So, I was listening to a podcast the other day and someone I really respect (a known comic fan from outside of 2000 AD) was talking very knowledgeably and interestingly about Dredd. Several times during the interview however, he alluded to Dredd being a bit thick, very much a one note, blunt instrument and it really got my goat!
I've always assumed that Joe is pretty darned intelligent. Yes, he's hard as nails, tenacious and bloody minded, but I've never (or rarely, I guess it depends who's writing him) thought of him as stupid. Despite the regime he represents.
Over the years we've seen some fantastic procedural strips with Dredd very much being the detective, we've seen him efficiently take control of, and turn around, a failing sector house, we've seen him change citywide policy and outwit and outmatch many a foe.
All that has to take some smarts, or is my love for the character robbing me of my objectivity and limited intelligence?
What say you, boarders?
I would say he's intelligent.
Rejuve treatments aside: As a Judge you wouldn't get to Dredd's age and see as much action in MC1 if you didn't have more about you than just a strong arm and a gun.
Cheers
Quote from: PerskelW on 15 July, 2020, 06:36:05 PM
Mostly Horseshit but also a vote for Dredd being intellingent.
Fixed that for them!
Cheers
Quote from: Pete Wells on 15 July, 2020, 06:16:55 PM
I've always assumed that Joe is pretty darned intelligent. Yes, he's hard as nails, tenacious and bloody minded, but I've never (or rarely, I guess it depends who's writing him) thought of him as stupid. Despite the regime he represents.
What say you, boarders?
Pragmatic and smart.
But not a strategic thinker, more tactical thinking smarts. The onyl time I think of Dredd making a strategic decision is in allowing mutants in and he lost that battle.
Chief Judge needs strategic thinking, Dredd wants no part of it.
-PJ
Hardly canon, but there's a lovely bit in the Dredd / Armitage book I always bang on about, Deathmasques, where Armitage realises that Dredd isn't thick after all - Dredd's intelligence is focused and laserlike, and is always applied to getting the job done.
Dredd is more articulate than most (a fact lost on one or two past Dredd writers), as well as witty and thoughtful.
He's clearly the best detective and investigator in MC1.
He has huge tactical intelligence and street smarts..
He might lack the strategic overview that chief judge requires, or he has it and chooses not to exercise it because he doesn't want the job (episode 125 btw).
But yes, he is very intelligent.
And, in a reference up a spam post that's probably gone by now, he could spot a fake passport a mile away.
Yeah different sorts of intelligence. He's clearly got a fantastic deductive mind and that's evidenced numerous times. He's also got incredible intuition from years of experience. He's got immense depth of factural knowledge on a number of specialist subjects, not least the law but also technical knowledge of the stuff he needs to know etc etc. But there are areas he's lacking, he's not got time for strategic thinking he's too busy operationalising.
So yeah clearly pretty damned smart with an intelligence that adapts to what he needs to focus on. The idea that he's a bit dull might stem from the fact he's been described a few times in the last few years as blunt instrument or similar. That again though is about how he's been used by the justice department rather than any measure of his raw capacity to learn, or his intelligence. Seems to be of he's had the desire to apply himself he'd make a fine political thinker, but he's never gone that way, has no real interest and so isn't the person you'd turn to for political insight or analysis.
Bet he's a stickler for spelling and grammer too and would not tolerant a typo...
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 15 July, 2020, 07:59:02 PM
Yeah different sorts of intelligence. He's clearly got a fantastic deductive mind and that's evidenced numerous times. He's also got incredible intuition from years of experience. He's got immense depth of factural knowledge on a number of specialist subjects, not least the law but also technical knowledge of the stuff he needs to know etc etc. But there are areas he's lacking, he's not got time for strategic thinking he's too busy operationalising.
So yeah clearly pretty damned smart with an intelligence that adapts to what he needs to focus on. The idea that he's a bit dull might stem from the fact he's been described a few times in the last few years as blunt instrument or similar. That again though is about how he's been used by the justice department rather than any measure of his raw capacity to learn, or his intelligence. Seems to be of he's had the desire to apply himself he'd make a fine political thinker, but he's never gone that way, has no real interest and so isn't the person you'd turn to for political insight or analysis.
Bet he's a stickler for spelling and grammer too and would not tolerant a typo...
I saw what you did their!
Definitely intelligent - he wrote the Comportment, didn't he? I'd say Fargo's smarts were a far bigger concern for Judd & Co to reproduce in his clones than any hit-things-real-good ability Eustace may have had. It's Joe's sharp eye for detail, excellent recall and on-the-spot analysis that makes him the judge he is, the utter commitment and dogged determination are what enable him to get the job done. I'd argue that the reflexes, toughness and physical strength are actually the product of applying his unique mind to the Academy's teachings (plus maybe a bit of Judd-icious tinkering with his general constitution).
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 July, 2020, 08:14:18 PM
Definitely intelligent - he wrote the Comportment, didn't he?
We've never seen inside the Comportment, though. It might just be a bunch of doodles.
We saw a page in Necropolis (Part 3) - but if there were doodles too that'd be further sign of intelligence. Or so I tell myself.
He sometimes does stupid things; this is usually due to sloppy writing or by a writer who is unfamiliar with the character. Some writers have just portrayed him as a mindless thug. Those who know him better, and especially Wagner, give him more credit.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 15 July, 2020, 08:17:12 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 July, 2020, 08:14:18 PM
Definitely intelligent - he wrote the Comportment, didn't he?
We've never seen inside the Comportment, though. It might just be a bunch of doodles.
We haven't but Rico has in Leaving Rowdy. He seemed impressed.
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 15 July, 2020, 08:06:55 PM
I saw what you did their!
Don't know what you could possibly mean...
Quote from: Funt Solo on 15 July, 2020, 08:17:12 PM
We've never seen inside the Comportment, though. It might just be a bunch of doodles.
Apart from one page while Kraken reads it in Necropolis.
Dredd's ability to pull out a relevant quip at the end of each case is the real marker of a sharp mind if you ask me.
He never seems to know when people need a hug, so how intelligent can he be?
Quote from: Professor Bear on 16 July, 2020, 06:25:40 PM
He never seems to know when people need a hug, so how intelligent can he be?
"How come... how come you ain't got
the feels, Judge Dredd?"
"I got 'em. I just ain't hugging."
Ho ho ho! Thanks folks, my faith in humanity is restored!
'Ryan's book-smart. I'm street-smart. And book-smart.' - Michael Scott
Dredd is clearly very intelligent. His investigative abilities are excellent. That aside Dredd proves his intelligence by living and applying the Law of Big Meg on a daily basis. A stupid person would fall foul of MC-1's Judges very rapidly.
Many people think crime should be excused because of mitigating circumstances whereas Dredd applies the law without discrimination or bias. This is where casual readers think Dredd is stupid. They feel Dredd should make allowances for the Jean Valjeans of the world.
I want to hear this podcast now, just so I can get irrationally angry about something that doesn't really matter.
Links Pete?
Quote from: Dandontdare on 18 July, 2020, 03:54:07 AM
Links Pete?
I think Pete insists its seven.
Ha! See what I did there.
Ho ho ho! Colin, ye little scamp!
The podcast in question was the official 2000 AD one. The one with Ian Dunt, who I have a lots of time for, discussing Rob Williams' Dredds.
Quote from: Pete Wells on 18 July, 2020, 10:23:14 PM
Ho ho ho! Colin, ye little scamp!
The podcast in question was the official 2000 AD one. The one with Ian Dunt, who I have a lots of time for, discussing Rob Williams' Dredds.
this one, I expect (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pXs8sWIlMk).