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Favourite one-off is the 12-part "Outcasts" series by Wagner/Grant and Kennedy(stifled under some mediocre inks).
It's not heavy and it didn't change the face of comic story-telling but it's "fun" comics at their best.
A lot of the stuff from the series has since turned up in Dredd ( noticeably sin-city).

Others: Pride & Joy, Bogie Man, V for vendetta, Preacher, Transmet, Last American, sandman, invisibles, enigma.

Tooth others: Metalzoic, Bad City Blue, Firekind, America, Young death.

IIRC  "killing Time" wasn't a limited series but an "Indigo Prime" story.

The first four issues of "Legends of the law" are tops. They're the only ones written by wagner and grant and feature the first meeting of Dredd with a very young Anderson (That'll piss off the continuity cops). It's has the old-fashioned wierdness that has been absent for so long and the only really great J.D. villain for the last 10 years: a singing organ thief.

After that the series swiftly dipped in quality.

For crappy comic shops you can't beat the American chain of "Newbury comics". These huge stores justify their name with the smallest display of dog-eared comics shoved onto a rack. The rest of the shop is filled up with fridge magnets, incense burners, CDs, beer glasses and any other crap. None of it even comic-related tat either.
The last time I was in one I perused to the sound of Frank ****ing Sinatra.
Not good.

"As for Ennis' Dredd, he does do some very good Dredd stories, but his version of Dredd is too kill-happy - "

I don't think it's just Ennis. The kill-rate ups when most folks take over - even Grant. the only exception being Morrison's "Social-worker Dredd" story arc. Here Dredd is too busy helping orphans and drug addicts to shoot anybody.

The same trend is noticeable in the artists. the old-school can make Dredd look mean just standing there and scowling (One Bolland cover for the Eagle reprints has Dredd looking mean whilst trussed up and upside down). the new-school usually draw him standing over a carpet of corpses, smoking gun and bloodied daystick in hand.

There are loads of non-Wagner/Grant guys who have had a go at writing Dredd and it's amazing how many of them get it "wrong". I always thought he was a pretty simple character (I uphold the law and that's it) but he still trips up some new scribe every year.
We've had at least two guys who have written the "I'm a cop who doesn't play by the rules" Dredd, more than one who's written him as a sadist who enjoys inflicting pain and worst (IMO) the social-worker Dredd.
Ennis, (Again IMO) is one of only three guys who've done it right (or near enough) since the floodgates opened.
He's done some good aping-Wagner tales ( Justice One, Emerald Isle, Calhab Christmas) and some good ones in his own voice (Goodnight Kiss, Monkey on my back)

If you're not already reading it though, I'd recommend morrison's run on "New X-men" which isn't too impenetrable and is pretty good at the moment.

Definately. the stories did seem to vary as far as accessibility went, but there was always something that made even the heaviest issue enjoyable.

Last time I looked the "Barbelith" website had everything you ever wanted to ask about the Invisibles, including detailed annotations of each issue.
IIRC falling sales of Invisibles vol.1 prompted Morrison to jazz up the series for vol.2 leading to IMO a far weaker series.
One shame about the reprints is that they don't include the letters pages which (like Preacher) were often as interesting as the comic.

Found the "Nobody tosses the dwarf" line far funnier than it was intended to be in Fellowship.
Just as funny was the "You're going to have to toss me" from TT.
Wonder what the dwarf-tossing line wil be for ROTK.

Cool. that's my answer then.
Cheers.
- H

Am considering that, Oddboy. what I was wondering though is, will it come through in a decent state. I'm not packing my comics in mylar bags and storing them in cryogenic containers but I would like to keep them in a decent condition. Whilst living overseas for a few years I did get them by subscription ( Don't think it was the same sub service, this was the late eighties) and many old copies still bear the deep folds from the postage.

Actually went to pick up my meg from the local comic shop and, because I was buying atoth-related title, was given one of their few promotional Hero-clix figures. Not really my thang, but it was a nice gesture that wouldn't have happened if I'd subscribed.

I've put off getting a subscription for a couple of years now. my thinking being that if my local shops think there's a demand they'll keep stocking the things.
However, it's getting harder to find places to stock either. the nearest place that sells the meg is a 14 mile drive away. So,what I'm wondering is,...
Is it worth getting a sub? are my progs going to get all creased and folded up in the post? Or will all be hunky-dory?

Cheers Watcher! - didn't know that was there. That's at least 11 Wagner/Grant serials that haven't been re-printed. Be nice to see them appear in the meg. Even nicer to see them appear in order.
Not sure that you're doing the DSD case much good with your latest post, though. That Peeper story sounds pretty dire.
- H

Daily star Dredds:
When they first started re-printing these in the meg there was a lot f fan-fare about the huge back catalogue of DSDs they'd picked up. then,... very little appeared.
I'd quite like to see a DSD index at some point. This could be a cheap text feature for the meg and they've already printed an index of their own stories 2 or 3 times.

Camelot 3000 is not only slightly crap and kinda' dated but it's also pretty massive. It'd clog up the "gold" section for ages. As for Bolland's art- the inker's good, but you can still imagine how much better the page would have been if Bolland had done it himself.

My perfect reprint would be stuff I haven't read and can't track down easily. AND is a good read. More Daily Star Dredds please. There's frigging tons of Wagner/Grant classics that only exists in corners of old newspapers.