Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Jim_Campbell]

I think Angelic is a tale about the versions of the Angels from the Stallone film

I'm pretty sure it's not.

[abelardsnazz]

I found Stars of Psi Division to be a middling issue. The Karyn stories had some good ideas and great atmospheric art from Adrian Salmon. With Janus, Paul Johnson's art reminded me of John Burns at times. The main character is annoying though, and I was enjoying Faustus until the ending was completely fumbled. And with Juliet November, I guess there was only one way her story could have ended, although I liked how it got there in Phoenix Falling.

Going with Barney for Fallen Angels content, Angelic and Before they wuz Dead account for 66 pages, any ideas on the rest?

[Dark Jimbo]

Going with Barney for Fallen Angels content, Angelic and Before they wuz Dead account for 66 pages, any ideas on the rest?

Angelic has appeared more than Barney (currently) says it has, so you can double its page count for a start. And after 'Before they Wuz dead' Spurrier and Roberts reunited for a solo Fink tale 'Pizen Impossible' for another 25 or so pages.

As for the rest... Marshall, Reynolds and Goddard almost certainly suggests Rennie's brief solo Mean Machine run from the Megazine. That's another 56 pages.

[IndigoPrime]

I found Stars of Psi Division to be a middling issue.

I'm fully expecting another 'read and burn' (so to speak) with that one. Those stories mostly weren't much cop the first time round, and so I can't imagine they've aged well. (I've had a few surprises in this run – notably Creep – but for the most part, dreck remains dreck. And I could happily have done without Heavy Mob, Klegg Hai!, Calhab Justice, Cursed Earth Carnage, most of Mean Machine, and Behind the Iron Curtain, too. Still, in a series of 80 books, three stinkers and three very much mediocre books isn't too bad a hit rate – and it certainly betters what I got out of the equivalent number of books in the Marvel collection.)

[abelardsnazz]

Going with Barney for Fallen Angels content, Angelic and Before they wuz Dead account for 66 pages, any ideas on the rest?

Angelic has appeared more than Barney (currently) says it has, so you can double its page count for a start. And after 'Before they Wuz dead' Spurrier and Roberts reunited for a solo Fink tale 'Pizen Impossible' for another 25 or so pages.

As for the rest... Marshall, Reynolds and Goddard almost certainly suggests Rennie's brief solo Mean Machine run from the Megazine. That's another 56 pages.

Thanks, that about covers it, along with, at a guess, a couple of one-offs by Robin Smith and Dean Ormston.

I found Stars of Psi Division to be a middling issue.

I'm fully expecting another 'read and burn' (so to speak) with that one. Those stories mostly weren't much cop the first time round, and so I can't imagine they've aged well. (I've had a few surprises in this run – notably Creep – but for the most part, dreck remains dreck. And I could happily have done without Heavy Mob, Klegg Hai!, Calhab Justice, Cursed Earth Carnage, most of Mean Machine, and Behind the Iron Curtain, too. Still, in a series of 80 books, three stinkers and three very much mediocre books isn't too bad a hit rate – and it certainly betters what I got out of the equivalent number of books in the Marvel collection.)

Agreed on HM, CEC and BtIC. Independent Operators and The World At Law didn't do much for me either, but a couple of the stories in Klegg Hai elevated it for me. I have a soft spot for Calhab, and Mean Machine including Dredd Angel, Travels with muh Shrink and Son of Mean puts it well up in the top half for me.

Still no update on the extension - anyone in the know reading this?

[Tjm86]

That's an unusual image of Pa Angel. Granted we account for different art styles and we had the image of him younger in the intro story to Finish but it's an odd one. Is it meant to be Paid when younger but before the events of Judge Child.

It's Lee Carters's take on the character from the last couple of years in the Meg.  IIRC it is a pre JCQ tale.  Mr Carter's art suits it perfectly.

I found Stars of Psi Division to be a middling issue.

My subscription copies turned up this morning and on a quick flick through, I'd go with that too.  Some of these tales are from the nether-days of the nineties.  Not quite the worst but ...  I suppose fleshing out the PSI division world is perhaps not the worst idea on the face of the planet and we've had worse.  I'd agree with IP that the choice has been more often than not on the side of quality.

