The Monthly Megazine Issue #483: The Shadow Of The Law Is Inescapable

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.

The new format, 100-page Judge Dredd Megazine continues, only this month it drops from five new strips to four. But there’s still the prospect of the latest episode of the always excellent Rok The God as a reprint. As for the rest of the Megaine this month, it’s made up of the usual interviews and features, including an interview with writer Andi Ewington, a look at the new Heavy Metal, and a piece on Rafael Busom Clua, whose work featured recently in the Treasury Of British Comics reprint of The Haunting of Jilly Johnson, that makes up the other promotional reprint here. Now, the dropping of an original strip to be replaced by a reprint is never good news. It might hopefully just be a one-off thing, it might be permanent. It could be a tightening of belts in these troubling times for anyone publishing comics. Time will tell.

All of this happens under the latest wraparound cover from Stewart K Moore … and what a bloody lovely cover it is:

And here it is in full… fabulous work, as always, from Moore…

So, inside this latest Megazine, you’ve got another done-in-one Dredd, this time by Joe Ratcliffe and Anthony Williams. There’s another trip to the Black Museum for a one-off tale of Mega-City One’s past, more of the time-travelling strangeness that Cadet Dredd has gotten himself into, and then another nostalgia-filled tale of the earliest days of Dredd in Mega City 2099. Plus those two reprints I’ve already mentioned, including your latest chance to really enjoy the modern classic from John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Dan Cornwell that is Rok The God.

Megazine #483 was out on 20th August in the UK, which means I’m way, way late putting this up. Apologies, apologies and more apologies. Life, eh? If you’re in the Americas, take a wild guess as for when you’ll see it. It’s always been a patchy distribution and the current distributor upheaval isn’t going to help things at all. But head into your local comic shop and ask them nicely to order it for you. If they can’t or won’t, find yourself another local comic shop that will. Seriously, you’ll be glad you did.

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

JUDGE DREDD: ZOOMERS – BY JOE RATCLIFFE AND ANTHONY WILLIAMS, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

A very first story credit on Dredd for Ratcliffe, about whom I have absolutely no information, no past comic credits, nothing. A new writer or someone working under an alias? Like I say, I have no idea, but it’s unusual for someone completely new to walk straight onto Dredd.

Anyway, it’s a tale of a really crap group of would-be bank robbers who, having seen plan A go south rapidly, turn their attention to a zoom tube – only to find the cits riding not exactly shocked by their appearance.

After that, well, let’s just say things go from bad to worse… so much worse.

What do you know, this one’s a great little one-off. Very little Dredd in it, but that’s all to the good. Once he does make his appearance, things go exactly as you’d expect. But the story isn’t in what Dredd does, that’s practically obvious. No, the story is in the reactions and the comedy value found from the cits and the absolutely crap would-be robbers. There’s gold in what Ratcliffe and Williams do there, and that’s what makes this one so enjoyable.

TALES FROM THE BLACK MUSEUM: KILLING CODE – BY ANDI EWINGTON AND LUKE HORSMAN, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Another trip to the Black Museum, the Megazine’s version of the Future Shock, all hinging around another tale told by Henry Dubble, the undead guide to Mega-City One’s museum of Justice Department relics. Every one of them has a story to tell, and Henry’s the man to tell them.

Here, it’s the tale of one Zeff Mudgett, proprietor of the High Sky Motel, where business is hardly booming. But he’s got a plan, one that we already know isn’t going to work out too well for him. It’s all to do with his latest black market buy, a Housing Algorithmic Logistical Liaison, or H.A.L.L. for short. H.A.L.L. gets the rich punters in, Zeff sends dispatches them…

Hell, even Zeff realises after that first murder that this is an insane plan. But that’s when H.A.L.L. steps in, with a seemingly foolproof plan to get rid of the body – after all, logistics is what it does. It’s just Zeff never thought, oh, they never do, that H.A.L.L. would enjoy all this murder quite so much. Poor Zeff, you never had a chance.

Rogue AI is all the rage these days, don’t you think? But Ewington still spins out something rather good here, tongue in cheek, as we watch Zeff’s inevitable end. He’s accompanied in making this a fine little tale by Luke Horsman, whose art here in black and white may not have the technicolour excesses he brought to Enemy Earth so well, but there’s still plenty of opportunities for him to show off his talent in this one.

CADET DREDD: THE HAUNTING OF ISO-BLOCK 8 – PART 5 – BY PAUL STARKEY AND NICK BROKENSHIRE, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

The only strip in here to run longer than a single tale, this Cadet Dredd tale certainly has twisted and turned its way from a locked room mystery into a time travel caper. And that’s where you find us right now, many, many centuries out of time in 18th-century America. The little team of Cadets has been jumping through time in a fun little romp on the trail of time-travelling perps. Time-travelling perps who, at the end of last episode, rather seemed to have it in for Dredd…

Well, after all that’s been ironed out, after the kid cadets make their escape, and after there’s an ‘enemy of my enemy’ thing to be dealt with, it’s all about everyone getting home. The time-travelling perps may not have too much love for the Judges, even these young ‘uns, but they do understand the principles of time travel and that overriding need to not mess with the timeline at all. Well, okay, most of them got that memo… but there’s always one who decides that this is the perfect opportunity to do something special no one else has been able to do in whatever century they’ve tried. More on that next episode.

