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No time to comment, but blimey - the new Meg was just delivered. On a Thursday.

Zarjaz!

344 I meant. Can't modify. D'oh!

That is Zarjaz indeed.

By the way, Richmond, we need your assistance mate!

all we need to know: is there Dreddlines and how many letters? oh so close to that 10k mark now  :o

No Dreddlines!!!

D'oh!  I feel the Fates perspire against us....

Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 January, 2014, 12:47:48 PM
D'oh!  I feel the Fates Cerspire against us....

FTFY!!!!!!

Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 09 January, 2014, 01:20:40 PM

Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 January, 2014, 12:47:48 PM
D'oh!  I feel the Fates Cerspire against us....

FTFY!!!!!!

Sorry for the Double post

*Conspire

nope I was right the first time  :D

I've not read the text articles yet, but I'm liking everything else in the Meg right now.

Dredd: A solid single-parter, dealing (once again) with Dredd getting on a bit, but showing him up as the stubborn old git that he is. Some nice art by new-to-Dredd Guera, too, which put me in mind of 600-era Will Simpson, with a smidge of Doherty.

DeMarco seems well placed in Carroll's hands, judging by the second part of this investigative thriller that's ably juggling mystery, action and fun. The one thing I disliked about Trifecta was sidelining such a bright character, but she's back on form here.

Ordinary: Anything but—as ever. I'm not sure what the rights situation is for this, but I'll be buying the collected trade whenever it appears.

Anderson: I'm not sure what's happened with Grant here, but this feels more like classic-era Cass, rather like the Engram/Shamballa era. There's recognition of her age, and Dowling's art is perfectly suited.

It's Megs like this that remind me why I've stuck with it throughout the years, and the timing is perfect, since—for me—the Prog's dipped in form a bit of late.

Perhaps you are right, perhaps you are right!!!

**Walks quietly away, into the sunset!!!**

My first ever damaged copy :(

Looks like it happened in the packaging, big jagged 1cm rip at top but packaging fully sealed :( Rip being jagged means opening each page is an operation.

Oh well.

Quote from: Bat King on 09 January, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
My first ever damaged copy :(

Sure they'd do you a replacement copy?

My subs copy arrived on my doorstep today ( thursday ) as well !!!   2 days early :-)

DREDD, DEMARCO & ANDERSON  get the thumbs up from me, but I havn't enjoyed reading Ordinary at all since it started. I think it's the artwork thats puts me off the story completely.

ALso enjoying re-reading the bagged prog of Demarco.

Got mine today as well no read yet

Quote from: JUDGE BURNS on 09 January, 2014, 08:35:09 PM
but I havn't enjoyed reading Ordinary at all since it started. I think it's the artwork thats puts me off the story completely.

Are you quite mad?! Horses for courses and all that, but the art for me is just absolutely gorgeous and is so easy to read my eyes feel like they're slipping over ice. Warm fluffy ice like. So yeah, I love Ordinary and this episode has ramped up the tension perfectly for the big finale next month.

Dredd was a great one shot and really felt like a classic Dredd to me: crazy crim, internal monologue, stubborn bastard lawman with a dash of the weird. This was all helped along by Guera's art that had a really nice old fashioned vibe without being overtly self conscious. This was my first taste of his work and mighty fine it was (though I thought Dredd looked a bit out of proportion on the first page - teeny, tiny quibble!).

DeMarco is also going great guns, it almost feels like a new character. Reading the floppy doe smake me miss Travis a bit though...

Anderson - yeah, like IndigoPrime says this seems to be hitting the mark really well. I think with Grant on Anderson, in particular with the more introspective yarns like this, the artist is really important as the emotion and tone need to be just right to highlight Grant's script. Dowling has got this down pat - really lush colour pallette setting the tone perfectly. Felt a genuine pang of fear [spoiler]when she held the Lawgiver under her chin.[/spoiler] Brilliant stuff I'm happy to say.

Kind of skimmed the Marvel UK article but enjoyed the creator features as usual.

The Meg continues it's great run! Long may it do so!

M.

Quote from: Mikey on 10 January, 2014, 09:54:20 AMAre you quite mad?! Horses for courses and all that, but the art for me is just absolutely gorgeous and is so easy to read my eyes feel like they're slipping over ice. Warm fluffy ice like.

Yep. I'm a huge fan of Matt Brooker. He seems perfect for this strip—dynamic and imaginative execution, finely balancing a certain amount of realism with outright madness.

The meg is on absolutely cracking form at the moment.

