Cover by Bryan Talbot

CE: Brilliant. Anderson down but defiant, the moody rain, the reflection of a large scary robot in the puddle… It’s eye-catching, no question.

SW: It’s great to see an undisputed talent like Bryan Talbot back on Tharg’s payroll, but I have to say I’m not impressed with this effort. I like the composition with Anderson on her back and her adversary cleverly shown in a puddle, but it lacks any real excitement for me. The likeness of Anderson isn’t a good one and her face lacks detail to the extent it could be by Herge! I’m always  puzzled why the interior strip artist doesn’t do the cover too, surely a taster of ‘Big Robots’ would entice many more floating readers than this dull offering? It also loses points for needing a ‘Doesn’t
happen in this issue’ strap line!

Asbo Block Script: John Wagner Art: Anthony Williams Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd cleans up the block...

Synopsis: The delinquent D'orq family are sent to the new Justice Dept. Asbo Block where the automated block supervisor keeps them under control via means of electric shock. Before too long, the D'orq family appear to be subdued, but Mutt D'orq has a plan.

Some nights later, the experimental block is in disarray - so Dredd investigates. He and the block's robo security start rounding up perps while the D'orqs - who never has a plan beyond trashing the block - hide out. Dredd reaches the control room and replaces the asbo unit that the D'orqs trashed. With the supervisor back, the block is brought under swift control and the some of the D'orqs are taken away to iso cubes, while the rest are fitted with permanent asbo units - leaving them under constant supervision....

CE: We’ve got a classic Dredd one-off approach here – take some issue or problem from our time, taking it to its most extreme conclusion, add violence. It’s not spectacular but it works and is bloody funny. I love the bit with the men comforting someone because he helped an old lady across the street – “I take some comfort from the fact that she didn’t want to cross the street…”. 

SW: Never far behind with the social commentary Judge Dredd tackles a current political hot potato - ASBO’s and unsocial behaviour in general. The topic has of course been addressed before with the scum of Mega-City being more of a thorn in Dredd’s side than a coach load of Dark Judges.

The story, like the citizens, is pretty disposable and ‘enjoyable filler’ will be the faint praise I use to damn it. Anthony Williams does the dysfunctional well with ‘A Man Named Greener’ a previous memorable outing for his underclass stylings. I’ve come to like his rough edges more and more and the script suits his style in a way that aliens or robots do not.

As with any Wagner script there are a few laughs along the way and although the whole enterprise is pretty forgettable it’s an enjoyable enough ten pages.

Big Robots - Part 1 Script: Alan Grant Art: Dave Taylor Letters: Ellie De Ville

Anderson on traffic duty ...

Synopsis: Anderson heads through the city looking for a gang of spray artists. She's on street duty as she's been suffering from what she calls a "mental itch" and needs some time on the streets to relax. The sprayers, Petro, Deek, Kayty and another are students - and Petro seems to have a canister that he says is going to bring the Big Meg "to its senses". However, Anderson has caught up with them. The driver is about to pull over when she orders it, but Petro forces him to speed away with Anderson in pursuit.

Elsewhere, the Karel Capek block is disillusioned with its citizens - "Time for action!"

CE: The art is great and that double-splash of Mega-City One is brilliant, no question. The problem is, this means we have a 6-page story where two pages are devoted to… a shot of the city. Meaning that in a story called Big Robots with a cover showing Anderson fighting a Big Robot, we don’t actually see any Big Robot action. Very little actually happens in this part, so I’m not sure why it’s put on the cover (Blood of Satanus would’ve worked better for that IMHO). 

Now, it’s been said by Matt Smith on this very site that this strip was commissioned in 12-page parts and for budget reasons it had to be cut in half – same problem happened to Black Siddah: Return of the Jester, and last year’s Meg reviews show what effect that had. This probably couldn’t be helped unless he held back Satanus, and it’s not Alan Grant’s fault he was clearly pacing this story under the assumption there’d be 12 pages (the student’s philosophy blather is probably going to turn out to be relevant to the story and theme). It’s really unfortunate – we’re now stuck with a story that’ll read better if you read it in two-Meg chunks and you can’t really blame anyone. Part One does show some promise too – aside from the great art, you’ve got fun little touches like the Block Suicide Club (“The club’s really paying off!”). 

