Opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways these two. Seed 11 an imagination spanning flight of fantasy across multiple landscapes and mindscapes, but how well does it hand together? 6th seed is a tight grounded (well as anything in Dredd is!) action thriller. Deeply set in the world of police action and terrorism... but terriorists opposed to the system that crushes their humanity?
Seed 6 Terror / Total War (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-6-4-how-much-destruction-can-one.html) Progs 1392-1399, 1407-1422
Vs
Seed 11 Judge Child (https://dreddepicsranked.blogspot.com/2020/12/epics-13-10-nostalgic-favourites.html) - Progs 156 - 181
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 Saturday 3rd of April - winner advance 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.
Damm, was going to put the terror / total war as a brilliant 1-2 punch of MacNeil downbeat humanity and Flint mental city destruction but then the judge child is the angel gang and moustaches and Hershey and all that so.... dang... I dunno..
Let me get back to you Colin.
Difficult one but I will go with Terror/Total War combo
The Judge Child had the holy trinity of Bolland, McMahon and Smith, and the introduction of the Angel Gang. But the tenseness and the Judge's absolute certainty they have to remain in control of the city, Dredd's terse relationship with his family, MacNeil and Flint at the top of their game, including three full-pages by Flint of the same scene at different stages of destruction, mean my vote goes to Terror/Total War.
Terror / Total War is just great, but it's the Judge Child for me. Not just my favourite Dredd epic, but possibly my favourite story in any comic ever.
If it was just Total War I'd go with Judge Child, no question. The art in there is CRAZY GOOD. But Terror is something really special...
I'm going with the nostalgia pick, which for me isn't the Judge Child, because I only read it years later after getting the back progs. Total War I vividly remember reading week to week on the edge of my seat, John Wagner strutting his cliffhangers and suspense skills like it was no big deal.
The Judge Child gave us Owen Chrysler, The Angel Gang, Hershey, Justice 1, Bio-chips, a glimpse of Texas City, and that Bolland cover where Lopez is strapped down on a table and tripping.
Terror/Total War gives us the Total War terrorist group and a 'find the bombs' story, which I am sure had been done before at least once.
So, my vote goes to The Judge Child.
judge child.
not only for huge nostalgic reasons, but also for three artists at the top of their game, a series of legendary covers, and all that dredd moustache resentment weirdness.
The Judge Child
SBT
Terror / Total War
If I've read Terror / Total War then I can't remember it - which makes me think I haven't, from the glowing terms on this thread. I have read The Judge Child and whilst a lot of it is quite clunky it's full of incredible ideas so that's where I'm voting.
I'm not a huge fan of the 'quirky things in space' type of Dredd - the city's mad enough to do me. So Terror / Total War for me. Also it shows the Judges doing bastardly things again to counterbalance their acts of heroism; they've got a bit caring and sharing for me of late.
The Judge Child for me was a fragmented episodic mess when I first read it, and it's not grown on me. Terror/Total War is superb and coherent comics, so that wins it for me.
Can't decide really, so I'll abstain on this one.
Terror / Total War.
I shouldn't get drawn into these debates but it's The Judge Child by a country mile for me.
This is looking quite close.... but it's Judge Child for me!
The Judge Child. My first epic and I can still clearly recall so much of it from the first time I read it.
Only one has Jigsaw Disease and the Angel Gang.
JUDGE CHILD
Argh! Each one of these choices is more difficult than the last!
I'm going for grit I think, so Terror/Total War, probably because it's been so long since I read The Judge Child, which maybe indicates I'm not that fussed on it. Except when I am.
Judge Child.
Terror / Total War. One of the stories that really got me hooked into Dredd.
Terror/ Total War.
A superb mix of suspense thriller and police procedural, with outstanding nuclear explosions from Flint. The Judge Child is fine, but in many ways it's a poor relation to The Cursed Earth.
The Judge Child.
I'm actually re-reading though it right now in Case Files 4, and am having a blast. It's episodic nature with crazy plots and characters is just so much fun. And the Angel Gang is great, with Mean Machine as one of my favorite reoccurring Dredd villains. Also, amazing art throughout!
Votin'? Who sez ya kin vote? I'm gunna give you a face full a' four!
The Judge Child
Tough choice but Judge Child clinches it
The Judge Child...
