Meg 210 - Let's Go To Wok

(Meg 210 on BARNEY)

Seeing as Reservoir Dogs had a profound effect on me as a young man I was always going to like this cover. Mr Woo and and Mr Dredd with the other Sino-Cit agents. Loved it. No silly borders as well, full page art, which was good to see.

I promised more on the reprint stories in my last review, so lets start with an ending - the end of Darkies Mob. Dreddlines letters have showed it divided opinion, but as I said previously, I have enjoyed it. The last few episodes were really very good. The end is in sight for the Mob, but will they go out in a bang or a whimper? Wagner's writing is of the highest order and I genuinely felt a bit emotional at the ending. Whether you think it should have been re-run or not, writing like that needed a reprint. I don't think I can recall the last comic I read where a little lump popped into my throat at the end... And next month, the amazing Charlie's War starts. This strip, along with Johnny Red, totally caught my imagination as a 9/10 year old. Can't wait!

Harry 20 got off to a good start last Meg and carried on this issue. Set in the future, Harry is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to The High Rock - a satellite prison orbiting the Earth that houses 10,000 criminals. There, your last name is lost - replaced with the length of your sentence (hence Harry 20). I know it sounds like a poor mans Escape From Alcatraz or The Great Escape but the twist is the cold, dark space between Harry and freedom. Swimming and tunnelling are not an option! Gerry Finlay-Day keeps the tempo high and the art by Alan Davis is very good. A bonkers Future Shock by a writer and artist I'm not familiar with round off the reprints. A Meg feels better with a Future Shock...

The text article, Blazing Battle Action, is part 2 of the story of the Battle comic. David Bishop continues in the same vein of Thrill Power Overload, turning his attention to the popular boys comic from the 70's and 80's. I hadn't realised how many of the 2000 AD regulars like Mills, Wagner and Ezquerra had been involved. If you read Battle and enjoyed Thrill Power Overload, this is a great little history lesson. If you didn't and - er - didn't, as it were, you might well skip this.

Gordon Rennie continued his top Dredd run with the conclusion to Hong Tong. And it's an all action episode. There are gun fights, martial arts and cars exploding. What's not to like! This isn't Dredd exploring his inner demons, it's Dredd kicking ass! It is a top episode and I can't recommend it highly enough. XTNCT continued to please. The genetic army find their first colony of humans since the Bourdeaux incident. What will they decide to do with them? I got more into the Judge Death story The Wilderness Days. One of the Dreddlines letters praised the story for revealing Death's inner thoughts in his mission to destroy all life. Clinging to that nugget of insight I enjoyed this episode a whole lot more. Thank you Floyd Kermode of Japan! Another of Floyd's insights summed up Devlin Waugh for me. It's like synchronised swimming. It's difficult, I couldn't do it, they work very hard but its quite boring and I don't care if I never see it again. Except Floyd was talking about The Bendatti Vendetta. Remember, I'm giving this a chance because its a Robbie Morrison story and this week started to move with a pace when we got the back story of the founder of the group of vigilantes. I enjoyed it. It's not Sci Fi or horror, but I don't really care. Others might.

Patrick Goddard's insights in The Interrogation Cube were interesting. Even he has no real love for Wardog. And Gordon Rennie's rant was how he just chucks loads if stuff away, not caring how valuable it might be. I think my wife wishes I was a bit better at chucking stuff out!

And finally... Apocalypse Soon. Still making me smile!