IDW Dredd, available in UK?

[SmallBlueThing]

I'll be getting this, but i absolute detest variant cover bollocks- so even though it's carlos and i love the man so much id happily sell him my sister*, i'm going for the bog standard edition.

Besides, there's something that doesnt sit well with them charging four times the price for the cover that makes the book seem like the source material, when the inside strip is likely to bear as much relation to said material as previous attempts to do it outside the pages of 2000AD. Maybe im being cynical here, but i think probably not. If they want to do dredd, why not get wagner or carroll or ewing with carlos or colin or chris western on art? To employ brendan mccarthy to do a backup strip strikes me as nuts- surely he should be up front on the main one?

Anyway, i'll buy- but not under a cover that promises more than it delivers... and if im wrong about this and it's brilliant, i'll be first here singing its praises! Sincerely hope i am.

SBT

*i dont have a sister.

[Mattofthespurs]

I'm buying it, but one copy only and I couldn't care less which cover.

[JOE SOAP]

SBT had a sister.

[Link Prime]

I'm buying it, but one copy only and I couldn't care less which cover.

Please change your name to Mattofthecommonsense.
Ditto for me.

[JamesC]

I don't actually like the Carlos cover very much. The helmet doesn't look big enough to fit over Dredd's ears and the gun looks a bit stupid.
Are there any previews of the internal art yet? (other than those scrapped pencil pages I mean).

[COMMANDO FORCES]

The problem I have with that cover is the size of the barrel. Just how big would those rounds be, a wee bit bigger than the mag I would presume 

[atp]

If they want to do dredd, why not get wagner or carroll or ewing with carlos or colin or chris western on art? To employ brendan mccarthy to do a backup strip strikes me as nuts- surely he should be up front on the main one?

Let's face it as readers of 2000ad we want as much new material as we can get our mitts on. So IDW producing a Dredd comic is of course good news, but I absolutely agree with SmallBlueThing's sentiments. It's a no-brainer. UK creators produce great work for 2000ad, US dollars entice said UK creators away to work on US projects, US projects now look to produce 2000ad material so why not use the creators that they have already 'pinched' to recreate the kind of work that impressed them in the first place. Or better still a bigger US market for 2000ad 'as is' but printed in the US (by Rebellion), carrying US advertising etc, as marvel did when it expanded into the UK market in the 70's. If it worked and Rebellion kept the production, then the added income from the US could encourage them to produce another title which could be marketed once again on both sides of the pond 'and so on...' After all 2000 ad already has a following in the US that could be expanded with US based production to keep the cover price down in line with other US comics. I know Quality comics tried it before and to be far they didn't have a bad run, but maybe their problem was too many titles trying to compete with the established big US comic companies.

[Molch-R]

Can I just be clear on something - we don't have the resources to produce our own range of US comics, and we certainly don't have the market nouse, contacts and influence that IDW has.

Also, as much as we all love our British creators - with the greatest of respect to them they don't have the same pull in the States. If you produce books with all-British talent, it's far too easy for them to write it off as 'a Brit book I won't understand'. Far better to talk to them on their own terms, and Chris and the IDW guys are great at reading the market and putting Dredd where it needs to be.

[Colin YNWA]

If they want to do dredd, why not get wagner or carroll or ewing with carlos or colin or chris western on art? To employ brendan mccarthy to do a backup strip strikes me as nuts- surely he should be up front on the main one?

Let's face it as readers of 2000ad we want as much new material as we can get our mitts on. So IDW producing a Dredd comic is of course good news, but I absolutely agree with SmallBlueThing's sentiments. It's a no-brainer.

But we have that already and the names listed are working on Dredd here. I'm personally quite looking forward to seeing a new different take on the character. Now granted I may well regret saying that as I may well hate it, but do we need more of the same (well actually can we ever have too much good Dredd...??? Damn arguing against my own point now... ahem anyway...) lets see what these other fella's can do. You never know it might be new, exciting and even... good!

[atp]

Also, as much as we all love our British creators - with the greatest of respect to them they don't have the same pull in the States.

Have to disagree there sir, Bryan Hitch, Alan Grant and of course Brian Bolland to name but a few. However I respect and do understand all that's being said. Bottom line I suppose is that I have read 2000ad since prog 1 and have every issue bagged & boxed. It's grown with me, and as such it is more than just a comic, it has become part of my life in so much as I truly look forward to reading it each week, and  feel protective towards it. Right or wrong I fear that it may turn out like the DC attempt at Dredd. Having sad that I will of course view with an open mind and add the IDW Dredd to my collection.

[BPP]

I think Molch-R is completely right. Sure there are discerning comic fans in the states that won't have any problem with all-British talent but for a book to have a chance to establish itself you have to make sure you INCLUDE everyone by excluding no-one. Sadly there are too many readers who simply wouldn't read a comic that was see / perceived as British. Just look at the Trolling Dredd 3D has recieved, or think of the tale of 2000AD not being able to flog Dante Trades in the States because he's 'Russian'.

And citing Bolland is silly, unless talent like Bolland has nostalgic reasons for working for a 2000AD launch there is no way they are going to be able to afford the rates that people like that could command.

(That said, it would be nice if IDW could get some covers out of 'known over there' ex-2000AD types like Adlard, Walker, Elson, Jock etc...)

[atp]

I take your point, but stand by Bolland. I mentioned him and the others as examples of UK creators with "pull" in the US and didn't mean to imply that I was referring to only 2000ad.

[Molch-R]

I take your point, but stand by Bolland. I mentioned him and the others as examples of UK creators with "pull" in the US and didn't mean to imply that I was referring to only 2000ad.

I wasn't referring to British creators in general, merely the ones who work for us now - which excludes names such as Bolland, Hitch, Adlard, Fegredo, Phillips etc.

[atp]

I wasn't referring to British creators in general, merely the ones who work for us now - which excludes names such as Bolland, Hitch, Adlard, Fegredo, Phillips etc.

I stand corrected. Apologies. As I Said, I get very defensive with regards to UK comics, maybe overly so (but not to the exclusion of all else). This may be because they are a part of who I am. My Dad taught me to read with the topper, considering he was a department chief librarian at the old British museum library, it was very open-minded of him at the time. Still back to IDW I enjoy their take on Doctor Who so I'll give them my best wishes and look forward to their take on Dredd.

[BPP]

GROUP HUG