Meg 213 - 16 December 2003
Cover by Cliff Robinson & Chris Blythe

Synopsis & 1st review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion Review by Leigh Shepherd

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

GH: A fantastic cover that makes me glad I don't have to pick it up in the shops, as Cliff Robinson once again comes up trumps for the Megazine.

LS: Another in the long line of "I‘m glad I subscribe" covers. If I didn’t know any better, I’d begin to think it was a conspiracy to get people to sign up to getting a plain envelope through their door over having to make an embarrassed cash transaction with the local lovely at the newsagents. Still, it’s nicely drawn, is representative of the contents and isn't just a stock pose, so overall a good 'un.

Crime of Passion

The East Meg team manage a perfect "Reverse Clinton"

Synopsis: The world sex championships are underway, but not everyone's happy. Protesters are clashing with supporters outside the venue while the two best hopes for MC1, Annette Keene and Hardy Dix wait inside as the phone rings. There's a kidnapper with their son Ozzy at the other end of the line using a voice scrambler ordering them to throw the championship. The kidnapper insists that they don't involve the judges, but the call was picked up on routine judge surveillance anyway. The child was lost by the robot nanny earlier that day. The judges tell them to go on and perform in the next round as they need to stay in the championship to keep the boy alive. Meanwhile the kidnapper, Chester, is becoming irritated by the boy's crying and threatens to kill him anyway - but his girlfriend, Bonetta protects the boy.

Annette and Hardy perform and are placed just behind East Meg. The kidnapper rings to tell them he'll kill the boy and hits him across the face, to the girlfriend's protestations, but they tell him they had to make the loss look realistic. The judges pick up the voice of the girlfriend in the background and trace her to a mopad. Meanwhile. Chester is getting crazier and lunges after the boy and Bonetta with a knife. Dredd boards the mopad and breaks in - but Bonetta has already killed Chester with a pair of scissors.

Ozzy is reunited with his parents, who win the world championships while he watches them at home on TV.

GH: Now this is kind of odd. This should be a great story, and in many ways it is. Firstly we have Cliff Robinson doing a Judge Dredd story. That's the next best thing to getting Bolland back on here. I know he'll probably hate the comparison (and indeed Robinson's style has developed on its own, as with most "inspired by" 2000AD artists) but it's an unavoidable one to make. He's still one of the best Dredd artists, and it's a crying shame we don't get to see more of him doing strip work. Still we have to make do with what we get and this was indeed well worth waiting for. He's certainly having fun with the sex olympics, even if the whole thing is curiously unsexy. This is almost certainly the point, though.

So what is it that makes this slightly unsatisfying? Well, it's the fact that we've been down this road before with the previous sex olympics, and this simply doesn't add much. There are some good moments (like the prospect of the heavyweight category, and the disapproving female judge) but there's very much a feeling of having seen all this before. Still even a Wagner retread can be preferable to much of what's appearing in the weekly comic at this moment. File under enjoyable, yet throwaway.

LS: Something struck me while reading this months Megazine about this years Wagner Dredds - they nearly all seem to be harking back to previous stories. The Marriage Game featured Gunderson and another in a long line of Death actors going loopy. Shakedown was another outing for Angel of Mercy Oola Blint. Meanwhile, this months tale revisits the Sex Olympics from the Taxidermist story, with a fairly humdrum kidnap subplot added to bring Dredd into the picture. I was surprised by the back issue raiding going on, though it's testament to Wagners skill as a writer that it’s took me to the end of the year to consciously notice the pattern. Looking further a field, 2000ADs stories from Wagner seem to tell a similar tale of old threads being tied up or revisited rather than new avenues opening up. Enjoyable as these tales have been, cumulatively, this has built up a perception that Dredd has been going over old ground, and I hope that next year brings some shocks and changes for our favourite Helmet.

One difference between this and the previous sex Olympics is the graphic nature of the strip - personally, I feel more fun could have been had by showing the crowds reactions to the athletes performances rather than the actual thing. That said, Cliff Robinson’s art seems particularly adept at making the proceedings decidedly unsexy, which I imagine would be the reality of such an event. There’s nothing to really dislike in either the art or writing on display here, but as Janet says, "technically proficient. But… to me, they never reached the heights".

Red Tide: Part 12

Billy splits

Synopsis: Lilith embraces Hannah who has been waiting for her. Cameras spot that Landis has made his way inside. Waugh orders the airlock sterilised with UV, but Landis smashes the lights before they can take effect. They don't have weapons because Hannah has destroyed them all while wiping out the institute. Landis summons insects to swarm into the doors generators slowly causing them to fail, wile Hannah rebukes her father saying that Lilith let them take her to the institute - as she wanted to be beside Hannah, as she is dying.

Landis breaks through the door in werewolf mode and attacks Waugh. As they fight, Billy asks Lilith to help but she says that Hannah is her only concern. Landis starts to best Waugh, so Billy stabs him with a large shard of glass. but it's only a short distraction as Landis swiftly guts Billy. He turns towards Lilith and Hannah but Lilith attacks. She brings Landis down and orders Tyler to detonate her explosive suit - he does so and both Landis and Lilith are destroyed. But something raises from the ashes: Lilith's life force which enters Hannah. Now Lilith is in control of Hannah's body much to Helsing's dismay. She was using Hannah as her eventual "life raft" and no longer has to worry about dying.

