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 Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL2, 11 Jul 2008
UTTERLY BRILLIANT WHAT A TREAT TO READ THESE MAGNIFICENT STORIES AGAIN, ALMOST TIME TRAVEL WHEN I OPENED PAGE ONE SUPERB STUFF
Two fantastic epics in one book, what more could you ask for, 11 Apr 2008
Dredd gets his first big multi-part stories in this book with The Cursed Earth and Judge Cal - The Day The Law Died. The Cursed Earth story is a load of fun, Dredd gets to do battle with some outrageous characters and creatures with some amazing artwork from Bolland and McMahon. When Dredd successfully completes The Cursed Earth saga, instead of getting a proper thank you, he's immediately targetted by 'head of SJS' Judge Cal, who rapidly rises to Chief Judge, and so begins Cal's reign of terror. It's an awesome story with plenty of entertaining characters and a fittingly insane ending, a real classic.
JUGE CAL, 02 Mar 2007
JUDGE CAL, enough said really.
What happens when you get Mega City 1 controlled my a psychotic madman with an ego the size of cursed Earth and a god complex? Well I don't want to spoil things too much, but the answer is absolute mayhem, with guns, bombs, guns and bombs and aliens and explosions and slap bang in the middle of it all Judge Dredd.
Whilst the Cursed Earth saga is good, and by good I mean very, very good with its Mafia Judges and Tweak, it pales in comparison to the "Day the Law died" story line.
Two fantastic epics in one volume.
Great!
Getting better and better, 15 Jan 2007
Whereas some of the first volume feels extremely dated and often naive( but still vital reading), this is where the style of Dredd begins to develop. The Cursed Earth remains a land mark as does the second epic The Day the Law Died.
By comparison to later Dredd the story telling may not flow as well and the second epic suffers somewhat in terms of continuity from the constant changing of artists but overall the book rolls along at a cracking pace.
It's great to see Dredd leaping out of one epic and straight into another. Maybe 2000ad's current editors could learn a lesson from this. The longer stories always offer much more in so many ways. A great purchase and one not to be missed.
And here's where it really got good..., 13 Jul 2006
Whereas the continuity of the first Dredd Case Files collection was very slap-dash, here we start to get a lot of much-needed history and backstory for Dredd's world, establishing why the Judges came about, how their world became like it is, what surrounds the city, etc. In short, Dredd's world finally feels three-dimensional and fully-realised, and is much the better for it.
The bulk of the book is taken up by Dredd's first two epics, and this creates a far more stable line-up of creators (only two writers, for instance) that again give the adventures a more coherent voice and feel. The first tale, Pat Mills' The Cursed Earth, is absolutely manic - mutants, tyrannosuars, vampires, aliens, punk bikers, vengeful robot armies and gambling-obsessed mafia judges all throw themselves at Dredd in a roaring blood and guts epic that never lets up once. By the time you get to the base-under-seige ending, you'll actually be breathless, I guarantee it. John Wagner's The Day the Law Died slows things down (but only a little) and lets a raving maniac take complete power of Mega-city One. The results are too brilliantly mad-cap to go into here, but the wonderful satire and black humour in this tale mean the more unstable line-up of artists doesn't really matter. It's worth it anyway just to see a goldfish become Deputy Chief Judge.
As for the art - Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland are of course the stars, dominating the book as they do, McMahon's sometimes scratchy-looking art still conveying a madcap energy and glee at working on such stories, and Bolland producing some of the most intricate, detailed, well-handled art in comics. An essential purchase, containing classic Dredd tales only possibly bettered by what's to come in Books 4 and 5...
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL2, 11 Jul 2008
UTTERLY BRILLIANT WHAT A TREAT TO READ THESE MAGNIFICENT STORIES AGAIN, ALMOST TIME TRAVEL WHEN I OPENED PAGE ONE SUPERB STUFF
Two fantastic epics in one book, what more could you ask for, 11 Apr 2008
Dredd gets his first big multi-part stories in this book with The Cursed Earth and Judge Cal - The Day The Law Died. The Cursed Earth story is a load of fun, Dredd gets to do battle with some outrageous characters and creatures with some amazing artwork from Bolland and McMahon. When Dredd successfully completes The Cursed Earth saga, instead of getting a proper thank you, he's immediately targetted by 'head of SJS' Judge Cal, who rapidly rises to Chief Judge, and so begins Cal's reign of terror. It's an awesome story with plenty of entertaining characters and a fittingly insane ending, a real classic.
JUGE CAL, 02 Mar 2007
JUDGE CAL, enough said really.
What happens when you get Mega City 1 controlled my a psychotic madman with an ego the size of cursed Earth and a god complex? Well I don't want to spoil things too much, but the answer is absolute mayhem, with guns, bombs, guns and bombs and aliens and explosions and slap bang in the middle of it all Judge Dredd.
Whilst the Cursed Earth saga is good, and by good I mean very, very good with its Mafia Judges and Tweak, it pales in comparison to the "Day the Law died" story line.
Two fantastic epics in one volume.
Great!
Getting better and better, 15 Jan 2007
Whereas some of the first volume feels extremely dated and often naive( but still vital reading), this is where the style of Dredd begins to develop. The Cursed Earth remains a land mark as does the second epic The Day the Law Died.
By comparison to later Dredd the story telling may not flow as well and the second epic suffers somewhat in terms of continuity from the constant changing of artists but overall the book rolls along at a cracking pace.
It's great to see Dredd leaping out of one epic and straight into another. Maybe 2000ad's current editors could learn a lesson from this. The longer stories always offer much more in so many ways. A great purchase and one not to be missed.
And here's where it really got good..., 13 Jul 2006
Whereas the continuity of the first Dredd Case Files collection was very slap-dash, here we start to get a lot of much-needed history and backstory for Dredd's world, establishing why the Judges came about, how their world became like it is, what surrounds the city, etc. In short, Dredd's world finally feels three-dimensional and fully-realised, and is much the better for it.
The bulk of the book is taken up by Dredd's first two epics, and this creates a far more stable line-up of creators (only two writers, for instance) that again give the adventures a more coherent voice and feel. The first tale, Pat Mills' The Cursed Earth, is absolutely manic - mutants, tyrannosuars, vampires, aliens, punk bikers, vengeful robot armies and gambling-obsessed mafia judges all throw themselves at Dredd in a roaring blood and guts epic that never lets up once. By the time you get to the base-under-seige ending, you'll actually be breathless, I guarantee it. John Wagner's The Day the Law Died slows things down (but only a little) and lets a raving maniac take complete power of Mega-city One. The results are too brilliantly mad-cap to go into here, but the wonderful satire and black humour in this tale mean the more unstable line-up of artists doesn't really matter. It's worth it anyway just to see a goldfish become Deputy Chief Judge.
