Judge Dredd Classics - IDW

[Colin YNWA]

Oh right I didn't understand what this was going to be.

I thought this was going to be a series of trades or hardback collections. Apparently not (?) looks like its going to be comics. At least in the first instance?

Direct from IDW's solicitations (over at Newsarama)

Judge Dredd Classics #1
John Wagner, Alan Grant (w) • Mike McMahon, Ron Smith (a) • Jim Fern (c)
Re-presenting classic Judge Dredd tales monthly, with all-new colors by Charlie Kirchoff! Up first, 30 pages of "Block Mania," which will lead to the beloved Apocalypse War!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
•    30 pages of "Block Mania," with all-new colors!
•    Launching straight out of the acclaimed Free Comic Book Day issue!
•    New covers by artist Jim Fern!


Judge Dredd Classics #1—Subscription Variant
John Wagner, Alan Grant (w) • Mike McMahon, Ron Smith (a) • Brian Bolland (c)
For subscription customers only... enlist up at your local comic shop! A classic wraparound variant cover by artist Brian Bolland! Only for loyal subscription box customers!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/idw-july-2013-solicitations.html

[radiator]

I suspect it'll be both - a monthly reprint title, eventually collected into trades.

I wonder if they're going to edit things like recap captions, 'next prog' captions and the like...

[Colin YNWA]

It also raises the question of the art used to source the material. If its a floppie I'm assuming it'll be regular US proportions (? I don't know this for sure of course) which means that they might use the adapted Eagle Comics art as their source?

All things considered this moves this from a defo buy, to a I'll check it out and see how it looks buy.

[radiator]

I'll probably buy the first issue (digitally) to see what it's like, but it's the trade print collections I'm interested in.

[Hawkmumbler]

I'll probably buy the first issue (digitally) to see what it's like, but it's the trade print collections I'm interested in.

This.

[Silent_Bomber]

It also raises the question of the art used to source the material. If its a floppie I'm assuming it'll be regular US proportions

Seems like they're keeping the original ratio but shrinking the art to fit to US size, with white borders taking up the extra space at top and bottom.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/catalogimages/STK_IMAGES_PDF/STK520001-540000/STK525516.pdf

Looks pretty nice to me so far (though that story in particular kind of suited black and white, it still think it looks good and has more mainstream appeal IMO), I'm looking forward to these a lot personally.

[radiator]

Yeah, I'm not very keen on the colourised Judge Death pages - I think if they really had to be coloured a severely limited palette would have worked far better.

[Colin YNWA]

Well on the one hand its good that they're kept the proportions, on the other the art will be greatly reduced in size.

Have to agree about the colouring. The stuff we saw of Block mania was much nicer so there is hope yet.

[IndigoPrime]

Well on the one hand its good that they're kept the proportions, on the other the art will be greatly reduced in size.

It could be worse. At least, unlike in the TFUK reprints, they didn't then make it even smaller by putting the thing inside a double gutter. Sometimes design decisions really baffle me. (That said, it's a pity they couldn't have done something better here, even vertical alignment.)

[Silent_Bomber]

I think they did a good job to be honest, I think the only problem here is that the story itself was conceived as a grim, pulp horror style story, and as such black and white suited it better than any colour could've. The colourist used a lot of drab colours to try to keep it creepy and all in all I think its a success from a mainstream point of view, its certainly significantly better than what Eagle did back in the day, here the colour and art fits together in a manner which isn't jarring (from the point of view of someone not used to the originals at least), whilst the Eagle Dredds looked like someone just coloured over the top of the art.

I ran into this page too

http://ryallsfiles.tumblr.com/image/41040070244

Block War works better in colour because the story itself suits colour better IMO

[Hawkmumbler]

I think that Judge Death art looks prity good in colour from IDW. Very nicely done indeed.

[Silent_Bomber]

Does anyone know for sure what the contents for this will be?

Some sources indicate that it might be the first two Judge Death stories (which would be an awesome introduction to the comic, "Gaze Into the Fist" etc), whilst others seem to indicate that its just the first Death story + a couple of Walter the Wobot stories (which I think would be a mixed introduction).

[Apestrife]

I must say. I really like this! Perfect use of color.

Really hope they also release Cursed earth, Day the law died, Judge Child Quest, Death lives, Graveyard shift, Letter from a democrat, Revolution and Oz too.

But really, if it's only Death, Bloc mania and Apocalypse war then I'd be perfectly fine -since it looks so damned good

Big ups to IDW for doing this

[DreddRunner]

As a newbie, I am loving this. 

I haven't bought any Case Files  yet,  but I suppose I should sooner than later, just to see how they compare.

[radiator]

I would LOVE to see all the early epics get this treatment - Cursed Earth, Day the Law Died, Judge Child, Block Mania, Apocalypse War, City of the Damned, Oz (though I don't know how tricky that would be re: colour centre spreads etc.