It's dawn, and Lilith advises that neither Waugh or Helsing come after her. But Waugh says he wouldn't dream of it after her assistance, so as a reward she bites him, granting him the ability to walk in sunlight too...

GH: Ah, Devlin Waugh. A character whose return I was particularly wary of after his last forgettable outing, but whose return has marked one of the highlights of this year's Megazine. But there have been problems along the way. The first episode was introduced with an accompanying text piece "The Curse of Devlin Waugh" which underlined the fact that the character never manages to get a break. And this journey was to be no different.

The story has been a fast paced action roller-coaster but has been suicidally placed in the Megazine with its 4 weekly schedule. Those of you keeping up with previous reviews are well aware of this, however. We've had individual episodes that can be read in under 2 minutes, followed by almost a month waiting for the next installment. For many, that has simply been far too much, as there have been complaints of episodes where not enough happened and that it seemed to be one long chase. Which of course it was!! One can only think how much better placed this would have been in the weekly comic as part of the "Autumn Assault". It's streets ahead of anything in there and would have ended the year on the same high that Dredd/Aliens started it on. If this series has taught us anything, it's what kind of stories don't work in the Megazine.

But what did I think of it? I loved it. From the early fast moving episodes where it became clear that Smith had finally removed himself from his own arse and remembered how to tell a cracking tale right down to this month's climax. There have been a few dips along the way, but not enough to stop this being among the best 2000AD tales this year. And as for the art? Colin MacNeil has come home to the Megazine and produced his finest work in absolutely ages. Full of extreme action and violence, as well as being wonderfully "colour coded" throughout the piece.

This is without doubt more worthy of a trade collection than any other series this year (OK, perhaps Leviathan too) and it should be rushed out as soon as possible. the story will no doubt read better in such a collection, and convert many of those naysayers.

LS: "I'm at pains to go on, because whatever this stories true merits are, they’ll only likely reveal themselves to me when I reread the whole thing in two months time". That was me, two months ago - how those words have come back to haunt me! Unfortunately, my reread didn’t discover a hidden gem - it actually took me two attempts to get through the whole thing. For a start, you spot odd things that you missed first time around (from Episode 2: Would a Judge have an old history teacher - with a daughter?). For another thing, it was still apparent that (despite early signs to the contrary) very little happens throughout the whole 12 episodes. Devlin runs from a boat, to another boat, to another boat, to a museum, to another boat…. While people around him get killed. Knowing that the story ultimately falls flat meant I found it hard to rediscover the enthusiasm I had for the strip way back when it started.

On the positive side, Devlin’s dialogue was great, and Colin MacNeil’s art was its usual pleasure, but it’s a story that would have been better served over 8 episodes or with at the very least 4 episodes more plot. I can’t get over the nagging suspicion that the entire journey was purely to give Devlin the ability to day walk - a noble aim to be sure, but couldn’t we have cut to the chase a little?

Part 5

Rex starts to lose it...

Synopsis: The detonation in the last episode set off the nuclear warning system and missiles rained down on Earth, brining a nuclear winter. 2 years later, the dinosaurs reach Alice springs, where 3 humans reside. The humans invite them in offering food in return for work, unaware of their eventual intent to kill them. Raptor quickly attacks and kills one but the other 2 humans force them back with e new weapon and they retreat into the snow. Rex wanders the snow and starts to hallucinate a smaller dinosaur walking with him. It shows him that mankind is always moving towards eventual extinction, but still manages to create their own earlier extinction. Rex suddenly realises they have to help the humans, and rushes to them with his fellow dinosaurs - but they are confronted by a new batch of dinosaur commandos sent by Father who have already killed them - as punishment for sheltering them. Now they are to kill the old guard...

GH: The first episode where I've had to read the damned thing several times just to work out what the hell was going on. The new versions of the Dino Commandos needed to be pretty different from the older versions to avoid an extraordinarily confusing ending. Well, I eventually got it (or I think I did - read above to judge) and in the end it was a worthwhile exercise. This is still one of the unexpected hits of the Megazine and another reason why the whole package is much better than the cliché ridden weekly at the moment - i.e. this is fairly inventive and intelligent sci fi. Much needs to be sorted out next episode, but the way things have been going I'm not expecting any absolute answers...

LS: From a story that took too long to tell a fairly basic tale, we move on to a strip that has condensed a lot of ideas into a short run - if only Devlin and Xtnct could have swapped page count, things might have been better for both strips. Here we are at the fifth episode and its almost over before it's begun. That's not to take anything away from this strip though, it's been a barnstormer from start to almost finish . It's only that concepts like this months Dinosaur Messiah and Rex's "conversion" could have done with a little more room to breathe. Disreali’s art is particularly impressive this month, and the cliff-hanger (while old hat in terms of comic strip heroes meeting evil alter-egos) ties in with the whole extinction theme quite nicely.

Apostasy in the UK - Part 2

The Old Judges stagger in...

