The Monthly Megazine: Issue 474 — Time To Get Inside Dredd’s Head

by Richard Bruton

Welcome once more to the Monthly Megazine – doing just what it says, taking you through the latest goings-on in the sister monthly to 2000 AD.

This month, the stuffed-full of goodness Judge Dredd Megazine gives you another seven all-new strips – that new one-off Dredd from the cover, with Nick Percival doing his always gruesomely gorgeous thing, plus continuations of Death Cap, Fargo & McBane, Devlin Waugh, Lawless, Cadet Rico, and another all-new strip beginning this issue – Riley’s Rebels from Honor Vincent and Stewart K. Moore, an all-ages tale deep in the Cursed Earth. Add in text pieces on new books and the quite brilliant Jose Munoz, then a look at the Munoz art from the also released this week Treasury collection of his work, and another part of the IDW Dredd reprint… that’s a hell of a lot to pack into 132 pages.

And all of it comes underneath another perfectly petrifying wrapround cover from Nick Percival…

Megazine 474 is out on 20th November in the UK and at some point in the future in the Americas – that’s about as narrowed down as you can get – ask your LCS to put an order in now.

So, with all that over with, shall we take a little look-see inside…

JUDGE DREDD: MEMORY LANE – by Mike Carroll and Nick Percival, letters by Annie Parkhouse

A one-off, packed with Nick Percival’s quite fabulously grotesque artwork, taking us into one of the scariest bits of mental real estate in all of Mega-City One, Dredd’s head.

Yes, if you’re Dredd and there’s a hostage situation unfolding with a perp that you simply can’t place but you just know you have a gut feeling you’ve come across him before, well, you head to Psi-Div, where Psi-Judge Lacey, looking ancient and well past her time of mind-walking, points Dredd in the direction of young Psi-Judge Nash, the most gifted memory-diviner Psi-Div has ever seen.

So, it’s off to take a trip into Dredd’s head, albeit with a few momentary blips, as once Nash does get in, she’s cocky, way too confident she can get the job done quickly and easily, no matter what sort of defensive constructs are lurking in his mind.

Over-confidence, the curse of youth, eh?

After plenty of false starts and aborted efforts that lead to an exhausted Nash barely making any progress into Dredd’s head, they decide to bring Dredd’s ego into things, although there’s the slight issue that Lacey brings up… ‘I’m not sure he actually has an ego. Not the way most people do.’

So, they grab a younger Dredd, one with an ego, and one quite good at blasting through older Dredd’s mental defences.

All of it just rattles along, perfect one-off Dredd, Carroll having a fabulous time throwing all things at us and playing around in Dredd’s head, all of which leads into a perfect final couple of panels where Nash gets an idea of just how challenging this particular role she’s going to be taking on. And of course, Percival’s art just as perfect for this sort of mental nightmare as he is when he’s working with Ken Niemand on the Dredd Undercity tales they’ve been doing. There’s no one does this sort of ridiculously grotesque and nasty artwork.

DEATH CAP: FRONTIER JUSTICE – PART 2 – by TC Eglington and Boo Cook, letters by Simon Bowland

Back to the Cursed Earth of 2144 AD, where former Texas City Judge Goya saw her new family that she’d made in the radlands massacred and exacted her bloody revenge before she succumbed to the fungal nightmare of a Grubbs Disease infection, fighting to hold on to the last bits of her humanity before she died.

Or rather, in a surprising turn of events, Goya’s fungally mutated mind and body keep clinging on, the will to survive way too strong, meaning she’s still got that sense of justice, hardwired into her, no matter what a monster she’s turned into.

Goya’s fallen into the hands of mutie slavers, forcing those they find to work for them in a brutal chain gang. We soon see that Goya’s monstrosity is merely skin deep whilst her slavers prove to be something far more monstrous and evil.

Of course Goya and her newly-freed fellow slaves get out, Goya being welcomed into this group and them all making their way to a safe route.

But whilst she’s doing that, she’s still dripping with Grubbs, unknowingly infecting all she comes into contact with. On the trail of the infection, burning the danger out of whoever and whatever he finds, is Texas-City Judge Reece, fearful of a superspreader event that will rush across the Cursed Earth and infect the Mega-Cities if left unchecked.

