing, but this wasn?t funny at all. A biting satire, a prime example of how inhuman Dredd?s world is - which one tends to forget - and tragic. I don?t know how Wagner manages to do this time and again. Liked the art too.

SATANUS: well, this is rather blah.

JUDGE DEATH: had a few good chuckles, but frankly this gets a little bit long.

GOLD: Dredd is okay, guess Tharg wants to pave the way for the Chopper revival. (which imho isn?t a good idea), Charley?s War is great.

FUTURE SHOCK: well, okay ...

HALF-LIFE: I am a Anderson fan. Like it.

MARIA: as a rather newbie this character didn?t do much for me.

DREDD-FILES: interesting stuff, but I get the feeling that they reach the bottom of the barrel *g

All in all a great Meg. If this is a omen for the year this one is a happy subscriber *g

Shan't comment on the stuff that did nothing for me, as I have dinner cooking and an increasingly irate lady downstairs.

Anderson: Pure and unadulterated class. I don't like Arthur Ranson's art and even I am forced to bow down and prostrate myself before one of the best Dredd Universe things the Meg has ever printed. I sincerely hope this is lined up for collected format in the not too distant future.

Charley's War: Why do we have to have umpteen pages of Dredd reprint and a measely amount of this? Surely a two part Dredd and a couple more episodes of CW would have ebeen a better balance?This is by far the best strip in the comic and deserves a) more space, b) more publicity- or more than just tiny print on the cover and c) a cover all to itself. It's lovely to see it and Alan Barnes should be lauded to the skies for running it, but I really do feel it could be treated so much better.

There. That was brief. Not cos the Meg was bad, but simply because the sheer quality of the above strips caused everything else to pale into insignificance.

Steev

Re: Charley's War. That Lieutenant Snell is a b*st*rd. This story, which I am reading for the first time, is absolutely great. Instead of the sterotypical British troops=good, German troops=bad, we are given a much better story. In this episode, for example, we are shown German soldiers looting the dead, but we also have German soldiers wishing to put aside their differences and enjoy Christmas with the Tommies.
Again, we are given diverse officers, not just the "Lions led by Donkey's" we are so often given. Leiutenant Thomas is a decent man, while Snell is a murdering b*st*rd who deserves death (I do not like him at all!)
I can see how "Charley's War" is so acclaimed.

"The little monologue on p3/panel 6 was terrible."

I don't have my copy in front of me - wasn't that the one that mentioned Orlok? Horrible and clunky.

That's the one. I can't for a second believe Dredd would say Orlok's crimes and stealing pens are equally loathsome - that makes Dredd sound like a twat and not a stern upholder of the law. Oh well. (This strip feels very 1970s, in terms of script and art.)

McNulty - you've got it spot on. Films & novels had tackled this more complex view of WWI - and war in general - before, but Charley's War was, unless I'm mistaken, the first time the same approach had been attempted in a comic.

IndigoPrime - I've got my copy in front of me now, and it doesn't look any better:

"I've always believed in *zero tolerance*: not paying on public transport; stealing pens from work; fiddling expenses, killing cats... in my eyes, these crimes are *all* as loathsome as Orlok's, and should be punished with the full rigour of the law."

Even writing it out makes me cringe - it really is a spectacularly bad line (echoes of Scojo :-))

Just got in from work and had a quick flick through the Meg, my only negative comments about it are that I agree with Trout, the dialogue in the Satanus story is diabolical plus the Orlok reference, is it just there to show us that Pat still reads the occasional Dredd story?

What ever happened to Maria, really like the story but it seemed to have fanzine art. Nothing wrong with fanzine art in a fanzine but I do expect something better in the Meg.

