Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Richard]

Chopper's dead.

[robert_ellis]

So was Dredd!

[Jade Falcon]

I thoroughly enjoyed the PJ Maybe book.  I hadn't read any of these stories before which helped.  I never got annoyed with him.

A danger with a recurring villain in media is they become tiresome.  Examples include the Borg in Star Trek.  The first time we saw them they seemed a proper threat, then in Best of Both Worlds, IMHO they reached their nadir.  If a villain is overused they often become tiresome, or become little more than a joke.

I never got that sense with PJ, though I was waiting on him bumping off his Banana City pet judge as he seemed the type that wouldn't leave loose ends behind.  His relationship with Inga was.....interesting and strange.  You can see this person that's essentially lonely in a way, and in Inga he seems to have someone who understands him and she's developed into a decent character in her own right, not just a sidekick.

[Michael Knight]

couldnt agree with you more Jade. Pj Maybes latest adventures if anything have been my favourites. I tool hate seeing villains overused in standard fiction fare aka Star Trek next gen perfect example.

[teckno viking]

Had Not realised how many Maybe stories I had missed.

Remember when he first appeared and as Mayor. So many in-between missed stories lol 
Been a Drokkin Jarjaz Read.

[TordelBack]

Other than the first two stories, which are brilliant, I don't think PJ really hits his stride until Six - or perhaps more accurately until Inga shows up.  The earllier stuff spends too much time dragging him in and out of the cubes - there was really no need for the MockChoc interlude, we could have moved straight from his first escape to Don Pedro Juan Montez without losing much. That's not to say it's not all enjoyable, but the later stuff is streets ahead.

[Trent]

Wagner's use but not over use of PJ has been masterful, exemplified by the recent Serial Serial in which he doesn't even appear. One of my reasons for hoping for an extension is to get recent stories like this (and presumably its follow up- when Tharg?) included in the Collection.

[Silent_Bomber]

I just got the PJ Maybe book, really disappointing (;_;)

Are all these Mega Collections so dodgy in quality? what's up with the contrast and paneling?

[Trent]

If you have repro issues contact Hachette, apparently they've been very good at replacing defective books. From your question it sounds like you don't have any other books: quality (including PJ) has been excellent with only occasional aberrations.

[Fungus]

I just got the PJ Maybe book, really disappointing (;_;)

Are all these Mega Collections so dodgy in quality? what's up with the contrast and paneling?

No idea what that emoticon is trying to convey... (if it's 'disappointment' then... is it needed?) Anyway...

This is the first negative comment I've heard on the PJ book. Small chance you have a dodgy printing? They do happen.

[Rately]

Thoroughly enjoyed the PJ Collection. Had US reprints of the early PJ's in my teenage years, now sadly lost after a house move or three .

Great to have them back, and to read the further adventures as i'd never read the Necropolis stuff, or the later Don Pedro adventures. Still not fully finished, and on a visit to the Belfast FP today i managed to pick up Mega Collection volumes 26 and 27 for £4.99 each, along with this weeks Prog. Bargain!

[IndigoPrime]

The repro in the PJ book seemed fine to me. Bar some iffy scanning in a few issues, Total War's the only issue I know that had widespread problems (and even my replacement wasn't great).

[Michael Knight]

Just picked up my copy from my thrill merchant and the repro is all fine and dandy thank god. I have had a prob with couple of issues but a quick phone call to hachette got these replaced free of charge. The obly prob ive had is their phone line? Where on earth are they based? I take it South Africa from the accents but the phone line quality is ridiculous. That in mind have to say the staff were very polite     

[Silent_Bomber]

I just got the PJ Maybe book, really disappointing (;_;)

Are all these Mega Collections so dodgy in quality? what's up with the contrast and paneling?

No idea what that emoticon is trying to convey... (if it's 'disappointment' then... is it needed?) Anyway...

This is the first negative comment I've heard on the PJ book. Small chance you have a dodgy printing? They do happen.

There are a lot of alterations in the art, its possible that my copy may be a dodgy printing too though, and maybe that is magnifying the otherwise hard to notice art changes (which seem mainly to affect only the first half of the book).

The book has panels that have been shifted around, it has glare effects added to many of the metallic surfaces, it has some sound effects that have been replaced, some sections of the art are cut off, and it has some large coloured circles added to some of the backgrounds.

Actually in "What I did during the summer holidayz" part 3 there is a picture of PJ standing in front of a new red circle, and you can still see a very slight silhouette of white around his head from where he has been cut out of the original background.

Bear in mind I'm a little bit neurotic and obsessive

Here's a page from my book -

[Dark Jimbo]

While Case Files 12 used the original prog art films for those episodes, the Hachette book has used the remastered pages that Liam Sharp did for the 2006 Rebellion release of 'The [then] Complete PJ Maybe'. Relevant excerpt taken from his huuuuuuge afterword -

For this edition I've had the luxury of being able to remaster most of my colour pages digitally. I hope you enjoy the tweaks. I can't change the flaws in the drawings - there's only so much you can do! - but the blacks are blacker and the colours, sharper. There are a few additional elements of photoshop trickery and generally it's closer to how I intended they should look like at the time.

Liam Sharp, July 2006