MEG 328 - BUMPER MOVIE SPECIAL

[James Stacey]

Really enjoyed this Meg. My only niggle is that Killer Elite is a bit PJ Maybe.

That was my initial reaction. How has someone killed so many and got away with it for so long .. and we hadn't heard about it. Discounting mass killings, how many one on one murders has PJ made. It's got to be on par.

[Tombo]

Really enjoyed this Meg. My only niggle is that Killer Elite is a bit PJ Maybe.

That was my initial reaction. How has someone killed so many and got away with it for so long .. and we hadn't heard about it. Discounting mass killings, how many one on one murders has PJ made. It's got to be on par.

Two hundred and forty three people may seem a lot and would normally quickly draw the attention of the Judges.  But this guy has been doing it over a long period, whilst living in six different addresses and using eight different methods.  The Judges might not have noticed any sort of pattern and would be looking for a number of individuals.  How many of the murders using vehicles were written off as one-off hit and runs?  How many of the falls were classed as suicides?

If the victims were chosen at random there wouldn't be a pattern there either.

[Cactus]

That's what I thought as well Tombo. It's clear this guy is taking pains to make it hard to connect the killings. PJ Maybe, despite his genius, tends to kill people he knows who irritate him which leads to Judges knocking on the door.

[Dudley]

Cover - it's a photo.  But it's a cool photo. 

Dredd (1) - Not sure I love the art, all seems a bit overly pointy.  Not that I know about art.  Not having read the original Ratfink, I don- oh, wait, there's a floppy.  Good news for us irregulars!  Right, having read it, that works as there was no realistic way of getting a powerless gimp out of ultra-high-security.  Is Ratfink the offspring of Fink and Ratty?  Art certainly seems to be pointing that way. Was Ratty a girl?

Anderson - She's a jolly well-preserved older judge, isn't she?  What's the age gap between Anderson and Dredd?  Did anything happen with that idea that Psi-powers burn out with age?  That aside, great, great, great art from Boo Cook.

Snapshot - not very much happening, very stylishly. 

Dredd (2) - This is why I went off Grennie's Dredd - too many dangling plot threads.  Let's hope the main plot actually gets tied off this time.  You know, like Wagner does it.  Still, a fun setup and should be some great interaction.

Floppy - made buying the mag worthwhile.  Seriously.  Love me some Doherty.

Interviews - all really well done.

[Proudhuff]

Dredd (2) - This is why I went off Grennie's Dredd - too many dangling plot threads.  Let's hope the main plot actually gets tied off this time. 

I had kinda hoped that everyone at the bunfight was going to be all the hanging chads from previous GRennie Dredds

Anderson - She's a jolly well-preserved older judge, isn't she?  What's the age gap between Anderson and Dredd?  Did anything happen with that idea that Psi-powers burn out with age? 

Don't get me started on her menopause again 

  Is Ratfink the offspring of Fink and Ratty?  Art certainly seems to be pointing that way. Was Ratty a girl?

Good questions! I think we have a right to know...

[Dark Jimbo]

Is Ratfink the offspring of Fink and Ratty?  Art certainly seems to be pointing that way. Was Ratty a girl?

Haw! I love that idea!

Ratty was definately a boy, though - he had at least one devoted son, whose mother thought Ratty was a bad influence.* Ratty Junior ran away to Mega-City One to be with Dad, only to watch, traumatised, as he and his pet human Fink were brutally murdered by Dredd before his beady little eyes.**

*Yeah, I know how that sounds, but... it's mutant rats in bowler hats, it's already pretty silly.

**1989 Judge Dredd Mega-Special.

[strontium_dog_90]

Is Ratfink the offspring of Fink and Ratty?  Art certainly seems to be pointing that way. Was Ratty a girl?

Haw! I love that idea!

Ratty was definately a boy, though - he had at least one devoted son, whose mother thought Ratty was a bad influence.* Ratty Junior ran away to Mega-City One to be with Dad, only to watch, traumatised, as he and his pet human Fink were brutally murdered by Dredd before his beady little eyes.**

*Yeah, I know how that sounds, but... it's mutant rats in bowler hats, it's already pretty silly.

**1989 Judge Dredd Mega-Special.

Got to love a synopsis like that. Only in 2000ad . . .

[Hoagy]

Having a good read of the Ratfink floppy. So glad he's making a come back too and the editor's have decided to coincide new with old story..

The floppy provides an excellent horror/thriller with plenty of "Hills Have Eyes" horror and Justice Department thriller. And sci-fi, of course! The Cursed Earth providing some of it's own material in the mix. Great story and relentless in it's undertaking.

[chris_askham]

Anderson - She's a jolly well-preserved older judge, isn't she?  What's the age gap between Anderson and Dredd?  Did anything happen with that idea that Psi-powers burn out with age?  That aside, great, great, great art from Boo Cook.

Anderson's looking very hot in that vest and leather pants combo - now that's what I want to see in the Dredd sequel!