Otherwise the Meg goes from strength to strength and in my opinion has never been better.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

i thought the meg was rather heavy with filler material this issue

i wonder if its a coincidence that when 2000ad GETS REALLY GOOD, THE MEG GETS RATHER GETS RATHER LEAN (and vice versa the autumn offensive being bad and the last few months of dredd being great)

HALF LIFE

briliant, excellent and im intrigued as to how it ends - MR RANSON is back

HITMAN
i didnt like the art in the story first time round but it was a 'great' story, its a key point in dredds timeline as well when continuity seemed to be pretty tight - the art actually looks worse now (even by jim baikies standards)

MY BEAUTIFUL CAREER
seemed like a return a return to bleak humour that reared its ugly head in a few one offs here and there, i dont actually like this as it also seems inconsistent (especially with the long walk storyline etal), sometimes dredd very harsh and arrogant sometimes not and occasionally theres a puchline - what is dredds actual stance (or does he just like to keep us geussing)

FUTURE SHOCK
not bad, its a credit to the earlier writers that many of the older ones are remembered or worth reading - they lose their edge and descend into monotony eventually (but its the hardest thing to do to write a killer story in 2 or 3 pages with a shock twist that also hooks the reader - alan moore was a master at it)

SATANUS
run of the mill and doesnt suit black and white anymore

interogation cube
very good but lets have an longer or more worthwhile interviews

the dredd going over the first 28 episodes or so isnt catching my attention either)

DEATH
seems to be building up to somethng, started off very well but has descended in to bolocks

MARIA
pure filler with absolutely no point to it whatsoever, if u were just going to kill the character off u may as well not have drawn it out over the number of pages it was and tagged on, 'oh maria died by the way' in another story

poor

YOURE NEXT, PUNK
i have rated down every piece of work gordon has ever done accordingly with this piece (that made me feel much better)

Thanks for the nice words about my letter being printed, you all.  I just write a lot of letters, honestly, that`s all.
  I didn`t say, though, that CW was brilliant, I just said I was enjoying it so far...

by the way, did anyone else have a Megazine with some of the pages still sealed together? I had to use my train ticket as a letter opener.

O well, more once I`ve read the rest of the Megazine.

yours epislatorily (I bet that`s a real word)

Floyd

Re Satanus, can't believe this Duke bloke is the same artist as on Brats Bizarre in Toxic waaay back. Thought art was supposed to improve in time?

it has??? brats bazarre was one of those stories that suited a quirky art style so u could hide the fact u couldnt draw

u think this satanus is bad, check out his usa stuff - u cant get worse (they are still trying to flog them to us as high art)

its very loose and cartoonistic for years (but with lots of full page cartoon pictures which is really annoying cos u know that the artist is taking the rip)

dont know where this style came from really

i liked brats bazarre though (was good, and never finished either by the way)

"Yes, I will stand here and explain, for no good reason I or anyone else can understand, my own personal ethos on law enforcement to these two pieces of lawbreaking scum.  Afterwards, when I've finished, we'll get on with the story again."

That Dredd dialogue made me think of Torquemada's superfluous soliloques.

I think "clunky" is quite a good word to describe it, but it doesn't go far enough.

Add: clumsy; ham-fisted; self-indulgent; cringe-worthy; perhaps even juvenile and certainly unsophisticated.

Does no-one at the Command Module have lead in their blue pencil?

- Trout

"Add: clumsy; ham-fisted; self-indulgent; cringe-worthy; perhaps even juvenile and certainly unsophisticated."

even that might not go far enough. has mills forgotten hardly anyone works in MC1? how much of dredds day is spent hunting down the pens from work thieves? and the last panel showing dredd firing off a loose shot...wonder where thats ended up?

this was the low point in what i thought a prety good meg. undecided about the dredd files though, how long is this going to go on?

It's a bit Slainey, too.

"Arresting perps, breaking heads with my daystick, revving my Lawmaster engine... these words are pleasing to me..."

- Trout

>undecided about the dredd files though, how long is this going to go on?

I like it and hope it stays a permanent feature until everything is listed.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

I like it too - if maybe for selfish reference-related reasons - but was I the only one who found the layout a bit confusing in places?

Presumably, they're going to keep on going until they catch up with the current stories.  And, after that, there's the Meg stories, the annuals, the summer specials etc etc etc.

Just imagine that, Floyd!

Yes, more Dredd files please!  That way all the little stories that never got resolved will be laid out in an easy-to-follow format, meaning that someone somewhere might choose to solve the Crystal Skull cliffhanger, or the "Psi-visions of a major Sino-Cit war" cliffhanger, or the Charles Darwin block cliffhanger...etc

Also, it's a handy cut-out-and-keep reference guide to when certain half-decent villains are due to get back out of the Iso-Cubes, thus possibly providing great jump-off points for the scriptdroids.

