Judge Dredd Megazine 263 - 16 Oct 07

Cover by Kev Crossley

Stephen Watson : This dynamic cover by Kev Crossley is the best in recent memory. Satanus has never looked more dangerous and I especially like the dark, empty eye. Dredd is less impressive and although I appreciate he that has been aged in the strip, his withered look here may also scare off the browsing potential reader. The spike Dredd is holding looks like it has come straight out of his belly and it may be for this reason that it has been largely obscured by a text box. Still Dredd is only a bit player, it’s Satanus’ cover and it’s a corker.

The Gingerbread Man - Part 3 Script: John Wagner Art: Henry Flint Colours: Len O Grady Letters:Annie Parkhouse

Maybe stays ahead of Dredd ...

Synopsis: Maybe organises the death of the Mayor by persuading a madman, Chesney, to cut off his head. Chesney is immediately killed, keeping Maybe/Ambrose's name out of it.

The election is on, and with only one real rival, space hero Hardey Wegg, Maybe's final plan springs into action. At one of the Gingerbread Man murders, Dredd and his forensic team discover a hair on one of the victims from an alien montaur. Maybe had earlier used one of his robots to retrieve this hair from Wegg's apartment (Wegg had shot the animal and mounted it as a trophy) and one of Hegg's own hairs. Maybe has also decided that he doesn't need Canadia any more and lets his jealous sexbot kill her for him - setting it up like a Gingerbread Man murder. He reports the murder and the judges find an eyelash of Wegg's in the apartment.

Wegg is arrested and they discover that he was once sent to juvey for stealing a gingerbread man in his youth. The judges now believe they have their murderer and PJ Maybe - AKA Byron Ambrose is now mayor of Mega City One...

SW: PJ Maybe has become a regular villain in the Megazine and I’m glad to see some real developments in this story, beyond the usual face change getaway. A cleverly executed rise to power sees our favourite delinquent rise to the civilian head of Mega City One and we can only hope that he fares better the Jim Grubb and Dave the Orangutan!

The story is well constructed and PJ’s elaborate methods of dispatch are a chilling joy. The only slight worry I would have are the lax attitudes of both the PSU and PSI division who presumably are all on leave this week.

John Wagner has always written a good ‘how does he do it’ with seemingly impossible goals realised with logic and timing. Dredd’s sixth sense appears to desert him here and he is only a bit player in PJ’s show. I really like Henry Flint’s art but if I had to draw some criticism it would be that some of his panels seem a bit flat. He does draw a lot of characters face-on and this leads to a lack of depth. That is, of course, nit-picking as his bloody efforts have really brought this tale to life. I also loved his ‘Hammerstein’ war droid and the maniacal glint in PJ‘s eyes in the closing splash page..

Great stuff, and I look forward to Mayor Maybe being a semi permanent feature.

Big Robots - Part 7 Script: Alan Grant Art: Dave Taylor Letters: Ellie De Ville

Another block down...

Synopsis: The robot blocks rage through the city heading for a zone where four nuclear reactors are located. They stop on the edge while the judges decide what to do - as the robots are only programmed to deal with a living city. So Anderson decides they need to give them what they want - "big drokkin' robots" - huge movie props in the shape of giant robots - all ready to join battle...

SW: My last Megazine review was for MEG257 back in May. At this time ‘Big Robots’ and ‘Satanus’ were starting, and they are both still with us with no sign of the finish line in sight. It is well known that the Anderson epic was rescheduled to give us smaller portions each month, but what chance do new readers have when half of the new story roster is cemented in place for many months at a time?

The Anderson story isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything special either. The brevity of the episodes mean that plot points are forgotten during the lengthy breaks between appearances, resulting in an unsatisfactory experience.

On the positive side, things begin to motor somewhat this outing. Some full on robot scrapping takes place with the promise of more to come. It was a good idea to resurrect Krong for the older readers to enjoy, but a few more familiar faces wouldn’t have gone amiss either - what about Monsteroso, The Heavy Metal Kids or the Fergie statues? Instead we get a standard assortment of irrelevant movie monsters and a big nude woman! (Hopefully not the ‘attack of the 50 foot woman’ woman as she wasn’t a robot!)

The thin and ridiculous premise of the script is helped immeasurably by Dave Taylor’s visuals but it’s still all a bit pink and grey for me. Good stuff but a million miles from the Anderson hay days of ‘Shamballa’ and ‘Childhoods’ End’.

Blood of Satanus 3 - The Tenth Circle 7: Injustice Day Script: Pat Mills Art: Hicklenton Letters: Simon Bowland

Dredd takes a beating...

Synopsis: Dredd battles Satanus, but is pounded into the ground by the monster. Meanwhile, Meg discovers that Alexandra is protected from Satanus by a talisman around her neck. Meg grabs the talisman and Satanus eats Alexandra. Dredd finds his way back to the other judges who tell him that the talisman should protect them. He contacts X face in MC1 and Dredd shows them blowing up his city hall - telling him that they will destroy his realm if his demons to not evacuate. X Face reluctantly agrees...

SW: Now that we are seven parts in there is no doubt in my mind, that there is nothing I can that say that will change your opinion on the divisive strip. I know it has it’s supporters but the majority of fans hate it and I count myself in their number. I can honestly say that in 25 years of buying Dredd material this is the first strip I’ve stopped reading. I did try and struggled through three parts, but once I realised the struggle offered no reward I gave up.

In the interests of this review I did make a concerted effort to wade through this month’s outing and couldn’t manage it. The black and white drawings are so busy and impenetrable that they hurt my eyes and the dialogue is shocking - why does Dredd announce he’s going to drag himself out the pit rather than just get on with it? He’s never done self-narration before.

I do have respect for the two creators on show but I’m afraid this will have to be consigned to their ‘best forgotten’ files.

Pizen: Impossible - Part 1 Script: Simon Spurrier Art: Steve Roberts Letters: Ellie De Ville

Fink lets loose...

Synopsis: In the Cursed Earth, a woman runs into Fink Angel fishing for Tangleskip for his "pizen" - but she manages to escape from Fink, while Fink himself is captured and knocked out (after a big fight) by a group of men in white suits and sporting quiffs. Fink wakes to see what appears to be a grotesque clone of Elvis who tells him that he needs a swamp stinger - the only thing that can kill him. He's released and runs into the woman he met earlier - telling her that they need to search for the beast, which is to be the King's dinner...

SW: The de-demonising of the Angel family continues apace with this slice of forgettable whimsy. Not since Judge Death has a mavervellous, evil invention been so mishandled that they have become figures of fun. When we first met the Angels they were sadistic murders, with Fink later introduced as a murderous cannibal. Now they are like a comedy troupe getting into scrapes and fighting Elvis policemen. Not since ‘The Three Amigos’ has such a fall from Hell been documented.

OK, maybe I’m being a bit precious. As a standalone story this Fink outing is passable stuff. It’s far fetched nonsense but if it’s fun far fetched nonsense I don’t mind. And it nearly is. The Elvis’ are annoying and a bit of a cliché. The full fat Elvis, dishing out missions and high tech neck wear, was as believable as the ‘fire people’ from ‘Awakening angels’ and the female counterpoint was as dull as the rad swamp she lives in.

Steve Roberts’ art is well suited to the crazy antics and he does a mean jump suit. The Elvis dialogue is a bit grating especially as you have to read it out loud in a Southern drawl to make sense of it!

An almost passable filler story, but given it breaks a few valuable toys, I could live without it.

Reprint: Ro Jaws Robo Tale
New Comics: Art Droids TNG
Simon Spurrier Interview
Kings of Cult: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Small Press - Neroy Sphinx
Dredd Files
New Movies

SW: I liked Michael Molcher’s brief piece on the new generation of art droids and felt it offered a few genuine insights. Given that the most common question artists are asked (I imagine) is ‘How did you get into comics?’ I’m sure an expanded feature focusing on this question would be interesting and informative for the many wannabes out there. I think better drawings than the murky ones on show here could’ve illustrated the article, but overall it was an interesting snap shot.

More expansive was Molcher’s seven page overview of the career of serial scribe Simon Spurrier. As ever it was fleshed out by the uses of many expansive pictures but a good choice, representing the gamut of his career was used. Spurrier was clearly a willing contributor to the article and there were some great insights to his working practices. I’m not the biggest fan of his work but he came across as a personable and driven creator whom it’s hard not to respect. The piece maybe lacked a bit of balance, but what the Hell, you’ve got to look after your own.

I really enjoyed this month’s small press offering and it was good to see the creators were long term readers and boarders of their favourite comics. Their strip certainly didn’t look out of place in the Megazine and hopefully the BIG press looms large.

The usual Dredd Files and movie reviews rounded off the issue together with a welcome letters page. It looks like the Dredd files are here to stay which is a shame as they are simply dead space to me. Two stars for ‘Jimps’? You surely jest! The movie review were at least up to date but I could do without the faint praise grudgingly bestowed on the new Resident Evil film.

SW: With one good story, two OK and one dreadful the Meg is barely getting by on half power just now. If I’d browsed this edition is the shop I wouldn’t have bought it, but that’s the joy of a subscription! We need to see off Anderson and Satanus in short order and get some fresh and vibrant two or three parters in their place. I would also drop the Dredd files even if it was for one ‘Charlie’s War’ episode.

Best story: You have to ask? - Dredd of Course (PJ variety)