Meg 425 - The God of Death

[broodblik]

Cover by Nick Percival:

[Link Prime]

Cool Beans.

[IndigoPrime]

It’s a good issue, Dreadnoughts is too close to home in a way that feels important, Megatropolis is Elseworldsing it up in amusing fashion, Deliverance is suitably daffy and dark in equal measure, and I need to re-read The Returners so I can remember who these people are.

The Wagner Dredd is an odd one. A typically terse and smart Wagner strip, and the art is broadly very, very good. But we for some reason appear to be in a place where Beeny is the only woman in the justice department. Every other street judge, every member of Control, and even Citi-Def: all men—and almost all (depending on a couple of frames where there might be one non-white man) white men. I know I bang on about this a lot, but, please, art droids, write a little note or something to remind you to draw beyond what’s in the mirror.

(Note: I’m aware gender breakdown is unbalanced anyway. Looking at Data USA, men outnumber women by about 6 to 1 in US policing, and 65% of officers are white. But even those numbers show more diversity than most Dredd strips, and if we’re projecting 100 years into the future you’d hope things haven’t got even worse.)

[broodblik]

This months floppy is Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales with the ABC continuing next month

[NapalmKev]

Lovely cover!

Dredd - The Victims Of Bennett Beeny, Part 2. The star of the Meg. Action heavy but also with a few really good comedy moments, it reads more like a tale of old/before Chaos Day. Stunning art and a good cliff-hanger ending! One of the best pieces of Dredd I've read in a long time which says a lot given how good a strip it generally is anyway.

Megatropolis, Part 2. Only two episodes in to this new strip but it has enough about it at the moment to keep my interest. Great artwork.

Dreadnoughts - Breaking Ground, Part 2. Again, only 2 episodes in with this new strip but I'm totally engaged with this one. The rise of a facistic police force in a near future scenario set in a nation with a lunatic President...You really couldn't make it up!
Glib comparisons with the real world aside: Good strip based on the little I've seen so far.

The Returners - Heartswood, Part 2. I'm not a fan.

Deliverance, Part 2. Space Death-Cult find their Messiah (who genuinely is a very naughty boy) and fail miserably to free him. Glib nonsense aside: I like this strip a lot.

The Floppy is a collection of Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales which is nice and hopefully heralds the fact that at the most we will see Encyclopedias bi-monthly instead of every issue. I don't begrudge the the encyclopedia supplement but at the same time I personally have no use for it.

Cheers

[WhizzBang]

The Wagner Dredd is an odd one. A typically terse and smart Wagner strip, and the art is broadly very, very good. But we for some reason appear to be in a place where Beeny is the only woman in the justice department. Every other street judge, every member of Control, and even Citi-Def: all men—and almost all (depending on a couple of frames where there might be one non-white man) white men. I know I bang on about this a lot, but, please, art droids, write a little note or something to remind you to draw beyond what’s in the mirror.

This is a very good point that is very well expressed. Has anyone ever put this to Tharg in the Nerve Centre? I'd be interested to see what his response would be.

[IndigoPrime]

Thanks. I sent an email to Dreddlines, although whether we’ll ever see another letters page in the Meg and whether Matt would print this one is another matter. (In that email, I also add a bit about an argument we often hear regarding “strong female characters”. People might argue that about the current Meg line-up, what with Beeny and Glover, and the balance in Returners. But it’s important diversity exists in a wider sense, and not just in the foreground.)

[Freddychopper]

That wraparound cover is stunning. Loving the Dark Judges stuff by HIne and Percival - top marks!. One quick thing about the floppy. What happened to the encyclopedia? Is this only going to be an occasional thing?

[broodblik]

That wraparound cover is stunning. Loving the Dark Judges stuff by HIne and Percival - top marks!. One quick thing about the floppy. What happened to the encyclopedia? Is this only going to be an occasional thing?

