While other stories come and go Dredd is always there and always of a certain standard. So in reviewing the year he can't be ignored. As such we've given him his own category. Across both Prog and Meg (combined vote) what has been your favourite Dredd tales. We're not looking at size we're looking at quality here. So doesn't matter if it's one parter, or an epic its just which have you enjoyed the most?
I'm going to provide a list provided by Batman's Superior Cousin in my next post, in a sec of all the Dredd stories, well those in the Prog or Meg and basically whatever else he decided to include as he's done SUCH a bang up job on this (and also reminded me I did this last year and should probably do it again!)
Format is easy. Simply look at the list in the next post(s) - and post your top three in a reply to this thread - just make sure to clearly indicate your order using the format below - with the points awarded for each placing:
(1st, foremost and best) = 5 points
(2nd runner up) = 3 points
(Bronze who cares really) = 1 point
If you don't make it clear I'll award all your mentioned votes 3 points each.
The vote will run for a week and I'll announce the winner early shall we say Tuesday 4th January... hopefully... we'll see....
If you have any questions just ask and I'll wing it as normal...
Judge Dredd in the Prog - list created by Batman's Superior Cousin
Desperadlands (Prog 2213-2216) Script: Mick Carroll; Art: William Simpson; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Naked City (Prog 2217); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Dan Cornwell; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Health and Happiness (Prog 2218); Script: Rob Williams; Art: Simon Coleby; Colours: Len O'Grady; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Against The Clock (Prog 2219); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Patrick Goddard; Colours: Dylan Teague; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Cadet Dredd: Suboptimal (Regened Prog 2220); Script: Arthur Wyatt; Art: Davide Tinto
Colours: Gary Caldwell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Who Killed Captain Cookies? (Prog 2221-2224); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: PJ Holden; Colours: Quinton Winter; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
A Penitent Man (Prog 2225-2230); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Tom Foster; Colours: Chris Blythe; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Easy Money (Prog 2231-2232); Script: Mike Carroll; Art: Simon Fraser; Colours: Gary Caldwell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Lawbreaker (Regened Prog 2233); Script: Liam Johnson; Art: Jake Lynch; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Adios, Rowdy Yates (Prog 2234); Script: Chris Weston; Art: Chris Weston; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Brief Encounter (Prog 2235); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Dylan Teague; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Removal Man (Prog 2236-2239); Script: John Wagner; Art: Colin MacNeil; Colours: Chris Blythe; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Biohazard (Sci-Fi Special); Script: Mike Carroll; Art: Ben Willsher; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Apotheosis (Sci-Fi Special); Script: Mike Carroll and Maura McHugh; Art: James Newell; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Simon Bowland
Now That's What I Call Justice (Prog 2240-2245); Script: John Wagner; Art: John Higgins; Colours: Sally Hurst; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Cadet Dredd: The Block with No Name (Regened Prog 2246); Script: Liam Johnson; Art: Duane Redhead; Colours: John Charles; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The House on Bleaker Street (Prog2247-2249); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Nick Percival; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The Hard Way (Prog 2250-2255); Script: Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt; Art: Jake Lynch; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Cadet Dredd: Full Throttle (Regened Prog 2256); Script: Liam Johnson; Art: Ben Willsher; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Tread Softly (Prog 2257-2258); Script: Mike Carroll; Art: Simon Coleby; Colours: John Charles; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The Musical! (Prog 2259-2261); Script: Rob Williams; Art: Chris Weston; Colours: Gary Caldwell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Trinity (Prog 2262); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Richard Elson; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Judge Dredd in the Meg - List again provide by Batman's Superior Cousin
The Night Flyer (Meg 428); Script: Kenneth Niemand; Art: Patrick Goddard; Colours: Pippa Bowland; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Destiny's Child (Meg 429); Script: Kenneth Niemand; Art: Simon Coleby; Colours: Len O'Grady; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
One For the Ages (Meg 430); Script: Rory McConville; Art: Karl Richardson; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Don't Drokk with Bob (Meg 431-432); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Ian Richardson; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Project Providence (Meg 433-435); Script: Rory McConville; Art: Staz Johnson; Colours: Pippa Bowland; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Francisco? (Meg 436); Script: Rory McConville; Art: Nick Dyer; Colours: Gary Caldwell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
A Dream of a Thousand Flowers (Meg 437); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Colin MacNeil; Colours: Chris Blythe; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Dez Rez (Meg 438); Script: Ian Edginton; Art: Dave Tylor; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Saviour (Meg 439); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Steven Austin; Colours: Matt Soffe; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Some good Dredd stories this year so here we go:
1. The Hard Way
2. Now That's What I Call Justice
3. Dez Rez
Now that's what I call Justice
Naked City
A Pentitent man
Removal man
Now that's what I call justice
Adios rowdy yates
Caveat : I have not yet read Now that's what I call Justice and judging by the votes so far, I am seriously missing something.
That said...
