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Finally found a comic shop locally that had copies of the two latest Dredd reprint collections in stock long enough for me to purchase them. Thought I'd start a thread to raise awareness of them cause they're well worth checking out.
Firstly there's the rather wordily titled 'Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01 2000 A.D. Progs 02-60 Year 2099', as the spine has it. It's a great big chunky reprint of all the Dredd adventures from his first year in print, taking us from his first appearance in the second prog, through his stint as a Marshall on the Lunar 1 moon colony up to the eve of his trek out into the Cursed Earth (that, and Judge Cal are in volume 2). It's a mixed bag of strips from writers and artists of varuing quality. Along with plenty of people you and I've probably never heard of there are fun stories of future madness from the ever dependable Gerry Finley-Day, short stories with long shadows from Pat Mills, and the first of John Wagners many, many scripts for Yhe Law. As well as that there's early art from Carlos Ezquerra and Ian Gibson who are still evolving their own styles and the art that made such an impact on comic readers from hot new artists Mike McMahon, with his chaotic scratchy style, and Brian Bolland,with almost statuesque perfection.
Included tales include The Return of Rico, Vienna, The Robot War, the first stories with the Sov Blockers as villains, and...er...Elvis the killer car.
Some stories are awful, some are brilliant, some are still having repurcussions in Dredd to this day, others are probably still causes of embarassment for those involved. The paperstock is thick and cheap but reprints the art well, and there's a covers gallery, the unpublished at the time first Dredd, and the adventures of Walter the Wobot. £14 equals bargain.
Also picked up Judge Dredd : Total War today which is the most recent collection, reprinting stories from the end of 2004 and the start of 2005. It's the story of a pro-liberty terrorist organisation (which once had America amongst their members) and sees their actions escalate to the point where they could almost topple the Justice Department from power. With their threats escalating and Dredd distracted by unfamiliar personal complications things get out of hand quickly. There's also an epilogue tale dealing with the aftermath.
John Wagners scripts are as good as you'd hope them to be after over 25 years practice. He knows Dredd and his world better than anyone and is also, when on top form, probably the best writer of pulp action there is. The fact that he can weave satire and current affairs into the story is a more than welcome bargain. The prologue tale features lush painted art from Colin Macneil, cartoony (and frankly not to my taste) art from Jason Brashill on the epilogue, and absolutley sublime work from Henry Flint on the main story. That year Henry clocked up nearly 40 issues worth of art for 2k, with only one or two one week gaps, but you'd think he'd spent forever sketching away. Wonderful artist and I hope D.C. or Marvel never tempt him away from the house of Tharg. £12 with full colour throughout.
Anyway, you can start taking the piss out of me now, but check them out. And keep an eye out for Satans Island which continues the story of one of the Big Megs worst enemies, and the sublimely dark and scarily silly My Name is Death. Judge Death + Frazer Irving. You know you want it. |
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