Main Menu

Dredds recent Rejuv

Started by The dude, 01 January, 2017, 11:33:16 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Frank

Quote from: M.I.K. on 01 January, 2017, 07:32:40 PM
Quote from: Frank on 01 January, 2017, 06:33:35 PM
above and backed it up with references.

The wording of "This is no simple rejuve job." doesn't preclude the possibility that part of the procedure involved some kind of rejuvenation process. In fact, it could be argued that the procedure may have left Dredd in better condition than if he'd only been rejoovied.

It may have done so, M.I.K, but no character in the strip or any of the writers or editorial ever mentioned it. John Wagner was asked about the ageing question any time he gave an interview or spoke at a convention; never once did he say to remember that time he knocked twenty years off the character's age.

Wagner wasn't shy about spelling out exactly what Dredd being fitted for bionic implants entailed (prog 406), but never even says Dredd feels better post-Necropolis. I think the reason he didn't is because the treatment only repaired the damage to Dredd's skin (the machine is labeled DERMA (skin) GRAF (as in skin graft). Dredd had a skin graft after Necropolis.


Quote from: Frank on 01 January, 2017, 06:33:35 PM
Quote from: The dude on 01 January, 2017, 06:56:18 PM
Moving on from that I am more curious if this means they are binning the Dredd is old and will not be around forever backstory and attempt to attempt a soft recon

I doubt they'll bin it entirely without something drastic happening.

Yep. They've gone for a half way house, where he still has old bones and organs (except for his lungs) (Carousel, Meg 375).



M.I.K.

Quote from: Frank on 01 January, 2017, 08:33:42 PM
Yep. They've gone for a half way house, where he still has old bones and organs (except for his lungs) (Carousel, Meg 375).

Which is what I always used to assume would be the case with a rejuve job anyway.

Greg M.

Quote from: Frank on 01 January, 2017, 08:33:42 PM
It may have done so, M.I.K, but no character in the strip or any of the writers or editorial ever mentioned it.

I seem to recall Tharg responding to a letter on the subject of Dredd's age with the suggestion that the post-Necropolis rejuve might have knocked 10-15 years off it. But that's not within the story itself, of course. I presume that in regards to the page you link to from Prog 711 to where the other judges discuss Dredd's rejuve, you're suggesting that they're merely speculating?

Frank

Quote from: Greg M. on 01 January, 2017, 08:51:44 PM
I presume that in regards to the page you link to from Prog 711, where the other judges discuss Dredd's rejuve, you're suggesting that they're merely speculating?

Yeah, all they* know is Dredd looked like a kebab; now he doesn't. Interesting memory regarding the letter ...


* Or Garth Ennis

JOE SOAP

#19
Has the process of rejuve ever been more than cosmetic before Mike Carroll's recent story?

The Carousel process implies that this particular cellular rejuvenation of most of the body, in one go, is a relatively new treatment.



Leigh S

The concept of rejuve as a total reversal of aging as opposed to cosmetic... Stookie is illegal, where else have we seen rejuve as a "thing" in Dredd?  I'm racking my brains.  Surely every rich citizen would be young if it was simply a matter of cost -yet wesee a lot of old rich cits (PJ Maybe last mark springing to mind most recently, along with that Steve Dillon special story with the old lady with the walled garden...

Frank

#21
.
AL Ewing and Andrew Currie's* A House For Aldous Mayou (1699) figures complete cellular reversal of the ageing process as a scientific breakthrough. That was six years ago.


* EDIT: PJ Holden, even

JOE SOAP

Quote from: Leigh S on 01 January, 2017, 11:00:02 PM
Stookie is illegal

Stookie is ephemeral and merely an effect of rejuvenation rather than physical youth itself.


Leigh S

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 01 January, 2017, 11:06:35 PM
Quote from: Leigh S on 01 January, 2017, 11:00:02 PM
Stookie is illegal

Stookie is ephemeral and merely an effect of rejuvenation rather than physical youth itself.

Indeed, and if there was a more permanent alternative in a rejuve, then that would always win out, you would think.  When is the term rejuve first used in Dredd and in what context?

Frank

Quote from: Leigh S on 02 January, 2017, 09:27:49 AM
When is the term rejuve first used in Dredd and in what context?

The Day The Law Died, part 3 (prog 89)*. Obviously doesn't work - Goodman has a face like Theresa May's ball sack.


* Credit to Steve Green for the original spot. It's not a story I know well

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Frank on 02 January, 2017, 11:12:56 AM
The Day The Law Died, part 3 (prog 89)*. Obviously doesn't work - Goodman has a face like Theresa May's ball sack.

Plainly not cosmetic, then. What's the point, if not to allow him to continue to perform his duties by alleviating the effects of advancing age?
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

M.I.K.

Could still be mainly cosmetic. He's the face of Justice Department, it's mainly a desk job, and Grud knows what he'd look like if he wasn't getting the treatments.

Frank

Quote from: M.I.K. on 02 January, 2017, 03:11:28 PM
He's the face of Justice Department, it's mainly a desk job, and Grud knows what he'd look like if he wasn't getting the treatments.

When we first see Goodman (in Origins), it's 2051 and he already looks mid-thirties (at least). That would make him between 85-100 when Cal pulls a drive-by on his saggy, old ass.



Frank

Quote from: The dude on 01 January, 2017, 11:33:16 AM
(Does anyone) think this will (stop) any further talk within (the strip) of ...

1/ his slowing down

2/ any potential retirement

3/ death

In summary:

1/ Only if the writers choose to do so. Dredd's currrently young on the outside and old on the inside; like Carol Vorderman.

2/ Yes. The limited information readers have been given about the technology suggests that Dredd could, in theory, continue in his job indefinitely.

3/ No. From the perspective of the strip's fictional reality, there are still a small number of scenarios where Dredd could die a violent death in circumstances that preclude medical intervention.

From Tharg's point of view, there are a small number of scenarios where the death of the character might be an option.



The dude

After reading some excellent discourse from the forum I am more or less convinced that the Old Man Dredd arc is going to change me to nothing unless Mr Wagner comes back for one more Mega epic with the ultimate stakes/sacrifice for Ole Stony Face