Dredd: The Complete Case Files

[nxylas]

Yip time for another epic

I think that with Dredd no longer dominated by a single writer, it would have to be of the "journey into weird shit" type, or at any rate, a collection of several shorter stories within a longer arc.

[Tjm86]

Got to wonder what they could do though.  I mean, we're at the point now where MC1 is a fraction of its original size and the Judges nowhere near their full power.  TBH that is something that has not really, to my mind, been properly explored.  There were elements of this in the aftermath of DOC but then it sort of faded out.

Then there is that intriguing line from Origins ... "it was never meant to be forever ..." What wasn't?  MC1?  The Judge system? Have the Judges actually totally perverted the original vision somehow?  Whatever it is, it has never really been touched on.  Are other writers leaving it alone for Wagner to tackle?  Is this going to be Wagner's Swansong?

There were hints of another epic a few years back with the Sci Fi special and those linked tales.  Remember the one that few people thought that much of, with that sort of environmental theme and Earth as the protagonist?  I wonder if the generally poor response to that nixed that idea.

Wagner seems to have worked hard over the years to chip away at MC1.  If we follow that through to its logical conclusion then there should be some sort of 'final crisis' that sees the Judicial system either dissolved or radically transformed.  What possibilities exist there?

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I have to admit that with 2000AD I often take a year or two off, but then binge 50 or 100 issues over a month or two, and there have been occasions I've just not got on with certain stories or read parts and then skipped the rest, so this might be a very stupid question - but is the idea that the Earth in Nemesis The Warlock is the same as that of Dredd's? Or did someone rewrite it and make it clear that it's no longer the case?

[nxylas]

I have to admit that with 2000AD I often take a year or two off, but then binge 50 or 100 issues over a month or two, and there have been occasions I've just not got on with certain stories or read parts and then skipped the rest, so this might be a very stupid question - but is the idea that the Earth in Nemesis The Warlock is the same as that of Dredd's? Or did someone rewrite it and make it clear that it's no longer the case?

I think they're all broadly part of the same universe. There have been enough crossovers over the years, even ignoring interdimensional ones like Helter Skelter. But 2000AD has never been as hung up on continuity as Marvel or DC.

[IndigoPrime]

I think the answer is: it depends. Or, more: it depends on how the writer feels at the time. Mills has certainly at points aimed to align the strips. And there are plenty of cross-strip nods during the comic's early days, such as a Judge showing up in Nemesis (as a tasty dino treat), mentions of Mega-City One in various non-Dredd strips, etc. But Mills retconned ABC Warriors and Ro-Busters to expressly remove them from Dredd continuity years back.

Probably the strongest link between major strips is Dredd and Strontium Dog, which have now crossed over several times, with Alpha being quite pivotal. But those can still ultimately really be put down to 'bit of fun' territory.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I think they're all broadly part of the same universe. There have been enough crossovers over the years, even ignoring interdimensional ones like Helter Skelter. But 2000AD has never been as hung up on continuity as Marvel or DC.

I think the answer is: it depends. Or, more: it depends on how the writer feels at the time. Mills has certainly at points aimed to align the strips. And there are plenty of cross-strip nods during the comic's early days, such as a Judge showing up in Nemesis (as a tasty dino treat), mentions of Mega-City One in various non-Dredd strips, etc. But Mills retconned ABC Warriors and Ro-Busters to expressly remove them from Dredd continuity years back.

Probably the strongest link between major strips is Dredd and Strontium Dog, which have now crossed over several times, with Alpha being quite pivotal. But those can still ultimately really be put down to 'bit of fun' territory.

Thanks for both of those responses, it's interesting to hear that about Mills retconning ABC Warriors and Ro-Busters, which presumably technically has an effect on Nemesis... Yet at the same time I get what you both say about how it's not important, and while the teenage me might have taken it a bit more seriously, I don't really mind either way these days.

