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Not read it yet just wanted to bag the thread.

Quick observation, some of the art in Armitage reminds me of Roy of the Rovers.






V

It was very nice of the film reviewer to spoil Transformers 2 for me.  >:(

Quote from: zombieman on 20 July, 2009, 12:34:33 PM
It was very nice of the film reviewer to spoil Transformers 2 for me.  >:(

Don't you mean save you from a steaming pile of shit and a wasted trip to the cinema ?

Quote from: James S on 20 July, 2009, 12:52:27 PM
Don't you mean save you from a steaming pile of shit and a wasted trip to the cinema ?

Regardless of the merits of the film, it's bad form for a reviewer to spoil such a recent movie.

At the same time to read a review of something you're looking forward to is a little naive. I'm paiently awaiting Walking Dead 63. If I were to read the WD thread on the board and ruin the story it'd not be their failt for writing, but mine for reading.

To be honest once the thrill of a bumper subscription package died and I got round to reading the Meg it was all a bit Meh! With the exception of a splendidly creepy new Dredd by John Smith with suitably atmospheric art work by Peter Doherty. It's not that I disliked anything else in the issue and I can take or leave the text features it all just a bit flat in my opinion the Meg needs a real stand out strip to keep people coming back and maybe attract some new readers, maybe it's own Dredd epic or a return of one of the old iconic strips.

After suck a brilliant Prog, today's Meg was entirely lackluster.

Dredd: Despite the above comment, the Meg did start out with a bang. A nice Dreed here - I only wish the story would have stuck with Alien Town a bit longer, because the art was terrific, and so was the entire opening sequence. The operating room was appropriately sickening. Interested to see if the switch back to the "usual fare" sustains this strip. Good, good.

I also enjoyed the Glenn Fabry article - I always enjoy creator articles - but the rest were, as usual, fare I could do without.

Tank Girl: No. Not one bit, not at all, not for me.

Meet Darren Dead: Eh, okay. Nice art. I read it, anyway.

Armitage: This is quickly becoming a dead script to me. The first two installments were readable, even if I didn't care much about it. This...well this was dowright boring - ujtil the fellow spooged all over the final panel. No offense to the creative team on this, I've just never cared for Armitage at all...

...which leads to the GN. I handed this directly over to the neighor kid, who didn't exactly seem too excited about receiving it.

Most months I don't mind shelling out a fiver for the Meg, but c'mon - it's got to better than this (and it usually is).

Til next month!

Tank Girl was great in this issue.

;)

I thought the Meg was even thinner than normal this month and it might just be the end of me buying it. I've already forgotten what happened in Dredd, Tank Girl just isn't my cup of tea. I know a few people like it, but why does it seem to be on a permanant run in the Meg? Armitage was boring, and the rest of the articles just seem like filler.

I like Tank Girl a lot. It's great fun and the art is spot on.

I'd love to see it stay in the Meg permanently. There's not enough fun in comics any more.

- Trout

I disagree - it was great fun for a while, especially on a nostalgia level, but I feel it's outstayed it's welcome a bit. Give it a rest for a while - there must be other funny strips about?

Have to agree with people finding the Meg underwhelming at present. Dredd was okay- but I've forgotten it now, Armitage was a minor pleasure entirely down to the art (which I love), but again- what happened exactly? Darren Dead was the highlight- some nice dialogue and, well, any story with basically Russell Brand as a zombie has to be worth a giggle. Tank Girl continues to annoy me by its presence. I've said it before, but look- it's a crap 90s hang-over that should be shot dead. I haven't read this one yet- I'll get to it later in the month, when I've got a spare minute.

When I do, this will be my response: Nice art by Rufus Dayglo, but I wish it was in its own magazine and not in the Meg.

The articles were confusing this month- largely because the 'You should be reading' one was actually about comics. However, again, it got my back up and there's no chance in hell of me picking up some revisionist DC shite. Sorry. Glenn Fabry interview was enjoyable- and yes, I'd like to see him back on Slaine... but where's the Ron Smith one we were promised a while back? Reviews and suchlike: Nah, sorry, I don't need comics to tell me what to watch at the cinema.

Armitage supplement, though, surprised the hell out of me by being far and away the best thing in the package. Funny, intriguing and full of character. Why isn't the current one like this?

I'm not about to drop the Meg, but my Christ, it needs something doing to it, and fast.

