MEG 208

[W. R. Logan]

If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

La Placa Rifa,
http://www.2000ad.nu/classof79/>W. R. Logan.

[DavidXBrunt]

Oddly that's what I got told in the pub last night when I asked for someones phone number. Does that mean she lives in Nu-Earth?

[Matt]

>Ahh, only got back yeaterday after a few days away and gave the meg a skim read, will have to lock myself in the loo and read it properly.

I usually lock myself in the loo with a different sort of magazine ;)

[IndigoPrime]

FWIW:

Dredd - Good old-skool story. Nothing outstanding, but better than that flashback thing.

Bato Loco - Quite fresh and amusing without being OTT. I'd be interested in seeing more.

Dredd Reprints - The Meg should do this more often. Good, solid, old Dredd stuff, and I'd not seen any of them before, which is rare as I have all the Complete Dredds, loads of specials and annuals, and 2000 AD from prog 320... Oh, and it beats Slaine, which was shit. Not too keen on Harry 20 next month, as I already have two copies of it, but public demand must be met...

Darkies Mob - Yaaaaaawwn. This is really pissing me off. It's dull, cliched, and downright insulting. And dull. And dull. And duuuuuull.

Black Siddha - Another Pat Mills "book one" where fuck-all actually happens. The pace is sluggish, and while there are good ideas, it feels like everything could have easily fitted into half the space. But that's Pat for you these days.

Repo-Mex - Nice ideas in there, but needed a little more meat.

Devlin - Hmmm... I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as Swimming in Blood. The art's pretty ropey, and nothing really seems to happen each week. Maybe that's the point - who knows? I'll withhold final judgement until I can read it all in one go.

Overall: 6/10.

[Trout]

I'd grade this Meg as just a bit better than okay.

The Dredd tale, Shakedown, had a rushed and disappointing ending and the art was poor, while I'm simply thrilled that the garbled nonsense of Black Siddha is finally over, at least for a while.

Repo-Mex and Bato Loco were fairly promising for the future, and entertaining enough. I liked the mad art on the robots.

I still love the art on Devlin, although I'm starting to lose interest a bit in the story. Likewise for Darkie's Mob, which is a bit samey now.

The Dredd reprints were great to see. Like many readers, I suspect, I hadn't seen these before. That's what the reprint section should cater for.

The Audio Prog feature was one big advert. I didn't bother with it.
This Meg took far less time to read than the last few, as a result.

I'm very much looking forward to next month.

- Trout

[WoD]

Heh, the Dredd reprint with Slab Tynon (is that right?) was a story that I repeated nearly word for word in my O-Level English Language exam (many years ago now).  Got me a very good mark it did too.  Shame that I couldn't come up with anything as good as that for the real exam.

And a question to you peeps.  Does everyone read all the Meg, or are there sections that you just miss out (or read if there is absolutely nothing else around to read when your stuck onthe loo constipated (for example))?

Cheers,

WoD.

[W. R. Logan]

Today I shall be reading the Megazine in this order:
Editorial, Dredd, Dredd World stories, Letters, reprints, Non Dredd World stories, Text stories/features.

Repeat at varios times throughout the month, at home, at work and on the loo.

La Placa Rifa,
http://www.2000ad.nu/classof79/>W. R. Logan.

[Oddboy]

I've been skipping Black Siddha since reading episode 1.  I'll read it in one go sometime.

I usually skip text stories... sorry I just can't be arsed with them really.

I skipped the reprints of Bad Company, Sl?ine & Fiends of the Eastern Front becuase I've read them fairly recently in a back prog mission.

I skip other text/reviews more or less randomly.

[Tu-plang]

I skip:

Slaine - f*cking boring
Text stories
Devlin, til I can read it all i one go.
Family, didn't interest me.  Once again I'll read it all in one go when I get the last few episodes here in Oz.

[Trout]

I read my Meg and prog in the order in which they are presented, although I skipped the text-heavy Audio Prog puff this week.

- Trout

[Mangamax]

Heh, those lines in The Big Itch - "I've got them. I'm just not scratching" and "That Dredd's a man of iron".
Brought back how at the time there was speculation that Dredd was actually a robot and lines like these were seized upon in the letters pages and the fanzines as clues

[Bartomec]

Is Apocalypse now from Toxic? Its copoyrighted 2003 and if it was reprint I'd have thought it'd appear in the gold section.

Sadly no, its original;. Which makes it reading like a reject from Toxic all the worse...

Still, the reprints were good.

[Will@The Nexus]

Dredd: Well er it was a solid story with alright art although I believe that Ennis would have been slaughtered for producing something so self-referential.

Bato Loco: Not half as funny as it thinks it is, still a good read although am I the only to be a bit put off by the lazy racial stereotyping?

Black Shidda: I've loved the series but this final ep. seemed disappointing and rushed (a stark contrast to the rest of the series that had been written at a more deliberate pace). When it returns it would be better of in 2000ad especailly if Mills contains the current pace.

Delivn Waugh: Okay part of me likes this alot and always reads it but another part of me feels that I'm giving this an easy ride as I like the character, writer and artist. To me the plot is non-existent (and believe one doesn't appear by reading them back to back) and the art doesn't really suit the story (if only Frasier had got it instead). Still its a good read although taking a year to read it sounds like overkill.

Didn't read Repo-Mex.

Dredd Reprints: Yay! Good stories that were better than the slaine reprints that felt out of place in the meg. Hopefully they'll reprint Robot War and the Midnight Surfer so I can read them.

Darkie's Mob: Still liking it although I agree with those who says its a bit samey. May have been a better idea to have split the reprints into two runs.

Didn't read the audioprog feature, Bish-ops piece was good.

All in all it was the weakest mag for some time still next issue seems exicting with Irving back on DEATH!!!

Will