2000 AD Online Forum

Hey guys, I've been looking into buying Judgre Dredd as it looks pretty good.

So basically, after having a look around for re-prints I've come across Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files.
What I was wondering is, over these numerous volumes do they cover all of Judge Dredd's stories?
I'm assuming so as they are entitled 'Complete Case' files. Just want to make sure though.

Also, are they in chronological order etc?

Is there anything I need to know or any other Judge Dredd material I should look for?
Thanks!

Yep, the Judge Dredd Case Files reprint every Judge Dredd strip to appear in 2000AD in chronological order. They are great value for money as they cover a lot of material, though I should warn you that the very early material (much like Marvel or DC stuff from that era) is quite dated and cheesy  by today's standards.

If you wanted to get a little taste of classic Dredd, I'd personally recommend starting with something more contemporary. Mandroid is a very good place to start, as its a nice complete tale with great artwork, and its  very accesible for new readers like yourself. I'd also highly recommend The Pit, Satan's Island and America.

If you enjoy those, then you can always go back to read the early material.

Cool, thanks!

You've been of great help to me Radiator and I thank you yet again for being so informative!

If you did fancy the casefiles, you could do a lot worse than start with volume 5 - this collects stories from 1981 and 1982 and contains  a good tripple-whammy of top story arcs - The Crime Files (Mega-City mobsters and bizarre future crimes); Judge Death Lives (the second,and IMHO greatest, appearance of Dredd's undead nemesis) and The Apocalypse War (The epic to beat all epics as MC1 is laid waste by nuclear attack and Sov invasion)

I reckon it's pretty much a golden age of Dredd. I'd leave most of the 90s stuff until last, when you're thoroughly hooked and need to read everything, 'cos some of it wasn't that great.

Won't I need to read the earlier material though to understand the story etc?

Start at volume one,yes some of it is a little dated,but if you don't read the first few volumes you will miss classic tales like The cursed earth and The day the law died ! You can pick them up on ebay quite cheaply......

Quote from: "-Rogue-"Won't I need to read the earlier material though to understand the story etc?

I don't think so - As long as you know he's an ultra-strict future cop in a vast mega-city around the turn of the 22nd century, I think most stories will be fairly understandable. In fact, volume one often makes little sense, as various ideas and features were later dropped or amended (such as there being a handful of judges supplementing the regular police, whilst it was soon changed to judges being the only police and government in the city). loads of the early stories just don't ring true to what we now understand as Dredd's world, but from around 1980 onwards this was really taking shape and being defined, in both fact and appearance, by Wagner and Ezquerra (among others).

Volume 5 is good intro because of that mix - the Crime files aren't the greatest stories, but they're a good intro to mega city life and show Dredd doing his primary job, policing. Judge Death is an example of the more traditional comic fantastic-action type story, and fleshes out the character of Psi judge Anderson (who goes on to be an important character to this day) whilst the Apocalypse War explores the wider geopolitics of Dredd's world (and is just spugging amazing anyway!)

After volume five, I'd agree that volume 2 (featuring the two classic stories mentioned above) would be the next choice!

Quote from: "-Rogue-"Won't I need to read the earlier material though to understand the story etc?

Not necessarily.  I started reading with prog 195 (roughy the volume 5 stories era), having seen only a spattering of previous progs and was soon hooked.  Starting at the first volume is commendable, but bear in mind that Dredd does take time to find its feet and know "what" it is.  The first volume has great stuff in it, and stuff that hasnt dated as well.  Dredd consistently hits the target in Volume 5.  If you want to see Dredd at its very best, start a bit later.  If you are happy to take the whole journey, start at 1 - they arent really that bad (well maybe a few of the Luna 1 stories!), just different.

My point is that while most of us love the really early stuff, we probably read it when we were young, and and there is a certain amount of nostalgia that comes into play - I can't imagine it making a great impression on a first time reader in this day and age (though I may be wrong). I recommended later material as its generally more dark sci fi, aimed at a more mature audience

Sorry - the last bit of that doesn't really make sense - I had to post in a hurry!

Yeah I see where you're all coming from.
I'm not sure though, I may start at the beginning but I think I'll most probably start at V.5 like you said.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

I would say start at Case files 2 and then 4 and then 5.All great stuff.

There are lots of readers reviews of these on amazon.

