Meg 207 - 1 July 2003
Cover by Mark Harrison

Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Leigh Shepherd

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

GH: A very good cover from Mark Harrison - I always love these pastiche covers (much like the Sin/Dex Tarantula one on the weekly), and Harrison and the design team pull this one off well, especially with the nice touch of the creases in the books. Just a couple of concerns - shouldn't Manley have got his name on this too and, oddly, the cover looks better in the advert in 2000AD where it's made up like a real book, with a great cover logo.

LS: It's a nice idea to do a pulp style cover, but the murky art works against it - Shouldn’t a pulp cover be bold n' brassy rather than grim n' gritty?

Shakedown. Part 1

Synopsis: Judge Dredd orders a full-scale shakedown of the Paradise Heights block as "crime stats have reached an unacceptable level." The block is sealed as the Judges move in and begin to check everyone. One vehicle tries to escape, but is brought down by the judges. Inside a group of stoners needs to dump their stash - but can't put it down the toilet as it's worth 10,000 creds. Elsewhere a kidnapping crew is negotiating a ransom, and think the judges are sent in for them.

We then see Oola Blint, the Angel of Mercy and her husband Homer. She paralyses and kills people with lethal injections, seeing Euthanasia as a gift. The judges and Dredd in particular have been after her for some time. Oola & Homer turn on the TV to find out what's happening, and see a reporter's father taken away for bad wiring, and the reporter arrested for 90 days for obstructing justice. Oola turns off the TV and calms Homer down, as it's just routine judge work.

In the shopping arcade a woman is shooting at judges, having taken a hostage. Dredd fools her with a fake "frag bomb" forcing her to dive for cover, and then arresting her. It turns out she's a man with a good face change job.

Elsewhere in the apartments, a democratic fringe military group think the judges are after them. They head out, ordering their youngest member to pretend to be a vagrant, allowing him go get out alive and with a lesser charge. The rest of them try to get down the stairs, but falling stolen goods blocks their way. They realise there's no way out so one of them dumps her pamphlets over the edge. The judges send up an H Wagon, and alert Dredd, who's also been warned about the kidnapping. The kidnappers grab their victim and head for the lift, which Homer and Oola are taking - but they stay at the back as the kidnappers head off, and they see the Democratic Fringe heading in another direction. "Stay calm Homer."

The stoners get a knock at the door from their neighbors Mr & Mrs Grimly, who offer them a suspiciously large and early Christmas present. The stoners take it, and offer Mrs Grimly the "...uh, artificial sweetener" as a thank you - finally getting rid of their stash.

The Fringe members are pinned down on level 99, and are being picked off one by one. Dredd calls the elevator, but Oola and Homer are inside heading down. He overrides it, taking them all back up to Level 99, as Homer and Oola stand nervously at the back...

GH: John Wagner excels at these tales with multiple storylines to follow - and this usually occurs in a Judge crackdown like the one in this issue. While there is a feeling of "haven't we done this before" it's such a fun story, that it's hard to care. Will we actually get a resolution of the Angel of Mercy storyline? It remains to be seen, as she's gotten out of worse scrapes than this. Lots of great touches in this story, from the journalist reporting on her own arrest, to the farcical running around trying to escape from the judges, while Homer and Oola try to remain calm at the heart of it.

As for Manley's artwork, I had some problems with it the last time I saw it in Juliet November, and while some of those concerns remain, his work shows continued improvement. There is an occasional stiffness to the characters, but overall he's managed to put together something pretty impressive here. It's pretty old school, and reminds me of Robin Smith to a degree and early Brian Talbot in some places. There's a few choice moments like the exploding escaping vehicle and the amount of detail he's managed to pack into what is by necessity a heavily populated strip. I have to admit, I was wary once I discovered he'd be doing the main Dredd strip this month, but I'm happy to be proved wrong by some pretty decent work here.

LS: The story is another in a long line of well worn Wagner ensemble piece, and on past evidence these can be fun, or they can be a cover for slim plot and some forced humour. On the balance of this episode, I‘d say I‘m a little more pessimistic than optimistic, but it’s early days yet. Certainly, there’s been little new in the story so far, with some fairly stereotypical, kidnappers, druggies and Democrats filling out the next installment of Oola Blint’s serial killing career.

