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Judge Dredd Comic

All this megazine stuff speaks of shame :p

Well, presumably Judge Dredd is a recognisable name, while the megazine, gawd bless it, is an awful name for anything.  You do need Dredd to sell the comic, and as such a Dredd strip (which I approve of) and one Dreddworld story (ideally well done) is arguably the minimum.  I bet the megazine has had less before.

It may sound a bit fan-ish, but some small in-depth articles about Judge Dredd, life in the city, how the judges work etc. might be interetsing for some people.  If you could get wagner involved to say what's official and what isn't, it would have some sort of authority.  E.g. do a 2 page article on the Judda, ask Wagner to fill in the gaps (He'd probably hate doing this, but it's an idea) and lace it with some lovely artwork and choice amusing/exciting panels.  There's lots of scope, city blocks, the under city, the Cursed Earth.  Eventually it could be collected as a book.

I certainly have no problem with people disagreeing with me, I'd probably be dissapointed if they did.

"Over the last four years I've weened myself off my American Comic habit and most months only read 2000 & The Meg. I'd guess that most of the readers get their copy through newsagents, which is why comic shop workers dont have a clue about the titles and therefore dont buy any or many other comics."

Which is as good an argument for a small press section in the Meg as I can imagine.

That ended up longer than planned, I'll stop there.

I disagree with 'the city is the star of Judge Dredd', it's been said so many times it's become dogma.  

Judge Dredd is the star, without Dredd acting as the straight man to the crazy city I don't believe the city is that interesting on its own.  For me, because I believe the city is insane (although since the 90's it's largely been a manic depressive), and watching crazy people isn't as much fun as it sounds.  Part of the fun of Judge Dredd was exploring the people, places and fads through the strip and generally seeing how Dredd dealt with them.  There were new ideas every week, it was exciting stuff.  It left you wanting more.  

But by getting more Dredd world stuff, we've actually ended up with less.  The main strip in the prog has become less inventive and more like a regular comics series (although often still very good).  Filling in some of the blanks becomes restrictive, and the results have often been ignored by the lead writer.

It seems to me that the best supporting characters in Dreddworld have arrived first in Judge Dredd strips, and then due to their popularity have returned, in their own series or further dredd stories.  These days you might get a 'plant', where we're told in the story how cool a character is, as they already have a planned series in the works.  

This is just my theory, I don't expect people to agree.  But looking at all of the Dreddworld stuff published, either the city isn't the star, it has been badly represented, or both.

For me I'd like to see a Dredd strip, and one other strip which explores the world, and concentrates on what a Dredd strip can't.  Currently that's what we have in a fashion, plus a reprint.  If the material coming out was exceptionally good, I wouldn't begrudge more, otherwise, something new and original please.

Then again, as editor if the readers want 'more' for the sake of it, it might make more sense just to give them it.

Personally, I think the Meg has the opportunity to become a very vital comic.  To some extent it's free to publish what it wants, it needs some core Dredd stuff just like the prog to guarentee a certain audience, but it has already published classic british comic reprint, given us a look at the diverse small press scene (not all may be to your taste, but if you find something you like beyond your usual comics, that's a great result), and published articles which give quite a lot for the small amount of space they take up.

I quickly stopped missing the squarebound meg, and as we get the equivelent of a summer special every month, I don't miss the extra pages.  Mainly, I'm just interested in where it goes.

"I'd actually prefer if both the meg and tooth were amalgamated"

For me that would be really bad.  They compliment and support each other very well I feel.  You wouldn't gain anything from it, just lose artists and possibly the odd writer.

If people don't like the small press section, that's fair enough.  I don't like them all, myself.

Personally, at times have exactly the same problem as Logan, in that there can be times I'm only interested in one strip, although for different reasons.  This is of course the case with all anthologies, though I think AD and the  Meg have a higher hit rate than most.

For me, I have to say I could wave goodbye to 99& of all Dreddworld stories.  Have a Dredd strip in there, great, but I just don't have the stomach for spinoffs anymore.  Judges from other countries, cool characters that always seem to get the better of Dredd in the hope they can get their own series.  Half the time the writers don't even create their own characters and ideas.  I enjoyed some of the very early Anderson stuff, I enjoyed the first chapter of the now purgatorial half life, I enjoyed Helltrekkers (I'm guessing the Dead Man stuff is more Dredd than spin off)... well, there we go.

