http://www.scifinow.co.uk/top-tens/top-10-best-judge-dredd-comic-book-stories/ (http://www.scifinow.co.uk/top-tens/top-10-best-judge-dredd-comic-book-stories/)
Let the bitching commence!
To be fair, I quite respect the choices here - it's almost an 'alternative' list - I was pleasently surprised that the usual suspects are pretty much all absent.
Too bad the author blows it completely by giving Red Razors an 'honourable mention'....
And to begin the inevitable lists of our top tens, here's mine, in no particular order:
The Pit
Necropolis
Bury My Knee at Wounded Heart
The Midnight Surfer
Death of a Legend
America
Total War
The Judge Child Quest
Oz
Sin City
I've excluded Day of Chaos as it's too early to tell if this one will stand up to multiple rereads. It's also pretty heavily skewed towards the epics - I'm sure once I've had a think I'll be able to throw in a few more obscure short stories.
That was a pretty good list, and refreshingly different from the usual pre-1990 suspects, even if there were slips and inaccuracies (panel of Nimrod is from Total War not Brother's of the Blood, Edgar's nickname is J Edgar Hover, not Hoover, etc. etc.) but there's very little there to disagree with. A very nice piece.
I don't necessarily agree with every choice, but all too often these lists give the impression the comic ceased publication in 1996, so props to him for including so many modern classics.
Yep, was fully expecting the list to read:
Judge Child Quest
The Cursed Earth
Block Mania/Apocalypse War
Dead Man/Necropolis
The Day the Law Died
Judge Death/Judge Death Lives
Oz
Judgement Day
America
One token modern story - probably Tour of Duty/Origins
2000AD posted the link on Facebook and true to form the comments thread is full of moaning - 'Unforgiveable, where's Apocalypse War/Necropolis/Judgement Day/etctetc?' and the poor guy gets loads of flak for being 'obviously very young (?!) and a new Dredd reader' and is accused of 'skipping over everything that makes Dredd so wonderful.'
Which is a mite offensive, really. I don't see what age has got to do with it. I'm in my twenties and only joined the Good Ship Tharg in 2001 but I like to think I can recognise a good story when I read one, new or old.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 14 August, 2012, 03:19:06 PM
2000AD posted the link on Facebook and true to form the comments thread is full of moaning - 'Unforgiveable, where's Apocalypse War/Necropolis/Judgement Day/etctetc?' and the poor guy gets loads of flak for being 'obviously very young (?!) and a new Dredd reader' and is accused of 'skipping over everything that makes Dredd so wonderful.'
Which is a mite offensive, really. I don't see what age has got to do with it. I'm in my twenties and only joined the Good Ship Tharg in 2001 but I like to think I can recognise a good story when I read one, new or old.
Sometimes, just sometimes, over-enthusiastic fans can be a brand's worst enemy...
Yeah, but those commenters usually expose their lack of real knowledge by asking for stories like Judge Death Returns (sic).
Quote from: radiator on 14 August, 2012, 03:37:09 PM
Yeah, but those commenters usually expose their lack of real knowledge by asking for stories like Judge Death Returns (sic).
I use the term 'fans' very loosely ;)
There was another really great list of top Dredd stories in the DREDD article in the latest Empire mag - a list compiled by Matt Smith. A real mixture of classic stuff including, IIRC, Midnight Surfer, Day of Chaos, even Cry of the Werewolf!
That's a fine list, nicely illustrated too, as said Red Razors the only stinker
Some commentators are disagreeing with a writer's opinion piece? Scum!
It is difficult to narrow down a list to a top 10 but I think Judge Death Lives would have to be my number 1 choice.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 14 August, 2012, 02:52:08 PM
I don't necessarily agree with every choice, but all too often these lists give the impression the comic ceased publication in 1996, so props to him for including so many modern classics.
Yep, while the older epics/stories will always figure prominently in my top ten, its nice to be reminded that plenty of the modern stories are every bit as good as the oldies.
Intresting list. I myself would have put the Day the Law died on it, but that was the first Dredd book I got as a kid. An aunt of mine was visting England she knew I liked comics so she bought me this one. Don't think she knew quite what Dredd was. So only see it as a wow story. Not sure if I could break my memory of it from the 12 year old me to the 30 yrear old me now reading it. I'll have to asee. I got America on Order cause I like Judge Benny. So we'll see. Can't realy argue with it to much. 1 I'm from the US soooo I can only get my Dredd fix threw online ordering like Amazon. Still it's good to see a Dredd list of stories.
You know, Stevie's been reading since Prog 6 & his major quibble with this would be re: the inclusion of The Judge Child Quest & Judgment On Gotham over, say, The Finger of Suspicion, Judge Planet or Bethlehem.
Other than that there's some damn fine reading in there & no mistake!
QuoteEdgar's nickname is J Edgar Hover
Well, bugger me! I never noticed that. i always thought they called her 'J. Edgar Hoover', which is a bit of a shit nickname given it's just somebody else's full name.
There's actually a pretty balanced mix of old and new stories. From the comments above I wasn't expecting to see anything older than 1995, but they also have The Judge Child, Block Mania and others, as well as the newer ones.
Incidentally the picture of Nimrod isn't wrong, as that entry is not just Brothers of the Blood on its own but the whole arc of "Dredd's family"-type stories. (They did forget to credit Henry Flint though.)