megazine 290

[Mike Gloady]

Um, seeing as we're now no longer allowed to voice our opinions without people getting at us if they're remotely negative, can I just say that I really enjoyed the Dredd and the interviews - particularly Kev Walker?

Oh I can?

Ta.

[Jim_Campbell]

You shut your pie-hole!

Your opinions aren't welcome here, Mr So-Called-Mike So-Called-Gloady!

Pah!

Jim

[Mike Gloady]

MEEEP!

[Jim_Campbell]

Sez you!

Jim

[Bolt-01]

Just remembered- I got a copy of Silverfin out of the library, simply because of Kev's work. It really is a fab adaption. Kev deserves a massive round of aplause for this- it is a daunting prospect to adapt a text novel to a GN form.

And I didn't realise till I reached the end that Kev did it all (apart from Annie, obv)

[Satanist]

This is the first Meg I havent bought in about 6 years. There really is nothing in it Im going to read.

Knowing what Im like I'll still prob pick it up in a few weeks though.

[Cactus]

It was a relatively poor issue, albeit with some highlights. Kev Walker draws a mean Dredd but the story didn't engage me at all. Was Snakebite the villain from that torture-city-on-wheels story, the one with the talking rad vulture? From the teasers I was expecting the returning baddie to be Ratfink so I was disappointed to see a giant reptile I didn't recognise, which is probably why I didn't care what was going on.

I quite like Tank Girl. *ducks* The stories are a bit hit and miss but I love Rufus' art and Booga's dialogue with the shrink had me laughing out loud. I haven't read the text story yet; might get round to it in a few weeks. Text stories in comics always scream FILLER to me and are usually pretty naff.

Bato Loco looks like fun, and it's a helluva lot better than Darren Dead Boring. Now that I have the handy second volume of Influential Circles I intend to re-read all the Armitage stories and maybe the latest one will gel a bit better then. Unfortunately it didn't seem to get going in monthly instalments and I'm not sure why Armitage knows the crazy lady with the knife.

Decent articles this month, especially the Bryan Talbot one. Shame it was only two pages because he's an excellent writer/artist and deserves a fuller Interrogation treatment sometime.

[TordelBack]

Hmmm, I seem to be missing something in the current Armitage.  Wasn't there another subplot involving some sort of biotech blob scoffing people?  Or did I dream it?  Still, I'm glad to see my earlier predictions for the Treasure Steel plot were correct, and I'm a small enough man to mention it again.  Overall I really don't  think Cooper's art suited the story, but it was a good installment and helped by the cleverly timed reprint.  How good is Adlard's B&W, eh?  Those flashbacks are still my favourite bit of Armitage.

Highlight for me this month:  Bato Loco was superb, and Currie's art was a total revelation (moved on from his Vin Diesel period, I see).  As usual I can't help thinking that if you swapped aliens for bare-knuckle fighters there'd be no way to tell that the story was set in the future or in MC-1, but the art helps there, and when something's this much fun who cares.

[SmallBlueThing]

Meg 290:

Cover: What's Ramone Dexter doing on it? What? Oh, it's Bato Loco? What's that then? Don't remember it, sorry. Another in the Meg's continuing series of yuck covers.

Dredd: Okay. Decent enough- better read with the first one and with half a brain cast towards the ongoing story in the prog. Cursed Earth tales always amuse me anyway, and it's always nice to see Dredd out of the city. Not at all bad. Lovely art from Mr Walker too.

Tank Girl:

Tank Girl Text:

Armitage: I'm going to have to go back and read this again- as much as I like John Cooper's art, I can't help feeling this was at least two episodes too long, possibly more. Again, okay.

Bato Loco: Nope, on reading it I'm still none the wiser. Is this a returning series then? Entertaining though- and Currie's art was absolutely fantastic. Highlight of the prog for me.

Three artist interviews: Should've been two longer ones and the third held over. Maybe they're gearing up to dump this feature and so bunging them all out together?

Other text stuff: Waffle.

Floppy: I may read this, one day.

Overall: 3/10 Most UnZarjaz.  ???

SBT

[Jim_Campbell]

Lovely art from Mr Walker too.

Am I the only who's slightly disappointed that Kev doesn't seem to colour his own stuff these days? That's no disrespect to the always-excellent work that Chris Blythe has done of some of Walker's more recent 2000AD Dredds or, indeed, Fiona Stephenson's perfectly good work here ... but Kev has a facility with a muted palette that is just gorgeous -- some of the street scenes in Mandroid, for example, were just masterpieces of minimal composition enhanced with superb colour choices.

Cheers

Jim

[Dog Deever]

Bloody hell- started reading this thread- nipped off for a coffee, cig and tom tit and it all kicks off!

Of course he's right- because there's famine, war and death all over the world (err... was it ever any other way?), we should all shut up and shell out our hard earned bucks every month for whatever the creators decide we deserve and be bloody thankful for it, with little or no comeback for substandard bollocks. To complain about the product we buy in good faith when it turns out to be substandard fayre is, of course, wrong and totally stupid on our part. Like when you go to a restaurant and your soup is cold and tastes of chef-wee. Just eat it, pay up and say nothing. Then go back again the next month for more of the same.
Anyway- TG was utterly pathetic this month. That wasn't a script- it was a small joke stretched across as many pages as possible. An old joke at that- one that I was tired of before I finished primary school. Rufus' art is totally wasted on this.

On the positive side- I am liking the look of Bato Loco. It needs to be given a chance- panning it after one episode is a bit much. Kev Walkers Dredd art is great and the creator interviews were interesting enough again. What I like most about these is the work outside of 2k that is mentioned- I don't know a lot about that sort of stuff and it's nice to get some pointers in the right direction. Other than that, the reprint, film reviews and Armitage continue to suck the thrillpower out of the Meg.

[Mike Gloady]

As i picked it up in the thrill-merchant, John said "another stinker of a cover.  Shame as the interior art looks quite good on that strip".

My thrill-merchant is NEVER wrong.  John the Wise we call him.

[TordelBack]

And another thing: What was the Tracer thing in the unGN?  I had no memory of it, and after non-stop Adlard the art wasn't exactly singing to me, but I actually enjoyed reading it quite a bit.  Was this all there was, two episodes?  I could go for some more.

[Cactus]

Tracer is a flop from Tooth, ooh... ten or more years ago. I think it made it into this month's floppy because:

a. it's the right page count
b. it's set in Brit-Cit (?)
c. it's the right page count

[WoD]

Enjoyed Dredd, and that's about it.  Certainly not getting my moeny's worth out of the Meg at the minute (unlike the prog) and if my sub was up right now I'd only renew for tooth and drop the Meg as it currently stands.

I'd like to see another run of 'small press' stuff in there rather than more text articles.

WoD.