So, I'm wondering - has Dredd gone the way of Batman, Spiderman and that lot? That is to say, has Tharg given up on the whole 'real-time ageing' thing? I mean, he was feeling his age over 30 years ago. I know he gets new skin now and again, but he's remarkably well-built and nimble for a geriatric. I know ageing is slower in the future and all that, but other old people in MC1 look like old people.
I remember Cyber-Matt talking about how there's no reason Dredd can't go on forever, like Superman and co. But we'll have to give up on the idea that Dredd ages in real time if that's going to happen, surely?
'Carousel' answered this one surely?
Yep he's getting older, nope he's got new skin and muscle.
Also, the classic Wagner quote: '70 is the new 40'.
AND the ages that certain (ie: rich) people in MC1 can get to means that the top Judge, with the Department's supposedly endless resources, is going to be kept round for a looooong time yet!
ISTR that Tharg himself once chimed in on this, when confronted with the idea of killing Dredd off - something along the lines of 'Yeah, let's end our most well known IP - good plan earthlet!'
Short answer - yes. Dredd ain't going nowhere!
It irks me tremendously that they won't kill him off, and to be honest I've found my enthusiasm levels for Dredd tend to wane a lot compared to days of old now I realise he's unlikely to be killed off. If End Of Days didn't do it, what could?
And yet, the IP could easily continue with Rico, making for far fresher stories - imagine a Dredd who's battling inner turmoil every so often that he may actually be the bad guy, his bloodline etc. And yet you could just keep firing out standard wacky stories of the week.
As soon as Tharg seemed to abandon the "aging wearily" stories, a lot of the sense of the character being "real" left.
Quote from: DrRocka on 10 April, 2021, 04:39:31 PM
And yet, the IP could easily continue with Rico, making for far fresher stories - imagine a Dredd who's battling inner turmoil every so often that he may actually be the bad guy, his bloodline etc. And yet you could just keep firing out standard wacky stories of the week.
Well, it's kind of been done before. But I kind of see what you mean about the 'ageing wearily' thing; it was one of the most fascinating parts of the whole strip for me.
I'm not quite sure what I'd like to see happen now, though. Dredd gone and Rico taking the main slot would be odd for me; all that history wiped out in favour of a character I'm not nearly as invested in.
Quote from: DrRocka on 10 April, 2021, 04:39:31 PM
And yet, the IP could easily continue with Rico, making for far fresher stories - imagine a Dredd who's battling inner turmoil every so often that he may actually be the bad guy, his bloodline etc. And yet you could just keep firing out standard wacky stories of the week.
As soon as Tharg seemed to abandon the "aging wearily" stories, a lot of the sense of the character being "real" left.
I'm not against this, and find it a bit weird that we never seem to hear about Rico these days.
However - it wouldn't be Dredd.
It's those rare (usually Wagner written) insights into Joe's thinking that are the real draw for me, and also seems to be the hardest thing for new writers to get a grasp on. (Apart from Al Ewing and Ken Neimand of course!)
That said, I can appreciate that there is a certain level of 'the illusion of change' with this, and maybe it's better to finally off Dredd and let the strip (and indeed MegaCity-1) move on?
Not at all. The beauty of Dredd is that he is the only constant in the story. The city can change. Justice Dept can change. He is the same. He is a motionless pivot around which another 40 years of plot could be spun.
Cadet Dredd retconned Manta Prowl Tanks (which were invented by Tech-Judge Brufen, you'll recall, around 2105 - I think in Rumble in the Jungle or thereabouts) back to 2077.
That's incongruous for me, but the creators probably don't know as much about the strip as long-term fans do, or they may be of the opinion that continuity doesn't really matter when you place it alongside the needs of telling a story. Some online commentators are of the opinion that reading a sequential comic sequentially is some sort of bizarre ritual only carried out by the most awful types of consumer. Instead, we should just read any comic, in any order - backwards even, or perhaps starting in the middle and then randomizing each frame, and each letter in each word bubble, and each pixel. Or something.
Dredd being this old and doing what he does is a bit daffy - it's been shoe-horned in using tech-magic because dropping "Judge Dredd" from the comic would be an even worse idea.
Bringing this back on-topic - the 'real-time' aspect. Maybe it *is* time to drop this in favour of stories that can be set at any time in Dredd's life and adventures....
We could ask the question: did that work for Strontium Dog?
