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Have I read all the JD Mega epics?

Started by marko10174, 12 October, 2017, 01:20:50 PM

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marko10174


Here's a list of what I've read, if you spot see any epics omitted I'd love to know what they are. Thanks creeps.

1. Call me Kenneth/Luna 1
2. Cursed earth saga
3. The day the law died.
4. Judge child quest.
5. Block mania/apocalypse war.
6. Dredd/Angel
7. City of the damned.
8. Oz (and all of Choppers stories)
9. The dead man/Necropolis.
10. America.
11. The hunting party.
12. Doomsday scenario.
13. The Pit.
14. Chief judges man.
15. Mandroid.
16. Brothers of the blood.
17. Total war.
18. Mechanismo.
19. The wilderlands.
20. Satan's island.
21. Origins.
22. Tour of duty.
23. Day of chaos.
24. Trifecta.
25. Dead zone.
26. Every empire falls.

I'm pretty sure that's it. I've read all of these (except America) for the first time this year. I'm making it my mission to read every Dredd epic.

Lobo Baggins

Judgement Day goes between America and the Hunting Party.

While it's not an epic, Destiny's Angels forms a link between at least two other mega-epics.
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

DrRocka

You're missing inferno/purgatory and Helter Skelter too, though many folk round here aren't keen on either. I like 'em, though, some fine Carlos art on both.
Never ever bloody anything ever

Lobo Baggins

Quote from: DrRocka on 12 October, 2017, 02:17:14 PM
You're missing inferno/purgatory and Helter Skelter too, though many folk round here aren't keen on either. I like 'em, though, some fine Carlos art on both.

Inferno has Psi-Judge Janus in it and she rewrote her time-line at the end of her Faustus storyline (or everything she did was just a daydream she was having in a break room or something), thus making it entirely possible that she erased Inferno from history in the process (or it was all a dream or something).
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

TordelBack

The main thing that's missing from that list would be the Democracy storyline, starting with 'Letter from a Democrat', and running across several years from 'Revolution' to 'Devil You Know' and 'Twlight's Last Gleaming'.  I'd argue that Alan Grant shorts like 'Politics', (maybe) 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' and 'John Cassavetes is Dead' are also parts of that story.  Perhaps not a mega-epic in terms of pacing, publication or page count, but it's the essential fabric within which Dead Man/Necropolis and to a lesser extent Inferno, Total War and Chief Judge's Man take place.

Tjm86

Would the two Judge Death stories not be needed as well then?  Arguably they lay the foundation for Necropolis, not to mention introducing Anderson.

TordelBack

True, true!  And then what about Judge Giant, you'd need to read 'Academy of Law' to understand the significance of his death in 'Block Mania', and then 'Giant' to understand the presence of his son in 'Necropolis', and if you're going to do that, you may as well throw in his Pappy in Harlem Heroes.  Sorry Marko, you're just going to have to start at Prog 1 and work forward, like the rest of us!

Lobo Baggins

Quote from: TordelBack on 12 October, 2017, 03:07:17 PM
I'd argue that Alan Grant shorts like 'Politics', (maybe) 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' and 'John Cassavetes is Dead' are also parts of that story.

Hey, speaking of maybe, maybe we should include the Maybe stories...
The wages of sin are death, but the hours are good and the perks are fantastic.

Tjm86

.... what Tordels said.  In spades.  (okay, skip Crusade but otherwise ...)

marko10174


  You've all reminded me of stories I forgot to add to my list. Judgement day, read, not one of my favourite epics. Helter skelter, crusade (terrible) democracy now, I own the JD Meg collection version, my second favourite Dredd novel. Read destinys angels, read all of PJ maybes stories including the great "Lady killer". Read Judge death, JD Lives, Revenge. I've not read inferno/purgatory yet, and I need to read that Giant story. What's the story in case files 29 featuring Death and Joe Dredd? that looks interesting.

marko10174


Actually, what am I talking about? I have read the Giant story "academy of the law" I own the first case files. I've just pulled it out and gave it a read now, completely forgot about it.

radiator

Depends on your definition of what constitutes an 'epic'. For me it was always a story that was 20+ episodes long and ideally has some sort of wider scope or stakes. So in my head it's:

Cursed Earth
The Day the Law Died
Judge Child
Apocalypse War (inc Block Mania)
Oz
Necropolis (inc all the Dead Man stuff)
Judgement Day
Wilderlands (inc Mechanismo)
The Pit
The Hunting Party
The Doomsday Scenario
Total War
Origins
Tour Of Duty
Day of Chaos

Richard

The Mechanismo Trilogy and The Tenth Planet, which lead into Wilderlands.

There's a complete list of stories on Wikipedia.

Frank

Quote from: radiator on 12 October, 2017, 07:24:02 PM
Depends on your definition of what constitutes an 'epic'. For me it was always a story that was 20+ episodes long and ideally has some sort of wider scope or stakes.

I agree with that definition*. I agree with your list too, although not much between Judgement Day and Tour Of Duty really fulfills the scope or stakes criteria**. The idea of the huge destruction porn epic seemed a bit threadbare after Necropolis.

The accidental, retrospective epic, Tour Of Duty is my favourite, because it's really a bunch of great stories stuck together. If you did the same with the Democracy/Necropolis *** period stories (as described above), it would be even better.


* Ideally, you end up with a different Chief Judge, too.

** Like the great stories suggested by others (above), the stories billed as epics from Wilderlands to Origins (inclusive) are really significant and/or very good stories, rather than The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (Total War's a partial exception). Necropolis left the Mega-epic with nowhere left to go in the stakes stakes, and the misfire of Judgement Day demonstrated that widening the scope to destroy a world we never really got to know or care about wasn't a viable option.

*** Maybe including Crazy Barry, Banana City, and the first run of Maybe stories too. I was thinking you could collect them under the title The Long Walk, and it occurred to me that's almost the title of Nelson Mandela's autobiography. The name predates Mandela's book - it's a reference to the phrase TAKE A LONG WALK OFF A SHORT PIER, isn't it?

radiator

I would definitely count The Pit as an epic. Low stakes, but for me it really broadened the scope of what could be done with a Dredd story, and when it was over, and all of the various subplots dovetailed beautifully, it felt truly epic.

And yeah, I include all the lead in and follow up stories as part of epics like Necropolis (in which I'd go waaaay back to include the Question of Judgement trilogy, Revolution!, Young Giant, Twilight's Last Gleaming etc etc) and Doomsday and Tour of Duty would include perhaps dozens of individual stories or mini arcs, whereas you could argue that 'The Judge Child' encompasses not just The Fink and Destiny's Angels, but also City of the Damned (which to me doesn't really justify itself as a 'mega epic' in it's own right) and ending over a decade later in 'In the Year 2120'.