Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Michael Knight]

The Mega collection is Excellent value for money in my opinion. I actually have friends asking me questions about Dredd and 2000ad in general who never gave it much of a look in before. As for figurines collection? YES PLEASE! 

[Trent]

Young Death up on official Facebook page.
As expected, credits indicate Young Death and My Name is Death/Wilderness Years only.
Obviously opinions vary on Young Death for making Death too comical but the art is great and I enjoyed it when it first ran in the Meg.
My Name is Death confused me a little with the pitch black opening story in the Prog and horror art by Frazer rehabilitating Death sucessfully but the comedic tones returned in the Cursed Earth section to a degree as typified by the cover of Death thumbing a lift which for me undid much of the goid work. That said, I enjoyed the Wilderness Years and was pleased to see Death finally wise up to the maths regarding his effectiveness at carrying out global genocide.
To be fair a tenner is a fair price for either half of the volume (which were indeed sold seperately previously). Such a great collection.

[robert_ellis]

Judge Death's early appearances set an unrealistically high standard which later stories just can't live upto. Even Dark Justice which matches the quality of art & suspense feels slightly disappointing. The 3 Amigo's was a real low point, enjoyable in itself but ultimately laughing at Death. The one-off painted tales are the closest for me of reinvesting true horror in these creations - seeing Fire underwater or the dead fluid machinery had a strong lurid kick. Perhaps there's still life in these monsters. I think Anderson would actually have to die for any threat to feel real again.

[Rately]

I've been picking the Mega Collection up, few at a time, on Ebay, but i'll definitely be purchasing the Young Death volume in shop. Haven't read the soty in years, but i loved Peter Doherty's art, and look forward to revisiting it.

[Michael Knight]

anyone know when Banzai Battalion and Cal-Hab released? Cant wait to reread these!   

[The Monarch]

Calhabs unknown banzais issue 52 though

Also the guy in the facebook comments comparing young death to cry for justice needs a slap seriously ;p

[Michael Knight]

Cheers Monarch mate 

[abelardsnazz]

The highlight of The Art of Taxidermy was, for me, Return..., Wagner and Gibson both on top form. The back-up stories are an eclectic but fun collection, always interesting to see what gets put in these volumes. Hoping for some more early 80s stuff.

[robert_ellis]

I'm always intrigued by the story selection process for these books. I'm assuming "Dark Side of the Moon" contains John Smith's "Darkside" - the follow up to "City of the Damned". I'm guessing the story recaps previous events but I wonder if it would make more sense to read "Damned" first. I'd love to hear a Matt Smith interview about the series and his selections.

[Trent]

I'm not sure about the 'immersive' reading experience of the selection order either.
Consider:
1) Missionary Man closing out the whole Undertaker etc story which presumably will also feature heavily in some of the volumes still to come.
2) Forthcoming Tour of Duty volume apparently being the middle of 3
Sure there are others which are a little odd and I think specific story arcs should be released sequentially but I guess that unless you are going to release everything in strict chronological order there will be anomolies.
The whole Judge Child and related tales covers a broad range of stories as you could include all the Mean Machine, Fink Angel and Ratfink stories so keeping to strict chronology would be rather restrictive.
Like many on the board I have read everything before so it doesn't really matter to me which order they arrive in but I can understand those less familiar with the material might get a little perplexed at times.

[robert_ellis]

Missionary Man left me very cold - i'll give it another chance when the other volumes come out. Appearances by Dollman & Vienna seemed similarly incongruent. I'm glad America introduced Beeny well. As a longtime reader are there any serious omissions in this collection.

[TordelBack]

The Taxidermist volume is extraordinarily good. The original story is one of my all-time favourite Dredds, and I consider the Kennedy art to be some of the most accomplished pages ever to appear in the comic. Look at the panel where Sardini is adjusting the poses of Paxo and the Geek boys, just look at it: where does your brain get the information it needs to instantly and correctly interpret that image?  How does he make it work. I know, I'm a broken record on this subject, but it has fascinated me for years. The Olympics story builds on the concept brilliantly, and Gibson indulges his singular abilities in depicting a fantasy of the female form. And I never even knew that there was a third story! What a treat!

The other stories are an oddly satisfying mix, especially the gut-punch of Zombies,  and only Radbeast feels a little out of place, possibly from over-familiarity. Maybe this was the volume to run Bury my Knee... instead?

But all in all a staggeringly good slice of comics.

[abelardsnazz]

As a longtime reader are there any serious omissions in this collection.

I'm hoping Pirates of the Black Atlantic will be included, that's a pretty pivotal story in Dredd history.

[Jim_Campbell]

I consider the Kennedy art to be some of the most accomplished pages ever to appear in the comic.

You've mentioned this before, and I hadn't even noticed until you pointed it out: you can tell which figures are motionless statues and which are living people in a static image.

It's just amazing.

[IndigoPrime]

Agree. It's great stuff. The book as a whole is very good, but it's that original series that clicks most with me in terms of art and script. Art-wise, I'm less of a fan of the Gibson stuff. His cheesecake approach to women always grated a bit, and when he went for watercolours, the energetic strength of his line seemed to disappear. I did like the Hairsine take though.