2000 AD Online Forum

WHOA! What about that cover?!  One of the best I've ever seen.  Oh yeah, bring it on.

What?Where?Who?How?When???

The teeth in the upper jaw are a bit strange but still, it is a fantastic cover.

I got my name in the Meg! How chuffed am I!

Ooh, nice twist in the PJ Maybe saga. Is this actually going to impact on the regular, non-Meg Dredd? Cos I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't.

The teeth in the upper jaw are a bit strange but still, it is a fantastic cover.

Whatchyoutalkin' bout willis?

That is SOOO a fantastic cover. Realism be damned.

- pj

Awesome cover!

But... Small Press!! WoooooHooooo!

Spoilers please

Assuming it's this one. Been sat on this since Bristol. Almost makes BOS worth it.

Dredd is brilliant this month, PJ Maybe is a great character.  Nice one.

The Small Press was good too I thought, well done guys.

Dredd looks a bit... odd. Not quite sure if he's impaled on that stick or not. If he is he's not too bothered about it.

I hope Mayor "Ambrose" becomes a recurring character, and isn't caught or unmasked too soon.

Not finished it yet, but isn't the gingerbread man brilliant? A totally absorbing story and a lovely set of pages from Henry.

I'm biased in favour of the SP strip this month, but I think it is a cracking little strip.

Steve Roberts just keeps getting better as well.

Bolt-01

Pizen.

Very good.

AMEN PJ.

It's supposed to be strange isn't it? - it's not the Natural History Museum, it's horror! Kevin Crossley's a genius.

As always the BOS fan, the shot of Alexandra in S's mouth is sublime, and that image of what looks to me like George Bush (??) ripping himself apart and vomiting blood (or could it be oil...ooh) is going on my kitchen wall gallery for sure.

Fucking awesome cover! All there is to say really.

The PJ Maybe story and the Angels story were top-quality thrill power!

I've only dipped into the rest of it, and I can't really be bothered with Satanus. I've hated every episode, so I doubt it's worth my time any more.

- Trout

I assume that I'm the only one reading the Dredd files - the writers even started putting in deliberately low marks for stories to get a reaction! If a perfectly fine and amusing Dredd (according to the file even, not just my opinion!) like Jimps gets 2 stars, what fate the Steelgrave years?

I really enjoyed the Art Droids: Next Generation article.

Feelgood factor 10.  They're all so chuffed.

I was reading that wondering why the hell I hadn't got even a passing mention, then I realised I'm old.

So old.

- pj

We didn't like to say, PJ.

Re the cover I think Dredd looks like one of those old women who've forgotten to put in their false teeth.

That's part of the story - he was turned into an old woman by demonic hell creatures.  In order to reverse the spell he has to rescue the goth from the stomach of Satanus before she's disolved by his demonic gastric juices.

It's all rather unpredictable.  A brave new direction for Dredd that I hope with all my heart spins into the weekly.

My Tuppence worth:

Cover - Outstanding, damn you Matthewvic! My only gripe is, why did they slap that huge black headline over thre spike? Stoopid!

Dredd - Again, Wagner is king! What an amazing rise to power for Phillip Janet Maybe. I really look forward to seeing him affecting events in MC-1 right under Dredd's nose. Genius!

Anderson - Just getting stupid now. Readable tough, which brings us to...

Satanus - Wrestling now? Sheesh, what an absolute load of shit.

Small Press - I usually hate this but quite enjoyed this 'un.

Rojaws - Dated but readable. Great artwork.

Fink Angel - Wonderful art, Steve is on fire with this strip! His trees on the first page were beautiful, his big Elvis was sublime and the final panel is a joy! As for the story, decent enough, but the Elvis speak was just a bit too confusing at times.

In all, a Meg with some amazing highs (The cover, PJ, and Steve Roberts) and, well let's be honest, Satanus.

