Titan contains Titan, Fit, Enceladus: New Life & Melt, and really benefits from keeping the same creative team of Rob Williams & Henry Flint throughout. Flint is on fire, mixing action with horror. Dredd is put through the ringer like never before and you can see every injury. The colouring deserves a special mention - I can't think of any other artist who can colour his own work so well - it reminds me of early Marshal Law. Since the volume relies on more Dreddverse than a new reader could be expected to guess there is a recap page of Titan history. The story mixes mystery & action well but is probably best in the first story as horror. Without wanting to spoil the story the resolution is sudden and feels a bit convenient but the journey is amazing. Wrapping up with a darkly grim tale of snowmen in MegaCity One is a great finish. This really is 2 creators at the top of their game. There's an odd omission of the Glenn Fabry cover from the initial run despite other covers in the bonus material. Highly recommended!
Finished reading it today. Some bits I really liked. Especially the art, as well as some of it's odd stuff (the horse showing up and Maitland building flamethrowers in her free time).
I love how personal and felt the story is for Dredd. At more than one time I could feel a real struggle in him, keeping away from executing someone because of how angry he was. Love the scene where he's battling the black out during the drop (and realizes he's on fire) and thinking about what became of Nixon and while thinking that she's a monster the caption is used in a cool way to more or less point that he's one as well :)
Just wish it had more odd stuff, as well as perhaps giving some detail on civilians trying to survive the cold. To me it doesn't feel as dangerous if it's only Dredd, Barbara and Frank that are in the "risk". What I mean is, I think it went a bit too much for showing off the judges as well as the ice monsters towards the end. Would'v liked something akin to the kid and the snow men in the x mas story during New Life.
Quote from: Apestrife on 18 June, 2016, 10:08:37 PM
Just wish it had more odd stuff, as well as perhaps giving some detail on civilians trying to survive the cold. To me it doesn't feel as dangerous if it's only Dredd, Barbara and Frank that are in the "risk".
Yep, that was where
New Life fell down a bit, for me. The ice never really felt as though it had enveloped the whole city, whatever the dialogue tried to claim. We simply didn't see any of the effects - no scenes of the citizens' struggles that would have brought it home and made it feel more real and personal (though for ages I've bemoaned the lack of citizen characters in the Dredd strip these days, and how impersonal the city feels as a result).
Lots to love on the flipside, though - particularly the [spoiler]death of McTighe[/spoiler], the lovely Maitland (sigh) and Henry Flint just generally being fabulous.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 19 June, 2016, 02:07:41 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 18 June, 2016, 10:08:37 PM
Just wish it had more odd stuff, as well as perhaps giving some detail on civilians trying to survive the cold. To me it doesn't feel as dangerous if it's only Dredd, Barbara and Frank that are in the "risk".
Yep, that was where New Life fell down a bit, for me. The ice never really felt as though it had enveloped the whole city, whatever the dialogue tried to claim. We simply didn't see any of the effects - no scenes of the citizens' struggles that would have brought it home and made it feel more real and personal (though for ages I've bemoaned the lack of citizen characters in the Dredd strip these days, and how impersonal the city feels as a result).
Lots to love on the flipside, though - particularly the [spoiler]death of McTighe[/spoiler], the lovely Maitland (sigh) and Henry Flint just generally being fabulous.
Mostly Wagner who does that yeah? Treating the MC1 cits as a character. Dredd executing civs as traitors in Ap wars, all those burning up in atomic fire in Total War, crazies drowing in blood in DoC and so on.
Quite the shame. I really like it when there's consequence. Be it the block mown down (with minigun fire) in DREDD or BM v SM's Metropolis destruction and Superman's invention provoking civ massacre in some imagine African land. Makes things more interesting IMO.
For example, what if Dredd riding a horse came as a surprise of a cit? Napalm fire, and then some nearly frozen to death mc 1 citizen joe seeing Dredd (with his burnt up behind) on a horse back. To me that would'v given it some thought about the ice being a treat (while -in a way- also lending itself a bit to Dredd himself) beyond being a scene for the main assemble to duke it out.
I agree there should have been more citizens shown in the stories. I found the same aspect annoying in trifecta and some of Michael Carrol's stories were they often feel like mega epics on fast foward. It's a shame the man comes around was'nt included as it introduces DREDD's magic horse. But it is a great collection and i got more of a thrill reading them as a whole. Poor old DREDD does'nt even get to kill Nixon so no closure there. I wonder if the horse and his premonition of snow ever get resolved. Maybe I am overthinking things but Nixon's line to DREDD, "Do you know what you are? " may be more than just a taunt.
After rereading...
For me Titan is like John Carpenter's version of Dredd. How to explain this... I feel the same kind of satire, darkness, general craziness.
Titan is Predator - hard men plunging into a foreign land to meet brutality.
Enceladus is The Thing - diminishing numbers facing an unknown that grows.
The horse is surely just a lovely DKR riff. Nicely seen in BvS:DoJ too. Plus who can complain when it gives you that amazing page of Dredd thundering in on the horse.
All that and classic Dirty Frank jokes (the elevation to Chief Justice on in particular)...
the best Dredd in years.
just finished this excellent stuff,always a joy to see flint on scribbles but the highlight for me had to be that guest spot from Disraeli
I've still got Melt to go but I've enjoyed this volume a great deal. I found it a little difficult to follow what was happening in one or two spots but overall it's very good. Mr Flint's artwork is brilliant as usual. He always draws a very solid Dredd and those ice monsters with their wild eyes and smiles were (forgive me) absolutely chilling. I was completely creeped out by them, especially when they were staring at us with their heads held at all sorts of angles.
Also: Justice dept needs to get more firepower set up on the city walls for the next time some overwhelming force comes pouring towards them.
Even after all of these years I still contend that Titan should have been an Aimee Nixon Lowlife story with the twist reversed: feature Dredd as the cliffhanger appearance and have the preamble of how he and the others arrived on Titan be shown through hallucinations as he is being drugged and tortured by the inmates.
Quote from: 8-Ball on 07 July, 2016, 10:16:51 PM
Even after all of these years I still contend that Titan should have been an Aimee Nixon Lowlife story with the twist reversed: feature Dredd as the cliffhanger appearance and have the preamble of how he and the others arrived on Titan be shown through hallucinations as he is being drugged and tortured by the inmates.
Sort of a Lovecraft story set on Titan?
Or why not the SJS -in the midst of chaos post chaos day- just pulled the rug underneath everyone and actually sent Dredd there. Cutting his nose off (ending the story with some gag on how he never got a new nose before) and then Nixon's uprising starts. Dredd drugged, almost beat. Gerhart shows up. What follows is Lovecraft on Titan. Nixon could (should) still have had her to bomb or not to moment.
SJS getting Titan bound would be of a similar reasoning as Gerhart wanting to put him on trial for DoC, but without the trial.
Just a fan wanky idea of mine. I like Titan as it is ;)
mentioned this on another thread but read purgatory/inferno for first time this story also deals with revenge and a titan outbreak. Reading it made me appreciate the Titan series even more. Nixon's empty hatred strikes deeper than Grice's And both show very different DREDDS.
Not read this anywhere so apologies if I'm saying something anyone else has already posted but my pet theory on the whole random horse appearing out of nowhere is that it was a really bad pun from Rob.
Ask why it's there and the answer is 'it's just big horse'.
The horse always reminds me of Dark Knight Returns. It's a portend of Dredd's possible death. Or it's just a runaway horse.
Maybe Dark Horse Comics pays him a commission each time he uses it.