Meg 212 - 18 November 2003
Cover by Simon Davis

Synopsis by Gavin Hanly
Reviews by Edward Berridge and WR Logan

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

EB: Yet another enjoyably gruesome cover from Simon Davis, featuring some particularly nice colours – the brownish flesh tones contrasting nicely against the green horror on its right. One question does arise, however. Simon Davis has done seven covers this year – five for 2000AD, two for the Megazine – so does he have the concession for drawing covers, or what? He must have some real dirt on Tharg.

WRL: After years of Dreadful covers (pun intended) the new incarnation of the Meg has had some great covers. Simon Davis’ cover to Meg 212 for me falls in to the good cover category. If you are a regular Meg reader and knew that Armitage was returning after an absence of over three years away from the Meg this month’s cover has some relevance. Where I think the cover doesn’t work is if you're a lapsed or irregular reader, I’m not sure it grabs you, but it does follow my personal rules for a cover, it relates directly to a story within so for me it works.

Sturm & Dang- Part 2

Dredd's wheels of justice

Synopsis: The attack begins in earnest and Dredd is one of the first casualties. Blown off his bike, he orders the rest of the cadets to keep going, but Koburn comes back for him and pulls him onto the back of his bike. They escape to an old ghost town, with the tanks in hot pursuit.

Koburn starts issuing responsibilities to the most able cadets, including that of keeping Dredd alive. Dredd still doesn't side with Koburn, seeing him as a loose cannon. But under his watch, the cadets pull together and prepare for the tanks. Hi ex rounds take out the first wave, while lawmasters on hi ex take out some more. Stumm gas forces another group to abandon their vehicle and be gunned down, while another group make a wrong turn into a building containing a wheelchair bound, but not helpless Dredd. Dredd rolls down the street taking out another tank with a ricochet in the cabin.

Soon the marauders are wiped out and the prisoners tell them where to find the main base. Despite Koburn helping to save the day, Dredd still has nothing but contempt for him. Elsewhere the Mutie Reich prepares for another attack - but is uncompromisingly wiped from the face of the planet by a Mega City gunship.

EB: I know that it's already been said elsewhere, but this two parter has not only been particularly timely, with the resurgence of interest in Battle and all things war comic, but also bloody fantastic as well! Gordon Rennie clearly read far too many issues of Warlord and Commando Picture Library as a young boy, and it shows here. It takes someone who knows the genre very well to send it up as accurately as this. Of course, Rennie has had plenty of practice; having written various straight war stories over the years, such as the Vertigo Weird War Tales. The dialogue he uses here memorably sends up the depiction of Germans in war comics (“Shrinehoonts! Norm untermuncher pig-dogs!”), perhaps none as memorable as when stumm grenades are used to disable a tank – “Goat in Himmler!” indeed.

Of course, Carlos Ezquerra performs his usual perfect job. I mean, what more can be said about the only man to provide all of the art for a mega-epic, not once, but twice? The same man who is the visual creator of both Dredd and Johnny Alpha? Well, in this case we have the sight of Ezquerra returning, at least spiritually, to his former creation Major Eazy. Nothing has dimmed in nearly twenty years, and ‘Koburn’ still shows the same insouciant disregard for authority that his Battle counterpart used to so memorably display. Ezquerra can still draw a mean tank, even if he then immediately shows why they don’t pit them against lawgivers anymore. Also it was nice to see that the central relationship between Dredd and Koburn wasn’t compromised at the end by mushy, unrealistic sentiment – if there’s one person you wouldn’t ever expect mushy sentimentality from, it’d be one of these two.

WRL: There’s a rumour that during a regular dental check up a sample of DNA was taken from John Wagner and used to make a clone. The sample's growth was artificially accelerated therefore passing its formative nurturing years, giving it an arrogance and attitude not attributed to its clone father.