As mentioned right now I'm making my way through the Dredd case files (albeit one every couple of months), and I've recently bought Flesh The Dino Files, Halo Jones, Summer Magic and the first Strontium Dog Search/destroy Agency Files, and am really looking forward to reading those again, but after that I definitely want to revisit ABC Warriors as that was a strip I used to love decades ago when I first started reading the comic. That said it could well not take place until 2024 as my comics backlog is so large right now!

[Richard]

Pat Mills can try to retcon as much as he likes, but I'm not going to forget that scene in Nemesis Book 5 when a mega-city judge was tortured and killed by Thoth and Satanus. 

[13school]

Then there is that intriguing line from Origins ... "it was never meant to be forever ..." What wasn't?  MC1?  The Judge system? Have the Judges actually totally perverted the original vision somehow?  Whatever it is, it has never really been touched on.  Are other writers leaving it alone for Wagner to tackle?  Is this going to be Wagner's Swansong?

I've always thought it was Fargo talking about how the Judges seizing power was only meant to be temporary - the country was in ruins, Booth had destroyed the credibility of the Presidency, the Judges had to step in to hold things together... but they would eventually step back and hand power back to the people. You know, once things were back to normal.

But Fargo was a product of his time, when law officers were servants of the people (well, in theory at least). Dredd's generation of Judges and the ones after him had a very different view of things.

[GoGilesGo]

Got to wonder what they could do though.  I mean, we're at the point now where MC1 is a fraction of its original size and the Judges nowhere near their full power.  TBH that is something that has not really, to my mind, been properly explored.  There were elements of this in the aftermath of DOC but then it sort of faded out.

Blood of Emeralds / Every Empire Falls, depending what stories you include, comes in around the 170 pages mark which seems pretty epic to me. Post DoC and examines MC1's relations in the world quite nicely, especially how isolated they are:

Oswin "Believe me, the day Mega-City One crumbles, the rest of the planet will have a drokkin' Party!"

Guatemala and Project Providence have explored this thread too but obviously not at epic length. Plenty of that furrow left to plough.

[Richard]

I'd forgotten Every Empire Falls! *face palm emoji*

I'm sure that qualifies. Still some time ago now though.

Ongoing storylines that recur from time to time, like Enceladus and Providence, aren't technically epics though, because they are broken up by other stories running in between them (even though they are epic length when collected).

[nxylas]

Pat Mills can try to retcon as much as he likes, but I'm not going to forget that scene in Nemesis Book 5 when a mega-city judge was tortured and killed by Thoth and Satanus.

I remember an old '80s fanzine interview with John Wagner where he said something like "Judge Dredd's Mega-City One can't be Sam Slade's Mega-City One - it's far too limiting for poor old Sam". A multiverse perhaps? The zombie thing last year pretty much confirms it. I can't be arsed to check the timelines, but ISTR that Robo-Hunter takes place in Mega-City One earlier than Dredd, but I doubt that Hoagy will be making an appearance in Dreadnoughts.

[Richard]

I thought Sam Slade was in Brit-Cit? Which might just be a name and not the same place as Dredd's Brit-Cit across the Black Atlantic.

[nxylas]

I thought Sam Slade was in Brit-Cit? Which might just be a name and not the same place as Dredd's Brit-Cit across the Black Atlantic.

He started out in Mega-City One, but moved to Brit-Cit later.

[Richard]

I didn't realise that! Thanks.

[Funt Solo]

I thought Sam Slade was in Brit-Cit? Which might just be a name and not the same place as Dredd's Brit-Cit across the Black Atlantic.

He started out in Mega-City One, but moved to Brit-Cit later.

I wasn't aware that Sam's location in the US was ever given as MC-1. Are you 100% on that?

He did go to a place named Brit-Cit, but it wasn't the Brit-Cit of the Dreddverse. As per Robo-Hunter, it was heavily populated by droids - to the extent that the soccer team and the prime minister were droids.