It’s very different from the first Death Cap, which was a great series, a driven tale of revenge but set against an evolutionary biology background, mixing the twin threads of the infection and the revenge plot. This will have little of that, Goya’s mind is too far gone to have anything else but primal emotions and needs coming out. Instead, what we’re going to get, I’d imagine, is a classic monster tale, of the misunderstood, gentle monster being hunted down, albeit this time the hunter is another sympathetic character rather than the typically evil one so often seen in classic monster tales such as this.

Anyway, I trust Eglington to mix things up really well, confident that, although this second series always seemed most unlikely, he’s found something to hang this tale off.

And of course, there’s Boo Cook on art. Boo Cook was born to do this sort of story, packed with nature, life and death, bizarre and gruesome infections progressing. His art’s always had a more organic feel, his edges more rounded, messy in the way life tends to be. And this really is the perfect looking Cursed Earth-based story, every day full of heat and sun, strange and alien-looking animals scuttling around a world of weird fauna, every night full of dark blues and silvers, where the other animals come out to hunt. And into this, he gets to show the Grubbs infection and how it’s taken over Goya, really pushing the monster art into overdrive.

FARGO & MCBANE: NEW YORK’S FINEST – PART 2 – by Ken Niemand and Anna Readman. Colours by Quinton Winter, letters by Annie Parkhouse

It’s New York, the 1970s, and Detective Jack McBane was one of the toughest cops of the Big Apple. One of his few friends in a corrupt force is Eartha Fargo (as in a Fargo, a great-great-great-great grandmother of Chief Judge Fargo and, as such, one of Dredd’s ancestors), who he’s calling on right now to attempt to clear his name.

All of this unexpected bit of Dredd history comes from last year’s One-Eyed Jacks tale in Dredd, a cross-time caper bringing back McBane, a classic Valiant/Battle Action Weekly character from the 70s. There was obviously plenty of stories coming from that, particularly seeing that Eartha/McBane dynamic play out in a classic cop drama.

And that’s where we find ourselves here – after all, there’s nothing more iconic as a cop drama with one good cop framed and trying to clear his name. This is why Fargo’s back in New York here in part 2, called back by McBane, freshly escaped from Riker’s and on the run, all because of something McBane’s found out, something high up in the city, someone with the power to frame him… this from last month and episode 1…

Here we get the backstory to all of that, the way McBane’s been framed, if not the real reason for it. We get the raid, the interview, the accusations of beating to death a suspect in the child murders MacBane was looking at, and how the cops are throwing all the bad behaviour McBane’s been guilty of over the years back at him.

And oh they do, they get back at him so much, putting him in Rikers and throwing him to the wolves, paying the doc to keep him alive just to keep the beatings and the shankings going, again and again.

Yes, classic dirty cop framed for one thing too dirty for him, a young innocent partner who owes him, a whole city worth of powerful men wanting him back behind bars or dead, and all the money and the muscle, cop and crook alike, to make it happen.

Two episodes in and all reads great, the grime of the city, the classic stereotypical plot throwing a couple of great characters into a nightmare of one of their making. Niemand’s doing good things, of course he is, but it’s Anna Readman’s artwork that’s an unexpected joy here. Not that Readman’s art wasn’t always going to be/has always been great, but that it’s still surprising to see it here on a major Megazine strip. It’s a completely different look to much of what sits in both the Meg and the Prog these days, but it’s always great to have something fresh and new and different to look at. She gives it her unique spin, making everything the required level of grubby and nasty and then some, some fabulous facial expressions, great character work. All is good with this one.

DEVLIN WAUGH: TWO MONTH’S OFF – PART 2 – by Ales Kot and PJ Holden. Colours by Jack Davies, letters by Jim Campbell

Devlin Waugh, bon viveur, campness personified, big and butch and always looking for the next thrill, vamp exorcist paranormal troubleshooter for the Vatican… is on holiday, just him and three boyfriends for what is the most delightfully, fabulously over the top and high camp of a storyline, a magnificently gay thing to be thoroughly enjoyed. It’s all the brilliant debauchery right now, with just hints of the supernatural that always follows Devlin around coming out when one of his boyfriends did something really stupid last episode, something that comes back to bite them at the end of this one.