Anyway, I digress. This month's Dredd instalment sees the 2nd and last part of Gordon Rennie's tale and for me it’s been a great story. It's funny, sees Dredd's co-creator on art duties and in places made me laugh out loud, especially the panel where Dredd, in a wheelchair, takes on a Tank. Hopefully this won't be the last time we see this team together, and I don’t just mean Rennie & Ezquerra, but Dredd, Koburn & The Cursed Earth. This has been the best Dredd tale for ages, action packed, humorous and both story and art working perfectly together.

To finish of the story of the Wagner clone, you can just imagine it hiding in the shadows somewhere just waiting for the day when it can say “Your Time Is Over, Old Man!”

The Wilderness Days - Part 4

Death warms up

Synopsis: Death arrives at Vegas, a city teeming with gambling and corruption. He witnesses a citizen going crazy at the slots and casually kills him. While onlookers bet on the results, Vegas judges take a Death into custody, who is curous about the law enforcement in such a lawless place. He's taken to the Halls of Justice, where the wheel of fortune is used to select the form of punishment. Killing another citizen to help shorten the queue, he's taken to the wheel. There is no trial, and the wheel sets on disembowelment. But Death easily kills the judge who attempts it and uses the wheel of justice to wipe out some more. The Chief Judge tries to halt things, telling Death that Dredd was the last one to try and change things in Vegas, putting the League against Gambling in charge. As soon as Dredd left, the gamblers re-took power and grafted the old Chief Judge's head onto a dog.

Death tells them he's looking for weapons of mass destruction, and they strike a deal. Death will headline a ten-night series of fights in return for the information. At the first fight, Death's skinny look doesn't impress many, but as he takes off the head of the first contender with one punch - the odds start to swing his way.

EB: It appears that Gordon Rennie and John Wagner have switched artists, with Rennie working with Carlos Ezquerra (Dredd, Strontium Dog), and Wagner working with Frazer Irving (Necronauts). What a combination this has turned out to be – Wagner seems to be completely revitalised, and, what’s more, really seems to be enjoying what he’s writing. It still has that classic Wagner black humour – “Jussst ssshhorteningg the queue!” – but combined with a harder edge, which reminds more of the original impact that the character had in his first couple of appearances.

It's nice to see Wagner return to some of his old stomping grounds this episode as we return to the city of Las Vegas, ruled over the viscous God Judge, last seen way back when during the Cursed Earth saga, in progs 79 and 80. I for one had always wondered what had happened after Dredd had run the Mafia out of town, so this was a great ‘old school’ thrill, especially the way that Irving evokes the McMahon originals, such as Judge/Dog Rudy, without actually aping McMahon’s style of the time. Its nice that we have the parallel with Dredd’s earlier crossing of the Cursed Earth, as this tale feels very similar, both in its attempts to chronicle the world outside of Mega City One, and the way that it has the feeling of being something of an instant classic.

It's also good to see that Death has been toughened up a bit as well. It used to be the case that Death would walk into a room, get shot to bits, then rise from the body as a misty spirit, swearing threats of undying vengeance. Clearly Death’s had a bit of a tactical rethink, resulting in the massacre of the Judges in the Hall of Justice that we witness in this episode. And with the weapons of mass destruction theme advancing nicely, this is making for an exciting halfway point.

(I don’t know whether anyone else noticed this, but on the first page, in the large panel of a crowd filled Las Vegas street, there appears a figure in the middle, at the bottom of the page, who looks suspiciously like Charles Fort from the Fort: Prophet of The Unexplained miniseries that Irving did for Darkhorse. But, having said that, I could just be tilting at windmills.)

WRL: I've been converted; Death has turned from comedy sidekick back to his original incarnation of a truly evil Dredd villain. The transition of Death by Wagner has been a great decision and shows once again that he seems in recent years to be taking back the characters and world of Dredd and making them truly his own. The art of Frazer Irving has reaffirmed his standing as the artist whose art is tailor made for a good tale of Horror. My only niggle is after moving Death away from the more comedic elements we get the sight of Death in a boxing ring.

