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Thanks! Always get the good stuff on here.

Didn't see one in recent pages, always good to ask some Judge Dredd questions.

My question: are the Angel Gang cannibals in the comics, or just in the 90s movie? Aside from Fink, who I figure is.

And if so, when was that first mentioned?

Happy to hear he's keeping busy with more comics. We always need more Wagner!

What do we know about Death Metal Planet, author etc? Is it in current continuity, set after Dark Justice and Dominion by Wagner? Or maybe a lighthearted tale where the band doesn't successfully involve Death?

Just got Case Files 40, always great to get the new Case Files. Lotta cool stuff.

On the lettering thing, I notice if the lettering has been changed here since the progs, it was also changed for the previous Total War collection from over 10 years ago I think. I compared all three just now, and the diffence between the Total War Book and CF40 is very subtle. Looks like just about the same font and spacing to me, maybe printed slightly darker in the older Total War book. Very subtle difference to spot, them both being digitally lettered and almost identical sizing and spacing as far as I can tell.

One difference I notice is the first episode of Total War opens on a left page in CF40, but it begins on the right page in the Total War collection. That older collection had a black page with the title and credits on the left. So this makes the pages not line up between the two versions, at least for a bit.

Disappointing that "By Private Contract" didn't make it into The Son. It's the only omission from the series of SD graphic novels.

For sure. Just in case anybody doesn't know, that is in the Dredd Guatemala book at least.

Any Wagner news for upcoming thrills? I know there's The Citadel and Surfer recently.

I love One Piece myself, but everybody clicks with different stuff. Has a pretty unique vibe and style. I do find in the second half (say after ep 400 or 500) the pacing of the adaptation slowed down too much, so I switched to reading the manga.

Lately I've been enjoying Doom Patrol, pretty charming and also intense. Just a well done comic serial show.

I've been meaning to see that, just rewatched The Royal Tenenbaums. Classic Wes.

Saw Another Round, that Mads movie, pretty darn solid. Also the first time I've seen a movie starring him, after seeing him play so many memorable villains etc.

Beavis & Butt-Head Do the Universe is a treat too, just delightful stuff.

You might enjoy the 90s anime series as well! But for sure, the Golden Age / Band of the Hawk arc that starts in vol 3 is the heart and soul of Berserk.

Cool to see Terry Pratchett fans here too. I'm on Guards! Guards! at the moment.

For comics, I always love Savage Dragon.

Good info! I used to stack all my trade paperback and hardcover comics, really high. This can cause some bending as well. Tried some techniques like flipping them here and there etc.

I had recently put my Case Files upright in a bookcase a few months back. So will take these tips into my strategy!

It is wild how heavy and space consuming keeping graphic novels around is. But worth it!

It depends on the story being told - as Dredd is not always the protagonist.

In The Apocalypse War, he's the hero. In Working Girl, he's an antagonist, and Mona Plankhurst is the hero. He also gets to play mentor roles, like in Carry the Nine - where Maitland is the protagonist.

By being fairly brutal, single-minded and monk-like (he doesn't seem to have personal desires), he's able to act in ways that seem heartless (as he applies impersonal and hurtful laws without remorse) or kind (in using those same laws to support underdogs), depending on the needs of the story.

I haven't read Working Girl yet, I see it's by Kenneth Niemand. That reminds me, if Dredd is in a particularly negative light, I tend to take it with a grain of salt if not by Wagner. Kind of like how people pointed out Grant's Dredd was often used to kind of show that side in a not so subtle way, which didn't always fit with Wagner's take. It's so tough to pull off that subtlety, even for great writers.

If I need a label, for me antihero works. An atypical central character. Antihero articles tend to cite classic Eastwood on Leone movies as well as Dirty Harry. Influences on Dredd of course. Antiheroes often have a code, it's just different from ours.

For sure he fits different kinds of stories, and is in the antagonist role at times. I think it's tough to sum up what's so special about this character. He's larger than life, at times he's not very flashy, and the stories can be grim or darkly humorous. I love him, that's for sure. Part of the fun for me is not judging Dredd by our real world standards.

Maybe a funny comparison, but he's a bit like Godzilla. Another beloved character. Sometimes he may destroy a city, and sometimes he'll save the day. He's like a force of nature.

Shameless Self-Promotion Dept Blast from the Past #457

Right on, I dig it! Very Leone Western.

John has literally said "it's just a story" and has paid this no more mind!

FWIW, as I've mentioned before, the way time travel has been shown to work in the Dredd universe means that's entirely possible for the Dredd timeline to be in the past of the Strontium Dog timeline, without the SD timeline being the future of the Dredd timeline. All that means is that the timelines diverged at some point after 'Top Dog' and 'Judgement Day'.

That's cool to know, I was wondering if he had said something like that.

Top Dogs is a fav for sure! And there have been other references to Kreelman and stuff like that in more recent Judge Dredd comics. I take some comic continuity, especially crossovers, to be a bit loose though. And I don't know if John Wagner has ever talked about a plan for these books in the future tying together more. Though Judge Dredd has lasted longer than they may have ever imagined.

Only 6 years away, would be a bit of a wild move if we did have that big war in Judge Dredd. Dredd had that re-juve a couple years ago, plus I think they've slowed on that portrayal of aging a bit anyway, since the world needs Judge Dredd comics.

My thought is, unless there's an interview I'm missing, the connection seems like a "for the fans" fun detail, and I'm not sure if they'll stick to it. But I guess speculating for six years from now might be a bit early. Though they could always plant seeds hinting to that if they go that route. Though I guess that might be more of something the editor of 2000AD would decide, rather than say John Wagner. In general I'm always curious what the future may be for Dreddworld.

What do you think of the continuity of Strontium Dog's setting being the canon future of Judge Dredd? Do you consider that to be something Wagner intended, or is it just a loose connection? And 2150, the year of the Great Nuclear War, is coming up not too long from now in Judge Dredd.

Has John Wagner said anything about this connection, and what do you think about it?

For me, I kind of like the idea of being able to imagine the Judge Dredd timeline's future, and it being different from Strontium Dog, but I guess it's all similar yet loose enough to fit different ideas in there. And they are set in different locales.

[spoiler]Good points on the ship there![/spoiler]

I just caught up, really dig the Book of Boba. Fun stuff. I like how it overall has had it's own pace and vibe, very much like a classic Western. With that wild SW vibe and quirks we'd come to expect and want of course.

In general I like how it feels like it could go a lot of places, and in a zen cowboy kind of way, I'm okay with it going anywhere. It has characters we care about, but it's kind of laid-back and easygoing plot wise. Yet it also feels inventive and fresh. Can't wait for more of this fine universe.