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Megazine 366 - War on the Law

Started by Eamonn Clarke, 16 November, 2015, 04:43:22 PM

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Hawkmumbler

Another vote of confidence for Demon Nic. It's all rather splendid and delightful, and I can't for the life of me understand how people find it difficult to read. Grist has quickly worked his way into my pantheon kf favourite comic creators, and Nic is proving to be one of his best yet.

Dredd had a superb chapter, but in and amongst all the intruige and skullduggeryis it wrong the small exchange beteween Dredd and that one helpful citizen resounded with me? In a story all about the pro's and con's of Justice Dept. and democracy alike, seeing an ordinary citizen enquiring weather old stoney face was "alright" has some umbridge, not everyone hate's the judges after all and many still see them as the better of two evils.

Storm Warning wrapped up as it had lived. Uneventfully. Cute cameos aside (and a nice name check for Jericho Strange) it really doesn't offer much that we haven't seen before and better. Tom Fosters art SHOULD have been gorgeous but is drowned out by muted by poor colour choices. Ah well.

Lawless is oooooohhhhh sooooooo goooood! And the prospect of waiting 6 months up for it's retrun is heart breaking!

Proudhuff

Quote from: Magnetica on 20 November, 2015, 07:01:09 PM
A bit of a mixed bag this month.

Having recently re-read Terror and Total War in the Mega Collection, Terror Rising seems to be treading a well worn path - terrorist outrage, Dredd investigates, Dredd gets them in the end. The trick is going to be making this different - but the last page hints at that, and hey it Wagner and MacNeil on Dredd, so I guess I should have a bit more faith. It is probably that there have been so many great Dredds in both the Prog and the Meg lately that my expectations are now really really high.

Demon Nic [spoiler]- yeah I thought that Nic and Mercy switched from enemies to being on the same side a bit quick a couple of months ago. Shouldn't have worried.[/spoiler]

Storm Warning - the last couple episodes, read individually left me a bit baffled. It is only I have them both that it makes sense. Still the ending left me a bit flat. But overall I quite liked it and would definitely like to see some more. Really love the art, and if what is said above about the uncoloured vesrsion is true, I would very much like to see that in future.

Lawlesss...nooooooo...can't believe it is taking a break now. This needs to be a (semi) permanent fixture in the Meg.

Text articles. Can't wait to see the documentary. The other two  - skipped mostly (which is very rare for me). Indeed I am rapidly losing interest in those that have only the slightest link to 2000AD or the Meg (and ok  Johnny Red is by Garth Ennis and featured in Battle - but I'm not really that interested).
DDT did a job on me

Proudhuff

Quote from: Butch on 20 November, 2015, 09:59:04 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 20 November, 2015, 07:01:09 PM
Terror Rising seems to be treading a well worn path ... The trick is going to be making this different - but the last page hints at that


Does it ever.  The question that makes Terror Rising an exciting and potentially very, very important story is whether the worn path it's expertly treading leads us into Origins territory or a Cal Files cul de sac.


[spoiler]Keston Knox would have been born sometime in the year after the Democratic March, during which America Jara had a baby taken from her womb by Justice Department. Even if he's not that baby, Beeny's hint suggests she already suspects he's her big brother.[/spoiler]





I was wondering WTF that was all about but didn;t have the savvy to work it out, thanks Butch.
DDT did a job on me

Bolt-01

Oh my Grud. So 'that's' what that means...

Frank

.
Hey, look everybody - we're talking about comics over here! [spoiler]The question is whether the sculptor, Kiki Knox, was given the baby by Justice Department or by Total War.

If Keston Knox is the baby Justice Department told America Jara was dead, she was cheating on her then-boyfriend, Dood, with the terrorist, Kurd Lorca. If Keston Knox is a baby Lorca conceived with Jara at a later date, then Total War were in the baby selling business.

