Meg 312 : FOREST OF FEAR

Buttonman · 18 June, 2011, 01:20:29 PM

Nice looking package with Dredd dealing with a mutant township serial killer in an Al Ewing multi parter. Bagged book is Flesh : Chronoside as expected, with 'Mercy Heights' plugged for next month.

Yet to read beyond the letters page but I will say Inspector Rebus, some junkies, Tony Blair, JK Rowling, strippers who show their flange for £5, sauce on your chips?, tacky tourist shops, an unjustifiable sense of superiority, Graham Souness, Irvine Welsh, Tom Proudfoot can you hear me Tom Proudfoot? Your boys took one hell of a beating in the getting a letter printed stakes.

House of Usher · 18 June, 2011, 03:11:41 PM

Looks like another great Megazine. I look forward to reading it somewhere near the end of August when I've caught up with the backlog! I like the look of the balance of strip and text features in this issue. I don't know much about Ed Brubaker, but I will after reading Joel Meadows' interview piece. I want to read about John Tomlinson, and it was encouraging to see that in Molcher's (sorry, Mister Molcher's) LoEG Century: 1969 preview he gives his opinion of the thing as well as giving us a sneak peak at what we can expect from the story. Good quality essays and overviews like this are a worthy addition to the Megazine's content although I'd be happy to sacrifice half the text pages for a fifth strip. Who wouldn't?

I enjoyed reading the two letters giving a reaction to The Walking Dredd, which between them articulated just about every positive angle it was possible to take on that story. The inevitable conclusion is that it was a bold departure, readers got the joke, and it worked, but probably not too often please, because it's out of our comfort zone.

Pete Wells · 18 June, 2011, 05:25:28 PM

Yes, yes, yes, but what about THIS fantastic, beautiful, WONDERFUL panel from Boo Cook in this month's Anderson? And who is that sexy, Brad Pitt-esque little 2mm fella waving at the reader from the brilliantly titled shop?

I am a VERY happy Pete!!!

Buttonman · 20 June, 2011, 12:20:49 AM

The things they do to get you to buy their pages Pete!

Read the Tomlinson interview which was good stuff. Not too keen on the Samizat Squad cover reveal and 'The Slime Forests' was a pretty unimaginative place name.

Dredd was OK but seems a bit inconsequential. Off to bog to read Numbercruncher, takes a bit of working out that one.

Please fill this thread with interesting observations so I can add them to my letter with no credit afforded as per our agreement.

flesario · 23 June, 2011, 08:08:52 PM

I love this kind of Dredd- a nod to politics, a bit of Dredd's charater coming through and a convincing baddie. Looking forward to part 2.

House of Usher · 23 June, 2011, 09:10:10 PM

I've now read the Judge Dredd strip. Boy, that was good.

Something Fishy · 23 June, 2011, 10:02:00 PM

Sounds good. I quite fancy starting my sub again. Might go into town and look for this tomorrow if i get a chance.

Proudhuff · 24 June, 2011, 11:46:15 AM

Quote from: Buttonman on 18 June, 2011, 01:20:29 PM

Nice looking package with Dredd dealing with a mutant township serial killer in an Al Ewing multi parter. Bagged book is Flesh : Chronoside as expected, with 'Mercy Heights' plugged for next month.

Yet to read beyond the letters page but I will say Inspector Rebus, some junkies, Tony Blair, JK Rowling, strippers who show their flange for £5, sauce on your chips?, tacky tourist shops, an unjustifiable sense of superiority, Graham Souness, Irvine Welsh, Tom Proudfoot can you hear me Tom Proudfoot? Your boys took one hell of a beating in the getting a letter printed stakes.

To tell the truth, i've stepped back over the last six months to allow you to girth your ample paps, lick your wounds, nurse your wrath, knit your brow, sharpen your ~~tongue~~ pencil and slip out of your striaght jacket.
So let the games begin! again...

A chioce Megazine: Dredd a perfect storm of mutie-tale, detective and (un)usual Dredd,
Text stuff fine if a little 'lite' ,
strange with the young Anderson in the Prog and the youngish one here Anderson OD for me
Numbercruncher is wonderful, mad stuff
Sov Squad, okay but not filling that Insurrection hole in my prog.
Letters page, lowest quailty for ages

SmallBlueThing · 24 June, 2011, 01:05:42 PM

Excellent Meg all round- Anderson's the only duff strip for me, and I was sincerely hoping this was the last part. Sadly, it crawls ever onward. Dredd was superb- I'm not the biggest fan of Leigh Gallagher, but this worked really well- rewarding to see his Dredd looking so bloody old; which is how I think he should be drawn, to be honest. However, I know that what with his explicit history of rejuvination jobs, and the fact that most artists knock at least ten years off his face, we are left with a prog where, technically, Dredd is too old and Anderson's too young. C'est la guerre.

