Synopsis and 1st review
by Edward Berridge
2nd opinion by Gavin Hanly

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

EB: Another appearance by Garry Leach, now apparently using the title of his Ungara studio, after his turn inking Chris Weston back in Meg 214. It’s always nice to see Leach, especially when it's 2000AD-related, but I have to say I’m not entirely sure about this cover. It’s just not even totally recognisable as Leach. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got a nice layout, with the wedding ring framing Mean Machine and his bride in the centre. But there’s just something about it which doesn’t grab me.

Also, I don't know if it's because I've been reading this website for too long, but I couldn't help but feel that the Megazine logo should have run across Mean's pincer, as opposed to being obscured behind it. Interestingly, for me at least, I didn’t mind the ring obscuring part of the logo though. But as I say, I may have been reading these reviews for too long now.

GH: So Garry Leach (or Ungara - thank god the Ed's letter explained that Ungara was the name of the studio he works under) returns to 2000AD. It's an OK cover which is very well laid out and designed (even if it does obscure practically all of the logo - what is it with 2000AD that allows this? Is it just because SFX can get away with it, they think it's OK for 2000AD too?). However, there's something about it which just doesn't grab me about the two main faces. Ok, but not my cup of tea.

Damned Ranger - Part 2

Dredd takes point...

Synopsis: Four hundred Judges, with hover support, and fifty Cursed Earth Auxiliaries ride out from the city walls into the Cursed Earth to wipe out the New Mutant Army. The Rangers are eager to see some action, but Chief Dounrey chides them, reminding them that the NMA are dangerous. The Judges attack a mutant settlement. Dounrey and his Rangers take a kid prisoner. Later, they corner a group of muties in an abandoned house. After one of his men is injured, Dounrey attacks the house single-handed, killing all of those within, hoping they would instead kill him.

The Judges attack more townships, detaining and questioning the inhabitants. However, the mutants remain unhelpful, seeing the Judges as nothing more than a brutal occupying force. Eventually they realise the NMA are going to make a last stand, and Dredd decides to grant their wish, with the attack scheduled for the next day. That night Dounrey is by himself, brooding about his men who died, and those who are about to, and he decides that the next day he will “get the death I deserve”…

EB: Well, this strip has certainly proved to be fairly contentious already, causing a fair amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth throughout the online community. Of course, it's always worth remembering that those with the loudest voices are not always necessarily the most representative of the readership as a whole. However, it is, at least in part, fairly obvious what they mean.

This is not the average (can there really be said to be such a thing?) Judge Dredd tale we've come to expect from John Wagner. More subdued than most, with Dredd little more than an incidental figure in the background. Yet there are still interesting aspects to this series: the introduction of the Cursed Earth Auxiliaries adding another dimension to the world of Mega City One; the Judges, and by extension the auxiliaries as an occupying, and brutalising force, that must have been written with knowledge of the current situation of the Gulf and Palestine, but also serves as a long overdue reminder of the harsh, and deeply unfair, realities of life in Dredd's world. It will be interesting to compare this tale to the soon-to-appear in 2000AD Dredd story Terror, by Wagner and Colin MacNeil, which should deal with similar issues. I also have to say that I always enjoy Wagner’s frequent linking of the Dredd universe to the theme of westerns: a personal obsession, no doubt, but one which has undoubtedly proven to be effective.

Another factor I've been enjoying, although perhaps not to everyone's taste, is the character of Chief Dounrey, the Damned Ranger of the title itself. Perhaps it’s a strange fetish of my own, but I've always rather enjoyed these self-destructive characters that think, and indeed wish, themselves doomed. This is never bettered than the moment that Dounrey attacks the mutants holed up in a house by himself, hoping that they’ll kill him, but instead killing everyone else instead (including an unarmed woman).

