Tour of Duty: The Backlash

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Going through Wikipedia's entry on the mutant angle, there appears to be around eight stories concerning the Mutant Issue post Origins that might be contained in the trade:

Mutants in Mega-City One in 2000 AD #1542–1545, 2007)
The Facility in 2000 AD #1546, 2007)
The Secret of Mutant Camp 5 in 2000 AD #1547–1548, 2007)
The Spirit of Christmas in 2000 AD #2008, 2007)
Emphatically Evil: The Life and Crimes of PJ Maybe in 2000 AD #1569–1575, 2008)
...Regrets in 2000 AD #1577–1581, 2008)
Mutie Block in 2000 AD #1600–1603, 2008)
Backlash in 2000 AD #1628–1633, 2009)

I wonder which ones will be cherrypicked for the trade??

[radiator]

There's also the one-parter

Under New Management

which follows on from Backlash - though that might be in volume 2.

You could also make a case for including the following:

The Streets of Dan Francisco
Fifty Year Man
The Edgar Case
The Gingerbread Man
What I Did For Crissmas
Mutopia

Volume 2 of Tour of Duty is trickier. There's all the key ToD stories which amount to something like 39 episodes:

Tour of Duty
Interlude: Mega-City One
The New Deal
Snake
Pink Eyes
Gore City
The Talented Mayor Ambrose
Mega-City Justice

There's also the interlude stories:

Dragon's Den
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Lust in the Dust

...as well as all the last years worth of Megazine stories, including Al's Christmas story, What's Another Year?. While these weren't published under the Tour of Duty banner, they all take place in the townships.

Quite keen to see what makes the cut... I don't think its feasible to collect everything in just two volumes....

[Pioneer]

Can't wait for these!

Recently subscribed to 2000ad and The Megazine so have the last two episodes of Tour Of Duty, looking forward to reading about the whole mutants issue and how things have come to be.

Last time I checked there was to be two volumes of Tour Of Duty released in September, any idea when we can expect the second edition?

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

I suspect it'll probabaly extend to three volumes to cover this arc.

[radiator]

Looks like volume 2 has slipped to some time next year.

Recently subscribed to 2000ad and The Megazine so have the last two episodes of Tour Of Duty

Oh, so you know how it ends, then!  

Tour of Duty has been great - it's also the longest Dredd story ever written, by quite a long way. Gonna be great to be able to read it all in collected form.

[Pioneer]

Yeah couldn't resist!

Have bought up all the relevant graphic novels (thanks to your help Radiator ) and just couldn't wait for the release of Backlash to get stuck into some upfront Dreddworld shizzle!

Happy days....

[Woolly]

What i love the most about Tour of Duty is that to truly get the dramatic impact of the story, you have to read: Judge Cal, America, Any old stuff about muties, Origins, complete PJ Maybe, the Pit...

...prett much all of Dredd to be fair!

[Kudos]

What i love the most about Tour of Duty is that to truly get the dramatic impact of the story, you have to read: Judge Cal, America, Any old stuff about muties, Origins, complete PJ Maybe, the Pit...

...prett much all of Dredd to be fair!

Heh. I made the very same point over on a different forum.

It went something like this;

I was thinking today. Concerning Tour of Duty, the current Dredd epic. I was thinking about doing a re-read, but I got really confused as to where to start; With this particular story I suppose Mutants in Mega City One would be a good start. But then I thought I should start with Origins because the whole Mutant Issues thing has it's roots there. But then what about P.J. Maybe, a pivotal character in this epic; then I should re-read all the P.J.Maybe stories too, and what about Judge Beeny, sure, she's featured heavily in all the mutant stories since Mutants in Mega City One, and both she and P.J. were involved in the story featuring the second vote on the Mutant Issue. But her story starts way back with Bennet Beeny and America, so that would be me re-reading the three stories of the America saga too. (And I better not get distracted by Total War here, that's a whole other plot strand to consider) And after that I may need some backstory on Rico, Dredd's clone brother. He's out there working the Townships alongside Dredd, so that's the Brothers of the Blood GN to read too. And that's not even starting on Niles or Buell and Garcia which would tie in The Pit and the aftermath of Wilderlands and the whole PSU and Judge Edgar plots.
Can you see why I got so confused??

So, after al this thinking I decided on starting with the America GN, and then the P.J. Maybe GN, I own both so that's easy, and after them I'll move on to Origins and then on to Mutants in Mega City One starting in Prog 1542 and then pick out the relevant Mutant themed stories as I go. Mutants in Mega-City One then The Facility, then The Secret of Mutant Camp 5 followed by The Spirit of Christmas and Emphatically Evil: The Life and Crimes of PJ Maybe then ...Regrets and then Mutie Block, then Backlash and finally Under New Management which kicks off Tour of Duty.

