Meg 324 - Rising Sun

[The Sherman Kid]

Would be great to see Lenny Zero or Low Life in the Meg and even better to see ,as Radiator suggested, an extra long episode of Dredd each week.Just feeling a little short-changed at the moment ,at almost £6 ,the Judge Dredd Megazine is not doing'as it says on the tin' so to speak.Stories need to be more closely aligned to Dredds world.

There a lots of divisions within Justice Dept that could do with a higher profile eg Exorcist Division so maybe start there....

[Proudhuff]

I think there are a couple of clues in the title 

[Dark Jimbo]

What distinguishes it from the Prog tho is the 'Dreddworld' focus.

The 'Dreddworld focus' feels more than a little redundant given that the prog's always full of stuff like Cadet Anderson and Low Life, though. With the prog forever barging in on the one claim to a unique identity that the Meg has, the Megazine's always going to feel like the poorer younger brother.

[The Sherman Kid]

I think there are a couple of clues in the title 

Exactly -but if they keep going it won't be long before it's 'Judge Dredd Megazine with special guest appearance by Judge Dredd'

[DrJomster]

Interesting thought. How Dredd focused should the megazine be?

Well, I've just read this after the new prog with Durham Red on the cover (1785) and this was better! This very rarely happens but I'd like it to happen more. A strong Meg and a strong Prog has got to be a good thing.

[Mikey]

How Dredd focused should the megazine be?

I think it's right to have at least one more Dredd world strip, but sometimes I'd rather have a longer second Dredd strip. Overall though I read the Meg as an anthology comic so am not overly excercised with a lack of Dredd world strips - the creator owned slot has been consistently good for example, so I'd be very happy to see more of this sort of thing.

For the non MC1 strips I think sometimes other Judges can be just a bit boring. Everywhere esentially has the same Justice system so it's difficult to see through that, making some of the situations less believable (!) or something. I sometimes think it'd be better without the Justice system backdrop if you know what I mean.

M.

[Mikey]

There a lots of divisions within Justice Dept that could do with a higher profile eg Exorcist Division so maybe start there....

Meant to add no to the Exorcist Division. Just not sure about that one at all!

M.

[a chosen rider]

Cover - Nice, I guess?  Art is fine, but it's not particularly striking as a cover image. B

Dredd - Bland.  The parody's cheap and not very clever (they look and speak like Marvel characters, and... nothing, that's all there is to it) and Spurrier's Dredd just fails to convince me; he acts like Dredd, but he sure doesn't talk like him.  But any pages with an Ezquerra-drawn Dredd are never wasted, even if this does prove that his style is woefully unsuited to superhero costumes. C+

Samizdat Squad - The art on this series is beautiful.  Love this style.  Don't really have too much a grip on the story yet, but I'm enjoying it anyway.  A

Snapshot - Not much to say about this; nice art, but this instalment is pretty much all action and over very quickly compared to the density of 2000AD stories.  I imagine it'll read really well in collected form, though. B

Fiction - Hmm.  Nice little Dredd story, but a tad overwritten I thought.  I actually felt this one would have worked better in comic form.  Still, good ending. B

Hondo-City Justice - Wow, five creators.  So unused to seeing that in the Meg, even though it's the norm in all the other comics I read.  Nice to have two female leads, and this seems like a good start, though some of the design work seems a bit uninspired: that "laser-katana" is just a lightsabre, and big guy at the end looks a lot like the Hulk.  Still, I'm on board and looking forward to seeing how it develops. B

Reprints:

Tiger Sun, Dragon Moon - I'd read three parts from the middle of this due to collecting a Dredd story in the same progs, and found it confusing to follow.  Reading the rest helped a little, but it still seems a bit of a mess.  The Dreddverse elements feel like they're tacked on and swiftly forgotten, and the nudity seems a bit pointlesly random though it's quite tastefully done.  (Less, "Yay boobies because boobies!" more "Bare-breasted women with swords make a cool visual.")  As a one-man creation it's impressive, but I think it would have benefitted from someone else's input to point out where it's hard to follow.  It all looks lovely though.  B-

Harry Kipling - Glad to see more of this.  Boo Cook's art is so gorgeous, and the writing is great fun.  I much prefer Spurrier doing his own thing than when he's trying to write Dredd, which really doesn't suit his strengths.  Fab stuff, would love to have a new series.  A

Great Meg!  Disappointing Dredd, but everything else was very strong.  Polar opposite of the prog, in fact.