As for the art - Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland are of course the stars, dominating the book as they do, McMahon's sometimes scratchy-looking art still conveying a madcap energy and glee at working on such stories, and Bolland producing some of the most intricate, detailed, well-handled art in comics. An essential purchase, containing classic Dredd tales only possibly bettered by what's to come in Books 4 and 5...
The Law at War, 05 Jul 2007
This volume starts off on a pretty low-key note after the wall-to-wall brilliance of book 4's stories. Dredd investigating the Mega-rackets is inoffensive, entertaining stuff but not really anything special. It's when Judge Death makes his long-awaited comeback that the magic starts to happen. This five-parter, lushly illustrated by Brian Bolland, represent some of the finest pages ever seen in sequential comics - and contains the single most iconic panel in the history of the Dredd strip. You'll know the one when you see it.
And then came Block Mania and the Apocalypse War, an epic to end all epics at 30+ parts. Apocalyptic is the right word. Mega-City One is razed to the ground by atomic fire, half the city's population wiped out by tidal wave, radiation poisoning, bitter civil war and the merciless tanks of the Sov occupation. The use of Soviet-styled enemy judges dates the story a tad, but it's such a tour-de-force that that's a minor criticsm. More than any other, this is the story that really defined Dredd and put it on the map, generating stories for years to come. Because the Dredd strip unfolds in real-time, unlike most american comics, the after-effects of this mammoth event would haunt Dredd far into the future.
The whole thing is, once again, written solely by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and the Apocalypse War is drawn entirely by Carlos Ezquerra - the man who had originally designed Dredd and his uniform, but up to this point had been absent on the strip. After the chunky stylings of McMahon, and the fine detail of Smith and Bolland, Ezquerra's more euro-centric, almost brutal art comes as a bit of a shock, but it's perfect for the scope of the story. The story stands as a towering achievment for all concerned, and marks the moment Dredd really became a force to be reckoned with.
excellent, 09 May 2007
I am now on this book and have to say this is the best so far. The Cursed Earth series prior to this was excellent, but nothing beats Block Mania followed by Apocolypse War for me so far. In this series, everytime you think things can't get worse for Old Stoney Face they invariably do, but he just takes it on the chin and does what needs to be done. Some pretty shocking scenes in terms of death and Dreddy sure throws out justice on those who calls traitors...absolutely excellent. Yes the shorter stories about the Mega Rackets are interesting in terms of building the world of Dredd but are no way on a par with the series.
And yay Judge Death makes a comeback! Judge Anderson looks great in her outfit in this series, god knows how Dredd every stayed celibate...
"Next time, we get our retaliation in first!", 08 Aug 2006
If anyone new to Dredd has read the first couple of volumes in this collection & was disappointed, I would strongly recommend that you buy volume 5 & give Dredd another try. That's because this collection contains the Block Mania storyline, which unexpectedly leads into The Apocalypse War - a significant turning-point & one of the greatest epic tales in the series to date.
When this storyline was written, the Cold War was going strong - no doubt inspiring Wagner to set this series in a post-apocalyptic future in the first place. But Dredd's world wasn't merely post-apocalyptic for long, as in this storyline, East-Meg One launches an all-out nuclear assault on Mega-City One. The result is devastating - the Big Meg's population is reduced from 800 million to 400 million as much of the city is reduced to radioactive rubble. Unable to penetrate the Sov's defences, Mega-City One & its greatest lawman are seriously on the ropes.
The subject of nuclear war is handled maturely, creatively & with Dredd's typical black, ironic & very British humour that came to typify the series & make it truly stand out. It also left quite a legacy on the Dredd universe. It gave Wagner & Grant the opportunity to create a whole host of colourful perps, muties & plagues twisted by radition in future storylines. More significantly, Wagners' desire to bring some social commentary to the series is combined perfectly with Dredd running round killing the baddies & saving his uncaring city but never getting the girl.
Also included is 'Death Lives' - Judge Death returns & this time he's brought some friends with him! This volume also contains The Mega Rackets - a series of short stories centred around organised crimes of the future. These range from the quirky (peaceful aliens farmed for their youth-giving properties) to the dark (virtually unstoppable Gila Munja mutant assassins). These stories are OK but not on par with the other classics which make up most of this volume - which certainly represent good value for money!
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL2, 11 Jul 2008
UTTERLY BRILLIANT WHAT A TREAT TO READ THESE MAGNIFICENT STORIES AGAIN, ALMOST TIME TRAVEL WHEN I OPENED PAGE ONE SUPERB STUFF
Two fantastic epics in one book, what more could you ask for, 11 Apr 2008
Dredd gets his first big multi-part stories in this book with The Cursed Earth and Judge Cal - The Day The Law Died. The Cursed Earth story is a load of fun, Dredd gets to do battle with some outrageous characters and creatures with some amazing artwork from Bolland and McMahon. When Dredd successfully completes The Cursed Earth saga, instead of getting a proper thank you, he's immediately targetted by 'head of SJS' Judge Cal, who rapidly rises to Chief Judge, and so begins Cal's reign of terror. It's an awesome story with plenty of entertaining characters and a fittingly insane ending, a real classic.
JUGE CAL, 02 Mar 2007
JUDGE CAL, enough said really.
What happens when you get Mega City 1 controlled my a psychotic madman with an ego the size of cursed Earth and a god complex? Well I don't want to spoil things too much, but the answer is absolute mayhem, with guns, bombs, guns and bombs and aliens and explosions and slap bang in the middle of it all Judge Dredd.
Whilst the Cursed Earth saga is good, and by good I mean very, very good with its Mafia Judges and Tweak, it pales in comparison to the "Day the Law died" story line.
Two fantastic epics in one volume.
Great!
Getting better and better, 15 Jan 2007
Whereas some of the first volume feels extremely dated and often naive( but still vital reading), this is where the style of Dredd begins to develop. The Cursed Earth remains a land mark as does the second epic The Day the Law Died.
By comparison to later Dredd the story telling may not flow as well and the second epic suffers somewhat in terms of continuity from the constant changing of artists but overall the book rolls along at a cracking pace.
It's great to see Dredd leaping out of one epic and straight into another. Maybe 2000ad's current editors could learn a lesson from this. The longer stories always offer much more in so many ways. A great purchase and one not to be missed.
And here's where it really got good..., 13 Jul 2006
Whereas the continuity of the first Dredd Case Files collection was very slap-dash, here we start to get a lot of much-needed history and backstory for Dredd's world, establishing why the Judges came about, how their world became like it is, what surrounds the city, etc. In short, Dredd's world finally feels three-dimensional and fully-realised, and is much the better for it.
