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NOT MAD ON THE COVER WHICH HAS GOOD COMPONENTS BUT THEY DON'T MARRY WELL INTO THE COMPOSITE IMAGE - LOOKS LIKE A PHOTOSHOP MASH UP.

CAPS off.

Dickens Dredd continues along with a wang appearing in this week's outing.

Chris Weston interview has its second part and this looks like the pick of the Meg for me.

Samizdat Squad goes from grey to faded as we get a flashback and Snapshot and Hondo continue and conclude respectively.

Alan Grant text story with Smudge art to illustrate.

NO Dreddlines! I sent a great one too! Look at this exclusive quote :

"As a one off this is great stuff but I don't know if we need 'A Tale of Two Mega-Cities' of 'Bleak Sector House' any time soon!"

Sigh! The world's loss is my trash folder's gain!

Despite my crushing disappointment at the lack of a Buttonman letter in this month's Meg, I soldiered on and did my best to enjoy the rest of it.

We're off to a bad start with the blurry and unispired cover featuring a GIANT MONSTER LIKE WHAT YOU GET ON THEM JAPANESE GODZILLA FILMS AND THAT.

I'm really enjoying this Judge Dredd story. The art is so gorgeous I asked it out for dinner and dancing. I don't think it's going to end happily for any of the characters and I hope that snooty ballerina gets what's coming to her.

Samizdat Squad comes to an end as I struggle and fail to recall what has happened in previous episodes. Not very keen on this to be honest and I wouldn't mind if it didn't return.

Snapshot has turned into a much more pedestrian thriller than I expected from the early episodes. It's still pretty good with a nice twist this month and it looks nice, although I prefer Jock's art when it's less sparse.

Has Hondo City Justice really done the tired old Godzilla spoof thing? Yes, I'm afraid so. This extremely slight tale comes to an end this month with the promise of a new series coming next year.

I read and enjoyed the Chris Weston interview. He's one of my favourite artists and he comes across as a really nice fellow. I didn't bother with the article about some guy who draws Batman these days.

The Dredd text story by Alan Grant was a short sharp shocker. An unpleasant and grim look at the after affects of the Day of Chaos. I liked it.

I don't remember liking Bato Loco much when it originally appeared in the Meg but re-reading it in this collected edition, I loved it. Full on Mega City zaniness at its finest.

An OK Meg with two strips coming to an end. Next month we get a new Anderson story which I hope will be better than all the other Anderson stories of the last 5 years, and a new Tales From The Black Museum which I usually enjoy.

Oh, and ther are a couple of 'new' stills from the Dredd film which are very similar to shots that we've already seen but which look ARSOM.

Where as i liked this cover! action and colour unlike last month's static bike and Judge Beadle...

Dredd a fine tale well toldbut, hell I want DoC in spades just now,hopefully the Meg will follow the progs lead asap..

All the other stories toddle along but my brain is just wired for DoC ramifications just now, the interviews and text couldn't hold my attention either, is this TPO?

I'm glad I didn't send a letter last month  :D

Whereas I'm just nonplussed by the cover! Great colour job, mind.

Dredd - I really, really love this. It almost shouldn't work but it does - it's a bit on the old whimsical side perhaps, but it's done perfectly. Dave Taylor's art is wonderful stuff in this; I love how he depicts the Meg, the use of a muted pallette but...the Judges look like someone else drew them or something! They just didn't seem to fit the rest of the strip. A minor point as I'm enjoying this so much.

Sandwhichthat Squad - This seemed to just fade out over the last two months, I expected a bit more of a bang-bang, shooty-shooty finale. Feels like it's laid the groundwork for further stories. Not sure about it overall as yet; some bits I've liked, others not so much.

Snapshot - Ok, story expansion time then! Good, but I feel it loses something with the month gap due to the decompressed nature of the strip.

Hondo City Justice - I'm afraid this outing really didn't do much for me personally. I always want to like Hondo strips, but I feel very few of them over the years have really hit the mark for me. Best use of Hondo has been in Low Life if you ask me.

And Bato Loco seemd like it was running last year, so I did a bit of a gulp the first strip was 9 years ago! Good to read it again and I'm sure there's a few more tales to tell. And Simon Coleby - lovely work right there! Is he underrated? I've always like his work in any case.

The text story was excellent and the best so far, unsurprisingly! Thought it was really nicely done as it could have easily been gratuitous from another, less experienced writer. Nice Smudge illo too - thumbs aloft.

