Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man

[Le Fink]

Noam Chimpsky was fun, but I don't think I need any more talking ape stories, it's been done to death (by him and others). I'd rather see Niemand doing new stuff.

Too many intelligent ape stories... too many... TOO ... MANY... nope sorry not sure I understand that.

THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MANY TALKING APE STORIES...

...ever...

Ha, quite! Plus... I'm sure there was a hanging thread in that story that needs tying up. A malevolent manipulator who has it in for our Chimpsky but who is yet to be identified.

[nxylas]

Noam Chimpsky was fun, but I don't think I need any more talking ape stories, it's been done to death (by him and others). I'd rather see Niemand doing new stuff.

Too many intelligent ape stories... too many... TOO ... MANY... nope sorry not sure I understand that.

THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MANY TALKING APE STORIES...

...ever...

This seems like a good place to plug the revived Zarjaz, the first issue of which features an Ape Gang story written by me (don't know who the artist will be yet). Also, Brian Bolland has said that he wants to draw Noam Chimpsky, so look out for that some time around 2035.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

If a super intelligent monkey got a medical degree and started working for the NHS treating humans, would that make them a doctor or a vet?

[Funt Solo]

The egg!

[Proudhuff]

I had hoped for a lot more from  "Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man" tbh, possibly reading too much into the title?
The issue you listed didn't even register with me, but agree with a load of 'em.

The SJS and 'bad/bent' Judges are a troupe that needs new life but this wasn't it, the corruption at the heart of the system, almost addressed Maitland remains too.

I appreciate elsewhere there has been discussion about why every story ends with the re-set button being hit as far as the Justice Dept is concerned, and Dredd can't take the Long Walk 'again' but I do hope at some point we get a game changing shift.

[Funt Solo]

Justice Department corruption I've not liked:

1. Smiley Retcon - I was hiding in the walls all along, drinking tea out of china cups. Just ... too silly. And too British.
2. Religious Stealth Judges - a giant moon city tries to take over MC-1 - wah?! Why not just run your moon city successfully?
3. Secret Block Judges - it started well, but Dredd just up and killed them in a single day without breaking sweat. Too pathetic.


Justice Department corruption I've liked:

1. Cal. C'mon - who wouldn't be won over by Pat Mills taking over MC-1 and sentencing everyone to death?
2. The Penitent Man SJS welcome home squad. It was just bleakly realistic. Just in the news that past couple of years, there have multiple examples of corrupt police goon squads doing their own thing.
3. The quiet corruption that ended in Maitland's death. The street judges themselves have become self-serving. In some ways, it's a corruption that goes right to the top.
4. The Judda, if they count. Splitters!
5. That time Texas City almost took over. (If anything, it was all over too quickly.)
6. Sinfield's anti-Mutie takeover. What's the status of muties in the Meg at the moment, anyway?

[Max Headroom]

6. Sinfield's anti-Mutie takeover. What's the status of muties in the Meg at the moment, anyway?

I was wondering about this also. Are muties allowed into the Meg (with a permit) still, or are new arrivals just consigned to the townships near the Meg (which, I feel, goes against what was originally desired)? Certainly, many mutants did make it in and reside in the Meg to this day, but I feel the whole story-arc, brilliant and engaging though it was, did not decisively settle the question and ultimate ongoing fate of these unfortunates.

[BPP]

Considering that this is all as lame as "Judge Dredd: Regicide", my new suggestion for the identity of Ken Niemand has to be Arthur Wyatt & Rob Williams.  I don't know if anyone else has suggested that he could be more than one person, but remember: Niemand is an island.

I think it's pretty well established at this point that Mr Nobody is not an existing 2000AD script droid, and that the only reason he uses a pseudonym is to distinguish his comics work from his work in other media.

It's very unfortunate that Ken Niemand and another 2000ad writer get hospitalised at the same time then.

And very generous of the same 2000ad writer to give Ken credit for creating one of the most popular additions to Dreddverse in the last decade when it was he.

[Funt Solo]

You may as well be speaking in tongues. I don't even know how I know this word, but you're being an obscurant.

[IndigoPrime]

Indeed. Just come out and say something if you've got something to say.

As I've noted elsewhere, if Niemand is another script droid, then fair play, because his work doesn't read like anyone else's. And if he isn't, fair play for the same reason. And in both cases also, because his work is some of my favourite Dredd – one of the few that sit in that top tier and 'get' the character.

[Funt Solo]

"If ye pass a scarecrow, ye've come to far!"

[Richard]

What's the status of muties in the Meg at the moment, anyway?

I thought after Day of Chaos they were being encouraged to come to MC-1 to help with reconstruction.