The bulk of the book is taken up by Dredd's first two epics, and this creates a far more stable line-up of creators (only two writers, for instance) that again give the adventures a more coherent voice and feel. The first tale, Pat Mills' The Cursed Earth, is absolutely manic - mutants, tyrannosuars, vampires, aliens, punk bikers, vengeful robot armies and gambling-obsessed mafia judges all throw themselves at Dredd in a roaring blood and guts epic that never lets up once. By the time you get to the base-under-seige ending, you'll actually be breathless, I guarantee it. John Wagner's The Day the Law Died slows things down (but only a little) and lets a raving maniac take complete power of Mega-city One. The results are too brilliantly mad-cap to go into here, but the wonderful satire and black humour in this tale mean the more unstable line-up of artists doesn't really matter. It's worth it anyway just to see a goldfish become Deputy Chief Judge.
As for the art - Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland are of course the stars, dominating the book as they do, McMahon's sometimes scratchy-looking art still conveying a madcap energy and glee at working on such stories, and Bolland producing some of the most intricate, detailed, well-handled art in comics. An essential purchase, containing classic Dredd tales only possibly bettered by what's to come in Books 4 and 5...
The Law at War, 05 Jul 2007
This volume starts off on a pretty low-key note after the wall-to-wall brilliance of book 4's stories. Dredd investigating the Mega-rackets is inoffensive, entertaining stuff but not really anything special. It's when Judge Death makes his long-awaited comeback that the magic starts to happen. This five-parter, lushly illustrated by Brian Bolland, represent some of the finest pages ever seen in sequential comics - and contains the single most iconic panel in the history of the Dredd strip. You'll know the one when you see it.
And then came Block Mania and the Apocalypse War, an epic to end all epics at 30+ parts. Apocalyptic is the right word. Mega-City One is razed to the ground by atomic fire, half the city's population wiped out by tidal wave, radiation poisoning, bitter civil war and the merciless tanks of the Sov occupation. The use of Soviet-styled enemy judges dates the story a tad, but it's such a tour-de-force that that's a minor criticsm. More than any other, this is the story that really defined Dredd and put it on the map, generating stories for years to come. Because the Dredd strip unfolds in real-time, unlike most american comics, the after-effects of this mammoth event would haunt Dredd far into the future.
The whole thing is, once again, written solely by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and the Apocalypse War is drawn entirely by Carlos Ezquerra - the man who had originally designed Dredd and his uniform, but up to this point had been absent on the strip. After the chunky stylings of McMahon, and the fine detail of Smith and Bolland, Ezquerra's more euro-centric, almost brutal art comes as a bit of a shock, but it's perfect for the scope of the story. The story stands as a towering achievment for all concerned, and marks the moment Dredd really became a force to be reckoned with.
excellent, 09 May 2007
I am now on this book and have to say this is the best so far. The Cursed Earth series prior to this was excellent, but nothing beats Block Mania followed by Apocolypse War for me so far. In this series, everytime you think things can't get worse for Old Stoney Face they invariably do, but he just takes it on the chin and does what needs to be done. Some pretty shocking scenes in terms of death and Dreddy sure throws out justice on those who calls traitors...absolutely excellent. Yes the shorter stories about the Mega Rackets are interesting in terms of building the world of Dredd but are no way on a par with the series.
And yay Judge Death makes a comeback! Judge Anderson looks great in her outfit in this series, god knows how Dredd every stayed celibate...
"Next time, we get our retaliation in first!", 08 Aug 2006
If anyone new to Dredd has read the first couple of volumes in this collection & was disappointed, I would strongly recommend that you buy volume 5 & give Dredd another try. That's because this collection contains the Block Mania storyline, which unexpectedly leads into The Apocalypse War - a significant turning-point & one of the greatest epic tales in the series to date.
When this storyline was written, the Cold War was going strong - no doubt inspiring Wagner to set this series in a post-apocalyptic future in the first place. But Dredd's world wasn't merely post-apocalyptic for long, as in this storyline, East-Meg One launches an all-out nuclear assault on Mega-City One. The result is devastating - the Big Meg's population is reduced from 800 million to 400 million as much of the city is reduced to radioactive rubble. Unable to penetrate the Sov's defences, Mega-City One & its greatest lawman are seriously on the ropes.
The subject of nuclear war is handled maturely, creatively & with Dredd's typical black, ironic & very British humour that came to typify the series & make it truly stand out. It also left quite a legacy on the Dredd universe. It gave Wagner & Grant the opportunity to create a whole host of colourful perps, muties & plagues twisted by radition in future storylines. More significantly, Wagners' desire to bring some social commentary to the series is combined perfectly with Dredd running round killing the baddies & saving his uncaring city but never getting the girl.
Also included is 'Death Lives' - Judge Death returns & this time he's brought some friends with him! This volume also contains The Mega Rackets - a series of short stories centred around organised crimes of the future. These range from the quirky (peaceful aliens farmed for their youth-giving properties) to the dark (virtually unstoppable Gila Munja mutant assassins). These stories are OK but not on par with the other classics which make up most of this volume - which certainly represent good value for money!
judge dredd vol 4, 24 Jul 2008
this a big book, a hefty book but when you are dealing with judge dredd they don`t do things small, the big story is the judge child, another excellent dredd epic, my wife thinks i`m mad reading these again but she does`nt understand the thrill power behind it ,poor woman !!!!!!!!!!!!
Cements on Greatness, 05 Jul 2007
If you've been following the series thus far, you'll know that a lot of Dredd's early stories - even as late as Book 3 - simply weren't very good. Having not read any of these the first time around I'm free of rose-tinted glasses, and can readily admit it. Book 1 was riddled with them, let's face it; Book 2 had one or two sneak into the back; and while Book 3 on the whole managed to avoid them, it's Book 4 that is entirely free of the blighters.
Seriously - I dare you to find a single clunker in this volume - and considering the size of it, it's no mean feat to have avoided any. This book represents a creative team hitting their peak. Finally at ease with both the character of Dredd and the world he inhabits (boy, this strip sure did take a long time to find its feet) John Wagner, joined here by writing partner Alan Grant, really goes to town. So comfortable have they become with Mega-City One that they send Dredd off on a galaxy-spanning quest, letting us see into this previously unexplored area of his universe. Classic villians aplenty are thrown into the mix to test their wits against him - the Angel gang in particular emerge as brilliant creations - and, in the same way that we were introduced to Anderson for the first time last volume - Dredd's supporting cast gets several more noteworthy additions. At times it's difficult to believe that only two men wrote this book, so bursting with ideas is it. Horror, out-and-out sci-fi, comedy, adventure - the stories cover everything.
The art team hits a peak here, too. The bulk of the art chores are handled by Bolland, McMahon and realtive newcomer to the strip Ron Smith - between them, these three giants of Dredd's early years show that no-one can draw Dredd quite like they can. You simply can't fault it. There were even better things on the horizon, but this could quite rightly be considered the start of Dredd's golden years.
