MEG-300

[TordelBack]

I usually like John Cooper's art and it is nice to finally have an artist on Armitage that could suit the characters very well. I just wish the tones were done differently.

Precisely my thoughts.  I'm also not sure about the way the pages appear to be made up of characters all drawn at the same size and then scaled to fit a particular layout or computer-generated background, particularly unsettling in the opening splash in this month's episode, and some of the tiny later panels which contain incredibly detailed microscopic figures . However, I'm prepared to see this as a deliberate style decision, or at  least a trade-off between speed and detail, since it does give the strip a unique look.  I do think Cooper does wonderfully animated versions of the characters, and once the FreeGNs made me realise that the 1990's set dressing has been there from the very start of the strip I started to get into it.  

I am a bit at a loss as  to what's going on in the story, despite reading it a few times.  When Armitage walks through that airlock-thing, he's where exactly?  In a sealed room with bunch of hypnotised/brainwashed people?  If so, why can't the others come too?  If you can just walk in why wold Steel recommened a tactical squad to blow down the wall?  Maybe all will be revealed...

[Emperor]

Oh my. Ha ha, that just might be me...the hat and the sideburns! Oh Colin, you bugger, ha!

Alrighty, asked Colin for you (with free urinary tract joke):

mighty_emperor: Colin you can answer a burning question:
mighty_emperor: Why does it hurt when shark has a wee?
mighty_emperor: OK not that one
mighty_emperor: This one: Was that really locust pregnant in the Meg?
House of Usher_2: I want to know the answer to the pregnant man question too!
MacNeil: It wasn't originally, but transformed into him.
mighty_emperor: Excellent
mighty_emperor: We weren't 100% but... it was him
House of Usher_2: you mean you sketched it out first, then altered the features?
MacNeil: I didn't like the hairstyle he originally had, then I remembered LoD from Hiex with his bunnet. And lo, you have a pregnant LoD.
House of Usher_2: Locusts of Death is better looking than the guy in the strip.
House of Usher_2: Come on, everyone was thinking it.

Now all we need to know is if Roger is the father...

[Keef Monkey]

The floppy reminded me how much I liked the way the Squirrel coloured his art in the old days. I'm hoping he and his son will find a way of colouring with computers which has the same jewel like tones and painterly textures because the airbrush setting is a bit too simple.

The same applies to the grey airbrushing in Armitage which isn't grimy enough. All you need is a different type of brush. I usually like John Cooper's art and it is nice to finally have an artist on Armitage that could suit the characters very well. I just wish the tones were done differently.

I know what you mean, I love his art however its colored but I read Necropolis recently and was struck by how great the coloring was back in the day before computers. I miss the good old days, jumpers for goalposts etc.

[IndigoPrime]

I used to love the neon-nightmare colouring from the likes of Ezquerra. I think Matt Smith's far keener on realism these days (presumably, it's easier to sell), but there's a vibrancy that's been lost in more modern 2000 AD art.

As for Armageddon, I thought it was as terrible choice for the floppy. I'm not against one-shots or dead ends, but I really don't want to pay out to re-read something that I already own anyway and that never had any kind of resolution.

[Proudhuff]

Having a letter in this issue praising the floppy, I think this one is the weakest so far... oh contrary me 

I'm in the mensheviks on colouring, I hated the mudded browns and greens of the early full colour 2Ks when computer colours and printing we well iffy and The Squirrel's colouring in this doesn't help the stor, and. whilst I prefer B&W over most colouring, Armitige does need some work on making it grittier, I've always thought it should look more like Alf Tupper and less like Roy of the Rovers... oh contrary me 

[Ochs]

OK. I admit it. I've been a Meg ship jumper. I had a sub but after getting bored, I stopped reading just after the most recent Blood of Satanus story. Bought it when it changed format to have a look at the floppy, Tank Girl etc but still wasn't convinced.

However 300 is superb, loved it all. Will definitely buy it next month and if the quality stays like that I'm renewing my sub.

[I, Cosh]

whatchu talkin bout willis?

Have a look at the cover to Armageddon: The Bad Man. Look at it. Do you see anything slightly odd or suggestive about the way the characters are posed?

