The Monthly Megazine Issue #487: It’s Christmas In The Meg

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.

So, the Megazine’s into its 36th year, and now it’s time for the end of year Meg, where Christmas breaks out all over – or maybe not.

Well, you do get a seasonal one-off Dredd- a damn fine one at that – plus the latest instalments of Armitage, Dreadnoughts, Anderson, Psi-Div, and Megatropolis. And of course, there’s also the finale to the second series of John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Dan Cornwell‘s Rok The God – all ahead of the all-new third series, Rok The World, coming next month.

So, 100 pages of Megazine goodness await. All underneath a new Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague cover, always a treat…

Megazine #487 was out on 17th December in the UK. It’s Christmas, forgive me for being a tad late on this one. Hell, there’s been Christmas things that needed doing. Now, if you’re in the Americas, it’s a little more complicated. Hit up your local comic shop and see what they can do. If you can’t get a physical copy, head to the 2000 AD web shop and get it digitally.

JUDGE DREDD: THE SURVIVOR – BY KEN NIEMAND AND ANTHONY WILLIAMS, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Ah, the art of the Judge Dredd Christmas story, where it’s very rare for sentiment to play any part. Rare, but not unheard of.

Which brings us to ‘The Survivor’, which is a Christmas tale in that it takes place in the few days before the day itself. But more than that, it’s a Christmas tale because it’s got a big thick slice of sentiment and the melancholy of the season that makes us look at things just that little differently. Oh, and it does that through Dredd hunting down a Rad-Hound through the abandoned outlying areas of Mega-City One. Now, that’s rather impressive.

Yep, Dredd’s out in the forgotten bits of Mega-City One, the places they’ve abandoned in the aftermath of Chaos Day, where the city lost 350 million, a huge chunk of the population and weakened the iron rule of the Justice Department beyond measure.. It’s something that, even a decade and more since that epic storyline, still plays a massive role in everything here. In Survivor, it’s mere background, but it’s clever background, the shrinking of the city meaning the outlying areas of the old city are places where the wild is creeping back in.

Anyway, Dredd’s on patrol, coming across a Rad-Hound, a big one, and it’s instantly plain the way things are going to go, if the title hadn’t already clued you in to that. This is one where Dredd gets a look at something that makes him reflect. You know, old rad-hound, survivor, seen so much, the alpha. And if that hasn’t hammered it home, the droid he meets along the way telling him how that it ‘takes a lot to kill something that old and mean’ should definitely get you there.

And, like I say, by the end, we get even that little bit of sentimentality. Again, like things like this always are, you can see where the ending’s going, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest when you’re reading something as good as this. As I keep saying when I’m showing you the Judge Dredd Case Files, these one-off Dredds are the lifeblood of the series, the strips that give us so much to the character, the things that keep Dredd so relevant, so fresh, even after all these years. And you know what, I really wasn’t expecting the final Megazine Dredd of the year, the one that always has this vague connection to Christmas, to be as bloody good as this.

MEGATROLOPIS 2 – PART 3 – BY KENNETH NIEMAND AND DAVE TAYLOR, LETTERS BY ROB STEEN

This one really does do the retro-noir thing so well. Niemand’s weaving in of so many familiar characters in the unfamiliar setting, yet giving us enough of their personalities, works so well. And Taylor’s art, well, it’s just superb. The detailing is just gorgeous, the pitch-perfect look of a very different sort of Mega-City One, the pacing – all of it a tribute to the artist and a reminder of the loss to comics following his death earlier this year.

You can see it on every panel here, but just take a look at the first two of this episode and enjoy all the work that’s gone into making Megatropolis something very special…

Damn, Dave Taylor was such an artist, such an artist, one we should, and I will, celebrate every single episode of Megatropolis.

Here, we have Rico as the crusading ‘choir boy,’ one of the few cops in Megatropolis who aren’t on the take, releasing young ‘Chopper’ from the cells, leading the desk sergeant to imagine there’s something seedy going on, letting Deputy Chief Calhoun know that ‘Rico’s maybe got some secret dirty laundry.’ But by the next page, we see that Rico’s connection to Chopper is nothing of the sort – a longstanding commitment to a lost comrade in the war.

Next up, a possible assassination attempt on DA McGruder, running for Mayor against Bob Booth, running on an anti-corruption platform, exactly the sort of thing that puts a target on her back. And the name of the suspected button man… well…

Yes, the old familiar names keep coming back, given enough of their usual character, yet given the Megatropolis twist.