Ridgeway’s art, on the other hand…

I’ve been a long term John Ridgeway fan, ever since I first read the Voyager strip by him and Steve Parkhouse, which had some excellent watercolour art. Likewise, Ridgeway is still renowned for his work on Hellblazer and his black and white The Dead Man, also with John Wagner. So I suppose, in some sense, it’s no surprise that some people find this outing something of a disappointment. The problem here, which could also be seen in Ridgeway’s appearance in Meg 212, is his new found use of computer colouring. Clearly Ridgeway is still somewhat new at this game, and consequently the effect is rather jarring. His figures and buildings look rough and scratchy compared to the clean, detailed backgrounds that are so obviously produced on a computer. This is particularly obvious on the first page, which should be a very impressive show of force by the Judges, which is reduced somewhat by the fact that the stream of Judges appears poorly drawn set against such an obvious backdrop. The walls of the city themselves are nothing more than a blank space with periodic struts and a gate at the front, and the flying vehicles above appear simple and blocky, despite quite an interesting design.

That is not say there aren’t interesting elements of the art to enjoy and savour, however. Ridgeway has always had a good knack for faces, particularly in the aforementioned "Chief Dounrey sequence", where we see the body of a dead mutie in the foreground, dead eyes staring at the reader as Dounrey's rangers run in too late to assist. Dounrey himself is drawn as quite an interesting character by Ridgeway, unfortunately let down once again by the colouring process, which makes him appear to have covered his lips in thick red lipstick. However, having launched this somewhat blistering attack, I feel that I must make some strike for moderation.

No, this art is not Ridgeway’s best, but perhaps if we could see it without all the extraneous computer "enhancement" we might see that it's actually nowhere near as bad as we make out. All artists have to learn their trade at some point. Unfortunately, most of this learning is done through on the job experience. I doubt that there's an artist out there who hasn’t produced some shambolic monstrosity when trying to do something different. Unfortunately, if you want to change and evolve, you are bound to make mistakes. Of course it'd be lovely if all artists had the time and resources to test new ideas and crafts, but unfortunately most of them have to actually earn a living, and have to experiment on the go. I've seen similar examples to this type of colouring process before: Angus McKie's colour process on Dave Gibbons art for the later Martha Washington books, and the early Carlos Ezquerra computer aided art springs to mind. In both these cases, I wasn't entirely convinced by the use of computer designed craft, background and colouring, finding it jarred with the obviously drawn figures on show, Yet both of them learnt from the process and improved immeasurably (McKie with his colouring for Bryan Talbot’s Heart of Empire, and notably Ezquerra's recent work for 2000AD, such as last summers Strontium Dog tale, or his recent Judge Dredd story Brothers of the Blood). I'm sure that, given time, Ridgeway will prove his worth in the computer colouring stakes. He does have a keen eye for colour, as can be seen by his still excellent colouring of Dredd on page eight.

GH: This is a tale of two halves for me. I'm finding it particularly difficult to care about the continually whining Chief Dounray. Because we haven't witnessed what made him such a great man in the first place, it seems rather hard to care about his current situation - and also difficult to believe that Dredd would put up with him. So the main part of the story unfortunately leaves me cold.

However, the undercurrents of the judges wiping out the mutant settlements in retribution for the attack on their own is much more interesting and particularly prescient. We must remember that these strips are written months before they see print, and for this to appear as the situation in Iraq deteriorates further is particularly "lucky" timing. It's one of those stories where Wagner really likes to ram home that the judges are in no way to be seen as the good guys of the piece, and that the rights and wrongs of the Dredd universe are a lot more murky than some of its American counterparts. So it's the mistreatment of prisoner, the taking people into custody for no reason other than to question them and the clear parallels with the real world that make this story worth reading.

As for the art - it too leaves me divided. I love Ridgeway's character art and his linework is and always has been astonishingly good. However, I can't say that his experiment with computer assisted work has been a total success. There are areas which can work well - like the rocky outcroppings, but then there are equally moments like the hover support which look way too computer generated for my liking. Basically, there's not much here that I can't help feel that ridgeway should have done better by hand. but then I guess this would have taken much longer to reach us. However, these appear to be early days in his experiment of computer colouring, so there's time for him to ge used to the medium.

