Dreams of Deadworld

[Frank]

Another vote for Dreams Of Deadworld, here.

The Dark Judges have had nowhere else to go for the last 25 years (Necropolis), but only in terms of the dynamic between them, Dredd, and the city. DoDW arrives at the same conclusion Wagner did with Young Death, that the only way forward is to make the character(s) and killing the fun of the story.

Identifying various forms of social inadequacy as the reason for the DJ's genocide is fun, but the real meat of Deadworld is the way Dave Kendall depicts the foulness of the dripping death juices and putrescent flesh with the same delight Roald Dahl takes in describing warts, bogies and bum noises.

The necrotic wine presses and vistas composed of intertwined corpses oozing into each other work as literal expressions of the DJ's perverted morality and monomania concerning death, but they're also really fun, as if Charles Adams went on holiday and asked Goya to knock out a few Adams Family strips.

[Hap Hazzard]

Deadworld is fantastic but the secret of any Dark Judges story is they work best in small doses and not often.

^ this

I'd agree with everything in Hap's first post except the desire for more - overuse is what reduced their impact before - just give us a four part slice of sublime horror and leave it at that.

I'd disagree. It wasn't overuse, because they've actually not been used a great deal to be fair in the 35 odd years they've been around. It's the wrong use that's reduced them, the slide into comedy. I'd agree a glut of stories is not needed; however a short 4 or 6 issue run, even episodes focusing on other Deadworld Judges and what was going on, once every couple of years would be pretty welcome in my book. Or as suggested above, a one-off once in a while in the Meg would be a fresh bite of the rotting apple, as it were. There's too much scope to what they're presenting here to ignore them as characters for another 10 years.

[judda fett]

I've been thoroughly enjoying it thus far. Would agree they're better suited to short stays but would happily see more of this. Also it just goes to show you can do new Dark Judges well.

[Hap Hazzard]

I've been thoroughly enjoying it thus far. Would agree they're better suited to short stays but would happily see more of this. Also it just goes to show you can do new Dark Judges well.

Indeed.

[sheridan]

I'm with Hap on this one.

[Hap Hazzard]

I'm with Hap on this one.

All the cool people are.

[Fungus]

Of course you can do the Dark Judges well. It's in the writing. Moore's Swamp 5hing should never have worked, but... writing. Damn, the art has just made me ponder that. Slightly 

Dreams of Deadworld is stonking. More enjoyable than Dark Justice, a victim of hype I Fear. I've had many Wilderness years, and was thankfully spared some comedic DJ outings. Done well, they deserve to appear occasionally.

Oh, and well done that Dave Kendall.

[judda fett]

Of course you can do the Dark Judges well. It's in the writing.

I was specifically referring to the new Dark Judges, Sister Despair and Judge Reaper and how they were treated as opposed to the ones from the recent-ish US comics. Even though their appearance was brief they were interesting, I wonder what they were up to with their stash of the 'living' and why..

[Fungus]

Yes, fair. Given the origin of this series, Tharg is not only overseeing each episode but commissioned the series.

What IDW did with the DJs is horrific and best forgotten.

[Tjm86]

I think that the biggest problem with the Dark Judges has already been how predictable the stories have been.  They tend to turn up, kill a large number of bodies, threaten to kill everybody, and get trapped away.  That was part of the problem with Dark Justice.  You knew already what the outcome was going to be.

The advantage of the Dreams of Deadworld format is that you don't have to get stuck in that rut.  If anything it gives them a chance to be the victors for a change and so we lose that predictability.  That said, I'm in agreement with the idea of infrequency.  An extended outing over a short period similar to the 3llers or longer vignettes in the Meg would be a cracking idea (as mentioned above).

[Dark Jimbo]

I'd disagree. It wasn't overuse, because they've actually not been used a great deal to be fair in the 35 odd years they've been around. It's the wrong use that's reduced them, the slide into comedy.

I don't really agree with that oft-repeated 'comedy ruined the Dark Judges' line. I don't even think it was necessarily overuse. I find the old Anderson Dark Judges story dull, repetitive and derivative of what came before - and yet it plays the DJs totally straight and was only their third ever story!

It's more a case for me of what Tjm86 just said - they're fairly limited characters. They turn up, kill people - what else is there? Necropolis worked because their schemes gradually scaled up in size each time and taking over the whole city felt like a natural step; they all became a bit directionless after this. They only got interesting again for me with Death's Wilderness Years, because it broke the usual pattern of DJ stories, gave Death some badly needed character development, and once gain scaled the threat up - Death realises he's been thinking on too small a scale and needs to get his hands on some WMDs. Come Dark Justice they're back in the old, old rut, and became less interesting again.

[jrok]

You guys are nuts.  It's taken a group of characters that had more potential than has ever actually been explored, and has reinvigorated them. If you don't see it, to each their own, but it's a high spot for me i tells ya.

I'm with this, it's fleshing out the dark judges who to date have only ever appeared as cardboard cutouts in the background to Death. This is giving them some character ! Dave Kendall's take on Mortis is outstanding, his artwork is almost Cronenberg.

[Mikey]

It's been great so far. As a one off, mini series it won't outstay its welcome and it's great to seem them in a truly horrific light and setting.

[Steve Green]

I've been enjoying it so far - I would say I find the Dark Judge speech bubbles a little hard going when they're more verbose than usual and more dialogue is specifically in that style.

Or maybe it's jus tme.

[The Adventurer]

Yeah the speech font is a bit muddy.