Messages

Torquemada - the ultimate fascist
Nelson B Kreelman - the wannabe ultimate fascist
Murd the Oppresser - actually killed Dredd!
PJ Maybe -  just cos he always wins
Judge Death - tried to resist the obvious choice but he did kill his whole world

The 'Hammerstein' four-parter came out not long after the Dredd film as an attempt to explain the prescence of the ABC warrior in the bazarr, so you weren't so very wrong yourself.  Pat Mills on script, Jason Brashill on art. I think Hammers was retconned into being part of General Blood n' Nuts' robot army (remember him, from the Cursed Earth epic?), and after the battle was reprogrammed or something by Justice Department and put up for sale. Doesn't really fit with Ro-Busters continuity, to be honest, but it's a nice little tale.

Mek-Quake appeared, with very little explanation, in one of Walter the Wobot's short-lived adventures (the very last one, I think), crushing impounded robots for the judges. Maria had to save Walter from becoming a Big Job.

You know the morning after a big bender when soemone tells you what you've done and it all starts flooding back....! Those Walter stories were well weird weren't they? Do you remember Walter's punk twin brother (with a safety pin through his screen I think!)?

Drokk you sharky! I've spent all day (during training at work) doodling judge helmets on pumpkins and you've beaten me to it!

I've got more ideas, but I can't really draw recognisable faces, so I may need to work out a plan D, E or F.

just to illustrate how much retained firefighters are the take the piss cheap exploited option.. we are on call 120 hours minumum a week, I usually do 140 hours +, 3.5 hours training a week. .. I'm looking at this weeks payslip 'main post salary = £2786. no word of a lie. thats per fucking annum. Thats my main employer.

Wow Bou, I had no idea about retained firefighters and the way they get paid. That's rough - I am lost in admiration for people who do jobs (or voluntary roles) like yours - lifeboatmen, mountain rescue etc - heroes all.

Would it help if I came up and set fire to a few things? (though that joke's probably not funny to a fireperson   )

i work mainly in Electronic R&D and production and trust me there is no work in the north any more

I can understand needing to move to London if you have a specialised job, but loads of people seem to migrate there and just end up working in the sort of generic office jobs that exist everywhere, and have a poorer standard of living because of the huge living costs. That's what does my nut in!

And I fully agree with the shark - this insane confidence trick whereby a handful of people shuttle 'financial instruments' round and round the world creaming off profits with every transaction, and then keep the cash when things go tits up and everybody else suffers, has got to end. Unfortunately people just don't seem to have the political knowledge or desire to do anything about it any more, so there isn't likely to be a revoluition any time soon. More likely, a depression will lead to a rise in the far right (Italy, Austria and Romania are heading that way already) and us throwing our weight around more on the global stage. We (ie the rich nations) aren't going to take the licks ourselves when we can always pass the pain onto the majority world, as we did in the days of empire, and ever since.

[IS]

This IS the noise lasers make. Honest.

Not to mention the four-part Dredd story called 'Hammerstein', or the fact that a Judge turns up in Nemesis, or that Mek-Quake nearly killed Walter while working for Justice Department, or that the same Satanus from the Cursed Earth pops up again in both Nemesis and ABC Warriors stories.

Wow, I doff my hat to you.   Now that you mention it, I remember the judge in Nemesis, and of course Satanus, but the other ones draw a blank. I have the vaguest of memories about the Dredd/Hammerstein story - when was this and can you nudge my poor addled memory further with details? And I have no memory whatsoever of Mek Quake working for Justice Dept!

And I hope nobody is spending a lot of time actually working out a complete timeline - I was only joshing and there's a hundred and one impossibilities (the latter half of this century gets way too crowded for a start!) and anyway - LIFE'S TOO SHORT!!

Didn't know the name so I just had a squiz at his website (//http://www.the-masque.com/galleryindex.html) and I've got to agree with Larf on this one. Most of his Dredd stuff is really good, and is certainly amongst the most imaginative - the Dredd-head peeling like an orange is one of my favourite covers. There are quite a few ropey moments however, particularly with faces, so I think his ideas occasionaly outstrip his ability.

The rock album stuff on the other hand.....

Pat Mills also managed to hook his continuity onto Dredd's (though i suspect John Wagner unhooked it long ago) - in the first series of volgan war memoirs (in Ro-Busters), one of Hammerstein's original platoon talks about getting a job building the new mega-city! (Which explains that MkIII wardroid in the movie come to think about it!).

Since we're talking about the same volgans that Bill Savage fought; and if you also consider that Johnny Alpha's continuity links to Dredd's (their first meeting is described as a "time job"), then I defy anyone to come up with a convincing timeline that includes all the major events of Invasion, Savage, Robusters, ABC warriors, Nemesis, Strontium Dog, Dredd (and all its spin offs) and Durham Red. Go on, I dares ya!

En-ra-ha! En-ra-ha!

All these months on and I still can't bloody stop saying that every time I look in my mirror!! (PS - were you a 'love her' or a 'slap her silly'?)

As for advice Mr B - just close your eyes and put your foot down, it'll be fine!

Hmm. A few points strike me as I read all the posts above, but please don't think I'm criticising any individual for their situation - circumstances are always unique and, well, shit happens!

