Dredd epics ranked

[Colin YNWA]

I'm fast approaching a re-read of Trifecta and really look forward to getting there. Its one I should probably buy in trade to be read without being distracted by the other thrills - as I will on the upcoming re-read (as part of a prog Slog). I think it deserves bonus points for the ambition of it and Tharg's decision to allow the surprise to absolutely land... I have to be honest it took me a bit before it hit home and I remember sitting there when I started to read 'Simping Detective' thinking. Wow that's a bit weird that Dredd's about to burst into a room and then actually does in the next strip... I think it took me until I noticed some ducks on the wall before it slotted into place!

I love the artistic choices being so different, but then using Carl Critchlow to so perfectly bring it all home and pull it together and somehow, magically, become the nexus of those three utterly diverse styles.

Unlike Wilderlands which I think is artistically so weak as its all over the place and I get no sense of rythm or reason behind the lurches all over the place. And sorry to say it and I'll take my licks for doing so) but he's really let down by this early use of computer colouring... I also don't like how he draws Old One Eye in Helter Skelter, but that's small fry given his house was falling down around him!

[AlexF]

Not gonna make any new friends this morning I feel...

https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-28-26-sublime-and-ridiculous.html

[Dark Jimbo]

... I have to be honest it took me a bit before it hit home and I remember sitting there when I started to read 'Simping Detective' thinking. Wow that's a bit weird that Dredd's about to burst into a room and then actually does in the next strip... I think it took me until I noticed some ducks on the wall before it slotted into place!

I made this comment on the prog thread one week before the big reveal - how foolish did I feel afterwards?

I think running Low Life alongside Simping Detective is going to flag up the similarities of both strips to their detriment, especially coming so soon after also-very-similar Lenny Zero - and as if to prove the point (comes right after the Jack), both strips feature a 3-flying-ducks motif this week, of all things - what are the chances?! Not to mention that they're both following a narrator-straight-in-at-the-deep-end-unsure-what's-happening plot; Dirty Frank's got a bump on the head and no memory, Jack's got a hangover and toothache, but it's still all far too similar. Three Dreddworld strips in a five-strip comic is too much. Isn't that what the Megazine's for?

[Colin YNWA]

Not gonna make any new friends this morning I feel...

https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-28-26-sublime-and-ridiculous.html

AlexF, AlexF I admire your work. I will still steal it to make my worthless tourney's easier for me. Heck I might even respect your Blogging but I can never... never... never speak to you again after placing Tour of Duty there... I retract my offer of marriage. I offer you a white feather. And I'm looking at all legal options available to me.

Tour of Duty is in my top 3 and I'm not sure where in that... okay okay I might read why you place it there at some point and have your own opinions and all sorts. But for now I just need space...

[Link Prime]

The first two are hard to beat content and classic creator-wise.

Prog 2000 (the first one) by a mile, for me. I think there may well have been objectively better end-of-year extravaganzas (extravaganzæ...?) over the years when judged by content, but the nineties, man... the f***ing nineties.

There was a very real feeling in the middle of that decade that the comic wouldn't survive until the landmark year and that end-of-year prog had a triumphal "We're still here" vibe. All those classic creators writing and drawing love-letter-to-2000AD stories... it revived a sense of both pride and hope, bolstered a few months later by news of the Rebellion buy-out.

It was special in every sense of the word.

Defo.
When you look at the creator call sheet for the original Prog 2000..."Legendary" doesn't cover it.

[sixmo]

Not gonna make any new friends this morning I feel...

https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-28-26-sublime-and-ridiculous.html

Ah here! Leave it out! Tour of Duty wallowing in the deep 20's? I promised myself I wouldn't get too worked up about the actual placings and just wallow in the excellent and entertaining reviews that you were providing, but this is beyond the pale! I'm wondering what surprises we are going to see next. Will we see America, The Apocalypse War, The Pit, and Necropolis all outside the Top Ten? Will The Three Amigos be number one? Where will the madness end?

Maybe the very act of creating the blog has broken your mind? Who knew that obsessive cataloging, analyzing, and ranking of 40+ years of freak out weirdo stuff could have this effect on a person's psyche!