A Penitent Man - Great sociological storytelling by KN; I'd love to see more fallout from this 6-parter.
Adios, Rowdy Yates - Sheer volumes in that final line. Perfection.
Brief Encounter - Sassy & thoughtful, yet another superb one and done character portrait from Niemand. Maybe the best looking Dredd of the year, too.
Best of The Meg - How Do You Solve A Problem Like Francisco?
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 December, 2021, 07:59:19 AM
I'm going to provide a list provided by Batman's Superior Cousin in my next post, in a sec of all the Dredd stories, well those in the Prog or Meg and basically whatever else he decided to include as he's done SUCH a bang up job on this (and also reminded me I did this last year and should probably do it again!)
Thank you, you're so kind!!! Though if there is one little gripe, it's that it's not formatted the way that I formatted it...
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 28 December, 2021, 05:31:23 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 December, 2021, 07:59:19 AM
I'm going to provide a list provided by Batman's Superior Cousin in my next post, in a sec of all the Dredd stories, well those in the Prog or Meg and basically whatever else he decided to include as he's done SUCH a bang up job on this (and also reminded me I did this last year and should probably do it again!)
Thank you, you're so kind!!! Though if there is one little gripe, it's that it's not formatted the way that I formatted it...
No, sorry about that, number of reasons - mainly the format you kindly sent it in was PDF and so when I copy and pasted I needed to rejig all the formating . Secondly wanted to faff with little bits to make it easier to read on the forum.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 December, 2021, 05:44:33 PM
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 28 December, 2021, 05:31:23 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 December, 2021, 07:59:19 AM
I'm going to provide a list provided by Batman's Superior Cousin in my next post, in a sec of all the Dredd stories, well those in the Prog or Meg and basically whatever else he decided to include as he's done SUCH a bang up job on this (and also reminded me I did this last year and should probably do it again!)
Thank you, you're so kind!!! Though if there is one little gripe, it's that it's not formatted the way that I formatted it...
No, sorry about that, number of reasons - mainly the format you kindly sent it in was PDF and so when I copy and pasted I needed to rejig all the formating . Secondly wanted to faff with little bits to make it easier to read on the forum.
Ok, I can live with that!!
I'll cast my vote within in the next few days.
I'm suffering from that problem where I can't immediately recall what each story was based only on the title, so I might be voting for 'most memorable' rather than 'favourite'...
1) A penitent man (I know it was bigged up as a major new thrill, which usually means it isn't, but this was really very good)
2) The Musical (although I'm mildly annoyed that it's 'greatest hits' bit is still stuck before 1982)
3) Dream of a Thousand Flowers
Tough choice this. I only read the Prog, so going for:
1. A Penitent Man
2. The Musical
3. Adios, Rowdy Yates
Naked City and Now That's What I Call Justice just missing out.
1st: The Musical! - "them loving me may have had something to do with my looking like a big singing dragon, I was later informed".
2nd: A Penitent Man
3rd: A Dream of a Thousand Flowers
1. A Penitent Man
2. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Francisco?
3. Removal Man
1st: The Musical!
2nd: Naked City
3rd: A Penitent Man
1 The Musical!
2 Adios, Rowdy Yates
3 Naked City
1. A Penitent Man
2. Adios, Rowdy Yates
3. Now that's what I call justice
Adios, Rowdy Yates (Prog 2234); Script: Chris Weston; Art: Chris Weston; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Naked City (Prog 2217); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Dan Cornwell; Colours: Jim Boswell; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
A Penitent Man (Prog 2225-2230); Script: Ken Niemand; Art: Tom Foster; Colours: Chris Blythe; Letters: Annie Parkhouse
1. A penitent man
2. Dream of a thousand flowers
3. Removal man
Some cracking Dredd this year. Roll on 2022!
Here's how the votes tally up at the moment:
(https://i.imgur.com/PHoa5KI.png)
*Penitent.
- A Penitent Man
- Now That's What I Call Justice
- The Musical! (
With The Hard Way coming in a close 4th
I've found this probably the hardest of all the categories and as I often say ask me tomorrow and I'd give a different answer. There has been a LOT of great Dredd this year. In the end though I think I'll flock with the mob:
1. Penitent Man
2. Now that's what I call justice
3. Naked City
But there is seriously a whole different three thrills that I'd just as happy have in my list.
1. Adios Rowdy Yates
2. Penitent Man
3. Now that's what I call justice.
Some good Dredd this year, but those really stood out for me.
Adios Rowdy Yates
Now That's What I Call Justice
Naked City
Going to give this until tomorrow (Tuesday 4th) morning and then announce the final result. I'd think that top spot might be nailed on by this time but the other spots are up for grabs. So any last minute votes couyld play a big part in the final placings.
1 A Penitent Man
2 Removal Man
3 Now That's What I Call Justice
1st: Brief Encounter
2nd: Removal Man
3rd: Who Killed Captain Cookies?
