Two blog entries in one day can only mean one thing - two Megs read! It's a tough old job this Meg Odyssey! To the cover, and what a cover. Mr Simon Davis take a bow, sir, because that is a wonderful painting of craggy old Brit-Cit cop Armitage, and a rather horrible looking head in a jar. More on that later...
I heaped praise on Charlie's War last time - suffice to say it is still hitting the mark and I know it will continue to do so for a while yet. Mills' writing and Joe Colquhoun's art together are perfection... Harry 20 also kept the pace high this month. After months of planning, Harry and his chums are hoping to make it to Earth in their escape capsule - but will the other prisoners or the warders let them - and what is the awful secret they carry with them... Gripping stuff...
Judge Dredd: Sturm und Dang reached it's conclusion. I shall miss it, as it was another cracking story and, again, I can't help but wonder if it was too short. I say that a lot about Gordon Rennie's Dredds, but I just enjoy them so much! There is a lot of action in his writing, and Ezquerra's art was spot on. I enjoyed the character of disgraced Judge Koburn, and am hopeful we may get a back story or another Cursed Adventure with him in it in the future. He keeps his cap pulled down over his eyes, so like Dredd, you never see his face. Is that significant, I wonder...
After initial reservations, I am very much into the Judge Death story The Wilderness Days. Jay D ends up in Las Vegas, and if you are familiar with the Cursed Earth saga (if not, get thee to your nearest Thrill Merchant and purchase Complete Case Files 02), he meets up with some familiar characters. Having now figured out this is being played for humour, I am enjoying it immensely. I do hope it carries on for a goodly while yet...
XTNCT continues with the genetically modified crew working their way to Seattle this time. They find a bunch of humans who are relying on their baser instincts, rather than their intelligence, making them a harder quarry. Some episodes definitely work better than others, and whilst good, this one was not as good as previous ones. Perhaps the lack of Raptor appearing much in it was a factor for me...
A new thrill this issue was Armitage: Apostasy In The UK. Armitage is a Brit-Cit cop, a detective rather than a Judge. His job is to work crimes like the CID do in the UK police force today, and he can call upon Judges for backup. He is grumpy, over-worked and under-paid and is feeling his age. His sidekick, Steel, is young and keen - which seems to make him even grumpier. I like this character, and the story line looks like a classic detective story that I like anyway (I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan, and there are certainly elements to that side of British crime writing in this story style). I guess Armitage reminds me a little of Morse, but grumpier! Dave Stone is the script droid for this story, and the marvellous John Ridgeway handles the art. Looking forward to seeing how this one plays out.
Blazing Battle Action concluded with a look at the decline of the comic title - as it agreed a licence with the Action Force toy line. A lot of creators moaning about the loss of quality and the declining standards. Funnily enough, this is where I jumped on, sucked in by having Action Force figures. I enjoyed the stories as a kid, and of course, had no clue that the art of John Cooper I admired so much was absolutely hated by the artist himself. He was very upset to be taken off Johnny Red and put on the kids toys section.
The other text articles saw D'Israeli in the Interrogation Cube where he reveals he is learning German and his girlfriend reads out loud to him if he is working late. And, joy, grumpy grots himself Gordon Rennie is back for his You're Next, Creep column. In my last post, I was moaning about the amount of adverts for Dredd vs Death. In his column, Gordon moans about books of comics, games of books of comics, and so on. Good to have you back, sir!
Apocalypse Soon dipped a little for me this week. Hopefully it is setting up for something next time.
And finally...Devlin Waugh fans will be relieved to hear I thought this week's episode was OK. We might be starting to get somewhere at long last. I have also asked one of my fellow 2000 AD Forum Members to write a review of the story once I have finished reading the whole thing. That way, you will get a counter-point from someone that did enjoy the story, and hopefully give you some insights that I simply am unable to pull out for you. Something to look forward to...
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