Also, Chris Weston is a master who wants to do some Dredd work - what's the gruddamn hold up? GET HIM SCRIBBLING THARG!

Meg was ok this month Tharg, with the main Dredd strip and the text story being my highlights.

M.

Really enjoyed the Bato Loco stories, and not just for having a Judge Stacey. I'd only encountered the recent Andrew Curry story but Simon Colbey's art is amazing. Difficult to see him as the same artist I was used to in the early 90s.

Is that the entire run to date of Bato Loco in the floppy?

Yes ...
http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=Megazine&choice=batoloco

Quote from: Mikey on 18 July, 2012, 09:55:13 AM
And Simon Coleby - lovely work right there! Is he underrated? I've always like his work in any case.

I do like his stuff and I think he has a unique style, the only complaint I have is that he can't draw consistent characters. Peoples features change wildly from panel to panel so much so that they look like completely different characters. I find it a bit off-putting.

Cool, another box ticked in my never ending quest for Dreddverse completeism! (is that even a word??)

What's Marauder saying then? I understand the premise, and that there's a lead in story which occurs a few years previous, is that likely to be included?

Quote from: Lee Bates on 18 July, 2012, 11:41:04 AM
the only complaint I have is that he can't draw consistent characters. Peoples features change wildly from panel to panel so much so that they look like completely different characters. I find it a bit off-putting.

Can't say that I've noticed that meself, well it certainly hasn't ruined my enjoyment in any case.

M.

I really, really, really liked Dredd this month. So much so that i'd say this is my favourite not-wagner dredd in years. It's just beautiful in every way, and i hope it's longer than three parts.

Chris Weston is not only one of tharg's best artists, but also one of the best interview subjects the meg has had. With the interview and the dredd strip alone, this month's meg would have been worth the wonga. As it was i wasnt massively keen on the new stuff, but the bato loco floppy made it a steal. Coleby and Currie- what's not to like? I could read coleby draw the shipping forecast, his storytelling and characters' ruggedy cragginess are so stylish. And as for Currie- so far removed from coleby it could only be from the 2000AD stable- he draws the sexiest women ive ever seen in comics this side of manara. Just... fab.

SBT

Quote from: Mikey on 18 July, 2012, 09:18:15 PM

Quote from: Lee Bates on 18 July, 2012, 11:41:04 AM
the only complaint I have is that he can't draw consistent characters. Peoples features change wildly from panel to panel so much so that they look like completely different characters. I find it a bit off-putting.

Can't say that I've noticed that meself, well it certainly hasn't ruined my enjoyment in any case.

M.

It's not my opinion, either. I like Simon Coleby's art and I've never felt he was inconsistent.

The Megazine really needs to up it's game ,it's seemed for a very long time to be the poor relation to 2000ad

Cover Awful.A mash-up that looks straight out of a Godzilla collection.

Dredd Enjoying this ,a good tale with excellent art.As another poster has said however, Dredd needs to follow the new reality AND SOON.DoC happened, lets see it's impact.

ProseHere the Dredd story does exactly that.A very well written tale which I enjoyed and far,far better than having those pointless film reviews.

Samizdat Squad I NEVER want to see this turkey ever again.Don't bring it back.

Hondo City Justice I love the concept and setting of Hondo City, but here it is completely wasted following yet again the science/scientist gone mad route, which has been done umpteen times already.Very lazy.Hondo City desperately needs MORE characters and a little more depth and imagination -dispense with the Yakuza, Ronin and mad science angles that have been done over and over and come up with something new.Try Hondo vs Sino Cit ,age old enemies for starters...

Dreddlines Not there.So what?They never bother to reply to letters printed so whats the point?I've had several letters printed (NO ,I'm not going to point them out Buttonman) and none of them received any answer to the questions/comments posed, so I've stopped sending them.No doubt others have too.Again ,the Megazine has a lot to learn from 2000ad (which responds to every letter this week).

An enjoyable issue as ever.

High Lights: Beautiful art in Great Executions and I love how the story has been changed and adapted.

The interview with Chris Weston. I never realised I was such a fan of his or had so much of his work. But I am and I do.

Low point: I'm finding the story in Snapshot a little bit dull. It's a fine thriller but in the Meg you expect something extra mad on top. The art is superb although I am getting irritated by the blacked out faces as it reduces the emotional story telling and makes the story less involving. Callie's mum also didn't look like the same person from one panel to the next. But really I do like all the action, the people being flung around like puppets, the diagonal compositions and the dry brush work and stuff. It reads fast like good manga action stories do.