Dredd Evolved, 02 Aug 2006
The collected volumes in this series certainly demonstrate how the most influential UK comic book character developed over time. I deliberately didn't buy the first volume because I remember the early Dredd stories as being not as interesting or well-written as the later ones - this feeling was confirmed when reading the Cursed Earth storyline in volume 2 for the very first time.
With volume 4, however, the series becomes a lot more interesting. The first half of this collection consists of The Judge Child Quest, while the second half is assorted shorter storylines involving Dredd cracking heads on the streets.
Frankly, I had forgotten how good the Judge Child Quest was. I had forgotten how charismatic the Angel Gang were & how very, very alien the aliens are. Forget Star Trek & its people with prosthetic lumps on their heads acting like humans - here we have a surreal Monty Python-esque world where illegal 'aliens' stay in a building shaped like a giant foot & the human Dredd seeks is literally disappearing one piece at a time. Then there's the planet where the rich have their minds stored in biochips & hire other peoples' bodies & a world where every day a new war is fought & televised, purely for entertainment. The choice of artists is well thought-out, too - his imagination & attention to background detail make Bolland perfect for The Jigsaw Man whereas McMahon's moodier style suits the gothic horror of the oracle spice plot arc.
While The Judge Child Quest focuses on Dredd the action hero, 'Alone In The Crowd' is a critique of Mega-City One's totalitarian society. A citizen keeps his head down while muggers attack another passer-by. When Dredd later collars the muggers, another citizen keeps his head down & displays an equal amount of fear. A further hint of similar themes to come is 'Un-American Graffiti', featuring the first appearance of Chopper, the thrill-seeking, freedom-obsessed hero of the people who later became a very significant character in Dredd's world. Also included is the revenge of Fink Angel, one of my favourite villains as a child.
Reading this volume in hindsight means that a seemingly insignificant story in which the Sovs attack Mega-City One is clearly a precursor to the Apocalypse War storyline collected in volume 5. The Apocalypse War is the point where Dredd's world really turned around & became a lot more interesting, innovative & mature than the average 2000AD action strip. I have only given this collection 4 stars because 5 are reserved for that volume.
Collected dredd, 30 Jul 2006
This is the fourth book in a long series that collects all of Dredds adventures in one format, the main story in this collection is The search for the Judge Child which see's the first apperence of Judge Hershey. This is a fantastic series both for new and old readers alike.
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL2, 11 Jul 2008
UTTERLY BRILLIANT WHAT A TREAT TO READ THESE MAGNIFICENT STORIES AGAIN, ALMOST TIME TRAVEL WHEN I OPENED PAGE ONE SUPERB STUFF
Two fantastic epics in one book, what more could you ask for, 11 Apr 2008
Dredd gets his first big multi-part stories in this book with The Cursed Earth and Judge Cal - The Day The Law Died. The Cursed Earth story is a load of fun, Dredd gets to do battle with some outrageous characters and creatures with some amazing artwork from Bolland and McMahon. When Dredd successfully completes The Cursed Earth saga, instead of getting a proper thank you, he's immediately targetted by 'head of SJS' Judge Cal, who rapidly rises to Chief Judge, and so begins Cal's reign of terror. It's an awesome story with plenty of entertaining characters and a fittingly insane ending, a real classic.
JUGE CAL, 02 Mar 2007
JUDGE CAL, enough said really.
What happens when you get Mega City 1 controlled my a psychotic madman with an ego the size of cursed Earth and a god complex? Well I don't want to spoil things too much, but the answer is absolute mayhem, with guns, bombs, guns and bombs and aliens and explosions and slap bang in the middle of it all Judge Dredd.
Whilst the Cursed Earth saga is good, and by good I mean very, very good with its Mafia Judges and Tweak, it pales in comparison to the "Day the Law died" story line.
Two fantastic epics in one volume.
Great!
Getting better and better, 15 Jan 2007
Whereas some of the first volume feels extremely dated and often naive( but still vital reading), this is where the style of Dredd begins to develop. The Cursed Earth remains a land mark as does the second epic The Day the Law Died.
By comparison to later Dredd the story telling may not flow as well and the second epic suffers somewhat in terms of continuity from the constant changing of artists but overall the book rolls along at a cracking pace.
It's great to see Dredd leaping out of one epic and straight into another. Maybe 2000ad's current editors could learn a lesson from this. The longer stories always offer much more in so many ways. A great purchase and one not to be missed.
And here's where it really got good..., 13 Jul 2006
Whereas the continuity of the first Dredd Case Files collection was very slap-dash, here we start to get a lot of much-needed history and backstory for Dredd's world, establishing why the Judges came about, how their world became like it is, what surrounds the city, etc. In short, Dredd's world finally feels three-dimensional and fully-realised, and is much the better for it.
The bulk of the book is taken up by Dredd's first two epics, and this creates a far more stable line-up of creators (only two writers, for instance) that again give the adventures a more coherent voice and feel. The first tale, Pat Mills' The Cursed Earth, is absolutely manic - mutants, tyrannosuars, vampires, aliens, punk bikers, vengeful robot armies and gambling-obsessed mafia judges all throw themselves at Dredd in a roaring blood and guts epic that never lets up once. By the time you get to the base-under-seige ending, you'll actually be breathless, I guarantee it. John Wagner's The Day the Law Died slows things down (but only a little) and lets a raving maniac take complete power of Mega-city One. The results are too brilliantly mad-cap to go into here, but the wonderful satire and black humour in this tale mean the more unstable line-up of artists doesn't really matter. It's worth it anyway just to see a goldfish become Deputy Chief Judge.
As for the art - Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland are of course the stars, dominating the book as they do, McMahon's sometimes scratchy-looking art still conveying a madcap energy and glee at working on such stories, and Bolland producing some of the most intricate, detailed, well-handled art in comics. An essential purchase, containing classic Dredd tales only possibly bettered by what's to come in Books 4 and 5...
The Law at War, 05 Jul 2007
This volume starts off on a pretty low-key note after the wall-to-wall brilliance of book 4's stories. Dredd investigating the Mega-rackets is inoffensive, entertaining stuff but not really anything special. It's when Judge Death makes his long-awaited comeback that the magic starts to happen. This five-parter, lushly illustrated by Brian Bolland, represent some of the finest pages ever seen in sequential comics - and contains the single most iconic panel in the history of the Dredd strip. You'll know the one when you see it.
And then came Block Mania and the Apocalypse War, an epic to end all epics at 30+ parts. Apocalyptic is the right word. Mega-City One is razed to the ground by atomic fire, half the city's population wiped out by tidal wave, radiation poisoning, bitter civil war and the merciless tanks of the Sov occupation. The use of Soviet-styled enemy judges dates the story a tad, but it's such a tour-de-force that that's a minor criticsm. More than any other, this is the story that really defined Dredd and put it on the map, generating stories for years to come. Because the Dredd strip unfolds in real-time, unlike most american comics, the after-effects of this mammoth event would haunt Dredd far into the future.
