Dredd Epics Ranked - Better! Round 2

[sintec]

• Doomsday - it's by far the most epic of the choices here even if it is a somewhat flawed example of an epic.
• Mega Rackets - so much great world building in this series of short tales. Glad these ended up in the MegaCollection eventually (even if the repro was a little sketchy)
• Chief Judges Man - top pick from last time and for me better than some of the other new options

[Leigh S]

Alas poor Doomsday - such a good start - the DeMarco as Private eye set up was one of 2000ADs mussed opportunities, soon squandered with Stripper DeMarco and various iterations none of which hard an ounce of the potential Wagner set up and sadly discarded.  So I can't in all honesty vote Doomsday onto my list even if it had been able to land a decent ending (spoilers  - it didn't)

Mega-Rackets could be my favourite of all the listed stories, and young me would have fought to have it included as an overlooked classic... but is it an epic or just a story arc?  So, sadly, can't vote for that either on the grounds its a series of stories that at the end get tied together, but I can't in good conscience call it an "epic", no matter how much I love them (as a Prog 195 starter, these are particularly close to my heart along with Portrait, Nemesis and Ace Trucking

So that leaves...

1: City of the Damned
2: Hunting Party
3: Chief Judges Man

[DrJomster]

Great format! Last time's winner's plus the next-batch-up from the rather good "Epics ranked" blog, I like it!

Anyway...

1. City of the Damned - still top dog due to it's great premise, the mighty Dillon and I quite liked the (slightly obvious it was coming) twist ending
2. The Mega Rackets - who can't love this. An amazing set of stories with seriously solid art.
3. The Chief Judges Man - still solid, but not as good as the other two. Will get knocked out soon, I reckon.

[Southstreeter]

1. Chief Judge's Man
2. City of the Damned
3. Doomsday

Finding it hard to get too enthusiastic about most of these eight to be honest. I first read Doomsday at the time, and felt no desire to reread it until the case files caught up with it 20 years later. Nevertheless it ticks all the boxes for being a proper epic, with build up and repercussions, so deserves to be in here.

[Huey2]

Sticking with the same ones from the last round.

1). City of the Damned - A reread this week has bumped this into top spot.
Gotta' agree with Leigh from last round. If I hadn't been told Wagner and Grant were tiring of this one, I wouldn't have known. This is great stuff and very tight. Other writer's might have spun out the opening chapters' mystery for a long longer but we get the reveal fairly quick and then an action packed finale.
This also has an advantage over a lot of epics in that we don't know what's happened nor do we know how it can be fixed.
Dillon's rightly getting a lot of praise for some cracking art here but Ron Smith is doing sterling work too.
2). Luna City
3). The Chief Judge's Man

HM: Doomsday

[maryanddavid]

City of the Damned
Chief Judges Man
Robot War

[Colin YNWA]

Don't forget folks to get a couple of these in a week and a break at the weekend these only run two days at the moment. So if you want to vote do so today and I'll count up in the morning.

[TordelBack]

1. City of the Damned.
2. Doomsday.
3. The Mega-Rackets

Very enjoyable new format, good job Colin.

[Andy B]

1. Doomsday
2. Mega Rackets
3. Chief Judge's Man

[paddykafka]

1: City of the Damned
2: The Robot Wars
3: Doomsday

[skurvy]

1. City of the damned
2. Robot wars
3. Chief judges's man

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

1. luna city
2. chief judge's man
3. hunting party

[I, Cosh]

Oh, it's getting late!

01. Doomsday. The story itself doesn't quite work but the weaving of different threads through throwaway one-offs and ongoing stories is incredible. Only Necropolis comes close in those terms. An epic defined by the build up rather than the climax but an underrated one nonetheless.

02. Still City of the Damned.

03. Robot War. Just something about Call Me Kenneth and "fleshy ones" as an insult that tickles me in all the right places.

Thoughts on the unplaced new contenders.

Had never even thought of The Mega Rackets as a single ongoing story until whichever Case Files and, let's be honest, it's clearly just half a dozen regular Dredd stories given a very shaky overcoat which ends up making the whole thing quite dull if you expect any overarching plot.

The Hunting Party is an important story for Dredd continuity and for Henry Flint's development but it's not a classic. Another remix of the old episodic, hotdog run, off-world/out of the city story which Wagner can do in his sleep.

[Colin YNWA]

VOTING CLOSED

But as ever carry on chatting. Round One still has somne wonderful life in it.

Oh excellent - this has gone just the way I'd thought and hoped - though with one surprise (to me at least). We've got a bit of a mix from both groups (Round 1 winners and Round 2 Epics) going through. I also think its fair to say some thrills haven't progressed not as they're not good stories, but rather that they don't feel EPIC enough. The numbers were a bit closer as well. Anyway enough chat - see for yourself:

Progressing to next vote:

1. City of the Damned - 47 points
2. Chief Judge's Man - 34 points
3. Doomsday - 29 points
4. The Hunting party - 14 points

Into the 52 - 44 position play off:

5. The Robot War - 12 points
6. The Mega Rackets - 9 points
7. Luna City - 7 points
8. Raptaur - Not a point to its name ... arrrhhh

So there we have it, the numbers for Chief Judge's Man and City of the Damned, not surprisingly drop, but they are still strong - how high can they go? The Mega Racket was much loved. I suspect however it didn't feel EPIC enough for many (including me). I was a bit surprised The Robot War wasn't carried through over The Hunting Party. I thought its formative nature would carry it along quite nicely. Alas no. Still we've got a very interesting next round coming up...

Come back Monday when we'll have 2 new votes. Round 3 as we get 4 new Epics entering the battle AND the final vote to determine exactly he positions 52 - 45. Exciting!

[abelardsnazz]

Thanks for your efforts on this Colin, it's great stuff.

For me, The Mega-Rackets doesn't qualify as an epic, classic though it is.