The Dredd one-shot was brilliant, I love artists who portray Dredd in all his aged grizzled and scarred glory. Nice line about the horse at the end too.

Ordinary is one of the finest things I've read in a long while. The Pink Floyd inspired teacher was genius, as are so many of the background characters. Only thing that puzzled me was [spoiler]that I thought the two-headed Maori bouncer had been frozen solid when turned to gold?[/spoiler]

DeMarco is greatly enjoyable, but I think sometimes the judges let her get away with an awful lot of illegal stuff.

Not read the text articles yet, but they look interesting as always.

Anderson is grim, but gripping

Quote from: Dandontdare on 10 January, 2014, 11:18:56 AMDeMarco is greatly enjoyable, but I think sometimes the judges let her get away with an awful lot of illegal stuff.

I'm guessing because of her relationship with Dredd combined with pure pragmatism—they don't like her methods, but she's smart and gets the job done. In a post-DoC world, that makes more sense than ever. (Plus although she may not always be legal, she's on the line when it comes to the big stuff, like murder.)

The Meg is the best it's been in absolutely ages at the moment.  No duffers in there at all.

One thing about De Marco - [spoiler]wouldn't that indestructible Nano bot stuff have avoided all that Chaos Day mass death stuff?[/spoiler].  Enjoying the Carroll Dredd-verse at the moment with all the Sov stuff.

The Man Comes Around was rather excellent.  Rob Williams said somewhere about how the art would have looked fantastic on the old 2000AD bog paper and he's right. 

Ordinary continues to be marvelous.   Can't agree with whoever said they don't like the art.  D'israeli can do no wrong in my book, and the whole concept is just so simple.

Anderson: I've thought for a long time that the Cass being appalled and sickened by the brutality of life in the Meg has to go somewhere, so to see it moving on was interesting. Great art as well.

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 10 January, 2014, 10:27:54 AM

Quote from: Mikey on 10 January, 2014, 09:54:20 AMAre you quite mad?! Horses for courses and all that, but the art for me is just absolutely gorgeous and is so easy to read my eyes feel like they're slipping over ice. Warm fluffy ice like.

Yep. I'm a huge fan of Matt Brooker. He seems perfect for this strip—dynamic and imaginative execution, finely balancing a certain amount of realism with outright madness.

Amen.  I also had a quiet chuckle at the Pink Floyd tribute with the teacher.

gggrrrr, must get my subbie sorted out...

I'm reading too much into it, I know.

It's idle fannish speculation, I know.

But I can't help but think that the fixation with Dredd and Anderson's mortality - in the Meg and Prog - is going to tie in to Dark Judgement.

Loved Anderson and Dredd. Both the art and the writing was ace. And as someone already said, Cas pointing the gun to her head was almost a bit scary. Best Anderson I'v read in a long time!

It's tales like these two that sells me that DoC happened.

Love the art of ordinary, but I'm waiting till the story is finished. The first read mega but I want the whole thing infront of me.

Quote from: Apestrife on 15 January, 2014, 11:36:17 AM
Love the art of ordinary, but I'm waiting till the story is finished. The first read mega but I want the whole thing infront of me.

It ends next month!!!

Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 15 January, 2014, 12:54:34 PMIt ends next month!!!

It does. Oh poo. I hoped it'd carry on for ages yet.

DREDD: Great one-shot. Particularly loved the parting line at the end: typical, no-nonsense Dredd. Brings up the question of how long they're going to let ol' Joe run for, though. What age is he now, 70 odd?

ANDERSON: Loving this new mature take on Anderson (although do prefer her with longer hair). Brilliant, slow-burn of a story. Very character-driven. Awesome.

DeMarco: Yep, it's fun stuff and a great new potential sidekick in our invincible mutie. Let's hope he sticks around.

ORDINARY: It's okay. Reminds me a lot of GIRLS by the Luna Brothers, especially the artwork. Certainly entertaining but, and this may just be me, I would much prefer all stories within the Meg to be Dreddworld based.

I don't mind having at least one strip which isn't based or connected to Dredd's world. Otherwise we wouldn't have had the pleasure of reading gems such as Snapshot, Ordinary and my personal fave - Lilly McKenzie!

Another quality Meg!

Ordinary is amazing, and still my favorite current Meg story. Liked the Pink Floyd reference, and Dougal from Magic Roundabout.

Cheers

Anyone else really weirded out by seeing Dredd's eyes in this month's Dredd?

Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Quote from: Mabs on 17 January, 2014, 06:51:02 PM
I don't mind having at least one strip which isn't based or connected to Dredd's world. Otherwise we wouldn't have had the pleasure of reading gems such as Snapshot, Ordinary and my personal fave - Lilly McKenzie!

Quite. The Meg was a very odd beast when it was "Dredd and other strips", like with the Preacher reprints, or at the start of Vol 4. But now, I think the balance is great: two or three Dreddworld strips, and then one or two other things. That said, I might say otherwise when Ordinary's done if we get another six months of Sexy Ostriches.

Noooo! Let's not ruin a solid run on the Meg with sexy ostriches! Unless we have Fay Dalton back doing the majority of the work. That woman is (as Pat says) an exceptional talent.

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 10:39:54 PM
Noooo! Let's not ruin a solid run on the Meg with sexy ostriches! Unless we have Fay Dalton back doing the majority of the work. That woman is (as Pat says) an exceptional talent.

Isn't it that Paul Grist thing next?

I'm a firm believer in one Dredd + one Dreddworld strip and the rest different. Something only tangentially related like Insurrection or Devlin Waugh is perfectly fine.

Quote from: The Cosh on 18 January, 2014, 10:48:14 PM

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 10:39:54 PM
Noooo! Let's not ruin a solid run on the Meg with sexy ostriches! Unless we have Fay Dalton back doing the majority of the work. That woman is (as Pat says) an exceptional talent.

Isn't it that Paul Grist thing next?

I think so, if memory serves me right.

I still haven't got into Devlin Waugh yet, I've got a stack of old Megs with a lot of DW stories, hope to read them sometime soon.

THE MEG
wow it was a good the high being The man comes around,

the whole ageing issue of Dredd being so well portrayed,
the script outstanding , the art style less so. looked little lazy or just not u the standard we 99% of the time experience,

but i loved the final cut of the question about the pets in the block, truly a Dredd moment, no crime is left unnoticed.

Demarco strong character still as wonderful as ever
for me MEG = pleasure 

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Nah, the eye belongs to the horse.

Slightly off topic, but: there seems to be a lot of negativity towards American Reaper. Each to their own of course, but then I've had to put up with the likes of 'Dante' and 'Grey Area' (both of which I read, but hardly 'enjoy').

I await the next part of AM with great interest!


Cheers

Quote from: NapalmKev on 19 January, 2014, 10:47:23 AM
Slightly off topic, but: there seems to be a lot of negativity towards American Reaper. Each to their own of course, but then I've had to put up with the likes of 'Dante' and 'Grey Area' (both of which I read, but hardly 'enjoy').

I await the next part of AM with great interest!


Cheers

It's not the fact that the storytelling for American Reaper is poor, on the contrary, I really enjoy it. It's more to do with the garish photoshop work which accompanies it - Clint Langley is without doubt an outstanding artist (as his recent work in the prog can attest)  but his work for American Reaper does test my patience at times. Two or three page spreads with just a 'smart-bullet' flying through the air, or some other action scene when one would have sufficed.

Quote from: Apestrife on 19 January, 2014, 07:54:20 AM

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Nah, the eye belongs to the horse.

I love the fact that you can read quite a few things about this strip. Remember at the start Dredd says "the eyes are the windows to the soul", do we then get a glimpse of Dredd's soul [spoiler]when we see that stunning scar ravaged black horse amidst the carnage?[/spoiler] It's a really poetic scene in an otherwise action filled story. Also Dredd seems to be having these hallucination or visions quite a bit right now, e.g, the snow flakes on Titan. I think it brings a lit of depth to the character, he's definitely come far as a character esp. from the strips earlier years. It's perhaps questioning Dredd's own mortality, and of course we know he won't be around forever.

Quote from: Apestrife on 19 January, 2014, 07:54:20 AM

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Nah, the eye belongs to the horse.

I thought that (and were probably right) the first time but what about when he's on the roof at the end? There is a pair of eyes in Dredd's visor then as well.

Quote from: Dodsy on 20 January, 2014, 12:58:41 PM

Quote from: Apestrife on 19 January, 2014, 07:54:20 AM

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Nah, the eye belongs to the horse.

I thought that (and were probably right) the first time but what about when he's on the roof at the end? There is a pair of eyes in Dredd's visor then as well.

I'm thinking it's the bombers', since he's up close to Dredd's visor. But who knows, it could be meant as his eyes. But I like to think I haven't seen that face, even if I have in Fargo's face in Destiny's angel and pieces of Dredd's before Necropolis ;)

I thought it was the bomber's eyes too, but if you look carefully it doesn't match!