Enjoyed seeing Las Vegas again and discovering that how we last saw it in Prog 75 & 76 has changed, the happy ending and the implementation of the League Against Gambling as the governing power of Las Vegas didn't last long...

Red Tide: Part 11

Vamps get an allergic reaction

Synopsis: Helsing is starting to turn. But Waugh holds him back and gives him the vaccine - which might be too late. Before they can move on, Landis and another vampire come through the trees on a hoverbike, but Tyler burns them with a UV lamp. Others catch up with them, and start to board, held back by Lilith and a now vampiric Helsing who feeds on one of the boarding vamps. They see the institute up ahead, and break through the perimeter fence. Using Helsing's eyedent to get in, they manage to gain access - but so does Landis. But it's too late anyway - Hannah is free and has killed everyone in the institute...

EB: This series has come in for quite a lot of criticism. And it looks like its about to get some more. However, I don’t think that this should be directed at John Smith or Colin MacNeil. Time was that painted strips were ubiquitous – the Megazine featured nothing but. Now artists save the paintbrushes for special occasions, which Colin MacNeil has certainly proved this to be. He wonderfully captures the maritime, swampy feel of the story with his greens and browns, mixing them together to form this murky, impenetrable atmosphere of lurking, ever present danger. The nasty surprise of what happened to Hannah's nurses is particularly well dealt with by MacNeil, satisfying Smith's body horror cum Silence of the Lambs/serial killer fetish.

Of course, most of the complaints levelled at this story have been at the script. On one level this is fair. Read in weekly instalments, this story would have the frenetic roller coaster pace of the recent Judge Dredd/Aliens. But in the Megazine, having to wait four weeks (as opposed to the two week gap between episodes of Swimming in Blood, the first Devlin tale) between six page instalments, it is just too long a wait. This is a series that badly needed to be chronicled in the weekly, or feature a much higher page count. Having read back all of the tale so far in one sitting, you can really see how well it flows, and I would advise anyone who has felt disappointed or let down by this series to do the same when it finishes. All of that said, Smith still manages to tell a very entertaining story, but with Devlin Waugh as your central character, how could it be anything less – who can forget such bon mots as: "Do try not to make too much mess when your intestines burst all over the floor". The story also finally seems to be gearing up for the conclusion, as Hannah and Lilith are reunited, Landis and Devlin prepare for the final confrontation, and the art switches from sea green to blood red.

WRL: After a year, we still see Devlin and his crew being chased by vampires, month after month nothing new seems to happen. This for me is a definite "read in one go" story and has never seemed to fit the monthly format. Great to see Devlin back in the Meg but 6 pages a month for an ongoing monthly story just isn’t enough, just when you get into it you have to wait a month for the next 6 pages. So when its finished I’ll dig out Prog 2003 onwards and read it in one chunk.

Part 4

The "Not-Us"

Synopsis: This weeks tale is from Aviatrix' point of view, The dino commandos attack the US, looking for the last 50 humans. But Aviatrix is downed by a missile, and taken prisoner by the "Not-Us", a group of anti globalisers "against the global conspiracy, the new order that seeks world government, via a cabal of bankers who just happen to be jews." They're clearly insane, and have "devolved their intelligence to favour their instinct" as the last jew alive is "on the Isle of Wight", but Aviatrix makes a mis-step and falls into the "maze" under the ground. The rest of the dino commandoes find her, and the atom bomb that the whackos worship. The humans are no match for the commandos, and they escape, nuking the rest from orbit.

EB: This has proven to be almost a textbook on how to drop your readers in the middle of the world that you have carefully constructed and either letting them sink or swim. The last obvious example I can think of would have to be Halo Jones Book One, which many readers at the time seemed to fin hard to comprehend. I remember Paul Cornell from back in his days as a writer of Virgin’s licensed Doctor Who books, such as Love and War, and he has certainly built upon the promise that he showed way back then.

