Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files

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I just read the first volume of this and enjoyed it hugely. The stories are kind of patchy, and I wish they'd troubled to offer full credits (there are a couple of stories where I can't identify the artist or more likely artists), but several hundred pages of early thrillpower for a price only slightly higher than the Essential/Showcase format.

However, I looked at #2 and #3 in the shop. I have the Titan Cursed Earth and The Day The Law Died collections, which as far as I can tell is about 80% of what's in #2, so I don't feel like spending about £14 on about ten 6-age stories; and #3 is the same price but considerably thinner - I guess that could be a paper change, but my distinct impression was that you were being offered a third less. Does anyone who has bought this have a clear idea if there is much less in it? I'm inclined to think it's probably worth having anyway...

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 9 April 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure I'll end up buying them all for completeness' sake. Have they cleared up the copyright issues over those two 'lost' Cursed Earth stories?

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Sunday, 9 April 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

RE: Artists - it's got to pretty much all be Ezquerra/McMahon/Bolland/Gibson in Vol 1, right?

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Sunday, 9 April 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

No, there are at least a few others. John Cooper for instance. I can recognise all those with ease, but there are a couple I'm unsure about.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 9 April 2006 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

Those two infamous episodes are still absent from v2, alas.

― _chrissie (chrissie1068), Sunday, 9 April 2006 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

Goddammit! I want these and NO comics store I've been to in New York or Portland has them! Jim Hanley's Universe got ONE copy of the first one, and sold it...

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 9 April 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure Amazon will have em.

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Sunday, 9 April 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

Although having said that, I can't find them there. It's nice to hear they're selling out in the States. Makes one feel quite patriotic (cue swells of 'Rule Brittania')

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Sunday, 9 April 2006 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

ihttp://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/1810/prog84_greengiant.jpg

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Sunday, 9 April 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

Is volume one in stock anywhere? Nobody seems to have it. I'll get vol. three tomorrow, even if it is thinner.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Sunday, 9 April 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Gosh in London had more than one copy on Thursday, having sold out once - I don't know where you are or whether they still have any.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 9 April 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

It's nice to hear they're selling out in the States.

Haha, stores not having them /= selling out.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

Mike McMahon is a god, anyway. But it's not till about 1979 that his true godliness becomes totally apparent. The speed at which his art went from 'rough and interesting' to completely brilliant is amazing...

― _chrissie (chrissie1068), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

I saw Vol. 1 in the Borders in Angel -- snap it while it lasts.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Gosh in London had more than one copy on Thursday, having sold out once - I don't know where you are or whether they still have any.

Cool I will go after work tomorrow. (Martin, we are both on the Stylus Singles Whatsit--you gave Hollie Smith a good review and I a bad for example.)

How different and scrappy some peoples art looks early on is amazing--I guess it shows that being forced to do it and do it quick makes a big difference. Bolland looks exactly the same as always though.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

One thing I noticed on the Cursed Earth, though none of it comes close to his [McMahon's] peak work, is that in the later eps he IS starting to get to grips with the use of spot blacks to much greater effect. Still rough and ready -- none of that incredible, controlled, etched look at all -- but you can see him dropping in new tricks on the fly, which is really interesting.

He had some indie comics project in the works a year or two ago, but it went belly up, at which point he supposedly (so I was told) said he'd had enough of comics for good. Samples looked pretty good too. *sigh*

― _chrissie (chrissie1068), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

I wrote about McMahon a while ago on Freaky Trigger - my favourite Brit actiona/adventure artist ever, by a fair margin. His peak is later than these early Dredds, but I still like him better than almost-peak (because he does get better with faces, composition of solid blacks and other things) Bolland. Ezquerra is undervalued - obviously key to Dredd, but a strong artist, underloved perhaps because is work is so unpretty.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

When I was a youngun delving back into the history of 2000AD via Best of Monthlys and Titan reprints I couldn't stand McMahon. Strange, I really appreciate him now, but I think he's a bit avant garde for a ten year old. My favourite was Bolland.

Martin - personally I adore Ezquerra, and always have.