Quote from: Funt Solo on 10 April, 2021, 06:14:48 PM
We could ask the question: did that work for Strontium Dog?
I was just thinking the same.
Also, there's the fact that Dredd stories are not just about Dredd, but about his world, and of course his city. Massive changes happen; and everything that happens is seen (by me at least) through a lens of post- or pre- something-or-other.
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 10 April, 2021, 05:05:56 PM
The beauty of Dredd is that he is the only constant in the story. The city can change. Justice Dept can change. He is the same. He is a motionless pivot around which another 40 years of plot could be spun.
To be fair, Dr X has already nailed it here.
But I said it better. (No I didn't.)
Tbf he's not jumping in the regenerator (or whatever it's called) every week only when it's absolutely necessary and we have seen some massive character development in the past few years .. that story with Judge Beeny comes to mind .. a slight smile at her innovation delivering justice .. that's what comes to mind .. wish I could be more specific but the booze has me right now.
It's well established (in e.g. 'Night of the Rad-Beast') that even ordinary citizens of Mega-City One have potentially longer lifespans than anyone would reasonably expect in the present day. So Dredd's longevity shouldn't be that much of a stretch.
Dramatically speaking, things like MC1's rapid return to normal post-Chaos Day and Dredd repeatedly blanking all the failures of the Judge system he keeps being confronted by are much bigger problems for the strip.
Maybe Dredd died in that stadium, and everything since is a final hallucination as he succumbs to the madness of the disease. Or maybe one day he'll wake up and DeMarco will walk out of the sonic shower and they'll adopt Beeny and all live happily ever as marshals in a Cursed Earth Camp.
Like it or not, Dredd is the golden goose that keeps 2000AD in shiny eggs. Any attempt to kill or replace him with a successor will just result in an accelerated version of the Strontium Dog experience. The promise of real change that made Wagner's hints into such a compelling ongoing story is gone, just as with any corporate superhero property.
Enjoy what we get by all means, but do not dare to hope for an ending.
Necropolis started out as Wagner's pitch to actually kill off Dredd for real, and even back then, around 1989, the company wouldn't let him do it, because Dredd was already too successful. So that story went as close to killing Dredd as possible and then drew back from it.
After Rico II appeared, someone asked Wagner if he would ever kill Dredd off and replace him with Rico, who would then take Dredd's name, and Wagner not only said never but added that he thought it was a poor idea for a story. (Personally I don't see anything wrong with it, but I have to concede that Wagner would know better than me.)
So we'll always have the original Dredd, and that's fine, but he's 80 now, and stories like Carousel can only buy more time; they can't be a permanent answer. At some point it will need to be addressed. One possible solution is the bio-chip thing we saw in The Judge Child, which is so early in the strip's history that no one could accuse Wagner (or another writer, but preferably Wagner) of making up some deus ex machina at the last minute; it was there all along. But maybe there's a better way. I'm sure that when Dredd is 90, even "its okay, we have rejuvenation surgery in the future" will feel a bit thin. It's already stretching credulity now to be honest.
They could always injure him so badly that he has to be put on ice until he can be healed. But would Justice Dept admit it or organise a stand-in for the duration?
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 April, 2021, 07:25:30 AM
They could always injure him so badly that he has to be put on ice until he can be healed. But would Justice Dept admit it or organise a stand-in for the duration?
I kind of like that idea. He can be rejuved a bit then when he's fixed up. As long as Red Razors isn't involved.
The weird thing is there are SO many technologies established to eep Dredd going it isnt funny
Bio-chips already mentioned
Stookie is illegal, but we did have that Daily Star tory where they were able to manufacture the same effect from Rad Roaches!
Brain transplants for Judges, as shown in Tomb of the Judges....
So giving him a second wind wouldnt be the worst offence, if the alternative is to have him run on foreever - I;d buy that Wagner "death fo Dredd" story off him on the understandning it would be retooled as the "death" of his original body... get some good publicity for the prog, though admittedly a good jumping off point for some.
I seem to recall that the "death" of Superman made the News at Ten.
I like the idea of giving Dredd himself the top job — Chief Judge. That gives you a similar dynamic the ST: TNG, where the Kirk role is essentially split in two, with Picard doing all the executive stuff and Riker doing all the action stuff, only with Joe and Rico in those roles. It would also be an interesting change for the strip, since politics has always been Joe's one real achilles heel.
