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IDW have Ashley Wood on speed-dial and, thus one suspects via their ThreeA hook-up, Rufus. Either of those being involved would up the standard immeasurably. Not that IDW need bring in brits... there is a wealth of talent over there, I just don't see it on the page in this product. It would have been nice if IDW's Dredd was of the DHP, BRPD standard but its nowhere near, not even batting in the same ballpark. US comics have had some great Sci-fi of late, some premier league stuff, some interesting failures. The art team behind the recently finished Debris could have brought a nice take on MC1 for instance. I have to hold my hands up and say I just don't 'get' why they have gone the route they have. The more I look at it the more I am bewildered.

As for people saying 'its like a dodgy Meg effort'... good god, the Meg's Dredd often has beaten the Prog the last few years, I can't think the last 'dodgy' Meg Dredd there was - the off-coloured Kev Walker 'worm' thing or the JHD 'western' Dredd. Long time ago.  IDW's Dredd has nowhere near the professional scripting and art skills the Meg has been delivering.

Just had an email saying they are still taking applications for the 'giver' status (Ahem, something just wrong with that word in the modern lexicon) so apply via the link earlier in the thread if you want to give out Dredd.


Remember - when you apply you should not say you want to give them existing 'readers' (ie book clubs or library groups). And certainly not to Dredd fans. Apart from CF, obviously.

They came back apologising and offering to send the in-stock items immediately.

CF - you could mail them up asking could they send your many t-shirts before the hold-all bag comes in in 2015.

This arrived on Thursdays morning from Disposable Heroes so I guess if you ordered from them then its the postie at fault as they were mailed out on Wednesday.

The paper stock is LOVELY and they don't plaster the thing with Ads mid-story (That shocked me last time a bought a big 2 comic (McCarthy's Spiderman thing)). So double points on that. As for the content...


1) The covers  - both covers I got (the Jim Starlin rooftops and the DHC variant) are pretty ropey. The Starlin anatomy is just rubbish and the Variant cover has no attempt to merge the retailer logo with the perspective of the door it is supposed to be on. Still nice cover stock. I did like the background towerblocks in the Starlin piece.

2) The story - 'The Story as DREDD' - didn't really get much of a feel who Dredd is, he's depicted as merely one of the judges in the story. The moustached judge deals with Dredd in an off-hand manner that depicts no seniority or respect. Fair enough, its Dredd of a different era obviously. Not too sure why anyone will take to this Dredd tho. He stands around, shoots a tree, jumps down an improbable distance and then does nothing. Nothing special or even individual about his character so far.

'The Story as Story' - well, who knows, its seems to make little sense (the robbers at the same time as the tree and that's a consequence of the robot going wonky? EH?) and lacked any tension. The stand-off in the sewer / lower section is incredibly unclear - did the head explode or was he shot? Why's Dredd just stand there? Why's he not off down the way the terrified guy has just run from? Its bobbins. So was the lawgiver not-working/working, the radio not working (really, the mutant fruit jammed the signal but your gun just fired Hi-Ex and the robots are working fine? EH?).

3) The art. Not my bag is the best I can say. The best bit would be the uniform and the size of the boots. The best panel was the Law-Master arrival. The City looks okay, if lacking detail and love. The rest? Well its not great and definitely didn't add any tension to the story. Or any believability. Nothing wrong with a cartoony style but not for tense hardcore action and suspense. Dredd leaping 3 stories and landing like Thor was likewise just, well, meh. I can see younger readers thinking that panel is cool but I can't see them digging the art style, not unless they are very very young.

4) The backup - The story - better. Still not dazzling and functionally told rather than imbuing the dialogue between boss and robot with any real wit or interplay  but it does the job. Certainly more appealing than the main story. Earphones with cord attachments do strike me as not really going to be with us much longer tech. The art - hard to know what to say. The second panel actually looks really nice, but thereafter just about everything is 'wtf' - proportions, head-shapes, perspectives, look-theres-a-phone-last-sold-in-1998. The panel where Dredd appears made me laugh. Not for the right reasons.

Still, lovely paper stock.

I'll keep buying this but then I'm a sucker for 2000AD and this is, just about, Dredd. McCarthy is doing Anderson in issue 2! Have no idea about IDW page-rates but surely they can get some decent artists who suit the tone of the thing in. I'm not saying Nelson Daniel isn't decent, I'm saying I don't think his style helped this story.


Still, people buying this and not the Megazine need their heads examined.

Hilariously the Judge Anderson Dress has now moved from its original date (October) to April 2013. Off to cancel the order and demand money back with interest.

Easily the worst 2000AD merchandise vendor experience in years. No email from them to notify the delay, had to go check by processing a new order.

6 months to put a mono screen print on a simple black cotton dress? Amateur.

Has anyone seen the new one in Forbidden Planet in Belfast? I was in on Friday with no joy.

They had it in last week. Probably for subs only as they have constantly under-ordered on this. I think it fell off their radar with the 6 months delay and all that. Ask Mal and he'll order you it in. Then ask him again the next week. Then call him up, ask him again.....

Here is the link to sign up to be a 'giver' - you get to pick 3 books in order of preference and have to write a 100 words thing on who you will give them to.

To save you reading the guff the 'no-no's' are to say you are going to give them to existing readers (such as book groups, library users).

http://www.worldbooknight.org/about-world-book-night/apply-to-be-a-giver

Geof Darrow coloured by Doherty.

Bloody lovely whoever it is.

(as lovely as a man administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation can be, obviously).

Definitely Doherty, his line and his colour palette. Beautiful.

As long as Dredd is somewhat similar to the modern Dredd (Wagner, Ewing, Urban) and the art isn't awful then I'm on board. Terrible Art or 'kiddie' Dredd (ya know, stupid impossible things happening in stories, or an awful 'voice' for Dredd) are about the only thing that would see me bow out.

Am looking forward to it. The LCS said orders for it had been very high.

Ms BPP wrote to the negative review on TheAge a pithy piece about how the movie is constructed on binary moments, no better illustrated than when Anderson is just about to reach the final room she despatches an injured perp on the ground in contrast to her scene before the Med Centre. It was a lovely submission pointing out their reviewer simply hadn't considered the intelligence behind the violence. Naturally they didn't print it.

just noticed delivery dates have started to slip. Anderson dress has gone from mid Nov to Dec 17... so after Xmas in all likelihood. Scratch that as an xmas pressie then.

Frankly their service is shoddy, the only way to find out a revised delivery date is to proceed to order a new item to reveal the instock date.

house of Tharg should have a word, not the service one would expect of licensees. No mention of their delivery policy is made on the site nor notification of delayed stock by email. Take the money and sit on it, it'll arrive when the last item is in stock - way to encourage large orders there Plastic Head.

The guy can draw (although its definitely suffering from being overworked now) but the plot was simply dumb at the start (much like Spaceman riffing on a anti-media corporation vibe) but in the latest issue all the potentially 'oh god, don't go there' stuff has blown up spectacularly. Its hilariously bad quasi-teen angst rebellion tosh.

If you ever cringed at the 'Orish' bits of Sons Of Anarchy, you'll fall off your chair at this take on it. But even that pales beside the 'must offend Christians' nonsense.

Anyone still reading Punk Rock Jesus? Oh man I don't think I've read such a bad comic in years. Couldn't decide what was worse - the awful shoehorn anti-christian lessons, the hilarious weird Belfast IRA history or the finale of 'jesus' vs the media. Actually looking forward to the next issue to see if he can continue the hoary ineptness of it all.