Whats everyone reading?

[Judge Brian]

@Judge Brian.  While there is certainly a large element of the contortions required by a kids' weekly comic, I think the MC-1silliness works far more successfully as satire than a 'realistic' hard SF future.   Why is it any sillier that sugar is illegal im MC-1 when alcohol is not, than it is that cannabis is illegal in most of the real world when alcohol is not?  Stories including the former are entertaining and potentially eye-opening, those about the latter dull in the extreme.

It's much the same reason that Swift's Houyhnhnms are intelligent horses rather than cultured Africans.

Because Dredd isn't really the point of his own strip, the strip can (and is) about anything. One week it's satire, the next it's tragedy, the next week it could be hard sci-fi. That's what's great about the world of Dredd.

I guess I want their society to be driven by logic is because our society isn't.

[TordelBack]

I guess I want their society to be driven by logic is because our society isn't.

Excellent point!

[Mabs]

Wonder Woman vol. 1: Blood, which was absolutely awesome. I was never a fan of the character, but this new reboot of sorts, is perfect and a fresh perspective for the iconic character. Cliff Chiang's artwork is superb, it reminded me of Fiona Staples' work on Saga. If the story holds up for the continuing series  then consider me a fan. Oh, and it was far more enjoyable than Hawkeye.

Also, Britten & Brülightly. You can read my review on my blog:

http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/britten-brulightly-grapahic-novel-review/

In a word, excellent.

[Theblazeuk]

Just finished off Judge Dredd Case Files v20 - probably the worst one of these I've picked up to date. Gets better towards the end but there's not much to recommend here; a daft story about Dredd fighting a mummy in Egypt is actually something of a high point, it at least has nice art to look at whilst the punching is happening.

The biggest problems are a story arc involving the Pan-Andes Conurb, a south-american mega-city (or something, the art never looks like anything more futuristic than a shanty town and a plantation) and one story written by mark millar which I think is one of the worst I have ever, ever read. The former 'arc' suffers from ridiculous and frankly racist mexican stereotypes including horrific accented dialogue and characters that are unremittingly depraved, corrupt and disingenuous; there isn't a single honest person in the whole story and I don't understand how it was ever written. "Sonny Steelgrave" - a pseudonym if ever read one - has a lot to answer for here.

However the worst strip of the bunch is easily Mark Millar's. His few Dredd thrills are characterised by uncharacteristic brutality, which is saying something for Dredd. What's worse, this is unlawful brutality as far as I can tell. The nadir of his work here though is a story which follows a young citizen's struggle to join Justice Department, after having failed the initial psych/phys tests at 5. Everyone gets a second chance at age 12. Unfortunately for this kid, his psych tests reveal that he is "87% chance of becoming a perp in the future - so we saved ourselves some time and cubed him for life before he committed the crimes."

wtf. The last line is the kid saying "I used to think Judge Dredd was a hero - now I think he's a monster!" - yeah, spot on kid. Judge Dredd does not cube people for life for crimes they might commit. Put you on a watch list until you do commit a crime, yes. Put you under so much pressure that you might snap and fulfill this prophecy, sure. But condemn you before you've broken the law? Never. I shouldn't be surprised Millar misses the point of the 'big lie' so thoroughly but it's truly disappointing to read this story after 19 volumes of almost universally amazing thrills. If anyone has read "A Letter to Judge Dredd" and the work that followed, you'll know Megacity 1's top lawman has more to offer than mindless draconian punishment.

It's a real shame as Mark Millar has a lot in common with Garth Ennis - he does his best work when he balances the crass violence, obscenity and shock tactics with something deeper and a little more heartfelt, and his worst when he just leans on the common denominator material and revels in the gore and sadism. Red Razors was better even if it wasn't anymore ambitious, it revolves around a character who belongs in the middle of all that inane violence (which I have some time for too before you think I'm immune to it). Sometimes I think his best work was on Sonic the comic and the Superman:TAS comic series....

[Theblazeuk]

I remember Millar talking about the Spider-Girl character at the time and listing all the reasons she was evil, including "she's black."  Oddly, he has not revisited this statement for some reason.

Hnnn.

Also how is Spiderman's granddaughter black when she is Clint Barton's daughter too (gross by the way, hey Hawkeye want to hook up with my kid!?)?

I guess Spidey hooks up with Glory Grant in this continuity.

