Synopsis by Sue Doyle
1st opinion by Paul Ingram
2nd opinion by Adam Crabtree
Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Warzone - Part 1

Dredd gets a history lesson...

Synopsis: Judge Dredd has arrived at Camp Sylvania, at the edge of a forgotten war in search of a perp named Pretorius who escaped a raid on a terror training camp in MegCity1. Dredd is none too welcome with the General having his hands full with three groups of insurgents (29ers, NSA and CLF) and in fighting in his own ranks. However he assigns his best unit to help Dredd locate and extract Pretorius although with some regret.

Duke, Stick Wittle, Hoverman, Smith, Biggs and Drucker take Dredd for a walk in the woods to find the 29ers who Pretorius is holed up with. They’re a shot up bunch who know the terrain, but they’re haunted by lost love and ghosts from past battles. Dredd has a moment of angst but his priority remains, he has to get his perp. They know they are on the right trail and head for the river of Hope but they are ambushed in a Canyon. The crew all pile in to the fray to save Hoverman from his own Death Wish.

PI: I'm not really sure what to make of this story yet. The basic premise is interesting, and Holden's art is good. I think this is just a case of it being too early to tell, the characters haven't really grown on me yet (but they do seem an interesting lot). Smith especially is a good laugh, and he's not over done.The setting of humans fighting humans is an interesting one, especially with the line about the media not caring. It promises to certainly be an action packed tale, I just hope all these new characters don't go under-developed and to waste...

AC: As always when Dredd sets out for pastures new, there's a bit of logistical looking the other way; why is Mega City One letting its top lawman go out and pursue every single perp he sets his sights on, even when the result is him ending up in dangerous, unfamiliar surrounds? I'm not sure that I wouldn't have appreciated this more if only the mandroid team itself featured.

As a character building exercise, it works excellently, combining machismo "let's take care of business" from Duke and Biggs, dark and guilty comic relief from Whittle and Sweary Smith and a bit of humanity in the form of Hoverman, who laments his unfortunate condition in a poignant (if hardly original scene).

A good dollop of heavy mechanised warfare and a pleasingly complex plot that examines the complicated issues surrounding freedom and military occupation that (naturally) have some relevant connotations of recent events.

A Scottish Sojer - Part 1

Davie Numpty was a changed man...

Synopsis: One year after Killoden and Stinking Billy has been elected as President on the premise of a mutie free Scotland. Facing extermination the Muties resort to guerrilla warfare. Wearing a kilt and singing a ditty about the Scottish sodjer young Davie distracts the guards at the Kreeler Station by showing them what’s under his kilt. Both guards are taken out and Middenface throws a smoke bomb into the station, the guards they force out shot down.

At a nearby bakery, with the guards distracted, Supermac accesses the Kreeler systems hidden at the rear of the Bakery. Back at the kreeler station, Young Middenface goes round once more and his motortrike is taken out by a mortar. They are caught out by more guards but manage to escape by dumping the motortrike and running for cover.

After the distraction raid they return to their hiding place and watch the television but there is no mention of their raid on the news. Charlie is not happy with Middenface drinking, not taking an order and putting himself at risk. Back from the bakery they now have Stinking Billy’s itinerary. With Charlie keeping the plan to himself, Middenface tries to persuade Medusa not to come on what they all think will be a suicide mission.

PI: Isn't Shaun Thomas something? Every time I look at these recent Middenface's, I'm amazed! Not only that, but he suits the story so well. Despite the fact that Middenface seems to have disguised himself as Wayne Rooney for the time being.

That said, I do like his depiction of Medusa. Aside from that, it was an excellent set up for a new story. Lots of action, plenty of laughs (the drunken Numpty by far being the best, followed by 'So they're not bumps of wisdom) and a good set up for things to come.

And, I'm ashamed to say, I only just got the 'Supermac' joke...

AC: It's no' the Daz Doorstep Challenge, it's Alan Grant and Shaun Thomas starting up another dark and gritty Young Middenface tale. If Grant is a scot himself, I wouldn't be surprised; there's a more natural handling of the accented speech not present in Wagner's Strontium Dog rendering of the character, and the sense of cold and desolation inherent in Shaun Thomas' dark artwork puts one in mind of contemporary urban Scotland.

Mostly set up this week; Davy Numpty from prevous adventure Midnapped has clearly matured quite a bit in the interim. He even seems to have developed an accent. There's a reintroduction to the team of mutie rebels we're following, an action packed opener and our main plotline is established.

Lucid - Part 3

Exorcist Judges strike...

