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I know it's not going to be an issue until sometime around 2009, but I was just wondering if the "Complete Case Files" series is going to include the Dredd stories from the Megazine? I assume that, at the very least, it'll need to include stuff like the "Judgement Day" episodes that crossed over.

I've never bought a single issue of the Megazine. In fact, the prospect of Marvel-style crossovers forcing me to get it was one of the reasons I originally stopped buying 2000AD itself. Well, that and the fact it was pretty rubbish at the time... Oh well.

Cheers.

No love for "Oz" on the board? They could have missed out all the Chopper-in-the-Cursed-Earth bit, but the Judda were cool and you wouldn't have had Necropolis and all that without it. I used to love it when you'd get a Dredd story like "Bloodlines" that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything, but you just knew you'd get the payoff somewhere down the line.

If you're including "The Pit", on the basis of size then it's definitely one of the best. I got hold of the old Titan GN recently and it's great stuff: a good idea, putting Dredd in a completely different situation and also introducing a whole new set of supporting characters.

Ultimately, as seemes to be the overwhelming choice, "The Apocalypse War" stands head and shoulders above them all. The destruction of Dan Tanna junction is probably the finest scene to appear in any comic. Ever.

A friend had told me years ago about Mr. Ramjam Funkyboogaloo-Smythe and I'd always thought he was talking crap. Reading this thread, I thought I'd Google him, and it seems he's real!!

I believe he has a brother.

Mr. Koolandthegang Funkyboogaloo-Smythe.

Link: http://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/content.asp?id=7753&nav=116&parent_directory_id=101" target="_blank">Ram It!

I take it these are just out today, as I picked up Total War in Forbidden Planet this afternoon. It's utterly fantastic stuff. Dredd at it's absolute best and the main reason I started buying 200AD again after a 10-12 year lay-off.

It would be fascinating to get some sort of definitive edition collecting all the stories that have contributed to this arc, from Democracy Now and America right up to the stuff in this book.

So, are we any closer to knowing who Smudge is yet? Is it Shaun Thomas?

That third character from the top is Shrike(?) from Bad Company, so it must be Brett Ewins...

Jeez, that's a whole lot of ground to cover! Sounds like a lot of fun though: the Atomic Wars, Fargo, everything you ever wanted to know about MC1 but were afraid to ask.

You may well be right on MTP. I might try and dig it out when I'm at my folks' over Christmas.

Just got a copy of this today and thought I'd give you all the benefit of my insight. ;-)

The two Dredd stories are both good in different ways. One pedantic and nit-picking question: I have a vague memory of Dredd scoring Rico off the class list at the end of "Mutie the Pig" and there only being about half a dozen names left. So who are all these guys in the photo?

Despite the whole Wulf being dead thing, Strontium Dog was top-class. Laugh out loud funny.

Caballistics, Inc was also a neat little story. Liked it.

The Ten-Seconders looks good. Nice art and already a fairly intriguing premise. But did I see a Triskele banner in the background? Will the wily old Guledig be popping up somewhere? Or am I just a sad old man with too good a memory of old stories?

Slaine: Looks beautiful. Probably boring.

Dante: Don't know much about him.

Sinister Dexter & Low-Life: Crap, but is that the first bit of quim to appear in the Galaxy's Greatest?

Origins: I am intrigued. What is this about? "History of Dredd"; surely we know his history? And Wagner's last Dredd? Surely not now, just as I have returned from the wilderness?

Also picked up the "Total War" trade today. Absolutely brilliant. Was it just coincidence, or a deliberate stylistic choice to have Colin McNeil draw the "Terror" storyline?

Incredible. I was thinking about posting about my rebirthing experience very soon!

I started in the late 200s (Destiny's Angels was the Dredd story if anyone wants an exact reference) and gave up around 900, when I was at university. As I think somebody else mentioned, crap like Maniac 5 really took the biscuit.

