JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES 1 TO 3

[Tiplodocus]

I'm a bit late to the party with this but I'm on Case FIles 3 and just want to throw a few impressions in.

It's a long time since I've read any of these early stories (except the Cursed Earth) so I was a bit shocked to find how much hard going it was.

I reckon the first year of Dredd was pretty awful.  It's almost like they don't know what they have on their hands.  It's (almost) fun to watch the number of wrong turns they make with the character.

* All of the attempts to humanise him.

* The very broad humour (often provided by the inexcusable Walter and Maria).

* The fact they keep sending him away from the city (now, undoubtedly as much a character as Dredd).  

* The amount of times Dredd makes stupid mistakes.

* The amount of times Walter or Maria does something bad but Dredd lets them away with it.

It all makes pretty grim reading.  

Things liven up in CASE FILES 2 with THE CURSED EARTH and JUDGE CAL (it's almost like Mills made Wagner up his game) but there are still plenty of misfires.

CASE FILES 3 seems to be getting more like it. CITY BLOCKS, MOPADS, OTTO SUMP and 87% UNEMPLOYEMNT all making their debuts but we still have stuff like Vienna and L'il Judge Ralphy Bryce to make you wince.

Art-wise, the usual suspects (Bolland, McMahon) get plaudits but I'm and I never thought I'd say this) rediscovering the delights of Ron Smith.  Sure, he draws people in the most bizarre positions. Sure, he hasn't got a clue what a Lawgiver looks like and sure, having mouths like that must hurt most of his cgharacters but he nails the madness of the Meg almost as well as Gibson or Kennedy.

The two mini-epics of FATHER EARTH and BLACK PLAGE remaing some of my favourite tales to this day.

Oh and what a world we'd live in if Gary Leach could draw ten times as fast as he does...

[Keef Monkey]

I think the first couple of collections show that while it was very sophisticated for it's time, it was still aimed at kids and as such doesn't stand up as well as I would have hoped. By about book 3(if I remember correctly) it really takes off, and from there on I've been really enjoying them. Not that I didn't enjoy the first 2 mind, they do have an enjoyable maniac energy to them, but they do show how far comics have come.

[Goaty]

well now Judge Dredd is most dangerous man in the world!!!!

[Dark Jimbo]

I too am only up to volume 3, but I'm reading all these early tales for the first time, so my impressions are probably a bit different.

No nostalgia factor or cherished memories for me, so most of Case Files 1 was pretty inexcusable. The lame scripts wouldn't be so bad if the art was up to par, but even that is almost universally sloppy and lazy. I can barely even find a good word to say about Ian Gibson or Mike McMahon here.
I was also dissapointed by the Robot War mini-epic, considering all I'd heard about it. Call-me-Kenneth is indeed a great character, but the story is riddled with plot-holes.
Walter's 'comedy' gets very tiring very quickly, and the only time I really recognised the Dredd I know and love was the very last story, with his return to the Meg, and at last a hint of the McMahon of legend. Thank god for The Return of Rico, then - sterling stuff in a sea of turds.

Things take a turn for the better with Case Files 2 - the Cursed Earth actually left me breathless, and I don't really need to praise Bolland and McMahon, do I? It wasn't quite the epic I'd envisioned, but it was manic, thrill-a-minute fun, and it's astounding how much of the groundwork for Dredd's world was laid here.
The Day the Law Died is (so far) already my favourite Dredd story. Loved it so much, and it's only realy here that we finally see Wagner's black comedy making itself known in the strip. Fish, the Kleggs, Fergee... all brilliant. Shame about the artistic hodge-podge, which takes a lot of the impact out of it.

And Case Files 3? Bereft of epics and so much thinner than its brothers, I wasn't expecting much, but it was the best read of the three. (Almost) every story was a gem, finally bringing us the Big Meg we know today, and plaudits to Ron Smith, who I'd never really even heard of pre-Case Files. Some of his panels, such as on The Black Plague, are just stunning.

It was hard going at times, but the strip's evolved and matured to a level where I'm eagerly awaiting the next three... which at this rate, I should have read by about 2009.

[ThryllSeekyr]

I just got Judge Dredd Cases Files number Eleven in the mail today.

With a more colourful cover, though I was expecting this with Number 12.

Anyway, sorry to be on the wrong thread but I was looking for it.

[Tiplodocus]

Just finished 8 myself which was pretty hard going despite some mini-classics and the seminal CASE FOR TREATMENT/QUESTION OF JUDGEMENT stuff.

CITY OF THE DAMNED is much worse than I remembered, it still manages to outstay it's welcome at about a dozen parts.  And a bizaree mix of artists, none of who manage to stamp a style on it, doesn't help it either.  Is it true that Wagner and Grant got bored and finished it quickly? (Don't recall where I read that apart from in DREDDHEADS).

Looking forward to CASE FILES 9 though - it's just off my shelf and already I'v eflicked through and spotted dozens of pages of *fantastic* Cam Kennedy art.

[Dark Jimbo]

CITY OF THE DAMNED is much worse than I remembered, it still manages to outstay it's welcome at about a dozen parts.  And a bizaree mix of artists, none of who manage to stamp a style on it, doesn't help it either.  Is it true that Wagner and Grant got bored and finished it quickly?