The Judge Dredd character and series itself still has lots of potential, the wider world however has had its chance and has continually failed to make the grade, and the megazine of the past has had the misfortune to be the catalogue of those attempts.  I'd really much rather see people attempt to create something new.

The Meg has only really been worth reading for me in the Barnes/Smith Era.  Sometimes I enjoy most if it, sometimes I don't, but overall it's a good comic.  Personally I prefer the recent  version of the meg with it's reduced page count and price.  Also, it's only in the last few years I feel the meg has felt like it had a point.  So I'd argue that the best days of the Meg, are still in the future.

While 2000AD over the last few years has been as strong as it has been since the late eighties, I don't think 2000AD can ever achieve the position it held for those first ten years.  And it's wrong to compare the stories directly with those today (even though some of those kids stories were more mature and had more to say, were better drawn and written that some of today's stories).  It is the effect the stories have on the readers of the time you have to judge.  And in terms of numbers of readers, the impact it had on popular culture and comics as a whole, the old 2000AD had the magic.  Times have moved on, comics aren't the dynamic force they once were and 2000AD would have to work a 100 times harder to achieve what was done in the 70's to mid eighties, plus these things happen by a mix of skill and luck, you can't recreate success by following any rules.  Making it a bit unfair to compare the two.

I can say that I think I'm looking forward to prog 1500 with the same sense of enthusiasm I did for prog 500.  Origins, and upcoming stories like stickleback and stone island sound great.

"I've rounded them off to the nearest quarter of an inch"

Personally I feel that shows a lack of commitment.

If they ever made it to MC-1, patrolling the radpits...http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94/paulvonscott/eb12f646.jpg">

I bought a Corgi Liberator (a bit bashed with slightly wonky aerials) for 50p at the bootfair, I've wanted one of those for to fly above my computer for some time.

That's the one.  I had one as a kid, before I read 2000AD regularly.

Go_mAchine was all you wanted from a classic 2000AD series in three episodes, well done Al.

Red Seas should, to my mind, be in full glorious Blythe-color, but I am enjoying it.  Though I feel I could enjoy it more.

Whatever happens in prog 1499, all I'll be thinking is that next week, I'll be thinking, next week, prog 1500.

You say 'Among', He says 'Amongst'

I thought we'd all agreed these words were das verboten!

Just to sum up why I liked the cover so much.  it's well drawn by Dylan Teague, whose artwork I always enjoy on strips.  He drew my very favourite episode of the Rennie Era Rogue Trooper, and generally has a nice clean style I rather like.

Now, not only does the Eagle represent The judges, but it also of course, ties in with the Eagle Awards.  Wot with being a big Eagle.

Okay, so the missiles look a bit crayola.  But there isn't too many or too few.  You need the missiles!

But the colours involved, the gold in the logo and eagle, and the blue/red missiles really made the cover a very stand out one.

Anyway, I like it.

Dredd, I'm not sure these sort of stories are what I want from Dredd, i.e. obvious parralels with our time, but it's very well written with it's multiple plot threads and I am enjoying it.

Fiends, more happens this week, which is good!

I remember being surprised by an 8 page small press strip, but an 8 page small press strip which is continued next week!?  Kerrrikey.  Not what I'd expect at all, but the unexpected is what this section should deliver.

Negatives, the pages don't taste minty, and generally I'm not really convinced by tales from the Black Museum.

Well, it's a groggy morning for me today, so nice to get a prog and a meg.  I was just wondering whether that was both landing through the door... it is!

Not read much of either but will do over my enforced tea break at the library this afternoon.

Cover, a marvellous cover, full of classic Dredd style, knockout colours and very well drawn by Teague.  Always great to see his stuff.

The reprinted Dredd story 'Where's Wally?' was great, I really don't remember reading this before (seriously).

Liam Sharp and Mam Tor, well, my sympathies to Liam who I was on the next stall to at Bristol, when literally it was the hottest thing there.  It was a commendable project, and my only criticism was that it was almost entirely art lead, and they needed  the calibre of writers to match the A-List artists.  But I don't think that's why it eventually stopped.  I just think (apart from 2000AD and the Meg which operate outside standard space time laws) there is a bit of a malaise in this country.  Which is a shame as we have some astonishing comic talent. Regardless, they tried, had some success, and they'll still be putting stuff out, so good fore them.

Garen Ewing's Rainbow Orchid, if you haven't read this, go visit his website, immeditately.  Smashing stuff.

And I'll read more of the meg and the prog later.