The Dead Man

[nomohican]

Just had this dropped off on my doorstep - a double surprise as I thought there was a strike on today.

Only had a chance to flick through so far - as well as the main story and covers there is one episode of Tale of the Dead Man. Slightly wasted on me as I already have Case Files 14. Still looking forward to reading this and Necropolis in one go later.

Anyone else had theirs come early?

[Mike Gloady]

Me.  I don't think they could have avoided the FIRST episode of "Tale of the Dead Man" as it led on directly from the last episode of "The Dead Man" in the prog (up to the last page of The Dead Man being in colour, which is rather nicely done. 

Rereading it last night, I realised I had missed episodes, reading it all together I have to say it flows better than I remembered.  It seems to be just a standard amnesiac adventure story that happens to be set in the Cursed Earth, but there are massive clues from the beginning (The Dead Man's eyes, for example, are clearly shown often and have square irises, the sort of thing one might expect of replacement eyes.

Cracking little adventure story, and I'm very pleased to have a copy of the thing in one piece.  I've been informed I have to wait til Christmas for Case File 14 as it's to be my xmas pressie.  Hurray!

[Paul faplad Finch]

Mine arrived this morning. Not read it yet, probably one for the bath tonight.

[James Stacey]

no mail in work today maybe tomorrow

[Keef Monkey]

NECROPOST!

I'd never read this but as my Case Files reading has now reached Necropolis I realized I was missing something so picked it up (Amazon sell it well cheap).

Its weird to read it knowing the twist, it all seems pretty obvious but you're not sure if that's just because, well, you already know. Like reading Fight Club after seeing the movie, it seems so much more signposted but that could just be because you're looking out for it.

Stands up well in its own right though, and must have blown peoples wigs right off with jawdropping twistgasms at the time. They kind of repeated the trick with [spoiler]Malone and as a Sin/Dex fan[/spoiler] I remember loving that.

[Dark Jimbo]

Bit of a weird one, this. I enjoyed it, but given that I knew the twist beforehand didn't really get as much out of it as I'd hoped. One the Dead Man and Yassa hit the road the narrative is entirely geared toward the expected big reveal at the end, and if you already know what that is... there isn't a lot of tension.

I also think I missed something somewhere. Specifically - what's the deal with the Sisters of Death? I mean, I know that they were the witches who granted Death his powers on Dreddworld yadda yadda, but they don't ever seem to get a proper introduction. As far as I know, this was their first appearance (they certainly haven't appeared in the Case Files before now) and yet when [spoiler]Dredd[/spoiler] meets them he cries 'Servants of Evil! I know you!' and starts blasting away. Had he met them before?

[Greg M.]

As far as I know, this was their first appearance (they certainly haven't appeared in the Case Files before now) and yet when [spoiler]Dredd[/spoiler] meets them he cries 'Servants of Evil! I know you!' and starts blasting away. Had he met them before?

You're right, this is their first appearance, and no, [spoiler]Dredd's[/spoiler] not supposed to have met them before, I assume he just recognises them as being similar to Death and cronies.

I suspect that you're right, if you know the twist, it seems really obvious [spoiler](the eyes are the real giveaway)[/spoiler] but at the time I (and I suspect many others) were totally oblivious. I remember reading it, walking up the road from the newsagents, and my jaw just dropping when I got to that page. I would have been a teenager by then, I think, but I ran into the house like an over-excited eight-year-old and exclaimed: [spoiler]"Mum! Judge Dredd is the Dead Man!" [/spoiler] I don't think my mother quite got the significance. (I think after reading 'The Shooting Match' where [spoiler]Kraken gets a better score than Dredd[/spoiler], I may also have run in and exclaimed: [spoiler]'Mum, I think they're going to kill Judge Dredd!'[/spoiler])

[Keef Monkey]

I thought The Dead Man would explain a little more of the background of the Sisters too, but I guess its quite cool that because of Dredd's amnesia we only get little flashes of what happened out there. I take it when this originally ran they had other unrelated Dredd stories running in the prog alongside it?

[Greg M.]

I thought The Dead Man would explain a little more of the background of the Sisters too, but I guess its quite cool that because of Dredd's amnesia we only get little flashes of what happened out there. I take it when this originally ran they had other unrelated Dredd stories running in the prog alongside it?

Yeah, sorta. If I am remembering right, 'The Dead Man' started in the same prog as 'The Shooting Match', which was of course to prove very related, though it wasn't obvious at the time. And I think 'Young Giant' was running after that, which connects up to 'Necropolis' of course. Apart from that, just routine Dredd one-offs, including a few Alan Grant ones if I recall.

Personally, I always thought the less we knew about The Sisters the better... I am quite ambivalent towards 'Young Death', and the bit which explains how they became undead seems awfully casual in approach.

[Steve Green]

I think the same applies to Death himself, although I do like parts of the story it seemed to be the turning point where you knew too much about his background and motivations, and became that music-hall villain that's put John off using him.

I think it's just one of those less is more things.

[Judge Olde]

I think the same applies to Death himself, although I do like parts of the story it seemed to be the turning point where you knew too much about his background and motivations, and became that music-hall villain that's put John off using him.

I think it's just one of those less is more things.

I liked Young Death, but it does take the mystery away from the character some what. I mean - look at fucking Annie Skywalker/[spoiler]Darth vader[/spoiler]

[JOE SOAP]

[

I liked Young Death, but it does take the mystery away from the character some what. I mean - look at fucking Annie Skywalker/[spoiler]Darth vader[/spoiler]

I see it this way: in the case of Judge Death/Sidney De'ath, it's a gothic, macabre, scary and sometimes humorous biog that tells a decent story with suitable art. I'd have liked the Anakin/Darth Vader story to be somewhat similar, instead it is a vacuous and contradictory amalgam of cod mythology, an A-Z of audience demographics and marketing, and completely cynical at heart. I know which one I prefer and Death beyond the notions of his "All life is crime" line doesn't stretch much further as he's a complete absolutist. His charge is spent but I still like the old stories.