Meg 337 American Reaper: Pray it's not Positive.

[Proudhuff]

So that's nearly double figures for Meg Readers 

[IndigoPrime]

I realise how little attention I paid to it that I didn't notice American Reaper had finished. It really is a one-trick pony, isn't it?

I'm not sure it even has one trick, but then it does appear to be one of the most divisive stories a 2000 AD title has ever run. I just for the life of me don't see the appeal. The art is dull and lifeless, full of talking heads. The pacing is dreadfully slow, almost the antithesis of the kick-up-the-bum model Andy Diggle injected into 2000 AD. But the main thing for me is it's just boring. Brass Sun was also slow, but I found it intriguing and a bit different. Sexy Ostriches just goes on and on and on and on, and it's by Pat Mills, and so I imagine we'll be looking forward to Book Ten in a decade's time.

I've still yet to confirm my Meg sub, and the fact this is coming back isn't exactly a tick in the plus column.

As for the articles - interviews with Rian Hughes and Inaki Miranda made me realise a Meg with those two in at once would make me a happy boy.

Hughes is fantastic. I'd love to see him do something for 2000 AD again.

Dan Fran. nice splash page, but hey [spoiler]ANYONE shots a Judge they [/spoiler] are a target, non?

That doesn't mean 1) he wouldn't feel terrible about what happened, and 2) it wouldn't create a massive media shit-storm, not least given his role as a 'media Judge' and ex-position as Chief Judge.

[Mikey]

Great cover!

The lead Dredd strip was grand...

...but the best MC1 strip this month was Dan Francisco: I'm loving it! It's zipping along wonderfully with some cracking art. Good stuff.

I'm obviously the lone voice in the wilderness regarding American Reaper because I really like it. It would benefit with a bit of compression or read in one sitting, but I think it's got some great ideas and I also like to see something a bit different artwise. I wasn't keen on how Langley used it in Slaine, but it suits this well imo. And how can you not love Fay Dalton's work on the Reaper Files? I like how the vastly different techniques compliment each other so well. So there.

Insurrection continues to be pretty brilliant. Not much more I can say, but MacNeil does the best pained or sad expressions ever. Great stuff!

I enjoyed Black Light as much as I did the first time around  Looking forward to the Zero next month!

An enjoyable article on Supes and an interview with Hughes rounded things off brilliantly. Top Meg in my opinion.

M.

[Colin Zeal]

Enjoyable Meg for me this month. I have mentioned on here previously my liking for AR but this month did test my patience. It wasn't helped by the opening pages being utterly confusing on first glance as to whether or not the panels should be read down or across. I've also started finding it a bit difficult to differentiate between the young female characters in the strip. At first I didn't know if it was his daughter being kidnapped or her friend as they look too alike to me. And wasn't one of the earlier stories about his daughter being stalked/taken by the body-snatchers? It feels a bit like going over old ground to me.

[Simon Beigh]

Just finished reading the Meg. I enjoyed the Dredd very much, especially the frame on the final page with[spoiler]the Antarean Tentatees in a cool "Justice Is Served" pose with Dredd[/spoiler].

Elsewhere, I am enjoying Dan Francisco and haven't been quite grabbed yet by Insurrection. As for American Reaper, I have enjoyed previous episodes, but this one did go on a bit. Looking forward to seeing what replaces it the next month. Saying that, I quite liked the story at the end of the main story and the back cover of the Meg was fun.

Enjoyed the Superman article, and good to see Dreddlines.

I waited for the 2nd part of Black Light before making a start on the first. Read 3 episodes and I'm not convinced, but will keep going with it to see if I can get into it.

[Dog Deever]

American Reaper- pray it's not positive.
Don't worry... it's not.
One thing that really hacked me off with AR (even more than usual) this time round was the fact that, considering the excruciating plodding of the story and the tree-scaring page count so far, there is still a WHOLE PAGE with just one picture and no dialogue or development at all- as if the Meg hadn't already thrown away half a forest on the story so far. That's all well and good to provide a pause in a rollicking story- but to pause in this? Um...
I don't get those who say the art is sumptuous, etc- sure, it's well rendered but in the main I find it mostly boring with no real sense of thought in page layouts other than 'talking heads again... hmmm... I know, I could do a long strip panel with heads in and blur the background a little...' It makes for really bad comic art (sorry Clint, you're waaaay better than this story shows- B&W ABC's and this are like cheese and chalk).
Saying that- my main objection is really that it takes up far too much space, runs too long and never really delivers anything. Please Pat, stop (or, at least, start... and keep moving)- you are also way better than this. Glad this is done with for now- truly appalling story.

Dredd and SoDF are fine enough and I enjoyed the Reaper Files too, but I didn't read the articles so Insurrection pretty much had all my attention. Enjoyed reading Blacklight again too. Can we get RETURN TO ARMAGEDDON in a floppy at some point, please Mr Tharg?

Overall it felt a bit lightweight but with no AR next month that frees up enough space for possibly a couple of new tales, each of which may have twice as much going on as Sexy Ostriches.
HURRAH!

[Link Prime]

Arrrghhh....had just typed a longish post, and my wifi glitched.

Condensed V2.0;

I love the following: Collins' Dredd, Insurrection III (best Ep of this series for me), The Streets of Dan Francisco (Tharg would need to be high on 'Cranston Blue' not to commission more of this), front & back covers.

I don't love the following: American Reaper.

[NapalmKev]

I quite like American Reaper.

Cheers

[Proudhuff]

I quite like American Reaper.

The Marmite issue...

[blixab]

The Marmite issue...
[/quote]

Must be, can't stand Marmite and overjoyed AR has finished as don't like that either, although in my opinion, 2014 is too soon for it's return.

Aside from that, enjoyed the Meg this month and a great final page of Insurrection makes me look forward to next month's Meg for the hook up with Luther.

[Hawkmumbler]

Is it me or are The Reaper Files more often much better than Sexy Struthio?

[Mabs]

Is it me or are The Reaper Files more often much better than Sexy Struthio?

It's not you - the Reaper File is definitely better than the actual strip, so's the artwork. I doubt anyone would complain if the main strip was illustrated by Fay Dalton, with page count which actually counted toward the story. Having said that, after the disappointment of the last few episodea, this closing episode of AR was a tad enjoyable, especially that revelatory ending.

[DrJomster]

Gorgeous cover this month. If we ever have a Meg cover of the year poll, I'm voting for this one so far!

[SKD]

 By the look of it, the Alien Zoo's art deco entrance was designed by Berthold Lubetkin's Tecton Group. Just like Dudley Zoo.    



Stew.

[MIKE COLLINS]

By the look of it, the Alien Zoo's art deco entrance was designed by Berthold Lubetkin's Tecton Group. Just like Dudley Zoo.    



Stew.

As me'n'Ian are both West Midlands lads, and we both used to go there a lot as kids, we thought it'd be a cheeky in-joke to use Dudley Zoo-- a lot of the architecture I've drawn is based on the place but obviously scaled up for Mega City One.