Best Dredd Strips of 2023 (Meg Edition)

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Alright everyone and welcome to the second edition of the Best Dredd Strips - Meg Edition, where we find out what's everyone's top three Dredd stories in the Meg. And as for all of you Dredd-heads that read both the Prog and Meg, once again I'm asking how'd you all feel about having a Best Dredd Stories of 2023 (Prog/Meg) Mega-Topic that covers the Best Overall Dredd Story of 2023...? If you're all interested in the idea, please feel free to post your thoughts and opinions about it below, along with your votes.

One-Eyed Jacks (Meg 452-457)
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Ian Richardson
Colours: Quinton Winter
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Ratings War (Meg 458)
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: Stewart K. Moore
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Fitting The Description (Meg 459)
Script: Mike Carroll
Art: Nicolo Assirelli
Colours: Gary Caldwell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line (Meg 459)
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Conor Boyle
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Return To Billy Carter (Meg 460)
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Nick Percival
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Darke's Mob (Meg 460)
Script: Alex De Campi
Art: John McCrea
Colours: Mike Spicer
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Risk Assessment (Meg 461)
Script: Mike Carroll
Art: Colin MacNeil
Colours: Chris Blythe
Letters: Jim Campbell

Old Soldiers (Meg 462)
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: Mike Collins
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Jim Campbell

Mega-City 2099: The Multitronic Man
Script: Arthur Wyatt
Art: Jake Lynch
Letters: Jim Campbell

Dollman's Yuletide (Blood Mansion) Massacre (Meg 463)
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Paul Marshall
Colours: Quinton Winter
Letters: Annie Parkhouse

[broodblik]

1. Risk Assessment
2. One-Eyed Jacks
3. Fitting The Description

[AlexF]

1) One-Eyed Jacks
2) 2099: Multitronic Man
3) Darke's Mob

-feels a bit like cheating to choose three sort-of extra-main-Universe Dredds, but I d id enjoy them all more, not least for the art

I wouldn;t know how to compare these to the Prog Dredd output so I also vote to keep these votes separate!
(And if it were possible I'd vote for a free day off to re-read all these stories even once so I could feel I was giving a fairer shake...)

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

1) Fitting The Description
2) Risk Assessment
3) Darke's Mob

[Funt Solo]

1st: One-Eyed Jacks - what a kick ass story! Time travel's been done before - but linking it back to One-Eyed Jack (which I'd only seen before in the '81 Sci-Fi Special) was really cool. The N-AI-mand Entity really gets how to predictably put one word after another word - just like all AIs, but somehow in a way that seems like there's a creative force at work. Fantastic new character in Eartha Fargo. Watching the nerd-gammons flare up in response was odd, but I suppose reflective of the world we live in. "I'm not racist - but it must be WHITE!" Someone in my family the other day was complaining about the existence of Enola Holmes on the basis that "they just made her up", as if Sherlock Holmes was not. Roll up! Roll up! Get yer cognitive dissonance 'ere!

2nd: Risk Assessment - Colin MacNeil kicking ass and taking names! This is one of those ones where you think someone should've done it before, but Carroll had to come along and think of it. Like the episode of Seinfeld that's set in an underground carpark.

3rd: Mega-City 2099 - The Thin Blue Line - man, I know they're doing it on purpose but that lettering is jarring. There's something a bit Cagney & Lacey about "woman has to prove herself in a man's world" - like, it seems dated. But then it is, by definition, dated. Enjoyed it - would like to see more of this team-up.

HMs to Rad Pack - not on the list, but Dredd's in it, and it's good.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

1) Fitting The Description
2) Risk Assessment
3) Darke's Mob

Sod it, on further thought I've decided to replace Darke's Mob with Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line
1) Fitting The Description
2) Risk Assessment
3) Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line

[GoGilesGo]

1 Risk Assessment This whole ten pages unfolding in, what, four seconds? The ultimate in concise storytelling. 

2 Fitting The Description Carroll adding to the growing crowd of kooky but compelling MC-1 characters to sit alongside Laurel Docks, Dr Carousel, Joyce Jr. I hope we get to see Bob again soon.

3 One-Eyed Jacks Great mash-up, very nicely handled throughout. The 'meeting' between Eartha & Jack and Dredd & Rico may have been my favourite Meg moment of the year.

HM Darke's Mob, and I suppose also Return to Billy Carter since the final page does a pretty damn good job of introducing The Dark Man.

[IndigoPrime]

1. Risk Assessment: The perfect distillation of Dredd into a compelling single parter.
2. One Eyed Jacks: Good time-travel caper. Solid scripting. Annoyed the usual suspects.
3. Mega-City 2099: Multitronic Man: 2099 blows hot and cold for me, but I liked this one.

HM to Rad Pack, which barely had Dredd in it and isn't actually a Dredd strip, but I really liked it.

[2000BC]

1. Risk Assessment.
2. Fitting The Description. 
3. One-Eyed Jacks.

Mike Carroll one-offs take the top two places for me, with Colin Macneil art placing Risk Assessment in the top spot.

[Le Fink]

I think the prog had the best Dredd this year, still some good thrills in the Meg, my faves being:

1. Risk Assessment - superbly scripted and MacNeil rocks!
2. Darke's Mob - horrid fun alt-Dredd and McCrea also rocks!
3. One Eyed Jacks - a well told time travel tale (and the only multi-parter), adds some lore, and the creators obviously had fun rolling the 70s into Dredd.

With a nod to Fitting the Description, good twist and art, and I liked the sheer bonkersness of SK Moore's art on Ratings War.

I'm not massively feeling the 2099 stories although I appreciated the Jake Lynch art on the multitronic man episode.

Will there be a "best non-Dredd" strips poll for the Meg?

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Please remember folks, you have until the end of Sunday 28th to get your votes in, so make 'em count!!

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

** Attention! Voting has now officially closed! The results will be unveiled on Wednesday 31st January at around 12pm, Midday!! **