Yup, pretty much. I remember reading that one of them said to the other halfway through it, 'I'm not enjoying this. Let's have it wrapped up by tea-time.'

And they did.

[Colin YNWA]

Well it is a necropost but it seems fitting for a review of Case Files 1.

Tiplodocus raises some very good points at times this could have been hard work the list of problems with Dredd as we know him is long. Unlike Dark Jimbo these stories are awash with nostalgia with me, from many read in many formats over the years. I do thing there are some classics in here but read in this format it almost becomes more of a forensic exercise. I found myself piecing together the story moments, panels that slowly built Dredd into the Judge and the man we know today.

One in particular really was a game changer that I loved spotting which I'll give as an example. The last panel of Billy Jones (from issue 38) shows what I know see as the classic slovenly Mega City 1 family glued to the telly. This was (well might have been who knows) a game changer. Up to then the citizen's seemed to be presented more a fortunate, indulged children of a blessed future. Here they changed definitely to the unemployed slobs and crazies that make the city what it is. Oh they'd been hints up to this point but whether by Ian Gibson's design or John Wagner's script this one panel really drove the point home so perfectly.

It catching moments like this even when sometimes the stories aren't so strong that made this a very enjoyable experience.

[radiator]

A small confession - despite buying Case Files 01 on release (about 6 years ago IIRC) I've never actually got round to reading it, and I've never read a lot of the stories in it in any format, including the whole Robot Wars arc.

[DrJomster]

Hadn't noticed this thread before! Interesting comments indeed.

I'll second the love for Ron Smith on The Black Plague. Simply stunning.

[Mardroid]

Case Files 1 was some of the first Dredd that I've read, not including a Millar story from a back issue Megazine I ordered online.  As such you could say I wasn't quite affected by the nostalgia bug of other  people, although, form a stylistic point of view, I might have noticed it a bit.

Curiously, while some bits did irritate and make me wince.... i.e.

A panel of Dredd with his gun drawn shooting someone.

Caption: Dredd pulls his gun and shoots...

(That's just a made up thing off the top of my head ,but I'm sure you get what I mean. They used captions describing stuff that you could see already in the art.)

... I found it entertaining. And I found Walter the Robot amusing. I can certainly see why he would really irritate people though. I'm perhaps biassed in that I like comedy.  I do prefer the modern version though.

[ChickenStu]

I own these three titles now, and am reliable informed I'm getting the next four volumes for my birthday! I've finished the first book. Now whilst I agree with some of the criticisms of the OP - I still enjoyed it. This was in 77 when a certain type of sci-fi was popular remember. Yeah there are a few slip ups here and there but I could still sense the eventual greatness of this character in what I was reading. I also enjoyed the long spot he spent working on the moon, I thought that was pretty cool!

Am on the second book now, and am getting nicely into the Cursed Earth saga. It may be a bit rickety round the edges but this is golden age Judge Dredd here! Can't really knock it can we?

[IndigoPrime]

I see early Dredd no different from early Marvel/DC strips, which were also pretty awful at times, very much of their time, and riddled with inconsistency as they figured out what they had, but also fun and imaginative, along with providing a kind of warm nostalgia.

[Hawkmumbler]

Volume 1 is drivel but very good drivel, Volume 2 is when it startes to get good. Volume 3 is good reading for Father Earth, Black Plague, Judge Death and Blood of Satanus alone. Volume 4 is...the Judge Child saga and a few other gems besides (Pirates of the Black Atalntic etc). Volume 5 is when the Dredd we know and love really kicks into gear with Block Mania and The Apocalypse War. By this point most of the world has been established and it's all expansion from there on out.

[Dark Jimbo]

No nostalgia factor or cherished memories for me, so most of <b>Case Files 1</b> was pretty inexcusable. The lame scripts wouldn't be so bad if the art was up to par, but even that is almost universally sloppy and lazy. I can barely even find a good word to say about Ian Gibson or Mike McMahon here.
I was also dissapointed by the Robot War mini-epic, considering all I'd heard about it. Call-me-Kenneth is indeed a great character, but the story is riddled with plot-holes.
Walter's 'comedy' gets very tiring very quickly, and the only time I really recognised the Dredd I know and love was the very last story, with his return to the Meg, and at last a hint of the McMahon of legend. Thank god for The Return of Rico, then - sterling stuff in a sea of turds.

Wow, that's a surprisingly harsh critique! I don't feel nearly so badly disposed towards the material six years on. Okay, it certainly isn't great, but there's a lot to like in among the mis-steps, and I quite like the McMahon/Gibson art of that era, even if it doesn't hit the heights of the classic years. I remember liking the Robot War, too, so I don't know why I savaged it here.

I must be mellowing in my old age - God(pleton) knows it was a different time. Back in 2007 I was young and angry with a fire in my belly and a grudge against the world. Now, as an elder statesman of 27, I find myself re-evaluating a long and eventful life with the benefit of newfound wisdom and expierience, and in my old age I can even find a lot to like in Case Files 1. Maybe in my 30s I'll even start to appreciate Millar's output.