EB: I wasn’t totally sure of my approach to this story, to be honest. I just started to read 2000AD and the Megazine again when Young Middenface’s adventures first began, and it’s good to see him back again. I always enjoyed the character when he made his appearances in Strontium Dog, and his appearances in the Megazine are always welcome. Yet I have to say I'm a little disappointed. The original series started off quite lightly, then rapidly became darker and darker by degree (pup-headed smack-addicts getting their mouths sown up). The second serial, although more subdued, kept the tone of the end of the first series and even built on it, aided by some moody artwork by John Ridgeway (that name again). So I can’t help that this current tale, a mix of the Scottish fable of Brigadoon and the Sawney Bean clan of thieving cannibals, comes of something of a step backwards.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty here to enjoy. Alan Grant is still a great writer, and certainly makes the story enjoyable. There’s a great song in the style of classic Wagner/Grant songs from the past, and Middenface is still an enjoyable character, particularly with his new sheepy gal-pal. There’s also some really nice work by Patrick Goddard and Dylan Teague, and it’s nice to see the return of the original series artists. I just wish that the tale was a little less lightweight, and advanced the overall plot along. Enjoyable, but in no way essential.

GH: Hmmmm.... This is OK and if I was feeling a little more generous I would call it enjoyable hokum and leave it at that. But I can't get away from the feeling that it seems like filler material in between a better and more serious Middenface series that might be round the corner. Perhaps the introduction of the Kreeler patrol will give the story the kick it's missing next week. In the meantime, it's throwaway strip time, and that's a bit of a disappointment in itself. I particularly enjoyed the last Middenface series, and had high hopes for his return, but I just can't get all that excited by the current run. Still it's an easy read, and is accompanied by decent artwork from Goddard, so I won't complain too loudly about this one.

Angel Heart - Part 2

Mean's rival

Synopsis: A meeting of the Cyborg Club, citizens with robotic implants, is in progress. They see on television the announcement of Mean Machine’s impending nuptials, and decide to attend, as well as to follow his lead and get an electronic warden fitted, as Mean is their honorary president. However, Cyberfreak, a former member, who was banned, and still harbours resentment over the fact that he wasn’t selected as president, crashes the meeting. He leaves, promising to prove that he is a better cyborg than Mean. The next day, the day of the wedding, Porsha Wuss is confronted by her parents, who try to persuade her not to go through with the wedding. However, Porsha ignores their warnings, saying she believes in Mean. At the wedding, the guests assemble, from local dignitaries, to the Cyborg Club, to Mean’s son Junior as best man. One person who is not allowed to enter, however, is Cyberfreak, who is turned away by the Judges at the door. Annoyed, he breaks in at the climax to the ceremony, and demands Mean take him on in open combat...

EB: This was another story I wasn’t really sure about. Having seen David Millgate's stuff before, I can exactly see his credentials for Bisley-clone of the year. However, his work does still have a certain something. The detail he brings to the freaks of Cyborg Club is certainly worth mentioning, and he does seem particularly at home when drawing weird half human, half robot characters.

I was afraid that this strip might see Wagner coasting, and I'm not entirely sure if I've been proved wrong or not. I wasn't particularly impressed with last week's episode, but this week's seems to have much more going for it. For starters, the Cyborg Club is a great idea – one of those ideas that you kind of assume you must have seen in Dredd sometime before, due to the ease with which the notion slips into the world of Mega City One. The sight of one of the members getting his robotic jaw punched off and then wandering about with his tongue flapping about was nice (although, just a minor quibble, but without his lower jaw, shouldn’t he have been drooling and lisping when he spoke?). The highlight for me this episode, though, has to be the introduction of Mini Mean. It might well seem to many people that this is just a lame warn up of the Austin Powers joke left too long after the event. But I have to say that I find this much funnier than those, frankly rubbish, films. Wagner and Millgate bring a nice level of detail to the character: not, for example, the fact that he only has one pincer on his arm, or that his head is kind of squashed, almost longer than it is high. The sight of Mini Mean leaping through the air, ineffectually trying to butt someone is a sight to behold. I find myself hoping that the character makes a return appearance somewhere in these pages.

