Messages

hmm, odd prog this week.

DREDD: strangely atmospheric. And frankly I didn?t got the ending. Were there two clubs? One in MC-1 and one in hell? Or what?

DEAD MEN WALKING: Hate it. Was there a stupid cliche which was missing? Aside that this whole prison-planet concept is dumb - and why do they always have to work in the mines *groan, it makes no sense - there wasn?t one redeeming idea imho.

SYNNAMON: well, at least this had some nice little twists in the storytelling, but overall it was just another version of the female SciFi-superagent. Not exactley attention-grabber stuff. And how dumb has the villian to be that he didn?t register he had the damn sphere in his trousers all the time?

DURHAM RED: I liked the last one. Let?s see how it goes.

Next week CABALLISTICS. Yeah!!!

Great Meg!

COVER: I liked the camera one.

DREDD: Thanks to the article last meg I was able to recognize Eazy, but even without this it was soo great. As a german it often pains me to see how much the language is ripped to shreds because the writer couldn?t be obviously bothered to consult a dictionary. (Especially in the action-adventure-genre; I have seen hilarious phrases in early Nick Carter Killmaster novels or Rosenbergers Death Merchant)

But in this tale it is so funny. I still don?t know what a "untermuncher" should be, but rlotf for "Ein Bike, ein Boat... ein Foo-rewr". Priceless, Mr. Rennie, an absolut hoot. Great, great tale :-))

And the artwork is so good.

DEATH: It was funny, on the other hand I still think it rather demystifies the character. And the punchline was a little bit groan for me.

KILLING FIELDS: Another nice one. Could be a little more on how the writers and editors saw the genre of the war-comic, if this was just another day in the office for them or if they were uncomfortable with the subject. In this regard the Mills interview was a step in the right direction.

GOLD: So this is the famous Charlie?s War. It truly deserves all the praise I read beforehand. How much of it will be reprinted? Surely not all 300 parts? Now this is something I would like to see reprinted in a nice hardcover.

Harry 20 is okay, some nice Davis art, but I start to loose interest.

DEVLIN WAUGH: This one get?s a little bit too long, I think. Maybe it reads better in one sitting.

XTINCT: Like it.

BENDATTI: this really feels dated somehow. Nice art, but the tale couldn?t held my interest.

All in all, a great Meg!!

"Cuidad Barranquilla is a showpiece of Judicial corruption"

Unfortunatly it is also a terrible cliche. South America equals Dictatorship equals Corruption.

On the other side I found it great that Wagner in his latest tale in the Megazine let his characters give voice to this cliche. "you are looking down on us for the corrupt, ignorant peasants that we are".

I wouldn?t label the Judge system fascist. It is more a dictatorship of the law, where every citizen is deemed guilty as a rule unless proven otherwise.

But what law? Who sets this laws down? Is there a group of Judges installing new laws every day as a reaction of new trends which they seem as a threat to the stabibilty on MC-1?

I ask this, because MC-1 is on the other hand in many regards an absolutly free society. As a citizen you can do what you want, hunt every new fad, belong to every religion you want. You can do what you want, as long as it doesn?t collide with the policing system.

well, this cover is bad, isn?t it?

Dredd: Liked the story, but frankly, thought the art poor in some panels

Leviathan: it?s just great!!

Sin/Dex: it wasn?t annoying, but it wasn?t very good.

From Grace: Didn?t like it much. I am not big on Angels stuff.

Stronty: A clver ending. This was fun :-)

Great Prog.

COVER: well, that is okay.

DREDD: Tale going nicely. I like the little things, Dredd not interfering in other Brit-Cit crimes, his constant contact during investigating. It makes for great characterisation.

BEC&KAWL: sorry, I find the jokes absolutly unimaginative. The fanboy is a virgin - who?d have thought of that. Come on.

LEVIATHAN: great art, great writing. Is it me or does the setting reminds one of the old Dr.Who stuff? *gg

SLAINE: art is marvelous, but find the story still lacking. Maybe Mills is not my cup of tea.

STRONTIUM DOG: This is fun. From Smithworld to Gnob. Heh.

Cover: This is a nice one. Great art.

Dredd: Tale comes along nicely. I like the thoughtful Dredd.

Bec& Kawl: After Lobster I wanted to give this a chance, but sorry, it is just dull and not funny.

Leviathan: Talk about high concept. Even if I don?t believe the facts one moment this is an intriguing beginning. And the art is great.

Slaine: beautiful artwork, a bit too dark at times, but the story ...?

Strontium Dog: This is fun.

Good prog.

Let?s see ...

DREDD: This is good. I still don?t know if Burns is the right artist for this thingie, I would have liked to have seen artists like Godddard and Teague ion this kind of story, but it?s okay. This is still suspenseful. You know, I wouldn?t be surprised if Wagner kills Hershey actually off next Prog. He can still generate this kind of excitement.

PAST IMPERFECT: Oh, it?s Shakespeare, I get it. Not the cuddly sly Gaiman approach, but the in your face approach. The Franky and Walty part was fun, I wonder what was Titanias name? Titty? Art is nice. Still, it leaves no lasting impression as a story, I think.

