Messages

421

Other Reviews / Re: Case Files 19

« on: 30 May, 2012, 11:50:12 AM »

That's great news Radiator!  I can't wait for those books to come round then!  I must admit I'm very interested to see how the McGruder situation resolves itself...

But "should we get that far"?  Is there some doubt as to the continuation of the complete case files?

422

Other Reviews / Re: Case Files 19

« on: 30 May, 2012, 12:11:58 AM »

Re Inferno: For me, Carlos Ezquerra's (typically) excellent artwork was the only redeeming feature of this tale.  There were there several inexplicable moments in this story that drove me to distraction;

1) The Judges abandon Mega-City 1 for the Cursed Earth?!  Yes, they have been poisoned, but the idea that the entire Justice Department would simply give up on the city without a proper fight is absurd.  Even more so because Grice's force presumably only numbers a few hundred (though the exact strength of their force is never made clear).  While it has been set out in previous stories that Justice Dept is overstretched, they surely would have had enough numbers across the city to co-ordinate a fightback against a relatively small force.  On this evidence, if East Meg One had waited a decade they could have taken MC-1 without breaking sweat.

2) Dredd describes mass murder as "no problem" when he reveals his plan to drown every perp in Justice Department's iso-cubes.  Given that we've seen perps being arrested in their droves in the previous 18 volumes there must be hundreds of thousands of creeps in these cells, and here we have Dredd being presented to us as casually consigning them to their deaths.  The panel showing a perp being drowned screaming "my grud it was only a parking offence" was clearly designed to be humourous, but it served only to highlight the cruelty and injustice of the Dredd's decision.  Not only didn't it feel right, it didn't feel like it was the same character of Dredd that we all know.  On a side note, I have to presume that there were no tales of ex-cons escaping iso-cubes for a considerable period of time thereafter...

3) This tale seemed to revel in unpleasantness.  Yes, Judge Dredd should be violent, but it felt like Grant Morrison was trying to shock the reader with some of the violence in the strip; a female judge being torn apart by four Lawmasters, McGruder having her face repeatedly pummelled into the ground, and some of Grice's men being chopped up (out of frame) with a chainsaw-type weapon.  If shocking the readership was Morrison's intention, the choice of Ezquerra as artist was the wrong one.  There's something about Ezquerra's style which makes you not treat the violence as seriously as you probably should.  Regardless, I just felt it was over the top and an attempt by Morrison to paper over the cracks of his inept storytelling. 

4) The character of "Judge Bhaji" from Delhi-Cit was particularly egregious, his stereotypical pigeon English being almost as offensive as his name.  Previous Dredd strips have definitely been un-PC what with "Nip-Cit" and Italians in particular being portrayed with stereotypical accents, but this felt like a step too far.  Grant Morrison is undoubtedly a talented writer and he should have known better.  To say I'm disappointed in him is an understatement. 

I've heard that I can expect more poor stories in volume 20, but when all is said and done I do want to see the complete case files released far more frequently than is happening at the moment.  I think lingering 20 years behind the 2000AD and the megazine is too long - I think getting it down to maybe 10 years behind the strips would be desirable...  Please publish more Rebellion - if for no other reason than to get through this disappointing era of Dredd as soon as possible!

423

Suggestions / Re: Graphic Novel Suggestions

« on: 29 May, 2012, 10:35:18 PM »

BTW...I know my response is in suggestions thread!  What I meant was maybe I should have posted it to the thread as a seperate topic! 

424

Suggestions / Re: Graphic Novel Suggestions

« on: 29 May, 2012, 10:20:09 PM »

As a lapsed 2000AD reader I'd be delighted just to see the complete case files released a bit more frequently.  Since the case files started encompassing the megazines as well as the 2000AD sotries (which I am delighted about - don't want to miss anything!) it seems to take two case files books to cover one year of Dredd.  But with only two case files being published each year this means we are going to remain almost 20 years behind current Dredd.
I understand that there should be a reluctance for the case files to catch up with current Judge Dredd stories as this would likely harm sales of both 2000AD and the megazine, but surely there wouldn't be much impact if the lag was reduced to a decade; i.e. bring out maybe at least another one case files book a year until the case files catch up to within 10 years behind then slow down their publication?...
Maybe I should have posted this to the "suggestions" thread!

425

Film Discussion / Re: What makes Mega-City One Mega-City One?

« on: 25 May, 2012, 04:41:19 PM »

Points 1 & 2 are pretty important to me!  The one thing the Stallone film got right was the first five minutes where the truly appalling Rob Schneider was taken in a trip across MC-1.  I'd like to see something similar in the opening for the new Dredd.  That's obviously the only aspect of the new film that I'd like to be akin to that monstrosity.  As Pyroxian mentioned before, I also expect the city to have a look more akin to Blade Runner -which would be no bad thing either!