As for the rest of the tale – I'm not entirely convinced by Cyberfreak. He seems to be just a standard idiot who challenges Mean, thus somehow restoring the status quo. I suppose part of the problem for me is that Mean Machine is quite a tired character now, and I think maybe it's time to give him a rest (he could be replaced by Mini Mean!). However, it was nice to see his son again in this episode, as well as mention of the formidable Seven Pound Sadie Suggs. I guess I'll just have to wait until next issue to see if the tale raps it all up neatly, or ends up as something of a wasted opportunity.

GH: Now I do have a stronger opinion about this series and it's not a good one. I read this, and can only think: why? Why have we bothered to bring Mean Machine back for another "funny" tale like this? Am I the only one who thinks the whole Mean Machine joke has gone a bit stale by now? Even appearances from his son make me remember just how entertaining the previous series had been and how this just seems like a tired re-tread. I read on the board that Wagner was allegedly ashamed at the way that he brought some of the Angels back from the dead - but a team up with the other Angels would have given this story some kick. As it is, it feels even more like filler than a Future Shock, and without the surprise ending (although I could yet be proven wrong about the last part).

And I also have to say that I really don't like the art. I wasn't sure about it last month, but I've more than made up my mind now. I hear that Millgate is being praised for his Bisley like quality, but I have to wonder if I'm looking at the same strip as them. Everything feels a little too set up, and there's no fluidity about the artwork - everything feels a bit stiff. And I won't even go into the really terrible "jumping cyborg" frame. I normally don't like to lay into something like this, but this artwork really turns me off and doesn't help an already struggling story.

EB: This series has ended up as something of a disappointment. When it was first announced, the idea of revisiting long lost characters from the world of Dredd sounded like a great idea. We would finally find out what happened to our favourites from yesteryear. The first seemed promising enough, providing a continuation of the adventures of Tweak which, although not to everyone's taste, was a character people had indeed wondered about. The next stories, about Maria, Dredd's former landlady, and John "Giant" Clay seemed to keep things on the right track. However, since that point the series seems to have lost its way. We've had Cookie (should have been dead), Conrad Conn (also thought he was dead) and now, finally, the Gribligs.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this story. Gordon Rennie does a good job writing (although I have to say that I always personally preferred not to know what the Gribbligs were saying, and figure it out for myself). Occasionally I’m surprised: for example, I didn’t realise that the Gribbligs had a set of beliefs or anything (but I suppose we knew so little about them anyway, you could say whatever you want). The art by Steve Roberts is excellent too – it’s nice to see him get a crack at drawing Dredd, and he might indeed do well on one of the more humorous Dredd tales. Here, he does very well in drawing what is, essentially, a load of Furbies going at it like drugged rabbits. He also does a good job of making Kev and Sharon distinguishable from the rest of the Gribbligs (not an easy task). There were only a couple of moments when I wasn’t exactly sure who was who.

It seems to me that the real problem with this series is that it’s mostly been left down to one writer (Gordon Rennie having to write the bulk of the series, with Pat Mills and Simon Spurrier providing an episode each), when you really want as many different writers, familiar with Dredd and his universe, as possible. I do have to say I thought it a pity that they didn’t persuade Alan Grant to write one of these tales. However, the biggest limitations to this series has been the fact that most people had never even though to ask what had happened to these characters – they were one-note wonders, here today and gone the next. Meanwhile, potentially more interesting characters have been left at the wayside. Of course, it's hard to lay blame for something like this – after all the writers and artists have clearly worked hard, and I get the feeling that the editorial druids had their hands tied somewhat. After all, with people like both Pat Mills and John Wagner in possession of many key Dredd-related characters, it is difficult to find ones that other writer won't mind you using. Perhaps the new Mega City Noir series, by Simon Spurrier and Frazer Irving, will provide the Dredd-universe dose we have been looking for next issue.

GH: This is actually a fairly entertaining tale, well written by Gordon Rennie, and features work by Steve Roberts that isn't Bec & Kawl! Therefore I find myself much more able to appreciate his artwork and he does indeed draw a damned fine Dredd.