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Which panel???

There is a reflection of the horse's eye in Dredd's visor in panel 5 on page 4.

Quote from: Bat King on 23 January, 2014, 08:42:45 PM

Quote from: Mabs on 18 January, 2014, 01:58:31 PM

Quote from: Pioneer on 18 January, 2014, 12:55:03 PM
Aren't the eyes reflections in his helmet?

No they look like Dredd's alright.

And yes, they do look a tad creepy!

Which panel???

There is a reflection of the horse's eye in Dredd's visor in panel 5 on page 4.

It's on Page 8, panel 5. Definitely Dredd's....

This? Definitely Dredd's eye...

How the heck I miss that??? Odd... not sure how it could be either.

Nope, Goaty, that is the horse's eye reflected, the rest of the horse's face is there too.

No it's this one Goaty:



Very easy to miss!

Cover - Lovely work from John Burns. I love the layout of the art with our mutant friend Claude's arm almost leaping off the page.

Judge Dredd: The Man Comes Round - An exceptional one off story! First of all, not since Guy Davis' appearance in the Meg have I been so excited about seeing another artist from outside tackle Old Stoney Face. I'm familiar with RM Guerra's artwork having encountered it in the excellent Scalped series, and here his artwork is just a pleasure to behold. The opening panels showing Dredd's scar ravaged face and body were the standout, as were his rendering of the lawman, and the depiction of MC1. The scene of an exploding body with blood splatter is done so realistically as to make you cower for shelter! And as has been suggested the colour tone and design keeps more in touch with the earlier depictions of Dredd. And of course the colour work by Giulia Brusco is also outstanding.



The story by Rob Williams is really enjoyable, a look into Dredd's psyche, and questions perhaps of his own mortality. The opening quote "The eyes are the windows to the soul" sets up the story really well. Like Blade Runner, the motif of the eye is quite prevalent in the story. We see Dredd's eyes a couple of times, the first could be seen as  reflection of the horse's eyes on the helmet which he encounters, but the second panel is most definitely Dredd's. And coming back to the black horse, for me it represents the soul of Dredd, again scarred and yet almost aweinspiring and magnificent. It is clear Dredd is having a hallucination esp. with the apparition like form it exhibits after the sound of gun shots startle it. The scenes involving the bomber and his deranged actions are almost like a side show with the main emphasis being on Dredd himself. I found myself reading and then pondering upon some of the images in the story, and even then there were a few more surprises. The ending is also greatly done, showing the fact that Dredd is always thorough and leaves nothing to question. It's a magnificent one off and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

DeMarco PI: The Whisper (Part Two) - DeMarco along with her guide Kessler continue to uncover the mystery behind 'The Whisper'; the person/ being behind a recent spate of mysterious disappearances. The clues send them to a research lab as they come face to face with a mutant called Claude who cannot be killed!

Again, Steve Yeowell's b&w artwork is excellent here as is Mike Carroll's script. This is a really enjoyable little strip, and although it's sad to see DeMarco without her gorilla sidekick Travis Perkins, I feel characters like Kessler and Claude make up for it.

Ordinary - We come to the penultimate issue of Ordinary and what a pleasure it has been reading this comic these last couple of months. This time round our plumber Michael Fisher manages to locate his son, but soon word gets out of Mike's 'ordinary' nature and the goverment sends its military muscle (or rather rocket shooting muscle) to 'capture' him. Dr.MacDonald tries to come to his aid but will it be too late?

We get a glimpse of Michael's relationship with his son, and the fact the son has very little faith in his father. But the shocking last panel suggests that there's more to Michael than we realise. Again D'Israeli's artwork is insanely good, the style fits the story really well. I'm looking forward to the final episode with a great deal of excitement (and a tinge of sadness) to see how it all pans out.

Anderson PSI: Dead End (Part Two): Anderson with Dredd in tow, continues to search for answers after discovering a bus full of dead children in the previous episode. Her search takes her to Chorazo Flats, which was once a thriving district - until Chaos Day struck....

This Anderson story already feels special. Not only because of Mike Dowling's amazing artwork (the opening few panels had me drooling!) but the story itself by Alan Grant is utterly gripping. As I mentioned in last month's review we have a more mediative Anderson, questioning her place in a world filled with so many horrors. My favourite moment is her talk with Judge-Tutor Enzo; a victim of the Apocalypse war, all his limbs are missing including the lower part of his stomach. He talks to her about the suicide rates amongst PSI's. You know that he is concerned about her, as too are we the readers. This is an excellent story and I'm already looking forward to the next part.

