Seed 7 Mandroid is a tight, claustrophobic thrill about what it takes to break a man. And that man comes against a man who will not be broken. Seed 10 plays with many of the themes and ideas of previous epics. For me it takes elements of both Cursed Earth and The Day the Law Died and reshapes them in a different space quite masterfully. How on earth do you compare two such different things... Well ya gotta so...
Seed 7 Mandroid (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-9-7-short-but-oh-so-sweet.html)
Vs
Seed 10 Tour of Duty (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-28-26-sublime-and-ridiculous.html) - Progs 1649-1693
Back to the simple purity of popping the name of the Epic you prefer in a reply to this thread (remember to mark it clearly so I can spot it - bold tags are good) and then say whatever the heck you like to about these two great stories.
We're also back to 3 day votes so this one will close first thing in the morning Friday 2nd of April - winner advances to the Quarter Finals - loser goes into the 16th - 9th playoff vote.
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.
I love Dredd stories when JD is just a bit player and Mandroid might be the best of all of these....plus we get to see more Dredd empathy than in Case for Treatment and Wounded Heart combined.
But, sorry Nate,
Tour of Duty is a colossus.
Mandroid - one of my favourite Dredd stories of all time although I see it not really as an epic
Mandroid is great, but I agree It doesn't feel quite like an epic. When it's up against such a behemoth, Tour of Duty gets my vote.
Tour Of Duty
Tour of Duty
Aye to the general feeling, mandroid is top comics but Tour of Duty is way ahead as an epic.
Yeah, Mandroid was fantastic and features some of the most gloriously atmospheric art by Kev Walker, but ToD was in actual fact, epic.
So Tour of Duty
Going with the consensus here, Mandroid is great but not an epic and Tour of Duty rules, so it's a clear winner here.
Tour of Duty
The seeding selection was rough on Mandroid here. Tour of Duty by miles.
Tour of Duty. Mandroid is a great story, but not an Epic.
SBT
Man droid! Man droid! Mandroid!
Tour of Duty, may be, as you all claim, epic in scope - but it's not an actual story, is it? If it was, why, you'd be able to put it all in a simple collection so we could easily go and re-read it, couldn't we. Couldn't we?!!
Tour of Duty by a country mile, as much as I enjoyed Mandroid at the time.
TOD
tour of duty
Tour of Duty
Sorry Nate, Tour of Duty it is.
Easy one for me. Tour Of Duty all the way!
Well, Tour of Duty was freaking amazing. I don't even know if I'm making the right decision here, but I don't feel too bad because it's not going to win... Mandroid.
A proper, old-skool look at something I've missed a lot since The Pit, great as it was, changed the focus of the strip: Dredd as a background presence, and Mega City One taking centre stage. A reminder of how big and dangerous the city is, and how many citizens are either living in terror of crime or committing it themselves. Also of how quickly the city can overwhelm and destroy you.
Kev Walker's noirish, newly-simplified style was perfect for the job too.
Another lop-sided contest - has to be Tour of Duty
Love Tour of Duty, but I have to go with Mandroid.
Quote from: AlexF on 30 March, 2021, 09:27:09 AM
Man droid! Man droid! Mandroid!
Tour of Duty, may be, as you all claim, epic in scope - but it's not an actual story, is it? If it was, why, you'd be able to put it all in a simple collection so we could easily go and re-read it, couldn't we. Couldn't we?!!
So if I understand this correctly, you are saying you're not voting for Tour of Duty in the Dredd epics tourney because it's
too long?
I love the Mandroid saga, but Tour of Duty.
Tour de Service, naturellement.
Tour of Duty, without question.
Sadly I've read neither of these epics so will not vote. Once these are collected in the Case Files and/or Essential collections I'll consume them and have an opinion.
(If epics are not in the Case Files or last 4 years of the Prog, I've likely not read them)
I can summarize them for you if you don't mind spoilers:
Tour of Duty: Dredd let's muties into the city but that's not popular so a cadre of anti-mutie Judges takes over the department and relegates Joe to duties in the Cursed Earth in the mutant work farms. Meanwhile, the mayor is PJ Maybe in disguise. His robot lover tries to assassinate people. Dredd saves everyone.
Mandroid: part-man, part droid gets in trouble, then is stopped.
Mandroid
Tour of duty
Quote from: Funt Solo on 30 March, 2021, 07:14:26 PM
I can summarize them for you if you don't mind spoilers:
Tour of Duty: Dredd let's muties into the city but that's not popular so a cadre of anti-mutie Judges takes over the department and relegates Joe to duties in the Cursed Earth in the mutant work farms. Meanwhile, the mayor is PJ Maybe in disguise. His robot lover tries to assassinate people. Dredd saves everyone.
Mandroid: part-man, part droid gets in trouble, then is stopped.
Thanks Funt! Now that I am informed...Dredd taking the moral high road, mutants in MC1, PJ Maybe(!) and robot lovers? Sign me up, hopefully I get to read this sooner than later.
Mandroid..
Again this one seems quite close but I think we used up our shocks in vote one and this is going the way I expected. You have today to truly blow my mind... again... I'll count this one up in the morning.
VOTING CLOSED
Well at least you got this one right I suppose. Mandroid got a lot of love but is a very different story to many here. Tighter, darker and more personal. It really didn't stand a chance against the greatest of all Epics and on that basis
Tour of Duty
comfortably gets to the Quarter Finals. Though Mandroid gets to fight another day in the play-offs.
I am currently re-reading Tour of Duty but I started from the point where Dredd is actually trying to get rights for Mutants and how he succeeds. Now this is accordingly the collection Judge Dredd Tour of Duty Backlash. None of these stories are part of the arc in the progs with the title "Tour of Duty" they are the stories that led to the events in Tour of Duty. Are they deemed part of Tour of Duty like Block Mania is part of Apocalypse War?
https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/XB382 (https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/XB382)