Also Origins is pretty much essential reading as it explains how it all started.All of these can be read over and over again i find even after 30 yrs they dont lose their appeal as i was reading in 1980 and while the very early material doesnt really work that well [case files 1] i still think that 3 ,4,and 5 are timeless if you discount the cold War theme of the Apocalypse War.

The only down side of the case files is their size in comparison to the older titan Books which were bigger but were separate volumes dedicated to each story but with Case files you get everything since day one.

To expand on a few points...

The excellent Casefiles reprints are only up to 1989 so far, so cover the first 12-or-so years of Dredd.  There's 20 years of material not yet reprinted in that format, and much from the last decade in particular is really fantastic and well worth a look.  Much is available in nice colour collections, with my personal recommendations being The Scorpion Dance, The Pit, America, Doomsday, Brothers of the Blood, Mandroid and The Complete PJ Maybe.  Oddly for a franchise mash-up, Dredd vs. Aliens is pretty good too.  

Also, for much of the 80's and earlier 90's there were Dredd stories in two annuals (2000AD and Judge Dredd) and sundry specials which haven't yet been reprinted in the Casefiles (yet). Some of this material is woeful, some excellent, and nearly all hard-to-find.

Quote from: "radiator"...While most of us love the really early stuff, we probably read it when we were young, and and there is a certain amount of nostalgia that comes into play - I can't imagine it making a great impression on a first time reader in this day and age

I read all this early Dredd stuff for the first time when the Case Files started coming out, at the age of about 23 and loved it all - only really the first volume was tough going.

I don't see any problems with beginning at the beginning, as long as you bear in mind that most of what's in the first volume isn't particularly representative of what comes later, and that it does improve. I also don't agree with this 'Dredd doesn't get consistently good until volume 5' idea. Surely that's Case Files 4? Hardly a duff story in the whole book. 3 contains some real gems, too.

Fair point, but I'm guessing you were a fan of, or were at least familiar with Dredd at the time. AFAIK Rogue has never read a 2000ad comic, and thats why I suggested something with a more modern sensibility.

I guess its just that whole old Dredd/new Dredd argument - much as I love the early stuff, I personally much prefer modern Dredd - I think the strip really turned a corner in the nineties (somewhere between America, Mechanismo and The Pit) where it turned from a great comic into an accomplished, mature work of science fiction.

Quote from: "Dark Jimbo"I also don't agree with this 'Dredd doesn't get consistently good until volume 5' idea.

whoa, that wasn't the impression I meant to give at all - my point was that volume 5 is a great introduction to Dredd for a new reader, as it's got a varied mix of easily accessible classic stories, and would allow someone to decide if Dredd is their thing.

THEN, once they're hooked, they mortgage the house and pimp the cat to buy everything else published! Bwahahahaha

also sorry if my wording suggested Dredd isnt much cop til Vol 5 - personally, once teh Cursed earth kicks in, its pretty much there (Vol 2), The Day the law Died is a brilliant (and funny) epic (still Vol 2), Vol 3 has a whole bundle of classics following on from that.... theres a thread that touches on this subject... let me see if i can resurrect it!

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23354&p=400562&hilit=classics#p400562 (http://www.2000adonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23354&p=400562&hilit=classics#p400562)

Quote from: "radiator"Fair point, but I'm guessing you were a fan of, or were at least familiar with Dredd at the time. AFAIK Rogue has never read a 2000ad comic, and thats why I suggested something with a more modern sensibility.

Ah, gotcha - yeah, I wasn't familiar with any of the 'classics' but I had been reading the prog/Meg since about 2001, so I suppose I already knew what the strip was capable of at its best.

Quote from: "dandontdare"whoa, that wasn't the impression I meant to give at all - my point was that volume 5 is a great introduction to Dredd for a new reader, as it's got a varied mix of easily accessible classic stories, and would allow someone to decide if Dredd is their thing.

Okay, that makes more sense.

Quote from: "Leigh Shepherd"also sorry if my wording suggested Dredd isnt much cop til Vol 5 - personally, once teh Cursed earth kicks in, its pretty much there (Vol 2)

Well, I did wonder! Yeah, my thinking is that from vol 2 onwards it's pretty much all gold with enough gems to outweigh the duffers (which mercifully get less and less over time).