Anyway, as I said last time, this one’s rather meandering here, just a little too long, a little too unfocused for me. Starkey and Brokenshire are doing it well, but it’s just that little bit too much of assembling it, slot A into tab B, etc. It’s been fun, but it’s maybe just gone on too long and outstayed it’s welcome, taken a little too long to get to where it’s going.

MEGA CITY 2099: CARDIAC ARREST – BY LIAM JOHNSON AND CONOR BOYLE, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Another slice of retro Dredd now – taking us right back to 2099 and the very beginnings of Dredd in 2000 AD. Mega City 2099 takes the ideas of the first Dredds featured in 2000 AD and expands upon them, complete with all the trappings of the time – the original uniform, the original tech, the original idea of the Justice Department still working alongside law enforcement, even the original use of thought bubbles, something we haven’t seen in Dredd for many a year.

So, back in time, back in tone – complete with that perfect opening caption the likes of which we just don’t see anymore… “Readers beware: In this story, Judge Dredd dies.” And he does… well, sort of, all in the pursuit of justice. But it’s indicative of just the sort of nostalgia trip we’re getting here. Not just in the story, but with Conor Boyle’s beautiful recreation of the early stylings of Dredd, just like this…

And doesn’t Boyle give both the full threatening Dredd and a rather perfect posing Dredd, hands on hips, radiating that early bravado and arrogance? It’s quite lovely to see.

Anyway, it’s all about a series of bank heists, with a Psi telling Dredd it’s all got the whiff of the paranormal about it.

“Are you seriously trying to tell us a ghost did it?” says the soon-to-be rendered obselete cop. To which Johnson has Dredd reply, wonderfully, “Wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve seen this week.” A great line, delivered perfectly.

So yes, it’s ghosts. Or at least perps who stumbled onto a euthanasia pod looking for a temporary death high and ended up somewhere in between life and death, a perfect means to pull off seemingly untraceable bank robberies. Well, of course, Dredd follows them down the path, meaning yes, he sort of dies here. But it’s all in service to the Law.

So, that’s all the original stories done. Now it’s into the reprints. We’ll start with more of the rather brilliant Rok of the Reds sequel, Rok The God, where Wagner, Grant, and Cornwell just keep on giving us all the grand sci-fi and wonderfully done sports action, two staples of Brit comics, mashed together so perfectly well. Hopefully, you’ll have already read the first series, recently reprinted here in the Megazine. But now we’re into Rok the God, where there’s perhaps less of the on-pitch soccer action and more of the big sci-fi, but still well worth a read, especially if you missed it the first time around.

Rok of the Arkady has been hiding from his heritage on Earth, taking on the form of Radford Reds bad boy star striker, Kyle Dixon. He’s hiding because things at home weren’t exactly good. Well, now home has come calling and Mom really wants him to take on her mantle. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the miniturised Kyle and the dodgy ref have made their escape from Rok’s ship and are trying to work out what the hell’s happening – a perfect chance for that Wagner and Grant ridiculousness that they did so well to come to the fore.

Honestly, this was a series – well, two series – that were criminally overlooked the first time round. Don’t make the mistake this time. It’s gloriously epic sci-fi with a footballing twist.

ROK THE GOD: CHAPTER 1 – BY JOHN WAGNER AND ALAN GRANT, ART BY DAN CORNWELL, COLOURS BY ABIGAIL BULMER & JIM BOSWELL, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

As for the other reprint this time round, I’ve already heaped praise on this one, The Haunting Of Jilly Johnson here.

I had this to say:

“Simply put, the art of Busóm Clúa is a thing of beauty, those brush strokes just flow with life and grace and sexiness, and every page has something you just have to stop and linger over. It’s just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.“

And

“The Haunting of Jilly Johnson (and in the two shorter tales accompanying it), there’s a chance to see his glorious artwork in something that sums up the strange world of 1970s ‘girls’ comics so well – something more spooky and supernatural, whilst retaining a healthy dose of all things love story and difficult relationships.“

And I’ll stand by that – absolutely gorgeous. The book was published in May – go look at all the beautiful Clua artwork.

THE HAUNTING OF JILLY JOHNSON – BY AUTHOR UNKNOWN & RAFAEL BUSOM CLUA

CONTAINS THE STORIES:
THE HAUNTING OF JILLY JOHNSON – ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN PINK #320-329 & 331-334 (1979)
THE ISLAND OF STONES – ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN PINK #138-140 (1975)
EYES OF THE GORGON – ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MISTY #21 (1978)