I was just thinking there, Dredd's suit is clearly a jacket and trousers given that PJ Maybe's old company used to supply trousers* to the Justice Dept.
But I find it hard to see it as anything other than a big leather catsuit and I think most Dredd artists have thought the same; which is quite disturbing when one considers the fact that Dredd is in his 70s. I prefer thinking of Brett Ewins' Anderson in her one.
How do you see your Dreddsuit? One or two piece?
*Not pants. Odd how much British English is going to cross the Atlantic within the next 122 years.
It was a two-piece that time we saw him on the bog.
I always used to imagine it was a one piece but it's been shown to be a two piece qiute a lot, most famously in the first PJ Maybe story as you say.
I'm sure I've seen Anderson wearing a one piece version though. Is the Planet Replica costume a onesie or a twosie?
Actually, you've got me thinking now and I'd love a big, cosy Dredd onesie complete with hood/helmet. Come on Rebellion!*
*Maybe not.
I think you might be onto something there, Spaceghost. Though I'm imagining it in blue. Why are crap home-made Dredd costumes always blue?
My sister gave me a dressing gown in a Spider-Man suit design for Christmas. I love it and I don't particularly like Spider-Man.
lol you need to ask someone on the RPF to mass produce Dredd onesies, that would be the best thing ever hahahhaaha
Something like this:
(http://www.geekalerts.com/u/Outer-Space-Print-Fleece-Hooded-Footie-Pajamas.jpg)
That looks disturbingly like that couple's two-person shagging suit in the first episode of Ulysses Sweet.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 11 February, 2014, 01:24:31 AM
*Not pants. Odd how much British English is going to cross the Atlantic within the next 122 years.
I just wanted to second this, it totally makes sense that everything is spelled the British way but it makes me laugh sometimes when I'm reading it.
But then again, at the con I was just at in Texas, there were a bunch of judges with SUPER strong TX accents and it was pretty funny hearing that come out of their mouth with the helmets on. I guess we could say they were from Texas City to justify it :)
Quote from: Spaceghost on 11 February, 2014, 08:02:13 AM
I always used to imagine it was a one piece but it's been shown to be a two piece qiute a lot, most famously in the first PJ Maybe story as you say. I'm sure I've seen Anderson wearing a one piece version though.
I don't think Anderson's ever been shown in a twinset, and most artists depict the uniform
(male or female) as a unitard with a zip running from neck to crotch. Wagner's stated on a number of occasions that he doesn't waste any time thinking about minutia like that, doesn't picture how the character looks when writing, and doesn't have much idea how the uniform actually looks, so you can put the reference to
trousers in the
second PJ Maybe story
(PJ Maybe, Age 13 in progs 592-594) down to the phrase
"a man destined to be big in trousers" tickling the author's fancy.
The first time I can remember seeing the uniform depicted as leather separates was a scene of Dredd dressing by Will Simpson in the
Necropolis prelude
Tale of the Dead Man (662), and it wasn't the kind of plot-critical detail I'd imagine Wagner's famously terse script would have specified. Prog 520's
Ten Years On, drawn by Garry Leach, clearly shows Dredd's uniform as an all-in-one and Carlos portrays it similarly in
Necropolis (those stories pre and post-date the trouser reference in PJ Maybe Aged 13). Ezquerra does likewise, years later, in
Origins.
So there's no definitive answer; it's just another of the inconsequential details, such as whether the knee and elbow pads are green or yellow or whether the lawmaster has exhaust pipes, which are left to the whim of individual artists. Because they don't matter.
When they were drilling tunnels into the Sov silo in the Apocolypse War they were stripped to the waist, so I'd go for 2 piece.
Quote from: ZenArcade on 11 February, 2014, 07:07:45 PM
When they were drilling tunnels into the Sov silo in the Apocolypse War they were stripped to the waist, so I'd go for 2 piece.
I think there are other examples too, maybe City of the Damned?
I've always imagined that there's some magic 22nd C seam between jacket and troos, which allows it to function as either one- or two piece as required.
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 February, 2014, 07:33:27 PMI've always imagined that there's some magic 22nd C seam between jacket and troos, which allows it to function as either one- or two piece as required.
The Dredd film uniforms function the same as motor-bike leathers and have two sides of a zip at the back of the jacket and bottoms that enable them to be zipped together.
Quote from: sauchie olympics on 11 February, 2014, 05:59:57 PM
Carlos portrays it (as a one piece) in Necropolis ... and does likewise, years later, in Origins.
Actually, when Dredd's stripped to the waist and whipped by the burghers of Fargoville, it's a pair of trews and a jacket. Later in the story, when Dredd's forced to undress by Bad Bob Booth, there are plenty of frames showing the leathers as a seamless whole. Even Carlos fannies around depending on what suits his purposes.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 February, 2014, 07:43:04 PM
The Dredd film uniforms function the same as motor-bike leathers and have two sides of a zip at the back of the jacket and bottoms that enable them to be zipped together.
