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I stopped buying the Megazine a couple of years ago because I didn't feel it was worth the money. So, speaking as a non-reader, I think the price hike is crazy.

Effectively, you have to pay an extra two quid for a supplement that reprints fairly recent material. Most people can easily dig out their old progs if they want to read those stories again. I can't understand why they've done it; it's more likely to put existing readers off than attract new ones.

[spoiler]I find it odd that Dante didn't cut off his head, or indeed just change his sword into some sort of larger weapon or thing with lots of spikes, Gáe Bolgar would have been perfect.
I find the fact that Dante isn't dead, after Konstantine blasts him, weapons crest and regeneration abilities aside, is a major issue. Don't forget that he killed his own brother and sister with that weapon and it worked perfectly. Why didn't it this time? One shot should have done it, inside a room or not I'm sure it can be controlled.[/spoiler]

I too was a bit uncertain about the credibility of [spoiler]both Vladimir and Dante surviving the exchange[/spoiler], but I don't think it's that implausible. Dante has only ever been able to make basic bio-blades, so stabbing Vladimir in the stomach might have been the best he could do from that position and in that situation. If he'd tried to take a swing to chop Vladimir's head off then Konstantin might have zapped him before he managed it.

Similarly, Konstantin seems to be able to vary the strength of his fusion blasts, so the initial shot may have been supposed to disarm Dante without injuring Vladimir, leaving him to deliver a second, fatal blow — which, of course, [spoiler]Vladimir stopped him from doing[/spoiler]. Clearly it's all determined by how Robbie Morrison wants the story to go, but I don't think it was too unlikely. [/nerd]

How can this be true when such a significant amount of people can't understand what the story is supposed to be?

I agree. Some of Rob Byrne's previous tales have been good, but this one is extremely poor. It's far too difficult to work out out what's going on in each of the panels – the bugs are difficult to differentiate, and we don't get a clear enough picture of the location to understand where the action is taking place. What's more, the story is pretty unremarkable, and doesn't remotely justify the amount of effort that it takes to work out what's going on.

I suspect Tharg held this back from the original run of Twisted Tales, and is only publishing it now because he had a gap to fill. Fortunately, everyone's too engrossed in Dante to be bothered by it.  

Nice theory, and often mooted on the board, but I don't think so.

I tend to agree – Arkady has always been an arrogant weasel and he doesn't seem to have changed enormously. Also, you'd expect him to have inherited some of his father's traits, but who knows.

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but Arkady's attempt to court Jena in Thieves' World made me think [spoiler]those two would eventually marry, under Vladimir's edict, and that Arkady would therefore succeed him as Tsar[/spoiler]. But maybe I'm getting a little carried away too. This week's episode was phenomenal though, I have no idea what will unfold in the next story.

are we going to see Tsar re-juv ditto Dante? kind of makes almost killing them off pointless does it not? Has there ever been a main 2k character killed off and they have stayed dead?

Vladimir can't regen like the Romanovs, as he doesn't have a weapons crest — but Nikolai [spoiler]only stabbed him in the stomach, so he probably isn't dead[/spoiler].

Dante-  Great continuation.  [spoiler]Tsar's actions were a bit predictable though, but certainly in character. I wonder if Dante is about to switch sides again? Probably not just yet...[/spoiler]

I agree it was a good episode, but I also found the characters too predictable. Whenever Vladimir announces his latest atrocity, Nikolai and Jena always react with righteous disbelief, despite the number of times they've seen it before and been party to it. I thought Dante's exchange with the Futura guy was a bit unlikely too — interrogating a robot about his morals seems slightly pointless, particularly as he's already accustomed to the White Army's methods. All the same, I'm still itching to see the next episode.