Finally, it's just really interesting.

...Dudley

I demand a return ti the days of "Stomm! It's Peters, the man who DRANK THE BLOOD OF SATANUS!"

>Also, it's a handy cut-out-and-keep reference guide

Should come in handy for John Wagner & save him e-mailing me.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Logan - :-)

I'm not reading the Dredd Files in-depth, as I did with TPO, but it does hold some interest.

I'm pretty much skimming it, and I'm looking forward to when the continuity errors start popping up, and we have to argue about them on the board ad infinitum. :-)

- Trout

The Blood of Satanus storyline is bloody awful, that dialogue about stealing pens was shit. It was nearly as bad as last months Whatever Happened To Tweak. Apart from the crappy 'movie' tie-ins, there's a reason that Pat Mills hasn't written for Dredd since prog 154 (the last Satanus story), he's no good at it. His vision of Dredd doesn't sit well with that of Wagner, Grant and Rennie.

On another note the Whatever Happened to Maria was excellent. Loved the end panel, very sad and spoke volumes on the value placed on life in the big meg. Also liked the way Maria wasn't Italian in the slightest. Can't wait to read more of these.

The Prog hasn't arrived here in The Village, so thank fuck for the Meg.

Just read Alan's opinion on LEXG which is pretty much the reaction most people had.  While watching it I had to cry out 'what's it all about' in pain three or four times (and that was retsraining myself).

Anyway, the point I'm going to makle is that Alan has pretty much coined the phrase 'ballsy slappers' which is something I've been looking for to describe the 'tough yet sexy bitch women' who infest comics like lice on a dirty dingo's doo-dah.

Durham Red - Ballsy Slapper.

Anyway, off to read the meg.

Be seeing you.

For some reason, my local newsagents had it a day early.

I'm not going to give a full review, but I liked Anderson, I find Dredd files interesting, and Dredd was great, but I had a problem with the "I have a baby" line.

Yours squeamishly, Krustabi.

More Simon Coleby please Alan. This months Dredd was fantastic. And can we have another epic soon?

Heh, just back to say that was a FANTASTIC Dredd.  Really, wow.

I'll be honest I didn't like Colby on Rogue Trooper, and I thought that I didn't really like his art style at all.

What a turnaround, I'm trying to work out if the styles been adjusted, making it less spiky and angular and more craggy, but either way it really suited this brutal dark story.  A+ old chap.

Look forward to seeing his next strip now.

"i liked brats bazarre though (was good, and never finished either by the way)"

Don't know if you knew about this, but a follow-up series of Brats Bizarre was published by Epic Comics (Heavy Hitters imprint) May-Aug 1994. Four issues, written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, pencilled by Anthony Adhikary, inked by Colin Fawcett and Paul Scott. I have #4, and it's not that wonderful, missing the art of Duke Mighten.

This leads me on to the subject of strips that first appeared in Toxic! and were then continued elsewhere. How many are out there, and does anyone have a checklist?

Steev

Death.  Okay, Death is no longer scary whoelsale and NEVER will be.  Death has been revealed to be a fairly petty character for all his horrendous crimes and the guise of ultimate evil is well blown, no matter how many kiddies he despatches (I always thought that was a cheap shot at making him evil again anyway).  Now that's out of the way, I'm just going to enjoy this as a fun romp.

Anderson is the better strip, here Sidney is quite scary.  I'm absolutely loving this, top marks.  Really horrible atmosphere and suspense.  Who'd have thought Anderson in a coma could be so much fun?

Satanus.  I agree, some fairly crass and dodgy lines in this.  They had also invaded Tweak last issue.  A shame because they only detract from the story.  This feels a bit watered-down Pat Mills to be honest.  We're seeing a lot more work by him and I assume he's still doing the business for Europe, I hope he's not stretching himself too thinly here.  I'm expecting Savage to be nothing less than brilliant.  I'm a big fan of Pat Mills' work, but I find him completely exasperating a lot of the time.

