Teaser poster for IDW - Judge Dredd - City of Courts

[Colin YNWA]

My understanding is the figures as used by The Beat are the ICV2 ones Jim refers to which have the following proviso.

These are estimates of the sales on comic books by Diamond U.S. to comic speciality stores during November 2013.

They do not include sales outside the direct market in the US and Canada (I believe), so no European, Asian etc etc sales. No sales on digital platforms, nor outside the direct market etc etc or of subsequent collections. No sales to actual customers either, these are sales to the shops themselves however they are normally not returnable. To give a flavour there seems to be some perceived wisdom that UK sales account for around about an additional 10%. There was a little evidence to back this up relatively recently over at Bleeding Cool... for what that's worth. As I said though I can image a comic based on JD might do proportionally better in its UK sales?

They do though generally seem to be a fairly reliable indicator, well in the first half of the chart at least. They are also estimated based on the percentage a comic sells compared to Batman (for reason historical). Diamond only release those figure so for example Batman is always 'Indexed' at 100.00 if a comic sells half of Batman (Direct market North America etc etc) it has an index of 50.00, if it sold twice as much it would have an Index of 200.00. The people who work out these figures get the actual sales as described from some companies who are willing to share and them multiple those though to get the Batman sales and from there are able to get everyone elses.

So comic X has an Index of 10.00 and the people making these estimates are told it sold 10,000 copies via diamond in North America so Batman sold 100,000 and comic Y with a Diamond index of 50.00 sold 50,000 Marvel's new relaunch of X-Avengers indexed at 200.00 and so sold 200,000.

Just to add to the conversation the November estimate is in at 7,999 at ICV2 which suggests a 4.75% increase. Which would be good news if it held going forward. Who knows...

... oh and my blathering is my understanding and I'm happy to be corrected AND is before you discuss how variant sales affect things etc etc.

Christ above that went on longer than I expected! 

[JOE SOAP]

City of Courts preview.

[dweezil2]

Looking good!   

[TordelBack]

That looks just the ticket, love the style and the colour.

[Trout]

I just read the first issue of this series.

I don't feel equipped to write much of a review because I've never read any IDW Dredd, except the Mars Attacks thing, but I think I can offer a few insights.

First, the teddy bear gun is [spoiler]not a Lawgiver and does make sense as part of the plot.[/spoiler] The Mad Max justice car thing is also explained well. Both points are pretty good fun.

Also - and this is a crucial point for me - IMO Douglas Wolk has a good grasp of Dredd as a character. Certainly, he seems to understand Dredd far better than some of the people who have written for the prog. He's got that stern, obsessive, uptight thing just right.

There's a lot going on in these comics. The level of detail, especially in an eye-melting double-page spread that fills pages two and three of the issue, is impressive. It rivals anything that we've seen in UK Dredd, including some of the classic DPS offerings from the likes of Mick McMahon. But, weirdly, I had difficulty following it, especially in the action sequences. I did a lot of blinking and re-reading to try to keep my eye on the action. The background stuff is almost at Kevin O'Neill levels. I'm going to look at it again tomorrow in natural light. But full marks for value for money!

Overall, I enjoyed this first issue. It's a fairly straightforward story of Dredd as a fish out of water but it works and it entertains. Nothing grates.

I didn't add it to my pull list but I will keep an eye out for it and try to stick with it.

- Trout

[dweezil2]

Just read it and I must say, I loved it.   

The art is phenomenal and Wolk writes a great Dredd.
Roll on #2!

[TordelBack]

Got this today.  I thought it was superb.  I was well-disposed to the title in advance, being a fan of Wolk's online writings and liking the look of Farinas' art, but it greatly exceeded my expectations. 

The central concept - a Justice Department [spoiler]whose Judges have to dispense instant street justice in the usual fashion but do so within 1,000 distinct local 'Courts', subdivisions of MC-2 whose individual laws are decided by their local communities[/spoiler] - is nothing short of inspired, and its delivery is rich and confident.

Farinas' ligne-claire-meets-Geoff-Darrow style sometimes seems to struggle with large close-ups (something Herge wisely avoided) but this minor niggle vanished as I immersed myself in the wonderful design and witty detail, and by the time I emerged I had embraced it  completely.  Successive re-readings are rewarded in almost every panel, and I bought the whole city completely as part of Dredd's world.  As to the main man himself, there are maybe two lines that don't quite sound like 'our' Dredd, but everything else is perfect.

It's interesting that Douglas leaves Song of the Surfer out of his review of previous visits to MC-2, since it is one that would sit comfortably with this version.  If I had two regrets about buying this book, they would be that it this story isn't appearing in the Prog or Meg, and that Judgement Day ever happened. 

This is the best US Dredd I have ever read, but more than that, it's actually good Dredd.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Here are a few upcoming covers!



And one from Westworld!

[Ancient Otter]

Covers to issue #5:





Darick Robertson is the artist on the second one.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

A cat with a Judge helmet on, interesting! Love the chaos on the main cover and the subscription cover is okay as well.

[TordelBack]

Oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Wow.

In total contrast to how I feel in the other thread that Lawcon piece is the best IDW 2000ad property cover we've yet had.

It's stupendous. Plus the CAKE the sweet sweet continuity cake.

[Steve Green]

Yeah, that Lawcon cover is brilliant.

[TordelBack]

Nothing I've seen aimed at the US market, and relatively little at home, conveys the richness, silliness and fun of Dredd's world quite as well as that cover.  I love it beyond words.  This thing deserves to sell truckloads.