JUDGE DREDD: IDW #1

[James Stacey]

Were the 2 stories supposed to be linked somehow, I can't see any reference to it but both having looters and wayward robots seemed odd to me if they aren't.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I think the second one is from a parallel universe. It's nearly like Dredd but not quite and I reckon its from the 95th universe!

[Richmond Clements]

It's unfair to use Zarjaz as any kind of barometer for IDW Dredd's quality, as one is clearly fanfiction that doesn't suffer any kind of editorial oversight, while the other is Zarjaz.

:-)

[Professor Bear]

I am very glad that joke has not been misread as a pop at Zarjaz.

For all those collectors out there, here are the shop variant covers!

God damn it, IDW.

While I understand the concern that the current rise of the variant cover marks a return to the bad old speculator days of the 1990s, it's actually worse than it seems: variant covers encourage high retailer pre-orders because pre-orders and not actual sales of a comic are used as the basis of sales charts for North American comic books - you want to help your book rise in the charts, give it a variant cover.  Of course, this effectively means that publishers are padding the sales charts with unpopular comic books that no-one is actually buying in the numbers they suggest, much as no-one actually bought eight million copies of Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, but on the plus side it explains the "popularity" of Brian Bendis' borderline-unreadable Avengers comics.

[The Adventurer]

My real problem with IDW is they seem to skimp on the interior content in favor of paying for a dozen variant covers from name artists in order to shift units (you know, rather then letting the content do it). Its really noticeable on some licensed titles. Judge Dredd seems to be going down the same road. And that's not good.

[Professor Bear]

I think it's more likely they just can't compete with the big two in terms of finance, visibility and/or the chance to write/draw Spider-Man/Batman and just and have to go with whatever less tested or refined creators they can lay their hands on and sales-boosting gimmicks to make their books chart seem a better option than talent searches.  All the same, I still find it hard to believe they couldn't find a better writer or artist for Dredd.

[Dark Jimbo]

It's unfair to use Zarjaz as any kind of barometer for IDW Dredd's quality, as one is clearly fanfiction that doesn't suffer any kind of editorial oversight, while the other is Zarjaz.

[Proudhuff]

We need a like button!!

[gronk guy]

Is anyone other than burdis and myself collecting the retail logo variants?

Just seeing if there is any interest in buying 6-10 and saving on postage.

[Professor Bear]

A sensible idea would be to bung a bingo sheet with all the different versions of the cover up on the forum here and those of us who bought it can see if we've got one you might be after.

[gronk guy]

Any help on variants outside the UK except Jetpack would be great.

third eye said i would have to buy off ebay. They said the postage would be the same for 1 or 10 copies.
Thats what got me thinking about grouping up.

[SmallBlueThing]

BAH! Ordered back in September and now two days past publication and still dont have it. Grump grump!

SBT

[CrazyFoxMachine]

BAH! Ordered back in September and now two days past publication and still dont have it. Grump grump!

SBT

Same here.

[Spikes]

And for me, as well.
Ordered mine from Disposable Heroe's, so should hopefully be landing soon.
Tomorrow, or Saturday would be nice.

[Pete Wells]

Yeah I ordered it from Disposable Herroes too and ain't got it (or should I say "them?") yet.

However, I crumbled and bought it digitally this morning. To be honest, I was very pleasantly suprised. The main story was really rather good and thankfully Dredd's dialogue didn't bother me at all. I liked the way it introduced the city through it's differing levels and Dredd through different bullet types. I really liked the art too, with the lettratone atyle not bothering me one bit.

The second story was wonderfully sinister and I really like the over arching 'dodgy robot' theme of the whole comic. I'd agree the art wasn't the best and, my god, that panel is horrific but in all, I'm happy to pay a couple of quid for some decent extra Dredd.