The polycule is still playing around, still no primary partner for Devlin, but they’ve all pretty much got the big man’s number – ‘You more or less consistently display ranges of emotional vulnerability I associate with inanimate objects,’ points out one of them when they’re, as they frequently are, in bed together.

This is a man, of course, who brings up his demon dildo and his lawyer when questioned about deeper, emotionally open relationships. Not the finest example of someone in touch with his feelings.

But when he does open up, it’s really straight into something very, very deep… an ending, a finale for Devlin, seeing the horrors of the world the way he has done has gotten under his skin after all…

Not what you were expecting from Devlin Waugh, don’t you agree? But in that and the pages that follow it, with an introsepctive Devlin opening up like never before we dive so deep into the character, Kot making us see him as something other than all we’ve seen him before, and doing it so very well.

The worst thing to do right now, with a strangely downbeat and self-analysing Devlin and at least one of the polycule willing to do dumb things to get his undivided attention, would be to take something very hallucinogenic and powerful, wouldn’t it?

Yep, they do. Of course they do. And from there it all goes downhill, a long way downhill. Although whether that’s the drugs or the magics at play we’re just not sure yet. But it does give PJ Holden an excuse to really let loose on the last few pages here. He’d previously been doing a perfect job of styling Devlin and the boys at play, whether that’s emotionally deep moments or just Devlin relaxing in the pool with the ‘deranged-looking swimming pool duck’ in it’s ‘perennial state of some apostatic ecstasy, eyes rolled back and all…’ But when things take a psychedelic-induced turn, and they do, he’s on hand to dial it all up to 11 and go for it, along with some gorgeously trippy colours from Davies.

As I said last time, it’s magnificently over-the-top fabulous stuff—until it’s not. And it’s going deeper and deeper than ever before into a fascinating character. Yep, fabulous, darling indeed.

CADET RICO: THE CYCLE – PART 2 – by Liam Johnson and Rob Richardson. Letters by Jim Campbell

Another strip that might have been, at one point, a Regened all-ages thing, but one that also goes into the dark, goes a lot further than Regened normally does. Whether it was or not is frankly immaterial now, all that matters is that it settles into the Megazine quite perfectly well. Johnson has a tight reign on the storytelling and then we have Richardson’s art, just as good as it was on the recent couple of DeMarco series, all dark and atmospheric, playing with the shadows and the colours, playing with line and weight so well.

When last we saw him, Cadet Rico, Dredd’s clone brother, was off on a tour of the new, state-of-the-art iso-cube facility, full of the sort of perps who’d give anything for the chance to get up close with Rico, already responsible for putting a number of them in here. Thankfully, they’re all locked up safe and sound. Unless, you know, we get the sort of let’s just throw it in there to move the story along and introduce a bit of peril thing… hence, the power outage.

That shapes where this one goes, a cat and mouse game in the darkness of the iso-block, with one of the young perps in tow, the young girl we saw Rico put away last time.

It’s simple but its effective, Rico working this one alone, alone against a whole iso-block of bad guys, letting it play out and letting Richardson do some really gorgeous work with art and colours here.

RILEY’S REBELS – PART 1 – by Honor Vincent and Stewart K Moore, letters by Simon Bowland

This one’s definitely a Regened strip, Tharg says so in the intro. But that doesn’t make it any less worthy of inclusion here – after all, too many ‘fans’ forget that 2000 AD started out all-ages and sometimes made the mistake of going too far the other way. So, there should always be plenty of space for including a strip such as Cadet Rico or Riley’s Rebels in here.

It’s a Cursed Earth tale, with young orphan Riley her ever younger hanger-on, her baby brother, Clint, headed out for the edge of the Morass, all to get Elder George’s exo-suit fixed up. Not that Elder George is all that happy to be out here with them. They’re doing it for ‘points’ for their very own suits, for what reason we just don’t know, not yet.

Anyway, the Alabama Morass is a weirdly green spot in the desert radwastes of the Cursed Earth, beautifully shown to us with SK Moore mixing things up artistically to great effect.