Necro thread here but I have just received Complete Case Files v1&2. I've never read a lot of the progs (mainly just the assembled arcs and one offs such as Dredd VS Death etc) but it's amusing to see the original Dredd patrolling MC1.

I think they were struggling to set the tone in these original strips (why does Dredd have a sterotype as his cleaning lady?) but Call-Me-Kenneth is a fantastic villain and there are some great stories in here.

When do we start to see the more modern Dredd begin to emerge?

Quote from: chilipenguin on 20 August, 2010, 06:53:25 PM

I think they were struggling to set the tone in these original strips (why does Dredd have a sterotype as his cleaning lady?) but Call-Me-Kenneth is a fantastic villain and there are some great stories in here.

When do we start to see the more modern Dredd begin to emerge?

Suppose that depends on how you'd define the modern Dredd, but possibly the Apocalypse War, as much from a visual perspective as anything else? (Though that has plenty of Walter and Maria, which you might see as hold-overs of a previous era.) Personally, I tend to think once we're into the Call-Me-Kenneth stuff, things are pretty recognisable from there on in - i.e. once Wagner is regularly writing or co-writing.

For me 'modern Dredd', that is to say 'self-conscious Dredd', kicks off during The Judge Child (Casefiles 4) but really begins in earnest in Casefiles 7.  Throughout that volume he starts questioning the law and his role in it:  it's there in his response to various crazes, in his near-self-sacrifices in Cry of the Werewolf and the Graveyard Shift, in his dealing with various harmless nutters, and of course, in Question of Judgement.  It's very interesting to see, especially as Wagner claims not to work intentionally in these long-running trajectories.  

Quote from: TordelBack on 20 August, 2010, 07:43:22 PM
For me 'modern Dredd', that is to say 'self-conscious Dredd', kicks off during The Judge Child (Casefiles 4) but really begins in earnest in Casefiles 7.  Throughout that volume he starts questioning the law and his role in it:  it's there in his response to various crazes, in his near-self-sacrifices in Cry of the Werewolf and the Graveyard Shift, in his dealing with various harmless nutters, and of course, in Question of Judgement.  It's very interesting to see, especially as Wagner claims not to work intentionally in these long-running trajectories. 

Aye, I think that's a pretty astute observation. If indeed 'modern Dredd' reads as 'more introspective Dredd', then undoubtedly, Question of Judgement is it. Maybe there's an argument (though I'm not sure if I'd make it) for 'The Cursed Earth' though... lines like 'Sometimes the human race makes me sick!' and Dredd's deliberate cover-up of what he knows about Tweak and his planet are quite revealing, though they don't so much pertain to his role as a lawman. Mind you, Dredd at the time of, say, Oz or the Democratic March (where he is at most unsympathetic) probably wouldn't have done that. It seems that in doubting himself and the law, his reaction is eventually to suppress his doubts so much that it ends up damaging him as a human being, and it's not until he can't shoot Chopper in Oz that the human side starts to take ascendance again.

Quote from: Greg M. on 20 August, 2010, 08:06:53 PM
It seems that in doubting himself and the law, his reaction is eventually to suppress his doubts so much that it ends up damaging him as a human being, and it's not until he can't shoot Chopper in Oz that the human side starts to take ascendance again.

Hmmm, so McGruder's solution to send him to 2120 paid off in the short term, eh?  Never thought about it like that before.

Hmm. My reply went awol?

Anyway, I am really enjoying this so far. It's just some of the daft stories (20th Century comics cartel) and the constant one liners that are throwing me a wee bit.

That said, the best moment so far has been when Dredd carried Rico's body from his apartment (Judges have apartments?).

"He ain't heavy, he's my brother!"  :D

Quote from: TordelBack on 20 August, 2010, 08:10:18 PM

Hmmm, so McGruder's solution to send him to 2120 paid off in the short term, eh?  Never thought about it like that before.

Yeah, maybe. Her idea was that she wanted to get his mind off his doubts by immersing him in a mission of major importance, if I remember rightly? Maybe there is an argument that Dredd's vision of his decimated city allows him to dedicate himself with renewed vigour to its laws? Maybe Dredd is completely over-compensating for his moral quandries by throwing himself headfirst into the most hardline stance he's ever held? In general I think the Dredd of Casefiles 9 & 10, for instance, is a much nastier character - there are so many stories in those volumes that play him as a sheer bastard.