Was inferno any good?

[radiator]

It was vaguely referenced in 'Tenth Planet'  when an image of Grice shows on screen when McGruder threatens Dredd with imprisonment on Titan, and 'Statue of Judgement' when the statue of judgement is rebuilt (awesome little strip, and introduces the PSU).

God I am a nerd!

I've cussed 'Inferno' down in the past, but I'd go with the 'enjoyed it when i was a kid, would get some guilty pleasure out of an EE' opinion. Plus the art is Carlos at his (pre computer) best.

[Funt Solo]

It's pish and should never be reprinted.  That was one battle the Dictators of Zrag won.

[Lobo Baggins]

Actually, I think Purgatory is okay

I always assumed that it was an idea that Millar had had for a 'renegade superhero prison' rather than anything to do with the Dredd universe.   It's got his usual cast of indestructable characters, anyway - Chief Warden wotsit can survive swimming through molten lava, Grice can resist a million Volts of electrickery (or something) because of his 'iron will' alone and can also hold his hand in molten lava with little or no ill effects...

[Tweak72]

"Actually, I think Purgatory is okay - I can never figure out how most of those prisoners could ever have been MC Judges (the fat Texan [what, he got fat on Titan?], the hippy etc.), and it's best enjoyed as a max-security prison romp rather than a Dreddverse story, but it had a psychotic energy and plenty over-the-top violence to go along with some of the Squirrel's best-ever design work (note similarity of helmets to Origins retro-judges).

Inferno on the other hand, despite being blessed by equally gorgeous art and some passable one-liners, committed the ultimate sin: it was boring. Rilly boring. It managed to be grotesquely repetitive in just a handful of pages, there was literally no plot (Dredd gets sick, Dredd runs away, Dredd comes back, the End), there was no thought given to the established MC-1 setting (what with its laser-defense system and eastern seaboard and west wall) and the supporting characters were sub-Jar-Jar. Like totally.

I hated it then, and I hate it still. I'm glad it never gets even a hint of a mention in Wagner/Rennie Dredds, even where Dredd's and MC-1's history or Titan are being explicitly discussed."

This I totally agree with. Whilst we would all like to spend a good few days punching, kicking and generally beating Miller to a bloody pulp. Every one forgets that Morrison was just as responsible for this dark, dark time and that fact that the run up of Purgatory by Miller was actually a better read then the lets face it clichéd and rather unimaginative Inferno main event by Morrison. although as they where both of the same quality as Big Dave I am suprised more chaps on the board didnt like them better :P

[Funt Solo]

Italics off now? (Firefox issue - all you IE or Safari peeps can chill.)

[Robin Low]

I wonder if Wagner would consider a return to Titan. It could be a non-Dredd story featuring whatever Judge was sent to get the place back up and running.

Regards

Robin

[Dudley]

I wish for a Wagner Titan-set story regularly.

I wish even more fervently that Inferno and Purgatory had never been written.  They're complete wank.

[Cordite]

This is going to sound harsh.  I can't understand how anybody who likes and cares about Dredd -- or any other story with continuity -- can tolerate Purgatory and Inferno.
There is such a disregard for pretty much all that has gone before: Grice is a weak and cowardly backstabber when first introduced by Wagner, only to suddenly become a superman; the astonishingly punitive and disfiguring regime on Titan suddenly permits fat guys and only demands miniscule little metal caps on the nose; everybody is fucking indestructible; Grice and fellow inmates are clearly the good guys of Purgatory only to rapidly become pantomime villains in Inferno, replete with ridiculous boo-hiss actions.

There is no logic or care to the story in Inferno.  Despite all its history the city has suddenly no defense against aerial assault; fucking bullshit.  In the absence of plot, or logic, or respect for previous stories, there is merely over-the-top sadism, sickening violence.

I've had this argument before.  Some people say they enjoyed it, and that's that.  But what I can't understand is, why collect a comic, follow a story, presumably caring about the building of world and character and NOT object to a sudden reversal -- massive betrayal, really -- to something you've been following for years?

[Funt Solo]

Everything cordite says.  

At that stage in Dredd, I was more and more forgiving the creators.  I forgave the replacement of the original Titan-inmate-face with a small metal nose cap, for example.

It wasn't until the Statue of Judgement on the eastern seaboard of MC-1 fell onto and smashed the west wall, and I realised that the writer clearly had no concept whatsoever of the shape of the city, that I realised quite how shite things had become.

Did that happen before or after they ripped someone apart using four lawmasters?  Why would ex-Judges all turn into raving, psychotic, murderous lunatics anyway?  You'd think, despite the flaws that sent them to Titan, that they'd retain some sense of discipline from their time at the Academy of Law.

Oh, it's just so pish it beggars belief.  It would be difficult to write something worse than Inferno (in particular) for Dredd.  Even him hover-boarding over a Cursed Earth dune shark, dressed as the Fonz as part of a Wally Squad op,  would be an order of magnitude better.

[Dog Deever]

I quite liked Purgatory, but I think the artwork went a long way towards papering the cracks over. Inferno wasn't as good, bit of an anticlimax. But it wasn't as bad as some of the stuff that came even later. There's been a lot worse, IMO. I always just assumed that the ease with which the baddies took the city was indicative of the decline of the Meg since Block Mania, the Apocalypse War, Necropolis, Judgement Day etc. had killed so many judges and destroyed so much that they weren't as efficient/ well equipped as before. The smaller breathing stuff I suppose you could put down to technilogical advancement. After all, if the city has to remove all that after your twenty year stretch is up, it would make it cheaper if there was less of it.

[Cordite]

Well... even allowing for all you've posited it is, at the end of the day, YOU making allowances, excusing the lack of continuity; YOU filling in the gaps for 2 writers who clearly didn't give a shit.

Personally I can't/won't go that far on behalf of a couple of jokers.

Tell a good story, respect the source material - too much to ask?

[Tweak72]

what if the whole thing have been a (yet another) malfunctioning dream machine that was justice dept wide so just the judges think it all happened, the cits donâ??t care one way or another if it happened or not and in the end it was all set up by the PSU so they could get a new building and never speak of it again? oh and (J)Anus Psi was found beaten to death by what would apper to be hundreds of reg issue day sticks with "SHUT THE DROKK UP! YOU ANNOYING SPUGGER!" writtern in her mashed up blood and brains on a near by wall? how about that?http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/sputnik/53/pj_janus.jpg">

[kinky john]

After recently reading an interview with Pat Mills in which he slags off comic 'fans' as opposed to comic 'readers', I have to say that most of you seem to be comic 'fans' more interested in convincing yourselves that what you read is real and less bothered about whether it's any good.
I can hardly believe that (presumably) adults are arguing over what type of face modification is acceptable for a stay on Titan.
Taste is a subjective thing, it is NOT set in stone.
Try enjoying 2000ad instead of living it.

[Bad Andy]

What an amusing first post.

All I remember about Inferno is the art. I wouldn't mind seeing it in an EE.

[Dudley]

Of course taste is subjective.  Clearly, some people, such as yourself, enjoy badly plotted and illogical comic strips (which is lucky for Pat Mills' continuing career).