I should say I have a fairly crappy job (all-purpose keyboard monkey in an insurance company call centre) and earn just under 17k after 5 years in and aged 41. I could have been earning a hell of a lot more by now (as my mother will happilly confirm if you ask!   ), if I'd had a career plan/vocation or the desire to be rich, but frankly I've always been extremely lazy and lacking in ambition. However, apart from immediately post-Uni for a few years, I've never been in debt. I have no dependants or mortgage and pretty low rent, so I feel very well off. I don't like my job, but I know that to be comfy I must give up 35 hours of my life each week to do fairly easy but tedious tasks. I don't expect to like it, and I don't think about it for one  minute once the end of my shift rolls round. Not a fulfilling career then, and not a huge money maker but I consider myself to be pretty lucky to have the lifestyle I have.

I'm from rural far away land ( west coast scotland) and have had to move to london to work long hours for piss all money

It always puzzles me why people who travel to seek work feel the need to move to London. There are just as many jobs in Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle, etc etc where the cost of living isn't ridiculously expensive. As a ex-Lancastrian/now Mancunian, I've seen loads of people move to London - all they ever do is moan about what a s**thole it is and how expensive everything is! The people get generally nicer and friendlier the further North you go in the UK as well, so that's another reason!

I was brought up to believe that you had to have money in your account before you splashed out big.

I agree - I will be mightilly pissed off if the financial crisis leads to people's debts being written off - that would be a  kick in the teeth for those who have gone without houses/cars/i-phones etc because they know they can't afford them. When did we start assuming that we have some kind of a right to own a house? The thought would never have occurred to the vast majority of the population a generation ago. I blame Thatch (for most things actually, but for that "property owning democracy" bollox, for sure)

the opportunity of being a union member was not open to me and every enquiry I have made about it has been sidetracked by something else.

I'd advise you to pursue this. There are no unions where I work and for me this feels very weird indeed (luckilly they have a reputation as  a very nice employer, which is true) but if theunion has any influence in your workplace get in there. I see it as almost a civic duty, like voting - everybody should be in their union so that not only is everybody protected, but the union is democratic and accountable, rather than the sort of ingrained cabal that I suspect you may be dealing with. If they resist attempts to join, go over their heads to branch or national level, cos a union should always be wanting new members.

I'm glad Bou had that rant on the theme of generally getting shafted from above, so I don't have to. It applies in all walks of life. Part of me is hoping that we ARE witnessing the collapse of capitalism (gotta happen sometime, folks!), but the other part of me knows that this would, at least in the short-term, cause massive suffering and probably lead to war and represssion - the bankers and thieves will not let go their grip on our lives without a fight comrades! Phew. Got that off my chest!

And best of luck to all of you having a tough time - ILLEGITIMIS NIL CARBORUNDUM!

I thought the board's been a little quiet this weekend - you're all in bloody Brum!

I've never attended a con but it sounds fun! ... maybe hi-ex?

[Dredd: Year One]

By the way Superman has died once, but they have to bring him back to life.

I hope they never even consider this!

The fact that Dredd's world progresses in real-time is it's greatest strength and should not be abandoned, which means Dredd can't go on forever. i don't like the idea of a body transplant or any other kind of miraculous rejuvenation. He should take the long walk with at least a 5 or 10 year moratorium on ANY stories showing where he ends up - just leave it that he's gone, and never heard of again.

So, Dredd's world would continue with Rico & Dolman as the main focus, but this would leave the world jonesing for, and lots of writers wanting to write about, that old-school Judge Dredd action. So howzabout "Dredd: Year One"? Remember Dredd had been on the streets over 20 years when the progs started, so if we started where Origins left off - Dredd and Rico finish off their interrupted training, graduate and hit the streets, there's loads of material. We'd see his rookieship under Morph, the fall of Rico and witness the growing development of Justice Department in rebuilding a shattered city. The options for mega-epics and character development may be limited because we know where Dredd and the city end up by 2099, so writers would be shackled somewhat, but if the real-time chronology continues, that's 20 years of perp-pounding action right there!

Along with these two main story threads, there's lots of scope for unusual one-offs - untold stories based on previous epics (along the lines of 'Tales of Necropolis'); and I like that idea of more 'elseworlds' type alternate Dredds, more of the "whatever happened to..." stories that we saw not so long ago, and 'What If' type stories (such as "What if Dredd had brought the Judge Child back?"). If you add in stories about Hershey, Anderson, Giant etc, there's more than enough potential to keep the prog and Meg going for decades.

Finally I'd give John Wagner some kind of lifetime editorship over the character so that quality control is maintained and to ensure everyone is writing 'proper' Dredd!

My first comp and had a ball. Didn't expect any votes knowing the level of competition, but amazingly picked up a few - thanks guys!

Deserved winners, lovely pics all, well done (and to Mr campbell for running this beast every month!).

May I suggest that we need some kind of handicapping system? Maybe three wins and we break a couple of fingers. That should level the playing field a bit. Now where's that hammer....?

Sorry, just don't get it - can't decide if it's "kooky" just because it's japanese or whether it's supposed to be "art" (in a Turner Prize sense of the word). Did like the finger though and the farting follow up made me smile (I'm British - throw in a fart joke or a knob gag and I'm happy!)

Though I can't really talk - this is one of my all time faves. I remember catching it once or twice on late night TV in the early 80s (and being really pissed off cos no-one at school had seen it or knew what i was talking about!). It still makes me chuckle and it's scary how easilly i can singalong to all the words considering this is the first time I've seen it in years!

Song only:
//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXA_pkfLso&feature=related

song with weird David Lynchesque-intro that I've never seen before:
//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn73Wtem0No

Do they stand up to hot washes and driers (ie laundrette service wash)?

I may give it a go - I've got several images saved up that I'd love on T-shirts - including this one: