Reviewer: William Cooling
Judge Dredd Megazine was created in late 1990 to explore the world of 2000AD’s leading character Judge Dredd whilst providing the reader with a more mature product than was to be found in 2000AD. To this end it has over the past 13 years created such characters as Missionary Man (by Gordon Rennie and Frank Quietly), Devlin Waugh (John Smith and Sean Phillips), Armitage (by David Bishop, Dave Stone and Sean Phillips) and most recently Lenny Zero (by Andy Diggle and Jock). It also produced classic stories such as Judge Dredd: America (simply the BEST comic story ever published in my opinion) and PSI Judge Anderson: Childhood’s End.
However, after the period of chaos that is known as the late nineties (just in case you thought that only in America did the proverbial hit the fan) it largely jettisoned both aims by introducing more non-Dredd world scripts and moving away from being an adult comic. This left the Meg (official nickname) as little more than a bumper edition of 2000ad albeit filled with re-prints (introduced in the last issue I read before quitting comics in 1996 as a cost-cutting measure).
Thankfully the launch of volume four (it forgot the volumes in December) which increased the page count to 100, the introduction of a more eclectic range for the reprints and the introduction of high quality text features has helped the Meg get back on its feet.
What were letting the side down however were the original strips, which were often overshadowed by the reprints. However, this long running problem ever since the beginning of volume 4 has finally been ended with the current line up launch in issue 209.
Which nicely brings us to…
Judge Dredd Megazine 212
Cover by Simon Davis
I’m a huge fan of Simon Davis as I find his paints have a wonderfully dark and nasty quality and are full of character and expression. This is a cover perfectly suited to his style we him having to show a perfectly gruesome decapitated head. He also captures of Armitage well with a long hard stare right at the reader confirming that this guy means business. Great stuff!
Judge Dredd
Title: Sturm Und Dang pt 2
Writer: Gordon Rennie
Art: Carlos Ezquerra
Letterer: Annie Parkhouse
Tally Ho old chums. I’ve just here to tell you about a jolly old adventures that we all read last issue. Last issue some dastardly mutants (who live in the Cursed Earth; a radioactive desert) inspired by a really quite old copy of the ravings of that dastardly chap Adolf Hitler as contained in Mein Kampf. Luckily top dog Judge Dredd was on the case taking a group of young guns to investigate and has now gained the assistance of the rough and ready ex-Judge Koburn. Together they manage to despatch a group of rotters who were a search party for the first Mutie Reich. As we left our heroes the troops of the Foo-rewr were massing for a massive attack…
Uh hmm, sorry about that reader(s). I’m all better now.
No really, I am.
I love this story! As we see the battle rage between the Muties and the Judges Gordon Rennie excels himself in the comedy aspects with the mutant armies who are a wonderful parody of the Nazis with mispronouncements galore. The character of the Foo-rewr is a wonderful grotesque parody of Hitler. There also some wonderful scenes of a wheel chair bound Dredd just kicking ass!
However the main aspects of this story is the character of Koburn. Superficially he’s a Judge who quit after conflicts with management but really he’s a rip off legendary 70s British comic character Major Easy. Personally I can’t say how well he captures the character, as I’ve never read the strip, indeed only by being told about the connection on www.2000adonline.com‘s message board did I become aware. What I can tell you is that the character himself is excellent with a wonderful disrespect for Dredd and authority, an excellent laid back attitude coupled with brilliant skills. Look he’s just flat out cool okay? End of story.
Of course what adds to this story is the fact that Major Easy’s creator Carlos Ezquerra is on art duties. In my mind Ezquerra is the best artist on the planet he just has a wonderful eye for character and is able despite having a cartoonish style to bring across a great deal of drama and tension into his art. Plus with his background in war comics he is in his element in drawing the various tanks, etc. To top it all of we get Ezquerra’s wonderful computer colouring which is surely the best in the business and adds an incredible amount to his art. Top stuff.
This has been one of the best Dredd scripts in recent years. Rennie has shown over this four-issue run (he wrote another two parter before) that he is completely comfortable with the character and can write him as well as anyone except Wagner at his best. This story has been brilliant with some excellent dialogue and I can’t wait for Rennie to return to the character.
Judge Death
Title: The Wilderness Days pt 4: Fear and Loathing
Writer: John Wagner
Artist: Frasier Irving
Letterer: Tom Frame
Judge Death is Dredd’s most dangerous enemy as unlike the ruthless Judge’s other enemies he can’t be blown to piece. Judge Death is an undead creature from Deadworld a world where as Chief Judge he declared all life illegal as all crime was committed by the living. He has had many battles with Dredd and in the most recent he escaped into the Cursed Earth. There he has travelled dispensing justice and trying to decide how he should go about his quest to kill the human race. Over the past three parts he has decided to refine his method of judgement, instead of the personal touch (contact with his hands results in death) he desires weapons of mass destruction to do it.
Wagner is on top form this episode delivering another blackly comic story. Although some Death pursuits believe that he is coming close to undoing what he achieved with 2001’s My Name is Death where he managed to make Death a serious villain again after a decade of comedy stories I believe that he is just about keeping Death a serious figure. Where as those nineties stories that turned Death into a parody, a pathetic grotesque that was also walling about the need to kill the living this representation has an agenda and a direction. The humour comes from what he confronts and what he has to do to achieve it not from having him stick out like a sore thumb in an English seaside town.
Wagner also shows the superb handle he has on the character of Death. Death is not a Joker style crazy but someone who believes that not only what he is doing is right but that it is the law. This has always been the primary attraction of the character as it gives him something in common with Dredd as shown brilliantly this episode as we see Death’s reaction upon his arrival in Las Vegas as it mirrors Dredd’s reaction when he went there way back in Progs 80-83. By that I don’t mean just similar sentiments but they say similar things for example Dredd said that the people are being gripped by a vile madness well so does Death here.
On the art we have Frasier Irving who is THE horror artist of today. He’s stylised, completely unique style is just perfectly suited to horror especially when done in black and white, which allows him to utilize his amazing use of shadows. Also his Death is quickly becoming the definitive Death eclipsing even the classic versions of the character by Simon Bisley and its co-creator Brian Bolland. Irving is able to make Death and his costume work and look scary which is a real achievement as others (including Bryan Talbot and Ian Gibson) have failed to do this. Add to this Irving’s fantastic representations of Las Vegas and a very strange dog and you have some excellent art.
Great story this with something excellent and thoughtful writing from Wagner in how he ties it in with continuity complemented perfectly by Irving’s wonderful art.
Devlin Waugh
Title: Red Tide pt 11
Writer: John Smith
Artist: Colin Macneil
Letterer: Annie Parkhouse
In the past year (it had a prologue) the following has happened; Devlin and co are returning to a lab with Lilith a captured vampire who bit the Professor in the crew’s daughter. However some vampires who want Lilith due to her ability to survive in the light attack them. The two groups fight in the boat, the two groups fight at the complex. Last issue something finally happened as the daughter (Hannah) escaped from her cage and the Professor got bit by a vampire and has now turned. This issue we see the group including the Professor (who is battling his thirst for blood) make their way to the Professor’s daughter.
I had high expectations for this series when I first read. I’m a fan of John Smith’s writing; its extremely weird, violent and quirky and all the better for it. I love Colin Macneil’s painting believing him to have produced the best art ever seen in comics with Judge Dredd: America. Also whilst I hadn’t read that much Devlin the concept sounded too good to be true- a gay, upper class English vampire who was a Papal Enquiry. This all sounded like good stuff.
However this story had a problem. Smith is a very daring writer and will usually try to achieve a different thing with each series. Its obvious for this serious he was trying to write a violent, action flick with virtually no plot (think Kill Bill). To be honest I’d say on the script level he’s succeeded; it is violent, has a lot of action and as you can see virtually no plot. This could have worked if as originally intended it had been published weekly in 2000ad, as we would be getting each part in quick succession. Instead it was moved to Judge Dredd Megazine and has struggled to capture the reader because it is extremely difficult to remember what happened in a six page story a month ago especially when what happen was quite similar to what happened the last month as well.
What also doesn’t help is the art. Colin Macneil’s art is all about emotion and capturing the human spirit. What it is not about is mindless, violent action. For that to work the art needs to have a frantic energy to it and be larger than life which Macneil’s more restrained and understated art has never had. This incompatibility is compounded by the fact that the strip was not written with for him to paint, as Macneil was not the first or even the second choice artist with both Jock and Frasier Irving both approached to paint the series. Both of those artists would have been able to capture the violent, action movie nature of the story better than Macneil.
With this issue we see a bit of life injected into the issue probably because the content shifts slightly towards areas that Macneil excels namely characterisation and dialogue. It reads well but the weight of the previous 11 issues makes it seem next month’s conclusion will be a mercy killing.
Harry 20 on the High Rock
Title: Untitled 12-16
Writer: Gerry Finley Day
Artist: Alan Davis
Letterer: Tony Jacob
In this Classic 2000AD story we follow the efforts of Harry, Genghis and Ben to become the first men to escape High Rock, a lunar prison. To do this they have (directed by Harry) designed and built a satellite that will get them back to Earth. The satellite is nearing completion however there is a problem as Big Red the most fearsome prisoner on the Rock and an enemy of Harry has discovered the plan and is seemingly about to muscle in on it.
Let’s state it bluntly this plot is ridiculous. The idea that a group of cons could in their free time design and build a satellite is completely unrealistic. However, Finley-Day’s writing makes it believable by playing it absolutely straight and realistic. What is more Finley-Day unlike Stevens in Dead Men Walking has a tight grasp of his lead character. Unlike Jude who changes her aim Harry has over 12 parts been completely focused on his desire to escape. Also through his relationship with Genghis and Ben Finley-Day has humanised Harry and made him easier to relate to.
Then of course there is the art of Alan Davis. Davis’s realistic, fine art further cements the scripts realism despite its slightly absurd plot. Add to that his brilliant character design that brings to life characters such as Ben and Big Red and you have a wonderful example of synergy between art and script. Excellent, retro stuff with a shocking twist at the end.
Charley’s War
Title: untitled pts 4
Writer: Pat Mills
Artist: Joe Colquhoun
Letterer: N/A
Pat Mills is a legend in British comics having created three of the most influential comics of the seventies in Battle, Action and 2000AD and then going onto create characters such as Slaine, ABC Warriors, Nemesis and Marshal Law. As a huge Pat Mills fan I was jumping for joy when it was announced that this story was going to be reprinted. Charley’s War is widely considered not only Mills’ best story but also British comics best story. In it Mills shows the progress of Charley during the First World. Charley is a young east end lad (poor end of London) who lied about his age to sign up.
Last issue we saw him sign up and take part in his first skirmishes with the Germans and in a moving scene we see him see sit with a dying man in a ditch in No Man’s Land. At the end of last issue we saw him confronting his friend’s killer.
This is a wonderful story. The parts this issue are set in the shadow of the Battle of the Somme with the last panel being the troops waking up to go over the top. Mills constructs a powerful message against the First World War not only developing the horror of the war by showing the break down of a soldier but by showing the arrogance and stupidity of the “donkeys†that lead them.
In addition to this Mills is able to develop the character of Charley with his letters to his mum that act as narration. With this Mills is perfectly able not only to capture the dialogue of an east end lad but is also able to capture the stoicism and unawareness of the horrors of war that a new recruit would have. Also during these parts he is also able to develop the supporting cast fleshing out characters such as Pop (a Boer War veteran) and Lieutenant Thomas and capture the camaraderie that existed among these troops.
He is ably assisted in this by the late Joe Colquhoun who’s old fashioned (even then) realistic style perfectly captures the feel of the story. His dense, full panels and full pages (regularly reaching 8 or 9 panels a page) show the claustrophobia of the trenches without becoming cluttered. He is also an excellent character designer developing some wonderful characters such as the General, Ginger an of course Charley himself.
