4 out of 5

Nothing really anchors this run of Megs – it’s almost all one-shots, save a Cadet Dredd ongoing – but that helped keep it pretty fresh throughout.

The Dredd spot was a particularly fun mix of melancholy (Old Man Joe, from Niemand and Dan Cornwell); classic snarky brawler (Eglington and Karl Richardson on Trashed); Wagern-esque parody (Joe Ratcliffe and Anthony Williams’ Zoomers); and other bits and bobs, with a double-dip of Joe strips in 484. While I don’t know that I’d highlight any of these as all-time standouts – though Old Man Joe has resonance – this really read like old school 2000 AD from the Wagner / Grant era, cycling through different modes and almost always delivering something good at worst, but often pretty great.

Liam Johnson and Warren Pleece return on Armitage, settling into a fun riff of pairing the detective with the ‘bots he hates, this time solving a murder… at a robot-run factory. The detectiving is a bit rough around the edges, but this was a lot of fun, and really nails a template that could work to keep this strip going.

Barrel and Hammer are back, again by David Barnett and Luke Horsman. Horsman… is a very interesting artist, who just hasn’t really found the right home yet. He’s got a wild sense of design, but his panels are so filled that his lack of depth really harms the readability. There’s also an inherent cartoonishness to his look that doesn’t always sync with the writing. Both of those detractions are in play here, and the paced “reveals” of back history of our characters lands without much impact. Buffering that is a clue-hunting race for some treasure, which works well for the Meg’s monthly format to allow for bottle episodes – clue by clue – with an easily rememberable overall narrative. This feels right on the verge of clicking, if not for the above mentioned criticisms.

A Cadet Dredd tale from Nick Brokenshire and Paul Starkey gets to run its full course, and covers… a lot! I had a lot of fun with this one; Brokenshire is perfect for Dredd – his characters tend to look younger, and there’s a “softer” edge to his linework, while depicting great action with streamlined design and great eye direction. Starkey similarly finds a tone that fits a younger Joe – also just a tad softer – but wholly fits with the dude’s (and the judges’) legacy. “The Haunting of Iso Block 8” finds a cadet crew locked in a building which does initially seem haunted… with some nice twists that Starkey goes the whole nine yards with.

Future Shocks / Black Museums and some additional one-shots and text pages round things out.