Maria.  Well, that was sad and probably the right way to finish it, nicely done.  Liked the artwork a lot.

Not going to comment on the filler and reprint, I'm saving all that for later.  Best Strip was Dredd, that Anderson one is the issues big clifhanger.

Cheers everyone, there wasn't a bad story in there.  2000AD and the Meg have confirmed the belief I had at Dreddcon that they were going to hit new highs this year.

"inked by Colin Fawcett and Paul Scott"

Would all other Paul Scott's (especially the ones who are more succesful than me) kindly FUCK OFF!

Cheers :)

i ve got as many as there are i think

they are all crap without the original artists

and in the blue corner from dark horse

accident man - 2 issue miniseries

sex warrior 2 issue miniseries


apocalypse presents reprinted reprinted the stuff for the usa (lasted 7 issues)

im not sure if the bogie man stuff counts but there is 4 issue mini from fatman press prior to toxic

an annual from them too, straight after toxic (was solicited, not sure if published)

marshal law was epic beforehand and moved over to DARK HORSE briefly, i think they have buried the character for the time being as all uk creators have this loathing of superheroes (the americans dont get it, they like the superhero angle, they just think our pisstakes are a different 'cool' angle)

in the red corner from TUNDRA and ATOMEKA UK we have all the stuff that was going to appear in the UK adult comic market from the 90s

which is endless

Matt:

"The Blood of Satanus storyline is bloody awful, that dialogue about stealing pens was shit. It was nearly as bad as last months Whatever Happened To Tweak."

Although I thought that line about crime was atrocious, I didn't actually mind the rest of the strip. It wasn't as good as the first episode, but it's certainly not deserving of some of the abuse I've seen heaped on it. WHTT was also a solid Dredd short, with only a couple of off moments.

Dudley:

"the Crystal Skull cliffhanger"

...which may be resolved in an upcoming Dredd story by Alan Grant & John Burns (can't remember who suggested this, but it was a good idea)

"the Charles Darwin block cliffhanger"

What was this? I can't check my progs & I don't remember any cliff-hanger at the end of this story.

Gordon:

"was I the only one who found the layout a bit confusing in places?"

No - though I found the colour-coding of strips helped slightly. It's readable, but it feels like someone's worked very hard to ensure it isn't.

I want to add my voice, possibly repeating myself a little, on Simon Coleby.

The man's work is hitting new heights, and seems to be benefiting from having darker scripts to illustrate.

I felt his more "cartoony" work was very, very poor; in fact, it was symptomatic of much of what used to be wrong with 2000AD.
There was no pilot on board. Everybody was flying separately and the mood of the comic as a whole wasn't being steered, or so it seemed to me.

Now, artists appear to be properly deployed, and Coleby's enjoying a significant renaissance as a result.

More Coleby, Tharg!

- Trout

"the Charles Darwin block cliffhanger"

What was this? I can't check my progs & I don't remember any cliff-hanger at the end of this story.

The Cliffhanger was that the Charles darwicn Block guys who were killing anti-evolutionists etc were being manipulated by a mysterious figure with some sort of murderous purpose that we never found out about.  At the end he took off his mask and vanished into the smoke, laughing.  We couldn't see his face, so all we know at the end of it really is "Bad man out there.  Very bad man out there."  Could do with some sort of ending at some point, maybe?

Reading Charlies War again, I'm surprised at how many people don't seem to like it, although obviously many do.  I thought this weeks episode was terrifying.   When they flip the bomb in the catapult, you just want to scream.  And the Germans, pissed off, charging over and killing everyone, it was so violent.  Not gory or bloody, just violent.

And God help me, the worst part has yet to come!

Another thing, I prefer the new poster montage along the top, to just the roll-call of names.  It's like seeing a wall of concert posters.

I've said before I never liked the Old Meg, this new one is like getting a summer special every month.  And a good summer special at that.

2000 AD's been doing the "hide the logo" thing a lot recently, too, and it really pisses me off. It's bad marketing and ensures the magazine fails to stand out from the crowd. Ditto for this Megazine cover.

All IMHO as usual...

My Brilliant Career was a great story let down by some so-so art.