(It wouldn't be difficult, somewhere down the line, to imagine a city-threatening storyline where extreme circumstances force Dredd to reconsider and get back onto the streets, necessitating some more drastic and permanent rejuvenation solution, essentially resetting the status quo to where it was thirty years ago.)
Those are the best suggestions yet, but I don't think Dredd's body is really the whole issue.
Wagner killed the whole city, the entire production line of judges, and the rationale for their existence in DoC, and it didn't so much as nudge the status quo. The only thing that has changed since is the roll-out of Mechanismo, and that was originally a response to losses during Necropolis, 30 years ago.
After plausible moments of real change for Joe and the City (Apocalypse War, Dead Man/Kraken, Origins, Tour of Duty, especially Day of Chaos) we're left with a feeling of stasis for both the main character and his world. Do we believe Dredd and Beeny are actually going to reform/abolish Justice Dept? That Joe will really-mean-it-this-time quit and/or be permanently replaced? That something worse than Necropolis or Chaos will fell the city?
I certainly don't. That doesn't mean that the stories can't be enjoyable, but the status quo now seems as invulnerable as the old geezer himself. It was almost certainly pure naivety, but as a reader I really believed change/mortality was possible during those points cited above. Now, I no more believe it than I'd believe it that Wolverine or Superman was really dead this time.
That's why I applaud Niemand's and Carroll's citizen-centric stories. It's at that level that high-stakes adventures can still be had.
It's more about keeping the status quo going but doing it plausibly, rather than permanently changing something. At the moment the status quo is becoming more implausible with each passing year.
Quote from: Richard on 11 April, 2021, 03:30:07 PM
It's more about keeping the status quo going but doing it plausibly, rather than permanently changing something. At the moment the status quo is becoming more implausible with each passing year.
Well put.
The modern era of Judge Dredd (the strip, not the character) serves to allow a hydra of creators to work at the coal face (or to enjoy slices of wholesome future cop pie). It would be difficult to rock that boat in a consistent way, and so you need a status quo to reset to after each adventure, unless there is a strong editorial or (combined) creative push to move the fundamentals.
So, after Trifecta, it's business as normal, with a giant city dropped into the ocean for that particular Dredd author to go adventuring in later if they feel like it. But it doesn't push all the other authors to mess with it - and, in fact, they probably want to stay hands off each others' particular toys. Heston belongs to Art. Pin to Williams. Chimpsky to Rennie Niemand. And all of it, to some extent, still belongs to Wagner.
There's a multi-dimensional feel to Dredd over the past decade, with so many authors creating secret, long-running Justice Department cabals, and so many Dredd clones knocking about, that I've lost track of how many of each there are or have been. Rob's Dredd doesn't sound anything like Wagner's, for example - so it's easy to just imagine them as entirely different dimensions.
The Hydra, in the form of a diagram:
(https://i.imgur.com/uQqxSX8.png)
Revealed! Judge Dredd's Justice Department Sanctioned Anti-Wrinkle Cream! Smooth's out all those bumps and crannies!
https://www.facebook.com/vintagethrillers.org/photos/a.2135382163357216/3175141879381234/
Quote from: Funt Solo on 11 April, 2021, 04:38:30 PM
The Hydra, in the form of a diagram:
So lovely.
What I find interesting is that the final deployment of Mechanismo (by Wagner) has been enthusiastically adopted by all (?) the current writers, so global (if minor) changes are at least still possible. But this might emphasise the point that such innovations may have to come from outside the pool to be universal.
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 April, 2021, 07:52:51 PM
What I find interesting is that the final deployment of Mechanismo (by Wagner) has been enthusiastically adopted by all (?) the current writers, so global (if minor) changes are at least still possible. But this might emphasise the point that such innovations may have to come from outside the pool to be universal.
I like to think that editorial learned a lesson from Chaos Day, and decided to give other writers time to take it all onboard and work forward from it before initial publication.
Hopefully the next instalment of TPO will cover this... ;)
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 April, 2021, 02:54:52 PM
I like the idea of giving Dredd himself the top job — Chief Judge. That gives you a similar dynamic the ST: TNG, where the Kirk role is essentially split in two, with Picard doing all the executive stuff and Riker doing all the action stuff, only with Joe and Rico in those roles. It would also be an interesting change for the strip, since politics has always been Joe's one real achilles heel.