I'm sure Urban's does, but Thirlby's wearing a kind of leotard and tights combo, which makes her look like this unfortunate chap:
(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/898.jpg)
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 February, 2014, 07:33:27 PM
I think there are other examples too, maybe City of the Damned?
Just checked, yep, Prologue to
City of the Damned (Dillon). Also, Garcia in the first part of
The Pit (Ezquerra).
As Sauchie says, whatever suits the artist at a given moment. As it should be.
Quote from: Spaceghost on 11 February, 2014, 08:02:13 AM
I always used to imagine it was a one piece but it's been shown to be a two piece qiute a lot, most famously in the first PJ Maybe story as you say.
I'm sure I've seen Anderson wearing a one piece version though. Is the Planet Replica costume a onesie or a twosie?
Actually, you've got me thinking now and I'd love a big, cosy Dredd onesie complete with hood/helmet. Come on Rebellion!*
*Maybe not.
The Planet Replicas is a onesie, the Minty prototype was a two piece, with braces under the jacket.
The two piece can ride up over the belt - which the onesie doesn't. I think the movie/biker version with some kind of zip to keep the two pieces together works well.
Quote from: sauchie olympics on 11 February, 2014, 07:51:23 PMI'm sure Urban's does, but Thirlby's wearing a kind of leotard and tights combo.
The only real difference in the uniforms is that the female version has a gusset but they're still a twosie as shown and described in the auctions as jacket and trou.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 February, 2014, 07:59:01 PM
The only real difference in the (movie) uniforms is that the female version has a gusset
Who would have thought Justice Department would be so worried about preventing camel toe? Or an R-rated movie.
I'm pretty sure I am accepting Joe Soap's answer. I like the simplicity and real-worldness of it.
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 February, 2014, 07:56:58 PM
Just checked, yep, Prologue to City of the Damned (Dillon)
When you're right, you're right; that's got to be the earliest instance of the matinee jacket. Who would have thought Anderson would be so demure she rocks a tank top underneath her regs - or is that Robin Smith altering art at editorial request?
Quote from: Bat King on 11 February, 2014, 08:09:47 PM
I'm pretty sure I am accepting Joe Soap's answer. I like the simplicity and real-worldness of it.
I'm only relaying:
Beneath this already impressive piece is a set of ladies black leather trousers and jacket (both marked "Levin" inside, no sizes marked), black leather gloves, heavy black biker boots adorned with futuristic plastic panels. (http://www.proparchives.com/science-fiction/science-fiction-2010s/judge-dredd-2012/dredd-original-judge-kaplan-michele-levin-complete-costume-utility-belt-006)
Quote from: TordelBack on 11 February, 2014, 07:56:58 PM
Also, Garcia in the first part of The Pit (Ezquerra).
When DeMarco breaks a million fanboys' hearts by putting her uniform
back on - on the second page of part two of the
Unjudicial Liasons sequence of that same story - it's definitely a jump suit. We need an in-story explanation, like when they upgraded to the Mk II lawgiver *.
* I might not actually mean this
'Now cough'.
(http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff248/burlearth/2000ad038903_zpse5af0ade.png)
It's got to be a two piece because the practicalities of going to the toilet become nightmarish if you have not just a belt in the way, but a badge chain only seven links long fighting you to get that zipper down past your crotch. If you need a sit down visit, you've either got to suppose a rear flap or that they shrug off the whole top part (pads and all) to get the pants section down.
Of course given how long the Judges are on patrol they probably have some wee absorption system. We never see any loos at the watchbays.
And of course, if they are two pieces, they do manage to get those two zips amazingly well lined up. That's discipline!
The dialogue on that page can be made even more entertaining by replacing the word psychiatric with the phrase colo-rectal. Works for the whole story, including the use of tight boots as a distraction, and the idea that Dredd's troubled not by doubts regarding his role in the system but by haemorrhoids ret-cons what Wagner considered a dramatic mis-step.
Interesting that Uncle Ron tackles the trousers and jacket as separates, but imagines the jacket, eagle and shoulder pad as being of a piece.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 February, 2014, 08:22:37 PM
Quote from: Bat King on 11 February, 2014, 08:09:47 PM
I'm pretty sure I am accepting Joe Soap's answer. I like the simplicity and real-worldness of it.
I'm only relaying:
Beneath this already impressive piece is a set of ladies black leather trousers and jacket (both marked "Levin" inside, no sizes marked), black leather gloves, heavy black biker boots adorned with futuristic plastic panels. (http://www.proparchives.com/science-fiction/science-fiction-2010s/judge-dredd-2012/dredd-original-judge-kaplan-michele-levin-complete-costume-utility-belt-006)
Fair comment - but I like this explanation. It answers all the art issues simply and succinctly. It is a two-piece that fastens in to a one-piece.
Sorted.
Always believed it was a 2 piece. Due to practicality. Plus gives an option for the Muscle Top/Tank Top with Justice Dept Logo on Left Breast.