Hadn't read Hit Man for years. Surprised at how well it still stands up. A solid no-nonsense thriller.

Didn't really take to the Maria story, seemed more arbitrary rather than moving. A bit cheap. And that Mean Angel looked well ropey.

Dark Matters was a bit of duff filler compared to the first excellent episode.

As for the Orlok line - surprised at how much stick this is taking. I assumed it was a nod to the first Blood Of Satanus story (which had something along the lines of "Petty burglars and beast men, they're both equal in the eyes of the law") so it didn't really jar for me.

The art on Death's Wilderness Days has dived in quality, hasn't it? Still, Rudi's fate was fun.

Charley's War was always great. I can see how the pace, obviousness and simplicity might wear out the post-Watchmen generation (ooh, get me) and how Mills notoriously preachy attitude since would count against the story's sentiment now, but... you cannot just knock this strip. It's heart-rending marvellous stuff.

FS - there's better ones than this to reprint, surely?

Interrogation cube made me chuckle as some of the b/g art on Angels was a teensy too similar to Garry Leach's style for my liking.

GR's chatlog, oops, column. Don't take it too seriously folks. That old McMahon pic of Dredd should be holding a wooden spoon, not a lawgiver.

Top Thrill by far is Anderson. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

just to comment on Charlies War, this is the BEST war strip I have ever read. I got into comics late in my teens and straight into 2000AD never reading commando and other war comics they always seemed so Pro-war and I was a little hippy peacenik.  This is how a war story should be donethe sheer tension and terror the soldiers feel just befor the battle of some' is so noticable in both art and text...when it finished on a cliff hanger and I realized I'd haveta wait another month to see it all start made me throw my meg down, I believe I was actually shaking with rage at the dumb ass commanders so sure of their artillery ready to send the decent men at the front to their death for nothing...poor Charlie such a believable 16 year old i feel so sorry for him knowing the horror he'll see befor the end of the series. Awsome I just wish I could put into words how this strip makes me feel.  All this is my opinion as a first time reader of the story so no rose tinted glasses here. hope it runs right through.

CU Krestel

Here`s go-to-whoah review

rant about LOEG was a bit nerdy for mine. Does it really matter? It was redeemed by the editor`s excellent choice in letters. I must get out more
  My Beautiful Career was great stuff, very Dredd and terrific art. Nice black humour. Query, is someone in the magazine in AA? I notice a steady stream of AA storylines.
Death the Wilderness Days is excellent as usual. I don`t want it to end. Frazer Irving matches the story perfectly.  The look on the dog`s face as the missile goes down on Vegas was most memorable

the Dredd Files...maybe if I didn`t already know most of this stuff it wouldn`t seem like a waste of space. Then again, reading a half-page summary of a story to be told that it is "mediocre fill-in" prompts the thoughts (a) and this is...? and (b) if it`s mediocre fill-in, why spend so much time telling us about it?

HITMAN was great. I`ve already read it but it`s nice to read it in colour.
Charley`s War, keeps getting better..maybe it IS brilliant. Anyway, despite the obvious material (WW1 was a waste of life, war is bad) it`s really growing on me
Blood of Satanus; fun to read, good story, the sequence with the dinoguy procrastinating about meeting Dredd was great. I too found Dredd`s little speech (about all crime being loathsome)phenomenally cheesy, like a dream or a parody of Dredd.  Too bad
Nice little future shock story
Whatever Happened to Maria? - terrific stuff. It often doesn`t work, bringing a character back from years ago, trying to make them more serious...
Half-life...aaargh, what`s going to happen? The person who said (in effect) "Ransom is back!" was on the money!

Would all other Paul Scott's (especially the ones who are more succesful than me) kindly FUCK OFF!


Panic over everyone - our Paul has been returned to his normal grumpy self!

My thoughts...

Dredd - excellent story, with a very downbeat ending. I thought the art was a little too dark, which is down to Mr Blythe I assume.

WHT... Maria? - Nicely done. Very funny yet sad at the same time. Dredd's uncomfort at having to interact with citizens in a non-busting them way is always a joy to read.