(It wouldn't be difficult, somewhere down the line, to imagine a city-threatening storyline where extreme circumstances force Dredd to reconsider and get back onto the streets, necessitating some more drastic and permanent rejuvenation solution, essentially resetting the status quo to where it was thirty years ago.)
That would definitely work for me.
We all think Dredd's run his course because we've been reading about him for decades, but realistically as others have said he'll never go away because he is such a huge IP and I don't think he'll ever be replaced: there'd be constant comparisons to the man himself, and eventually he'd be retconned back into the main role.
Personally, I think Dredd himself as a nuanced character is played out: he's been everywhere and done everything and the character's been moved forward to the point that he can only be moved back or painted in the broadest of stokes. As I reckon 'real time' Dredd's time is at an end, and I'd almost prefer the writers don't worry about some convulted continuity and just have him grinding on forever rather than explain it. I think the current batch of cit-centric stories, where Dredd appears as a looming threat or just kills / cubes everyone at the end are the best way around having the strip constantly focusing on him.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 10 April, 2021, 06:14:48 PMWe could ask the question: did that work for Strontium Dog?
I was pretty grumpy about Strontium Dog at the time. Recently, though, I've re-read the entire run (bar the very last story) via the Hachette series and Rebellion's Repo Men. I was surprised to discover I enjoyed the original run less than I thought I would. I mean, it's still frequently very good, but it's patchier than I remembered, especially at the start and end.
The reboot starts really oddly, attempting to reframe the past as myth. It adds a bunch of stuff like Milton that's never mentioned again. The entire Kreeler Conspiracy story feels like a mis-step. But then it all gets better, very, very quickly. Blood Moon was strong and more nuanced than older Strontium Dog. The entire Traitor book was rollicking stuff, with varied approaches to the storytelling.
For me, Strontium Dog went off the boil somewhat again when it attempted to loop everything back into continuity. Life and Death was needlessly foul regarding Feral (who, when you look at the storyline, did [spoiler]help carry Alpha through the dimensional portal AND kept him hidden from the Kreelers AND took him to Zen, but then got 'punished' in the arc for not offering to lay down his life for the hero[/spoiler]. And that Ho Gan jibe by Wagner ("notorious fantasist") felt really off.
The rest of the arc was fine, but felt a bit flat—like it was going through Portrait motions again with a new cast of mutants who'd all be killed off without that causing a flicker of giving a crap in the reader. (There was no time to get invested in any of them, after all.) Then we had Stix Fix doing an ill-advised trip back to 1980s stereotyping before the trip rallied somewhat with Repo Men.
It's hard to know where Strontium Dog might have gone after this had Ezquerra still been around to illustrate it. But reading these tales did make me think that I these days care more about a good story than continuity in long-running series. What was once an interesting and useful device increasingly feels like a problem to long-term readers and a weird oddity to people who subsequently find out Dredd is in his 70s. I've no idea what the solution is, nor even if it's necessary to have one.
Justice is timeless, Creep!
That was a good summary of Strontium Dog.
QuoteI'd almost prefer the writers don't worry about some convulted continuity...
I wouldn't. To me, the fact that
Judge Dredd moves on in real time year by year, and has so much history to it, is so much better than US superheroes where Spiderman is still a teenager after 50 years. If they really ditched that I think I would stop reading it. It's not inconsistent with having good stories, as we've seen over the last 44 years.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 12 April, 2021, 10:02:45 AM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 10 April, 2021, 06:14:48 PMWe could ask the question: did that work for Strontium Dog?
I was pretty grumpy about Strontium Dog at the time. Recently, though, I've re-read the entire run (bar the very last story) via the Hachette series and Rebellion's Repo Men. I was surprised to discover I enjoyed the original run less than I thought I would. I mean, it's still frequently very good, but it's patchier than I remembered, especially at the start and end.
The reboot starts really oddly, attempting to reframe the past as myth. It adds a bunch of stuff like Milton that's never mentioned again. The entire Kreeler Conspiracy story feels like a mis-step. But then it all gets better, very, very quickly. Blood Moon was strong and more nuanced than older Strontium Dog. The entire Traitor book was rollicking stuff, with varied approaches to the storytelling.