I suppose what all this long winded rambling post is about is this; Just look at the backstory to this current epic. Tour of Duty may have started in Prog 1650 but it has characters and plot strands going back years, decades even. And I think that is bloody brilliant.
John Wagner has done an amazing job here, it just shows how well he know the universe of Dredd and how he can weave all these strands and all these characters to create this story; a new beast in the world of Judge Dredd epics, a story of change, of characters and what they stand for, a story of real depth and scope.
And I can't wait to start re-reading it all... Maybe I should just start with Prog 2

[malkymac]

What i love the most about Tour of Duty is that to truly get the dramatic impact of the story, you have to read: Judge Cal, America, Any old stuff about muties, Origins, complete PJ Maybe, the Pit...

...prett much all of Dredd to be fair!

Heh. I made the very same point over on a different forum.

It went something like this;

I was thinking today. Concerning Tour of Duty, the current Dredd epic. I was thinking about doing a re-read, but I got really confused as to where to start; With this particular story I suppose Mutants in Mega City One would be a good start. But then I thought I should start with Origins because the whole Mutant Issues thing has it's roots there. But then what about P.J. Maybe, a pivotal character in this epic; then I should re-read all the P.J.Maybe stories too, and what about Judge Beeny, sure, she's featured heavily in all the mutant stories since Mutants in Mega City One, and both she and P.J. were involved in the story featuring the second vote on the Mutant Issue. But her story starts way back with Bennet Beeny and America, so that would be me re-reading the three stories of the America saga too. (And I better not get distracted by Total War here, that's a whole other plot strand to consider) And after that I may need some backstory on Rico, Dredd's clone brother. He's out there working the Townships alongside Dredd, so that's the Brothers of the Blood GN to read too. And that's not even starting on Niles or Buell and Garcia which would tie in The Pit and the aftermath of Wilderlands and the whole PSU and Judge Edgar plots.
Can you see why I got so confused??

So, after al this thinking I decided on starting with the America GN, and then the P.J. Maybe GN, I own both so that's easy, and after them I'll move on to Origins and then on to Mutants in Mega City One starting in Prog 1542 and then pick out the relevant Mutant themed stories as I go. Mutants in Mega-City One then The Facility, then The Secret of Mutant Camp 5 followed by The Spirit of Christmas and Emphatically Evil: The Life and Crimes of PJ Maybe then ...Regrets and then Mutie Block, then Backlash and finally Under New Management which kicks off Tour of Duty.

I suppose what all this long winded rambling post is about is this; Just look at the backstory to this current epic. Tour of Duty may have started in Prog 1650 but it has characters and plot strands going back years, decades even. And I think that is bloody brilliant.
John Wagner has done an amazing job here, it just shows how well he know the universe of Dredd and how he can weave all these strands and all these characters to create this story; a new beast in the world of Judge Dredd epics, a story of change, of characters and what they stand for, a story of real depth and scope.
And I can't wait to start re-reading it all... Maybe I should just start with Prog 2

I agree with every word; many people mention (quite rightly) how brilliant Tolkien was for inventing his mythology and the rich history and backstory that give his stories so much depth.

Well in my opinion what has been achieved with Dredd and MC1 is not that much different in scale and for me is just as (if not more) enjoyable and rewarding.

[radiator]

The advert for the Backlash trade in the latest prog lists Al Ewing, John Wagner, Rufus Dayglo, Colin MacNiel, Carl Critchlow, Kev Walker, Nick Dyer, Patrick Goddard and Simon Fraser as the creators, which suggests that we'll be getting:

The Streets of Dan Francisco
Mutants in Mega City One
The Facility
The Secret of Mutant Camp 5
The Spirit of Christmas
Emphatically Evil: The Life and Crimes of PJ Maybe
...Regrets
Mutie Block
Mutopia
Backlash
Under New Management (possibly)

The only one I can't place is Goddard - presumably this means either Fifty Year Man, The Edgar Case, or both will be included (fingers crossed for both!).

The most notable exception is Henry Flint, which seems to suggest that The Gingerbread Man won't be in the book. I know it's already in the Henry Flint Collection, but PJ Maybe is such a key player in Tour of Duty it seems a slightly odd omission - hope that's just a typo...

What I Did For Crissmass is possible, as that was by Magner & Fraser, and at least including that would show the reader what the deal is with Ambrose...

[Colin YNWA]

Listed in the shop now. Radiator was pretty much bang on.

http://shop.2000adonline.com/products/tour_of_duty_the_backlash

[radiator]

Shame that they've ignored the earlier PJ Maybe stories, but still - that's a damn fine collection and can't wait to get it.

[Dark Jimbo]

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[I, Cosh]

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Excellent point.

[Dark Jimbo]

Gah! I'm an idiot.

My lovely post, lost to the ages - its wisdom and penetrating insight forever denied to future generations, and all for an inoppurtunely deployed delete button.