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Yus, hell of a meg.

Just thundered through it

Cover -- Karl Urban. Hello.

Judge Dredd (1) --

"Trevallion Is God" is graffitied all over my manor. And my missus is getting is getting right browned off with it and no mistake. Seriously, I want his brains. I want to eat his brains. He posted this on FB earlier -

Which just about says it all. In terms of it being silly that rats can nibble through iso-blocks - yep. It's dumb. But there we go. I feel we're going to get a much sillier story than the stone-cold-brilliant first ratfink (which I'll talk about in a minute) which is a shame. But, y'know, not wanting to overstate it but -

TREVALLION IS GOD.

Interrogation: Simon Coleby --

Nice interview and it's interesting to get THE COLEBY PERSPECTIVE (tm). As a long-locked rocker meself it's neat to see the metal 'ead behind "Rock and a Hard Place"'s numerous references. Loved that guitar with engines on it! He's brilliant on FB as well - here's a choice status from recently: "Just learned something - an acoustic guitar and a digeridoo are not the correct instruments with which to attempt Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper'"
I'm quite looking forward to his Simping Detective but those boots of Frazer's... they be tough to step into. Or even near. I probably would rather go barefoot.

Anderson --

So... Boo can consistently draw Will Smith's face but he still can't nail down Anderson's? Just saying. She looks like Deborah Meaden in one panel! Can't fault the Boo on his beautiful colouring and striking setpieces though - the man is inspiring. Each panel is like eyecrisps. Sharp.

Interrogation: Karl Urban --

Whoever he is. Like Keef I've missed a lot of the guff and huzzle about the film, so it was really nice to read 'im gassing about Quality reprints, Boing and the Dead Man. Great to get his insight really, seems like a top chap.

Snapshot --

Lovely thrilling little part - at this point though the episodes just rush by. I read this in like, a second. But then - it's cinema comics really (not in an American Reaper way) - fast-paced. Not my favourite type of story but jaysus has Jock got the goods.

Dredd 3D Concept Art --

Jaysus has Jock got the goods. Beautiful stuff - I have seen the film and the beige decay of urban blocks was believable - a brilliantly solid vision really and sticking Dredd into it was just astonishing. Good work that design team!

Dredd Prologue --

Henry Flint. HENRY FLINT. Lovely, grimy, very much a prequel. Bit heavy on the expositional boxes (this ain't no novel, Smith!) HENRY FLINT, though.

Interrogation: Alex Garland --

Probably should've put a spoilers box in, but I who wouldn't have seen the film first, eh? Well I had. I don't think my opinion of Alex Garland can get much higher so I'll just say this: he's welcome to a pint 'round here any time. Not just ONE pint, mind. BUT SEVERAL PINTS. Unless he doesn't drink of course, in which case he's welcome to a pie 'round here any time. Not just ANY pie, mind BUT A BRISTOL PIE MINISTER PIE. Unless he's vegan of course, in which case he's welcome to a salad 'round here any time. Not just ANY salad, mind BUT QUITE A LARGE SALAD. WITH BREAD CROUTONS IN IT.

Judge Dredd (Fiction) --

Again - very hacked off with the archive uncredited Dredd pictures appearing alongside the short stories. Don't mind the archive, but at least credit the original bloody artist.
Storywise: Nice one the Murphy, very neat wee story this and should be praised more in this thread. He's one of BOLT'S disciples don't you know. JOIN US.

Judge Dredd (2) --

Hm. People have spoke about this being a story from the archives and I really wouldn't be surprised given it contains an explicit reference to some Rennie continuity from wayback. What puts a dog in that ointment is that JOHN-PAUL BOVE is a newey having done colouring for the IDW Dredd (and Transformers). Also Simon Bowland wasn't kicking around back then. Also - on the subject of Bove, since when d'ya have a separate greytones dude? Part of me thinks it launches into colour in an upcoming episode. Or maybe not. I don't know, I'm not a futurewizard.

Ratfink (RP) --

The Pye cover to this is superb. I really wish he did more of those these for the reprints, it makes them feel quite quite special. The Ratfink story is gold, as wise SBT said before me. Paced beautifully and drawn magically by Doherty who's not only amazing but VERY amazing. The atmosphere is palpable. Brilliant brilliant story. Also - the idea of him being a result of union twixt Fink and dear old male Ratty is a brilliant one. It's the cursed earth you know - it's been said elsewhere on the thread but putting "rad" in front of something may very well give it special properties. I don't want to say radsperm but I literally just did.

[Dudley]

Ratty was definately a boy, though - he had at least one devoted son, whose mother thought Ratty was a bad influence.

Ah, OK. Radsperm aside, Fink could easily have been a hermaphrodite, I guess.