Oh God, how long must Blood of Satanus go on? Presumably it's a 10-parter (Mills seems to produce everything in 10-part blocks.) I'm coming increasingly to the view that the only way stories can work in the Meg is to be in short doses - the PJ Maybe story and the Angel Gang being cases in point. There's simply too long to wait between each episode to keep the momentum going on longer runs, especially when, as with Satanus, there's no momentum to speak of. If 2000 AD are contractually obliged to print this rubbish, why not just bulk the whole thing up in an Extreme Edition and put the wretched creature out of its misery.

I have sad news.

I read the Satanus story. Those 10 minutes are dead now. I'll never get them back.

My feelings on this strip haven't changed, so I'll not repeat old comments.
But I will ask, what the hell's happening with Dredd on the first page? He looks like he's been drawn by a child!

- Trout

I read it as well.  I thought "come on, now, there, Funt, you grumpy fucker, give it a chance".  It was a bit like I imagine purgatory would be - being forced to read episodes of Blood From Satan's Arse over and over again.

For all that I hated Creep, and the Bisleyland shite in Robo-Bunting, and all the other duff stories that have crawled across the pages of 2000AD and the Meg in the past 30 years - this is the first one that I've had to force myself to read.

I guess it's the nature of the comic industry - instead of quality control there's just crossing your fingers and hoping that the artists and writers don't, well, create Blood of Satanus 3.  And they got paid for it.  

I'm one of the biggest Mills apoligists you'll find and have spent a lot of my time on this board jumping to his defence - although I'm all too aware of how often he's produced some simply dreadful turkeys and I'm far from blind to his faults, my love for the strips he gets right is so great that I'm willing to forgive him just about anything...



...and yet...



...Blood of Satanus 3 is possibly the worst thing that's ever happened to the poor Megazine, to the House of Tharg in general, and the single worst story since I've been reading. Sorry Pat, but you're on your own with this one.

The art on Satanus this month looks like it was photocopied or something as the blacks look like they've blurred or something and it seems to lack the detailed line work (detail I didn't care for either)of the last several months. Bizarre.

Mm. It really is utterly fucking awful, and even during the second volume of the Meg it would have stuck out as really shite. I even had to go and reread the recent Books of Invasions trade, just to reassure myself that, no, Pat hasn't lost it. I wonder if anyone's enjoying the Satanus story, and, if so, what medication they're on.

At the risk of sounding like a Bateman cartoon, I have found myself rather enjoying BoS.

Pete,

I feel I should point out that I only have a colour print of the cover. The wife bought the last one there for sale. One of the reasons I married her.

IIRC Dredd was actually bigger on the pencils than the final cover. Mr Crossley did have the pencils there as well but I foolishly didn't ask if they were for sale. Although, I also picked up the pencils for a Great Moment In Thrillpower by Boo Cook that has yet to see print.

Oh, that's ok then Mattew. But...

Damn you for having such an amazing wife instead!

I'd hate to be John  Hicklenton reading all this

I have to agree though, that this strip isn't doing it for me. I was really pleased when I heard John was doing more work for the meg and, as always his work is full of moments of brilliance, a figure here, an expression there, some great drawings. But the strip as a whole....yech

I think they are putting hell into comic form, from an unskilled perspective.

Hell's nasty.

Mills and Hinkleton, creating comic hell.

It'd be nice if it was explained to us why Dredd has to go through all this hell thingy, giblets arr.. skulls, bones n deadly watters. Ahem.

 

I don't know how it happened - I keep thinking back to see if I can figure out just what exactly made me do it......I just can't understand how it came to be.........

BUT

Satanus was actually the first thing I read in the Meg this month.

Ahead of a John Wagner PJ Maybe Dredd story.

(well, okay, for entirely selfish reasons I did flick through to see if I had made it into the small press section yet....it was not to be, maybe one day).

I am finding Satanus a fascinating ordeal, pehaps for all the wrong reasons, but fascinating nonetheless.

"It really is utterly fucking awful"

I don't why, but that line has really made me laugh, and even as I read it out loud now I'm laughing again. It's almost joyous, a fundamental truth beautifully expressed.

Regards

Robin