As the original America story illustrates, offering wealthy figures in the arts* sex and/or their heart's desire was a key method of fundraising for the Lorca-Jara cell. Since the sculptor, Kiki Knox, doesn't appear to have been longing for sex in the way Bennet Beeny was, she just wanted a baby.[/spoiler]

That removes any tiny doubt about America's motivation for sleeping with Bennet Beeny, as if their meeting while he was kerb crawling and she was dressed as Julia Roberts wasn't confirmation enough.


* see also the critic, Victor Portnoy, from Fading Of The Light

Proudhuff

We should really let the rest of the board know about this...
DDT did a job on me

JOE SOAP

Quote from: Butch on 25 November, 2015, 04:55:58 PM
.
Hey, look everybody - we're talking about comics over here! [spoiler]The question is whether the sculptor, Kiki Knox, was given the baby by Justice Department or by Total War.

If Keston Knox is the baby Justice Department told America Jara was dead, she was cheating on her then-boyfriend, Dood, with the terrorist, Kurd Lorca. If Keston Knox is a baby Lorca conceived with Jara at a later date, then Total War were in the baby selling business.

Do the math maths.

[spoiler]The age of America Jara's son "Tony" - a 6 month old baby extracted from the womb 2 months after the Democratic March of August 2109 - would roughly match the given age of Keston Knox (27) in 2137. His 28th birthday would've been round about October/November going by the real-time Prog dates. [/spoiler]

I suppose we can give the Megazine a months leeway [spoiler]or America Jara had another kid the following year while she was doing time in the psycho-cubes (unlikely).
[/spoiler]

Frank

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 27 November, 2015, 12:40:39 AM
Do the math maths.

[spoiler]The age of America Jara's son "Tony" - a 6 month old baby extracted from the womb 2 months after the Democratic March of August 2109 - would roughly match the given age of Keston Knox (27) in 2137. His 28th birthday would've been round about October/November going by the real-time Prog dates. [/spoiler]

I suppose we can give the Megazine a months leeway [spoiler]or America Jara had another kid the following year while she was doing time in the psycho-cubes (unlikely)[/spoiler]

Meg/Prog-time isn't completely in synch with real world time on a weekly basis, but it still seems likely Keston Knox was the baby we know about [1] purely for reasons of dramatic symmetry and narrative economy.

It'll be interesting to see whether Dredd knew Justice Department were [spoiler]selling babies on ebay[/spoiler] and whether he was aware of this particular transaction or not.


[1] or that we're supposed to think he is

Theblazeuk

Storm warning fizzled out. I loved Judge Kneale as one of the usual wonderful name drops you might miss if you weren't paying attention (and if like me you hadn't just listened to the R4 adapatation of The Stone Tape).

Demonick is the only Paul Grist thing I don't enjoy. It's not bad, it's just not clicking for me. I think the tone issues are my problem too. The whole Demons-Among-Us thing doesn't really hold true either. Still, s'ok. Just wish it could be better (BRING BACK JACK STAFF).


Frank

Quote from: Proudhuff on 26 November, 2015, 10:55:08 PM
We should really let the rest of the board know about this...

Screw 'em.



Fungus

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 27 November, 2015, 09:13:37 PM
The whole Demons-Among-Us thing doesn't really hold true either.

It's probably made up.

Magnetica

Quote from: Butch on 25 November, 2015, 04:55:58 PM
[spoiler]
As the original America story illustrates, offering wealthy figures in the arts* sex and/or their heart's desire was a key method of fundraising for the Lorca-Jara cell. Since the sculptor, Kiki Knox, doesn't appear to have been longing for sex in the way Bennet Beeny was, she just wanted a baby.

That removes any tiny doubt about America's motivation for sleeping with Bennet Beeny, as if their meeting while he was kerb crawling and she was dressed as Julia Roberts wasn't confirmation enough.[/spoiler]


* see also the critic, Victor Portnoy, from Fading Of The Light


An interesting perspective, Butch, as always. I hadn't really picked up on that, other than America asking Bennet for money the morning after, but I hadn't noticed that being part of a wider strategy, or Victor Portnoy using the same.  Do you care to elaborate further?