The Judge Child.
This really is an embarrassment of riches: The Judge Child, The Brotherhood of Garbage, The Angel Gang, Bio-chips!, Murd the Oppressor, Jig-saw Disease, The Thing from the Pit, Buggo the Om...
As others have mentioned, you've also got three of the best Dredd artists really playing to the strengths. McMahon and Smith, in particular, have never been better. McMahon's Sagbelly chapters are weird, inventive and incredibly atmospheric. And Smith shows that he can shift the tone effortlessly from the comedic to the dramatic in the same chapter - often in the same page. Look at how we're laughing at the foolish Filmore Faro as he goes to his death and then BANG! we're mourning the death of the Judge Child. Even better - the last moments of Junior Angel. One moment, there's a great image as he's clutching his guts, looking stupid and pathetic - the next moment Dredd is pitching him into a river of lava.
On top of that, this is one of those tales where you don't know how it's going to end. When Dredd goes up against Dark Judges or Sovs or crime bosses, you know the story ends when he's kicked their butts. With this, the reveal of what would happen when he met the Judge Child gave this story real momentum. In the hands of a lesser writer, the story would end with the Judge Child killed just before Dredd can save him and thus no significant change to the status quo needs to happen.
And finally, this is so brutal, dark and mature for what was a kid's comic. As a kid I'd seen millions of people zapped and exterminated in the likes of Star Wars or Doctor Who but those deaths never meant anything. It was just another way of pepping up the story or tidying up loose ends. This was the first story I saw or read where it seemed that death meant something. I can still remember forty years later that moment, reading in disbelief as the Judge Child took his parents' death in his stride and then a page later as Dredd walks off leaving the slaver to a painful death. Then you've got that fella in Mutieville knowing he's got only moments to live. And Dredd, ordering Lopez to sacrifice himself. This was stunning stuff.
The Judge Child Quest wasn't the first epic but it was the first one written in a more modern, less compressed style with a more mature take on Dredd - he might be fighting the good fight but he's not the angel that he was in the Cursed Earth or DTLD. It's also the epic that really makes the most of being told as a comic book. There's so much here that wouldn't work in any other medium.
I liked it.
I hate Dredd-in-space, and I'm not keen on picaresque stories. So you can guess how I feel about Judge Child! Love the Angel Gang (of course) but Krysler and his abilities are really ill-defined, as is the Grunwalder and his robot-planet(?), as are the magic abilities of the Oracle Spice. And there isn't really an ending to speak of, after all that faffing about.
Terror/Total War for me, a first class Mega-City thriller that led to six whole months of superb aftermath stories.
'faffing about' is good. but it really is the best cosmic faffing about ever, and drawn immaculately.
Quote from: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 31 March, 2021, 08:34:20 PM
'faffing about' is good. but it really is the best cosmic faffing about ever, and drawn immaculately.
I'll give you that! :lol:
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 31 March, 2021, 07:20:17 PM
I hate Dredd-in-space, and I'm not keen on picaresque stories. So you can guess how I feel about Judge Child! Love the Angel Gang (of course) but Krysler and his abilities are really ill-defined, as is the Grunwalder and his robot-planet(?), as are the magic abilities of the Oracle Spice. And there isn't really an ending to speak of, after all that faffing about.
Terror/Total War for me, a first class Mega-City thriller that led to six whole months of superb aftermath stories.
You want superb aftermath stories? I give you Fink, Destiny's Angels and City of the Damned. Plus every Mean Machine story ever.
I think I can see which way this is going but its quite close so a run of votes either way today could seal it. Get um in and I'll count um up in the morning.
On reflection the judge child wins.
Tough round tho.
Judge Child
Total War
VOTING CLOSED
Its funny how your personal perspection can colour things. I see this as a massive shock... but is it... one of the nostalgic favourites beats modern(ish) thriller - I mean sure my nostalgic fav didn't make it for a more modern tale - but can it really be called a surprise. Just cos I'm not a massive fan of Judeg Child - I find it a more disjointed rerun of Cursed Earth and adore Terror / Total War but from the comments, while there is much love for the modern thrill and this was relatively close - the love fro Judge Child just exceeds my view of it by a country mile and its no surprise then to say
Judge Child
is into the Quarters.