Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 1

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 I believe it is best to start with the early issues if possible, because moving back is so difficult for established readers.

           The first compelling reason to read the first complete case file comes nine progs into this volume (the 10^th prog overall as 2000 AD’s first pro featured no Dredd). Robot wars was the first major Dredd event, spanning progs 10-17. It introduces a running theme of sympathetic antagonists and unsympathetic protagonists which Judge Dredd and John Wagner is known for. Within the first page our heartstrings are pulled at by this story and it is the first time we feel sorry for the “Villains” of the story. many lesser writers would have the mistreated robots be the protagonists or even have Judge Dredd become an advocate for robot rights. In some lesser writers hands the machines may have been portrayed as evil and human hating, but in Wagner’s hands we literally are shown a robot crying, and begging not to be tossed into a furnace with the only sympathy we get from our “hero” is a single line saying “I prefer old fashioned robots: stupid things with no feelings. They cause no problems!” To add to it this “sympathetic” line may just be a complaint of how much a hassle the new robots are to when compared to the old and not any actual compassion for the machine being melted in front of him.

A good hero is hard to beat, and a good villain is hard to beat, so why not combine them?” - John Wagner

           Also Robot wars introduced Judge Dredd’s first secondary re-accruing character and Judge Dredd’s first un-official sidekick, Walter the Robot, who is featured in a few of his own stories also included in this volume. Walter is an annoyance to some readers but I personally love every panel of comedy relief that the first free robot dishes out, although I could do without his speech impediment. Additionally the art throughout robot wars is a nice improvement over the earlier progs. If there is one reason to purchase this volume it’d be for this arc.

         After that there is a series of random progs with varying quality, The best of these is a lesser spoken of story containing just two parts, Mutie the Pig. It’s brief and to the point but the story and final panel of the story has stuck with me for years.

        The prog that stood out and disappointed me the most though was the prog introducing judge Dredd’s brother Rico, now the prog was just fine, but I was surprised by how little about Rico was mentioned in future progs for a very long time, his is the character which was the main villain for the Sylvester Stallone film, perhaps my expectations were to high but I left disappointed.

        Now it’s time to talk about the elephant in Volume 1. The entire Luna-1 Saga is a black spot on the franchise. While I don’t hate every part of this saga more often than not it just feels off, As a modern day reader most everyone entering reading this of course knows that Dredd will return to mega-city one, and that does damage the story because it feels like a waiting game, even when the prog’s are good, it just feels to different from Dredd’s core concepts. This introduces many important threads which will be weaved into the narrative later, the soviet mega-cities, Luna-1 outposts, and more all return in some capacity, unfortunately these great moments are between highly forgettable moments such as the southern drawls the moon judges have or the concept of war being fought consisting of only five judges, a fact which is forgotten as soon as the page turns and future wars break out.

The Moon = Texas

         By the end of the volume we only get two more mega-city stories which would bug me more if the next major event in Dredd wasn’t the cursed earth saga, a story about relocating our protagonist which actually makes sense within the confines of the story. I’ll be reviewing it in my complete case files volume 02 review. Be sure to keep reading.

2.5/5 The very first volume collects the first Dredd stories, When the series hits this early on it hits a bulls-eye, unfortunately for every bulls-eye is a complete miss. I recommend long-term fans pick it up to learn the history of Dredd, as for new readers, If one enjoys the camp and old comics, there is plenty to go around, if not I suggest starting a few volumes later at number 5. The bones of judge Dredd can be found in this volume but much like his missing jawline and bulky muscles these stories just aren’t fully developed.