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Sunday, 9 April 2006 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

Ezquerra's great! And he has a new Dredd epic coming up in a couple of months or so in 2000, in case anyone hadn't heard. I haven't bought a copy for years, but hearing about this tempts me. (Gibson was on Dredd a while ago too: sadly doing rather pallid watercolours rather than playing to his strengths of atmosphere in raw lineart.)

― _chrissie (chrissie1068), Sunday, 9 April 2006 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

i remember Carlos being on breakfast tv here in the uk. was around the time of the dredd film and they'd obviously flown him in from mexico(?) for promotional duties. johnny vaughan didn't get much out of him but it was great to see him there, odd though it was, after all those years.

> I don't feel like spending about £14

less than 10 on amazon. am tempted but am not sure how much of this i already have.

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 10 April 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

I looked through these (well, #1 and #3) today, and though I wouldn't previously have been able to put a style to the name, it turns out that Ron Smith is who I think of as The Judge Dredd Artist.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 10 April 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

You poor, poor man. My sympathies.

― Ray (Ray), Monday, 10 April 2006 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Ron Smith's my least favourite classic Dredd artist.

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Monday, 10 April 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

No way, Ron "fat arse" Smith is the man.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

I always hated him on Dredd and re-reading his stuff in these Case Files just strengthens that. Weirdly, I associate him chiefly with a crappy superhero called King Cobra from Hotspur, I think. He did the art for a story in an annual I remember vividly.

For me, the definitive Dredd artists are Carlos - of course - and Ian Gibson. And Gibson didn't even do all that much Dredd..

― David N (David N.), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

I enjoyed both of their work, but it was "here's what Dredd drawn by Ezquerra/Gibson would look like", whereas as soon as I got to a page of Smith it was "And here's Dredd!"

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 08:18 (nineteen years ago)

You can't imagine anyone else drawing Otto Sump.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 08:29 (nineteen years ago)

He does draw bug eyed crazy people well.

Moving on a few years, I always really liked Jim Bakie's work on Dredd, the little of it there is. He's got a wonderful sense of composition and movement.

― chap who would dare to be a stone cold thug (chap), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 12:37 (nineteen years ago)

Ro Smith really brought out the sarcasm in Dredd - the way he drew the Meg, it was a very arch place where everything had more than a tinge of black comedy, and that soon seemed to permeate into the scripts.

― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

Tom pointed out in the pub that Ron Smith's greatest strengths were kneepads and chins, both of them central to Dredd.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

eight months pass...

I sort of missed a few of these after #3, turns out they're up to #7 now. I have some buying to do, but first:

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/images/G/G9586.jpg

and

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/images/G/GN1142.jpg

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 11 January 2007 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

Does the SO CALLED complete Nemesis The Warlock include the Torquemada photo story I wonder?

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 January 2007 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

The SO CALLED complete Dredd Case Files isn't, so you never know.

It's happened again though hasn't it. Sucked into buying all the Showcases, sucked into buying these... all I need is to start buying Spirit Archives, Complete Peanuts and Complete EC Segar Popeye. Oh, wait...

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 11 January 2007 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

Want complete Strontium Dog right now. The Nemesis one will be amazing too, but I still have my Titan editions.

― chap (chap), Thursday, 11 January 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Does the SO CALLED complete Nemesis The Warlock include the Torquemada photo story I wonder?

that is after books 1 to 4.

― Call Me Kenneth (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

I notice the Strontium Dog one is not claiming to be complete. Mmmm. This might be a good thing.

― Der Three Happy Cucumbers (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

Probably no Starlord stuff.

― chap (chap), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

I totally want the Strontium Dog one. With the Starlord stuff, plz thx.

― Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

they just need to get cracking on Slaine and Rogue Trooper, then they'll have all the classics covered, unless I'm forgetting something. (I'd be up for a bit of early Slaine, Rogue Trooper's overrated in my opinion)

― chap (chap), Thursday, 11 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

where oh where is the complete Ace Trucking Company???

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 11 January 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, good call.

― chap (chap), Thursday, 11 January 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

Time for a plasma party!