Hondo-City Justice - this never really seems to meet its potential. The mad scientist thing is getting boring and the take on Japanese culture feels a bit 1980s manga (the stuff that got to the UK that is). Japan seems to be a much more complex and no doubt potentially weirder society than Hondo-city ever shows. Imagine if Grey Area from the prog had been set in Hondo-City for example...  I do like Inaba and her cadet though. It's nice to have a female professional double act in comics. Have I missed any stories about Inaba's background? I saw a reference to her sister. What did Inaba's family make of her becoming a judge? They can't have been happy. Anyway, bring it back but make it different this time.

The Rest: I thought Samizdat Squad rather petered out this time round which was disappointing but again I thought there was a frisson between Rykov and Tereshkova which I like (just let it stay subtle). I really liked PJ Holden's art - there's a lot of expression in it.

Interrogation - I'm not interested in the stories Chris Burnham has done on the whole, not being a big Batman fan or anything but if he wants to have a crack at Dredd, he'd be most welcome by me.

The Pack was horrible in a good way. It was very believable that that is how some people would end up. I didn't think the text stories would work bit I am really enjoying them.

Quote from: The Sherman Kid on 20 July, 2012, 11:46:43 AM
Cover Awful.A mash-up that looks straight out of a Godzilla collection.

Surely that's entirely the point? Which means having

Quote from: Buttonman on 14 July, 2012, 01:50:39 PMGOOD COMPONENTS BUT THEY DON'T MARRY WELL INTO THE COMPOSITE IMAGE

is perfectly in-keeping with what it's paying homage to, even if it is a bit

Quote from: Lee Bates on 16 July, 2012, 10:17:38 AM
unispired

(sic).

'Awful' was too strong a word ,the bikes and crowd below are well done, but overall I hated it.Yes, its a homage, but a homage to something that is naff.

Forgot to mention Snapshot which is still ticking along nicely, love some of the facial shots are really expressive and the one at the end made me laugh out loud.

Nice Chris Weston piece, Dredd is pretty good, Snapshot is SLOWWWWW - this will probably read better once collected - I just don't feel it's natural home is the Meg, Hondo-City was ok and Samizdat was instantly forgettable.

The stand-out strip for me is Bato Loco. It's not often the floppy is the best thing about the monthly!

Cover - Nice

Dredd- Lovely art. I enjoyed the first installment too, but I was a little worried it would follow Dickens's novel Great Expectations to the letter, apart from settings. This episode, while still taking elements from the novel, it's doing something rather different. Very good.

I'm slightly ashamed with the next three stories that I had to go back and read the previous episodes. My memory is getting rather bad. I've said it before, but I'll say it again- I think recaps are advisable with a monthly magazine. I doesn't have to fill in everything, a paragraph of the main points will suffice. That being said, while I found myself groaning at the thought of having to backtrack, I actually enjoyed the experience.

Smazdat Sqad (or whatever it's called) - Not bad.

Hondo City-  I get people's criticisms. It really did feel repetitive. I still enjoyed it though, but I hope they do something else with it. And I should dislike the light-sabers outside Star Wars, but.... I actually thinkg the laser katana is pretty cool. I'm shallow like that.

Snapshot- All these twists and turns! This would really suit a film. Very good.

Text piece- Nasty and enjoyable. I'm glad the main character [spoiler]redeemed himself somewhat.[/spoiler]

Cover- Good eliments spoiled by nasty 90's Photoshop textures.

Dredd- Loving this! Great story, amazing art. Good all round.

Prose- Still not read ANY of these. :-X

Samiz......Samis.....Samy.......The Russian strip- Liking it more than most but still a bit rubbish.

Snapshot- Need to re-read this in one go as i'm missing alot. Great art though.

Hondo City Justice- Really want to like this but it's just so meh. We need Strange and Darke back in the meg already, one good Dredd world strip isn't enough.

Bato Loco- Like Lenny Zero this series main character is taller than life and it was such a great amount of fun i'm not that bothered if it was a bit pants. Love Simon Colebys art though.

Interesting that many think the cover is a mash up straight out of Godzilla. Here is a link to Neil Roberts blog showing how the cover came about -

Move over Pete Wells (http://skinnyelbows.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/cover-judge-dredd-megazine-issue-326.html) ;)

I find myself agreeing with Lee Bates on almost everything,

Cover - I'm not feeling the general dislike people have for it. It's well done and incredibly striking. It's literally what it's meant to be (see the blog) and deserves commendation for that.

