So, we had a 37th birthday for the Prog. And that is a fine and right thing to do. 37 years for a print comic is some going, especially for a weekly anthology.
And yet, it has just occured to me that the Meg is 24 years old this year.
Yep, that's right: 24 years old.
My understanding is that Meg has danced with death quite a few times, yet it has outlasted so many of its peers (by which I mean monthly anthologies), from Crisis to Revolver to Clint.
It's a gem, the endurance of which is dimmed simply because it has to bask in the radiance of the Prog. Yet its own achievements should not be ignored.
So, let's take a little moment to realise we have two, not one, treasures.
And if you only subscribe to the Prog, then shame on you!
Ah the heady days of Young Death, Devlin Waugh and America. I smile when I think back....24 years wow. Z
Williams and D'Israeli's Ordinary (http://ordinary-comic.tumblr.com/) was the best thing Tharg published last year.
The Meg has been in top form lately. Great line-up and great reprints (doofy reprint of the second Lobster Random story instead of the first notwithstanding). Hope things keep up that level of quality for a while.
You know, at least until the inevitable return of Sexy Ostriches...
EDIT: Really looking forward to Demon-Nic.
I've always had a lot of love for the Meg. I came to the prog late but it was just before the Meg started so I was there from the start. I remember the excitement of coming home with the first meg and reading it cover to cover. Ok so it was a dumping ground for some real shite along the way but it has been consistently excellent (sexy ostriches not withstanding) for a long while.
The Meg kept me reading 2000AD during the period Wagner had sworn off it - if the outlet of the Meg hadnt been there to keep a supply of Wagner based goodness, I imagine I would have pulled the plug on the prog
I did for almost 20 years! Z
Now I feel guilty. I've only bought it twice in the last year. I'll try to get it more often.
I distinctly remember when Issue 1 of the Meg was released in New Zealand.
For some reason, I had no idea that it was coming out and was very surprised when I saw it sitting on the newstand next to my weekly prog. I remember sitting on the school-bus on the way home and reading that first issue - all that impressive painted art!
I started reading the meg about half a year after getting into the prog and haven't put it down ever since - to me the two are inseparable and the meg is constantly changing which is quite refreshing. So for all the bad (I used to skim some of the more superfluous articles a few years ago, they used to have garbage opinion columns and *ahem* I don't want to be the third person on this thread to say sexy ostriches but yes, that seemingly consistently-disliked-but-still-going photo story thing that gobbles up a billion pages per issue) and the good (the much-missed small press section (!!!!), those Dredd archives they used to have, I do love the mini-floppies (fnarr), and the sheer weight of interesting experimental one-offs and the more than frequent high quality prog-level stories are irresistible). Miss it, miss out as live and kicking used to say with annoying frequency.
Long live the Meg - let's hope something magic for the 25th is in store next year!
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 18 March, 2014, 06:59:28 AM
let's hope something magic for the 25th is in store next year!
Magic? Now how do I get this vision of a Dredd-Mandrake the Magician crossover out of my head?
I frequently prefer the contents of the Meg over the Prog. It has consistently great content and the digital Meg is the most 'bang for buck' on the market!
I'll drink to the Meg.
The Meg has been on an excellent run for a while now and it deserves a lot of praise for that. My only problem is that I frequently can't remember what happened in the previous issue when reading the latest part of an on-going story. This says more about my poor memory than anything else though.
Long term Meg reader here, and strong advocate that it's probably the best value monthly comic on the planet.
24 years, eh?
I distinctly remember that first volume of the Meg (Vol 1, issues 1-20).
I don't know if it was just that I was a young guy at the time, and a lot of the content seemed more 'adult' than the Prog, but to me that early run had a certain something.
Must plan a re-read sooner than later.
Early fan but later dropped when they started 50% Preacher reprints. Now a loyal subber and I have a full run. Always a Curate's egg but always enough to justify the purchase. Let's also remember they are more inclined to run reader letters. Who has the record for the most Megazine letters printed in the history of the august 24 year old organ? Can't remember but what an achievement that is!
