Judge Dredd

[DJ-Panic]

Hey all, thought you guys might be able to help me out.

I've heard alot of good things about Dredd comics over the years, and was wondering if there are any TPB's or Graphic Novel's you guys would recommend me to start with since I've never read anything, the only thing I've seen is the Stallone movie (which I gather sucked compared to the comics, but since I've never read the comics I thought it was alright :P)

[heavysoul]

I think DC releases the tpbs here.

[The Adventurer]

Judge Dredd, appears weekly in the UK comic magazine 2000 AD, ususaly in short 8 page one shots, or multi issue arcs that can last 3 to 10 issues. He also appears monthly in the Judge Dredd Megazine in long one-shots and multi issue arcs. Dredd is one of the more long running characters in comic history, having appeared weekly in 2000 AD since issue #2 and the current issue is #1457.

As a character I like Dredd, not because he is deep, but more because he's the perfect vehical to expore his Distopian Cyberpunk future world.


As far as reprints are consired, DC released a pair Dredd TPBs, Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death and Judge Dredd: Judgement Day. Neither is actualy a very good "jumping on" point, though Dredd Vs. Death is an excelent primer for the most part. You really get a feel for Dredd's world, but it's content is over 20 years old, the strip has changed alot since then.

2000 AD as a whole line has had a heck of alot of content over the years, some of it that has been reprinted through DC recently, most of it excelent. A complete list of all the Trade DC released can be found here (http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?cat=2000+AD) of which I can recomend the highest...

Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty (http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2389\)
Nikolai Dante: The Great Game (http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2722)
Robo-Hunter: Verdus (http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2397)


Now, while DC is no longer putting out Trades, 2000 AD's company, Rebellion has picked up the ball and is running with it. In the last few months new 2000 AD trades have solicited, including a new Judge Dredd trade Judge Dredd: Devil's Island and Judge Dredd: Total War both of which are much newer reprint matterial. And in a month or so they're going to solicit Judge Dredd Case Files Volume 1 a cheap reprint volume that will reprint Judge Dredd from the begining in order.

And of course you can order 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine through diamond through Rebellion's listing section. Four issues of 2000AD a month, and the Megazine once a month. Also, the reprint mag, 2000 AD Extreme Edition which comes out every two months that reprints older 2000 AD work that wouldn't get a trade in another case, sometimes Dredd tales get reprinted, sometimes something else.

Well I've rambled on a bit, but I've just recently discovered I have a deep love for 2000 AD, and become one of it's larger US supporters here on CBR and other Comic forums, so I always look for a chance to push the line to thoughs interested. Just doing my part.

PS: Make sure to check out the 2000 AD Home Page (www.2000adonline.com) that's a GREAT resource for all of 2000 AD publications and properties.

[davidboring]

I've got a massive collection of 2000 ads. I think the must read Dredd stories are Apocalypse War, America and the Cursed Earth Saga.

[davidboring]

I'll just add, if your looking for Dredd trades, amazon UK has a hecka lot more than amazon.com.

Anyway, I get a bit depressed thinking about 2000ad now, because no kids read it anymore! 10 years ago, when I was at a teenager school, all my friends collected 2000ad. Now only a few people in their 20s and 30s buy it, and theres no young fanbase. I wonder how long its gonna last.

[The Adventurer]

Ultimatly Adults reading comics in the norm where ever you go, it's a big problem that doesn't seem to have a quick fix of any kind.

At any rate the guys over a Rebellion seem to think 2000 AD still has legs, they've really ramped up their Trade Paperback program in loo of DC dropping them, and the Weekly is top notch stuff, I'm really digging Savage and Leatherjack and the new Robo-Hunter stuff. And Dredd's good most of the time too. And I'm absoultly devoring everything the Extreme Editions reprint. I love early 2000 AD, I hope stuff like Nemesis the Warlock and Ace Truck Co. get reprints some day.

[Emagine]

Does anyone know if Nemesis The Warlock Book X - The Final Conflict was ever produced as a stand alone graphic novel? I can't seem to track it down on the web . . .

[The Adventurer]

These are all the trades ever published for Nemisis the Warlock (http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=reprint&page=gnprofiles&choice=nemesis1)

The 2000 AD Website (www.2000adonline.com[/url) is the single best resource for finding out what's been published and when. It's archinve is extensive and cross reveranced to the HILT.



Apparently, Book X never got reprinted. And I've just noticed that Book 2 never got reprinted until the lattest Titan Hard Cover, it got skiped in the orginal paper back run.

[WoDMan]

I'd recommend having a look at the 2000ad official website and their forum. There's a good history and biogs, etc. available on most characters, and if you can't find what you're looking for then one of the message board members is bound to be able to help you.

Cheers,
WoD

[The Adventurer]

How many people actualy read 2000 AD regulary? Anyone?

I'm currently being totaly blown away by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard's Savage. Bill Savage is one crazy mother, he is essily the most badass and most disturbed Psycopath out there. He'd kick the Punisher's ass.