SIN/DEX: Huh, a Sin/Dex story that was good? As a rather Newbie, who was the Cabby? Anyone? I don?t know why this story was good. Was it because we had a realistic art approach? Or because Sin/Dex were only at the end? or because it was a real story and not some lame joke?

LOBSTER RANDOM: No, I don?t believe this escape-concept either. But the art was nice. And I loved the title of the next part. The Hooded Claw Lol. Penelope Pittstop anyone?

ROGUE TROOPER: A good tale. Liked it.

Another month gone. I can?t believe it. *sigh

DREDD: Well, somehow Part 1 was funnier. It lost a bit of steam. But on the whole it was enjayable. And it was nice that Oola got away. She has a mission!

BATO LOCO: Okay, the first ep was funny, but this... I dunno. Guess Bato is on the page a terrif concept, but here he loses steam already. I waited every page for the guest-appearance of Sin/Dex. He just didn?t work for me. Art was nice, though.

GOLD: My, how much Dredd has changed in terms of art and storytelling over the years.
DARKIE?S MOB: well, it began to drag in the last installment. Still interesting in the historic context, but ...

BLACK SIDDHA: It?s over. At last.

Interesting article. I always wanted to buy one of the Benny audios, but frankly they are too expensive for my taste. And Big Finish are producing like there is no tommorow. Do these things sell so good?

REPO-MEX: Not my cup of tea.

WAUGH: this is getting a bit long, or?

All in all, an okay Meg. There were better.

Sorry, Gordon, even Milla couldn?t safe this boring piece of a wannabee zombie-film.

When I hear AvsP or Freddy vs Jason, I am reminded of Abbott and Costello meets Frankenstein ... the creative end. Who needs movies like that? they just hammer the last nail into the coffin imho

A couple of years ago I actually read the Wertheim book. Guess today he would made the talk-show circuit. It?s a laughable piece of trash.

In the last years the code was only there for american publishers to cover their asses. Enough loonies there who see the morale of their kids destroyed. (Even if the number of kids still reading comics has to be per mille today instead of percent *gg) But so they could proudly announcer to what DA whatever that they voluntarily censored their material.

Wasn?t words like zombies also banned? Enter the zuvembie *gg

Personally I thought Xena - the Musical was much better than Buffy - the Musical, there is nothing like an extended dragging by horse ;-)

But one the whole Buffy was a very good series, the right combination of melodram and often quite brutal action. Whedons "Firefly" work did hurt the last seasons, when I think of the stupid "Magik is an addiction"-story-line, brrr.

You just had to love a series with characters like Spike and Dru, imho :-))

DREDD: Nice and unexpected ending. Good to see Dredd defeated once in a while. Hershey will be thrilled. Hm, is there be a new chief judge in the making?

ROGUE: solid plotting, nice twists, still amazing what you can do within five pages

INTERCEPTOR: not the greatest story in the world, but on the whole it was fun and had some nice art.

SIN/DEX: Hm, when it get?s slightly more earnest, it get?s better. I often wonder how Sin/Dex would be if written by another writer? Better? Worse?

LOBSTER: Silly, but fun. the first Spurrier work I like.

They really don?t make them like that anymore, do they? *gg
I have read most of them. I was a little bit older and most of the appeal was that the translations were purged of all things violent.

Guy Smith could be great - I have most of his books - and terribly boring, Herbert got a better writer, unfortunatly with less interesting ideas, and Gilman of Edge was great. He was writing surreal stuff when it wasn?t en vogue.

And there were so many terrible/great books out there. I guess alone the late Lawrence James wrote about half of them, never could get hold of his Hell?s Angels books, but his Killers or his Witches is hard stuff.

Today it?s only 400 pages upward. I miss those 120 to 160 pages books. It was a good format to tell a nice pulp story.

Is it worth getting a sub? are my progs going to get all creased and folded up in the post? Or will all be hunky-dory?"

I can say only good things about the subscription service. New prog mostly comes Monday, never missed an issue, and all arrived in a good condition.

I like the reprints. Unlike for many readers the stuff is new to me, it is interesting to actually read the old Slaine, but as the character does nothing for me I would never buy him in the GN format. On the other hand I would hate to see reprints from Vertigo as I have most of the stuff sitting on the shelves. I guess the first Hellboy is the third edition I now have.

Personally I liked the last format better, it had more of the magazine approach, but it?s not that important.

As for the tales, I thought them 50/50. I liked Family much more then Bendatti, which was a very tired concept to begin with. But it had some often complained story-telling problems. But at least it had some interesting ideas. Which I miss in other stuff. Siddha isn?t for me, I find it plain boring, Middenface also can?t capture my imagination on the whole, even if the last story was okay. Regardless I like the idea of mixing the old with the new, it keeps the Megazine fresh.

I also like the prose-stuff. Bishops history war marvelous, the Dredd storys range from good to mediocre, but I am the first to admit that this is a matter of taste.

On the whole I enjoy the Megazine.