Steev

I thought it was pretty good of the film reviewer to confirm my suspicion that the transformers movie would suck hard.  But yeah, spoilers!!!!!  What's up with that?

Glenn back on Slaine would be amazing.  No offence to Langley, but I think his art (and indeed his new style) just works better on robots.  Although I'd kill to see Kev Walker doing an ABC strip in pen and ink.  That might just be me.

Love Armitage, but I think the episode length and intervening gap in the meg mean I'm just not enjoying it as much as I used to.  Might need a re-read.

Quite enjoyed the Meg this month. Really enjoyed the Dredd story and Tank Girl is working so much better with one-offs than a multi-parter. Darren Dead was great fun with some fantastic Waugh-esque dialogue. And Armitage was solid, if a bit slow (liked his new partner too, for some reason I imagine him with Hugh Laurie's voice as the prince from Blackadder III).

The articles were much more rounded and improved this month too. The creator interviews are always welcome and great (when and where can I get my hands on those Grant, Bisley and Fabry comics!?). Might be interesting if one day these interviews were extended and collected into a nice book, similar to Thrill-Power Overload (though with possibly a more niche target audience).

I liked the Darwyn Cooke/New Frontier page; I'd never have even bothered with it otherwise but now I'll go check it out. The Com-x feature was also really interesting and something I hadn't been aware of before.
I much prefer when these articles focus on comics rather than television shows that are long past their sell-by-date (24, Battlestar Galactica and CSI? They've been around for well over five years now. How many people aren't already aware of them...? Not looking forward to the You Really Should be Watching... Friends! article).

The film articles, while both very well written, and actually quite interesting, were still a bit much. It essentially breaks down to six pages of film reviews when in previous months three pages was too many. The film reviews - and I still don't see the point in them, regardless of quality - should be two pages at most. Those big, pointless pics being used just scream filler.

Haven't read the Armitage reprint yet but looking forward to it; I can't remember much about his early stuff and I love Sean Phillips' art.

COVER:  Poor choice - so dark and cluttered with type as to be incomprehensible from a distance.  This would not encourage me to buy this issue. Another thing about the packaging:  why isn't the 'free' GN turned face-out in the bag?  Even if it resulted in some shelf-stacking confusion, it makes a comic you can't flick through a little more enticing  - as it is, it comes across as a surprise rather than an attraction, if you see what I mean.

DREDD:  Lots to like here, but it doesn't quite work for me.  Doherty's art is outstanding, reprising his Ratfink role as the king of sickening visuals.  Interesting to compare this with Bagwell on Cradlegrave, the same sense of oppressive atmosphere from a very different angle.    

Smith certainly likes using bionic eyes in his Dredds (that rather good extreme bungee jumping story with the implausibly happy ending featured a pair).  I'm assuming the crime here is the unlicensed part of 'chop shop' - in a world of instant (but presumably limited and expensive) face-change machines and Sump products, surely it's not illegal for muties to have cosmetic surgery?  Smith's Dredd here sometimes sounds authentic, but he seems to go on rather too much:  "Forgive my colleague's colourful terminology" ; "The matter is certainly open for discussion", and so on - a rather more loquacious Dredd than I'm used to, and one that makes the 4-page 'deal' scene seem a very drawn-out piece of exposition.  Montoyez is a very bad man who keeps his nose very clean, the Judges need a mole wired for sound, do it or else.  Got it.

Also, effectively threatening a perp's mother (who only got sick because she was helping out after the Big Nec) seems out of character for the man that had the city pay for Bonny Crickle's operation, helped Mr. Knee with hi sgrief and flew Yassa Povey in for (you guessed it) a pair of bionic eyes.  Dredd might be a bastard, but he's not that kind of bastard.

All that said, I'm entirely prepared to allow that all this may all pan out entirely differently than it seems in Part One - and it's a huge compliment to both men that I'm actively dreading what Ruckus will see when he opens that door and we find out what Skateboxing looks like!

TANK GIRL:  Great, great art as usual (love that Magic Roundabout lampshade and the Babooshka sound efffect), probably the best of the whole Meg run.  As to the story, it's obvious from the end that it's partly inspired by the closure of Martin's (and Hewlett's?) Alma Mater, but  I can't help but feel  a resonance with this community's recent fears over one of the great 2000AD artists (even if that ended in a collective sigh of relief). Still finding this fun and worthwhile.