This is a wonderful story. Mills is developing a powerful anti-war story but he never allows it to slip into becoming a polemic. This is a story that is full of action and stays true to the situations and characters involved instead of distorting them to suits its political ends. Because of this and the sheer quality of the story this can be enjoyed by anyone whatever there opinion of the First World War (and I say that as someone who thinks we were right to fight it).
XTINCT
Title: Untitled pt 4
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: D’Israeli
Letterer: Digital Derci
This series follows the campaign of a group of lab created talking dinosaurs to kill of the human race. It’s interesting to compare this (and Judge Death) with Devlin Waugh. You see when they revamped the Meg in December Barnes decided that their would be five new strips (as opposed to reprints) instead of three which resulted in the cutting of the number of pages each new strip got each month. This cause real problems for stories like Waugh and Family, which were hamstrung by readers finding it difficult to follow the story due to the long gaps between issues. What the likes of Cornell and Wagner have done to stop them falling prey to the same fate is to replace the traditional narrative with a broad over-arching theme and then use that as a backdrop for largely independent one parters.
This issue we see the dinosaurs come across a wonderful parody of anti-globalisation groups with some wonderful digs at the hippie-grunge-stoned left that just capture some of the arrogance that these groups often exhibit. Cornell really has excelled himself with this issue with some great characterisation not only of the anti-globalisation parodies but also with the dinosaurs themselves that develop their separate identities. Plus he quotes that line from that Carry On movie. I mean what more can you ask for?
The art is by D’Israeli and therefore wonderful. D’Israeli, like Irving is completely unique with a bizarre stylised, cartoon style that manages to pack in tons of characterisation and expression despite (or because?) its unconventional craftsmanship. What’s even better is that it’s in his trademark black and white so we get to see his excellent use of shadows that add so much to the story.
This series has really hit its stride this issue with some excellent work from all involved.
Armitage
Title: Apostasy in the UK pt 1
Writer: Dave Stone
Art: John Ridgeway
Letterer: Ellie De Ville
Armitage is set in the Dredd-universe version of Britain called Brit Cit. Although like America they do have judges Brit-Cit has a more traditional justice set up with both uniformed officers and plain-clothes detectives. Armitage is the leading detective in the Brit-Cit force; he’s old, opinionated and stubborn. After an absence of three years he returns for this new investigation.
Stone’s writing is efficient. Like the Inspector Morse (British detective show set in Oxford) Television show it is based this doesn’t mess about and immediately introduces you to the investigation as we open with a summary of the killing and Armitage’s reaction. As Armitage investigates a serious of ritualistic killings (which may be inspired by a recent story of a body being found in the Thames seemingly killed in a ritualistic way) Stone is able to portray a Brit-Cit that is not just a British version of Mega City One but a far seedier place where the law is less in control.
As someone who has never read Armitage before I find the character appealing especially as with his banter with his partner Steel he isn’t a local copy of Dredd something that is often true of leading foreign Judges. He also has a nice line of sarcasm and incredulity that is perfectly shown when they encounter the Vicar of the New Old Bailey Chapel, in a wonderfully perverse scene.
The gritty feel of the script is complemented by the art by John Ridgeway. John Ridgeway has a very raw looking style that despite being very detailed in its linework cannot be called fine. He is also extremely good getting emotion across in his faces, which makes the fact that Armitage has the same scowl all the way through even better. However, I would have preferred to see this in black and white as his colours don’t quite feel right and often obscure his linework. Plus his black and white work is excellent.
That said the art is still good and complements a good script. A good read overall.
This a wonderful issue with an excellent diverse range of stories with Stum Und Dang as classic Dredd comedy capper, black comedic horror classics in Death and X-TINCT with a good Armitage story and a good instalment of Devlin (its just the preceding 11 that are the problem with that story). In addition we get classic reprints with Harry 20 nearing its conclusion and Charley’s War justifying the hype. It is also topped off with some excellent text features, which I haven’t reviewed including the conclusion to the David Bishop interesting history of the war comic battle. Overall this is a great issue and is the best issue of any comic I’ve read in a long time.