Perhaps the element that’s swinging my feelings towards this slightly into the negative is Manley’s art, which is very, very old fashioned. While Ridgeway’s art is just as old fashioned, it suit’s the Middenface story. This just looks like the work of a competent but dull artist who has wandered in from a copy of a mid 80s Eagle. The citizens don’t look like anything more than normal people you would meet on the street, with the exception of a pair of clichéd cyborgs. Perhaps if the art had shown the design element of a master like McMahon, it would have helped gloss over the lightweight feel of the strip so far. And once again the Angel of Mercy, who we are told on the cover is supposedly a "femme fatale", gets an artist who makes her look exceptionally ropey and unattractive. Maybe Gibson would have been a more ideal choice for this strip, with his strong sense of design and ability to draw attractive women?

Part 7
Synopsis: A swat team and Kurt cover the docks, taping everything, ready for Gio and Cane's meeting and hoping to catch Gio admitting to a crime. But Talia has already taken out some of the Swat teams. Gio arrives and sees Cane but immediately insults him, asking Al where Silver is. Cane pulls a gun, but Silver arrives and knocks him off his feet with a blast. He talks over his "resurrection" with Gio and as Cane interrupts he blows his throat out. Silver says he was asleep, and while he was the "bloodline" told him that they had been misusing the "gifts". He asked Al to help him make it look like a war was starting, offering him the opportunity to rule the family. But in reality, he wants only one thing - to kill all the family members and end the bloodline.

Suddenly he's shot through the head, as Talia opens fire. Sliver is shaken and then Gio and Ritchie start attacking him with their powers: "I killed you once before, you freak...Now I'm sending you back to hell." Having got his confession, Kurt order his team in. A hovership moves in, but Talia jumps in and knocks out the pilots, taking the controls. Al starts to finish off Sliver, as Gio is arrested, but feels a pain in his chest. Sliver prepares to explode and kill them all, but Talia lands the hovership on him, crushing and killing him. Gio lies dying as Talia rushes up and begs Kurt to help, but Kurt refuses and Gio dies in Talia's arms.

GH: So that's the end of Family, and unfortunately, it's been a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps its biggest failure is the absence of any endearing characters. It's very hard to warm to a story where all of the cast is heavily flawed, including even Kurt by the end. We're supposed to feel sorry for a gang of murderers? That might work in a movie where there's plenty of time to set up the characters as perversely likeable, but there simply wasn't the time to achieve this in such a short series.

The idea of the family having superpowers could have been fascinating, but by the end have got in the way of the main storyline, and added very little originality to the piece. Replace the powers with tommy guns, and there would only have to have been minor changes in the plot for the story to still make sense.

While it's always good to see Simon Fraser's work in either 2000AD or the Megazine, I'm afraid I've begun to be a little unimpressed with his work on the latter part of series. The art on this issue in particular, has begun to have a feeling of being rushed in places, and unlike much of his colour work, there has been a certain degree of confusion as to who the characters work. There has been some sterling work on this strip for sure, but not a patch on his recent Danté art.

LS: OK, I’ve been harping on about how disjointed this feels in monthly segments, so I‘ve just read it in one go. It certainly makes for a better reading experience, as you can follow the action much more easily - through the art still makes it difficult to distinguish between characters and there some are confusing moments (particularly in the "silver appearing in mirror" scene from issue 205, which isn’t at first obviously just a flashback device). It’s also a writers (and artists) job to ensure we can remember the characters by making them memorable than the generic mobsters we see here, no matter how long the delay between issues.

The things that bug me about this story still do, such as the barely "explained" super powers and undeveloped plot threads that give the appearance of a story which is being made up as it goes along. This month for example, we have revelations of the "Powers" communing with Silver and telling him to kill the family for abusing their "gifts" (which reminded me of the "Croak" storyline in Sinister Dexter) - was that really a necessary "development", or did it just add more debris to a story that would have been better served by a more simpler telling?