The whole thing is, once again, written solely by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and the Apocalypse War is drawn entirely by Carlos Ezquerra - the man who had originally designed Dredd and his uniform, but up to this point had been absent on the strip. After the chunky stylings of McMahon, and the fine detail of Smith and Bolland, Ezquerra's more euro-centric, almost brutal art comes as a bit of a shock, but it's perfect for the scope of the story. The story stands as a towering achievment for all concerned, and marks the moment Dredd really became a force to be reckoned with.
excellent, 09 May 2007
I am now on this book and have to say this is the best so far. The Cursed Earth series prior to this was excellent, but nothing beats Block Mania followed by Apocolypse War for me so far. In this series, everytime you think things can't get worse for Old Stoney Face they invariably do, but he just takes it on the chin and does what needs to be done. Some pretty shocking scenes in terms of death and Dreddy sure throws out justice on those who calls traitors...absolutely excellent. Yes the shorter stories about the Mega Rackets are interesting in terms of building the world of Dredd but are no way on a par with the series.
And yay Judge Death makes a comeback! Judge Anderson looks great in her outfit in this series, god knows how Dredd every stayed celibate...
"Next time, we get our retaliation in first!", 08 Aug 2006
If anyone new to Dredd has read the first couple of volumes in this collection & was disappointed, I would strongly recommend that you buy volume 5 & give Dredd another try. That's because this collection contains the Block Mania storyline, which unexpectedly leads into The Apocalypse War - a significant turning-point & one of the greatest epic tales in the series to date.
When this storyline was written, the Cold War was going strong - no doubt inspiring Wagner to set this series in a post-apocalyptic future in the first place. But Dredd's world wasn't merely post-apocalyptic for long, as in this storyline, East-Meg One launches an all-out nuclear assault on Mega-City One. The result is devastating - the Big Meg's population is reduced from 800 million to 400 million as much of the city is reduced to radioactive rubble. Unable to penetrate the Sov's defences, Mega-City One & its greatest lawman are seriously on the ropes.
The subject of nuclear war is handled maturely, creatively & with Dredd's typical black, ironic & very British humour that came to typify the series & make it truly stand out. It also left quite a legacy on the Dredd universe. It gave Wagner & Grant the opportunity to create a whole host of colourful perps, muties & plagues twisted by radition in future storylines. More significantly, Wagners' desire to bring some social commentary to the series is combined perfectly with Dredd running round killing the baddies & saving his uncaring city but never getting the girl.
Also included is 'Death Lives' - Judge Death returns & this time he's brought some friends with him! This volume also contains The Mega Rackets - a series of short stories centred around organised crimes of the future. These range from the quirky (peaceful aliens farmed for their youth-giving properties) to the dark (virtually unstoppable Gila Munja mutant assassins). These stories are OK but not on par with the other classics which make up most of this volume - which certainly represent good value for money!
judge dredd vol 4, 24 Jul 2008
this a big book, a hefty book but when you are dealing with judge dredd they don`t do things small, the big story is the judge child, another excellent dredd epic, my wife thinks i`m mad reading these again but she does`nt understand the thrill power behind it ,poor woman !!!!!!!!!!!!
Cements on Greatness, 05 Jul 2007
If you've been following the series thus far, you'll know that a lot of Dredd's early stories - even as late as Book 3 - simply weren't very good. Having not read any of these the first time around I'm free of rose-tinted glasses, and can readily admit it. Book 1 was riddled with them, let's face it; Book 2 had one or two sneak into the back; and while Book 3 on the whole managed to avoid them, it's Book 4 that is entirely free of the blighters.
Seriously - I dare you to find a single clunker in this volume - and considering the size of it, it's no mean feat to have avoided any. This book represents a creative team hitting their peak. Finally at ease with both the character of Dredd and the world he inhabits (boy, this strip sure did take a long time to find its feet) John Wagner, joined here by writing partner Alan Grant, really goes to town. So comfortable have they become with Mega-City One that they send Dredd off on a galaxy-spanning quest, letting us see into this previously unexplored area of his universe. Classic villians aplenty are thrown into the mix to test their wits against him - the Angel gang in particular emerge as brilliant creations - and, in the same way that we were introduced to Anderson for the first time last volume - Dredd's supporting cast gets several more noteworthy additions. At times it's difficult to believe that only two men wrote this book, so bursting with ideas is it. Horror, out-and-out sci-fi, comedy, adventure - the stories cover everything.
The art team hits a peak here, too. The bulk of the art chores are handled by Bolland, McMahon and realtive newcomer to the strip Ron Smith - between them, these three giants of Dredd's early years show that no-one can draw Dredd quite like they can. You simply can't fault it. There were even better things on the horizon, but this could quite rightly be considered the start of Dredd's golden years.
Dredd Evolved, 02 Aug 2006
The collected volumes in this series certainly demonstrate how the most influential UK comic book character developed over time. I deliberately didn't buy the first volume because I remember the early Dredd stories as being not as interesting or well-written as the later ones - this feeling was confirmed when reading the Cursed Earth storyline in volume 2 for the very first time.
With volume 4, however, the series becomes a lot more interesting. The first half of this collection consists of The Judge Child Quest, while the second half is assorted shorter storylines involving Dredd cracking heads on the streets.
Frankly, I had forgotten how good the Judge Child Quest was. I had forgotten how charismatic the Angel Gang were & how very, very alien the aliens are. Forget Star Trek & its people with prosthetic lumps on their heads acting like humans - here we have a surreal Monty Python-esque world where illegal 'aliens' stay in a building shaped like a giant foot & the human Dredd seeks is literally disappearing one piece at a time. Then there's the planet where the rich have their minds stored in biochips & hire other peoples' bodies & a world where every day a new war is fought & televised, purely for entertainment. The choice of artists is well thought-out, too - his imagination & attention to background detail make Bolland perfect for The Jigsaw Man whereas McMahon's moodier style suits the gothic horror of the oracle spice plot arc.
While The Judge Child Quest focuses on Dredd the action hero, 'Alone In The Crowd' is a critique of Mega-City One's totalitarian society. A citizen keeps his head down while muggers attack another passer-by. When Dredd later collars the muggers, another citizen keeps his head down & displays an equal amount of fear. A further hint of similar themes to come is 'Un-American Graffiti', featuring the first appearance of Chopper, the thrill-seeking, freedom-obsessed hero of the people who later became a very significant character in Dredd's world. Also included is the revenge of Fink Angel, one of my favourite villains as a child.
Reading this volume in hindsight means that a seemingly insignificant story in which the Sovs attack Mega-City One is clearly a precursor to the Apocalypse War storyline collected in volume 5. The Apocalypse War is the point where Dredd's world really turned around & became a lot more interesting, innovative & mature than the average 2000AD action strip. I have only given this collection 4 stars because 5 are reserved for that volume.