Numbercruncher continues to be the best thing in the Meg, and I very much want this as a trade when its over.

Samizdat Squad was last month an unwelcome returnee that proved it's worth quite unexpectedly. This month it coasts a bit, but is readable- which I confess to finding untrue of its last outing.

Great to see a review of something by Alan Moore that didn't assume it's inevitably a work of Supreme Greatness, but instead made it work for its praise. More like this, please. I have no recollection of reading anything by Ed Brubaker, and the interview didn't make me want to rectify this particularly. Film reviews were entertaining and earned their place.

Flesh: Chronocide in the floppy was exactly as I remembered it, no better no worse, and while I could see what Abnett was trying to do, I'm glad that was basically the end of it until the recent ressurrection. The 3000AD two pager was just shocking though.

Two episodes of Vector 13 this month made me long for either a complete collection, or at the very least a number of floppies. V13 is by far my favourite of these short strips that Tharg has thrown at us over the decades, pissing all over the likes of Future Shocks and Pulp Sci-Fi. More please, Mr Tharg.

Mercy Heights next month (and the month after)? Batten down them hatches, it's going to be a bumpy Summer!

SBT

Mikey · 24 June, 2011, 01:26:32 PM

Love the cover - if i were still a wee'an looking for comics in newsagents, I'd want this one!

Dredd - You had me at Ewing and Gallagher. Great stuff all round. I particularly enjoyed the craggy Dredd too, along with some nice layouts and refreshing colours. Pity we have to wait a month for more...

Anderson - Looks the absolute buisness, but I can't actually remember what happened and I only read it on Monday evening. That's either me age or it's lost me.

Samizdat Squad - OK this ish. Seemed to be treading water a bit as SBT said.

Numbercruncher - It's clicked with me at last! Great, pacey stuff - again with the not wanting to wait a month for the next.

Articles wise I only read the LOEG review (so far). Chronocide started really well (I liked it at the time too), but then kind of peetered out a bit. At least Dabnett knew there was a shallow sea covering N America in the Late Cretaceous

And the Vector 13 yarns were a pleasant surprise - I wasn't a fan originally, but I obviously must have had a monk on about the MIB at the time. I'm looking forward to the Mercy Heights reprints...

M.

BPP · 26 June, 2011, 02:17:19 PM

Another excellent Meg and really enjoyed seeing the Vector13 stuff in the back of the floppy. Not so taken with Flesh itself (thank god for the recent prog-reboot which is top-dollar) but everything else is, AGAIN, all-guns blazing. The art on every strip is just fantastic and Leigh Gallagher's dredd face (still think he's too out of shape Leigh) is a minor detail compared to the rest of his art - really great stuff, lovely page compositions. Excellent all round. Again with the Meg what counts is the comics and again its a 10/10.

BPP · 26 June, 2011, 02:28:42 PM

oh yeah, how could THAT Indigo Prime double page not get a mention. WOWZERS.

chris_askham · 01 July, 2011, 11:22:08 AM

I kind of enjoyed Flesh: Chronocide but found some of it hard to follow, and can't decide if it was down to the art or sloppy writing. Couldn't really tell what the bad guy was doing to the time funnel gizmo, that would cause the end of mankind. Also, was this Earl Regan from Flesh Book 1? My memory is fuzzy, but if it was it seemed a bit pointless as the character had no resemblance to the original. With a bit of script editing, it could have been a nice tale, but I don't suppose they worried about stuff like that back in the 90's.

Art · 01 July, 2011, 03:53:13 PM

It's been interesting to see entire stories done without backgrounds.

mygrimmbrother · 02 July, 2011, 12:00:59 PM

I also really enjoyed the Vector 13 strips, particularly the Sean Phillips one (was it called 'Marian'? I don't have it to hand).

It's hard to be mad at Boo Cook for fudging Anderson's age when everything is so lushly done - the colours in particular really make it all pop.

Warming more and more to Samizdat Squad too.