[Dark Jimbo]

For the non MC1 strips I think sometimes other Judges can be just a bit boring. Everywhere esentially has the same Justice system so it's difficult to see through that, making some of the situations less believable (!) or something. I sometimes think it'd be better without the Justice system backdrop if you know what I mean.

It's probably no coincedence that most of the really successful Dreddworld spin-offs are those that have broken out of the 'Judge' formula and given us something new - Jack Point/Simping Detective; Devlin Waugh; Dirty Frank/Low Life; Lenny Zero, Insurrection, etc.

[TordelBack]

The basic concept of 'world judges' is at the root of the problem for me. 

Even with the (relatively cosmetic) changes (unarmed Inspectors, shorts and shades, sexist Departments, corrupt Departments, spud guns etc.) the idea of a single global model of justice and policing is just... dull, and diminishes the uniqueness of MC-1.  The best thing about the whole mess has always been the original McCarthy designs. 

I can see the appeal from an editorial perspective, the lure of the Batmen of Many Lands, or the Justice League of Earth, but more creative more open world building would have been preferable for me. 

[Mikey]

It's probably no coincedence that most of the really successful Dreddworld spin-offs are those that have broken out of the 'Judge' formula and given us something new - Jack Point/Simping Detective; Devlin Waugh; Dirty Frank/Low Life; Lenny Zero, Insurrection, etc.

Yup.

The best thing about the whole mess has always been the original McCarthy designs.

Yup.

Maybe there's room for a proper long term, slowly developed 'other Judge' story to appear in the Meg each month? I suppose the problem is that any big events might start to encroach on MC1...

M.

[Dark Jimbo]

I suppose the problem is that any big events might start to encroach on MC1...

I wouldn't worry, given that world-shaking events in Anderson are always COMPLETELY ignored in Dredd - and that's in the same city!

[metcalfecarr]

I think some judges work and some don't but find them all very stereotyped, the drunk Irish judges, tribal pan african and laid back Oz judges.

I really liked Calhab Justice, it may have been unbearably dour at times but at least it was trying to do something different with the judge concept.

[Spaceghost]

I'd be in favour of less focus on Judges in the back up strips. I really like Tales from the Black Museum because, while story often features Justice Department, the focus is not on the Judges.

[Professor Bear]

Couldn't bring myself to get past the second page of Hondo City this month - that thinly-veiled superhero rehash does nothing for me, I'm a "shit or get off the pot" type of reader.  ONE OR THE OTHER DAMN YOUR EYES.
Likewise Dredd, which ended on exactly the same soundbite as Garth Ennis' The Pro, and shared that book's main problem of stemming from a central premise of laughing at the idea of superheroes despite being a story about superheroes, "grow up" losing any weight when it's the punctuation at the end of a juvenile story that lacks the sophistication of an issue of Spider-Man.  As mentioned upthread, it brings "haha it is the Avengers who are in a film right now" to the party but nothing else.  I have read stronger Mark Millar Dredds.
Samsz... Samis... the Russian thing is still good, but I'd like more dense pages, as this read too fast for me - though that's likely deliberate as Wyatt's pacing has always been one of his strengths as a writer.  Something about the art makes me think of Akira here and there, but in a good way and not a "nonsensical story that goes on forever" kind of way.
Snapshot was a quick read, being essentially the end of act one action sequence necessary for the movie version.  My only gripe was that the action didn't really flow as well as I would expect from Jock.  Small beans as complaints go.

Harry Kip: no thank you.
Tiger Sun Dragon Moon - barely remember this, but don't recall it being quite as outre.  Is this official Dreddworld canon, by any chance, or wiped-out canon ala The Inspektre?  Entertaining stuff, but feels out of step with the 2000ad house style - not a bad thing in my mind, but I know that gets the goat of the traditionalists.