Great writing, FANTASTIC art (Seriously, Charlie Adlard's impressed me on the Walking Dead, but Savage is Heads and Tails above that. Seriously check out his work, it's GORGEOUS (http://www.2000ad.org/artwork/?choice=WAKE&gallery=CHARLIEA))

[Babylon23]

I've been an on-again off-again reader of 2000AD for about 20 years. I haven't really read much of the recent crop. I was wondering if there's been any ABC Warriors stuff in the last 5 years or so. This was always my favourite back in the old days.

[The Adventurer]

There was an ABC Warriors yarn about a year and a half ago, ABC Warriors: The Shadow Warriors Book 2 Ran from prog 1400 - 1405. It was the second half of The Shadow Warriors Book 1 from Progs 1336 to 1341. There's a 3rd book in works. But it's been a while. Soon I hope.

The 2nd book was drawn by Henry Flint, who is AMAZING. His work on Shakara and Low Life in particular are fantastic. I only got to read the 2nd book, so the story was a bit confusing.


The book is EXCELENT right now, I can't think of a single story in it that "sucks". Everything has it's merits, and most are just plain good.

[WoDMan]

The Adventuring Dog is right...2000AD is on a high at the minute, in fact, the last 2-3 months have been amongst the best in a long time...check it out.

I'm not sure what the readership is though...I'll check on the tooth board and let you know, someone will have the answer...

[mgs]

I still love to check out the 2000AD book/mags once in a while and if a particular story catches my eye, I'll pick it up.

Anyways, the purpose of my bumping this thread up is, When do you think Dredd will die? I mean, his character is supposed to relate to real world time, so that makes him like 73yo by now, I think, around there.

Do you think he's ever gonna die? And how would the publisher keep him around for a longer life than other human beings, even in his future world?

[The Batman]

I imagine that they'll keep using youth serums and regeneration chambers and clone bodies to keep him around. That or we'll start to see "Legends of Judge Dredd" stories that are out of continuity.

He's too profitable for Rebellion? Titan? to go away.

[mgs]

I imagine that they'll keep using youth serums and regeneration chambers and clone bodies to keep him around. That or we'll start to see "Legends of Judge Dredd" stories that are out of continuity.

He's too profitable for Rebellion? Titan? to go away.

yeah, that's what I thought. ;) But I thought that drug and clone thing was illegal in his world? and anyways, he ages even if there is no comic of him, just like real life time, so, I suspect they'll have to do something soon.

[The Adventurer]

Dredd just had his 50th Birthday in Prog 1536, in the one off strip Fifty-Year Man (his "real time" in-comic birthday. 2000AD is 30 years old this year) and he's still kicking ass just fine. I'm pretty sure Rebellion can get another 10 years out of the guy before questions about his aging become too unignorable.

On possible rejuvenation or cloning, I don't think the Justice Department fools with rejuvenation treatments, I know their illegal for cits. Cloning wise, Dread actually has a couple of clones of himself running around currently. Judge Rico, a Judge cloned from Dredd's DNA, named after Dredd's dead clone brother Rico (See The Return of Rico (http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=thrillviewer&choice=rico) for details) who, like Dredd, was cloned from the DNA of Chief Judge Fargo, the father of the Justice Department. And Dolman, who was also cloned from Dredd's DNA to be a Judge, but he chose to quit the academy and find his own path as an ordinary Cit, or as ordinary as a teen cloned from the DNA of Judge Dredd can be. There may be other Dread clones in the Academy, the Justice Department doesn't bother to inform Dredd about what their doing with his DNA all the time. See the Brothers of the Blood GN for details on Rico and Dolman. It's a good TP.

Dredd was replaced by a clone back during the Necropolis Mega-Epic, when he was roaming around the Cursed Earth with amnesia as The Dead Man while Judge Death was busy destroying Mega City One with the help of the Clone who had gone a bit nutter.

Did I mention that I've become a bit of a Judge Dredd fanatic in the last two years? Man, look at those old posts of mine. Everyone should check out the Complete Judge Dredd Case Files series of TPs (currently on Volume 8), reprinting JD from the beginning and in order. Even though they are older, they age extremely well. Vintage Action/Adventure at it's best.

[mgs]

thanks for all that info Adventurer! :)

[The Adventurer]

Double Posting for the LOSE

[The Adventurer]

thanks for all that info Adventurer! :)

That's what I'm here for. :D

[The Adventurer]

Something seems broken here, the thread didn't bump...

[The Batman]

yeah, that's what I thought. ;) But I thought that drug and clone thing was illegal in his world? and anyways, he ages even if there is no comic of him, just like real life time, so, I suspect they'll have to do something soon.

Don't they have some kind of a rejuvenation chamber technology or something?

It's been a long time since I've read any Dredd stuff so I'm a little fuzzy.

[The Batman]

Just checked Wikipedia out. If you go here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dredd#Family_and_Associates) it says that Dredd's "vitality is explained in the context of the stories with allusions to rejuvenation treatments. For some time, characters in the comic have mentioned that Dredd is not as young and fit as he used to be."

