Judge Dredd

[Daigohji]

Judge Dredd is one of those huge series that I've had an occasional interest in sampling, but have no idea where is a good place to start. There are currently 16 collected volumes of the stories from 2000AD, plus various spin-offs and cross-overs. Was Dredd good from the beginning, or is there a particular place I'm best jumping straight to?

[E. Randy Dupre]

It was good from the beginning, although the tone wasn't quite set in stone - once it started doing multi-issue, epic stories, it really ound its feet.

best places to start? I'd recommend the Apocalypse War and Oz collections. Apocalypse War is apparently contained in the book Case Files Vol 5, if you can't find the dedicated collected edition.

It's funny - 2000AD is one of those things I loved when I was a kid, that I carried on loving into my twenties and, despite dropping it a long, long time ago, keep on wanting to go back to. Unfortunately, on the rare occasion when I do decide to pick up a new issue, it's always disappointing.

I still love the old stuff, though.

[jonny5]

I quite enjoyed the novels as well.

In fact, now that i think about it, I bought an omnibus type collection of a bunch of them a few years back on a whim when I saw it in Chapters, but never got around to reading it. I should try and find where the heck that is.

Reading a 'book'....been a while since i did that.

[The Expanding Man]

It's funny - 2000AD is one of those things I loved when I was a kid, that I carried on loving into my twenties and, despite dropping it a long, long time ago, keep on wanting to go back to. Unfortunately, on the rare occasion when I do decide to pick up a new issue, it's always disappointing.

I still love the old stuff, though.

I'm with you here. I used to buy it every week back in the late 70's.

Right now is actually a pretty good point to jump back in - start with prog #1700. All new stories and pretty good too.

[BrianC]

I found out that these Dr. Who comics I have were done by people who worked on Judge Dredd, Pat Mills and John Wagner. How is their run on Dredd?

[E. Randy Dupre]

They're both integral to the strip, actually. Mills created the character and the basic concept, and pretty much Wagner's entire career has been Dredd - he's the driving force behind the series, even now, and has written the overwhelming majoity of the stories. Ultimately, no Wagner = no Dredd. Wagner's "run" is effectively the character's entire history.

[Zeether]

YOU BETRAYED THE LAWWWW

[JoshF]

LAAAWWWWWWWWWW!

[E. Randy Dupre]

Let us never speak of that abomination again.

[Mortificator]

Ah knew you'd say that.

Am I the only person who likes the comics, but didn't hate the movie?

I haven't read enough Dredd to know the best stuff to recommend, though... just various short stories and the Apocalypse War.

[sjewkestheloon]

For facism highlighted read 'America'. I also really like the Wastelands stories for sheer variety and spectacle.

Dredd was great from the start but doesn't have as much complexity. Great stuff for toilet reading one prog. at a time.

Edit: I seriously urge you to try Nemesis the Warlock, brilliant 2000AD.

[Daigohji]

I bought volume 5 of the Case Files as was recommended, and now I see why Judge Dredd has lasted so long. There's something compelling about a character who is completely dedicated to a code, even if it's a brutal one (I'm thinking Rorschach). I enjoyed almost every story in the volume I read: The Mega-Rackets, Block Mania and The Apocalypse War. The only thing I didn't like about the latter was that the Judges were both the police force and the entire military; it felt over-simplistic. The only story that didn't impress me was Judge Death Lives, which was too much of a straightforward rampage and felt a little thin.

I think I'll pick up some more Dredd. Any more recommendations for other 2000AD stories?