But the biggest problem with this is the let down of the premise itself. For me, there hasn't been one of these "Whatever Happened to"s that hasn't been something of a letdown. They've either spent far too much time covering earlier events or have dealt with characters that we either couldn't be bothered about or indeed couldn't even remember (only Tweak, Maria and vaguely Giant have registered for me so far). There's a great deal of opportunity to be had with this idea, especially if it started off with a text piece introducing the last appearance of the character featured that month. As it stands, it's another missed opportunity - but a salvageable one. So if the Megazine decides to have another series of "Whatever Happened To"s I hope there's a bit more thought put into the subject matter.

Kali Yuga - Part 2

Rohan tries his hand at conducting...

Synopsis: Rita is finishing with a client, who is leaving having sated himself with her. However, Rak Shasa has been under the bed the whole time listening in, as have two other working girls. All of them have been enjoying the shared empathic communion of sex. Rita tells Rak that they had another two government Ministers in, which he says means that they won’t face the fear of being shut down. Rak then observes that the only outstanding problem they have is Black Siddha…

Rohan is still Black Siddha, at the roadside with the junkie with a needle of blood in a girl’s neck. His Siddhis’ (the whip-like parts of his sword) tell him that the junkie is lying, and that the blood isn’t HIV Positive. He pulls the syringe from him, and then begins to pound on him. However, the junkie then undergoes a physical transformation, revealing it to be an Asuran Demon possessing the man, which Black Siddha fought in a previous incarnation. Rohan reasons that he was so hell-bent on trying to get drugs in an attempt to suppress the demon. He kills the creature by decapitation, sending it back to the Karmic wheel of reincarnation. He then flies off to his girlfriend, Mirabai’s house. He wakes her standing outside the window, and they kiss with the pane of glass between them. Mirabai’s father hears them though, so Rohan has to leave. However, when attempting to fly from her roof, he finds that he has lost the Siddhi of flight, and is unable to fly…

EB: This seems to be one of those series that you either love or you don't. I have to put myself firmly in the "love" camp, as I thoroughly enjoyed the last series, and have been waiting impatiently for this one to arrive. I love the idea of an Indian superhero, something that, to the best of my knowledge, has never been done before. Superheroes in 2000AD (or the Megazine, in this case) are also a rarity, with only Zenith being the other example. But this is, outwardly at least, more of an original idea than Zenith was. Mills' writing seems a lot less preachy here, not so much telling us what to think as giving us multiple viewpoints. He has obviously immersed himself in the legends and mythology of the Indian sub-continent, and is letting it show beautifully in his work, without ramming in extraneous nuggets of information, as can sometimes happen. One of the best things about this series is the character of Rohan, one of the best Mills characters of recent years, and one who comes across as both real and believable. He's a bit sad (he reads superhero comic the Green Gauntlet), but at the same time is clearly intelligent, although bewildered at his current situation. It's also nice to see Rohan and Mirabai fumble blindly through their relationship, which really adds to the sense of there being a real world surrounding these characters.

I can see why some people wouldn’t like this series, however. For Example, Rak's post-coital speech about "Tantric Priestess of Porn" might well come across as self-indulgent and, perhaps, offensive. However, the way I see it is that Mills is setting up Rak to be something of a pompous, self-important enemy for Rohan to fight.

The work of Simon Davis is revelatory as well. This is almost surely some of, if not the, best work he has produced. If such a horrible term could be used, then Davis really does seem to be the spiritual inheritor of Brendan McCarthy. In fact, this tale does actually remind slightly of the later McCarthy’s Rogan Gosh, without in any way copying it. Davis clearly must have had a truckload of reference material for this series, but it clearly shows in his work, as he adapts his art style to fit the Indian figures from the past. Davis, to my mind, has been one of a few artists working for 2000AD, who has been looking for a place to settle down, for a story really suited their needs. With this one, Davis has found his perfect home. But using Davis as artist allows the strip to escape more of the most obvious artistic superhero conventions, and really opening the strip up instead.

I think that it was Garth Ennis who once said something along the lines of "if you don’t care about a character when you come to write it, if you haven't got all those conventions and reverence in your mind, then you can piss all over them and do something really interesting" when he was talking about the Punisher (which I'm told is supposed to be good). Mills and Davis certainly manage to piss all over the old hoary superhero clichés here. Mills is well known for his dislike of superheroes, so you know that when he gets around to writing one, be it Black Siddha or Marshall Law, you’re generally going to get something pretty unique.