[Robert Frazer]

I really enjoyed "Top of the World, Ma-Ma". Smith's script conveyed the altered perspective of 'movieverse' Dredd, and Flint was an ideal choice to really grind that grime into the seamier corners of the setting. However, I feel as though it's under-served by its place in the Megazine. A story like this should be handed out as a free or cheap chapbook in the cinemas - it'd be ideal for generating interest in Tharg's Mighty Organ to those newcomers who are seeing the film but haven't yet experienced the comic. I fear that its inclusion in the Megazine is really limiting its appeal to the regular readers, and I think that it's a missed marketing opportunity.

[Mardroid]

For some reason I assumed the Mama comic would be extra comic that comes with the Meg, rather than a tale inside the Megazine itself. (Not that we were shortchanged with the Ratfink comic we actually got.) Thinking about it, that was rather dumb of me considering the length of the story, although I suppose they could have padded it out with extra strips.

But yeah, it worked well in bringing extra dimension to the Mama character, [spoiler]while making her treatment of the tech guy in the film, all the more atrocious. A classic example of the bullied becoming the bullies I suppose. Not that all bullied kids do that.[/spoiler]

[Hoagy]

We bullied have a saying. Careful of fighting bullies lest ye become a bully yeself.

[Mabs]

JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #328

COVER: Nice cover. A grimacing Karl Urban made my day!

JUDGE DREDD; RATFINK'S REVENGE: I decided to read this after finishing the RATFINK supplemental. Overall, a nice a nice story. Really liked Tiermen Trevallion's artwork - theres was something very Mignola-esque about it. Ratfink's escape was a bit silly, but then again he's an insane S.O.B so I would've expected nothing less!

ANDERSON PSI DIVISION PART 2: I thought it was a really good read. The artwork by Boo Cook is both good and bad in places. I''m not a big fan of Anderson's look - as someone else has mentioned - it look's too 'Deobrah Meaden' for my tastes! But I did love the moment Judge (Will) Smith had a knife plunged into his eye and fork into his neck! , its uncanny how close he look's to 'The Fresh Prince' - was it intentional by Cook? The look of the cityscape and surrounding's was brilliant - it reminded me of a great sci-fi comic I read a while ago - Orbital. The book on 'Brian Cox' in Anderson's apartment was quite funny. And on the same panel, I found my eyes wondering off more than once to that shapely booty of Judge Zeff!

SNAPSHOT PART 7: Nice black and white artwork by Jock. As for the story i'm pretty much in the dark, seeing as i've missed previous instalmets.

DREDD; TOP OF THE WORLD, MA-MA: I really liked this prologue! Henry Flint's artwork was superb, and realised the MC-1 of the movie very well. It's quite a brutal tale, and quite tragic aswell.  Especially her relationship with Eric, and her miserable existence. Eric was her only hope for escape, but it doesn't work out. I thought the pimp Les was a nasty piece of work, and was really glad to see him get his comeuppance. After reading this you get a better understanding of Madeline Madrigal before she became the notorious Ma-Ma, and her rise to power. 

KILLER ELITE PART 1: the first thing that entered my head when I read the first page was P.J Maybe! It was okay. The artwork by Paul Marshall was really good. Looking forward to the next instalment.

EXTRAS;

SIMON COLEBY: a really interesting look into Coleby's works.

DOING DREDD JUSTICE: Really enjoyed this! Nice read about Urban's love of Judge Dredd / 2000 AD growing up in New Zealand. A really top guy. I alway thought Karl Urban was a bit of hit and miss as an actor. He did some great work in the past (LOTR), and not so great works (Doom?). But with Dredd he has put in a star perfomance. One of the best of his career in my opinion! A really great piece.

THE ART OF LAW: really excellent (albeit very short) look into the concept art of Dredd. Nice seeing how the artists tried to capture the look and feel of Dredd. That Peach Tree concept art on the 2nd page is absolutely awesome.

WRITERS MEGA-BLOCK; ALEX GARLAND: same as the piece onn Karl Urban, this was a really insightful piece getting Garland's views on the making of Dredd.

JUDGE DREDD: FICTION: A great read.

And so, onto the 'floppy';

RATFINK: Absolutely superb! The artwork by Peter Doherty is bloody brilliant. His art helps bring the villanous Ratfink alive  not to mention the Cursed Earth landscape. There's a really foreboding and uneasy feeling to the whole proceeding. The story itself is quite brutal at times, showing the lengths that Ratfink will go to, shooting his victims with his trademark poison, before offing them. He's a savage bastard thats for sure! (His character reminded me of the inbred psycho's Jon Voight and co encounter in John Boorman's excellent Deliverance). I really enjoyed it, especially the brilliant plan that Dredd concuts in capturing this vermin!

I also loved the short at the end; 'Blow out' about a Judge who goes absolutely raving bonkers when a citizen lets out a terrible, canary killing fart on the hoverbus! All in all a really great read!

So all in all a great Megazine, but I wished we had a piece on Olivia Thirlby seeing as she was absolutely smoking in the film, and I wished we could've gotten a piece on Lena Headey too. But we can't have everything can we?

- Mabs (NW)