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Is is just my 'prog-stalgia' or has a certain type of Dredd story been neglected since, well, the 80's?  What I'm talking about is the weird stories of normal, or often abnormal, Joe Cits where Dredd is just a bit-player.  

For example, the Poe-inspired one where a pervy nerd stalks a pretty girl with spy-cams in her flat, until he is driven insane with jealousy and cuts out her boyfriend's heart.  Strangely poignant, and made the reader feel an uncomfortable sympathy for a murderous psychopath.

Or the one where a man begins to feel a bond with the genetically-engineered medicine-testing clones he's paid to look after, and is misunderstood by the judges in his attempts to put them out of their misery.

Or another where a boy's parents are given a humiliating once-over by Justice Dept for smacking him, and then dominated and bullied by their son's use of fear-tactics to establish dictatorship over the family home.

Or the one where a man is abducted by a robot who loves him, or the other one where a woman is trapped in a nightmare loop having gone mad with guilt over a negligible offence and fear of Dredd.

You know the ones I mean. science fiction short stories at their best - bizarre but oddly familiar, moving and thought-provoking with it. To be fair Gordon Rennie did a decent enough job recently with the man who fell in love with a shop-window dummy. I love the political side of Dredd which has by now become very well developed; but the perp-busting violence can get a bit monotous. A few stories centring around everyday lives in the Big Meg might also take the focus off Dredd himself for a while; if we're not watching him on the streets all the time we won't worry so much about him getting older.

QuoteOr the one where a man is abducted by a robot who loves him

The Phantom of the Shoppera?

Love that story.

Me too. 'Your skin is so creamy and... well... west.'
'What do you mean, "west"? Skin can't be west.'
'Yours is, Robert.'

Hmmm, while I have a soft spot for all of those tales, I love the direction Dredd is currently heading in. Now, I find myself getting antsy at one offs or even multiparters that aren't going to have an effect on the big picture for Mega City One.

Two Dredd tales in the prog, both written by Wagner, that's the way forward!

I'd also like to see more of the sort of stories like his holiness JayzusB.Christ suggests - psychological sci-fi vignettes if you will  - i think the mutie-law repeal opens the door for loads of these - expelled muties returning to a city that hates them, freaky muties falling in love with cits etc etc.

Also, it seems ages since the meg was swept by a good old fashioned ridiculous craze - you know what we want - fatties, uglies, Boing(TM), blobs, peek-a-boo trousers, brain-blooms...we want more from the city's mentally deficient demographic!

QuoteIs is just my 'prog-stalgia' or has a certain type of Dredd story been neglected since, well, the 80's? What I'm talking about is the weird stories of normal, or often abnormal, Joe Cits where Dredd is just a bit-player.

"Hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!"

Yes, these stories are much missed, especially as they have included characters we all seem to remember years after they were published (James Fenmore Snork, Robert Westcream, Tony Tubbs, Guard-O-Ped).

The beauty of Dredd is that there's always room for 1-2 part stories like this to break up runs of long serious storylines.

A quick trip to the front page of Fark.com could provide plenty of inspiration for stories that could be given an MC1 lick and be set in Dredd's world.

I recall that often writers have said that MC1 was the main character of the story

Quote from: "Pete Wells"I find myself getting antsy at one offs or even multiparters that aren't going to have an effect on the big picture for Mega City One.

The trouble is that if you rattle through these world changing storylines too quickly, where do you go from there? We've seen Joe & the Meg evolve gradually over 30 years, and even then, the number of cataclysmic events has been pretty high, but compare it with the DC universe where an Absolutely Infinitely Ultimate Yes-this-time-it'sthe-Big-One Crisis happens every frikkin summer! How silly has that gotten?

I think Dredd's universe is much more grounded and has enormous potential longevity precisely because big upheavals are interspaced with the thousand and one smaller stories arising from the city.

Quote from: "Pete Wells"Two Dredd tales in the prog, both written by Wagner, that's the way forward!

...and I'd like a gold Ferrari too please! (If only we could clone Mr W... )

QuoteIf only we could clone Mr W...

Nah, the clone would either be evil or have all sorts of doubts then keep resigning.

Quote from: "His Lordship rac"

QuoteOr the one where a man is abducted by a robot who loves him

The Phantom of the Shoppera?

Love that story.

  Oh man, blast from the past. I remember that being one of the first stories where the scenery of MC1 in a panel made me go oooh! The panel where the phantom (and the bloke?) are on the roof of the opera house.  Proper job.... Or was that a different story? Bugger.

Quote from: "Proudhuff"I recall that often writers have said that MC1 was the main character of the story

Yes, they did used to say that. Mind you, it was said a lot back in the early 90s, and Miller and Morrison were the sort of writers saying it.

I wouldn't be surprised if we could dig out a quote from Wagner saying it, too, but frankly it's not something I agree with. Dredd is the reason I read Dredd, simple as that. MC1 is an important backdrop, but it's worth rememmbering that Dredd was still brilliant when he was crossing the Cursed Earth, exploring space on the Judge Child Quest and during his time as the Dead Man.

It's the man, not the city.

Regards

Robin

I think its alright to do that sometimes as long as it is only sporadically and it should not be a regular feature at all but i think it doesnt hurt every so often [once - twice a year or so ?] to get a wider view of MC1 if you have an interest in it.

Quote from: "Robin Low"I wouldn't be surprised if we could dig out a quote from Wagner saying it, too, but frankly it's not something I agree with. Dredd is the reason I read Dredd, simple as that. MC1 is an important backdrop, but it's worth rememmbering that Dredd was still brilliant when he was crossing the Cursed Earth, exploring space on the Judge Child Quest and during his time as the Dead Man.

It's the man, not the city.

Regards

Robin

Quoting Pat Mills:

QuoteCursed Earth is also an interesting area - some of the issues that raises don't fit the official and revisionist view of Judge Dredd. Put simply, the lesson of the Cursed Earth and its huge popularity, was not learnt, so - as far as I know – the revisionist view tended to play down the great opportunities it presented in terms of character and dramatic development to the point where the city is often now seen as a hero, rather than the hero. In my view that was a mistake, the sustained popularity and longevity of the character and its merchandising ability obscures the mistake, but doesn't cancel it out - hence one of the reasons why they had so many problems with the film scripts on Dredd.

Everyone got used to the character walking with a creative limp so they don't notice now, but any professional writing editor would confirm the character has a limp. No one has ever wanted to grasp the nettle on things like this and, of course, the passage of time makes it almost irrelevant now, a different road has been taken, but I know as a creator that whatever problems aren't resolved in the opening issue of a character will haunt that character in perpetuity. Those problems on Dredd of course go right back to the beginning and the difficulties I had getting it okayed by management.

Since I never saw Dredd as a hero but as a character, this opinion doesn't necessarily apply of course.