Attentive squaxx were first informed by an early listing in Previews and this week the planned changes to the Megazine and the Extreme Edition became official. In a letter to subscribers, we discovered the following:

The Judge Dredd Megazine, as of issue 275, is being substantially re-mastered.

New strips, new stories AND Extreme Editions will become part of the Megazine.

The final edition of Extreme as a stand alone publication is issue 30 which wraps up the Death of Sam Slade storyline. Extreme then converts to a 64 page monthly publication bound into the new look Megazine. The first Meg Extreme is a 64 page collection of stories by fan fave artist "Jock". Every subsequent issue will contain 64 extra pages of story. Planned to be included in the line up are:

• Snow Tiger by Andy Diggle and Andy Clarke
• Judge Dredd: Lawcon by John Wagner and Richard Elson
• Armitage: Flashback by Dave Stone and Charlie Adlard
• Plus Pussyfoot 5, John Burns Judge Dredd stories, and Son of Mean Machine by John Wagner and Carl Critchlow

From issue 275 the Meg also has new Tank Girl stories. For those of you yet to enjoy Tank Girl, she is a foul mouthed , ferocious, Kangaroo shagging, druggie punk chick in post-apocalyptic Australia circa 2033. We await her new debut with baited breath.

The New Look double-sized Megazine with Extreme debuts with issue 275 on sale August 20th 2008 for £4.99.

All is certainly looking rosy for the Megazine. For a little more detail, we caught up with Megazine editor Matt Smith:

2000AD Review: What are the main reasons for the change in format?

Matt Smith: With Tank Girl joining the Meg, it’ll be the first time in a long while that the Meg will be free of reprint. It seemed like a good idea to fold in the Extreme Edition with the Meg, so readers would be getting 128pp of new and classic material, with a separate bagged GN.

Will the format/contents of the main Megazine change?

MS: No, there’ll still be a 10 page Dredd, two 9 pageDreddworld strips, and an 8 page Tank Girl episode. The rest will be the usual mix of interviews, features and reviews.

When choosing the contents for the 64 page mini trade - what kind of content are you looking for?

MS: Ideally, material that fits neatly under 64pp, and is fairly complete – short series like Snow/Tiger are perfect – and of course material that doesn’t conflict with the graphic novel line. Circumstances may mean that I’ll have to split a story over more than one collection, like Chopper for example. Other than that, I’d like to keep them artist-orientated, the way Titan’s old 1980s collections used to be – so we’ve got Richard Elson’s work in Lawcon, Chris Weston’s in Canon Fodder, and maybe some John Burns, Colin Wilson and Peter Doherty collections...

Finally - can you give us an idea of what we can new stories we can expect from the Megazine?

Illustrated are a page from Black Atlantic: Rig, by Dan Abnett and Steve Roberts, starting in Meg 276; Judge Dredd: Koan by Al Ewing and Paul Marshall, in Meg 278; Citi-Def: Field Trip by Tony Lee and Jack Lawrence, starting in Meg 279...

Thanks to Matt for the details and scans - click on each image to see larger sizes..