Bad Karma - Part 6
Synopsis: Up on the crane, Rohan asks what would happen if he became the Siddha. Lakshmi tells him that he'll have to stop Rak, his friend, who is murdering the homeless. Rohan is shocked by this saying he can't be expected to kill his best friend, and accusing the Siddha of being a mass murderer. The Siddha says those he killed were only Asuras, but Rohan replies that Mirabai is a reincarnation of an Asuras who the Siddha spared as he does not kill women or children.

Stepping back, Rohan stumbles and falls off the crane, but drawing on the Siddha's powers he manages to halt his fall. The Siddha says that Rohan can draw on all his powers, even the death stare. Rohan falls to his knees, begging them to leave him alone, but is now outside Mirabai's shop and appears to be talking to thin air. As she approaches, he says he was practising to propose to her, but she replies that his mother would never allow it. As they walk away and cross the road, a car careers towards them with Lord Ganesha inside. Rohan holds out his hand, using the Siddha's power to stop the car, but tells Mirabai that the driver (who Mirabai thought looked like an elephant) just managed to break in time. But something appears to be following them...

GH: Unfortunately Rohan is still behaving like a spoiled child, rather that taking the attitude that most up us would have if we were given superpowers. There's even a reference to him reading superhero comics here...so Mills is telling me that there's a comic reader out there that would turn down the chance he's been given here? I think he's is giving us too much credit.

Irritating Rohan aside, this series is still fairly enjoyable due to the lightness of touch (unlike in say the interminable Finn from long ago - where it should stay). But there are certain scenes which show something of a missed opportunity. For instance, Mirabai and her father keep seeing him talking to thin air and if there was a chance this was all in Rohan's mind, there would have been an edge to the series. However, Mirabai seeing the "elephant" in the car has pretty much nixed that idea.

So all we need is for wimpy Rohan to start acting like a grown-up, and this series should get somewhere. Davis still excels on art, by the way, and seems to be the only artist who could have pulled all of this off.

LS: More procrastination from Rohan. Six parts in and while the story has some nice touches of humour, and an unusually likeable lead, this really shouldn’t have been allowed to continue this long without more plot development. On the plus side, this is one story that should read well in one sitting, where the issue of pacing isn’t frustrated by the long waits between episodes. As I think the story ends next month, expect a full review then.

Mutopia - Part 3
Synopsis: Middenface and the drone plummet off the cliff, landing on an outcropping. But Spider Dan crawls down to help him, and they eventually haul him back. The drone is still armed, and it's warhead is intact. It seems that only Supermac is the one who knows anything about electronics though. Back at the Norm's base, they look at the photos the Drone sent back, seeing it as a mutant massing, and work out that it's in Harris. "If it is, the Lord of the Isles has breached his treaty. This could mean war"

Back on Harris, Supermac plays his game and won't look at the drone, as the Lord arrives and asks them what they are doing. He orders them to worship as it's the sabbath, and seeing Supermac playing the game, he destroys it in a rage, saying they have abused his hospitality and to see him tomorrow. the shock of the broken game makes Supermac remember the slaughter of his family, and jars him back to reality. Charlie comforts him and eventually says they want to get the drone flying again to get revenge. Supermac replies: "It'll be a doddle!" But, the next day, the Lord exiles all those who were not worshipping on the Sabbath.

Back at the norm's base, a soldier meets with Sir Henry to tell him about Harris, just as the drone appears, with the words "a gift from the Tartan Army" daubed on. It shoots the two men, and then explodes, destroying the complex. The exiled mutants leave the island, but Middenface has stolen some booze for a party, and they celebrate, heading off to sea. "But we wouldnae have sung so loud, if we'd known the hell we were headin fer."

GH: The conclusion of the brief series of Middenface arrives and like the best writers, Grant leaves us wanting more. Middenface had never been one of my favourite characters, to be honest, but this series is setting him up in a new light. The slow march towards the upcoming mutant uprising is certainly felt, and hopefully Grant won't rush things along too much, as this is too great a character to lose to adulthood too early. Without seeing the first series, I had no problems in picking this up as a self contained story (even if I don't quite get Charlie's mutation) and moreover, it makes me want to look up the original. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for more.

