Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two

[Max Headroom]

Does anyone out there happen to know what has happened to this trade paperback release? It had been scheduled for August, but now seems to have completely fallen off the radar. Was really looking forward to 
this as well...

[Dash Decent]

Amazon UK has a mid September release date:

Click here - IDW Dredd - Mega City Two - City of Courts

[Bat King]

This coming Wednesday

The titles for this week are:

-Angry Birds Comics #4
-Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Omnibus, Vol. 2
-G.I. Joe Origins Omnibus, Vol. 2 TPB
-Indestructible #8
-Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two TPB
-Mars Attacks: First Born #4
-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #23
-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Vol. 5 TPB
-Silent Hill: Downpour: Anne's Story #1
-The Squidder #3
-Star Mage #6
-Transformers IDW Collection: Phase Two, Vol. 1 HC
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures Vol. 3 TPB
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Original Motion Picture Special Edition

[Max Headroom]

Bat King - I had Judge Dredd volume 5 down for this coming Wednesday. Are you sure about this (as I doubt both would come out on the same day)?

[Bat King]

Yes, I got that direct from the IDW FTP update e-mail I received on Thursday.

Sadly the Ftp itself is down at the moment... I didn't download it as I already have all the issues both the paper versions I bought and the pdf reviews via the Ftp.

[Bat King]

Oh - my LCS also says it is due in on Wednesday.

See here

[COMMANDO FORCES]

It's out now, as I had a look through it at my local comic shop and left it there for anyone else who may wish to buy it!

[Bat King]

Yup it is out now.

IDW fixed their ftp but as I already have all the parts electronic & paper still not downloading it.

[Dash Decent]

I've just finished reading the collected "City of Courts".  It's great that the writer (Douglas Wolk) has thought about what MC2 could be like and delivered something genuinely different rather than a carbon copy of MC1.

That said however I found it difficult to follow the story.  I did follow it, but it required a mental effort that I noticed myself putting in. Rather than just reading the story and being engaged with it, I kept falling out of it as I worked out what was going on - and not in a "Wow, I've just seen how the writer has cleverly fused together those five seemingly inconsequential and unrelated moments into an amazing piece of plot" way.  Both the story telling and the art seem to crunch through the gears without using the clutch.  For example, when Dredd is revealed in biker garb at the end of "West Coast Swing", we see him driving along in a car, explaining he wants a bike and a gun and being told it can be arranged, then we turn the page and cut to Dredd now disguised as a biker.  It should work, but it doesn't; there's a "Who's this new charac-- oh, it's meant to be Dredd" realisation.  It doesn't help that Dredd appears to be swollen with mumps and incapable of providing any real difference in expression that would aid our understanding.

The collected edition comes with some helpful notes at the back.  These explain some of the thinking behind their designs and point out the easter eggs (e.g. confirming the Tombstone Toothbrush cameo).  I liked this feature and would enjoy seeing other collections do the same. The bear motif was explained as being the state symbol of California, but the decision to make it a teddy bear face on the guns and uniforms was too silly.  I would've much rather seen, say, skater Judges in shorts or female skater Judges in bikinis (yes please!!); that would give them their own spin on the uniform without the silliness.

I also liked the appearance of the Stallone uniform at the Lawcon, though it seemed the whole idea of the event was just to try and please the fans by throwing in an excuse to draw lots of different Judge uniforms. 

[Frank]

I've just finished reading the collected "City of Courts".  It's great that the writer (Douglas Wolk) has thought about what MC2 could be like and delivered something genuinely different rather than a carbon copy of MC1.

That said however I found it difficult to follow the story.  I did follow it, but it required a mental effort that I noticed myself putting in. Rather than just reading the story and being engaged with it, I kept falling out of it as I worked out what was going on 

City Of Courts is a repository of fantastic ideas and wonderful imagery, rather than a compelling story featuring memorable characters and dialogue. It felt to me like what might have happened in an alternate reality where Jamie Hewlett and Philip Bond really did do the Dredd/Strontium Dog team-up, Top Dogs, in the 1991 Judge Dredd Annual, and the Deadline generation of writers and artists had graduated to take over the reigns at 2000ad and the Megazine *. Even if the plot and characters are unremarkable, it's really good fun:

http://loser-city.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Judge-Dredd-Mega-City-Two-Giant-Shrimp.jpg

https://2000ad.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/judge-dredd-mega-city-two-farinas.jpg

http://loser-city.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Judge-Dredd-Mega-City-Two-3.jpg

http://nexuswookie.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/wpid-8.jpeg



* D'Israeli and, to a lesser extent, Shaky Kane being the only two Deadline alumni to make the House of Tharg their home

[Dash Decent]

There's lots of good stuff in City of Courts, but unfortunately it's not the Dredd stuff, either in the writing or the art.  The art is almost overloaded with detail in places and there's lots to discover (I loved for example the robot running down the road in the midst of all the other vehicles on a highway scene) but for me it was all icing and no cake.

[Fontwell Magma]

Argh I've been really looking forward to reading this for ages - a mate bought me the collected edition. I wish I didn't read some of your guys comments now!

From a quick flick through, the art looks a lot more European - more squidgy and colourful than I would be used to for Dredd - but wow, it's detailed.

I'll get on and read it now I think...

[TordelBack]

City of Courts delivered something no other Dreddworld story* has managed: another Mega-City almost as interesting as MC-1.  While I'd agree that ideas and imagery win out over plot and character in this series, they are extremely good ideas and really nice images. There's an energetic cleverness married to a sure grasp of Dreddlore at the heart of this run, and at least one gobsmacker of a vista in each issue. 

The odd pacing within each individual part, where the best (and they are good) setpieces tend to be squished complaining into a page or two, while long chats in cars eat up the available paper earlier in the same issues, and the sometimes puzzling storytelling are presumably due to Wolk's inexperience with the form.  But I'd never swap the concepts, variety and sense of fun in City of Courts for a more jaded workmanlike style of comic. 

For me this is definitely the most enjoyably Dreddlike Dredd outside of 2000AD Judge Dredd, even if that Dredd is resolutely a '70s Dredd rather than a '10s Dredd.  Dreddity Dredd Dredd Dredd.   


*well, maybe Armitage

[Bat King]

My understanding is that IDW Editors are rather 'hands off' That was Mr Wolk's first comic so pacing would be a potential pit fall. Hence the ideas and concepts working (in many people's opinion, mine included) but pacing & timing leaving a little to be desired.

So if he does another we might get a sharper story. Or of course he might do an IDW novel... what'd be fun if that is within their license.