This episode proves to be one of his best, critiquing exactly the kind of people who are reading this strip, with the effect that possibly those who enjoy this the most are, conversely, most like the figures of satire that the dinosaur crew so gleefully rip to pieces. Of course, I suppose Seattle had to be the source of Global Irony, as it's already the centre of the globalisation conspiracy whisperers. This is quite funny, considering that it is also the original source of all the worlds’ coffee shops. It's nice to see inside the head of Aviatrix, when she finally finds her match against the massed ironic hordes of the “Not-Us”. Of course, this doesn’t stop us from getting some choice comedy moments, such as Aviatrix’ reaction to being told of the Jewish cabal who are attempting to rule the world – “But..there’s only one Jew left in the world. She’s on the Isle of Wight”. Of course, Aviatrix doesn’t go through any life-affirming changes, but she does manage to achieve something that Ellen Ripley never did.

At least half of the reason this strip is such a success is down to the artist D’Israeli. He has come a long way since his early work, colouring Mark Buckingham on Neil Gaiman’s Miracleman for Eclipse, drawing for Crisis and Revolver (memorably the Romance special), as well as the seminal grumpy living dead Lazarus Churchyard. Since then he has discovered computer effects, and his work has moved on immeasurably, as evidenced by his recent work on Scarlet Traces and Leviathan. One of Mr. Brooker’s greatest strengths is in his character design. He obviously spends a lot of time designing the look and feel of his many characters, for greater emotional involvement with his readers. It’s interesting that, in this month's Interrogation Cubes, he lists Hiyao Miyazaki as an influence, since he is also well known for his strong, personal use of characters and character design leading his films.

It is in this story, with the lead characters all non-humans, where D’Israeli gets to show off his character design to its fullest extent, with Forrest, Trike and Raptor (obviously) being enormously effective. The reader actually comes to care about these characters and their holy mission (touches of Blues brothers there), which is surprising considering said mission is to wipe out the few remaining humans left on the planet. Not since Nemesis the Warlock have we seen such an anti-human series, without even a token Purity Brown to appease the pro-hume element. And again, the theme of man versus nature brings us back to the sensibilities of Miyazaki. This whole series has the feel and sensibility of a European or Japanese comic book, as opposed to an American or British one. In the (potential) words of Raptor, it’s the Dgs Bllcks!

WRL: Raptor would be a great contestant on Countdown, "I'ill have a consonant please Carol, and another, and another, and another, and another…"

I've enjoyed the art by D’israeli on XTNCT that on any other story I can remember him working on, and the story by Paul Cornell is not the usual Megazine fare, but this may be why it seems to have fitted in so well with the new look Meg. Don’t know yet where this is going but it's got and held my interest since it first appeared.

Apostasy in the UK - Part 1

What's left of Slater

Synopsis: Slater, a plainclothes vice judge was tracing the operations of "entrepeneur" Jason Peter Kane, when he was killed, and his head and body eviscerated and wired up to some bizarre machinery - among 20 other such bodies found in a deconsecrated church. Armitage and Steel try to work out what the ritual was for, and visit the Apostate of Jovus and Grud, but his knowledge of true spiritual matters is negligible. Armitage goes to see a friend, Lisa, looking for some pattern recognitions while Steel heads off to Nu Soho. She goes to see Kane about Slater who tells her that he was "scum", and tells her of his last sighting. Steel heads to the scene, and down a dark alley, but is surrounded by hooded priests and knocked out...

EB: I have to say straight off, this is not really a character that interests me. I never really read many of the Megazines that the character was previously featured in, and I wasn't a fan of Inspector Morse. That said, I have actually been looking forward to this series, due to the presence of John Ridgeway. And I have to admit to having been pleasantly surprised. Despite being an on-running character, I found this easy, and enjoyable to pick up, with no difficulty in establishing which character was which, and what their relationships with each other were. Other serials, such as the recent Sinister/Dexter run in 2000AD could take note of this series as a way of introducing long running characters to new readers. The way that Stone throws us straight into the story, with no attempt to establish the situation first works extremely well, engaging the reader and hooking them straight from the outset.

