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Judge Dredd reading order

Started by AlexF, 24 August, 2020, 05:32:45 PM

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AlexF

Partly inspired by Pioneer's thread about recent Dredd stories he's missed, I've had a go at whittling down a bare bones 'what Dredd stories do you have to read to make sense of what's going on from one epic to the next?'
It's a long list, so I've split it into chunks, with so-called mega-epics listed in italics.
I've also included various Anderson and Low Life stories that I think are necessary, and I've tried to keep track of all the stories that show status quo changes for long-running villains Judge Death, Orlok and PJ Maybe.

Phase 1: Dredd's World (Progs 1-86)
Judge Whitey
New You
Statue of Judgement
Robots / Robot War
Academy of Law
Return of Rico
Luna 1
First Luna Olympics
Return to Mega City 1
The Cursed Earth

Phase 2: Mega City 1 (Progs 87-275)
Judge Cal
Vienna
Judge Minty
Judge Death
The Judge Child
The Fink
Pirates of the Black Atlantic
Unamerican Graffiti
Judge Death Lives
Block Mania
Apocalypse War

Phase 3: Rebuilding (Progs 276-450)
Destiny's Angels
Question of Judgement/Error of Judgement/Case for Treatment
City of the Damned
Anderson, Psi Division: the Four Dark Judges
Midnight Surfer

Phase 4: Around the World (Progs 451-630)
The Warlord / a Chief Judge Resigns
Letter from a Democrat
Anderson, Psi Division: Hour of the Wolf
Revolution
Oz
Bloodline
PJ Maybe, Age 13 / 14
Anderson, Psi Division: Triad
Confeshuns of PJ Maybe

Phase 5: The world turned Upside Down (Progs 631-712)
The Shooting Match
Young Giant
The Dead Man
Necropolis
Theatre of Death
Nightmares
Wot I did during Necropolis
America

Phase 6: The muscled years (Progs 713-915; Megs 1.1 – 2.60)
The Devil you know / Twilight's last gleaming
Judgement Day
Anderson, Psi Division: Reasons to be Cheerful / The Jesus Syndrome
Mechanismo I / II [Meg]
PJ and the Mock-Choc Factory
Anderson, Psi Division: Childhood's End [Meg]
Purgatory / Inferno
Mechanismo III [Meg]
Conspiracy of Silence
Prologue/Tenth Planet/Wilderlands [Meg]

Phase 7: under new management (Progs 916-1160; Megs 2.61-3.60)
Farewell to the Chief / The Candidates
Bad Frendz
The Cal Files
The Pit
America II [Meg]
Worst of Frendz
Beyond the Call of Duty
The Scorpion Dance
Doomsday [Meg]
Volt Face

Phase 8: Family (Progs 1161-1450; Megs 3.61-240)
The Cal Legacy
Blood Cadets
All new adventures of PJ Maybe / Gunga Dinsdale / Heart of
Sector House
Judge Death: My Name is Death
Sin City (aka Satan's Island)
Blood and Duty
Judge Death: Wilderness Days [Meg]
The Trial of Orlok
The Satanist
Brothers of the Blood
Lowlife: Paranoia
Terror / Total War
After the Bombs
Six [Meg]
The Monsterus Mashinashuns of PJ Maybe
Blood Trails
Matters of Life and Death

Phase 9: Regime change (Progs 1451-1780; Megs 241-320)
Class of '79 (Prog 2006)
Dominoes
Splashdown
The Simping Detective 2 (Megs 234-239)
Cadet [Meg]
The Connection
Origins
The Streets of Dan Francisco
The Gingerbread Man
Mutants in Mega-City 1
The Facility / Secret of Mutant Camp 5
Mind Games
The Spirit of Christmas (Prog 2008)
Lowlife: War without Bloodshed [Meg]
Emphatically Evil
...Regrets
(Wot I did for Chrissmass)
The Edgar Case
Low Life: Creation
Backlash
ToD: The Talented Mayor Ambrose
ToD: Mega City Justice