Collected dredd, 30 Jul 2006
This is the fourth book in a long series that collects all of Dredds adventures in one format, the main story in this collection is The search for the Judge Child which see's the first apperence of Judge Hershey. This is a fantastic series both for new and old readers alike.
Consistently fun with brilliant artwork., 02 Sep 2008
No mega-epics, Dark Judges or majorly continuity-important stories in here, but a very consistent collection of action-packed one offs and shorter stories. Grant and Wagner had really hit their stride by this point and although there's no Ezquerra the quality of the art in general is more consistent in this collection than ever with the old guard as brilliant as ever but nothing letting the side down (Brendan McCarthy really steps up his game brilliantly and Kevin O'Neill's twisted take on Dredd appears for I think the first time). Also, we get introduced to Kenny Who, Stan Lee(briefly) and The Taxidermist. Brilliant.
Another excellent collection, 30 Aug 2008
Here we are with the tenth collection of the consistenly excellent Judge Dredd.
The first thing you will notice with reading through the collection is there is a lack of the epic stories that have been the highlight of many of the previous collections.
Instead we get the slightly more personal stories that look at the citizens of Mega-City 1. There are two stories in particular that stood out for me and made this a must have purchase (I would have bought it anyway, but that's beside the point). They are the Taxidermist and The Art of Kenny Who.
The Taxidermist tells the story of a Taxidermist (surprised??) who has to do a "Favour" for a local crime lord. There is something I find amazing about this story, it's just a shame that we will have to wait a while for the sequel set around the Taxidermist Olympics.
The Art of Kenny Who tells the tale of an aspiring comic book artist who comes the the Big Meg to try and sell his work and earn some money for his family back in Scotland. This could be considered more a comedy of errors.
The art features some of the best examples of our homegrown talent with the likes of Cam Kennedy and Steve Dillon.
The only thing that knocks a point of for this is that The Art of Kenny Who has already appeared in a collection, showing of his full saga. But I suppose it wouldn't be the complete case files without it.
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Maria the housemaid or Walter the Wobot , and I know that there are stories in future collected editions that fully deserve five out of five .
This is definately the place to start if you want to read about one of the UK's most memorable fictional characters for the last thirty years .
This brings back good memories, 29 Jun 2007
I still have all the original 2000ADs from program 1 but the older ones are yellowing and delicate now. How great it is to find all those original stories collected together so that I can re-read them without damaging my originals. Just looking at this collection reminds me of the robot war, Call-me-Kenneth, Walter, Whitey, Rico and all the rest of those great early characters. Can't wait to get this in the mail from Amazon. My only major criticism is that this collection is in paperback format - Dredd deserves to be in hardback!
Now, thinking of these old progs makes me remember Flesh - but sadly that great 2000AD series is not yet available. Hopefully soon.
Classic Dredd, 25 Jun 2007
I have always been a big fan of Judge Dredd and rate him as one of my top comic creations, so I am probably a little biased here. I remember reading these when my father bought me 2000AD back in the 70s when I was a child and what I liked then I still like now. Over the years I have lost touch with Dredd and could only find collections in his more well known stories or the old Titan releases, but never a complete collection of the stand alone strips. Now finally someone has had the good sense to issue the back catalogue of Dredd in these rather good books and about time too. A must have for any true Judge Dredd fan.
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL2, 11 Jul 2008
UTTERLY BRILLIANT WHAT A TREAT TO READ THESE MAGNIFICENT STORIES AGAIN, ALMOST TIME TRAVEL WHEN I OPENED PAGE ONE SUPERB STUFF
Two fantastic epics in one book, what more could you ask for, 11 Apr 2008
Dredd gets his first big multi-part stories in this book with The Cursed Earth and Judge Cal - The Day The Law Died. The Cursed Earth story is a load of fun, Dredd gets to do battle with some outrageous characters and creatures with some amazing artwork from Bolland and McMahon. When Dredd successfully completes The Cursed Earth saga, instead of getting a proper thank you, he's immediately targetted by 'head of SJS' Judge Cal, who rapidly rises to Chief Judge, and so begins Cal's reign of terror. It's an awesome story with plenty of entertaining characters and a fittingly insane ending, a real classic.
JUGE CAL, 02 Mar 2007
JUDGE CAL, enough said really.
What happens when you get Mega City 1 controlled my a psychotic madman with an ego the size of cursed Earth and a god complex? Well I don't want to spoil things too much, but the answer is absolute mayhem, with guns, bombs, guns and bombs and aliens and explosions and slap bang in the middle of it all Judge Dredd.
Whilst the Cursed Earth saga is good, and by good I mean very, very good with its Mafia Judges and Tweak, it pales in comparison to the "Day the Law died" story line.
Two fantastic epics in one volume.
Great!
Getting better and better, 15 Jan 2007
Whereas some of the first volume feels extremely dated and often naive( but still vital reading), this is where the style of Dredd begins to develop. The Cursed Earth remains a land mark as does the second epic The Day the Law Died.
By comparison to later Dredd the story telling may not flow as well and the second epic suffers somewhat in terms of continuity from the constant changing of artists but overall the book rolls along at a cracking pace.
It's great to see Dredd leaping out of one epic and straight into another. Maybe 2000ad's current editors could learn a lesson from this. The longer stories always offer much more in so many ways. A great purchase and one not to be missed.
And here's where it really got good..., 13 Jul 2006
Whereas the continuity of the first Dredd Case Files collection was very slap-dash, here we start to get a lot of much-needed history and backstory for Dredd's world, establishing why the Judges came about, how their world became like it is, what surrounds the city, etc. In short, Dredd's world finally feels three-dimensional and fully-realised, and is much the better for it.
The bulk of the book is taken up by Dredd's first two epics, and this creates a far more stable line-up of creators (only two writers, for instance) that again give the adventures a more coherent voice and feel. The first tale, Pat Mills' The Cursed Earth, is absolutely manic - mutants, tyrannosuars, vampires, aliens, punk bikers, vengeful robot armies and gambling-obsessed mafia judges all throw themselves at Dredd in a roaring blood and guts epic that never lets up once. By the time you get to the base-under-seige ending, you'll actually be breathless, I guarantee it. John Wagner's The Day the Law Died slows things down (but only a little) and lets a raving maniac take complete power of Mega-city One. The results are too brilliantly mad-cap to go into here, but the wonderful satire and black humour in this tale mean the more unstable line-up of artists doesn't really matter. It's worth it anyway just to see a goldfish become Deputy Chief Judge.
As for the art - Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland are of course the stars, dominating the book as they do, McMahon's sometimes scratchy-looking art still conveying a madcap energy and glee at working on such stories, and Bolland producing some of the most intricate, detailed, well-handled art in comics. An essential purchase, containing classic Dredd tales only possibly bettered by what's to come in Books 4 and 5...
