Meg #207 - SPOILERS

[Oddboy]

Reviews, anyone?

I've only read bits of it so far, so...

Dredd - I really liked this, lots of stuff going on, crazy MC1 at it's best.
Darkie's Mob, still lots of fun, picking up a bit from last months selection.
Funny column from Gordon


And another text story which I'll never read.

[DavidXBrunt]

Shame that. It's quite good, all things told.

Good issue.
Middenfacce is turning into something special. Dredd was by Wagner (that's a guarantee of quality, that is).
Nice to see some Simon Harison art-work again. Slaine's gone, and about time too. Any ideas what replaces it in the reprint stakes?

[petemaskreplica]

There's an awful lot of stuff in the Meg at the moment that I think I'll enjoy when I read it through at one sitting, but just doesn't really grab me by the episode. I don't think it's the length of the strips, or the month's wait between episodes, I have a suspicion they're being written with more of an eye on the TPB than the comic. Devlin Waugh just about gets away with it cos the artwork's so gorgeous.

Middenface was the best thing this month, Dredd's a good story hampered by substandard art IMHO.

Darkie's Mob shows how to do it, short punchy episodes that draw you in on their own merit, but also build up into a wider arc.

Oh, and Apocalypse Soon - anyone else reminded of that strip in Toxic about the bloke in a big lorry who ran things over a lot and, er, that's it?

Well, now Family's finished I can read it all the way through and see if my theory has anything to it...

[Oddboy]

I read all of Family last night - heck it makes a lot more sense then I thought it did!
I still reckon that it is sorely missing colour, as it can be tricky to tell who's who between a bunch of old men in suits - a little colour would've helped that out (ie. Cane's the gangster in the Blue suit, Chrissie's the gangster in the black suit etc)

SPOILERS
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I thought the end was a little disappointing, and am now hoping there'll be a sequal - although what with (practically) everyone dying I don't know how that would work...

[Rob1971]

'am now hoping there'll be a sequal - although what with (practically) everyone dying I don't know how that would work... '

Kurt and Talia are still alive - and they're the heart of the story. So is Richie and Al (sans legs).

I know what you mean with the colour. In retrospect black and white wasn't the best way to go. The intention was to do an ensemble piece and I was trying to keep obvious exposition at a minimum. But because there's no obvious Dredd-style costumes on anyone and they were all wearing suits I understand why some people may have found it difficult to tell who's who. A little more exposition may have been needed, I feel.

Also, the six-pages a month format made probably hampered it slightly. But that's my responsibility to pace it properly so people aren't lost when picking it up each issue. A little intro paragraph each month may help - it wasn't that long ago the Meg gave a page over to intro for each strip.

I'd like to bring it back, in colour. We'll see.

Rob

[Oddboy]

Return of the INTRO PARAGRAPH BOX! Pleeeeease!!
The full page intro pages were rubbish & wasteful, but the re-cap boxes are great: put in by the scriptdroid you know they're accurate & relevant to the story, you can glaze over them if you're reading the whole story in one go (or if you're memory is ***t hot!) - and presumably in this modern age of computer-lettering, take them out again if you're printing the story as a GN.
I know ukdane will agree with this one.

Rob; was Al the one Gio called "Tiny"?

[Art]

Fuck no, what the hell is this, Mavel comics circa 1989?

[Rob1971]

'Rob; was Al the one Gio called "Tiny"?'

Nope, Gio referred to Cane as Tiny. It was Cane's old nickname when they were kids, Gio would use it to rile him when Cane was getting too big for his boots.

Do pay attention, 007.

As for recap paragraphs - I think anything that makes comics more accessible to the new reader is a good thing. a full page is too much - I agree, but there's no harm in a few "previously..." lines.

If it's good enough for the sopranos....

Rob

[Oddboy]

Ah yeah, that's right.

So which one was Al?  Sheesh, I only read it last night: my memory is shot to bloody ribbons! No wonder I can't remember what happened in the previous month's Meg!!  In my defence, I was reading it between about 1 & 2am with Oddgirl constantly interrupting me to help her out with some HTML for her website (blind leading the blind).

[Rob1971]

'So which one was Al? '

Al was Gio's best friend - who betrayed him during the story.

If Family comes back for a sequel all characters will wear big white t-shirst with their names printed on them.

Was talking to si fraser about this at the bristol con - how the majority of succesful 2000ad/Meg strips have one central character and their name is usually the title of the strip. It's tough to do an ensemble piece with six pages a month.

Rob

[Oddboy]

Thanks Rob.

I'm gonna shut up now, having thoroughly (sp?) proved how dense I am.

It really was very enjoyable though!

[Rob1971]

'I'm gonna shut up now, having thoroughly (sp?) proved how dense I am.

It really was very enjoyable though!'

Thanks.

Rob

[GermanAndy]

The cover is just great - only missing ad copy, you know, "she was the angel of death, but he would ruffle her feathers".

DREDD: Great lines, great comedy, you laugh until you choke. All the fun stuff nicely contrasted with the wrongness of the Judge system. Loved it.

FAMILY: I guess I have to read it again. It had good parts and it had bad parts. Maybe it reads easier in one sitting.

MIDDENFACE: Lovley artwork, but I didn?t believe this patriarch stuff.

RAT TOWN: No. This wasn?t written very good. seems to me the prose stories are getting weaker every issue.

BLACK SIDDHA: One word: Boring.

SLAINE: This is kind of fun, but Mill?s Kitchen sink approach to writing wears thin after a while.

DARKIE?S MOB: I loved it at the beginning, but now it get?s a bit repetitive. Still interesting stuff if you think of the age.

DEVLIN WAUGH: This is fun. Nice artwork and good dialogue.

The best I guess was the announcment that they repringt Charley?s War. Yeah! I have read so much good about it, can?t wait.