2000 AD Online Forum

Anderson is on the cover this month as she returns to the Megazine.
I enjoyed the story, which has her undergoing a re-evalution for return to duty. Didn't she do that before, when she came back from space? It's an intriguing idea that she has stronger psi-powers now, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out. As ever, Boo Cook creates beautiful art.

The lead Dredd - the Dickens-inspired story - comes to an end. I thought it worked very well, although I admit I haven't read the source material. Often, Robbie Morrison's emotive storytelling doesn't work so well on Dredd strips but here, where Dredd is effectively a supporting character, I thought it was successful. Also, again we have some very special artwork. Every page Dave Taylor produces is a treat.

I'm sticking with Snapshot and enjoying it well enough. As can happen with action-packed strips, its episodes tend to fly by, so I'll do a full re-read at some point. But Jock rocks.

I'm saving the text story and Barry Kitson interview for later, but I did enjoy Molch-R's review of Century: 2009. Are we certain, however, that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has come to an end? I thought Moore had hinted he might do more.

Finally, the highlight of the Meg for me was the Black Museum tale by Alec Worley. It is just filled to the brim with great ideas. It's well-paced, exciting, has a story to tell and takes pure SF elements (talking to machines, etc) and treats them well. Sometimes - and I know it seems odd - I feel that SF elements can jar in a Dreddworld strip but this was great. Also, a European character who isn't a caricature? Nice work!

As for the art, where have you been, David Roach? I am head over hells in love with his style. I remember loving his depiction of Purity Brown when I was younger and I cannot express strongly enough how happy I am to see his work back in the House of Tharg. It's kind of old-school but still inventive, attractive, workable. Love it.

Overall: the Meg's a great, readable package with a high standard, especially for the art.

- Trout

Bah! Prog but no Meg - has Dreddlines reappeared Fishy?

Yes, and your Paisley prose is at its arse end. I expect that makes you happy.  ::)

Quote from: Trout on 11 August, 2012, 11:59:57 AM
Anderson... has her undergoing a re-evalution for return to duty. Didn't she do that before, when she came back from space?

And again when she came out of her coma.

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 11 August, 2012, 03:33:41 PM

Quote from: Trout on 11 August, 2012, 11:59:57 AM
Anderson... has her undergoing a re-evalution for return to duty. Didn't she do that before, when she came back from space?

And again when she came out of her coma.

Really? Haw, haw! Which of the many comas are we talking about?

The Half-Life coma - after a bunch of other judges had done a 'Fantastic Voyage' into her head.

Somebody really needs to do an Anderson infographic.  :)

Anyway, I enjoyed the new story.

Quote from: Trout on 11 August, 2012, 07:06:52 PM
Somebody really needs to do an Anderson infographic.  :)

I'd need a f*ckin re-evaluation after trying to get my head around that.
Anderson, PSI Division; treading the waters of tedium since '95.

QuoteDredd is effectively a supporting character

Trouty I wouldn't even say supporting. He was hardly in the three part story.
Was this really a Dredd story at all. IMO no.




V

Thank you kindly mr. Trout- it's so rewarding to know that the strip went down well. I'm drawing a really terrific Dredd story right now so there'll be more very soon. I have done a couple of Dredd strips each year for the last 3 or 4 years, but I guess they're fairly well scattered about the place you can be forgiven for missing them. I'd love to do more but other things seem to crop up unfortunately. I must say how much I love drawing for the Meg or 2000Ad, it's always such fun, and Mr. Worley did such a great script this time around.

Quote from: artdroid Roach on 16 August, 2012, 12:24:50 AM
I'm drawing a really terrific Dredd story right now so there'll be more very soon.

Great news! Thanks for posting, David.

Quote from: artdroid Roach on 16 August, 2012, 12:24:50 AM
Thank you kindly mr. Trout- it's so rewarding to know that the strip went down well. I'm drawing a really terrific Dredd story right now so there'll be more very soon. I have done a couple of Dredd strips each year for the last 3 or 4 years, but I guess they're fairly well scattered about the place you can be forgiven for missing them. I'd love to do more but other things seem to crop up unfortunately. I must say how much I love drawing for the Meg or 2000Ad, it's always such fun, and Mr. Worley did such a great script this time around.

Enough for a collectioned Trade Floppie to be issued with the Meg?   ;)

Well That was a Dreddlite Dredd Megazine

Enjoyed the Dredd story, and the TFTBMuseum, Snapshot continues its wonderful stroyboarding.
Anderson left me cold as usual, i feel that, great as Mr Cook's work is it isn't suited to the Meg, his lovely warm colours and soft bodies don't really reflect the harsh cityscape, maybe a Cursed Earth with muties would be more apt?
Text stuff was fine and Mr Grant hit the button this time with the short story, wouldn't the illustration which accompany these stories be a good intro for artists new to the Meg/prog?

letters page suffered from the holiday spell with the quailty taking a right dip  ;)

Cover -

Do love Simon Davis, this is beautiful as always - I will have a rant about Anderson's face later. I'll wait for the strip for that.