As much as I enjoy some of the bizarre crazes / fashions / groups that feature in the comics, I'd be surprised to see much evidence of these in the films.  From the few descriptions we have about the film, I'm expecting the new Dredd movie to be going for the feel of the recent Nolan Batman films, ie to make MC-1 feel as real as possible (similar to our world) and reign in some of the more outlandish elements of the comic. 

But really so long as they can get the character of Dredd right this time, I'll be a very happy man!

426

Classifieds / Wanted: Slaine the King graphic novel

« on: 25 May, 2012, 11:49:48 AM »

I've been trying to buy a copy of the Rebellion "Slaine the King" graphic novel published in 2008 but it is out of print.  (The ISBN number is 9781905437665).  Is there anyone looking to sell their copy or do they know any shops that have it in stock?  Thanks!

I've attached the link to the Forbidden Planet webpage for the book for further clarification as to which edition I'm looking for (I've managed to find three other graphic novels entitled Slaine the King).

http://forbiddenplanet.com/33636-2000ad-slaine-volume-3-the-king/?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=comparison 

427

General / Re: 2000ad suspected IP infringement thread

« on: 25 May, 2012, 08:52:15 AM »

Dunno if this Judge Dredd "inspired" t-shirt is the kind of thing you want to be made aware of?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Judge-Dredd-Logo-inspired-T-shirt-Ladies-and-Gents-Navy-Blue-/170833751022?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item6d755f2c0a

The logo looks suspiciously like the cover of prog 262.

428

Film Discussion / Re: Dredd (2012)

« on: 25 May, 2012, 08:04:15 AM »

realized it's exactly two months between the release of Prometheus and the U.K. release of Dredd

Think it's prudent to point out here I got the above wrong, it's actually THREE months between the releases of Prometheus and Dredd, damn my numerical deficiencies , that humble admission aside, I don't think it likely that the Dredd trailer will be released a whole three months in advance of release, I'm no longer going to make predictions about the trailer, I'll just clam up and wait for it in good and due course, when it arrives it arrives, good enough for me...

I don't think it unreasonable to assume that the trailer could be released three months ahead of advance.  The Bond trailer is already out and that film isn't due out until the end of October.  Given that it is also a Sci-fi film (and a reimagining of a previous film), perhaps a better point of reference would be the new Total Recall film.  The trailer came out roughly three months ahead of release so wouldn't it be fair to expect that Dredd might do the same?  Total Recall is reported to have a $200 million budget so I'd accept that comparisons aren't completely fair, but the release date of the trailer shouldn't really have much bearing on budgetary concerns.

429

Film Discussion / Re: Dredd (2012)

« on: 22 May, 2012, 11:55:38 PM »

So long as John Murphy's "In the House In a Heartbeat" doesn't feature. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSYYEDXaGo0

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic piece of music used to great effect in "28 Days Later".  When it was regurgitated in "28 Weeks Later" I felt the power of the song was dilluted, and when it turned up in "Kick Ass" it only infuriated me.  In what was a pivotal scene, I felt distracted, thinking as I was "oh, that's the music from '28 Days Later'".  I don't want to be thinking about other films when I watch "Dredd"!

Enough about what I don't want, how about something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSYYEDXaGo0

430

General / Slaine the King new edition?

« on: 14 May, 2012, 08:23:30 AM »

I've desperately been trying to source Slaine the King (Rebellion 2008 edition, ISBN 9781905437665) from the internet but have had no success whatsoever!  The book seems to be out of print but I was wondering if there were any plans to release a further edition? 
Thanks!

431

General / Re: Yet more from an old newbie-Button Man

« on: 09 May, 2012, 12:30:13 AM »

Cheers for that Emperor!  Think that would work out around about Case Files 20 then!  I'll still get 19 though, but pleasing to know that not long to go until Mr Wagner makes his triumphant return! 

432

General / Re: Yet more from an old newbie-Button Man

« on: 09 May, 2012, 12:01:26 AM »

Thanks to all for posting on this thread.  As someone who read 2000AD until the early 90's, I've recently been enjoying catching up with Dredd, Strontium Dog, Slaine, Rogue Trooper, etc through many of the Rebellion graphic novels.  I had been wondering about trying graphic novels to pick up (published post 1992) and I've found the advice here very helpful!
 
On a seperate note, I've noticed many people referring to the dip in quality on the Judge Dredd strips in the mid 1990's and admittedly I've found the last few Case Files books have been of a mixed standard.  I've been wondering at what stage fans who have followed Dredd all the way felt that the strip improved again?  I'm interested to see how many more case files books have yet to come before the books return to the very high standards of the 1980's Dredd.