Synopsis: Anderson pumped full of the drug speed paces a room in the PSI headquarters, with Shakta watching over her. At the Mike Magee block a swingers party is taking place when a number of strange reptilian creatures through the walls, gate crashes the party and proceeds to massacre the attendees before moving on to other parts of the block.

Elsewhere Vasser, Wally squad makes a collar arresting a thief selling contraband PSI gear. Anderson is still trying to figure out how the deep scan showed her as the bridge for Nausea and Phobea when the call comes in about the incident at Mike Magee. The exorcism squad are horrified at what they find and are unable to stop the creature.

Judge Kerry investigating the PSI enhancer theft turns up a rotting corpse at a PSI testing centre. There is no stopping the creatures and the Mike Magee block is sealed off. Disobeying orders, Shakta and Anderson head to the PSI testing centre where they find the corpses mind has been kept active and perfectly preserved by an EM Net. Anderson has to keep his mind alive in order to she track the cause.

PI: As always, I really enjoyed Anderson. As always, Arthur Ranson's art is nothing less than beautiful. I, for one, don't think I'll ever grow tired of his depiction of Cass and I'm very anxious about a new art-droid taking over. Some very interesting events are taking place during this story, and I'm not just talking about the Marx and Sparks party! Most interesting for me was the interaction between Shakta and Cass. Grant is really working towards developing Shakta into a well-rounded character, she's changed from a generic psi to an interesting figure in her own right. It's also nice to see the Sisters using somebody other than Anderson this time, and what a grisly way to use him!

Besides this, it's really typical Anderson (not that this is a bad thing!), enough plot threads left dangling so that anything can happen from here to the end. I'll certainly be looking forward to the rest!

AC: The opening "Marx and Sparks" orgy on page one reminds a bit of some of Moebius' old work; there's so much off the wall stuff going on, and the below-the-belt humour is pretty funny without being smutty. Arthur ransom's gentle eyed figures attract a not-negligible amount of sympathy all on heir own, before they even have any dialogue you're interested and a little concern. It's very detailed and bright, and the eerie macabre at the bottom of page two with the creatures slinking through the walls, blood trailing from their mouths is highly effective.

The Harder They Come - Part 3

Shimura's luck never changes...

Synopsis: Hondo City territorial waters, the gunship Nakajima comes up against Stan Lee and his gang, they call for reinforcements allowing an image of the assassins through before Godzarro burns the ship and crew to ashes.

Shimura and Amber Taoka return to Hondo and meet with Dredd to be told that Stan Lee has escaped aided by Lady Sai of the Fighting Heart Kwoon and that they are probably already in Hondo. Amber Taoka is put under protective custody by the Chief Judge. She tries to refuse but Shimura is arrested for crimes he had been given immunity from. Dredd is told to but out and vents his anger to be warned of arrest. Shimura expresses his disappointment that Inspector Inaba who he trained is not the one arresting him and is led away.

Inaba and Taoka take a car ride and are ambushed by Stan Lee and his associate with Stan Lee orders Godzarro to burn them. A battle alert at the City Judge house kicks off Shimura escape attempt aided and abetted by Judge Dredd when he prevents a Hondo City Judge from shooting Shimura. Judge Dredd is now Ronin.

PI: I have to admit, this is probably the low point of the megazine for me. It's been pretty uninspiring from the start and I have to say, although it's getting better, I still don't think it's that good. I'll admit, a lot of this is probably down to the initial disappointment of the relaunch cover tying in with this. It was such an excellent cover, it deserved a spectacular return to live up to the hype with it. But no, so far, Stan Lee has been about the most two-dimensional character I've seen since, well, Neo. And that is saying something, considering he's in the same strip as Shimura himself.

I find the script to be disappointing at best, which it really shouldn't be. This story should work so well - it has quite a few good ideas (including the rebuilding of the Radlands of Ji, superb idea!) and Shimura being arrested was an interesting twist, but
really, it's not working for me and I can't think why. This makes it all the more frustrating, as I know I should be enjoying this. The 'You've just become a ronin' line was quite nice though, even if Dredd's actions and, to be honest, presence are somewhat questionable, and Godzorro is probably the most interesting of the group of villains so far. Which says a lot about this strip, to be honest.

But at least there's the art! Which is nothing less than amazing, black and white certainly suits Shimura. Although, my only gripe with Macneil's work is that I
thought Inaba looks far too much like Hershey for my liking...

