The Monthly Megazine Issue #441: Taking To The Skies Again!

The Monthly Megazine – doing just what it says, taking you through the latest goings-on in the sister monthly to 2000 AD, 30+ years and still going strong!

Inside the February Judge Dredd Megazine we have the continuations of everything we saw last month. But hey, that means five great strips so we’re all good.

So, look forward to more Cursed Earth revenge and fungal horror in Death Cap, more criminality on the streets of Brit-Cit in Diamond Dogs Book 3, more of Metta Lawson getting political in Lawless, more skysurfing in the great Wagner/MacNeil Surfer, and the second part of Judge Dredd: Praise Zort! with Rory McConville and Staz Johnson picking up the complex political threads of MC-1’s Project Providence cock-up.

And on top of all that, continuing as the special bagged copy extra, it’s the second issue of the Garth Ennis and Henry Flint Hawk The Slayer sequel.

Judge Dredd Megazine Issue #441 is out wherever great comics are sold on Wednesday 16th February.

JUDGE DREDD: PRAISE ZORT! – PART 2 – Rory McConville, Staz Johnson, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Right then, we’re deep into the complex politics of Dredd’s world with this one – picking up the threads from McConville and Johnson’s excellent Project Providence of 2021. MC-1’s in deep here, on the hook for the time-travel tech project that stole secrets from the other Mega-Cities around the world.

We’ve seen Chief Judge Logan’s troubles at the Assembly of Nations and his only hope of getting away with all this now rests on getting the vote from the Pan-African enclave of Profundia – not the most stable of regions now that the Church of Zort are in control.

Into this comes Dredd, investigating the suspicious death of the last MC-1 ambassador to Profundia. It’s tread carefully time for Dredd, lest he screws up the negotiations for the crucial vote at the Assembly of Nations – and we all know how good Dredd is at that sort of thing.

Yeah, exactly, it’s not long before there’s another assassination attempt and Dredd’s called into action.

From the start, this one’s been great, seeing McConville and Johnson playing around with the politics, delving into the weird extended word of Dredd and it’s only getting better now they’re in Profundia – because, if history tells us anything, the big superpowers in the world do love messing around in little countries.

DEATH CAP – PART 3 – TC Eglington, Boo Cook, letters by Simon Bowland

Right, I avoided the mushrooms in the room last time, but there’s no getting away from it here, seeing as it’s right there on page 2 of the preview.

If things weren’t bad enough for ex-Texas City Judge Goya, what with the brutal murders of her husband and kids at the hands of a gang infected with Grubb’s Fungus, but now she’s got the damn fungus growing on her as well. Death seems certain now, but there’s revenge and retribution to be had before the infection takes hold and kills her.

And that’s where we’re at, as Death Cap just keeps delivering stunning action, a slow-burn revenge tale, and all with some of the best art that Boo Cook’s ever done.

Seriously, this just absolutely thrills on all levels. Seeing Goya slowly work her way across the Cursed Earth is just stunning, hearing all the ways the Grubb’s is going to take over her body is horrific – this is a damn fine strip.

DIAMOND DOGS: BOOK THREE – PART 3 – James Peaty, Warren Pleece, letters by Simon Bowland

Nia’s got her in with the Silver Apples crime syndicate, but it’s never going to be as easy as it all seems, is it?

Meanwhile, her new handler, Armitage, is having a cosy little chat with one of the higher-ups in Brit Cit’s Justice Department, a man who couldn’t be more of an obvious bad guy if he had it tattooed across his forehead. But never mind, it still gives us a great Armitage moment of absolute scorn…

So sure, you can see where it’s going, but that’s not a problem, not when it’s a good old-fashioned enjoyable slice of crime fiction like this. And coupled with Warren Pleece’s great-looking artwork, Diamond Dogs has proved to be grande fun. And I still reckon there’s a great opportunity for Peaty and Pleece, once they’ve finished this final Diamond Dogs, to get an Armitage series off the ground.

LAWLESS: BALLOTS OVER BADROCK – PART 3 – Dan Abnett, Phil Winslade, letters by Jim Campbell

While ex-Marshal Metta Lawson’s busy trying to become first Mayor of Badrock, there are bad things on the rise – there’s a protection racket running rampant through the town and the SJS are working with Brotherly on something nasty in secret, something that’s managed to get out, and that’s not even mentioning the manipulation of the election that the SJS seem to have in mind.

So, as the sub-plots all slowly come together, this one’s dominated by the frantic scenes in Brotherly’s lab as the SJS try to contain the monster he’s created. And it’s just staggering, as usual, to see the amount of work that Winslade puts into his work – the textures, the detailing… and then the actual action and the superb control of the flow through the pages – Lawless just continues to amaze.

SURFER: PART ONE – PART 3 – John Wagner, Colin MacNeil, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Rounding out the Meg this month we have another stunning strip, with the return of John Wagner to skysurfing in this story of a skysurf movie set in MC-1.

Zane Perks has the role of stunt stand-in for the lead in the Chopper movie, but all that’s gone now – wanted by the Judges and his dad in deep with loan sharks, he’s bolting, out into the Mega-City night…

And that’s where you just stop and go wow.

Colin MacNeil’s artwork is just perfection in those surfing scenes, the Mega-City skyline at night no longer a playground for Zane but a sanctuary, a place to blend in. The imagery just… well, you can see it for yourself:

Amazing.

As for where Wagner’s taking it… well, Zane’s still turning up for the job, the only way to earn the creds to save his dad, but that’s going to put him front and centre for the Judges. But, this is Wagner… there’s bound to be more twists and turns before the end of this one, more wonderful Wagner dialogue, more incredible MacNeil artwork.

HAWK THE SLAYER – ISSUE 2 – Garth Ennis, Henry Flint, letters by Rob Steen.

I don’t usually include the Megazine extras here, as they’re usually reprints – excellent stuff but not really part of the preview thing. But here we have to make an exception as the extra is the new Hawk The Slayer sequel by Ennis and Flint.

We previewed the first issue for you last month and it all just keeps on going in the same fashion, just a fabulous bit of fantasy, Ennis obviously having himself a blast and Flint’s art just looking great – you wouldn’t have necessarily said he’d have been the best fit for sword and sorcery… but every panel here just proves you wrong.

Gathering up new comrades, setting off on the trail of the resurrected Voltan, plenty of banter along the way, it’s everything you could expect and everything you could want.