A decent mixture of stuff here. A couple of good, but far from classic, Wagner stories elevated by the chosen artists. A scattergun selection of Niemand styles with his most straight-up serious being the best.
01. Now That's What I Call Justice. Really nice to have John Higgins back drawing something worthy of his talents.
02. Dream of a Thousand Flowers. A very welcome example of the kind of sci-fi short story that doesn't feel the need to explain how because the why is more important.
03. Removal Man. Maybe you can look at this as a story in search of PJ but getting us to root for a very bad dude and then laugh at his failures is a trick not many can pull off. No accident that MacNeil drew numbers 2 & 3 on this list.
Elsewhere, I thought The Hard Way was good fun: that Millar/Morrison cliche about Dredd as action movie but done entertainingly. McConville's Dan Francisco story also suggested a writer getting better at working with the strip and its history.
VOTING CLOSED
Well wow those final few days completely flipped the placing. Well all except top stop in with
1st - Penitent Man - just continued to move forward in the top spot.
It was the 'lesser' places that completely flexed and changed as the votes came in and it was so close (hope I got this right!). By my count:
2nd - Now that's what I call Justice - 28 points
3rd - Adios Rowdy Yates - 26 points
Those last two places only fixed on the last day, 2nd by the last vote! In a year with two fantastic Wagner Dredd's its testament to how strong Dredd is that only one placed and Niemand romped the top spot!
A message from Kenneth Niemand from his twitter account:
Special thanks to the good people of the 2000AD forum, who voted A Penitent Man (with @JumbleCashback) as Best Dredd story of 2021, and Megatropolis (with @MrMacoubre) as Best Megazine story.
Quote from: broodblik on 05 January, 2022, 04:46:22 AM
A message from Kenneth Niemand from his twitter account:
Special thanks to the good people of the 2000AD forum, who voted A Penitent Man (with @JumbleCashback) as Best Dredd story of 2021, and Megatropolis (with @MrMacoubre) as Best Megazine story.
Cool! A shoutout to the forum. Voted for both of these. Great year for Niemand.
Oh that's very cool that he's even aware, or someone let him know.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2022, 06:25:03 AM
Oh that's very cool that he's even aware, or someone let him know.
I like to imagine that there's an anti-Frank/Wullie Russell somewhere out there, screen-capping nice things off the internet and sending them to creators to cheer them up, rather than, y'know, the other thing...
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 05 January, 2022, 06:28:03 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2022, 06:25:03 AM
Oh that's very cool that he's even aware, or someone let him know.
I like to imagine that there's an anti-Frank/Wullie Russell somewhere out there, screen-capping nice things off the internet and sending them to creators to cheer them up, rather than, y'know, the other thing...
Is Wullie still doing that (hi Wullie if you still lurk here) I've not seen anything from him in ageeeesssssss. I think he blocks me on Facebook or summit. Please tell me he's stopped doing that slighty creepy stuff?
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2022, 06:25:03 AM
Oh that's very cool that he's even aware, or someone let him know.
I think a lot of the creators do visit the forum (although they do not post) to get a general feeling of what the fandom like or do not like. So if you read this Kenneth keep up the good Dredd and please more Megatropolis :)
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2022, 06:31:09 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 05 January, 2022, 06:28:03 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2022, 06:25:03 AM
Oh that's very cool that he's even aware, or someone let him know.
I like to imagine that there's an anti-Frank/Wullie Russell somewhere out there, screen-capping nice things off the internet and sending them to creators to cheer them up, rather than, y'know, the other thing...
Is Wullie still doing that (hi Wullie if you still lurk here) I've not seen anything from him in ageeeesssssss. I think he blocks me on Facebook or summit. Please tell me he's stopped doing that slighty creepy stuff?
I don't know, but a friend of mine told me that he's still publicly obsessing about Niemand being Rennie, and he has a list of creators he openly hates that bear the brunt of his ire. Because he doesn't like Rennie, and he imagines that Rennie is Niemand, it follows quite logically that he doesn't like any of Niemand's work and writes rather a lot of copy dissing it and asking people to explain why on earth they like it. Strange, but true.
Any road ... Niemand's establishing himself as an incredibly strong Dredd writer, which is all to the good. Perhaps Niemand is actually an AI - that would explain why he can't be seen on camera in interviews.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 05 January, 2022, 06:04:52 PM
that would explain why he can't be seen on camera in interviews.
VAMPIRE!
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 05 January, 2022, 06:09:57 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 05 January, 2022, 06:04:52 PM
that would explain why he can't be seen on camera in interviews.
VAMPIRE!
And Rennie said that they'd once "worked together", so maybe he's like Niemand's Renfield (the insect-eating assistant that dusts the coffin and manically rides coaches through terrible forests towards lonely castles).
Totally missed this due to the Festives, for what its worth totally agree with the outcome!
I knew there were Droidhaters out there, didn't know it was so personal. Its a comic FFS!