As for the other strands, after journalist Hershey’s brush with Owen Krysler last episode, she’s shaken, but won’t let that stop her investigation into the man, no matter what strange dark powers he and his goons may have…

And finally, Officer Jara, one of the few trusted by Rico, is still investigating the murders that match the M.O. of shantytown slasher Philip Maybry – even though she shot and killed him two years ago. Finally, she gets up close to him, determined to pull him in, only to have Aimee Nixon, PI make another appearance, and she really, really wants Jara to stay well away from this one.

Again, Megatropolis is just so good. Niemand and Taylor have such a handle on what they’re doing. Something that could so easily have been a quirky little thing of playing What If? with all the characters is instead a dark noir detective tale. Like I said last time, it’s the sort of thing the likes of Elroy and Chandler might have come up with in some alt timeline if they were writing for 2000 AD. And it works just perfectly.

ARMITAGE: DROKK THE RIPPER – PART 3 – BY LIAM JOHNSON and STAZ JOHNSON, COLOURS BY QUINTON WINTER, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Back to Armitage, always Brit-Cit’s grumpiest Detective, his mood only made worse by age and the sense he’s sidelined at the Department, just another old copper hanging around too long.

But on this one, Armitage is working outside the Department, solo, no back-up, all because of the serial killer stalking the streets, with former Undercover Division officer Victoria Shanks in the frame for the killings. Again, Johnson gives us the big hint that there was a little something between the pair in days gone by…

Anyway, what with her tale of memory gaps and the addition of a strange cult in the mix, it’s pretty obvious where this one’s headed. Johnson has laid out the path maybe a little too easily for us all, Armitage included, to connect the dots. And maybe because of that, it feels a little like that whole insert slot A into tab B sort of thing. But you’re still swept up into the investigation, as Armitage tracks the cult down, not without a little blooding…

Of course, Armitage reckons he could have taken them. Of course he does, a refrain heard from those past their time the world over. But that does set things up for the inevitable reveal of the mechanism of the cult and its use of something to turn devotees, including Victoria, into killers.

Like I say, it’s very one thing follows the other, very straightforward, but still entertainingly done, with Johnson adding plenty to the whole with his art.

ANDERSON: PSI DIVISION: HELL NIGHT AT THE CINE PIT – PART 3 – BY ALEC WORLEY AND BEN WILLSHER, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Okay, just a mention of how much I absolutely love what Worley’s doing with the Exorcist Judges here. I mean, it’s been great so far, the comedy value just brilliant. But panel one of this new episode is the very best yet…

I mean, c’mon, Exorcist Judge Marras checking out the Ozbourne Book of Demonic Entities for info – that’s just comedy of the highest level indeed.

Anyway, back to the actual story here. And again, just like Armitage, it’s very much a straightforward thing, no character-changing huge ideas, just a really solid and really entertaining Anderson tale, one where she’s in a whole heap of trouble down in the Cine-Pit.

She’s on the inside, the Exorcist Judges are outside holding the barrier in place to keep all the demonically possessed thingys from getting out into the City.

All of this done with so much style from Willsher, whose visual kinetic style is perfect for this tale, not to mention just how lush his colour work is. I mean, just take a look below at the moody blues of pages 1 and 2 below, punctuated with that burst of yellow-orange explosion on page 2. Yeah, lush.

Anderson knows what she has to do, knows she’s got to get to the source of the demonic infestation and work out how maker of schlock movies, Wez Shushman, is channelling something from beyond. It’s just right now, she’s got a hell of a lot of demonically possessed nasties to get through first. And that’s exactly what’s happening here – she’s got 20 minutes before the movie finishes playing, and that’s all the time she’s got to sort this out.

So, against a run-time deadline, she’s off and running, even as the credits are rolling on the movie – and again, there’s a hell of a lot of damn good names in those credits, celebrating the whole world of Anderson and 2000 AD.

And when we leave things, times run out, there’s a reveal of who’s behind all this. And Anderson, well, she’s in big, big trouble now..