The Law at War, 05 Jul 2007
This volume starts off on a pretty low-key note after the wall-to-wall brilliance of book 4's stories. Dredd investigating the Mega-rackets is inoffensive, entertaining stuff but not really anything special. It's when Judge Death makes his long-awaited comeback that the magic starts to happen. This five-parter, lushly illustrated by Brian Bolland, represent some of the finest pages ever seen in sequential comics - and contains the single most iconic panel in the history of the Dredd strip. You'll know the one when you see it.
And then came Block Mania and the Apocalypse War, an epic to end all epics at 30+ parts. Apocalyptic is the right word. Mega-City One is razed to the ground by atomic fire, half the city's population wiped out by tidal wave, radiation poisoning, bitter civil war and the merciless tanks of the Sov occupation. The use of Soviet-styled enemy judges dates the story a tad, but it's such a tour-de-force that that's a minor criticsm. More than any other, this is the story that really defined Dredd and put it on the map, generating stories for years to come. Because the Dredd strip unfolds in real-time, unlike most american comics, the after-effects of this mammoth event would haunt Dredd far into the future.
The whole thing is, once again, written solely by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and the Apocalypse War is drawn entirely by Carlos Ezquerra - the man who had originally designed Dredd and his uniform, but up to this point had been absent on the strip. After the chunky stylings of McMahon, and the fine detail of Smith and Bolland, Ezquerra's more euro-centric, almost brutal art comes as a bit of a shock, but it's perfect for the scope of the story. The story stands as a towering achievment for all concerned, and marks the moment Dredd really became a force to be reckoned with.
excellent, 09 May 2007
I am now on this book and have to say this is the best so far. The Cursed Earth series prior to this was excellent, but nothing beats Block Mania followed by Apocolypse War for me so far. In this series, everytime you think things can't get worse for Old Stoney Face they invariably do, but he just takes it on the chin and does what needs to be done. Some pretty shocking scenes in terms of death and Dreddy sure throws out justice on those who calls traitors...absolutely excellent. Yes the shorter stories about the Mega Rackets are interesting in terms of building the world of Dredd but are no way on a par with the series.
And yay Judge Death makes a comeback! Judge Anderson looks great in her outfit in this series, god knows how Dredd every stayed celibate...
"Next time, we get our retaliation in first!", 08 Aug 2006
If anyone new to Dredd has read the first couple of volumes in this collection & was disappointed, I would strongly recommend that you buy volume 5 & give Dredd another try. That's because this collection contains the Block Mania storyline, which unexpectedly leads into The Apocalypse War - a significant turning-point & one of the greatest epic tales in the series to date.
When this storyline was written, the Cold War was going strong - no doubt inspiring Wagner to set this series in a post-apocalyptic future in the first place. But Dredd's world wasn't merely post-apocalyptic for long, as in this storyline, East-Meg One launches an all-out nuclear assault on Mega-City One. The result is devastating - the Big Meg's population is reduced from 800 million to 400 million as much of the city is reduced to radioactive rubble. Unable to penetrate the Sov's defences, Mega-City One & its greatest lawman are seriously on the ropes.
The subject of nuclear war is handled maturely, creatively & with Dredd's typical black, ironic & very British humour that came to typify the series & make it truly stand out. It also left quite a legacy on the Dredd universe. It gave Wagner & Grant the opportunity to create a whole host of colourful perps, muties & plagues twisted by radition in future storylines. More significantly, Wagners' desire to bring some social commentary to the series is combined perfectly with Dredd running round killing the baddies & saving his uncaring city but never getting the girl.
Also included is 'Death Lives' - Judge Death returns & this time he's brought some friends with him! This volume also contains The Mega Rackets - a series of short stories centred around organised crimes of the future. These range from the quirky (peaceful aliens farmed for their youth-giving properties) to the dark (virtually unstoppable Gila Munja mutant assassins). These stories are OK but not on par with the other classics which make up most of this volume - which certainly represent good value for money!
judge dredd vol 4, 24 Jul 2008
this a big book, a hefty book but when you are dealing with judge dredd they don`t do things small, the big story is the judge child, another excellent dredd epic, my wife thinks i`m mad reading these again but she does`nt understand the thrill power behind it ,poor woman !!!!!!!!!!!!
Cements on Greatness, 05 Jul 2007
If you've been following the series thus far, you'll know that a lot of Dredd's early stories - even as late as Book 3 - simply weren't very good. Having not read any of these the first time around I'm free of rose-tinted glasses, and can readily admit it. Book 1 was riddled with them, let's face it; Book 2 had one or two sneak into the back; and while Book 3 on the whole managed to avoid them, it's Book 4 that is entirely free of the blighters.
Seriously - I dare you to find a single clunker in this volume - and considering the size of it, it's no mean feat to have avoided any. This book represents a creative team hitting their peak. Finally at ease with both the character of Dredd and the world he inhabits (boy, this strip sure did take a long time to find its feet) John Wagner, joined here by writing partner Alan Grant, really goes to town. So comfortable have they become with Mega-City One that they send Dredd off on a galaxy-spanning quest, letting us see into this previously unexplored area of his universe. Classic villians aplenty are thrown into the mix to test their wits against him - the Angel gang in particular emerge as brilliant creations - and, in the same way that we were introduced to Anderson for the first time last volume - Dredd's supporting cast gets several more noteworthy additions. At times it's difficult to believe that only two men wrote this book, so bursting with ideas is it. Horror, out-and-out sci-fi, comedy, adventure - the stories cover everything.
The art team hits a peak here, too. The bulk of the art chores are handled by Bolland, McMahon and realtive newcomer to the strip Ron Smith - between them, these three giants of Dredd's early years show that no-one can draw Dredd quite like they can. You simply can't fault it. There were even better things on the horizon, but this could quite rightly be considered the start of Dredd's golden years.
Dredd Evolved, 02 Aug 2006
The collected volumes in this series certainly demonstrate how the most influential UK comic book character developed over time. I deliberately didn't buy the first volume because I remember the early Dredd stories as being not as interesting or well-written as the later ones - this feeling was confirmed when reading the Cursed Earth storyline in volume 2 for the very first time.
With volume 4, however, the series becomes a lot more interesting. The first half of this collection consists of The Judge Child Quest, while the second half is assorted shorter storylines involving Dredd cracking heads on the streets.
Frankly, I had forgotten how good the Judge Child Quest was. I had forgotten how charismatic the Angel Gang were & how very, very alien the aliens are. Forget Star Trek & its people with prosthetic lumps on their heads acting like humans - here we have a surreal Monty Python-esque world where illegal 'aliens' stay in a building shaped like a giant foot & the human Dredd seeks is literally disappearing one piece at a time. Then there's the planet where the rich have their minds stored in biochips & hire other peoples' bodies & a world where every day a new war is fought & televised, purely for entertainment. The choice of artists is well thought-out, too - his imagination & attention to background detail make Bolland perfect for The Jigsaw Man whereas McMahon's moodier style suits the gothic horror of the oracle spice plot arc.
