Dredd Reckoning blog by Douglas Wolk

[douglaswolk]

This week, David Brothers and I discuss "Judge Death: The Life and Death Of..." (the American collection of most of the contents of "Boyhood of a Superfiend" and "My Name Is Death") at considerable length. Do drop by, won't you?

http://dreddreviews.blogspot.com/2011/11/judge-death-life-and-death-of.html

[radiator]

Great stuff as ever Mr Wolk - keep up the good work!

Was very surprised to see myself quoted in your review of Restricted Files 03!

Looking forward to reading your take on America. I'd comment on the blog itself, but I find the login process a bit confusing and long-winded.

Any idea where you're going to draw the line on the spin-off material you're reviewing? Presumably you're going to cover the key (Wagner/Grant) stuff like the various crossovers, The Taxidermist/Mean Machine etc - any plans to cover the more obscure stuff like Missionary Man or Devlin Waugh?

[douglaswolk]

Thank you! Yes, the plan is to do everything that a) has been printed in book format b) isn't duplicated by another book I've covered already c) is in comics form d) is directly part of the Dredd universe, i.e. happens in the Mega-Cities setting. (So yes to Missionary Man, Insurrection etc., but nothing that's been retconned to be connected to Dredd--Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Flesh, Harlem Heroes, etc.) The edge case is Al's Baby, but I'm not gonna call it a Dredd-universe story on the strength of one page...

Red Razors and Mean Machine will both be up to bat in the next month or so.

[douglaswolk]

This week in Dredd Reckoning, Alyssa Rosenberg (the culture blogger at the Center for American Progress) and I discuss the America collection. Oh man was that fun.

http://dreddreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/america.html

(No, I'm not going to post announcements of updates here every week, unless people want me to--just special ones, like this week's.)

[James Stacey]

I had a read of this at lunchtime. A cracking post with lots of thought provoking points. As 'America' is a piece often suggested as a good place to start recommending Dredd to people, it's interesting to see how it reads to a relative newbie to the series.

[Toni Scandella]

This is an excellent blog and I have been following it each week. I'm in the midst of a re-read of Dredd and related stories from the start and am just a little ahead of the blog - I'm heading towards the end of 1991 and am surprised a bit that some of the Ennis stories I had really enjoyed at the time are not holding up so well, but stuff like the first run of Armitage is holding up better than I remembered...

Anyway, thanks for the blog

[pwog]

I have heard and see Douglas Wolk agrees that America is a good jumping on spot for Judge Dredd. Since, America is so difficult to find - what would people recommend as the next best starting point?

Thanks.

P

[JOE SOAP]

Mandroid.


http://shop.2000adonline.com/products/judge_dredd_mandroid

[TordelBack]

That was a brilliant piece, and what a joy to see someone who isn't familiar with Dredd getting so much out of it, and getting so many of (what I understand to be) the points. 

I did however have to restrain myself from going on to Douglas' comments section and posting:  "The whole thing is a total rip-off of Bison".

[Steve Green]

A great blog, particularly seeing it from the point of view of someone coming to it fresh.

I'd second Mandroid, although the sequel suffers a bit from a change of artist twice.

After that, I think Satans Island/Sin City, or Total War but it does tie in to previous Dredd epics, and events of the latter are mentioned in America:Cadet.

[Dandontdare]

I have heard and see Douglas Wolk agrees that America is a good jumping on spot for Judge Dredd. Since, America is so difficult to find - what would people recommend as the next best starting point?

Thanks.

P

case files vol 5 is a good one to start with - two absolute classic stories ('Judge Death Lives' and 'Block Mania/Apocalypse War'); plus a good smattering of future-crime stories.

[JOE SOAP]

Can't say many 35 year-old comic characters are still part of the modern conversation.

[JOE SOAP]

I'd second Mandroid, although the sequel suffers a bit from a change of artist twice.

After that, I think Satans Island/Sin City, or Total War but it does tie in to previous Dredd epics, and events of the latter are mentioned in America:Cadet.

We should never forget the Pit of course.

[douglaswolk]

This week, the mighty Graeme McMillan (some of you may remember him from his Fanboy Rampage days, or have seen his writing at Newsarama, CBR, Spinoff, Techland, the Savage Critics, etc.) and I take a stab at "Red Razors." And then we keep stabbing for a little while.

http://dreddreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/red-razors.html

[James Stacey]

Sorry you had to read that. Talk about suffering for your art.