Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Trent]

Young Death and Calhab just turned up. Forgotten that Calhab featured Brit-Cit Brute, something clearly everyone has been waiting for to see his story resolved...........

Best thing about Calhab is that it features Missionary Man on the spine (and a few pages of Steve Dillon and Colin MacNeil). Never really a fan of John Ridgeway (I can appreciate the skill and all, but even so), Lol looks like an artist in development - way too busy and muddy and the whole Calhab thing is tosh.

Young Death is a welcome volume, nice to have Fraser's stint in a hardback (it really warranted a Dark Justice size book back in the day but nevermind).
Not read Young Death for a while, had a skim and brought back fond memories. Pete Doherty art varies from superb to fledgling which is both understandable and rather charming.

Fetish and the final Anderson volume (barring extension) up next. Both stories I know well so no great excitement apart from seeing what else is in Fetish. Obviously not included but I wonder if we will ever see Pan-African Judges again, even in a floppy.

[GordonR]

Young Death and Calhab just turned up. Forgotten that Calhab featured Brit-Cit Brute, something clearly everyone has been waiting for to see his story resolved...........

Hur. 

IIRC, Brit-Cit Brute was created editorially (and I think was inspired by the film Demolition Man) and then farmed out to promising new talent - in this case, it was Robbie Morrison left holding the short straw - to develop and write.

[The Monarch]

The character was so well liked and thought of they killed him twice which is just sad

(Note: jonni kiss has newts badge in goodnight kiss implying kiss killed him)

[Jim_Campbell]

IIRC, Brit-Cit Brute was created editorially (and I think was inspired by the film Demolition Man) and then farmed out to promising new talent

I heard that story slightly differently, in so far as the strip was called 'Demolition Man' for much of its early development, before the upcoming Stallone film forced a hasty name-change...

[Link Prime]

IIRC, Brit-Cit Brute was created editorially (and I think was inspired by the film Demolition Man) and then farmed out to promising new talent

I heard that story slightly differently, in so far as the strip was called 'Demolition Man' for much of its early development, before the upcoming Stallone film forced a hasty name-change...

Now that you say it, I'm almost certain there was an early promo with the strip actually named as 'Demolition Man'.

I don't recall Jonni Kiss having Judge Newt's badge in his collection- cheers Monarch.

[GordonR]

IIRC, Brit-Cit Brute was created editorially (and I think was inspired by the film Demolition Man) and then farmed out to promising new talent

I heard that story slightly differently, in so far as the strip was called 'Demolition Man' for much of its early development, before the upcoming Stallone film forced a hasty name-change...

Yeah, that makes more sense.  I didn't think the timeline made sense for the strip to have appeared after the movie, and be derivative of it.

[JamesC]

Really pleased to see Wilderlands again.
I have a vague recollection that this story wasn't very well regarded but I think it's great fun and probably the best of the 'Mechanismo' stories. I think Carlos's computer colouring was pretty unpopular but I don't mind it at all (it's very much of its time though and not as good as the Necropolis marker-pen period).

[Tony Angelino]

Calhab Justice arrived today. I don't think I'll read it.

There should be enough Dredd stories that they don't need to include volumes like this. 

[Trent]

Completely agree Tony. I understand the desire to present the Dredd Universe but it is openly admitted there were many dubious strips along the way.
If we end up with 80 volumes including Calhab Justice, BritCit Brute and Darren Dead but excluding Kenny Who?, Otto Sump and Graveyard Shift then there has been a serious error of judgment in compiling the collection.
We can only hope that a 20 volume extension is forthcoming and deals with these lunacies.

[robert_ellis]

I really enjoyed Wilderlands and especially the continuation into voting. Carlos' computer stuff is sometimes bonkers but fun to see. Into the Undercity was a choppy ride and could've done with some of Steve Dillon's werewolves to up the quality. The Creep stuff was a guilty pleasure. The stories are thin but I love the atmosphere. Great to see the Creep meet some supernatural competition. Pat Mills' Dredd tale felt odd in concept. I can believe an immortal perp wouldn't have been experimented on heavily. It was great to see Trevallions art on the endpapers. All in all this was a pretty good month after the disappointment of Calhab. I'm glad the text articles are keeping up the quality and being frank about these stories initial reception.

[Apestrife]

Completely agree Tony. I understand the desire to present the Dredd Universe but it is openly admitted there were many dubious strips along the way.
If we end up with 80 volumes including Calhab Justice, BritCit Brute and Darren Dead but excluding Kenny Who?, Otto Sump and Graveyard Shift then there has been a serious error of judgment in compiling the collection.
We can only hope that a 20 volume extension is forthcoming and deals with these lunacies.

Possible the idea of an extension is the reason why some stuff was left out. Lots of classic stuff they could include, as well as post DOC stories with the rest of Titan (with the recent follow up stuff), Every empire falls and so on.

[seanharry]

If we end up with 80 volumes including Calhab Justice, BritCit Brute and Darren Dead but excluding Kenny Who?, Otto Sump and Graveyard Shift then there has been a serious error of judgment in compiling the collection.

If they are omitting Graveyard Shift and Kenny Who? then that is two of the all time greatest Judge Dredd strips missing from the collection.

[Trent]

Don't know about Graveyard Shift tbh but not mentioned yet and running out of places for it - perhaps a MegaCity Law volume including the Crime File stories 209-223. Drop in a few newer stories and voila.
Sure I saw specfic mention that Kenny Who? is not included despite a fond write up in the front of the Calhab volume as if to rub salt in the wound in multiple ways.

[robert_ellis]

i wonder if casefiles owners are buying this series or if it's two very different kinds of punters. if livd to know more of the selection process for this series. One duff volume & two patchy ones seems quite a good batting average out of 50 or so books so far. The omissions like Chopper's first appearance or Otto Sump seem curious. I just wonder if there was an edict that early b&w stuff has already been heavily reproduced, is of variable repro quality or is unfashionable. The colour stuff has largely reproduced well but b&w Bolland or Ewins has looked sub-par.

[IndigoPrime]

I suspect it's more that people these days broadly expect colour. I know there are exceptions (Walking Dead, say), but they're relatively rare in typical comics (vs Manga). That said, I'd gladly have lobbed Graveyard Mix into the mix in place of some of the dreck we've ended up with.

Fortunately, duff volumes are very much in the minority, but it's a bit sad to look at Heavy Mob and Calhab and think "well, I'm definitely never going to read that tripe again" when that could have been 400 pages of actually good material. (And I'm not necessarily saying Calhab should have been omitted entirely, but a couple of the early tales would have been enough. We didn't need the entire bloody run, especially when we're apparently not getting the entire run of Chopper.)