Dredd - Amazing, excellent - brilliantly paced and it looks gorgeous. I love Dave Taylor.

Chris Weston pt.2 - Very candid, I've really enjoyed this one. I follow Mr Weston's doings a lot and I really admire the sheer amount over over-detail he puts into everything. His storyboards for a jagermeister advert are an example

For all of them and they are AMAZING: http://chrisweston.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/jagermeister-boards.html -

who the fck puts that much detail into a storyboard? Chris Weston does, and he's either completely mad or a genius but most likely a winning combination of the two. "I think it's a combination of a lack o confidence and the atmosphere that detail gives, 'cause I think detail can make you feel what's going on in a comic book. As well as reading it, you FEEL it." Amen.

Samizdat Squad - I concur, I really don't recall the earlier part of this. Feels like a damp squib and it's unfair that Holden's been stuck on it - should be doing better. His design on the wee mutant foetal thing is a triumph.

Chris Burnham - How's he relevant, is he doing Dredd for IDW? Batman sucks balls.

Snapshot - This is rattling along quite well, Jock's art is a perfect balance between minimalism and brilliant storytelling as always. Like, I want to judge it on lack of (Weston) detail - which I'm a big fan of - but it has so much energy. My only complaint is that in their identical janitor uniforms the two protagonists look identical.

The Pack - Incredibly surprised by this. Not wanting to either state the obvious or rattle any cages but Alan Grant's strips have been reliably dull for ages. This story though - very incredibly good. Also - you can barely see his signature but Cam Smudgity Smith surely deserves a bit more of an obvious credit. Like "By Alan Grant Illustration by Smudge"? Surely. That's a big boo-boo and why I was so annoyed at the Sean Phillips thing the month before.

Hondo-City Justice - Again, meh. Haven't really been paying attention to the story at all - but keeping a careful eye on James Offredi. New colourists interest me and I really don't like the skintones - felt a bit early noughties to me.

Bato Loco - Surely the MOST OFF-MODEL character in recent memory? Now I don't take Coleby to be 'inconsistent' by any road - but the Bato Loco on the cover ISN'T the Bato Loco in his stories. It's fcking Sean Penn. And Currie's one is utterly different - I hate his celebrity-caricature-with-massive-tits style and it was only made tolerable by the always-good muted colours of Peter Doherty. I can't imagine Mr Gordon being happy to see it given how upset he gets about Vampire Vixens.

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 02 August, 2012, 12:16:19 PM
Now I don't take Coleby to be 'inconsistent' by any road

It seems I was misunderstood when I said Coleby was inconsistent. It was a bad choice of words. What I meant was, individual character's facial features differ significantly from panel to panel. There were a couple of really noticable instances in the Meg collection but I'm at work so can't pinpoint them right now

Now, I really like Simon Coleby, he's actually one of my favourite (and underused) Dredd artists. This is just an observation which struck me whilst reading Bato Loco. It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the strip at all.

Yay, the download problems are all sorted and I finally have the chance to sit down and read my Meg.  Brief thoughts:

Cover - I like the image overall, but I do feel like the monster looks a bit too smooth and plasticky.

Judge Dredd - Still liking this art style very much; the colouring in the section with Dredd at the crime scene is ace.  Entertaining story, too, with some amusing little Mega-City touches.  Good stuff!

Samizdat Squad - I continue to love the art in this.  The dialogue is strong too, but somehow the plot didn't quite click together for me; I find I've liked all the individual instalments fine but struggle to remember the overarching story from week to week.  I think it might have worked better for me in weekly prog format.

Snapshot - Some interesting twists.  I feel like the pace has picked up a bit, and the art continues fab.  Not really the sort of story I'd have picked up to read if it wasn't in the Meg, but I'm enjoying it well enough.

Fiction - Now that's a post-Day of Chaos tale, and leaves me suddenly yearning for some Alan Grant Dredd in the prog.  He does a nice line in grim ugliness that would fit right in to the tone of the strip at present.  Excellent.

Hondo-City Justice - This wraps up okay.  Likeable enough, but I feel like there wasn't really much to the story in the end; the monster explodes and that's it?  Could have used a little more meat to the tale, maybe.

Bato Loco - This was new to me, and it was great fun.  Have always enjoyed Gordon Rennie's Dreddworld stuff.  Coleby's art looks great with Chris Blythe's colouring, too: that panel of the SS Batista at the docks is beautiful.

Solid prog with nice art throughout, but it's the Dredd stories, text and Bato Loco included, that really stand out.