For me, Strontium Dog went off the boil somewhat again when it attempted to loop everything back into continuity. Life and Death was needlessly foul regarding Feral (who, when you look at the storyline, did [spoiler]help carry Alpha through the dimensional portal AND kept him hidden from the Kreelers AND took him to Zen, but then got 'punished' in the arc for not offering to lay down his life for the hero[/spoiler]. And that Ho Gan jibe by Wagner ("notorious fantasist") felt really off.
The rest of the arc was fine, but felt a bit flat—like it was going through Portrait motions again with a new cast of mutants who'd all be killed off without that causing a flicker of giving a crap in the reader. (There was no time to get invested in any of them, after all.) Then we had Stix Fix doing an ill-advised trip back to 1980s stereotyping before the trip rallied somewhat with Repo Men.
I totally agree - Glad I'm not alone! I liked Feral - he was ideal for Simon Harrison at the time. I'd also add that I thought Johnny's death was an incredible scene and a brave step for 2000ad, and I was disappointed that they brought him back to life.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 12 April, 2021, 12:18:15 PM
I totally agree - Glad I'm not alone! I liked Feral - he was ideal for Simon Harrison at the time. I'd also add that I thought Johnny's death was an incredible scene and a brave step for 2000ad, and I was disappointed that they brought him back to life.
I also felt the same about his "return". It always felt quite clumsy and basically illogically how it was done.
Quote from: Richard on 12 April, 2021, 12:13:33 PM
That was a good summary of Strontium Dog.
QuoteI'd almost prefer the writers don't worry about some convulted continuity...
I wouldn't. To me, the fact that Judge Dredd moves on in real time year by year, and has so much history to it, is so much better than US superheroes where Spiderman is still a teenager after 50 years. If they really ditched that I think I would stop reading it. It's not inconsistent with having good stories, as we've seen over the last 44 years.
I meant specifically with regards Dredd's aging, not the main strip itself. If we're going to have to go through hoop-jumping stories where Dredd get's de-aged every once in a while I'd rather his age just wasn't acknowledged at all.
I keep skirting around the specific topic, but I think it's relevant to look at how other characters are handled.
The Anderson story in Regened prog 2183 (First-Class Citizen) is set in the modern era of MC-1, but there are only two clues to that fact: one, in the text in Joko's Nerve Centre and two, she psi-flashes a projection of a grizzled looking Dredd to spook a perp.
But, Anderson herself is most often presented as a young woman, and here's no different. This story could really have been set in almost any year of the city's history after she's graduated.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 12 April, 2021, 10:02:45 AM
The reboot starts really oddly, attempting to reframe the past as myth. It adds a bunch of stuff like Milton that's never mentioned again. The entire Kreeler Conspiracy story feels like a mis-step.
Wasn't it basically Wagner retooling the pitch for a Strontium Dog film/TV series from the Fleetway Films debacle, then junking the "streamlined for the screen" stuff when it was decided to revive the strip regularly?
It was, and the reboot series is presented as a kind of attempt to get at the 'truth' of Strontium Dog, but Kreeler Conspiracy therefore sticks out like a sore thumb in several regards.
As for Anderson, that character's appearance makes no sense in continuity, given the point the strip specifically made about Psis _not_ having access to any tech that would arrest ageing, since that affects psi powers. Or perhaps that was ditched so she could carry on mostly resembling the current artist's fantasy woman (with a few exceptions, not least Ranson's interpretation).
Dredd has the fastest Lawmaster in the whole Justice Department - this is so he can get where he's going before he forgets why he went.
Let's not forget that Dredd was genetically engineered, and thus has access to many future-science crap ideas gene-massages that could prolong life/hardness/glow-in-the-dark-powers...
Hardness.
Dredd died when Whitey shot him from a mile away in Prog 2. The rest is a simulation.
Quote from: The Corinthian on 12 April, 2021, 03:51:20 PM
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 12 April, 2021, 10:02:45 AM
The reboot starts really oddly, attempting to reframe the past as myth. It adds a bunch of stuff like Milton that's never mentioned again. The entire Kreeler Conspiracy story feels like a mis-step.
Wasn't it basically Wagner retooling the pitch for a Strontium Dog film/TV series from the Fleetway Films debacle, then junking the "streamlined for the screen" stuff when it was decided to revive the strip regularly?
I think so, yeah. Continuity was very different too - Nelson Kreelman as 'President of Earth' for example; presumably so the Americans could produce it if they wanted.