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Thursday, 11 January 2007 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

Strontium Dog does indeed include the Starlord stuff! http://www.2000adonline.com/books/coming_soon.php

Are there any Dredd stories missing from the Complete Case Files other than the Cursed Earth fast-food parodies they're legally enjoined from reprinting?

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 12 January 2007 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

Rogue Trooper's overrated in my opinion

by whom? I thought everyone hated it.

― The Real Dirty Vicar (dirtyvicar), Monday, 15 January 2007 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

The VCs are good fun though... maybe they could do a one volumer of them.

― The Real Dirty Vicar (dirtyvicar), Monday, 15 January 2007 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

It's not as bad as all that.

It suffers mostly from the classic 2000AD problem of having an obvious end to the story (a la old-school Brit adventure comics) and Tharg then realising the character was a 'franchise' (a la US comics) so dragging everything out, increasingly stupidly. See also: Slaine, Nemesis, Strontium Dog, everything bar Dredd really.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 15 January 2007 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

Except Bad Company, which just sort of stopped in its first incarnation, then in the sequel got given an ending? Although I understand it has since risen from the dead and danced to the zombie beat for a little longer.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the ending of BC1 was better than BC2, though I did like Milligan's very Milligan-ish "Who is writing this story?" riff. And he was allowed even more Milligan-y characters for the second one.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

See also: Slaine, Nemesis, Strontium Dog, everything bar Dredd really.

Strontium Dog is an intrinsically indefinite story. He hunts criminals. Then he hunts more criminals. Forever.

BC1 had a perfectly good ending, I seem to recall, and had way more focus than BC2.

― The Real Dirty Vicar (dirtyvicar), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, you're right: SD only fits the pattern because they kept on doing things to try and end it (i.e. killing off Wulf, the fools).

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

Bad Company was ressurected for a rather oblique (and not terribly good, as I recall) ten-parter in the nineties. BC1 is obviously the best, with a quintessentially looney 2000 ADish ending (What's in the box? Why, the other half of his brain, of course!).

Much as I like the character, it's good that they killed Wulf, Johnny Alpha is best when he's bitter and tormented.

― chap (chap), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

Dude he was bitter and tormented enough by being H1tler's J3wish son!

(substitute clumsy analogues for actual plot if you wish)

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

Also the post-Wulf revenge storyline is one of the most boring Strontium Dog stories EVAR.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

I liked it. It had a minimal, slightly Sergio Leone feel to it. I think I just want Johnny to be as miserable as possible, that's kind of the essence of the character.

― chap (chap), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but you need Wulf for that, so he can think "Ach! Johnny! Always mit der broodink! Mein cucumber etc", otherwise you don't know if he's just ordinary-level miserable or so very miserable that Wulf has to comment on it.

They even brought in Wulf's ghost during the revenge storyline so he could get that line in.

― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

It looks like these are finally coming out in US editions through Simon & Shuster of all people. I saw there was an ABC Warriors one coming out too.

http://www.amazon.com/Judge-Dredd-Case-Files-01/dp/1906735875/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280268339&sr=8-4

They are pretty reasonably priced, so I have to believe they are not using as good a paper stock as on the UK versions.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 22:07 (fifteen years ago)

Hmmmmmm. If they're essentially identical to the current editions, I'll definitely pick these up. Otherwise, I'll just keep paying through the nose on Amazon UK.

― SNEEZED GOING DOWN STEPS, PAIN WHEN PUTTING SOCKS ON (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, 29 July 2010 15:52 (fifteen years ago)

From what I could tell by the page count, they look pretty much the same.

I have a few of the UK editions and the thing I wonder about is the paper stock. They use some pretty nice white stock on the Rebellion prints. I'd definitely pay 2 bucks more or so for DC or Marvel to use that stock on their Essentials and Showcase editions.

― earlnash, Friday, 30 July 2010 00:38 (fifteen years ago)

Yes, the paper stock on (at least the first volume of) the American Case Files is not as nice.

― Douglas, Saturday, 31 July 2010 06:00 (fifteen years ago)

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