There's also talk about clones of Dredd made by the Chief Judges.

[The Adventurer]

Don't they have some kind of a rejuvenation chamber technology or something?

It's been a long time since I've read any Dredd stuff so I'm a little fuzzy.

Justice Department makes use of "Sleep Machines" which let Judges get a full nights sleep in about 10 minutes. No rejuvenation that I recall. There are also some bionic replacements done, but only in unobtrusive ways (eyes, lungs, etc) Justice Dept could make all their Judges Cyborg super-men, but they don't want cits worrying that they're being ruled by inhuman machines

[The Batman]

Well then I don't know what to tell you then. I seem to remember mention of rejuvenation treatments from my days as a 2000AD reader; the Wiki article mentions them too, and Dredd seems pretty spry for a guy in his mid-sixties.

[The Batman]

Judge Dredd Comes to Dynamite Entertainment (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080627-WWCDynamiteDredd.html)


The Judge is coming back to the shores of NorthAm.

Okay – to translate, Dynamite Entertainment has landed the rights from Rebellion to produce an original Judge Dredd comic aimed at an American audience, with Garth Ennis and John Wagner as Dredd’s likely creators/overseers.

No – get the Sylvster Stallone movie out of your head. Comic-wise, Judge Dredd is the longest running strip in the UK’s 2000AD, created in 1977 by John Wagner, his editor Pat Mills and artist Carlos Ezquerra. Dredd is the most famous of MegaCity One’s Judges, law enforcement officers who act as judge, jury and executioner in the hyper-violent giant city of the future. In the UK, it could be easily argued that Judge Dredd has followed in the footsteps of Doctor Who, becoming a unique cultural icon.

Original Dredd comics have been seen in the American market before, notably when DC Comics produced two series mostly starring an alternate version of Judge Dredd in the mid ‘90s to lackluster sales. Dynamite’s plans to involve Ennis (who’s written many classic Dredd stories in the past) and Wagner are aimed at reaching a broader audience by staying true to the character.

Nick Barrucci, President of Dynamite Entertainment said that the deal with Rebellion is something that he’s been hoping to work out since he started the company.

“I had stopped by Garth Ennis’ apartment one day to talk about some of his other work, and Rebellion came up,” Barrucci says. “I told him that I had wanted to publish Judge Dredd in the United States for a while and had not had any luck in reaching the right person at Rebellion. Garth told me that he was in touch with one of the editors over there, Matt Smith, on a somewhat regular basis, and offered to reach out to him. Garth made the introduction, smoothed the way for us a bit, and from there, we started working with Rebellion’s business affairs, and we started the ball rolling. We’ve been working on this for the last four months, at this point.”

Barrucci says that Dynamite’s plan is to start with a new Judge Dredd series featuring all new stories in early to mid 2009. While Dynamite does have access to other Rebellion properties, Barrucci feels that focusing on Judge Dredd at the start will allow an audience to build. Once the audience is there, Dynamite will both look at bringing in other characters as well as releasing collections of earlier Dredd storylines, repackaged for an American audience.

The new stories will have an American flavor, Barrucci says, thanks to Ennis. “What we’re hoping for, and I’m putting the cart before the horse here a little, is to approach John Wagner, who is the voice of Judge Dredd, to write it, and in a perfect world, have Garth serve as a consultant, much like Quentin Tarantino on Crimson Tide. It will be all John, but Garth, having lived in America for the last few years, will be there to help make it work for an American audience.

“Don’t get me wrong - that’s something that’s always been tricky – making Judge Dredd work for an American audience, while being consistent and true to the character. We want to create an audience for Judge Dredd – by creating a great monthly, like we did for Red Sonja, when we move forward with the trade paperbacks and collections of the evergreen material, we can reach a larger audience.”

While Barrucci said it’s too early to talk about interior artists, he did confirm that classic Judge Dredd artist Brian Bolland an Alex Ross will contribute covers.

Thoughts?

Do you think this is going to replace Progs or supplement them for a lot of people?

[Dr. Ghost]

Honestly, I'd prefer reprint comics.
I'd buy those.

I know that on the UK Amazon site they sell Dredd trades, right?
I'll probably buy that.

edit: I'll probably check this out.

[mauisunset]

Hey all, thought you guys might be able to help me out.

I've heard alot of good things about Dredd comics over the years, and was wondering if there are any TPB's or Graphic Novel's you guys would recommend me to start with since I've never read anything, the only thing I've seen is the Stallone movie (which I gather sucked compared to the comics, but since I've never read the comics I thought it was alright :P)


Hey, I'm not one to be bitchy about straying off course, but I opened an email to my LCS when I saw this thread because I was hoping to get some good suggestions.

If anyone's read any of the currently-available-in-America trades, could you please reccomend a few. You Brits always talk about how you love you some Dredd, but I've only read a few random stories and I'm sure in that many years of constant publication, not everything's gonna shine.

Anyway, I'd like to know what the really cornerstone stories are, even if I might not get all the continuity.

Thanks, I'll leave the email open and wait for suggestions!