Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Mardroid]

Exactly Gordon kilts...yeesh

They worked against the enemy in Carry on up the Khyber.

Okay, maybe that's not a good argument for that uniform.

[I, Cosh]

Yup, vol 57. No offence to those involved but it never grabbed ne and I even dumped the floppy when it turned up. Are they worth revisiting (non-Jocks only need reply) 😉

It started as lightweight comedy jocks in kilts stuff and ended on a weird and disjointed lurch into Vertigo Comics type psycho-horror, but Calhab Justice never seemed like a series comfortable in its own skin.

I'm not going to try and claim it as some forgotten classic but, when I finally read Cal Hab Justice a couple of years ago, the thing that struck me about it was that it wasn't a one note thing like, say, Shimura. At first, they'd tried to imitate the range of tones you get in Dredd. At the very least, there was a comedy one, a political one and an introspective character one before it went all Akira.

[Michael Knight]

I cant wait for Cal-Hab justice volume!

[Trent]

That's the beauty of 2000AD, it's a broad church - room for all views and preferences

[Michael Knight]

never a truer word said.

[Jade Falcon]

Despite enjoying the strip, if you really wanted OTT national stereotypes look at Harlem Heroes and some segments of the old Bill Savage story, the original Invasion.

[Dash Decent]

Fair enough, I take your point to a degree although the Brit Cit uniforms (which are excellent)

I hate the overly-tall helmets.  I know it's meant to tie back to modern-day bobbies police (pith) helmets, but I think it just looks awful.

[Apestrife]

Fair enough, I take your point to a degree although the Brit Cit uniforms (which are excellent)

I hate the overly-tall helmets.  I know it's meant to tie back to modern-day bobbies police (pith) helmets, but I think it just looks awful.

What's up with some of them having blue stars on their chins?

[Trent]

I think you just have to go with some elements of the designs, they are all ridiculous in truth; in any vaguely realistic future all countries uniforms would be generic and virtually identical as is happening with police uniforms now. I think they are part of the fun (apart from the kilts obviously).

[Steve Green]

Something from Brendan I guess - not sure if it would have come from John. Although I seem to remember them being called a beauty patch in one strip.

Maybe it was a shorthand for Brit Cit being more relaxed than the sticklers in MC-1.

[Mardroid]

I would think a star was more likely to be an American affectation than British though.

Even the Megacity judges have them on their badges and belt buckles. Depending on the artist, of course.

[Apestrife]

I spotted them in Doomsday. Thought perhaps it was to make it easier to tell MC1 and Brit cit judges apart when not wearing helmets.

Fun detail nonetheless.

Read Necropolis the other day. To no surprise, I really like it. Thought it felt a bit more focused as well with it only being Wagner and Ezquerra. Will be reading Dead man today, and then on backwards till the heart of it all, America

[GordonR]

Despite enjoying the strip, if you really wanted OTT national stereotypes look at Harlem Heroes and some segments of the old Bill Savage story, the original Invasion.

Gypsy Jake, the swarthy-skinned, untrustworthy, cowardly, sell-out-the-Resistance-at-the-first-flash-of a-bit-of-Volg-gold traitor?  Nope.  Nothing dodgy going on there.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I thought Armitage worked well as a conscious move away from the foreign Mega-Cities = Judges in national stereotype outfits stuff that there was far too much of in those days.  (Judges in kilts. FFS...)

Me too. In fact I loved Dave Stone's take on Brit Cit; it had a very, very detailed and well-thought out culture of its own.  Crime was tackled very differently there from MC1 methods of brute force:  The criminals were an intrinsic part of the system and had to be dealt with with the careful use of politics and diplomacy.  Even the division of the city into its differing zones was planned methodically by Stone; as were the differing strata of social classes and their respective dialects.  I only ever read one of those Virgin Dredd novels - can't remember the name but it was a Dredd / Armitage crossover and I was highly impressed. (The Crimelords having helped build Brit Cit and [spoiler]embedding bombs in the city's foundations as insurance[/spoiler] was a stroke of genius.)

[Richard]

That was Deathmasques, Stone's first and best JD novel.