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[The Pit]

Block Mania is just full of iconic moments, like the dropping of the frenzy whip, the mob facing off against the Judges, Orlock poisoning the water supply, Giant's death, "I'm with Rowdy Yates Block! Who you fighting with?"  And that's before we even get to the Apocalypse War itself.

Surely nothing can top that.

But The Pit set the tone for modern Dredd, and was a beacon of quality at a time when most stories in 2000AD where pretty mediocre. And it deserves to get more than one vote. So it's got mine.

[Necropolis.]

This is an easy one, unlike today's other vote:

Necropolis.

You mean "Block Mania". Not Block War from Prog 182 😉.

Yes these tourneys are what I look forward to most as far as the Forum is concerned; they are a great way to stimulate a bit of debate.

[Dredd]

First time in a long time I've read the Prog on a Saturday.

A new Dredd thriller " A Penitent Man" starts. And it's absolutely cracking. Great art by Tom Foster - we really need to see him in the Prog much more often. The story is intriguing and a nice introduction, plus there is a mini twist at the end. Really looking forward to this.

I really like Thistlebone and think it will be worth re-reading the first series just to make sure I have got all the plot points. It seems to be building nicely.

A Deadworld spin off called Visions of Deadworld starts. It's kinda ok, but I long ago lost track of what I'd going on in this series. But this can be read as a stand alone terror tale set in that world.

Speaking of Terror Tales, there is one of those as well. It's not really my kind of thing, but is was ok.

Rounding off the Prog is another of my favourites - Feral and Foe. Just the usual excellence from Dan Abnett and Richard Elson.

Which makes me wonder if the abrupt conclusion to 'Nemesis' was down to his abrasive working relationship with David Bishop and/or a fortunately unfounded suspicion that 2000AD wasn't going to be around much longer?

I have a vague recollection that Kev O'Neill said he'd draw the 'last' episode on condition that it was the last episode.

That's the one.  Trust me, if Kev hadn't imposed that condition, Nemesis would have been joylessly grinding on to this day, like Slaine and ABC Warriors.

Just so we are all clear: is this referring to the original last ever episode, i.e. the last episode of Book X published in Prog 2000 in Dec 1999 or the subsequent last ever episode published in (the other) Prog 2000 in Sept 2016?

I am fairly relaxed about Pat's exit from 2000AD on the basis that:

My love for Slaine is based almost entirely on everything up and including the Horned God.
My love for Nemesis is based almost entirely on the first six books.
My love for ABC Warriors is based almost entirely on the first series.

I have never really warmed to Defoe; I did enjoy the last couple of series of Savage, and not seeing the development of the ABC Warriors in that is going to be the big miss for me; but not yet another saga for Slaine.

I said up thread I would be miffed if Slaine's death is just tacked on, but reading Pat's latest Tweets it seems like that isn't the case. (Not sure how the ending will make further adventures no longer possible though.)

The thing with Slaine is that it has never really felt like one big story that was heading somewhere anyway. Pat gas said further adventures would have required him to come up with a new theme and research it, so it's not as if we will be missing out on the eventual ending he had in mind, because actually that doesn't exist.

[Judge Child]

No contest as to the best of the bunch here. Judge Child has everything you want to from an epic - a fabulous mcguffin in the form of Owen Krysler; legendary antagonists; meaningful world-building (I'll take the three episodes in Memphis over the whole of The Cursed Earth) and a great balance of humour (Mean stuck on 4 1/2) with high terror (Old Joe Blind; Lopez under the influence).

And then that ending. "I see only...Evil"

What elevates it even further is that all three artists are drawing to their strengths and illustrate the perfect episodes. No one could have evoked the Jigsaw Man as well as Bolland did, nor Murd the Opressor as gloriously as McMahon...and neither could have drawn the Pazaaz war wheels as well as Ron Smith.

Perfection.

Yes totally agree:

Best Dredd epic
Best art

Indeed it might well be my favourite story in all comics, ever.

Quote: "profit first and creativity second".

The thing about this is - business exist to make money.
Businesses that go a long time without making money eventually end up out of business.
So yes in an ideal world, the comic should be all about creativity; but the best way for it to survive to bring is the thrills we want, is to make a profit.

No love for Cursed Earth?

I like it well enough but not as much as some of the other epics here.

For me it suffered from the fact I only read it years later and had read other epics before it; and from being incomplete as a collection until the uncensored edition came out.

1 Trifecta
2 Mechanismo
3 The Small House

1.The Judge Child
2. The Day the Law Died
3. Tour of Duty

That might well be top three, period.

Now this is where the really big guns enter the fray. And Machine Law. 😉

It's a bit like asking me to name the songs on an album. When I only had a few I could do it easily. Now I have hundreds I can't.

Same with Progs. The only Progs I can actually give you the number of off the top of my head are, with one or two exceptions, sub Prog 700 and really sub Prog 521.

Can't beat The Cursed Earth, The Day the Law Died, The Judge Child and Block Mania for memorable panels, as far as epics are concerned anyway.