Sorry folks not sure why this didn't appear earlier - I thought I'd posted but must have done something wrong??? ANYWAY...
Look at the list of 8 Dredd stories below and tell me your top three:
1 (your favourite of the 8) will get 3 points
2 (your 2nd fav) will get 2 points
3 (your 3rd fav) will get 1 point
Advanced from the previous rounds:
The Chief Judge's Man (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-46-44-actually-these-are-quite.html) - Progs 1244-1247, 1263-1266, 1342-1349
Raptaur (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-50-47-dont-bother.html) - Megs 11-17
City of the Damned (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-50-47-dont-bother.html) - Progs 393-406
Luna-City (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-53-51-worst-first.html) - Progs 42-59
Next four from Dredd Epics Ranked:
The Robot War (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-46-44-actually-these-are-quite.html) - Progs Progs 9-17
The Mega Rackets (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/08/epics-46-44-actually-these-are-quite.html) - Progs 209-223
Doomsday (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/07/epics-43-41-these-stories-are-real.html) - Progs 1141-1164; Megs 3.52-3.59
The Hunting Party (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/07/epics-43-41-these-stories-are-real.html) - Progs 1033-1049
Voting will close on the morning of Saturday 27th February and the 4 Epics with the most votes will progress to the next round.
All links go through to AlexF's simply brilliant Dredd Epics Ranked (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/) blog. You may need to scroll to find his write up of a particular story - but I'd suggest just reading the whole thing anyway - it's fantastic stuff.
Baffled by what's going on here - well we have a a thread for that (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47367.0) - though that might leave you more confused than anything.
Rules (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47367.msg1053448#msg1053448) for what they are worth.
Not sure about anything just ask and I'll blag it.
Ah I see what you're doing now Colin, I thought this was going to be a new list of 8. Anyway...
1. City of the Damned. Nostalgic soft spot still elevating this to the top.
2. Doomsday. A bit unwieldy at times but it all comes together in the end.
3. Robot Wars. Testing the waters for a multi-part continuous story, it set the scene for much of what was to come.
The Hunting Party.
The Chief Judges Man
City of the Damned.
Hmmmm.... there is really only one story here that I would consider to be an epic and so
1st place goes to Doomsday. Thing is it's distinctly "c" list; indeed I prefer some of the build up stories like The Scorpion Dance. The split narrative across the Prog and the Mega and the attempt to make you feel like you could follow the story in one without having to read both by showing key scenes twice was an interesting approach but was ultimately a bit unsatisfactory.
2nd Place goes to The Mega Rackets. It's undoubtedly one of my all time favourite Dredd series, but I have never considered it to be an epic. I guess by the definition being used in the tourney it qualifies as much as Luna City does. I always felt that Assault on I Block 4 which appeared three weeks after it (with Diary of a Mad Citizen in between) should have been considered part of the Mega Rackets.
I'm going to reverse my vote from the last round and give 3rd place to Luna City as although I never considered it to be an epic, as I have already said it's more of an epic than the others.
The Chief Judge's Man is definitely the 2nd best story here but I'm not voting for it based on weighting of its non-epic qualities.
1. The Hunting Party
2. The Chiefs Judge's Man
3. The Mega Rackets
I find it hard to judge this motley collection of epics without thinking of all their flaws first. They all have cheap or rushed endings, and some of them feel like a waste of a good idea. Going purely on which ones I'd most want to re-read, knowing that I'll be disappointed one more time...
1. Robot War - not just the first Dredd epic, but Wagner's first (published) Dredd! If only he'd written it a year later it could've been Verdus levels of awesome.
2. City of the Damned
3. Doomsday - which has to get some credit for being truly exciting week to week at the time, I remember getting some minor Necropolis vibes when Dredd assembles his team to take the fight back to Narcos. But the art for a lot of it is well rough.
Chief Judge's Man - Still the most well-crafted tale here, even if it's one of the least innovative. Just a stylish Wagner thriller, and sometimes that's all you need.
The Hunting Party - It's a bit too picaresque and episodic, and the ending's a bit flat; but the fact is, most of the episodes are just so much damn fun. Great art, too.
Doomsday never quite comes to life in the way it should, but I love all the build-up, and it puts a lovely cap on the post-Pit years that rescued the Dredd strip. Some terrible art mish-mashes, but hey, that doesn't seem to have hurt City of the Damned so far!
1. Doomsday: I get the point elsewhere about the lack of build, but as a set-piece and finite epic, with a sort of movie-style progression, it's one of the better examples during Dredd's history. It also shows up the mess of Morrison/Millar epics for the trash they were.
Then the top ones from my previous vote:
2. Chief Judge's Man
3. City of the Damned
HM to Mega Rackets, which I think are superb, but stretch the notion of what an epic is far too much for my liking! Sorry!
This is starting to get interesting already. Some cool, if slightly flawed stories on the list.
1. Doomsday: Not my favourite epic, but it's a definite epic when some of the others are not. It's a bit clunky but it's still an exciting high stakes story that builds to a definite conclusion with a lot of callbacks to other stuff. I agree that the art doesn't elevate it as a whole.
2. Robot Wars: It's not as polished as stuff that came later but it's great.
3. Hunting Party: Mixed feelings on this as all the Dune Sharks, time travel and so on is bobbins, but the interplay between Dredd and his team is excellent.
HM to Mega Rackets: exactly as IP posted below me, I love these but I don't think they count as an epic. Also Chief Judge's Man which I still rate, but doesn't pip the above.
1) The Chief Judge's Man
2) The Robot War
3) City of the Damned
1. City of the Damned
2. Chief Judge's Man
3. The Hunting Party
SBT
1. City of the Damned (Had a real epic feel first time I read it, I had no idea about Dredd's eyes...I didn't see that coming!)
2. The Hunting Party (Really enjoy this series, and early Trevor Hairsine art is fantastic, really wish he had done more)
3. Chief Judge's Man (Great story and art...just feels less like an epic)
I liked much of Doomsday, but didn't like the Nero Narcos character at all (and that really uncomfortable diving board scene, just bad).
1st - City of the dammed
2nd - Chief judges man
3rd - doomsday
Doomsday is the only one of the new 4 I consider an epic. It's very flawed but at least it was an attempt.
1st: City of the Damned - that Dillon art, Dredd getting his eyes poked out, that bit where he uses his commanding presence to disperse the vampire Judges. Old school vibe still kicks bottom.
2nd: Doomsday - great idea, even if it seems a bit by the numbers - lose the city, retake the city.
3rd: The Mega-Rackets - there's so much good stuff in this sequence - top art, great supporting covers - the synthetti men are out to get you!
1) Chief Judge's Man
2) City Of The Damned
3) Luna City
- 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
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
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.
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.
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
City of the Damned
Chief Judges Man
Robot War
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.
1. City of the Damned.
2. Doomsday.
3. The Mega-Rackets
Very enjoyable new format, good job Colin.
1. Doomsday
2. Mega Rackets
3. Chief Judge's Man
1: City of the Damned
2: The Robot Wars
3: Doomsday
1. City of the damned
2. Robot wars
3. Chief judges's man
1. luna city
2. chief judge's man
3. hunting party
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.
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!
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.
City of the Damned all the way!
1) City of the Damned
2) Chief Judges Man
3) Mega Rackets