Quote from: Buttonman on 18 March, 2014, 12:28:42 PM
Let's also remember they are more inclined to run reader letters.
This is simply because we receive more printable/non-sweary letters regarding the Megazine each month than we do for the Prog each week.
That's interesting (to me at any rate!). I've always had better luck with the Meg with a 50% hit rate compared to about 25% for the Prog. Given the better Meg prize (GN instead of Heroclix) this is contrary to what one would expect. The exciting and unpredictable world of writing letter to Tharg!
Butonman, re the most letters. Its gotta be Floyd Kermode, he had numerous letters to the meg in 90's? Z
Quote from: ZenArcade on 18 March, 2014, 06:47:12 PM
Butonman, re the most letters. Its gotta be Floyd Kermode, he had numerous letters to the meg in 90's? Z
Buttonman is keeper of The Beast, an exhaustive database of every letter or reader's drawing reproduced in 2000ad, The Megazine, specials or annuals. As such, he is perfectly aware of the identity of the lucky Squaxx who holds that honour - what appears to be an innocent enquiry must therefore be understood as hubristic
braggadocio. He's not been feeling well lately, but that doesn't explain or excuse his thirty year war of attrition against Tharg's letter-openers.
Thank you Sauchie - I sometimes forget there are innocents in our midst!
It is true that Floyd holds the 2000ad letter record (for now) but the combined 2000ad and megazine record rests in the noble town of Paisley, Renfrewshire. A bit like myself.
It's mine, all mine!
This fine article (https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/writing-to-tharg-part-1/) explains more. Skip the middle part featuring some also ran. And for uptodatedness I currently have 87 scores, 40 Prog and 47 Meg.
And here they are...
M253
1522
1473
1477
1479
1483
1502
M240
M242
M245
M249
M251
M231
M232
M233
M234
M235
M238
M239
1452
1457
1462
M223
M224
M226
M227
M228
M229
M230
M255
559
835
1118
1211
1229
1232
1277
1364
1381
2005
1439
1441
1444
1448
1529
M262
1560
1569
M268
M269
M270
M270
1584
M272
M273
1594
M274
1603
1607
1612
M279
2009
M286
M288
M294
M295
M298
1642
M300
M302
M305
M307
M311
M312
1741
M313
M314
1748
1756
M317
2012
1769
M324
1792
M327
1802
M329
Floyd remains stranded on 81 - and 53 Prog and 28 Meg.
What an amateur ::)
Commando Forces on the other hand remains stalled on 6 with only one Megazine score to his name!
M80/V2.60
935
943
2008
1631
1677
Quote from: Buttonman on 18 March, 2014, 07:49:06 PM
This fine article (https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/writing-to-tharg-part-1/) explains more.
Proudfoot:
"I was one of the few who got a drawing published in the Nerve Centre: Prog 427, right opposite a great page of Bolland's Dredd".
Try opposite Cliff Robinson's
Anderson: Psi Division (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=427).
7 is my lucky number, so I don't want to reach that goal just yet ;)
Quote from: COMMANDO FORCES on 18 March, 2014, 08:32:24 PM
7 is my lucky number, so I don't want to reach that goal just yet ;)
There have only been six instances of Dredd holding his weapon incorrectly or using the wrong tactics?
I'd forgotten those articles. They were fun!
- Dean Yates of Gwent
Sauchie, checked out prog 427, nerve centre on inside page, the artist on opposite page is Cam Kennedy? Z
Quote from: ZenArcade on 19 March, 2014, 08:32:59 AM
Sauchie, checked out prog 427, nerve centre on inside page, the artist on opposite page is Cam Kennedy? Z
It says his age is 427, which is funny as he hasn't aged a day...
Sorry, Cliff Robinson.
Quote from: ZenArcade on 19 March, 2014, 08:32:59 AM
Sauchie, checked out prog 427, nerve centre on inside page, the artist on opposite page is Cam Kennedy? Z
Sauchie you are sooo right, proof that if you can remember the 80's you weren't there.
I'll assumed
wrongly that Dredd was in pole position in the prog and that Bolland was the artist, he must be reet pissed orf about this :D