I’ve long been a fan of Moore, and this is a real visual treat, packed with so much of his style that I/we’ve come to expect, yet also looser and simpler than so much of what he usually does. It’s been a long time since we had a multi-part strip with Moore’s artwork, and it’s a real joy to see this, with stylistic shifts everywhere. There’s that one of the Alabama Morass for starters, followed by the tight detailed stuff we usually can expect. But after this, when the trio of adventurers heads into the Morass, we get this…

That’s just lovely, don’t you think? The shifts from the looseness of that first panel into the almost ligne claire stylings found in Euro all-ages books, then back to something more usual in the final panel of that four. This is an absolutely gorgeous thing to look at.

It reads really well too, Moore not the only one tapping into a Euro comic vibe, particularly an all-ages Euro comic vibe, with the simple set-up of the two lost kids and their elder protector coming up against all many of strange beasts the Morass can throw at them ideal for this sort of standalone storytelling.

A great start to something lovely and simple, self-contained, just the kids and the old guy in the suit on a quest, here to overcome whatever they stumble upon.

LAWLESS: A TOWN CALLED BADROCK – PART 2 – by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade. Letters by Simon Bowland

Badrock’s gone through a hell of a lot since we first visited, from ramshackle fronteir township to the vibrant free town it’s become, with Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson the law in the town. She’s had ups and she’s had downs, made a whole load of enemies, and is, right now, back in the saddle after a touch of dangerous undercover work dealing with a bit of mob incursion into Badrock.

Lawless is Dreddworld cowboys, all about frontier life and how hard the Law here has to work to keep things steady. This ain’t Mega-City One where they have it easy. This is proper, old-fashioned law work. And it’s Lawson’s lot in life, she’s been here so long that she’s stuck with it.

It’s been a highlight of the Megazine right since it began. Abnett really does seem to have this glorious way of bringing out such depth and ever-evolving storylines to his strips, and Lawless is no exception.

But he’s not alone in that. Oh no, far from it. No matter how long I read Lawless, no matter how used I am to seeing Phil Winslade puts into every panel, every page. The level of detail involved is, quite frankly, utterly ridiculous and must be so time-consuming. I mean, look at this final panel from the first episode…

Sure, the figure work is great, full of life and energy, but it’s the detail in the background that really struck me last month. Seriously, who else would be insane enough to put that amount of detailing into the walls and that floor? Absolute madness on Winslade’s part for sure, but always a beautiful thing to see.

Anyway, enough about flooring and wall coverings. Maybe you want to know what’s going on?

Well, the first page gives us yet another page of Lift and Liftability, the trashy novel Deputy Nerys, Lawson, and pretty much everyone’s reading, a real bodice-ripper, and another moment of wondering just how long that particular page took Winslade. It’s yet another stylistic shift, upping the detail, increasing the greytones and the shading… beautiful. No idea why Abnett’s opening each episode with this yet, although it’s unlikely, given how well Abnett layers his plots, to be something throwaway.

Last time we had the introduction of Royal Wilty’s family, he who was once Mayor and now sweeps the floors at Badrock’s hostelry. This time, Nerys and Lawson are out looking for young Archie Ames, recently not himself seeing as how nasty Hetch happened to take possession of the young lad…

But since the last adventure when Lawson went undercover and told no-one, not even once trusted Deputy Nerys, things just aren’t that sweet between the two any more…

Yes, this one’s all about Archie perhaps. Although with Lawless, it’s never just about one thing, never just that simple. No, Abnett threads everything in so precisely and expertly that there’s as much detail and complexity in the telling of the story as there is in the art for Lawless.

And that’s what’s made it the hugely entertaining, impossible to second-guess which way it’s going strip that I, and plenty of you, absolutely love.

Once more, welcome (back) to Badrock. Welcome to Lawless. You’re going to love it here.

Okay, that’s the originals sorted, now for the reprints…

The Treasury of British Comics preview this month is another gem from the archives, part of the just published Rebellion Presents The José Muñoz Collection, collecting together some freshly unearthed early works of a master of comics, responsible for, way later in his career, the incredible art of Alack Sinner and Joe’s Bar.

Finally, there’s the penultimate part of the latest IDW Dredd reprint, False Witness.

LOST IN LIMBOLAND – by Chris Lowder and José Antonio Muñoz. Originally published in Lion comic, 1973. Republished as part of Rebellion Presents The José Muñoz Collection