Over the years, I have kept up with Dredd by flicking through a copy in Smith's. This summer I finally decided to take the plunge and give it a six month trial, jumping back on board at 1450. I've since bought a few issues prior to that and am planning on picking up a few of the Dredd reprints.

Overall, I'm really not sure whether my impressions are positive or negative, but I suppose this has always been both the best and worst thing about the anthology style of 200AD!

A quick rundown then:

Dredd: Exceptional. other writers and artists come and go, but as long as Wagner is writing this with any frequency, it's worth the cover price alone. The fact that it's the only strip guaranteed to be in the comic forever allows the writers exceptional freedom to plan long-term storylines. I mean, there are still things going on that refer back to my original progs!

Leatherjack: I often used to wonder what John Smith had been up to after failing to make it in the States. The answer seems to be not really developing as a writer in any way. Entertaining, but not a patch on Revere.

Savage: Oh sweet Jesus, this is bad. The same screeching, polemical tone that ruined the ABC Warriors back in the day. I actually liked Third World War, which this resembles uncannily, but at least I was an over-earnest sixteen year old at the time. In my day, Bill Savage was a laughing stock and that's the way he'll always be to me.

Sinister Dexter: There's probably too much backstory for me to easily catch up on, but my general feeling is that this is poor. Crappy dialogue coupled with artwork which has the disconcerting quality of veering from really quite gorgeous panels to incomprehensible sludge in the space of a single episode. The man cannot draw faces.

Caballistics, Inc: Pretty good. An interesting take on a hoary old trope.

Beck & Kawl: Hilarious. Was this a one-off or will it be back?

Red Seas: Interesting. Enlivened by Steve Yeowell's trademark clean lines. Nice to see he still hasn't bothered about learning to colour in in ten years. Also, IIRC, wasn't one of the Zenith books called The Hollow Land?

Tales of the Leviathan: Outstanding. I've only seen two episodes and it's by far the most quirky and original of the strips that are new to me. Is there an overarching story here or just a series of one-offs?

Slaine: Looks beautiful, but he should have stayed dead after the High King.

Member since 16-Mar-04.
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Says it all really. Well done on needling him enough to actually change it.

[Rocky Balboa]

I think you will find there will be no such film as Rocky VI. There will, however, be Rocky Balboa.

Hi guys. Mine is a familiar tale: I read 2000AD from sometime in the early 80s (I remember Destiny's Angels was the Dredd story in my first progs) until I gave up on it in the mid-90's (partly because times were hard as a student, and partly because Mark Millar wrote every other story) sometime after Inferno and before Justice One/Tenth Planet/Whatever it was called. Over the years I've skimmed Judge Dredd in Smiths until the sheer thrill-power of Total War (easily one of the half-dozen best Dredd stories I've ever read and, incredibly, still drawing on things I remember from first time around) forced me to think about signing up again.

Finally jumped back on (and picked up the previous ten or so progs) with 1450 and very nearly jumped back off again when I saw Bill Savage leering out at me...

How did this come to pass? When I was a lad, Bill Savage was a pariah, laughing stock and whipping boy all rolled into one even among the editorial staff. Whenever a letter was published complaining about a particular story, Tharg would point out that it could have been worse: Bill Savage could have been in it?

Basically, I was wondering if you could let me know what's been going on while I was away?

Cheers, Pete.

Wow! While I would accept the notion of Ezquerra's version of Johhny Alpha being the definitive one, I have always thought Simon Harrison's work on The Final Solution and Revere was absolutely incredible.

What really made me sick was when they finally got fed up with waiting for Harrison to finish his stuff and called in Colin McNeil for the last couple of episodes of Final Solution. I have never liked his square-jawed, expressionless faces and following on from the chaotic genius of Harrison was a bridge too far.

Ask him to forward you a copy of the e-mail he received from e-bay...

Bugging me for years,how do you pronounce"cthulhu"?

I think it rhymes with "Prog."