Features:

New Comics: Revolutionary War - A look into the lesser known Marvel characters that were created under the Marvel UK imprint. Not too much of an interest for me sadly, seeing as I've weaned myself off Marvel (and DC to some extent) in the last year or two, my attention seems to be drawn more towards 2000AD and of course the Meg, as well as stuff from Dark Horse, Image and IDW and other Indie comics. Still, an informative piece by Matthew Badham.

Interrogation: Gary Brown - An interview by Barry Renshaw of the Scottish born artist (there's a hell of a lot of talent from Scotland contributing towards the comics medium today -  more than I realised!). I'm not too familiar with Gary's work however, The Massive being the only title which I've read. But one thing is clear, he's one talented bloke and I will definitely be tracking down some of his other works.

Interrogation: David Baillie - A brief yet informative piece on David Baillie whose work I'm a great admirer of. Not only is he a great talent but he's a really nice chap too having talked with him via E-mail a few times regarding his work on The Ghostship Mathematica for Tharg's 3riller. It won my favourite non-Dredd story for 2013. It was also interesting to learn about his breakthrough into the comics medium, and of course he still contributes towards the Megazine and prog today. I look forward to seeing more work from David in the near future.

So a superb Meg this month. The Floppy (DeMarco PI Vol.2) was also a lot of fun with our ex-Judge and her Gorilla partner Travis going into 'The Jungle': a lawless place within MC1 now home to a warring faction of Mafioso and Ninja apes! I wish I knew how it came to be that the apes started talking English and dressing in human attire in the first place! Were they an experiement or did they just evolve in that manner? The story felt a little brief however, the rest of the floppy was occupied by Harmony, with great artwork  and a cameo from a robot that looks very much like ED-209.

Quote from: Mabs on 27 January, 2014, 05:11:47 PM
I wish I knew how it came to be that the apes started talking English and dressing in human attire in the first place! Were they an experiement or did they just evolve in that manner?

John Wagner and Mick McMahon's The Ape Gang (prog 39) brusquely informs the reader that only zoo animals survived the Atomic War and that "as time passed it became possible to alter the brain cells of apes and give them the ability to speak". At first read that seems a little prosaic, but when you think about it the idea that we'd get up to that kind of monkey business just because it was possible strikes me as a pretty good summation of human behaviour.

Thanks for filling that in sauchie, and you're not wrong about human behaviour!

Quote from: Mabs on 27 January, 2014, 05:11:47 PM
The story by Rob Williams is really enjoyable, a look into Dredd's psyche, and questions perhaps of his own mortality.

Now im not a Meg buyer, but I reckon im gonna track down a copy of this tomorrow, purely for this story.

Really been enjoying Rob Williams take on Dredd over in the Prog, and this seems to be a fine continuation of that.

Have to agree with most posts, RM Guerra's work is quite evocative of an earlier take on Dredd. However is it just me or on some of the frames does he make his head a bit large in proportion to his body....? In relation to the eyes debate, does Dredd not have prosthetic eyes (I'd always imagined them as something akin to the Gholas eyes in the Dune Messiah story (pitted grey orbs). I hasten to add I loved Frank Herbert's books not the abominations  produced by his son and that other p**k Anderson.

Quote from: ZenArcade on 30 January, 2014, 10:44:26 AM
In relation to the eyes debate, does Dredd not have prosthetic eyes (I'd always imagined them as something akin to the Gholas eyes in the Dune Messiah story (pitted grey orbs).

Dredd's bionic eyes are clearly shown in the Dead Man story and they have square pupils. Unlike the eyes visible through the helmet in this month's story.

Spot on reply Spaceghost. I was wracking my brain over when his eyes were shown in progs. Should have picked up on Dead Man. Cheers. Z

I suppose he could have had an upgrade to the deluxe, ultra realistic version since then though.

His eyes did short out when he was trapped with tha cadet/rookie with the Irish name...can't rem was it prog or meg. Maybe he had them done then. Lol

Quote from: ZenArcade on 31 January, 2014, 04:26:23 PM
His eyes did short out when he was trapped with tha cadet/rookie with the Irish name...can't rem was it prog or meg. Maybe he had them done then. Lol

Blindside - Progs. 1596-99 I believe.

The very one!

It's all been said above, but what a cracking good Meg!

Anderson's pick of the bunch for me. Art really works well with the script. Brilliant! I'll be eyeing up the Anderson case files when they go digital, I reckon.

Roll on next month!