Why doesn't Judge Rico get his own strip?

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Serves me right for sticking my noob oar in... I have a lot of catching up to do! I do wonder though if there are better candidates for a stand-alone strip than a clone of Dredd.

Well, I agree with you. There's no point in a Rico strip, he only works as a supporting character for Dredd.

Unless Dredd dies, then Rico would be a good replacement...

[James Stacey]

Don't ever be afraid to stick your noob oar in. Everyone's oar is interesting

[JPMaybe]

...any other attempt (like the Judge Hershey strip) just makes you think 'well why not do the story as Dredd'.

I quite liked the Marc Wigmore Hershey stories.  I really like his spare, austere art, for one, but I think they showed that there's some mileage in centring a story around a more normal street-Judge (which obviously wouldn't work with Hershey now); as I remember they dealt with quite low-key issues compared to Dredd, with a far less rigid, more human main character, which I thought worked well.

[Skullmo]

...any other attempt (like the Judge Hershey strip) just makes you think 'well why not do the story as Dredd'.

I quite liked the Marc Wigmore Hershey stories.  I really like his spare, austere art, for one, but I think they showed that there's some mileage in centring a story around a more normal street-Judge (which obviously wouldn't work with Hershey now); as I remember they dealt with quite low-key issues compared to Dredd, with a far less rigid, more human main character, which I thought worked well.

Hershey would work as a 'political' drama.

[JayzusB.Christ]

In my opinion, the Dredd strip handles the political side of things very nicely already. From the roots of the democracy storyline through America to the democratic referendum, from the rise of Fargo to the mutant issue, Wagner has more than delivered, and it's  to see a Hershey  political strip being anything other than superfluous at best and irrelevant at worst.

[Skullmo]

In my opinion, the Dredd strip handles the political side of things very nicely already. From the roots of the democracy storyline through America to the democratic referendum, from the rise of Fargo to the mutant issue, Wagner has more than delivered, and it's  to see a Hershey  political strip being anything other than superfluous at best and irrelevant at worst.

There are writers other than Wagner . . .

[The Adventurer]

And saying that such strips would only be 'superfluous' or 'irrelevant' strikes me as more of a lack of imagination then anything else.

[Colin YNWA]

I always wanted there to be a Hershey strip when she was 'exiled' at the beginning of Tour of Duty, thought there was a load of potential in a story of her finding her place in the world, off world and displaced.

Now looking at the post Day of Choas thread a political thriller featuring Hershey would have really worked in developing the post DoC world.

So to try to keep this on topic if we were to have a strip beyond Dredd and Anderson Hershey always seems to me to have the most potential, a great character who always seems to be enbroiled in interesting circumstance. Rico (current) would be Dredd lite?

[Skullmo]

So to try to keep this on topic if we were to have a strip beyond Dredd and Anderson Hershey always seems to me to have the most potential, a great character who always seems to be enbroiled in interesting circumstance. Rico (current) would be Dredd lite?

Except Rico has grown up in a completely different world to Dredd, it would be really interesting to see how this has changed his attitude.

[judgerussell]

Very good point Skullmo.

He is like Dredd, but he's been through different things, so it may have made him a different person.

The truth is we don't know if he is just the same as Dredd, as we haven't seen him stretch his own wings.

[The Adventurer]

The scenes between Rico and Dolman in Brothers of the Blood always struk me as Rico being considerably less cynical then Dredd himself. More understanding/sympathetic of Dolman's circumstances then Dredd, etc...

Like when Dolman choos to leave Rico was some what proud of him, where Dredd was closer to disappointed.

In fact the pressure of being 'the next Judge Dredd' seems lik something you can hang a whole series on.

[Frank]

saying that such strips would only be 'superfluous' or 'irrelevant' strikes me as more of a lack of imagination then anything else.

Bit harsh. The Megazine has been going for a quarter of a century, and the best received stories have been those which bear only a tenuous connection to the main Dredd strip, or none at all. Stories such as Insurrection, Devlin Waugh, and Low Life are either set somewhere other than MC1, are centered on something other than the work of a street judge, and/or feature a larger than life, charismatic lead character. A solo Rico strip wouldn't satisfy any of those criteria.

The Hershey, Anderson, Karyn, Janus, and Francisco solo stories weren't superfluous or irrelevant because they were rotten characters or the stories were badly written/drawn, it was because they were confined to the same format of the crime story as Dredd. The protagonists were more sympathetic than Dredd, had a different approach to Dredd, and gave the stories a different punchline, but they're still tied to the criminal investigation format.

I think MC1's a great setting for stories with or without Dredd in them, but the few decent solo stories featuring a character other than Dredd would usually work just as well with Dredd in the lead, and the mediocre ones dilute the appeal of the main title. Tales of MC1 seems to offer greater potential to tell stories outwith the crime genre *.


*I'd draw a parallel here with Jaegir; the problem with the original Rogue Trooper strip was the repetitive and restricted nature of the stories the war story format allowed, and taking a left turn into detective fiction, horror, and psycho drama revitalised the appeal of that world for jaded readers.

[Colin YNWA]

While it is a good point the question remains for me as to who those subtlies would be of interest too. The diehard fan sure but to others? In the long term if you want a replacement Dredd, should that happen then fine that works. When you run those stories in Dredd with the two side by side, yeah they work too. But a seperate strip running in conjunction with the main Dredd strip I don't see that working?

Though I'm sure talented writers may well have an idea I'm not seeing them being writers and their job and all but I'm not seeing it.

[Colin YNWA]

The Hershey, Anderson, Karyn, Janus, and Francisco solo stories weren't superfluous or irrelevant because they were rotten characters or the stories were badly written/drawn, it was because they were confined to the same format of the crime story as Dredd. The protagonists were more sympathetic than Dredd, had a different approach to Dredd, and gave the stories a different punchline, but they're still tied to the criminal investigation format.

That's kinda why I want a Hershey strip thats a political thriller of sorts. It offers something different to the normal Dredd and thus has a real value?

[Judge Brian]

I'd like to see a year long interconnected strip in the meg that would star a different fan favorite judge for the first 10 parts & then have a big 2 part finally where all the judges work together.