Dredd -

Brilliant. Taylor is a genius - this whole part was spellbinding. One of my favourite stories of the year. Not in any way ruined by the large red-and-yellow BDAM! across that beautiful peach-coloured final page. Not at all ruined. Not ruined. I'm not bovvered.

Interrogation: Mr Teague -

Enlightening - his sketchbooks really are phenomenal. And I think he, Goddard and Kek-W are all in Brizzle on the 1st of September. So, there'll be some ROSE O'RION chat going on there. ....Hoorah?

Tales From the Black Museum -

Not entirely convinced by the Gila Munja here - but I love Mr Roach's greywashes. There's something very appealing about a character who can corrupt all machinery in A CITY SUCH AS THAT. Classy story.

New Comics: LOEG 2009 -

Didn't read it for FEAR OF SPOILERS. I haven't got 'round to 2009 yet. Or...actually 1969 as it happens. Whoops.

Snapshot -

THIS. Jock owns the shit out of this. Incredibly kinetic storytelling. Brilliant. I don't care where this goes, I'm just happy to have it on m'shelf.

Interrogation: Mr Kitson -

Interesting little story of one of the many pastdroids, fascinating really how he got into it through happenstance and it relates quite well to the no-art-school versus art-school debate of people getting into comics. I remember Nigel Dobbyn's interrogation and how much he said he regretted not having that education. Interesting to see the flipside of it:

"When I first started, one of the first pieces of advice the professionals gave me was get your work in on time, and I think that's one of the foundations of a long career"

Fiction: Paranoia -

Again, Alan Grant comes out with a dark and filthy little fiction story that's REALLY quite very good. Not been a fan of his solo strips for the longest time but these last two have been incredibly good. Massive bugbear with the utterly-fucking-outrageous 1994(?!) Carlos picture being used. Nice and relevant. Nice and massively not at all relevant.

Anderson -

Anderson's face. I almost couldn't read this because I was concentrating so hard on it. It's so confusing. The fact that she's never-ever-ever had the same face from her first appearance to now is one of the weirdest things about 2000ad IMO.

She's psychic, right, and she's blonde.

"How old is she?"

That's not the point, she's psychic and she's blonde

"She looks like Debbie Harry right?"

Sometimes. But she's psychic though. And blonde.

"She has big boobs right, always popping out though, right?!"

Occasionally, more often than not she just has incredibly hard nipples (http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2011/art-for-arts-sake-21/), but that's not the point. Or POINTS RATHER. Ahahahaha. Where were we?

Oh yes. Like - never mind the fact that all PSI stories since I could remember seem to take place in a different Mega-City where nukings and Satan happen and never get referenced anywhere else - I just CANNOT get my head around her changing face. It freaks me out. She just doesn't seem like a character. I know we're too far along to go back - but Boo's being doing it a while, and WELL I'll add, but ESPECIALLY the last panel of the third page I was like "WHO IS THAT?!". I say do the Clint Langley/Simon Davis thing and copiously just draw (or take a picture of) your own face.

Tales from the Black Museum: fun to see some Swedish language in there, don't think I've seen that before in the prog/Meg..?  :)

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 17 August, 2012, 10:35:47 PM
Anderson -

Anderson's face. I almost couldn't read this because I was concentrating so hard on it. It's so confusing. The fact that she's never-ever-ever had the same face from her first appearance to now is one of the weirdest things about 2000ad IMO.

http://www.schamper.ugent.be/files/imagecache/regulier/images/Rowley%20Birkin%20QC.jpg
"How old is she?"

That's not the point, she's psychic and she's blonde

Glad its not just me who thinks this, anyway That's not the point, she's psychic and she's blonde:

Cover- Lovely and evocative.

Dredd- Good if sad finale. I love the art style.

Black Museum - Oh yes, I liked this a lot. And the idea of tatoos being storage devices is very interesting. I think I prefer these short stories overall to the Future Shocks, at least the recent ones. That strikes me as strange considering a Future Shock is less defined, as in it can be set anywhere and be about anything as long as there's a twist. (I include terror tales and Time Twisters here.) The Black Museum stories are all Dredd-world and (mostly) set in the Meg, yet I find most of them very compelling. Mind you, as John Wagner said concerning the Judge Dredd strip in interview recently, it's such a big city you can tell any kind of story there. Black Museum isn't Dredd, but the same rule applies.  And I think the extra pages help.

Snapshot - Good as ever, but better read in one go.

Paranoia prose piece - Not much happens at all, but it's good. It's a character psychological piece and it works very well.