GH: There are parts of this that I really quite enjoy, and those are the scenes where Rohan is in the "real" world and treating the whole situation with the ridicule it deserves. Elements like the closing scene "I bet this never happened to Green Gauntlet" actually work very well, and prove that Mills can have a great sense of humour when he doesn't labour things too hard.

But when it all starts getting mystical, but interest starts to falter. Rak and Rita are just tedious bad guys in the worst Pat Mills way. All talk and no action (quite literally for Rak). Davis is still the high point of this series with some outstanding work on show here, but I still can't understand why so many of his characters look blue all the time...

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Dredd Files
• Steve Roberts Interview
• Helltrekkers
• Charley's War
• Metro Dredd
  

EB: The Interrogation Cubes: Nice to see Steve Roberts being interviewed – a 2000AD artist who often doesn’t get recognised for the talent he is. Unfortunately, he indicates that yet another four part Bec & Kawl story is on it’s way…

The Dredd Files: This still rumbles on… Although it’s quite interesting having all of Dredd's cases broken down one by one, this is going to run for years and years. I would have thought that they might have sped things up by putting the whole Cursed Earth Mega-Epic as just one issue, but they’ve decided to do it story by story, which seems to drag it out a bit much for my taste. Also, Bishop is clearly far too hard on the Satanus stories, which only merit three stars, when they are some of the best stories in the entire epic, as well as being one of the best Dredd tales ever, in my opinion. Also, do they really expect the readers to continue to read this feature by the time they reach the Dredd stories all penned by Mark Millar and Sonny Steelgrave, an about two-and-a-half years time?

Charley’s War: I’m still thoroughly enjoying these reprints. Were just coming up to the point where the original two Titan reprints books finished, so I’m eager for the series to continue, as this will be stuff I haven’t read since I was a kid. This month we bid farewell to Lieutenant Thomas, and we’re introduced to the ventriloquist Weeper, and Sergeant Tozer’s tattoos! “That’s ‘naval power’ for you, lads!”

The Helltrekkers: When this first came up as a reprint, I had to say I was disappointed. I’d already read, and could remember most, of this series when it was originally published in the pages of 2000AD, much like the recent Harry Twenty on the High Rock reprint. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I hadn’t read/didn’t remember, as well as how well it read collected together. Aided by some particularly nice, evocative art, I’ll certainly be looking foreword to next months instalment.

Gordon Rennie: It’s funny, but only a couple of Megs ago, Rennie was talking about the ‘You Bastard, I Thought of That Too!’ effect. Then this month he writes an article on women characters in 2000AD, the exact same thing that I’ve been working on for the last month. Well, the world doesn’t need two articles, so into the bin mine goes. You Bastard, Rennie!

Judge Dredd: It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll: It’s nice to see that the reprints of the Metro Dredd strips are continuing in the Meg, and I hope to more to come, especially since they failed to materialise on either the Metro or official 2000AD websites. Inaki Miranda and Eva De La Cruz were a great choice for the strip, as they can depict both the harsh realities and the bizarre zany-ness of Mega City life. Unfortunately, the script of this issue leaves a little bit to be desired. A Pop Idol piss-take seems to be about more than a year out of date, and thus lacks the satirical bite it might have had. There again, all strips written by The Mighty One, it seems, are never the best. Perhaps Tharg ought to leave the writing to his more than capable script droids. But keep on printing the Metro Dredd’s. Just make sure Rennie’s the writer, as you do notice a remarkable upturn in the quality of writing when it’s him in the hot seat.

GH: Ok - haven't really got round to reading much of this yet (have to be honest). I gave up on the Dredd Files a few issues ago, and Helltrekkers didn't seem intriguing enough to make me pick it over the countless other things I'm trying to get through at the moment. Thank god for Charley's War, which continues to get better every issue, and for Gordon Rennie's column which ends things on a high note.

As for the poster prog? Despite some wonderful Dredd artwork from Coleby, I wasn't really interested. Didn't help that I had absolutely no idea who the band were...