DREADNOUGHTS: QUALIFIED IMMUNITY – PART 3 – BY MIKE CARROLL AND JOHN HIGGINS, COLOURS BY SALLY HURST, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Right from its very first episode, Dreadnoughts has blasted into the Megazine as a strip with big things to say. But it’s the way Carroll and Higgins say those things that make Dreadnoughts work so very well. In a strip all about the big issues at play in the transition from America the democracy to America the fascist state ruled by the Justice Departments and the Judges, deciding to concentrate on telling the story through a boots on the ground fashion the way they have is an absolute masterstroke.

Every series of Dreadnoughts focuses on a Judge, just one Judge, and their travails bringing in a new regime that’s hard to stomach for so many, including all the existing law enforcement trying to hold things together. And it’s done it quite brilliantly.

In ‘Qualified Immunity’, we’re on the ground again with Judge Kahn, whose already made a dubious call when it came to an innocent man’s death, and she’s made something of an enemy inn officer Mackinnon, who just refuses to accept that that death can’t possibly have repercussions for the Judge. Mackinnon’s already been tapped by some ‘three-letter agency’ and we’re just not sure where he stands in this one right now.

This one opens in brutal fashion, with Higgins doing a fine job of showing us the brutality, as Kahn beats the information out of a suspect, Mckinnon objecting, Kahn carrying on regardless, looking to find out where a missing kid is.

All of which leads to Mckinnon spilling the beans to Agent Fullerton…

Kahn’s a piece of work, unlikeable in the extreme, driven, dedicated, obsessed, exactly the sort of Judge we’re all accustomed to, but one that feels so wrong to everyone involved here, frankly, a nasty piece of work. But that’s the new regime in microcosm, the fall of democracy writ small, just as Dreadnoughts is all about.

But the great thing about Dreadnoughts is how it’s all done in this microcosm, all those big things dealt with in the small scale, all there as we watch Kahn and Mckinnon ambushed, Mckininnon only just making it out alive, all brilliantly choreographed by Higgins, leading us to the next part of this one, Mckinnon forced to make a choice, hard decisions required, all just so beautifully done by Carroll and Higgins, all just how Dreadnoughts is so powerful and so relevant.

So, that’s all the new strips done now. Time to go to the only reprint included this time round – Rok The God, episode 6, the final part. Now, as I’ve been saying for the past five months, this is an absolute delight and a joy to be re-reading. I loved it, and the first series, Rok of the Reds, so much, a wonderful bit of sci-fi mixed with some of the best soccer comic action you could want. It’s genuinely all the best Roy of the Rovers stuff but with the sort of epic sci-fi John Wagner and Alan Grant have been doing oh so well for so many years.

It’s a strip that you may have missed the first time around, but it’s been an absolute pleasure to be able to read it once more and share it with you these past months. But even better, although this is the final episode of Rok The God, there’s fabulous news in that next month’s Megazine sees the very first episode of the all-new, never been seen before third series of Rok in Rok the World. Oh, that is the best news to see in 2026.

As for where we’re at in this final episode, well, the last episode had things all settling down a little. The sale of Kyle Dixon/Rok to Madrid was thwarted, and all seemed good in the soccer world. And then we had this….

Yes, the Skrel’s plot to depose Rok as ruler of Arkady, as their new God, has taken an explosive twist, putting Rok in grave danger. But even as he recovers, all he can think of here is the Radford Reds winning the League Two play-off final. Which is why Rok brings back little Kyle to play for the Reds in his place. So we get a few weeks of old Kyle undoing all the changes that Rok’s made, bringing al lthe bad attitude back to the Reds. But, as you’d expect from something that really does evoke the best of Roy of the Rovers, it takes a ROTR moment in the play-off final to see Radford through, albeit with one of those great Wagner/Grant twists.

As for the whole Skrel plot, well, Wagner and Grant see that one out in suitably fine style as well, all leading into the new third series. I just can’t wait for that one.

Rok of the Reds and Rok the God really are just great series, exactly the sort of thing you need to be reading, exactly the thing that comics is perfect at. Wagner and Grant are masters of this of course, but credit to Dan Cornwell here for making it all pop off the page, really nailing the soccer action and all the big sci-fi moments as required.

It’s been a perfect look back at a series that too many missed the first time around. And, as from next month, we get the all-new Rok The World. Things look damn good for 2026 already.

ROK THE GOD: CHAPTER 6 – FINAL PART – BY JOHN WAGNER AND ALAN GRANT, ART BY DAN CORNWELL, COLOURS BY ABIGAIL BULMER & JIM BOSWELL, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL