Helter Skelter

[The Monarch]

put it another how can he writer preacher and then write this?

[Proudhuff]

I re-read that irish tale recently and it its too bad...played for laughs of course.

[Buddy]

put it another how can he writer preacher and then write this?

Hint - Preacher wasn't really that good either.

[JOE SOAP]

Hint - Preacher wasn't really that good either.

Wasn't really that bad either.

[The Monarch]

yeah at least preacher has its moments

[JayzusB.Christ]

Yeah, i enjoyed Preacher.  Little bit repetetive near the end, though - just how many bumrapes and castrations can happen in such a short space of time?

[Richmond Clements]

just how many bumrapes and castrations can happen in such a short space of time?

Come to HiEx and find out!

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'm there, dude

[Mike Gloady]

Those last three posts had me wheezing with laughter.  Ta Lord/Lordship!

[jamesedwards]

One thing Helter Skelter doesn't get credit for is the sheer breakneck pacing and absolutely wonderful absurdity it opens with. Ennis was clearly reaching into other influences like his love of Hong Kong heroic bloodshed and American westerns. Many may not like the idea of cult action flicks in their Judge Dredd, but I don't mind the idea of Judge Dredd in my cult action flicks. I remember the opening episodes being a giddy blur of Cal Judges getting blown away John Woo style and Dredd taking out H-Wagons with his handgun. It certainly slowed later, but Ennis and Ezquerra need to be acknowledged in my mind for making ink and paper feel more thrilling to view than a moving image.

It's a bit of a paradox, really - 2000ad is very often artistically hamstrung by the inherent conservatism and nostalgia of the fanbase and creators (wasn't this right at the cusp of the regretable period where tosh like the VCs and the original, boring Rouge Trooper were being brought back?) and Helter Skelter certainly slots neatly into that trend, but the actual take on Dredd himself is radical and refreshing. I prefer Ennis' softer, more citizen-focused over Grant or Rennie's punative and awful dull Judgey. The character doesn't feel the same as Wagner Dredd, which is unsatisfying if you're more interested in the Dredd uber-arc Wagner's been plotting for nearly three decades. That's unavoidable.

[radiator]

I was reading a synopsis of the Virgin Dredd novel Dread Dominion the other day and noticed some pretty big similarities between that and Helter Skelter.

Joe and Rico Dredd: clone brothers who chose to live on different sides of the law. 37 years ago, Dredd arrested his twin in Cafe Cesare and condemned him to life as a cyborg on the prison moon Titan. Now the Cafe seems to be at the heart of a wave of hallucinations sweeping Mega-City One. People are being tortured and killed by a man who calls himself Chief Judge Dread. To save his world, Judge Dredd must cross to another dimension where Judge Caligula is the Governor of New Rome and Anderson and Giant lead anti-Judge rebels. A dimension in which history took one very wrong turn.

[Jim_Campbell]

It's a bit of a paradox, really - 2000ad is very often artistically hamstrung by the inherent conservatism and nostalgia of the fanbase

My problem with Helter Skelter wasn't inherent conservatism, but the fact that Dredd basically did nothing but ride around on his bike for episode after episode, watching stuff happen and occasionally shooting something!

Cheers

Jim

[Mike Gloady]

Yeah, I liked it reasonably well, but I'm in agreement with Jim's plot synopsis. 

And YES, having read Dread Dominion, there's a definite connection there, wonder if Ennis had read it?

[Pete Wells]

Nice first post though James, welcome to the board fella.

[jamesedwards]

Thanks! I can sympathise with some of the issues people have (I seem to recall the pacing goes to shite near the end, be a few days before I get my hands on the back copies) and it's entirely possible I'll revise my opinion on Helter Skelter like I have of my opinon of the early 1990s progs*. The oomph the strip opened with, though... I'd like to see that more in comics, but perhaps not too much, at least not in Dreddverse strips. Every time Judge Dredd spends more than five pages shooting constantly it does a lot to detach the strip from the cerebral aspect that makes him more than just some generic, inflexible Punisher wannabe.

* Hey! Mark Millar's work is very haunting and resonant if you're ten years old