The Four Dark Judges... Plus nine more?

[Jo-L]

And I'm afraid [Americans] simply don't perceive 2000 AD at all, other than maybe as a passing thing when talking about Moore or Morrison, and nothing I do will change that. We can either face this reality or keep throwing money and wishful thinking at it.

I hope it's a nut that could be cracked.  The major obstacles that we've always had over here are availability, visibility, and cost.  The U.S. audience typically doesn't go for the weekly format, but we definitely like good comics.  If those weekly Dredd strips were compiled into a monthly book (using the correct aspect ratio), and had really great covers I think we'd be all over it.  It worked in the 80's with Eagle comics.  I think that Underbelly release did ok, and there were a lot of people talking about the Zaucer of Zilk reprint that IDW published a while ago.

Some of the IDW content is tolerable, some of it is very good.  A lot of it is downright terrible, and if that's the only exposure that fans get to the character they will reject the character entirely.  I STILL hear people that tell me that they know Dredd from "the comics" because they tried the DC series from the 90's, and hated it.

[The Adventurer]

I've always thought releasing 2000 AD as a monthly compilation of the most recent 4-5 Progs through a US publisher (Image, Dark Horse, or IDW, to solve that pesky overseas distribution problem) would be an elegant solution to getting the Prog into public consciousness of the North American Market. Sure it'd cost like 15-20 bucks a month, but you'd get a graphic novel worth of material.



I'm still hopeful the digital distribution will result in more awareness/penetration over time.

[Frank]

I've always thought releasing 2000 AD as a monthly compilation of the most recent 4-5 Progs through a US publisher (Image, Dark Horse, or IDW, to solve that pesky overseas distribution problem) would be an elegant solution to getting the Prog into public consciousness of the North American Market. Sure it'd cost like 15-20 bucks a month, but you'd get a graphic novel worth of material.

When discussing digital distribution, the editorial line is always that it's the content which accounts for the vast majority of the cost of each prog. Us lot have already bought and paid for the content, so presumably any notional monthly US reprint (as described above) could be sold at a price which covered distribution and marketing, and not much more.

[Jo-L]

I've always thought releasing 2000 AD as a monthly compilation of the most recent 4-5 Progs through a US publisher (Image, Dark Horse, or IDW, to solve that pesky overseas distribution problem) would be an elegant solution to getting the Prog into public consciousness of the North American Market. Sure it'd cost like 15-20 bucks a month, but you'd get a graphic novel worth of material.

When discussing digital distribution, the editorial line is always that it's the content which accounts for the vast majority of the cost of each prog. Us lot have already bought and paid for the content, so presumably any notional monthly US reprint (as described above) could be sold at a price which covered distribution and marketing, and not much more.

The progs are pretty expensive here.  I think the shops have it for like $5.50 American and 4+ times a month gets pretty pricey.  The worse problem though is that we get them like 6 weeks late and 4 at a time, so it's impossible to stay current.  Everything else being equal, I'd probably rather get the paper copies, but I like day and date so it's DRM free day & date digital for me all the way (which I do LOVE).

[Trout]

Jo-l wrote:
If those weekly Dredd strips were compiled into a monthly book (using the correct aspect ratio), and had really great covers I think we'd be all over it. 

They are. IDW have been reprinting stories including the Apocalypse War.

It worked in the 80's with Eagle comics.

No it didn't. It was, at best, a mixed success. Also, their "aspect ratio" was fucked, at least in the later issues.

I say let the IDW creators do what they like. The prog endures.

- Trout

[Jo-L]

The IDW Dredd classics are great, I hope those are selling well.  I really do like the coloring.  It is a shame that they have to be shrunk to match the American standard size.

I do wish IDW the best, they're a really great company and I buy a lot of their product.

[Hap Hazzard]

Skullmo and I figured this out last night. The other nine are:

Judge Choke
Judge Bruise
Judge Internal Bleeding
Judge IBS
Judge Near Miss
Judge Static Shock
Judge Sharp Slap
Judge Funny Bone
Judge Piles

Sadly, Judge Cramp didn't quite make the grade!

Ha Ha! Funneh.

Coincidenatally, I was thinking recently that in order to become a serious threat to Mega City One, the Dark Judges would have to increase their numbers. Surely it took more than four of them to completely wipe out the entire population of Deadworld? A few more could be drafted in to help out in MC1.

Imagine the scenes as huge swathes of undead, unkillable murder-machines rampaged through the streets, bringing jusssstice to all.

If Necropolis was anything to go by, the Sisters of Death enthralled the planets various Justice Departments and military, and all Judges and auxilleries and soldiers were out killing on their behalf, against their own will, probably for years and years until the population was dead. And then they were in turn killed by each other and the Dark Judges.

[Hap Hazzard]

Oh dear.

Just wait untill you see Judge Skinner. I actually facepalmed when I saw him.

Arrrrrrrh C'ptn!!! Splice the mainbrace, Mortis, there's treasure in them thar corpsesss

[Jo-L]

maybe it's the governor?

[Alfaro]

What the hell is Stigmata's deal? "I have the power to spontaneously bleed a bit. Better watch out, he might get some on you and ruin your shirt."

[mimikeke]

Silly names and costumes aside, I actually really like the art.  But that's probably cuz I'm a newb and don't have that indignant rage that comes along with liking a comic for years

[TordelBack]

Aye, the art on the DJ portraits is pretty nice when you look at them as a set.  Whether the silly designs themselves work remains to be seen.

So many of us would have had the Judge Death Lives! centrespread reveal of the killin' cousins adorning our bedroom walls (which, nostalgia aside, is still an astonishing page), that's it quite hard to imagine others' first encounter with Deadworld being St. Francis of Arrr-sea-sea and his pal the naked mole rat. 

[Steve Green]

Silly names and costumes aside, I actually really like the art.  But that's probably cuz I'm a newb and don't have that indignant rage that comes along with liking a comic for years

I don't know about indignant rage, but I just laughed when I saw Skinner and his green wellies. He looked so happy.

I prefer to see the Dark Judges played relatively straight, (I'm not a fan when Ian Gibson draws them for example, but I love his art) - so it's not really a matter of the quality of the art, more who is a better fit.

It seems like they're going full-panto with this run.

[ming]

Silly names and costumes aside, I actually really like the art.  But that's probably cuz I'm a newb and don't have that indignant rage that comes along with liking a comic for years

Heh, nicely put!  I don't think there's much, if any, indignant rage around here, though.  Plenty of raised eyebrows, good-natured piss-taking and a general feeling of WTF?, which is fair enough.

Anyway, I hope the IDW series' continue to do well; they certainly seem to be finding an audience and interest in these will surely lead at least some people to dig deeper into the world of Dredd and 2000AD in general, which can only be a good thing.

[Recrewt]

The IDW Dredd classics are great, I hope those are selling well.  I really do like the coloring.  It is a shame that they have to be shrunk to match the American standard size.

I do wish IDW the best, they're a really great company and I buy a lot of their product.

The Dredd Classics line seemed like a fantastic opportunity to get 'real' Dredd out to the US but those page dimensions even put me off.  It's not that it is smaller, it's the change in ratio which left those giant white margins at the bottom.  Rebellion already reduce to the same page height as US comics for a lot of their tpbs and its not a problem because the page is wider so it still fits OK.  Ignoring the cost implications of trying to release a US comic that is wider than normal, if they had done this then I believe they would have had a lot more appealing product.