Ridgeway provides some rather grisly art here, which is actually somewhat disquieting to look at, almost David Lynchish in the body horror stakes. However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t also allow for moments of brevity, such as the sign hanging in the background on the first page for "Alsatians, Alsatians, Alsatians". Also, it may just be me, but I’m sure that the bloke who appears on the right of the fifth panel of the fifth page looks just like Davis Arquette in some kind of bizarre drag act. I still find it hard to get used to Ridgeway’s work when coloured on a computer, used as I am to the old Hellblazers he did when he was the original artist, or the Voyager series he and Steve Parkhouse did for Doctor Who Monthly. However, he comes into his own when depicting the Apostolic Chapel of Grud and Jovis Almighty at the New Old Bailey, and its vicar, the not-the-actual-murderer-at-all Thomas Albion Whelps, perhaps the man with the worst teeth in the whole of Brit-Cit.

WRL: I’ve never been a big fan of Armitage, or the work of Dave Stone but I’m always happy to see the work of John Rigeway in any of Tharg’s publications. John's art doesn’t seem as polished as his other recent appearance in the Meg (Radlander: Megs 4.16 to 4.18) its more scratchy and the inking seems very sparse in places, whether its from the art or the printing process it doesn’t seem to look as good as what we’ve seen before.

For a first episode it's done what any first episode should do and that's get my interest and make me look forward to what’s coming next, not a compliment I usually attribute to Armitage or Dave Stone, and I hope it continues to do that over the coming months.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Blazing Battle Action
• Charley's War
• Harry 20
• D'israeli Interview
• Apocalypse Soon
• More...

EB: Harry Twenty On The High Rock – This was one of the only comics that I actually kept during the great purges of my teenage years. My battered copy of the The Best of 2000AD Monthly no. 27 lasted me many years of enjoyable prison life (not often you hear those words in the same sentence). Unfortunately, I didn’t have no.28, so I couldn’t remember how it ended, and it wasn't until a year or two ago that I finally bought the following issue. This is when I found what those of you who have already read this have also discovered: The Most Incomprehensible Plot Twist In The World…Ever! I won’t say anything more except that it ruined more than fifteen years of blissfully ignorant happy memories. Nice art by Alan Davis though – it’s a pity that he'll probably never draw for the weekly again.

Charley’s War – I have to be honest here – I wasn't sure I wanted to read the Charley's War reprints. Don’t get me wrong, it's not that I dislike it – I was practically raised on war comics. It's just that it had such a powerful effect on me as a kid that I was scared, in case it didn’t come up to scratch in the harsh light of the present day. I have to say now that my fears were completely ungrounded, and it is just as biting, funny and moving as I remember it. Pat Mill's heavily researched the period of the First World War, and its immediate aftermath, digging for the dirt, and it certainly shows here. The simple language of the strip belies a deeper complexity, written as it was with such a burning anger, it can elicit the same response from its reader. Much of this must also be put down to Joe Colqhoun's beautiful art. He genuinely captures the misery of day to day trench existence, the grimy, squalor, surrounded by rats, corpses, barbed wire and mud, whilst creating sympathetic characters with whom the reader can identify. I don’t have as much space as I would like to go into the level of detail needed, but just one word of warning – if you think Carley's sergeant, Old Bill Tozer, looks mad already, wait until you see his tattoos!