Now that it's been brought up, I can see what you mean. If I squint. And hold my breath until I almost pass out. However, I think you'd really have to be going out of your way to pick up on it innocently. Either that or you all have really bizarre penises.

[The Legendary Shark]

Let's get one thing straight: It does not hurt when I have a wee.


Well, not since I applied the ointment.

[Emperor]

I noticed a bit in the Boo Cook interview:

It was a fan posting online that first drew Cook's attention to the fact that his graphic storytelling was getting sloppy. Although the artist admits that 2000 AD readers have in the past posted comments on the Internet that have "crushed his soul", this one hit home in a good way: "I went back and looked at what I'd been doing and realised that the guy was right."

Your mission, if you chose to accept it, is to find that review My only clue is I do seem to recall one scene on a spaceship in a later Kippers story (there is a breach in the hull and he is blown out/sucked out the hole, there is no way to phrase it that doesn't sound dirty) where the graphic storytelling was really problematic and I think it was mentioned on here. Glad to see it helped him raise his game as you can't fault his recent work on that front and I'm a big fan of his work so thumbs up all round from me.

I don't know Neil Googe but his art on the Inaba strip was lush.

It is indeed - I'd suggest the perfect art for this story.

Googe was a droid but moved over the the US where he has delivered great work at Wildstorm, really honing his style. I am surprised no one has popped up and asked for more Bazooka Jules yet More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Googe

[radiator]

Now that it's been brought up, I can see what you mean. If I squint. And hold my breath until I almost pass out. However, I think you'd really have to be going out of your way to pick up on it innocently. Either that or you all have really bizarre penises.

It was literally the first thing I thought when I saw it! I don't know how anyone could look at that image and not have it jump out at them!

[Emperor]

Wonder if we'll see Braun, Klegg and Kamran again

And the penny just dropped over the three desk jockey judges - I will blame all the great touches Colin added in earlier that distracted me. If we ever see them again I fully expect Braun to have quietly faded away, leaving only a coalition of Kamran and Klegg to make everyone's lives miserable

[locustsofdeath!]

Oh my. Ha ha, that just might be me...the hat and the sideburns! Oh Colin, you bugger, ha!

Alrighty, asked Colin for you (with free urinary tract joke):

mighty_emperor: Colin you can answer a burning question:
mighty_emperor: Why does it hurt when shark has a wee?
mighty_emperor: OK not that one
mighty_emperor: This one: Was that really locust pregnant in the Meg?
House of Usher_2: I want to know the answer to the pregnant man question too!
MacNeil: It wasn't originally, but transformed into him.
mighty_emperor: Excellent
mighty_emperor: We weren't 100% but... it was him
House of Usher_2: you mean you sketched it out first, then altered the features?
MacNeil: I didn't like the hairstyle he originally had, then I remembered LoD from Hiex with his bunnet. And lo, you have a pregnant LoD.
House of Usher_2: Locusts of Death is better looking than the guy in the strip.
House of Usher_2: Come on, everyone was thinking it.

Now all we need to know is if Roger is the father...

Ah, Usher, cheers for that!

However, Usher is NOT the father. And as for Roger...well, I was rather pissed several nights, but I don't recall him making any advances...then again, I was pissed.

[locustsofdeath!]

And thanks Emps for clearing that up!

Now...I'm sure all of you in the chat you that night echoed House of Usher's opinion of my stunning good looks right?

[House of Usher]

Now...I'm sure all of you in the chat you that night echoed House of Usher's opinion of my stunning good looks right?

Nope. Not a single one of 'em. Weird, huh?

[Dark Jimbo]

It was a fan posting online that first drew Cook's attention to the fact that his graphic storytelling was getting sloppy. Although the artist admits that 2000 AD readers have in the past posted comments on the Internet that have "crushed his soul", this one hit home in a good way: "I went back and looked at what I'd been doing and realised that the guy was right."

Your mission, if you chose to accept it, is to find that review

mission accomplished! this is the thread in question, and I was one of those who had a (constructive) little dig - but boo, to his credit, took the whole thing very well, made me feel bad for ever having said anything, and the subsequent improvement in his art was obvious. he's a top chap.

http://www.2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,18494.0.html