Sad Day for Megazine

[JayzusB.Christ]

, and feel pretty I'm much done with Anderson.

I hate to say it, but I'm in this camp too, and have been for a long time.  The problem with Anderson is that it's rare that something important happens in the strip, and when it does, it's pretty much forgotten about in the Dreddworld.

Satan, for all its hype and, of course, beautiful artwork, didn't really make any difference to anything - the only thing I really remember was the devil walking up to the city and talking to Anderson.  (Dredd [spoiler]admitting he saw Anderson as a friend[/spoiler] was by far the most interesting part of it).

Then things like the Justice Department [spoiler]nuking many of the Meg's own children[/spoiler] are never mentioned again (except once in an Al Ewing Dredd, fair play to him).

[Richard]

To be fair, the last story you mentioned is best forgotten about.

[Funt Solo]

Childhood's End was the last great solo-Anderson story, although she does work well as a supporting character in things like Dark Justice or Judgement on Gotham.

Stories that work well (that are set in the Dreddverse) remove themselves from MC-1 continuity and/or Dredd continuity and just do their own thing. Like Insurrection, all the Deadworld stuff, Lawless, Devlin Waugh, Cursed Earth Koburn, Storm Warning and so on.

---

Can we agree that there should be a moratorium on any plot that involves a secret cadre of Judges hidden within the department after a years long plot to take over the city? We've had the Judda, that fat bloke from the Cursed Earth in Dragon Blood/NWO, the secret nasty ninja Judges from Trifecta, the secret nasty invisible Judges under the control of magic cupboard-nerd, the secret nasty Judges where Dredd summarily executed their commander in their magic block-base and there's probably a group I've forgotten. It's getting to be like the RPG Paranoia, where everyone's a member of a secret society.

Also: no more Titan break-outs. Just nuke the site from orbit. How about a Judge serves their time on Titan and then returns to the city on the scheduled shuttle. (And then seeks revenge...without shouting and drooling or throwing any Chief Judges off the West Wall.)

[AlexF]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic there Funt, but you've described the exact plot of 'Return of Rico...', the precise reason why writers can't use that plot formula!

On Anderson, I rather get the impression that post-Grant writers are seriously upping the Psi abilities of the characters. I guess it allows for newer stories, but I always like how underpowered Anderson and her dept were - vague hunches, predictions that were often only half-right, gleaning clues from the new-dead far more eaaily then the still-living. Or Juliet November, who could barely stop small fires from breaking out everywhere she went. Some of the most recent strips are dangeerouslty close to 'What if the X-Men were Judges' (and if they leaned into the fact that Psi Judges are mutants I would mind this a lot less!)

[Funt Solo]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic there Funt, but you've described the exact plot of 'Return of Rico...', the precise reason why writers can't use that plot formula!

Can I pretend I was being sarcastic? 

I have other great original plot ideas: how about a crazed sea pirate that launches nukes at the city, but it turns out to be the secret plot of a foreign nation? A simian runs for mayor? Dredd gets taken over by an alien parasite?

[JayzusB.Christ]

What about pitting Dredd against an alien superfiend with a death obsession who kills millions, then the very next year against a different, unconnected alien superfiend with a death obsession who kills imillions?  Just a thought.

[Funt Solo]

Nah, JBC: that would never work. Make the second death count in the billions, though, and I think you're onto something.

Here's one that's too stupid to get printed except maybe in a fanzine*: what if the city blocks came to life!!!


*Fanzine peeps - no offense intended!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Here's one that's too stupid to get printed except maybe in a fanzine*: what if the city blocks came to life!!!

..and one of them could look like a giant naked chick. For the lads, and all.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

The Meg has always been problematic for me. I've bought it since #1 (and how I wish that "#" could be replaced with "prog", but they never really went with that, did they), but it has never been close to my favourite purchase of the month. It just never seems to have been done quite right- if i were to take a pair of scissors to my four boxes of Megs and snip out all the extraneous material- reprints, crap strips I'll never again read, etc- i reckon i could shove the remaining magazines into a single box. Maybe that's being unnecessarily unfair, but it seems like that.

At least until recently. These last few years, I've come to love the Meg- Lawless, predominantly, has raised the game a lot and the light it shines has made me pay more attention to the rest of the content, and there is a lot to like.

Would I ever stop buying it? Nope. That one Wednesday a month when the prog and Meg sit beside me on the sofa awaiting my eyes has become rather special to me. A good hour and a bit of escapism, as opposed to the mere twenty minutes I get on all other Wednesdays.

I'd love to see it changed though. I've made my feelings clear elsewhere about us being WELL OVERDUE a redesign for both comics, but I think the Meg especially could do with a bit of spit and polish. I'd start by using the classic Dredd logo and a better paper stock for the cover. The bagged reprints leading to the higher price point than we would perhaps like- well, I can deal with that. The Meg is no more expensive than most other magazines aimed at older readers on the shelf. Even games mags are in the five to ten quid bracket. It's just a shame that the bag stops anyone actually seeing what they are getting and no doubt deters the casual buyer.

...and on that note, am I the only one who carefully clips the top of the bag, slides the mags out and then equally carefully *folds the bag and places it in the middle of the Meg, for posterity*?

SBT

[IndigoPrime]

You keep the bag?

[sheridan]

...and on that note, am I the only one who carefully clips the top of the bag, slides the mags out and then equally carefully *folds the bag and places it in the middle of the Meg, for posterity*?

SBT

Probably - though I do put the floppy back in the bag afterwards (though as the bag is bio-degradable, as good as the design on the front I suspect it'll eventually get used for composting.

[Richard]

I keep the Megazine and the floppy together, not separately, so I keep them in the bag (also useful for keeping the card with the cover on it that we get now). But I wouldn't keep the bag if I was storing them separately!

[MumboJimbo]

Well, this thread has really opened my eyes. All this bag retention! They'll be someone who's kept all his newsagents receipts from when he bought his prog in 1982, mark my words. And then where will we be? 

[sheridan]

I keep the Megazine and the floppy together, not separately, so I keep them in the bag (also useful for keeping the card with the cover on it that we subscribers get now). But I wouldn't keep the bag if I was storing them separately!

Fixed that.

[Proudhuff]

I have found the same recently. The Order and Full Tilt Boogie were garbled for me in the comic, Blunt and the One I Skip About People Who Are Dead or Aren't or Something seem to meander.

This^^^

There's always been strips I've skipped or speed read, but I dont think there are more now, however there are more that seem to meander, endlessly repeat( I'm looking at you SinDex) or are obvious TPB in the making: Slaine etc.