Blazing Battle Action – I must come clean. I actually used to read Battle during this period. I had the "Baron Ironblood’s New Year Resolution" issue. I owned my own buckethead mask (this wasn’t actually as fun as it sounded, as it only strapped on to the front of your face and tore very quickly). Yes, I even used to read Storm Force. Yes, I even used to like it. Why, I hear you ask? Well the lead character was called John Storm. And He had all these different arms. And the organising genius was bald and in a wheelchair, like X-Men. And they thought this scary guy called the Tarantula, or something, who used to catch people in webs and had big point teeth. Alright, it was rubbish. Still, I have enjoyed this series, even if non Battle readers have found it a bit perplexing, as it has brought up lots of forgotten memories, as well as some previously unknown trivia (I never knew, for example, that Peter Milligan was one of the scripters for Action Force). David Bishop does this kind of thing very well indeed, and the monthly and weekly should capitalise on this and make good use of him, if only to stop him from having any time to write any comic strips.

The Interogaion Cubes – Why doesn’t he tell us what new ideas he’s currently working on? Drat!

Gordon Rennie – He isn't really going to write the comic spin off from the Jackie Chan cartoon, is he? I mean, I know he'll write anything, but Gordon, please! Have some integrity man!

Apocalypse Soon – I must be about the only person who actually enjoys this strip, judging by the reaction it's had. However, I'm also probably the only person who remembers strips like Shit the Dog, or Genghis Grimtoad. I rather enjoy the black humour used so ruthlessly by both John Wagner and Alan Grant. The art is particularly complementary as well. I'm not normally a fan of computer art, but when it works it works, and I’d be interested to see Shaun Thomas attempt something longer. I don’t really know what this strips about, apart from the four horsemen and broad sideswipes at current events, and I don’t know where its headed, but it sure is a wild ride.

WRL:   In This Issue
After having a go at the design droids in my review of the recent revamp of 2000AD I thought I'd continue my design discussion here.

If I criticised what I see as a boring design within the pages of 2000, I can't say the same about the Meg. From the cover, to the "what's in this issue" section, to all the touches throughout I reckon the design droids have earned their oil ration. I just wish they could take what they’ve done with the Meg and polish off the look of the weekly Prog. 2000 is supposed to be the flagship of Tharg’s empire but for me the Megazine far outweighs its older brother, the look, the Editor's letter and editorial direction have made the Megazine a must read, giving it a spirit that 2000 seems to lack at the moment, The Megazine definitely has that X factor and long may it continue.

Harry Twenty On The High Rock
A classic, I’ve got it in the original progs & the Best of 2000AD reprints but I'm still enjoying seeing it in the reprint section of the Meg. Gerry Finley-Day is one of the unsung heroes of 2000. He may not have been the greatest typist in the world and according to others he may have needed his scripts tweaked but the ideas he came up with are some of the best thrills the house of Tharg has ever produced and many are still looked on with great affection.

Charley's War
Have no memories of Charley’s war from its original appearance and after hearing people wax lyrical about it for many years was looking forward to being able to see what all the fuss was about. Alongside David Bishop's article this is another winner for the Meg; my only question is how many of the stories are they going to reprint. Hopefully it won’t suffer as Darkie's Mob did by seeing so many of the short episodes in such quick succession. As an ex-squaddie I'm enjoying the recent exploration of 70’s boys war stories and hope the hype about Charley’s War is everything people have said.

Blazing Battle Action!
The Megazine's re-launch has brought a new regular text feature & for me it’s been a big winner. David Bishop's articles, the latest one on the history of Battle adds a dimension to the Megazine that it’s needed for a long time. I remember reading Battle as a sprog but although the odd thing sticks in the memory I never read it often enough to have any great relationship with it. After Thrill Power Overload and now Blazing Battle Action I hope that this part of the Meg keeps up the quality its so far achieved and I look forward to seeing what will fill this section in the months to come.

Gordon Rennie
Another small feature that seems to add another layer to the Meg is the monthly emptying of Rennie's bile duct, and as long as he's got excess bile to get rid of I shall wear my acid proof smock and save this one pager as my palette cleanser after reading the rest of the issue.

Apocalypse Soon
If one story seems to have split the Megazine’s readership, this is the one and I’m on the side that are enjoying it. As with muck of the Meg it’s good to see Alan Barnes taking risks and changing people’s preconceptions of the Megazine.