That said, I’m still going to bloody complain about the double-splash: you could combine the first three pages into one without losing anything plot-related, and while we’d lose that cool shot of the Big Meg we’d still get the Big Robot starting its attack.  

SW: This long trumpeted strip finally makes it’s debut this month and I have to say I’m slightly disappointed. The six pages, including a two page splash fly by in moments leaving a sense of ‘Was that it?’. All that happens is that Anderson drives along and pulls someone over on a traffic violation and - well that’s it! I’m all for a slow burner but this was a non-event in story terms. The low page count makes me wonder if a longer opener has been trimmed to spread it a bit further over more upcoming issues.

The art is excellent with the panoramic view of the city never bettered in it’s detail. The roads do seem awfully skinny though and the palette of dull greys and pinks make the whole affair a bit muted and dull. I think this will turn out to be an excellent strip once it gets out the traps but for now it’s struggling to capture my imagination.

Blood of Satanus 3 - The Tenth Circle 1: Hellelujah Script: Pat Mills Art: Hicklenton Letters: Simon Bowland

Haute cuisine...

Synopsis: Alexandra is a bored worker in a supermarket - built over the last appearance of Satanus and apparently cleared of dark matter. However, while putting up with her boring live, she casts incantations which seems to bring the effects of the dark matter and Satanus's influence back into play. A man eats his own intestines, and old lady is dragged into the earth by what appears to be a dinosaur arm and then all hell breaks loose in the supermarket.

Elsewhere, Dredd and Judge Donna are chasing a judge killer - Arkane - and are following his girlfriend to track him down. Sure enough - he shows himself - but manages to escape with his followers - killing another judge in the process. They head to the supermarket - which has now been sucked into a dimension warp and Dredd follows them into hell...

CE: The double-splash harkening back to The Cursed Earth tells you exactly what you’re in for – a demented old-school story with weird art about Dredd going into Hell to fight dinosaurs. And it doesn’t disappoint! Whereas Blood II was, frankly, a dull mess, this is pure insane joy.  

You’ve got the absurd situation of banal diary entries describing murder and Satanic rites while describing all the pentagrams and demonic manifestations in a supermarket. You’ve got a man eating his own intestines. You’ve got old ladies smiling about the nice Satanic Archduke and his temple while dinosaur claws emerge behind them. You have Dredd RIDING INTO HELL without back-up to pursue a perp. You just can’t go wrong! Admittedly Hicklenton’s art takes some getting used to, all scribbled and distorted and messy. I wouldn’t want to see this on every strip and can see why some would never want to see it at all, but you have to admit he’s perfect for the Hell stuff – just look at the intestine munching!

SW: Where to start is this nightmare of an unintelligible mess?! I suppose the central premise will do, and I for one don’t see how a weak idea of a man drinking blood and turning into a monster needs one sequel never mind two.

To be fair things have developed somewhat with a whole new mystical and super natural bent taking over. I’ve never like Dredd out with the ‘real’ world as his strengths play to punching folk in the face rather than fighting spells and mystics. In all honesty I gave up on this three pages in and only finished reading it when I was asked to do this review. I’m still none the wiser!

The Dredd seen here seems to be talking gibberish with the opening line of‘Do what the Judges wilt shall be the whole of the law!’ setting an early low water mark.

The art is a mess to with Dredd’s badge looking like it’s been typed on and his visor developing a downward pointy bit for no obvious reason. A real incomprehensible mess of a strip that’s going to clog up my Megazine for months to come!

No Body, No How - Part 4 Script: Simon Spurrier Art: Frazer Irving Letters: Ellie De Ville

Everything falls into place...

Synopsis: With his pet Raptaur having devoured Meekly Roth, POint covers up the smell with booze (poured on the floor to make it look like he's giving it up) and invites Kovacs over. Roth turns up on cue and Point tells Kovacs that Roth and his men are after him because he tried to shut Roth down. Also on cue, Miss Anne Thrope fires a rocket at the apartment to make it look like Roth is attacking and Kovacs and Point kill Roth and his men in "self defence".