[LorcanQ]

It's a real shame as Mark Millar has a lot in common with Garth Ennis - he does his best work when he balances the crass violence, obscenity and shock tactics with something deeper and a little more heartfelt, and his worst when he just leans on the common denominator material and revels in the gore and sadism. Red Razors was better even if it wasn't anymore ambitious, it revolves around a character who belongs in the middle of all that inane violence (which I have some time for too before you think I'm immune to it). Sometimes I think his best work was on Sonic the comic and the Superman:TAS comic series....

From what i've read of it though, I thought Ennis' Dredd run was mostly crap, not by means of it being too sadist or anything, it was just lacking in anything imaginative really

I remember Millar talking about the Spider-Girl character at the time and listing all the reasons she was evil, including "she's black."  Oddly, he has not revisited this statement for some reason.

Jesus christ that's bad! I'd say that's more millar being a fuckin idiot than anything maliciously racist though TBH

[TordelBack]

From what i've read of it though, I thought Ennis' Dredd run was mostly crap...

He thinks so too.  However, in comparison to the Millar era, Ennis was the Second Coming of Wagner.

[Theblazeuk]

From what i've read of it though, I thought Ennis' Dredd run was mostly crap, not by means of it being too sadist or anything, it was just lacking in anything imaginative really

Meh I don't think his stuff is terrible, it's very middle of the road. There were some moments in Emerald Isle that I quite liked and as a whole it beat the sprock out of the 'Sugar beat' trip to Pan-Andes Conurb.

Nothing I've read of Ennis's Dredd really jumps out of character though like cubing a perfectly normal citizen at 12 years old because they might commit a crime

[Link Prime]

Nothing I've read of Ennis's Dredd really jumps out of character

I never minded Ennis' Dredd, thought there were some genuine gems during his run.
If you take Wagner as being the ideal Dredd writer as a given, I don't think there were many other writers that could have done a better job at the time.
Thargs 'bench' didn't include Al Ewing, Rob Williams, Mike Carroll, Gordon Rennie et al back in those days.

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah I never quite get the 'hate' for Ennis' Dredd, it was innovative but it did its job and as you say there's some gems in there.

The strength of Tharg's 'bench' as you call it goes a long, long way to explaining why 2000ad is in such a strong place at the moment. Still I'd love to see the modern Ennis have another go at Dredd, I reckon he'd do a peach of a job (I know, I know Helter Skelter but everyone mis-steps sometimes!)

[Theblazeuk]

Even Helter-Skelter was ok

I like the bit where he says "Don't be stupid I'm not going to kill you - just because it would be an easy solution doesn't make it right."

Of course if she'd been a Judge or a perp, BOOM.

[sheldipez]

The nadir of his work here though is a story which follows a young citizen's struggle to join Justice Department, after having failed the initial psych/phys tests at 5. Everyone gets a second chance at age 12. Unfortunately for this kid, his psych tests reveal that he is "87% chance of becoming a perp in the future - so we saved ourselves some time and cubed him for life before he committed the crimes."

wtf. The last line is the kid saying "I used to think Judge Dredd was a hero - now I think he's a monster!" - yeah, spot on kid. Judge Dredd does not cube people for life for crimes they might commit. Put you on a watch list until you do commit a crime, yes. Put you under so much pressure that you might snap and fulfill this prophecy, sure. But condemn you before you've broken the law? Never.

Oh my giddy aunt! I totally remember this story and thought it awfully harsh! I always thought early 2012 was the first time I picked up a prog (outside of Judgement on Gotham and the Shaun of the Dead prog) I must have tried 2000ad back with that prog and thought "nah, not for me". Any idea what year this was or even the prog number so as I can have a butchers?

[Skullmo]

Even teenage obsessive collector me couldn't make it past issue 2 of DCs Dredd.
What were they thinking?

IDW's Year One currently stands as the only non-Tharg Dredd that is readable (and not just readable, but bloomin great).

I thinkI had the whole run. It wasn't bad

[Frank]

Even teenage obsessive collector me couldn't make it past issue 2 of DCs Dredd. What were they thinking?

I think I had the whole run. It wasn't bad

I thought it was almost entirely shite, with the exception of the bits featuring The Ministry of Fear, The Academy of Law, and the aliens looking to trade WMDs. The art improved a lot around that point, including the first stuff I'd ever seen by JH Williams III:

[JOE SOAP]

and the aliens looking to trade WMDs.

For cigarettes. CIGARETTES.