Synopsis: Lisa tells Armitage that the devices they found linked to the bodies were Quantum Transponders, which pick up energies on the base structure of the universe. Placed in old churches, they were picking up the energy there and aiming it in a particular location - which Armitage rushes towards. Steel is held there by the Apostate of Jovus and Grud, who was appalled by the depravity of the youth of today. He looked for the religion of the ancients and discovered another trans dimensional world, where the Old Judges reigned. They decreed that all crime was committed by the young so killed everyone under 30. The apostate just needs Steel's blood to complete their summoning, but before he can cut her, Armitage bursts in with a Brit Cit Shok-tac team. Steel escapes, but nicks herself on the apostate's knife, summoning the Judges, as the apostate and his priests are turned to dust. But the Old Judges are decrepit and pathetic and easily destroyed by the Shok-tak crew.

GH: So Armitage leaves almost as quickly as he arrived, and I still haven't warmed to the character. I never quite got the appeal of Armitage. It was clearly going for "Inspector Morse of the Future" but the character always seemed too one dimensional to pull this off. The same goes for his assistant, Steel, who appears to have no character of her own and only exists to get into trouble in this strip. The idea of the Old Judges is quite fun, if a little lazy, but the easiness at which they are dispatched rather makes me wonder what the point of the strip was. The Priest (as mentioned last month, the most signposted villain in quite some time) was Ok, but it all needed more room to breathe. In all, it was another fun throwaway piece, raised up another level by some truly wonderful John Ridgeway art - an artist who badly needs to be put back on a longer series and soon...

LS: Dear God: Armitage. Of all the strips to revive, why this one made the grade is something of a mystery to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was written by a different writer as a none too flattering parody of previous Armitage stories - "Armitage investigates gory body horror killing by talking to the pathologist and the computer expert. Meanwhile, rather than solve the crime, the villains come knocking on their door and turn out to be (in grand Scooby Doo style) the first (and only) person they have talked to." On top of that it all ends in a rather oddly mismatched Dark Judges spoof, all of which left me mildly confused as to the point of the exercise (other than wasting John Ridgeway’s time and talent, when there’s more McNulty tales to be told).

The Wilderness Days - Part 5

Death falls to pieces...

Synopsis: Death fights his matches, taking on and defeating all comers. As he returns to his dressing room the dog judge tells him that he's being double crossed. He shows Death a recording - in return for Death agreing to wipe out La Vegas. The tape shows that the judges are going to kill Death after the last fight. Death is furious and rushes to attack the Chief Judge, but as he gets to his quarters he is blown to bits by the waiting guards. His spirit invades the dog and he rushes outside to find sanctuary. They find a nurse looking after an old man - Death takes over the nurse's mind and, after acquiring a new uniform from the fight souvenir stand, kills the old man, decays the body and returns to the putrid corpse. Once back in his own self, he kills the nurse and prepares to leave Vegas, while the dog wonders if it made the right decision...

GH: Well this episode answers the question we've been wondering. Just when is someone going to blow Death to bits, his main and pretty major flaw. Rarely has it been done with the gusto that Irving puts behind his art, who once again combines a number of horrific images with the ludicrous situation Death finds himself in. And it's Irving who just about stops Wagner pushing Death back into the realm of the charicature this month. He's boxing. There's a talking dog. Which he possesses. And he buys his replacement suit from a souvenir stand. Somehow Irving manages to keep all the humour decidedly black and stops the comic from staying into a more well travelled arena of absurdity. But that's not to knock Wagner - this is several leagues ahead of his Dredd strip in the same Megazine and more than enough proof that he's got some damned good tales in him when he really tries.

LS: Death’s back to being an out and out comedy character here, which is certain to divide the audience - in fact, it's divided this reviewer! On one hand, it goes against the sinister atmosphere of the earlier episodes, while on the other, I did find it quite amusing. As somebody pointed out, Dredd can handle both serious and funny stories, so why not Death? The jury is out on this one until we’ve seen the whole run I think, but it may well be that Wagner is more interested in poking fun at America's double standards when it comes to violence than in telling a story about Judge Death as a character. Viewed as such, it's a great success so far - whether in doing so he is further undermining Death is another question.

No review of this story would be complete without another thumbs up for Frazer Irving’s art, which is equally strong at the horror and the humour. Perhaps with another artist at the helm, I might not be so willing to go with the comedic direction that the strips taken?

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Harry 20
• Charley's War
• Sector Control
• Apocalypse Soon

GH: Harry 20 comes to a somewhat unsatisfying end - but despite that it's still way better than I was expecting it to be, given the distrustful nature of Rose Tinted Spectacles. It was one of my favourite stories for ages when it first appeared, and despite worries that this re-read was going to crush those memories, it's still damned good. Now where's that sequel?

Charley's War is also proving to live up to its hype as the anti-war message really starts to be broadcast this week. Never having read this before, I can easily see why so many hold this in high regard, and it almost makes me forgive Mills for recent Sláine episodes.

As for the rest - Rennie comes across as fabulously ungrateful to one of the characters people thinks he's best at, but he's so spot on that it's very easy to forgive. And I still can't be arsed about Apocalypse Soon.