MEET DARREN DEAD:  I remember I read the original one-off, I remember I enjoyed it, but I have no idea what it was about, who he is or how the character came to be... whatever it is he is. So it was a complete surprise just how much I enjoyed this.  Great to see Higgins liberated from the quagmire of Ginger Ninjas and flying mandibles, and getting back to the Big Meg.  Rob has developed a real talent for these 'weirdoes in MC-1' tales, and the Manager/Darren banter is up there with Eddie and Zenith.   Also loved Cerberus the handbag dog, and the other mythology jokes:  "It shall be akin to how King Aegeus greeted the hero Theseus...".  Indeed!

ARMITAGE:  I stood up for this last month, I won't this time.  First off, the art: Cooper does nice work, no question, and the PS layouts and graded tints weren't quite as off-putting as before.  But.  Where/when is this story supposed to be set?  Armitage's office looks closer to Life on Mars than Brit-Cit in 2131  - cork boards and telephones and the same monitor I have on my desk.  I know Armitage is a curmudgeonly old throwback, but he's supposed to be Inspecter Morse in the future, right?  The fact that he appears to be appearing in The Bill may be at Dave Stone's request, I don't know, but either way, please stop.

As to the script... 'Timbo' carries a deactivated revolver to work? (Dave really hates those poshies, doesn't he?)  Judges in the funny farm keep their full uniforms and badges?  So the whole Star Chamber were killed in Brit-Cit - was that in a novel or an audio-play?   Larger matters are more interesting, I'm keen to see how this all fits together, but there's just too much that's too annoying to make this enjoyable for me.

Finally, why does Justice have no blindfold in the first panel?

ARTICLES:  I enjoyed the movie reviews as always (I appear to be the target audience - someone who seldom goes to the cinema these days, and wants to be reassured that he's not missing much), but I have to agree with earlier posters that that was a hell of a spoiler, even though I personally don't care one whit about Transformers past or present.  Steady on there Andrew, Alec would never have landed that one on us!  .

Haven't read the Fabry interview or ComX piece, but barring catastrophic constipation should get round to it soon.

FREEBIE GN:  Not bad, but it does serve to highlight the shortcomings of the current run, which I'm sure is contrary to the intention.  The Hershey thing was just bizarre.

Overall, could do better but still plenty of value for money.

Quote from: PreacherCain on 26 July, 2009, 03:18:58 PM
I liked the Darwyn Cooke/New Frontier page; I'd never have even bothered with it otherwise but now I'll go check it out. The Com-x feature was also really interesting and something I hadn't been aware of before.
I much prefer when these articles focus on comics rather than television shows that are long past their sell-by-date (24, Battlestar Galactica and CSI? They've been around for well over five years now. How many people aren't already aware of them...? Not looking forward to the You Really Should be Watching... Friends! article).

The film articles, while both very well written, and actually quite interesting, were still a bit much. It essentially breaks down to six pages of film reviews when in previous months three pages was too many. The film reviews - and I still don't see the point in them, regardless of quality - should be two pages at most. Those big, pointless pics being used just scream filler.

Just wanted to quote this for agreement.  I'd much rather read articles about other comics than TV and film.

The Armitage graphic novel is missing the first two pages of the story. Pages one and two of the original story published in the Megazine in 1991 featured two large panels showing the killer's letters, an explanation of his actions. It was an atmospheric way to start the story.  A pity the graphic novel cut out these two pages. Let's hope this is a one-off omission and future Megazine graphic novels contain all the pages. If you want to read the entire first Armitage story, I suggest you find the original Megazine issues!

Rest of the Meg was pretty good.  ;)

I'd forgotten that, Planetoid. 

It's a real shame - those pages were SO good too.

 I've been perusing the Armitage GN too, and I now think I've wronged Mr. Cooper. The extreme-retro dressing of Armitage's office and many elements of his world are right there from the first episode (there even appears to be a box of 3.5" floppies on his desk), so it's hardly John's fault.  Not that I'm happy about this mind, I like my dystopian futures to be in the future.  Also, Justice is quite clearly lacking her blindfold from the start.

Quote from: Grant Goggans on 26 July, 2009, 08:15:09 PM
Just wanted to quote this for agreement.  I'd much rather read articles about other comics than TV and film.

