Round 2: 2 - Garth Ennis or Alec Worley - Ultimate Not Wagner Tourney

[Colin YNWA]

Oops, totally missed the 'voting closed' post.  Ah well. It wouldn't have made a difference.

And also its great to have comments on these whenever, especially such interesting out ones - so keep um coming I say.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Thanks. I never miss a chance to stick my oar in about how much I disliked Ennis' Dredd - though I must be the only person who quite liked Helter Skelter.  At the very least he'd learned how to make Dredd talk like Dredd.

[IndigoPrime]

Re-reading that in the UC, I didn't hate it. But it did feel like a fandom story. Dredd was mostly portrayed in a Dredd-like manner, but randomly dropping in various bits and bobs from other 2000 AD strips didn't exactly fill me with joy.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Re-reading that in the UC, I didn't hate it. But it did feel like a fandom story. Dredd was mostly portrayed in a Dredd-like manner, but randomly dropping in various bits and bobs from other 2000 AD strips didn't exactly fill me with joy.

Well, there was that, but I didn't mind that too much (although Cal saying 'Nice one, Murd!' made me sick in my mouth a bit).

I thought Monkey on my Back was his best Dredd by a long shot, despite the continuity snag with the wall, and yet another Ennis Unforgiven homage scene (which Helter Skelter had too).

But, and it's a huge one for me, he had Dredd sounding like Dredd again. I like my Dredd measured and articulate, very occasionally getting shoutier when he's riled up or trying to intimidate a perp.  Garth's earlier Dredd was all about mouthing off and swearing and constantly using clichés ('It's a dirty job, boy, but...' and you know the rest) and slang that had died out in the seventies (swell, meathead, doughball and so on).

Think there was one use of 'lousy', but the Joe of MOMB sounded like he should: tough and single-minded, but also eloquent and thoughtful.

Years and years ago, I had a university friend who was mates with Garth. I'd never read anything except for his prog stuff, and was hoping i wouldn't meet him as I would either have to insult his work or lie through my teeth about how much I liked it, and it would probably have to have been the latter. But I'll never know because I didn't meet him.

Has he ever written Rogue Trooper? I think he'd be pretty good at that. He writes good war.

Grud almighty, that's a much longer post than I'd intended.

[Jim_Campbell]

I like my Dredd measured and articulate, very occasionally getting shoutier when he's riled up or trying to intimidate a perp.

I liked Al Ewing's observation that it's very easy to mistake Dredd's deadpan delivery and stony demeanour for him having no sense of humour, but a character doesn't drop as many wisecracks as Dredd does by accident.

[TordelBack]

I like my Dredd measured and articulate, very occasionally getting shoutier when he's riled up or trying to intimidate a perp.

I liked Al Ewing's observation that it's very easy to mistake Dredd's deadpan delivery and stony demeanour for him having no sense of humour, but a character doesn't drop as many wisecracks as Dredd does by accident.

Those are some great observations. I also think several writers have Dredd down as angry and pissed-off all the time - Dredd explicitly loves his job and loves his city, and his role in protecting it, it's only when he's not able to do that job (usually due to the stupidity, malfeasance or intransigence of others) that he gets really angry. The rest of the time he's just single-minded.

[IndigoPrime]

although Cal saying 'Nice one, Murd!' made me sick in my mouth a bit

Mm. Really, I never managed to get past the central point of that strip, which is that Dredd had been a thorn in their side, but that they'd offed him. This happened relatively early on, for the most part, and so... why would they really care to hunt down a 'surviving' Dredd across the dimensions? I guess if nothing else it shows how absurdly petty Dredd villains are.

[Richard]

I'd like Tharg to get Ennis back to write another Dredd story, even if it's only six pages.

[Tjm86]

I'd be more interested to see Ennis have a crack at a Rogue Trooper tale.  Especially considering the quality of his War Stories.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I like my Dredd measured and articulate, very occasionally getting shoutier when he's riled up or trying to intimidate a perp.

I liked Al Ewing's observation that it's very easy to mistake Dredd's deadpan delivery and stony demeanour for him having no sense of humour, but a character doesn't drop as many wisecracks as Dredd does by accident.

.

Yep, nailed it. I've always maintained that nobody, with one notable exception, quite gets Dredd and his world like the Ewing droid. Maybe he'll come back some day 

[ZenArcade]

Purely for that one issue Dredd: Firepower.  Ennis