The accompanying note about the final print has also included a bit of a sweetener to try and keep us premium subscribers interested; a Dave Kendall print to round it off.  Guess they really are going to go through with it then.  News about the final ten volumes would get me off the fence though.  Tempting as a Kendall print is and better value seeing as it is only 10 rather than 14 issues worth, it would be nice to have some idea of what they might involve.  A final Index / Dreddworld overview / thematic timeline volume would go a long way towards swaying me, even if a large chunk of it was reprinting some of the material from annuals and specials; the old Gibson sales guide, the Lawmaster diagram, the Cursed Earth map ...  If someone could tempt Mr Wagner / Grant into writing a new piece about how they've seen the evolution of the character over the years and even their thoughts on some of the newer writers' takes on Dredd then that would be a clincher.  I'd also like a unicorn if there are any going!   

[Tomwe]

Got the Dave Kendall letter too, but as I'm not a premium subscriber I guess a DM is in order to make sure I'm not gonna suddenly pay more.

[Geoff]

A final Index / Dreddworld overview / thematic timeline volume would go a long way towards swaying me, even if a large chunk of it was reprinting some of the material from annuals and specials; the old Gibson sales guide, the Lawmaster diagram, the Cursed Earth map ...  If someone could tempt Mr Wagner / Grant into writing a new piece about how they've seen the evolution of the character over the years and even their thoughts on some of the newer writers' takes on Dredd then that would be a clincher.  I'd also like a unicorn if there are any going!   

The other stuff would be fantastic (especially the unicorn!) but at the very least an index should be provided for the set. 

Fixed broken quote – IP

[The Legendary Shark]

An index would probably be too expensive to compile, arrange, design and typeset. I guess one option would be to outsource the work to fan volunteers, then either prevail upon Hachette to publish it (enticing them with free content) or putting it on a Print on Demand site or into a printable pdf (eg.) file.

The first step would be to design a blank database asking for specific information. Volunteers would then download the database and be assigned specific volumes to analyse - ideally doubling or tripling up in order to highlight any discrepancies or mistakes.

[EDazzling]

My Stars of Psi-Division hasn't arrived yet, but looking at the wiki, did it really skip Karyn: Concrete Sky and Janus: House of Sighs?

[Geoff]

An index would probably be too expensive to compile, arrange, design and typeset. I guess one option would be to outsource the work to fan volunteers, then either prevail upon Hachette to publish it (enticing them with free content) or putting it on a Print on Demand site or into a printable pdf (eg.) file.

The first step would be to design a blank database asking for specific information. Volunteers would then download the database and be assigned specific volumes to analyse - ideally doubling or tripling up in order to highlight any discrepancies or mistakes.

I suppose it might be expensive to design, typeset and publish etc but they must surely have the information/content for it already. They decided on which stories to put in the mega collection and which volumes they were going to put them in, so all the data is there already. It would be nice to have it in a smart little published volume but if they can't be bothered to do that, then just making the information available for us to print, as the Shark says, would help.   

[oddballuk]

My Stars of Psi-Division hasn't arrived yet, but looking at the wiki, did it really skip Karyn: Concrete Sky and Janus: House of Sighs?

Nope, they're both in there.

[EDazzling]

Excellent, was worried I'd made a horrible mistake selling those Meg floppies and buying this for a second!

I just noticed Dean Ormston and Si Spencer on the Fallen Angels cover. Can't see anything related they've done, so are they putting some Harke & Burr in there to bulk it up? I wonder if it will be the stuff from the Meg Floppy, or maybe the Missionary Man crossover?

Hell, they might even put in the MM strips the collection already skipped. Make this an Angel Gang/Mean Machine/Cursed Earth Miscellany book.

[Dark Jimbo]

I just noticed Dean Ormston and Si Spencer on the Fallen Angels cover. Can't see anything related they've done, so are they putting some Harke & Burr in there to bulk it up? I wonder if it will be the stuff from the Meg Floppy, or maybe the Missionary Man crossover?

One of Rennie's Mean Machine tales had Harke and Burr exhibiting him in a Cursed Earth travelling carnival, so that idea makes a lot of sense!

[robert_ellis]

I really enjoyed the Chopper book although I wish Unamerican Graffitti had been included. I'd never read the Big Meg before and really liked it. The art pairing of Goddard & Teague is fantastic. Are the other stories mentioned in the intro worth tracking down? I'm guessing there wasn't enough material to fill another volume?