Judge Dredd: Mega-Blog One

2000 AD Annual 1984 and 2000 AD Progs 416-427, 468-478, 520-531, 607-609, 612-622, 635-647, 657-659, 669-670, 712-717,758-763, + Judge Corey, 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 1989) Judge Anderson: The psi files volume 01 is a tough volume to place in the timeline. Just look at the above progs included to see why. Some Anderson stories were released nearly 100 progs apart from each other. I personally would have preferred they be included in the Dredd complete case files in their appropriate positions, but this works as well. The main point of interest about Anderson stories is because her comics were not regulars in 2000 her stories are longer than the average Judge Tale (they clock in at 5-15 progs long)          Unfortunately, this case file is so incomplete that that they didn’t even title it the complete case files. Anderson's Shamballa isn’t included along with a series of other Dredd Annual stories are missing. With that said it is forgivable that...

2000 AD  Progs 322-375       Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 07 carries the legacy that 06 started, no epic arcs are to be found in these pages, unlike volume 06 though where the majority of the progs were dealing with the apocalypse war aftermath this volume begins to return to the original format with less connected progs the average story here being about 4 in length. For me the standout progs were “Cry of the Werewolf” It has great art and watching the Judges fight the classic movie monsters is good fun. I also loved the graveyard shift. At seven parts it really is just like a bunch of individual four-page progs which Ron Smith decided to tie into one interconnected block. I Do love this format when it is implemented, similar to the mega-rackets found in the complete case files 05. It makes what would be throwaway progs that would be drowned out a little more memorable, a little more special and a little harder to forget about. They cover a wide...

2000 AD Progs 271-321 As if the apocalypse war in itself wasn’t epic enough the complete case files 06 doubles down on the concept as John Wagner, Alan Grant, and the guest writers/artists spend almost the entire volume (about a year when it was originally published) dealing with the aftermath of the war itself. This is a good thing because when half the city is destroyed it needs to mean something, otherwise stories would be meaningless. There is a lot of great progs in this volume, which makes it a great read but tough to write without spoiling them, a normal comic issue has a much longer page count than an individual prog which sometimes are a complete story unto themselves. The fatties make a few returns in there best appearances yet)and arguably ever) as their entire way of life is put at risk with the food shortages. I also particularly love blobs, it is the kind of weird fashion which I would expect from mega-city one, I actually wish that blobs were more re-occu...

Finally the time to review it is here, the complete case files 05. This is the volume where Dredd becomes great and I went from a casual reader snagging the occasional volume to an obsessed madman who had to buy everything. This is the volume that made me a true fan of Dredd.            The reason this is my choice of volume for new readers kicks off in the start with the mega-rackets, a series of short two prog arcs only connected because they seem to be addressing every day problems for judges in the mega-city instead of new grand threats, these establish a tone of mega-city well with short one note stories, (In mega-city one Candy is addictive!) they don’t need to be large scale, we get that later in the book, they just need to establish how ridiculous mega-city one is and in that they succeed.  One note, but fun! The only story which isn’t for new readers in this volume is Judge Death Lives! A great arc for fans of Judge Death a...

  2000 AD Progs 156-207            The complete case files 04 is home to nobodies favorite Dredd arc the judge child. The judge child is a simple story which would have worked fine if it was 4-6 progs long but instead it stretches to over 20 progs and a story like this doesn’t need that much room to breathe. It is all about Dredd hunting down a kid which the psi-judges tell him is incredibly important, unfortunately he has been kidnapped to the cursed earth, ok solid premise, but then the remaining progs feel like anime filler episodes, things technically happen but it never matters overall.  He is the chosen one, because we said so          Some of the events which happen feel like the cursed earth did to be honest, very episodic in nature but on average they are a lot less fun. The judge child fails in the way the cursed earth saga succeeded. They both have a lot of episodic encounters for Dredd to fight his ...

(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 ...

(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.     ...

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...