It turns out that Meekly Roth killed herself by drugging Point with a biochip laced with her consciousness allowing her to kill herself by taking over Point. The chip was supposed to dissolve leaving no memory but malfunctioned - causing the mood swings. Roth even set up the date with DeMarco while she had taken over his body - so Point sets up another date...

CE: The first three pages remind me of Lobster Random, specifically the way he suddenly manipulates everything and everyone to his advantage. Since I like that strip, that isn’t a bad thing – and Point’s plan really is quite good. Even better, the whole drawn-out mystery turns out to have a resolution that answers every question and makes total sense. But the real kicker is that ending as Meekly Roth is revealed to have committed suicide-by-simp. That’s a powerful and bleak scene, and I didn’t expect it to occur in this strip. Lovely stuff. Spurrier’s got a firm grip on the monthly 6-pager format.

SW: Jack Point’s latest adventure draws to a close this issue and it’s not been one of his more memorable capers. In fact it was no caper at all, more of a whodunit with a decent twist. That’s all well and good but it’s not really what I like about the strip and as such felt a bit short changed.

The personality bio chips from Lesser Lingo last seen in THE JUDGE CHILD 25 years ago were a fair explanation of previous events but must have seemed a bit of a Magguffin for anyone not familiar with the premise.

The concept of a locked room murder mystery was a brave one especially when you have all of the most exciting city in the world to play with, but not enough happened in the five parts to justify the page count or my continued interest. I used to always hate the ‘bottle show’ episodes of Star Trek and the like when they never went out, with the claustrophobia and general limitations making the whole thing feel cheap and unnecessary. On TV they do it to save cash, God knows what excuse you have for doing it in a comic!

Judge Dredd reprint: Bum Rap
Interrogation - Bryan Talbot
Interrogation - Steve Yeowell
Small Press - A Fool and his Honey
Dredd Files
New Movies
New Comics

CE: The interviews are interesting, the Zombie Comic feature and movie reviews are alright, but for drokk’s sake lose the Dredd Files. They’re not really that interesting now we have the Case Files and can read these strips. The Dredd reprint is alright but forgettable; I’d really like to have Charley’s War come back.

SW: The highlights of this Megazine were unusually for me found in the text rather than in the strips. The two creators covered, Bryan Talbot and Steve Yeowell are two of my favourites and although the focuses were different I still enjoyed them both.

Bryan Talbot’s was essentially a long advert for his Alice in Sunderland book and I wonder if this was the inducement that encouraged him to do the cover! The piece was informative enough although they did put a hyphen into Tintin’s name - tut tut!

The Steve Yeowell piece was more of a career retrospective and all the better for it . His creative process was interesting and the amply illustrated body of work was impressive to say the least. His dreams of working for Marvel must be quashed - he’s the best we have!

The new comics section which focused on zombie comics was OK but it was lazy to illustrate it with two Walking Dead TPB covers - I’m sure Charlie Adlard would have chucked them a few publicity sketches if they’d asked. The article itself was well researched, although given the topic that could probably have been done in a lunch hour!

The movie reviews were of their usual high standard, although I probably just say that as I agreed with most of the opinions. Two of the films are already out of the multi-plexes but given the publishing timetable I doubt this is something that can be fully remedied.

The Dredd Files continues it’s pointless existence unless you see page filling as reason for being. With 25 years still to chronicle it’s going to be with us as long as the poor!

The small press his a new nadir with the oldest joke in history making an unwelcome appearance. To be fair the art is pretty good but I couldn’t believe it when I got to the twist and that was it. Who says ‘I wish you were a hotdog’ when insulting someone anyway?!

CE: Three good strips, a strip that’ll probably be good when read as intended, and some okay features – pretty good issue, really.

Best story: Simping Detective

SW: I have to say this was the poorest Megazine in recent memory with it barely
gathering pass marks. If I didn’t have a subscription I would have thought
twice about buying this off the shelf. The Prog is light years ahead in
every category and is more than £1 cheaper too! With Robots and Satanus
being long heralded and failing to deliver an impact is worrying, as we’ve
nothing on the horizon to look forward to.

Best story: Judge Dredd