Phase 10: things get worse... and somehow worse again (Progs 1781-1990; Megs 321-380)
Lowlife: Hostile Takeover / the Deal
Further Dasterdly Deeds of PJ Maybe
Day of Chaos: Nadia
DoC: Fourth Faction
Elusive
DoC: The Assassination List
DoC: Eve of Destruction
DoC: Tea for Two
DoC: Wot I did during...
Chaos Day

The Days After
The Bean Counter
Innocent
Family Man
Bullet to King Four
Simping Detective: Jokers to the Right / LowLife:Suadade / The Cold Deck / Trifecta
Titan
Dark Justice
Orlok: Agent of East Meg 1
Enceladus I
Blood of Emeralds
Enceladus II
Terror Rising
Serial Serial
Grindstone Cowboys
The Lion's Den
Reclamation

From the Ashes

Phase 11: new normal? (Progs 1991-2200; Megs 381-425)
Carousel [Meg]
Ladykiller
Act of Grud
Harvey
Ape Escape [Meg]
Dark Justice: Dominion [Meg]
Krong Island [Meg]
Dark Justice: Contagion [Meg]
The Small House
Machine Law
The Red Queen [Meg]
Guatemala
Hershey
End Times

In the final stages I've included the Harry Heston stuff as that's building up into a long ongoing storyline in the Megazine. I've also ignored a bunch of Michael Carroll scripted stuff that will probably turn out to be 'essential' if he ever gets back to his 'Sovs in Mega City 2' stories, his 'MC1 Psi Judge hidden as Chief of Texas City' story or indeed his 'secret gangsters inflitrating Justice Dept' stories - which could all erupt into one mega mega-epic all at once if the mood takes him.

I have a list that's at least twice as long as this one, picking up on more threads, more long-running side characters and such. But the point is really to make the number of stories you 'have' to read be as short as possible! At which I have failed.

Funt Solo

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

AlexF

A thumbs up from the Funtster is as high praise as it gets for 2000AD continuity nerds!

Colin YNWA

But you know he's making a spreadsheet out of your efforts as I type!

That is a magnificent effort and 'The muscled years' make me laugh out loud!

Funt Solo

#4
Just that one slight error where you've included Purgatory and Inferno, but apart from that, I can't complain.  :D

(And prog 182's Block War serves as a wonderful foreshadowing of Block Mania. Progs 128-129 have the [Battle of the Black Atlantic], which is a precursor to Pirates of the Black Atlantic.)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

sheridan

Quote from: Funt Solo on 24 August, 2020, 09:20:37 PM
Just that one slight error where you've included Purgatory and Inferno, but apart from that, I can't complain.  :D

(And prog 182's Block War serves as a wonderful foreshadowing of Block Mania. Progs 128-129 have the [Battle of the Black Atlantic], which is a precursor to Pirates of the Black Atlantic.)

Block War also acts as an epilogue to the Judge Child Quest and features McGruder's first appearance.

AlexF

Oh yes, Block War was on my longer list but should def. be on the shorter list - I quite forgot it's where McGruder turns up!
And yes, I really should have done it as a spreadsheet with accompanying Prog and Meg numbers.
I quite enjoy the fact that this list is kind of a terrible one to give to a Dredd novice. Sure, it ticks some big boxes but it misses out on so many classic fun one-offs and mini-epics that are probably a much better way to get into the strip. I reckon Conrad has done a pretty great job of that with his Mega City Primer picks. (Of course, he's only tackling the first 12 years of Dredd. Piker!)

Tjm86

Quote from: Funt Solo on 24 August, 2020, 09:20:37 PM
Just that one slight error where you've included Purgatory and Inferno, but apart from that, I can't complain.  :D


That was my thought as well.   ;)

abelardsnazz

Great work Alex, I think you've hit the nail on the head for a comprehensive list of essential Dredd.

Many of these, ending around From the Ashes, were included in the Mega Collection, but unfortunately, based on this list, that series can't be said to be fully definitive as it omitted stories from each phase except 5 and 6, and put in some other stuff instead that we could've done without.