Judge Anderson - Early, but I enjoyed this first instalment. It seems to be a very thoughtful story which is no bad thing. As for criticisms about her repetitive revaluations, I'll admit I didn't really notice, but considering what she's been through each of these times it seems appropriate. And her face may be very different from the early stories, but it seems consistent for this artist. (It also matches the artist who did the cover, even though the art style is very different.) One difference that did strike me in this (and it might be my imagination) Anderson looks more mature in this strip. Not 50 year old mature, and certainly still young but not quite the 21 year old look-alike from the previous strips.   I'm hot sure if it's actually a depiction of her age or the trauma she's been through. Either way, this is a good thing for me.

If I have a criticism of this strip it's that I find myself wondering, if she is psychically affected by the nuked out sector, how is she affected by the chaos day victims everywhere else? Okay, part of her reaction to the nuked out zone is personal guilt that she didn't prevent it, but I do wonder if such a massive event as Chaos day will have repercussions in this strip too. Or is this set before? Or is this a different world to the Dredd main strip, just set next door (so to speak)?

Marauder - I read this back when it ran in the Prog, and quite enjoyed it. I would prefer to see a story from the earlier days I haven't seen yet - this just seems too recent to me- but it's not bad having this as a complete story.

Quote from: Mardroid on 18 August, 2012, 04:59:42 PM
Judge Anderson -  One difference that did strike me in this (and it might be my imagination) Anderson looks more mature in this strip. Not 50 year old mature, and certainly still young but not quite the 21 year old look-alike from the previous strips.   I'm not sure if it's actually a depiction of her age or the trauma she's been through. Either way, this is a good thing for me.

Yes she's had Judge Death in her, been encased in boing, seen horrors beyond believe, survived a nuke  and she still looks like Billy Piper, when she should be more like Chief Judge McGruder at the end of Deadman!

Did we ever find out what happened to anyone in Marauder?
Billy? Krunt? Burnet? What happened to everyone????

Good Meggage this month. Particular shout out for the articles which were informative & well written.

Only minor gripe, a mere quibble really, was the Big Bad at then end of Anderson doing a Springheel Jack style leaping getaway. A little out of keeping in style with the rest of the strip. Too jarringly comical really for my taste.

I should also say that the Expectations Dredd won me over after my initial doubts over part 1. Good job droids!

And what's more, I'm usually not a fan of the Black Museum but this month was really quite good, both story and art wise.

Looking forward to next month's Meg now. Definitely recommend picking up a copy if you're not a regular reader.

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 24 August, 2012, 02:44:28 PM
Did we ever find out what happened to anyone in Marauder?
Billy? Krunt? Burnet? What happened to everyone????

Hmmmm a possible opening for a Zarjaz tale?

The Dredd has been the best story / art in a very long time. Probably the best Megazine Dredd since the Wagner / Doherty Rat Fink (which is a floppy soon isn't it? If you don't read the meg you should treat yourself to that issue).

The first appearance of Dredd was 'yeah!' the final was '!'. Sublime storytelling, divine art.

Please Tharg, more Dave Taylor, he really is one of your very best.

Anderson doesn't just change from artist to artist but from panel to panel. I got obsessed by her nose in this one. It kept changing. She does look a bit older because Boo is drawing her with a variety of different types of straight honkers instead of the little snub nose she has in other stories by other artists. The development of more mature features is pleasing and I always love his colours and city scenes.

If the writers actually let her act more than a self obsessed angst-ridden adolescent they might get some more interesting stories out of her, she's been stuck in limbo for over ten years now. From what I can tell she probably would have PTSD and that seems to be more serious than the whinging and cockiness she manifests.   

She's always been my favourite Dredd character and I am losing my patience.

Also losing my patience with Snapshot (I think I'm in a bad mood) which is a succession of chases with only chunks of exposition every now and then. The writing is boring me but blimey the art isn't. I like the rough vitality than bursts out everywhere. Still wish there wasn't so many shadows over people's faces though.

The Black Museum tale was ace and I loved the piss take over the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That makes me nostalgic for all the other piss takes that the 2000AD stable has perpetrated over the years. It is a fine, irreverent tradition. Great art too - I especially loved the depictions of Eliza's face. I also like that she looked like a teenager and Carver looked like a woman. I think a lot of artists don't get the age progression in female characters right because there isn't such a massive change in the features of a woman as there is a man as he grows older (which refers back to Anderson I guess). Lovely grey washes - it seems to give a lot of atmosphere to a drawing. There's a lot of gestural drawing in the characters too to make them more lively and tell the story without them becoming cartoons at one end of the scale or stiff photo refs at the other. The whole strip was a pleasure.

Great Executions came to its only possible ending but still it's very sad. Poor Charlie. A top story and beautifully illustrated. I love the delicate lines and muted colouring. It's so moody.

I haven't finished the text features yet but I'm enjoying them as usual. The interviews with creatives are always interesting and I'm looking forward to the text story.

the mr burns thing. Excellent. Great work from everyone x