Aye - that felt like a complete reboot, which was quite refreshing at the time. I didn't know it was a treatment until later.
I'm OK with rejuve/cloning/gene therapy/stookie/bionics etc. but I do wonder would Dredd at any point decide he didn't want to carry on with being kept in 'street' condition? If he's at times had questions, felt beaten and weary, surely those times might at some juncture coincide with a rebuild/regrow/whatever.
I can see Justice Dept. deciding on his behalf of course, but a seriously ill or ill content Dredd wouldn't be as capable of his role.
That's an interesting point. Dredd's body can go indefinitely because sci-fi, but his mind and spirit are another matter. Would Dredd be allowed/forced to retire? I can't see much mileage in a Citizen Joe strip, but you never know. Is the Long Walk still a thing? Tour of Duty gave me the impression it's more like the Strongly Chastised Earth Earth now, and our man Joe has kicked its pan in every time he's ventured out there anyway.
They could do a cool Game of Thrones ending where Dredd goes mental for no reason and destroys half the city, then he gets stabbed and they put a crippled Juve in charge.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 13 April, 2021, 03:19:18 PM
They could do a cool Game of Thrones ending where Dredd goes mental for no reason and destroys half the city, then he gets stabbed by DeMarco and they put a crippled Juve Beeny in charge.
This thing writes itself.
My take on the topic; it almost feels like it's now too late to pull the lever.
Day of Chaos was already a decade ago.
Will we see a major status quo change for Dredd someday? Maybe.
Will it be written by Wagner? Getting more doubtful by the week.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 13 April, 2021, 03:19:18 PM
...the Strongly Chastised Earth...
The Actually-Quite-Nice-These-Days Earth:
(https://i.imgur.com/EXkZP7b.png)
That is a 'great' panel.
Here's a hot take - Dredd remains, kept alive by 22nd century technology, as a symbol of law and order in Mega-City One. Over the years and decades the cult of Dredd grows until it unifies Earth against emerging threats from other systems and planes. Dredd is kept alive for centuries, remaining a figurehead for humanity, though nobody can really know what goes on in that addles mind and body. Yep, my hot take is that Dredd is the Emperor of Mankind from Warhammer 40K!
Bonus points if it can be fitted in to Termight chronology as well (let's face it, the 40K empire was mostly ripped off from Nemesis the Warlock anyway).
As if Games Workshop would ever rip anything off - their Aelves and Ooaarks and Gahblinz bear no relation whatsoever to any differently spelled fantasy creatures.
Sign me up for the first 1,000 progs Sheridan !
In one story there was a citizen who turned 150 - how old is Dredd now, 90 odd? So he could have at least another 50 years kicking ass and chewing gum. Then the only logical conclusion is that he's gotta end up in the big chair, he finally accepts Chief Judge. Dredd as Chief Judge dealing with all the office politics and political bull$hit he's avoided for years could make for some super interesting stories. He is mellowing over time (ish) so there could be entirely unforseen levels of character development. It's either that or a teaching post at the Academy.
Dredd's in his 70s, but looks about 20 years younger than other judges who've been featured around that age. Perhaps he dabbles in stookie on the side. Tsk.
Only 70? I think this conversation is a bit premature ;)
Aren't all the mega cities destroyed by the time of Strontium Dog? Maybe Justice Dept, and chosen citizens, go underground to survive and Dredd becomes Chief Judge of the Undercity complex (which I imagine as many old cities which were domed off in preparation for some grand reconstruction project that never happened).
For me, Judge Dredd is subtitled The Decline and Fall of Mega City One. Prog 2 saw MC1 at it's most glorious and impressive, from that point the only way was down. Under increasing speed and momentum. Dredd's pulling on the brakes with all his might - but the ultimate crash is inevitable. So why not crash straight through the floor into the Undercity and begin again as the ultimate isolationists? UnderMeg 1.
Heh. Weird notions like this is why I'll always be an amateur. Well, that, a lack of talent and an evasion to brewing many proofreading.
When you mention the underground I had a mental flash of crocodile with a human head on it.
Maybe your calling in life is to be a muse Shark?
Eventually the only way to keep him alive will be to have Dredd's body merged a Mechanismo...becoming everything he hates, droid justice!
Mutated Undercity fungus proves to be a powerful, abundant, and universal anti-agapic. But it makes anyone who uses it sterile.
Boom.
