Part 4
Copyright - Rebellion
Kenneth Niemand produces Dredd stories that are as distinctive as they are diverse. He's humorous and whip smart when the story needs it, able to generate real tension and emotional punch when it's required. He plays in Dredd's 50 year old (almost) world in a way that is fresh and compelling, as if he created the series himself and is using it to tell all his own story ideas and to deal with the themes he wishes to bring on board. He's bold and innovates and yet immediately comfortable at the same time. He's been consistent in the quality of his output. Knows how to write a perfect Joe Dredd himself, yet will play cheeky with the character and the tropes of the long running series. He isn't afraid to push Dredd to the background as he builds Mega City One in new and fascinating ways. In short he is the perfect Dredd writer... well near perfect, maybe one more will get a call out, we'll see.
In short I have absolutely no doubt that Kenneth Niemand's Judge Dredd stories are completely worthy of their place on this list.
Where to find it
Well reprinting of his work is a little patchy to say the least at the moment. I'm aware of the following collections of his work.
Megatropolis
A Penitent Man - the Kyle Asher story arc.
And I think that's it. He has other bits and pieces in some other Graphic Novels but these are the two that feature his exclusively that I know of. No Chimpsky hardcover special edition yet I'm horrified to report.
Basically if you want to keep up with Kenneth Niemand's work for the time being you'll need the original Progs and Megs, which is no bad thing. I'm sure this will change over time but for the time being that's where we're at.
Learn more
No Obligatory Wikipedia page for Kenneth Niemand yet, you'll have to make do with and incredibly short biography on Simon & Schuster webpages.
2000ad Thrill-Cast has an interview with him from 2021. Though many will speculate this was produced to continue to mask our mystery writers true identity. I go with who'd have the time and energy to do that, but who knows for sure. It's well worth listening to regardless.
Normally reliable sources for all things 2000ad are of little use for Niemand. Both Barney and the 2000ad webpage have pages for him but they are both now very out of date and only deal with his earliest work for Tharg. I used the ever brilliant 2000ad in Stages - A to Z for a number of things for this one. It's not designed to list works by creators though so it took some poking around and scribbled calculations.
I can point you to Good Reads Kenneth Niemand page for the reviews there. At this point, as far as I'm aware however that's your lot, so odds and sods a Google search will unearth aside.
What is all this?
Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.
What this all came from
And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines
Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.
Copyright - Rebellion
Kenneth Niemand produces Dredd stories that are as distinctive as they are diverse. He's humorous and whip smart when the story needs it, able to generate real tension and emotional punch when it's required. He plays in Dredd's 50 year old (almost) world in a way that is fresh and compelling, as if he created the series himself and is using it to tell all his own story ideas and to deal with the themes he wishes to bring on board. He's bold and innovates and yet immediately comfortable at the same time. He's been consistent in the quality of his output. Knows how to write a perfect Joe Dredd himself, yet will play cheeky with the character and the tropes of the long running series. He isn't afraid to push Dredd to the background as he builds Mega City One in new and fascinating ways. In short he is the perfect Dredd writer... well near perfect, maybe one more will get a call out, we'll see.
In short I have absolutely no doubt that Kenneth Niemand's Judge Dredd stories are completely worthy of their place on this list.
Where to find it
Well reprinting of his work is a little patchy to say the least at the moment. I'm aware of the following collections of his work.
Megatropolis
A Penitent Man - the Kyle Asher story arc.
And I think that's it. He has other bits and pieces in some other Graphic Novels but these are the two that feature his exclusively that I know of. No Chimpsky hardcover special edition yet I'm horrified to report.
Basically if you want to keep up with Kenneth Niemand's work for the time being you'll need the original Progs and Megs, which is no bad thing. I'm sure this will change over time but for the time being that's where we're at.
Learn more
No Obligatory Wikipedia page for Kenneth Niemand yet, you'll have to make do with and incredibly short biography on Simon & Schuster webpages.
2000ad Thrill-Cast has an interview with him from 2021. Though many will speculate this was produced to continue to mask our mystery writers true identity. I go with who'd have the time and energy to do that, but who knows for sure. It's well worth listening to regardless.
Normally reliable sources for all things 2000ad are of little use for Niemand. Both Barney and the 2000ad webpage have pages for him but they are both now very out of date and only deal with his earliest work for Tharg. I used the ever brilliant 2000ad in Stages - A to Z for a number of things for this one. It's not designed to list works by creators though so it took some poking around and scribbled calculations.
I can point you to Good Reads Kenneth Niemand page for the reviews there. At this point, as far as I'm aware however that's your lot, so odds and sods a Google search will unearth aside.
What is all this?
Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.
What this all came from
And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines
Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.