Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Michael Knight]

Hiya folks,

What's the verdict on the missionary man volume! Haven't had time to pick up a copy today yet but eager to being big fan of this character. Just wondered if anyone subscribing has read through this yet?

[Trent]

My second favourite volume after Cursed Earth Koburn, but then I have a soft spot a mile wide for Cursed Earth 'Western' stories. Thrilled that we are getting 2 more volumes which will give us most of the stories.
Despite Rennie's comments Alex Ronald's art is among my favourite in 2000AD, looking forward to lots of Simon Davis, Dean Ormston and Colin MacNeil (ok and Frank Quitely for the nth time for completeness).
In short, if you like the Western feel to a Dreddverse story it won't disappoint although earlier stories were more obviously of that genre.

[Michael Knight]

Cheers Trent really looking forward to hopefully picking this up tomorrow. Like you I too a big fan of the 'Western' influenced Dredd stories! 

[Jade Falcon]

Missionary Man...what to say.  The character seems interesting but at the same time I feel like I've missed certain things.  This might be because there are still two preceding volumes to come out.  I had read the Hotdog Run story before and it's still decent, and also enjoyed the shanty town story, though the Strato-V looked like a different design than the ones from the Apocalypse War.

I've mentioned Helltreckers before and it seems to be considered pretty poor, but what does anyone think if there had been a darker, more modern version of the story written with less silly moments.  For instance in the original story, I would imagine the convoy leader would vet who he would allow with him, so those hillbilly type bad family wouldn't be there.

Back to Missionary Man, the thing that jarred with me was how much of a bunch of douchebags Texas City seemed to have become.  My only real prior experience with them was mentions in Angel Gang storylines and the Apocalypse War where you had the stereotypical Chief Judge with a stetson.  Here, the Texas City Judges overall seem to be pretty corrupt.

[Richard]

I liked that the Texan judges were very different to the MC1 judges, instead of just being the same people on funny hats.

[Michael Knight]

so Helltrekkers Is included in this volume?

[Tjm86]

Missionary Man...what to say.  The character seems interesting but at the same time I feel like I've missed certain things.  This might be because there are still two preceding volumes to come out.

I flicked through and read the text pieces and parts of the Redondo one.  Then I decided, for the first time in the series, to wait until I had the two preceding volumes and read them in order.

I guess the thing we need to remember with HellTreckers is that it is very much of it's time.  Although tooth was growing up, it was still aimed primarily at kids and written with that in mind.  Granted the calibre of story telling was much more mature and you very rarely saw so many cliches thrown together in one story.

[Spikes]

Just re-reading Necropolis - thanks to the Mega Collection. And it's a tale I've been keen to re-visit.

Didn't much care for this tale at the time (well, not exactly at the time - I had to wait a wee while before I did get to read it..), but so far so good. And King Carlos' art is just stunning.

[The Monarch]

Helltrekkers is not in this volume its all mm aside from a few older dredd cursed earth tales

[abelardsnazz]

Interesting to read the third volume of Missionary Man first. Despite Mr Rennie's comments I think Alex Ronald's art brings atmosphere to the stories, reminding me of Arthur Ranson at times. It'll be interesting to compare the corrupt Texas City here with the story currently developing in the Prog.

Nice to see some Jesus Redondo work here, a solid rather than flashy artist, and too often unsung for his work on Nemesis.

True Grit is fun, Cain and Dredd playing off each other well.

Lonesome Dave is pretty throwaway, but John Burns' take on Dredd is always good.

And some Ron Smith classics to round off the volume, which a lot of people have been asking for. Hoping the collection will include more of these, such as The Graveyard Shift, Bob & Carol & Ted & Ringo, and the original Nosferatu story - the Total War volume has already included the sequel.

[Max Headroom]

I understand there are going to be three 'Missionary Man' volumes in total. Does anyone know whether this will include all his stories?

[Dark Jimbo]

And some Ron Smith classics to round off the volume, which a lot of people have been asking for. Hoping the collection will include more of these, such as... the original Nosferatu story - the Total War volume has already included the sequel.

The Total War follow-up is actually the sequel to the Megazine Nosferatu story by Wagner and Hicklenton - they're both about the same creature. The Nosferatu in the Ron Smith story doesn't make it out alive!

[abelardsnazz]

And some Ron Smith classics to round off the volume, which a lot of people have been asking for. Hoping the collection will include more of these, such as... the original Nosferatu story - the Total War volume has already included the sequel.

The Total War follow-up is actually the sequel to the Megazine Nosferatu story by Wagner and Hicklenton - they're both about the same creature. The Nosferatu in the Ron Smith story doesn't make it out alive!

Ah, ok. Hopefully they'll reprint the Hicklenton story too.

The Facebook page has posted the cover for issue 38, the second Low Life volume. Credited are Rob Williams, D'Israeli, Henry Flint and Smudge. Presume this will collect all the remaining LL stories, but Henry Flint's have already appeared. Any ideas?

[Trent]

Yeah, I was wondering the same re Henry. Looked at Barney but nothing jumped out. That said, the remaining Low Life stories are only 160 odd pages so there might be a bonus Dredd story. Anyone got any better ideas?

[The Monarch]

I would assume all of mm will get a showing. This volume alone covers his entire time in 2000ad apart from a mega epic length story. Other than that all thats left to reprint is whats already been reprinted a few unreprinted stories leading into this book and the last ever mm story