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 13 April, 2021, 06:26:38 PM
Aren't all the mega cities destroyed by the time of Strontium Dog?
We don't see much of Earth in Strontium Dog - mutant bounty hunters being banned from the planet and all (unless they have special dispensation to go to Antarctic City). We saw quite a bit of the British Isles, notable for its absence of Brit-Cit but don't have any idea how things developed across the (Black) Atlantic.
QuoteMaybe Justice Dept, and chosen citizens, go underground to survive and Dredd becomes Chief Judge of the Undercity complex (which I imagine as many old cities which were domed off in preparation for some grand reconstruction project that never happened).
The Undercity is simply the old cities concreted (or plascreted) over - similar to what happened to Atlanta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Atlanta).
QuoteFor me, Judge Dredd is subtitled The Decline and Fall of Mega City One. Prog 2 saw MC1 at it's most glorious and impressive, from that point the only way was down. Under increasing speed and momentum. Dredd's pulling on the brakes with all his might - but the ultimate crash is inevitable. So why not crash straight through the floor into the Undercity and begin again as the ultimate isolationists? UnderMeg 1.
Heh. Weird notions like this is why I'll always be an amateur. Well, that, a lack of talent and an evasion to brewing many proofreading.
Something has just occurred to me - famously the first population given for Mega-City One was 100,000,000 though next time it was mentioned it had risen to 800,000,000 (on the return from Luna One I believe). But what if the mistake on the back of Prog 3 wasn't a one instead of an eight, but 100 instead of 1,000 - giving the initial population of the Mega-City at a cool billion? One Robot War later and it's been reduced to the more familiar 800,000,000.
I'd buy that for a credit.
Poisoned by P.J. Maybe (disguised as a nun*), Dredd on his deathbed fires his lawgiver out of the window to find the spot where he should be buried but keeps hitting perps instead.
* He's got form.
Taken up to Avalon Med Station after Rico, on the third time of asking, throws Dredd's daystick into a rad-pool.
I maintain that, for as long as Clint Eastwood is still alive and working (and without the benefit of 22nd century nonsense de-aging tech), it's plausible for Dredd to carry on daysticking crims.
Quote from: The Corinthian on 13 April, 2021, 10:15:15 PM
Poisoned by P.J. Maybe (disguised as a nun*), Dredd on his deathbed fires his lawgiver out of the window to find the spot where he should be buried but keeps hitting perps instead.
Get that man an unconvincing pseudonym and a regular slot on
Dredd.
If the Judge production line has been kiboshed since the Day of Chaos, is it possible that a secret cabal of judges has actually been lacing stookie fumes into the sleep machines since then to arrest the attrition of numbers of judges retiring due to old age without the knowledge of everyone else.
Quote from: Bad Andy on 26 April, 2021, 11:31:11 AM
...is it possible that a secret cabal of judges has actually been lacing stookie fumes into the sleep machines ...
Laws of probability alone say one of the several dozen Invisible Ninja Crawlspace Divisions have been doing just that.
It's some rogue Psi Division group leeching arcane energy from Sabbat's sarcophagus and infusing it into Catering Division's synthi caff beans.
Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like '
Sorry, I'll stop now. This was inspired by a friend's son who swore blind that a Playstation game he had was set in his home town of Leicester, in which the character he played once entered the real kid's house and saw him sitting with his Playstation playing the same game.
Quote from: TordelBack on 26 April, 2021, 01:02:14 PM
Quote from: Bad Andy on 26 April, 2021, 11:31:11 AM
...is it possible that a secret cabal of judges has actually been lacing stookie fumes into the sleep machines ...
Laws of probability alone say one of the several dozen Invisible Ninja Crawlspace Divisions have been doing just that.
Do they have their own badge design?
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 26 April, 2021, 01:41:33 PM
Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like, 'Maybe they could do a few earlier-in-the-timeline stories, as has been suggested before. Also, there's plenty of room outside of MC1 for stories to be told. I'm thinking maybe it could be set just on the Kildare border of Dublin, in, say, 2021. It could focus on, I don't know, a man who lives in a boat, say, reading comics about Dredd before he's born , and disguising his alcoholism with some nonsense about being some kind of craft beer gourmet.