Dredd Vs Satanus - is this set in 'the present'? It seems very 70s Dredd.  Yeah the page of blokey putting off visiting Dredd was brilliant, but the next page wasn't so.
They haven't explained where this guy got the blood from yet, have they?
Clocking in at 5 pages per episode...I thought Alan Barnes had said that after Devlin had finished there would be no more 5 pagers running in the Meg?

Death - still great, I don't want this to end. Hope Death wins & MC1 gets nuked, that'd be funny. Then all future Dredd stories would just be shots of Ground-Zero wasteland MC1. I know - not gonna happen - but heh heh it keeps me amused.

Anderson - also great. Uh, nothing else to say about it really.

GOLD - skim read Hitman (just to check which characters were in it for Sci-fi League scoring purposes really - Chopper & Hershey!) and I haven't read Charley's War yet - but then I don't think I read it last month either... have to do some catching up.

Gordon's Bile: Disappointing...after the crazed ranting on the What the Drokk? thread I was expecting something really depraved!

"Dredd Vs Satanus -
Clocking in at 5 pages per episode...I thought Alan Barnes had said that after Devlin had finished there would be no more 5 pagers running in the Meg?"

No multi-parters at less than 7 pages an episode. Satanus 2 was supposed to be 4 x 8-page episodes ... but the last three pages of Part 2 didn't get to me in time, hence the unannounced inclusion of a Future Shock (the only film we had to hand on Christmas Eve!). However, there should be 11 pages of Satanus - the missing three of Part 2, plus Part 3 proper - in Meg 216.

--Alan

Heh heh... sorry Alan for bringing that up!

I did think that the episode ended rather suddenly though...and I also spotted that the contents page didn't show the Future Shock, but I didn't put 2+2 together.

I liked the Dredd tale, but I'm afraid I still don't like Coleby's art. It's ok, but nothing special. This episode I kept looking at the characters eyes- they seemed very odd to me.

Death: was better this episode, but it feels as if it's dragging a bit, I'm sure it shouldn't be.

Satanus: See above. Prefer Duke Mighten's artwork when it's coloured, but if he can't get b/w in on time, then there probably isn't much hope of getting him to do coloured pages.

Like the Trout, I'm only skim reading the Dredd synopsis it's fun to read, but Graghhhh!

Anderson: Yup, this really is good isn't it.

I must admit I'm surprised about all the flak that Satanus is getting, I'm personally loving it and feel that the dialogue is good (although I am one for clunky Dredd dialogue). Although I like the cover so what do I know.

The text features were surprisingly excellent too with the Crime Files better than last month's while Rennie's column was his best despite (because?) it bring out all the homophobic (in the truest sense) 2000AD fans.

Obvioulsy there's more in my (just completed) review to be read on Friday.

P.S. Nice quote at the bottom, don't you think?

Will

Link: 411mania/comics

Well yet another killed by yours truly...

sob

Will

Link: new reviews up inc. 1372

Okay, I'm dead late into the discussion but felt like adding my bit in.

Dredd - I liked this tale. I reminds me of Dredd when I first started reading 200 ad.  Liked it and the art.

Satanus - As this is the only bit I've read I don't really like to comment but it wasn't really that good.  Hopefully will improve.

Death - I've come into this waaayyy to late obviously to make any ideas of what its like.

Anderson - Again, second part, so the story is just beginning, but this is one that I'm looking forward to see how it developes.

The reprints section, the Dredd I've got elsewhere so it was okay for a read to remind myself of the story.  Charlies War, I've heard about but never read and basically its what I thought it was going to be.  Not exactly unenjoyable, but unfortunately, perhaps its all been done too often now for it to be fresh.  It looks good though, well drawn and I'd like to see how it progresses.

Maria - the story was ok but i felt the art was a bit of a let down.

Rennie - Gordons column, after the What the Drokk posts I thought this would be far more than it was, but it just came across as a lighthearted  bit of fun.  Give the man a bigger wooden spoon, I'll look forward to this column in future.

Maria turning out to be just another crazy cit was a touch of genius still wasn't quite sure if she was supposed to be from a rich family how did she end up on the streets?!?

Read the story again!
The family kept putting her in expensive re-hab clinics & she kept checking out & going to live in a cardboard box because she was a nutter.

Doh oops