& more 'you should be reading' please -- i found Ed's piece on chandler to be my favourite thing he's done for the meg.

For instance, Gollancz have recently re-issued greg egan's entire oeuvre; in god awful trade at that but surely the most influential sf author since William Gibson would be of interest to the readers of an sf comic?

They've also doing a rather impressive Space Opera Classics line – a page on Olaf Stapledon or M. John Harrison certainly wouldn't go astray.

Quote from: steven lenfant terrible on 28 July, 2009, 04:36:13 AMFor instance, Gollancz have recently re-issued greg egan's entire oeuvre; in god awful trade at that but surely the most influential sf author since William Gibson would be of interest to the readers of an sf comic?

Don't bother waiting for this article to appear folks, just buy the short story collection Luminous. It costs less than two Megs and I guarantee there are more good stories even if you count Dredd twice.

Peter Doherty really is great at drawing rain. First Ratfink, now a lovely opening episode of another grim'n'gritty Dredd tale. John Smith seems to be on form here too.

I very nearly didn't read Tank Girl and that's something I've never even contemplated with a story in the Prog. I appreciated the sentiment but I didn't like the story any more than the previous ones.

Loved the colours on Darren Dead. Like Tordelback, I remember the first story having existed but nothing about it. Might try and dig it out as this seems like good silly fun. The Darren Dead/Dirty Frank crossover queue starts here.

I actually liked the film reviews this month and the Edinburgh Festival piece might've been better the month before although it did mention a lot of the things that caught my eye in the programme which I didn't get to see.

Quote from: DavidXBrunt on 20 July, 2009, 01:06:42 PM
At the same time to read a review of something you're looking forward to is a little naive. I'm paiently awaiting Walking Dead 63. If I were to read the WD thread on the board and ruin the story it'd not be their failt for writing, but mine for reading.

That is certainly true of the internet where most people that post reviews are keen on showing "Nyar Nyar Nyar Nyar Nyar, I know that Bruce Willis is [spoiler]actually dead [/spoiler] and that Soylent Green is [spoiler]humans[/spoiler]"

But in a film magazine, I'd expect the reviewer to be able to convey the essence of teh film without giving away the details.

Oh and so little of the Meg grabbed my attention that I think I'm going to have to force myself to read most of it.


(Except seeing Peter Doherty on art - yummy)

I'm surprised there is no mention of the Badge and Comcom freebie in this thread... anyone else get them or are elsewhere on another thread and I'm not got to it yet?

Must admit the meg isn't buzzing like it did last year, here's hoping it picks up shortly

Seeing this cover. Taking into consideration the use of lighting, shadow and colour....



I though this picture might have been inspired by Richard Corben. Whom I thought had a hand in doing the art for "Zombo". The cover --pictured above-- by my own reckoning had more than similarites to this earlier Richard Corbnen cover.



Until I noticed that picture --above-- actualley seems more cartooney.

Then you might notice that it's got the similer composition. Withe big beast like crautre, huge claws on each finger standing in the back ground.

About the contents.

I m lookig forward to reading the Glenn Fabry interview.

I've always wanted to know about his penjant for drawing leg wamrers and leotards on most of the females during his run of Slaine.
Not that I object to that. My first thoughts about this transgression in attiire was just another facet the anit-establishment back in the day when first clpped eyes on this.

I just wonder if Pat Mills wanted it this way when he gave Gleen Fabry his orders.in art direction. or is he just testing the boundries of how far he could possibly go creatively.

I'd love to own a wooden couch like the one he drew here

.[img]http://www.2000ad.org/covers/scans/thumbnails/524_thumb.jpg[/img

Quote from: planetoid on 27 July, 2009, 01:31:44 PM
The Armitage graphic novel is missing the first two pages of the story.

And a credit to David Bishop as co-writer if memory of the original serves ...?

Cheers

Jim

Um, no. David B's co-creator, and he's got a credit for that. For better or worse, the writing's all me.

Fine Meg this month. Not usually a fan of John Smith's interpretation of Dredd, but this latest effort is a corker, complimented by some astonishingly atmospheric Peter Doherty artwork.
I'm continuing to warm to Tank Girl too. Great art and a nice poignant touch to the story.
John Higgins work is always something to appreciate and his Meet Darren Dead art is no exception-nice quirky Rob Williams script too.
I personally enjoyed the articles this month, so no complaints from me about them.
Good stuff!