The opening scene could be him sitting at his laptop when he should be out enjoying the sun typing something like '
Now we know how Wendy in
The Shining felt after looking through Jack's
"Novel". :)
Sorry, in hindsight that looks a bit more trollish than I'd meant it to be :-[
I had only recently started reading 2000AD my first time around when they killed off Johnny Alpha. It was a good story, but I was really disappointed. His replacement just didn't cut it. 2000AD would be absolutely crazy to kill off, retire or replace Judge Dredd. When I used to read 2000AD through the 90s, I usually reckoned the Judge Dredd strip was the second best in the comic, because there were a lot of other great strips. Now I reckon the Judge Dredd strip is nearly always the best. Some strips eventually felt like they had reached their end, like Nemesis the Warlock and Rogue Trooper, but Dredd keeps on delivering.
I remember reading at the end of Necropolis the chief judge ordering Dredd to have a rejuve job because his face had been burnt off. I was never sure whether a rejuve job was only for cosmetic purposes or whether it actually made people younger.
Quote from: kev67 on 26 April, 2021, 10:01:10 PM
I remember reading at the end of Necropolis the chief judge ordering Dredd to have a rejuve job because his face had been burnt off. I was never sure whether a rejuve job was only for cosmetic purposes or whether it actually made people younger.
Pretty sure it's the former - you get new skin and look younger, but all your insides remain the same. It was kind of explained in
Carousel in the Megazine - though if I remember rightly, there is the option of replacing internal organs too but so far Dredd has refused it. Didn't see him complaining when they gave him paper lungs and bionic eyes, mind you.
It's only about a year since this last came up, but I can NEVER remember it correctly, so here"s my best shot:
Joe's replacement lung (singular, courtesy of the Hitman) is cloned tissue, so from pretty much the same menu as Carousel. It's Rico Jr that has the carbon-fibre ones (superior bionics that allow him to hold his breath for some unfeasible time) and the Kneepad Kid (from The Falucci Tape) who has the cheap paper ones.
Bet I have that arseways as usual.
Ah yes, I was part of that conversation too but as usual my memory has failed me and I've got it doubly arseways. Thanks for putting me straight (though this time next year there's a good chance I'll be saying Dredd has paper lungs again).
Regarding his bionic eyes, does he have to get those replaced or serviced every once in a while? Human bodies can at least resist thermodynamics' second law better than machinery.
Well we know he keeps a set of spares, suggesting they're easily replaceable
Quote from: TordelBack on 20 April, 2021, 09:42:30 AM
Quote from: The Corinthian on 13 April, 2021, 10:15:15 PM
Poisoned by P.J. Maybe (disguised as a nun*), Dredd on his deathbed fires his lawgiver out of the window to find the spot where he should be buried but keeps hitting perps instead.
Get that man an unconvincing pseudonym and a regular slot on Dredd.
:lol:
What about Mrs. Gunderson? How come she's still alive?
---
Incoming fanfic on how Mrs. Gunderson is actually the fourth (sic) Sister of Death, on a long-game sleeper mission.
Mrs Gunderson is MC1's Tom Bombadil.
Mrs Gunderson is relatively young compared to some mega-citizens we've seen (Bizmo Klux* was mentioned earlier) though it should be noted that Gunderson isn't quite as active as Dredd tends to get!
* born: 12th July 1971, died 24th December 2104
She was also judged 'innocent' by Judge Death, whatever that meant. Innocent as in she never 'lived' or 'had a life'?
Never quite understood that one.
I don't think that ever really made sense - I think he just thought she had never committed any crimes, ever. But given that life is a crime in his mind, that doesn't quite hold up.
Back (sort of) on topic, there was that bad guy in Lenny Zero who once ran errands for Al Capone - though he had gone through a body swap or two since then.
Perhaps ultimately Death simply enjoys causing terror, and all that life is a crime guff is just a cover story. With Gunderson not recognizing him as a threat, there's no point in the killing, so he judges her innocent in a fit of cognitive dissonance.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 16 June, 2021, 07:52:11 PM
Perhaps ultimately Death simply enjoys causing terror, and all that life is a crime guff is just a cover story. With Gunderson not recognizing him as a threat, there's no point in the killing, so he judges her innocent in a fit of cognitive dissonance.
Sold!
I've always hoped for a story that shows he's really just a little [spoiler]REDACTED[/spoiler] who gets off on murder, with the whole 'life is a crime' mantra being just an excuse to cover his back. I thought things were going in that direction after Young Death, but alas no.