[AlexF]

I mean, Tour of Duty is still an excellent story! But come on, have you re-read it lately, all in one go? It's not a strong on a re-read as it was when it ran weekly and we just couldn;t wait to see what happened next...

Meanwhile, just for fun, here's a rundown of all the Mega Epics in order of how Mega they are, where 'Mega' is defined as 'More than 100 pages'. I've even inlcuded covers and star scans, just to break some ties.

The Hunting Party: 105 + 4 covers                                              109
Luna City: 110 pages + 1 cover (for the epilogue)         111
Terror + Total War: 121 pages + 4 covers               125
Purgatory + Inferno: 121 pages + 5 covers               126
Judge Cal: 129 pages + 4 covers + 1 star scan            135
Every Empire Falls: 132 pages + 3 Prog covers            135
Titan + Enceladus: 130 pages + 7 covers               137
Judgement Day: 150 + 6 prog covers                      156
Trifecta: 163 pages + 6 covers                         169
Mechanismo 1+2+3: 164 pages + 7 Meg covers            171
The Cursed Earth: 164 pages + 12 covers + 1 star scan               177
Origins: 169 pages + 9 covers                         178
The Judge Child: 169 pages + 10 covers + 1 star scan         179
The Pit: 191 pages + 5 covers                          196
Oz: 199 pages + 9 covers + 5 star scans               213
Block Mania + The Apocalypse War: 208 pages + 10 covers      218
Wilderlands (+ prologues): 217 pages + 6 prog covers         223
Doomsday (+ prologues): 279 pages + 10 Prog covers         289
Day of Chaos: 299 pages + 6 covers                  305
Tour of Duty, the whole boiling lot: 336 pages + 7 Prog covers      343
Necropolis, + The Dead Man and all prologues: 336 pages + 15 covers   351

[Colin YNWA]

I mean, Tour of Duty is still an excellent story! But come on, have you re-read it lately, all in one go? I

I have literally just finished a re-read as part of my Prog Slog... no no I need the space, I need the space... I can't do this now...

... uhhh more exciting stats - this is excellent!

...but still need the space...

[BPP]

I'm fairly sure this blog is a plea for help.

[Rately]

I'm fairly sure this blog is a plea for help.

It's like that old Megazine Dredd Texas sting story. Anybody replying or commenting has had their details taken, and the men in white coats will be along shortly.

[sixmo]

I mean, Tour of Duty is still an excellent story! But come on, have you re-read it lately, all in one go? It's not a strong on a re-read as it was when it ran weekly and we just couldn;t wait to see what happened next...

The episodic style of these stories is an important factor though, I feel. It's hard to quantify at a remove, but that cliffhanger feeling and having to wait till next week and mull over the possibilities in the meantime are a big part of the enjoyment. I think that should be taken into consideration if that is at all possible and I do think you mention it in the reviews in fairness. 

In protest I will now be only reading collected volumes at a rate of one episode per week!

Also, the stats! Love the stats!

On another crazy stats rabbit hole, I wonder if anyone has ever compiled the list of Dredd's various minor injuries and major wounds down the years. For example, I can think of at least four occasions where he was burnt to a sizzle alone. There has to be a nutter out there to take this on! 

[davidbishop]

I wish someone had composed a list of how many times Sinister and/or Dexter got shot in the shoulder. By the strip's third year it had become a running gag between myself and Dan Abnett, so by now it must be dozens of times...

[Funt Solo]

Must ... resist ... compiling a spreadsheet ...

[I, Cosh]

I wish someone had composed a list of how many times Sinister and/or Dexter got shot in the shoulder. By the strip's third year it had become a running gag between myself and Dan Abnett, so by now it must be dozens of times...

If it helps I used to have a list of every time it had ever been in Downlode. CET.

[Andy B]

Ouch! I'd have put money on 'Tour of Duty' being top 3. If you leave nostalgia for the early stuff aside, I think it's John Wagner's masterpiece. But I take the point about its fragmented nature: there's more than one kind of 'epic'...