And hopefully, it'll be Ridgeway on art again. As I've mentioned before, he's certainly one of the best and most unique British artists around, and I'd like to see far more work from him. Ideally suited for a character led piece, yet still able to effectively show the huge explosion at the end, he's been an ideal match for Grant.

LS: While I’m still enjoying this story, this episode does takes a few clunky turns. Firstly, Supermac happening to know how to reprogram the Drone because he’s good at computer games was a little convenient, unbelievable, and (most annoyingly) predictable. Charlie Prince’s father’s response to the muties not worshipping was also very over the top and seemed to be too obvious a plot device to get McNulty and his new found mates off onto their next story. Having said all that, I look forward to their next adventures, as you can see Grant is both enjoying himself and expanding the character of McNulty through these flashback tales. Roll on the Tartan Army!

Red Tide: Part 6
Synopsis: Lilith rips apart the attacking vampires, as Helsing opens the door and they escape through. Lilith is the last in, as they close the door behind them, leaving the vampires scratching on the other side. Devlin tends to the captain of the boat and they head to the museum, while the vampires continue to commit atrocities outside. They get to the Museum of Warfare, and prepare to arm themselves. Helsing worries for his daughter Hannah, still thinking that the blood of Lilith is all that can save her. Lilith taunts him "I take it you haven't managed to wean her off the tit yet", and a row breaks out. Waugh tries to calm them down, and comes across a samurai sword, using it to slice in two a vampire that was skulking in the museum.

Meanwhile the Helsing Insitute waits for its rescue, and are watched over by a vampire woman locked in a cell...

GH: There may not actually be much to it this month - as ever, this is the action led story in the Megazine - but it's still the best. MacNeil's art, with it's great use of colour (particularly red and green) and visceral violence is still as good as ever, and he manages to make this play like a film. Fast paced, inventive camera angles, clever reveals - all used to great effect this month.

The storyline continues to be the best Waugh that Smith has put to paper, and he's still resisting any attempt to go overboard on plotting and exposition as with previous Waugh tales. He seems intent on giving us the comic equivalent of a Bruce Willis/Mel Gibson film. Now I'd love to see Gibson play Waugh - but with his strict Catholicism I can't quite see that happening in the near future...

LS: Half way through and we are still fighting our way with Devlin towards the research institute. What I feel this story has lacked has been much of a challenge for Devlin and Co. Probably the nearest thing I can think of to an interesting development in the story so far was the deep sea Vampires detonating themselves. Other than that, the main threat seems to have consisted of some rather incompetent vampires lunging at our heroes and being decapitated or disembowelled. Fun for a few episodes, but we really need to get to the meat of this story soon. With Helsing’s daughter (presumably) turning up on the last page, and them nearing the institute, I hope the story takes a turn from the high octane slug fest its been up to know into something with a bit more depth.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Slaine: Time Killer
• Hall of Heroes: Revere
• Darkie’s Mob
• Judge Dredd Text Story: Rat Town
• Apocalypse Soon
• Interrogation Cube - Mark Harrison
  

GH: Ok - I have to admit, I haven't really gone through the two 2000AD Gold stories, so I can't comment. As for Revere - I never really got it at the time - and judging by Smith's state of mind while writing it - that doesn't seem so surprising now.

The one thing that's clear is that something is needed to fill the big chasm left by Thrill Power Overload, and text stories don't come up to scratch. So hopefully the promised war comic history is coming soon, and whatever's after that is in the planning stages already, so we don't have this uncomfortable wait for the next great factual/biographical series.

Oh - and I still don't know what the hell Apocalypse Soon is all about...

Darkies Mob improves with the introduction of a new recruit and a nifty cliff-hanger, but I cant help get the feeling that this might have been served better by excising some of the lesser episodes from the run and speeding things on to their conclusion (and this from somebody who usually would demand complete runs over edited highlights)

Rat Town is a little confusing - it’s a nice idea to tell a story from different angles, but the Judge X stuff didn’t add up for me (let alone Garcia’s sex change!). Adrian Salmon’s art does nothing for me either, being way too sparse and uninteresting.