The encyclopedia looks more like it will be done every second month

[Proudhuff]

The Wagner Dredd is an odd one. A typically terse and smart Wagner strip, and the art is broadly very, very good. But we for some reason appear to be in a place where Beeny is the only woman in the justice department. Every other street judge, every member of Control, and even Citi-Def: all men—and almost all (depending on a couple of frames where there might be one non-white man) white men. I know I bang on about this a lot, but, please, art droids, write a little note or something to remind you to draw beyond what’s in the mirror.

This is a very good point that is very well expressed. Has anyone ever put this to Tharg in the Nerve Centre? I'd be interested to see what his response would be.

Totally agree, we've mostly got away from the stereotypes of Tractorfactori and the other world Judges, not to mention Lopez and his facial hair, it would be good if the Justice Dept reflected the ethnic make up of the US, same goes for the citz.

[Colin YNWA]

To my shame I didn't think about the diversity in the background cast. So while the artists need to reflect on such things maybe I as a reader need to too. Thank you to those that made me think about this.

Anyway moving on that aside what makes a good Meg. Meg 425 makes a good Meg that's what.

Dredd - Wagner and Cornwell tense, steady violence. You know this is what we want. And the sense its really building to something I don't quite see yet. Brilliant

Megatropolis - I mean its beautiful on the eye. Its an intriguing take on a world we are very familar with. It has numerous cute nods to the fans, but none of them stop it being a strong story in its own right. Its just a top thrill isn't it.

Dreadnoughts - it hard boiled and it crafted very well and its very good.

Returners - then rather deliciously serves up something completely different and the return (see, see what I did) to form makes me what to go back a read the second series all again to see what I was missing. This is a great thrill and the art is superb.

Deliverance - debrillance more like. Dark, creepy and superb. The comic edge worked so much better the than its done before when Death has become pantomine. Here it serves to make us realise how chilling perfect the death cult is. Just wonderful stuff.

I mean seriously when was the last time a Meg without Lawless get this good?

[broodblik]

It is a pity that the warp around cover is not done properly on the digital version. The back page should have been the first page now we lose the effect of the cover. Still Nick did a great cover

[DrJomster]

I mean seriously when was the last time a Meg without Lawless get this good?

Good point! Great to see such a strong Meg! Some serious talent on show from the droids.

Interesting shades of Dillon (p5) and MacNeil (first few pages) in Cornwell’s Dredd. Things are really coming along well. Good work that droid! All of the art is top notch this Meg, to be fair.

[broodblik]

As Colin said it is interesting to have such a great meg without Lawless. Hopefully we can have more Megatroplis and Dreadnoughts in the future. These thrills are great additions to the world of Dredd.

Dredd - The action continues with some great art from Dan Cornwell (he is growing in stature the more his works get published).  It is always great to see Wagner on Dredd.

Megatroplis – The story keeps me intrigues and this alternative world is quit interesting. I like the way that the corrupt mayor looks like Nixon. Great stuff how established characters are used in the world. Niemand’s script continues to unfold, world building at its best.

Dreadnoughts – Carrol’s script and how the Judges world came to being is great. John Higging’s art is a great support for the story. Hopefully, this is just the beginning and we can more of this in the future megs.

The Returners - Not as strong as the other stories in the meg but still enjoyable enough.

Deliverance – Nick Percival know how to great a macabre grotesque world of the dead. This is a great extension of the world of Death and his not-so-marry band of compadres.

[scrotnig]

As Colin said it is interesting to have such a great meg without Lawless. Hopefully we can have more Megatroplis and Dreadnoughts in the future. These thrills are great additions to the world of Dredd.

I couldn't agree more. I almost didn't notice the absence of Lawless, which tells its own story

Megatropolis is great, with all the amusing references to the 'normal' world, yet still taking itself seriously and telling a great story.

Dreadnoughts is almost too good, in the current situation it's more than a little terrifying at times, which is testimony to the story it is telling.