Dredd epics ranked

[AlexF]

New entry up:
https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-50-47-dont-bother.html

and yay to that shout out in the Thrill-Mail! Somehow having that link makes me feel I should try harder to iron out typos...

As for BoSIII, I don't recall Pat talking about it much, although I definitely read an interview somewhere with John Hicklenton where he confesses he rushed a bunch of pages. He sure made up for it elsewhere in the same story, though!

[TordelBack]

I was very hard on BoSIII at the time, so much so that I can't even face looking up my contemporary online remarks, but it really is a truly terrible story that seems to want to be Hellraiser fanfic more than anything recognisably Dredd-related. Hicklenton's rather washed-out storytelling clearly struggled to keep up with the lurching plot as random judges, cultists and demons run hither and thither giving endless speeches about Dark Matter that'd make Phillip Pullman blush, but his core imagery is absolutely outstanding. Satanus has never looked more terrifying, and the inter-dimensional churn of demonic forms is consistently unsettling.

But in all this, I  have never considered it as a Dredd epic, so I'm thankful to Alex for making me look at it again, if only for the art.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Yeah, I remember very little of BoS3, barring that I didnt much like it, and absolutely *nothing* about BoS2- so little in fact that in the intervening years when I've seen 3 mentioned I had internally marked it as a gag- because 2 had never been done.
Thanks to that blog entry i now have the Meg numbers written on my little pad, and as soon as the boiler man has been and made our house slightly warmer- allowing me to move through it without cracking ice crystals from my limbs, I will be heading into the Thrill Vault to remove said Megs from their box to read this weekend. So, thanks for that.

I've read the original BoS too many times to attempt it again at this point.

SBT

[Colin YNWA]

Another fantastic entry and its interesting - and high praise indeed that its taken two posts and 7 epics to get the rubbish out the way and into the good stuff. And I have to be honest a lot of those I've never considered epics (though I of course accept your definition entirely) - I love the decription of Raptaur as a micro-epic!

I completely agree with your analysis of 'City of the Damned' and I find it fascinating that I reckon many will have an alternative view and have very fond feelings for it.

[sixmo]

I'm really looking forward to tracking this awesome blog.

With regards to the Blood of Satanus stories, I think the Blood of Satanus II was fairly bland, inoffensive, and just sort of existed. Blood of Satanus III was a whole different barrel of napalm piranhas! I recall the response on here as the story unfolded month by month. Confusion as all sorts of mad stuff was rolled out in the plot, then anger as the more it unfolded the less it made any sense at all.

The Dark Matter! Good jeebus, the Dark Matter! It was being splurged all over the shop to fill various plot holes and plot bunkers. Terrible stuff. The art didn't go uncriticised either. Hicklenton's art can usually be graded by listening to yourself make a variety of "oohs", "aahs", and "arrgh" noises as you read it. More of these noises is usually a good thing. I can only recall a series of disappointed groans.

I think the consensus was that it was nearly as if the creators were working hard to make the story terrible because if they were just dialling it in then it would have been far blander. And it went on for so long in the Meg! I'm thinking that it is uniquely even worse than we remember it.

The Crusade thing started off interesting as I was always enthusiastic to see various world judges, but this story was a good bit on from the world judge fiesta of Judgement Day. It was just a sideshow of nasty cruel things happening to one character after another. Just plain bad.

I'm excited to see what comes next in the blog. Perennial anti-favourite Purgatory can't be too far off now!

[Bolt-01]

Getting a shout-out on the Thrill mail is cool.

[Barrington Boots]

Great second entry. I can't disagree with anything said here, these stories, more or less, all suck.

The less said about Inferno the better (lovely art though, as literally everyone says whilst slagging off Inferno) and it's refreshing to see another negative take on City of the Damned. Raptaur I couldn't stand at the time and can't stand now: it's a strip that screams 90s by embodying a lot of what was bad about the 90s in comics and if anything I'd have placed it lower than some of the other duffers we've had so far.

Really cool and interesting read this!

[Colin YNWA]

In turns of Raptur I'm going to say it now and be damned I loved Dean Ormston's work at the time and I love it now. I appreciate he was an artist learning his craft it sang to me then. Is so muscular and atmospheric and still think it works and is perfect for this story.

I mention in as both this and a Drokk! I've just caught up with, rightly flag some problems. Problems - unlike so much my 40s self has beaten out of the opinions set by my teens self - my teen self just won't let my 40s self see!

[TordelBack]

As it was my first mega-epic I'll defend City of the Damned to the end, there might not be much to the story,  but it gets the very best out of Dredd. 

Raptaur was a characteristically muddy non-event for me. Buying it all again  actually brought my Casefiles purchasing to a halt at Vol. 16.

There's no saving Inferno, Carlos or no Carlos. Although I retain a soft spot for the incoherent nastiness of Purgatory.

(Incidentally, I did go searching for my online rantings about BoSIII while it ran, against my better judgement. Ouch, I was a nasty bit of goods in those days; it's painful to see it.  You lot were all much wittier back then though, pull your socks up!).

[Art]

City of the Damned and Raptaur are personal faves, City of the Damned particularly, so I'm going to quibble the rankings which probably wouldn't be MY rankings, but, eh, nothing they say is wrong and it's hard to name any story's that would go under them that aren't in their own way worthy.

Also if we're honest Necropolis did City of the Damned better and without a time machine. 

[WhizzBang]

I think City Of The Damned is regarded as a weaker due to 2 issues.

One is that the previous epics were The Cursed Earth, Day The Law Died, The Judge Child and The Apocolypse War. By comparison to these it is less of a classic.

The other is that John Wagner and Alan Grant themselves have publicly admitted their boredom with it and how they felt they had to wrap it up.

Taken on its own merits it is good story but the most significant impact of it is the change of Dredd's eyes.

[Tjm86]

City benefits from superb Dillon artwork.  As an idea it has merit.  Execution wise however ... reminded that Grant / Wagner bored of it and wrapped it up quickly, that makes sense.  There was so much scope there.

The other epic that always sits a little uncomfortably for me is Necropolis.  I get the decision to suddenly jump to the city in the thrall of the DJ's.  It just still jars a lot.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

When Necropolis was running in the prog, it was a source of much amusement to my 2000AD-reading best chum and me. We were at college at the time and would get our progs to read on the train, nicknaming it with shocking lack of imagination "Necrapolis".

One of our college peers saw the cover to prog 669 and threw a fit, claiming it was "glorification of drugs" and should be banned. Which we, obnoxiously, found hugely amusing.

In retrospect, I sort of see her point, and my attitude to Necropolis has changed ged over the intervening years. Especially as I watched my eldest absolutely loving it- it's probably his favourite Mega-Epic- due to the killer combination of colour, Ezquerra and the Dark Judges. These days i pick it up for a reread far more often than i would have guessed back then.

SBT

[SpaceSpinner2000]

I always appreciate your desire to get more 2000AD content onto the web! I'm really excited for this project, keep it up!

Also, poor Luna City. It's more of a framing device for other Dredd adventures, but did require Dredd to wear a cape for some reason!

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Boo! This blog is wrong. City of the Damned is top 10 material.