AC: Is it just me or is Robbie Morrison's Judge Dredd just a bit of a prick? Whereas Wagner is taking Dredd in a steadily more soulful and even handed direction, some people just relish the opportunity to work with such an anti hero… and then they're kind of clumsy with it. I read some of his comments this month, feeling rather like an old uncle had just said something embarrassingly archaic.

Anyway, some nice Japanese action flick style action this week, with some exciting martial artistry on Shimura's part and the Godzorrah references. The team Stan Lee has assembled simply looks "cool" as they get a nice ensemble shot on page one. The action continues apace…

Darren revealed...

Synopsis: On off tale about a Brit Citizen called George Smith. The story is from his perspective and tells his tale of his search for fame. He’d been on the verge of success when he was meant to be suspended for forty days and forty nights in a titanium coffin over the Brit Cityscape but he’d just got in it when everything when dark and quiet. 57 years later a TV show digging up parts of the city found the coffin and in it they found George Smith, deceased.

He tells of how he’s questioned by Judge Myers who takes pleasure in telling him about the global nuclear war and tries to bully and threaten him. Judge Myers is a murderer and George tells Myers that his murder victims are whispering in George’s ear. George’s silence buys George his freedom but Myers can’t cope and ends up in a straight jacket and padded cube. George makes money by telling people what their dearly departed are saying, heads to Mega City One and reinvents himself as ‘Darren Dead’ and gets the fame he so desperately wished for.

PI: I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this - But I did! It's a fantastic introduction to a
new story, certainly very engaging and captivating. For a beginning it exceeded all my expections (although, to be fair they were very low to begin with) and was actually quite entertaining. Yes, it would have been interesting if it had been set in Brit-cit, however I think a British zombified Mystic in a future America has the potential to be far more interesting. After all, as we've already seen, not only does he have the very different standards of a futuristic society to contend with, but also a cultural barrier for him to run up against or exploit.

So, all in all, it's an interesting concept, with some very striking art to support it. The panel with the dead surrounding the two was especially good, as well as the page where the zombified Darren is revealed to the reporters. The real question at the moment is, does the character have legs beyond this initial appearance? Well, given the Meg's exceptionally good run of discovering new characters recently, I'm going
to go out on a limb and say most likely. If the quality of art and script writing can be maintained, then it should go really far. If not, well, at least it produced one entertaining story... Which is more than some comics can boast.

AC: A bit of almost "Desmond" style humour in the opening pages of this prologue; the look at a young British black person just kind of bumbling through, trying to earn a living. Of course there are the offbeat sci-fi and horror elements to consider, and these serve to effectively augment the tale of this surprisingly sympathetic lead character.

The nuclear holocaust of page two comes out of the blue, giving what was a relatively light tale a coal black dosage of twisted humour for Christmas. The building up of Darren the Undead as a character, the narrative of his life (!) up until the point of narration where he migrates to MC-1 and the "I hear dead people gimmick's build up and satisfying pay-off.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• 15 Years, Creep!
• Brian Bolland Inteview
• Charlie's War
• Heatseekers
• Metro Dredd
  

PI: A good, solid set of articles this meg. Even Heatseekers was pulling it's weight, the movie article especially being of interest as I've recently discovered the Dandy Warhols myself. The comics article was also a good read, the only weak link really being the Oriental one. That's probably due to my own personal taste, though.

The Bolland interview was a very welcome edition, really looking forward to hear what he has to say about the Killing Joke. I thought the Metro Dredd was poor, even as an
introduction to the Dreddverse, and I've given up on Charley's War. Not because it's bad, perish the thought! A month is just too long between parts, I can't remember who's who. It will probably benefit from being read in one go.

AC: The comprehensive "15 Years Creep" continues from David Bishop. The synopses of the Inspectre, Galen DeMarco PI, Lenny Zero and the Holocaust 12 lads are interesting little nostalgia bites; Dredd universe history at a glance. The article itself is interesting enough, if you like comics history.

Charley's War focuses some more on foreign legion runner-outer-onner Blue, in the fascinating (and surprisingly still competent) Battle reprint.

Jonathon Morris's damning appraisal of Space 1999 is hilarious, Clement's article on Katsuhiro "Akira" Otomo's "Steamboy" shows a lot of love and Simon Spurrier digs up some nostalgia in the form of… yeah. I've never read the exploits of John Cannon but Gray's recommendations lead to think I've been missing out.

The first in a two part Brian Bolland interview is another slice of early history from when comics weren't nearly as mainstream as they are today, and Bolland's testimonies show character.

Metro Dredd: Undercity is a bit "meh". It is of course a bare bones simple story and maybe it's better appreciated read on a daily basis, piece by piece.