Top 3 single episode Dredds

[Le Fink]

Something broodblik said got me wondering:

...Risk Assessment will for me be one of the top 3 all once-off Dredds...

Praise indeed - there must be hundreds of single episode Dredds? But what are the other two? And what are other people's favourites?

Apologies if this is already done, I'm fairly new here but haven't seen the topic in the last year.

Happy to accept any single episode Dredd from prog, Meg, special or annual.

For me, bury my knee at wounded heart is up there. I also really liked another Dredd that Peter Doherty painted about a slow crime day. And one Garth Ennis did about a mutie incursion that he deals with in 10 minutes - Colin MacNeil on art. Names and progs escape me. I'm sure others will mention some classics I've forgotten that will change my mind.

Have at it!

[WhizzBang]

The Return Of Rico. It was the first strip to give a little background to Dredd, it introduced Rico and Titan and it is a great little conclusion to en epic long story that is hinted at but we never saw.

Alone In A Crowd is another all time classic single episode. I like the way it shows an amazing city of the future at surface level but also the undercurrent of fear that people live with there.

Judge Minty is another unforgettable single strip that brought more world building and a little insight into how the suppressed humanity is harshly dealt with when it starts to emerge.

[Funt Solo]

I also really liked another Dredd that Peter Doherty painted about a slow crime day.

Slow Crime Day, prog 1191

And one Garth Ennis did about a mutie incursion that he deals with in 10 minutes - Colin MacNeil on art.

Either Firepower, prog 736 or [Snowstorm], prog 819?

[2000BC]

One of my top three has to be Twenty Years To Midnight from Megazine 302.  Script Al Ewing, art Henry Flint.

So much happens in just twelve pages.  Ewing introduces us to a new Mega-City One subculture, brings back Chopper then dismisses him as a has-been, Mrs Gunderson and Walter provide some comic relief, Judge Beeny takes point, and there's an awesome Dredd one-liner ("sure, I'll take bad cop"). There's also some crazy violence and amazing Henry Flint art.

[GoGilesGo]

A one and done that stays with me and holds up on multiple re-reads is I Beast. Slightly elongated because of its inclusion in the 1983 Sci fi special, the ten pages are worked to perfection.

Standard monster on the loose tale that intrigues with the revelation of beast's brain inside human body. Then John & Alan subvert the story by revealing the other two halves have also been joined...the human brain (belonging to the Doctor's simpleton assistant) inside the body of the now not so ferocious Keralian Dragon. The final panel with Dredd putting his arm round Igor still kills me.

[Colin YNWA]

A one and done that stays with me and holds up on multiple re-reads is I Beast. Slightly elongated because of its inclusion in the 1983 Sci fi special, the ten pages are worked to perfection.

This one has a really special place in my heart. It was in the Summer Special I got on holiday at the very start of me getting back into 2000ad and just blow me away. Cam Kennedy's art is sublime. The story is straightforward as GoGilesGo says but in that so definitive of the 'standard' Dredd tale. Just fantastic stuff so glad to see someone mention it without refering to the nostaglia its so steeped in for me.

Another on I love was by Ian Edginton and Simon Coleby where Dredd is stood on a plinth over looking a Megaway watching the traffic. He'd been doing that so long his boot imprints were worn into the stone (plascrete?) on which he stood. It was such a great character study... and yet I'm still to lazy to look up the Prog and what it was called!

[GoGilesGo]

Dredd is stood on a plinth over looking a Megaway watching the traffic

300 Seconds, prog 1922

https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=1922

[Colin YNWA]

Dredd is stood on a plinth over looking a Megaway watching the traffic

300 Seconds, prog 1922

https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=1922

Nice one GoGilesGo - you really got my back in this thread. Sorry for being so lazy!

[Le Fink]

I also really liked another Dredd that Peter Doherty painted about a slow crime day.

Slow Crime Day, prog 1191

And one Garth Ennis did about a mutie incursion that he deals with in 10 minutes - Colin MacNeil on art.

Either Firepower, prog 736 or [Snowstorm], prog 819?

Thanks Funt - think it was Firepower. I'll check when I get in.

The I Beast story was also on my mind - recently republished in a Cam Kennedy special, along with another great one-shot, possibly called The Suspect? About a guy waiting to be interrogated.

Couple mentioned there I've not read, have to search them out!

[Magnetica]

For me the classic one offs were in the 100s. For example:

The Mob Blitzers Prog 130
Palais de Bong Prog 136
Death of a Judge Prog 137
Night of the Blood Beast Prog 138
The Day that Xmas Came a Little Early to Des O'Connor Block Prog 144
Uncle Ump's Umpty Candy Prog 145
New Year is Cancelled Prog 146
Judge Minty Prog 147
Alien Seeds Prog 148
The Aggro Dome Prog 183
Mega way Madness Prog 189
The Nightmare Gun Prog 190


And that's not counting Block War in Prog 182 as it is really an epilogue to the Judge Child.

Plus there were load of great 2,3 and 4 parters then.
Not to mention my favourite epic, the Judge Child.

It's hard to pick a top 3 from that lot, but the most memorable for me are Des O'Connor Block and New Year is Cancelled.

[GoGilesGo]

The Suspect? About a guy waiting to be interrogated.

The prefect cue. Here are my top 3 single prog Dredds


The Suspect Prog 342
Cam's first Dredd. We know this guy has broken the law but have no idea which law; he seems too much like a nice guy. A perfect 'Mega City will grind you down' story.

Death of a Legend Prog 1009
Two parallel narratives: a judicial committee approves euthanasia for McGruder; Dredd has other ideas.

Cockroaches Prog 1627
Dredd has a one on one with an Apocalypse War comrade then exits on page four...and the story takes the most unexpected, incredible left turn.

[Tjm86]

I am always going to go with "Alone In A Crowd" Prog 205.  Wagner perfectly captures the claustrophobia and paranoia of living in MC1.  That almost Darwinian environment that leaves citizens constantly looking over their shoulders.  Plus, for my money, some of Steve Dillon's best work.

[broodblik]

Finger of Suspicion (prog 1387) by John Wagner and Cam Kennedy:

[Barrington Boots]

Finger of Suspicion rules, was coming here to say that!

Not in the conversation for best ever, but A Child's Tale really impacted me when I read it back in 1989.

[JayzusB.Christ]

It's a toss-up between two Al Ewing strips, The Americans, which was a perfect slice of Big Meg life and a very brave attempt to clean up Judgement Day continuity; and that other 'choose your own adventure'-style one where you had to hack the game to finish the story and which was Moore-ishly clever in how it pushed the medium of comics to its limits.

And two more Wagner ones to be decided.  Hard to choose - the first Bella Bagley one? The haunting one where a man develops empathy for genetically engineered medical zombies? The 50 Foot Woman? They were all brilliant in those days.

tldr: I don't one yet.

EDIT- I have one definite choice- Letter from a Democrat.