While The Judge Child Quest focuses on Dredd the action hero, 'Alone In The Crowd' is a critique of Mega-City One's totalitarian society. A citizen keeps his head down while muggers attack another passer-by. When Dredd later collars the muggers, another citizen keeps his head down & displays an equal amount of fear. A further hint of similar themes to come is 'Un-American Graffiti', featuring the first appearance of Chopper, the thrill-seeking, freedom-obsessed hero of the people who later became a very significant character in Dredd's world. Also included is the revenge of Fink Angel, one of my favourite villains as a child.
Reading this volume in hindsight means that a seemingly insignificant story in which the Sovs attack Mega-City One is clearly a precursor to the Apocalypse War storyline collected in volume 5. The Apocalypse War is the point where Dredd's world really turned around & became a lot more interesting, innovative & mature than the average 2000AD action strip. I have only given this collection 4 stars because 5 are reserved for that volume.
Collected dredd, 30 Jul 2006
This is the fourth book in a long series that collects all of Dredds adventures in one format, the main story in this collection is The search for the Judge Child which see's the first apperence of Judge Hershey. This is a fantastic series both for new and old readers alike.
Consistently fun with brilliant artwork., 02 Sep 2008
No mega-epics, Dark Judges or majorly continuity-important stories in here, but a very consistent collection of action-packed one offs and shorter stories. Grant and Wagner had really hit their stride by this point and although there's no Ezquerra the quality of the art in general is more consistent in this collection than ever with the old guard as brilliant as ever but nothing letting the side down (Brendan McCarthy really steps up his game brilliantly and Kevin O'Neill's twisted take on Dredd appears for I think the first time). Also, we get introduced to Kenny Who, Stan Lee(briefly) and The Taxidermist. Brilliant.
Another excellent collection, 30 Aug 2008
Here we are with the tenth collection of the consistenly excellent Judge Dredd.
The first thing you will notice with reading through the collection is there is a lack of the epic stories that have been the highlight of many of the previous collections.
Instead we get the slightly more personal stories that look at the citizens of Mega-City 1. There are two stories in particular that stood out for me and made this a must have purchase (I would have bought it anyway, but that's beside the point). They are the Taxidermist and The Art of Kenny Who.
The Taxidermist tells the story of a Taxidermist (surprised??) who has to do a "Favour" for a local crime lord. There is something I find amazing about this story, it's just a shame that we will have to wait a while for the sequel set around the Taxidermist Olympics.
The Art of Kenny Who tells the tale of an aspiring comic book artist who comes the the Big Meg to try and sell his work and earn some money for his family back in Scotland. This could be considered more a comedy of errors.
The art features some of the best examples of our homegrown talent with the likes of Cam Kennedy and Steve Dillon.
The only thing that knocks a point of for this is that The Art of Kenny Who has already appeared in a collection, showing of his full saga. But I suppose it wouldn't be the complete case files without it.
judge dredd vol 3, 24 Jul 2008
arrggggghhhhhhh to much thrill power !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, once again the dredd time machine spins back the years to my childhood one word ,brilliant.
Slimmer but slicker, 05 Jul 2007
A much shorter book of early Dredd adventures than volumes 1 and 2, but no less essential for that.
Having established a lot of the history and set-up of Dredd's world in book 2, building a more solid world around him than the often naive and slapdash environment seen in Book 1, the strip really starts to take off here. It's as though, having realised just what possibilities Dredd's world offered during the course of writing the Cursed Earth and Judge Cal epics, writer John Wagner decides to really start pushing some boundaries and having fun.
After his 'baptism of fire' during book 2's twin epics, Dredd himself emerges here as a character really worth reading - beginning the move away from the frankly childish figure of the strip's first year to the fascinatingly flawed and layered lawman we know and love today. And his city, Mega-City One, starts to take on a shape of its own. We find out where citizens live, what they do for fun, where they work, what they drive - gameshows, fashion trends, food brands, it's all explored here - and all with typically madcap future twists. In short, the book is in effect an exercise in worldbuilding. It may be short, but there are far more of the staples of Dredd's oddball enviroment created here than in both the previous volumes.
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Customer Reviews
Decent collection, crappy cover, 03 Oct 2008
Another decent addition to the Complete Judge Dredd collection - OZ was never one of my favourite storylines but it's still pretty entertaining. However, I must agree with the previous review, the cover is awful. Gone are the classy, simple, 2-tone covers of the previous 10 volumes. It it's place is this gaudy mess. What's a matter Rebellion, can't your art director choose more than 10 colours without running out of ideas? Do us a favour, buy him a Pantone book and go back to the earlier style.
Another great volume, almost, 02 Oct 2008
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 11 is another excellent addition to the series, most notably for the 'Chopper in Oz' storyline.
But why oh why did they choose to change the cover design?!? The first ten volumes look lovely on my shelf, and now this book is about to upset the equilibrium with inverted colours and a Dredd shield in place of the 'U'!
Bah. I guess I'm just far too picky...
JUDGE DREDD CASE FILES VOL 1, 11 Jul 2008
BEWARE WHEN OPENING THIS BOOK THE THRILL POWER WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF, IT DOES NOT FADE WITH AGE IN FACT IT GETS STRONGER, THERE ARE NOT THE WORDS THAT I KNOW TO DESCRIBE THE EXCELLENCE OF THESE COLLECTED WORKS, JUDGE DREDD IS AWESOME ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT, BUY THEM AND RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD I DID
ALL HAIL THE DREDD MAN
JD - How it all started!, 11 Apr 2008
Right from Judge Dredd's first ever battle, taking on the villain 'Whitey', there was always something amazingly original and imaginative about Dredd and Mega City 1. This books contains all the classic early stories and shows Dredd in his full butt-kicking glory, the stories are all fairly simple but this is a great introduction to the world of Dredd.
Completely Zarjaz (tm)!!, 16 Oct 2007
As a long time 2000 AD fan during the 70s 80s and 90s , I was thrilled to see the publishers of 2000AD ( Rebellion ) take a leaf out of the big publishing houses in the US and amass the collected works of this iconic individual into an easy to read book . The irony that he has become a British icon despite being an American has not been lost on me .
The evolution of the Judges system of justice and Mega City One throughout the book is interesting to read about , and it is only towards the end that the Judge Dredd that we know and love comes to the fore . The stories themselves are quite caustic in places in terms of their social commentary , whuich can raise the odd wry smile . Sure the book has dated in places due to this , but it is also threatening to be worryingly accurate in other places .
Why only four stars ? Well , I'm not a fan of Ma | | |