Judge Dredd: Mega-Blog One

Fan Film Friday everyone! My first introduction to introduction to Adi Shankar’s BOOTLEG UNIVERSE Was POWER/RANGER three years ago in 2015. At the time I watched all his other videos, the Punisher dirty laundry, in the service of nothing, and Venom. I saw it as a neat YouTube channel which somehow turned ordinary properties into HBO series. I didn’t see SUPERFIEND until recently as I hadn’t ever gone back to the channel to check on new projects, and boy am I glad I did, Adi Shankar’s short animated feature clocks in at just above 27 minutes (A recurring number for Dredd fan films it seems) It’s all about a Judge Sydney on a rampage is a weirdly enthralling romp. Interestingly Adi Shankar was the executive producer on Dredd, but this short takes a completely different style. The premise, without giving to much away is about Judge Sydney, a Judge who has a penchant for murder, and a dark past, the opening scenes masterfully illustrate this in very few momen

(Collects Prog’s 116-154) After three nearly back to back long arcs of varying quality, Judge Dredd returned triumphantly to its original format with the best short stories the series had ever seen. I’ve heard criticisms that Judge Dredd is too much of a softy in these stories, many of them end with him being merciful, or at least feeling sorry for the criminals, I disagree with these critics, read between the lines and you’ll find that it feeds into a cohesive story very well. Judge Dredd just got over being accused and hunted down for murder, he even had to fight against a corrupt chief justice, this volume shows Dredd, for the first time questioning the law he serves and showing a little mercy, a little compassion, it doesn’t last forever, and it’s never specifically stated that it is a result of the day the law died but I believe it is.   Easily the weakest prog in this collection is Vienna, a story which establishes Judge Dredd niece Vienna into continuity and then

(Collects Prog’s 61-70, 73-76, 79-115)           The complete case files 02 consists of two major arcs, it may sound like an unwelcome change of pace to those who enjoyed the progs of vol 01 and had a bad taste left in their mouth from Luna-1 but when given a chance these stories still hold up very well. In-fact the biggest point of criticism I can levy against the cursed earth saga is that it happened to soon after Luna-1 and I would have preferred a little more time in mega city before leaving again.   I’m unsure if the writers felt there was nothing left to be done in Mega-City (an idea which has been proven to be very false) or if these were ideas for other stories which they adapted to Dredd but it is very interesting that Dredd spent very little time in mega-city one with 25 progs of cursed earth and 17 prog’s   of Luna one the original run spent nearly eight months of time showing the world inside of Mega-City One.            The cursed earth is a very self-containe

For people wanting a sampling of Dredd the mega collection is good, for collectors however the list below is far better Reading Order Welcome to Mega-Blog One, this blogs goal as explained in much more detail in our welcome is to review not just all Dredd comics but all Dredd related merchandise, films/fan films, and other Dredd related items, eventually the inevitable Judge Dredd tv series will also be reviewed here as well. This post is here just to provide an easy to reference reading order for those who want to collect every Judge Dredd story in existence, the complete case files do make things a lot easier for the modern fan, but it is still convenient to cross reference when the Judge Anderson, Chopper, and other Dredd series fit within the posts.  Also I will be reviewing Dredd stories in the following order so consider this a semi-release schedule as well. Additionally at the end I tried to compile the trade I am aware of into an easily readable l

         After Dredd failed to perform at the box office and before the upcoming series was announced, Judge Dredd: Mega-city one was announced the hope for more live action Judge Dredd seemed like a lost cause, and a group of fans took it upon themselves to make arguably the best, Judge Dredd film yet (that doesn’t even star Dredd). It takes the short prog about Judge Minty which introduced the concept of the long walk (essentially the worst retirement plan imaginable) and expands it into twenty seven glorious minutes. The costume design is top notch, taking inspiration from blending the over the top comic look they somehow made it look good and convincing in live action (A feat that many superhero films with larger budgets failed to do) I personally like the look better than either live action Dredd adaption do far. Speaking of costume design the one prop I wish we got to see more was the law-master, it looked really good, it’s a shame we never got a good long look at it.

Hello everyone,           A few years ago I was browsing craigslist when I decided to search for a pinball machine, if I saw one for a reasonable price, I thought i'd add one to my game room, this was a concept I hadn't floated by my wife yet, I was just bored searching. What I never thought would pop up as one of the first result was a Judge Dredd pinball machine, almost a days drive away for much more money than some inferior non branded pins which were closer by than this machine, I had to get it.         Pinball has always been a love of mine, but I had never considered a Judge Dredd machine's existence, even less had I considered the possibility of one existing before either of the movies, made in 1993, based entirely on the comics and oddly in the United States where I reside. I immediately showed my wife, attempting to be strategic I jokingly said, "honey, look what was posted on craigslist this morning" expecting a dismissal she took one lo

This is where it begins (Collects progs 2-60, Judge Dredd Annual 1981, and Walter the Wobot Prog 50-58)           (For new readers before purchasing the Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 1 I recommend checking out my previous post  Where To Start .) The stories in these early progs are easily summed up and formulaic but fun. Some baddies do something bad, Judge Dredd shows up, shoots/kills them all while shouting one liners, fictitious cuss words, and the end of each prog usually has a punchline of some sort. The art in the early stories varies almost as drastically as the writers, the first eight progs had five different writers between them. Still, there is some fun to be had. Also in these early case files Dredd lacks the square jawline and bulk he later possesses regularly. If this is your first exposure to Dredd it won’t matter but for the many fans who may consider reading some classic case files they will find it off-putting. This is one of many reasons

Hello everyone, A common problem with getting into any comic series is where to start. Whether it be batman, Superman, Spiderman or any other series the answer is quite often tricky. With many comics, especially older ones the early issues will have a very different tone, pace, and direction than any modern comic. For fellow huge comic fans, people who have come to accept this I usually recommend starting from the beginning, this is what I prefer to do because its often times very hard to move back to the beginning of a story once the story is well established in your perception in the middle, this often causes people to unfairly judge early stories in the same series they love because they feel more like proto-comics more than the stories they’ve come to love. Alternatively, when recommending somebody to start a long running series from the beginning it can be very discouraging for a potential fan to enjoy the older, child-focused stories of yesteryear. Many will write-off th

Hello everyone, This blog may be new and not feature very much yet but allow me to explain my vision. This blog will ultimately become the hub for all things Dredd and Mega-City one in general, including all Dredd trades and related comics, All Dredd Spin-off series (Anderson, Chopper, ect), Dredd Merchandise, Movies, Fan Films/Content, and Cosplay. I hope to achieve this through comprehensive resources for all information, reviews, and discussion. I also want to eventually post behind the scenes info on Dredd, possibly some Cosplay how to's, and review other works by prominent Dredd Writers.  Currently we release a new trade review every week and additional reviews for fan films, merchandise, audio dramas sprinkled  throughout the month.                                                          I intend to begin with all thirty complete case files available on the market in chronological order, but I will also discuss all the Judge Anderson, Chopper, and related s