Tell me about a good reading order for Judge Dredd

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > BSS: Bisexual Super Son > Tell me about a good reading order for Judge Dredd

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

zer0spunk posted:

Bumping this thread because I'm starting this series. My gameplan is to follow the read order for the first 40 volumes with stuff like cursed earth uncensored jammed in (case files 2 etc etc) which ends up in about 2000 publishing year wise.

Then I guess go in prog order from 2000-current. And if that doesn't kill me, I guess try and track down the megazine's where case files 32 will leave off...and then I guess the 2 dc versions, the strange fleetway version, and then the myriad of idw stuff including the 7 2012 movie version stories...

Jesus christ.

I'll post my progress every now and then until I give up.

Here's my suggestion: don't do this

Seriously, reading it all in order will destroy you. I'm speaking from experience here, I'm working on reading all of the progs and the best decision I made was to abandon the "in order" part of my project. Find stories you want to read, or by important creators,and jump on there, and then jump back and rad other stuff and keep switching it up. From the beginning is a fools errand

# ¿ Aug 26, 2018 00:47

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 01:51

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

zer0spunk posted:

How far are you in terms of prog number?

I find this whole thing super fascinating. You have a story that starts in 2099 and then moves in realtime while the character also ages in realtime to the point where he's 75 "now". Not to mention it's a fairly controlled continuity unlike most characters of the medium so it's a pretty solid overall serialized story considering that just spans an entire actual 41 years..It's pretty insane if you think about it. Plus starting from the get-go really shows just how different people had 0 grasp on what the tone of the thing should be yet..is it a celebration of facist violence as a fantasy as satire? is it a black comedy about the consequences of violence and facism? is a serious piece that serves as a warning of absolutism? (lets try all of it at once!)

I'm also kinda excited to get to the point where current well-known folks start popping up on the creative side. I can only imagine the sheer number of writers across every special, annual, prog et all..

I really don't mind the early awkwardness of it the first 7-8 years I guess..most of it being smaller "arcs" mean it's easy to just pick up randomly...

I've bounced around a bunch, I've read about three hundred progs at this point though. Biggest chunk is definitely from 1500 to 1620ish, working on getting caught up to where I jumped in weekly

# ¿ Aug 26, 2018 22:42

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

My issue is less a quality thing and more that you will get bogged down in everything feeling samey for a while, it's easier to do those early strips pre Cursed Earth in a couple of chunks that you mix in with other stuff

Also I don't think Case files collects the dead man which is bullshit

# ¿ Aug 26, 2018 22:43

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Jedit posted:

It doesn't, because it isn't a Judge Dredd story. You can pick it up as a separate volume though (and should).

It literally stars Dredd himself and is an important part of making Necropolis work because otherwise you have him leaving and being replaced by Kraken, and then suddenly he's some gross high plains drifter who shows up halfway through Necropolis with no explanation for how he knows shits popping off

It should be included

# ¿ Aug 27, 2018 17:44

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

My suggestion is just read Electra Glide in Silver over and over and maybe throw in A Night in Sylvia Plath occasionally because they're the best stories

# ¿ Aug 27, 2018 18:02

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Payndz posted:

Not really; more a mash-up of AW, Necropolis and Young Death, with elements of The Judge Child (Murd) and crossing over with another strip (Strontium Dog) for no reason other than it can. The villain is just a poo poo version of Sidney D'eath with an even more ridiculous name, and the story kills off a ton of the supporting cast to little effect. It moves at a good clip and it gives Dredd and Johnny Alpha some decent "aren't we badass" moments, but there's nothing original in it at all.

The same's true of Ennis's other big event, Helter Skelter, which basically exists to bring back a load of dead villains so Dredd can kill them again. Between the two of them it feels like Ennis wanted to play with Wagner and Grant's toys, but couldn't think of anything better to do with them than bash them together like a three-year-old with his Hot Wheels. His smaller stories are much better, when he's actually using his own ideas rather than recycling Wagner's.

In Ennis defense he thinks that event sucked rear end in hindsight

# ¿ Aug 28, 2018 05:41

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Jedit posted:

The Dead Man stars Dredd, but it is not a Judge Dredd story because it wasn't published under the masthead. The Case Files are a collection of stories published under the regular masthead, so The Dead Man couldn't be included no matter how much sense it makes.

Sure and I'm saying that's dumb and they shouldn't have done it that way namaste

# ¿ Aug 28, 2018 06:13

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Heavy Metal posted:

That's why it's so cool and inspiring to me that John Wagner is still writing there (though less often), has a weekly sequel to the old Mechanismo storyline going right now. Pat Mills also still writes there. Pretty unprecedented, 40+ years of Wagner largely steering the Judge Dredd ship. Beautiful stuff.

It's also a sequel to a robot judge story from like two years ago! It's so good, I love that Dredd can't abide robot judges partly because they're, ironically, not cold unfeelong justice machines

# ¿ Apr 30, 2019 00:25

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Payndz posted:

Dredd has become fractionally more liberal and tolerant in his old age (when Wagner's writing him, at least). Problem is, any time he actually tries to do something to improve the system and make it a little more about justice than merely law, it has horrible unforeseen consequences. Small wonder he's always so pissed off.

About the only thing he's done along those lines without hideous blowback has been getting Beeny promoted to the Council of Five, she managing to be both his best protégée and a reformer in a way that he never can and never will, but there's plenty of time for things to fall apart.

Dredd also only budges when forced. Tour of Duty doesn't happen without Fargo telling him the system is hosed up AND Dredd meeting his cousins

# ¿ Apr 30, 2019 00:26

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Jedit posted:

Case Files 33 came out last week, if anyone missed it. We're now only 18 years behind, woo!

In eight more toull be roughly to the best run the series has ever had

Tour of Duty is the perfect Dredd story

Fight me cowards

# ¿ May 2, 2019 03:00

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 01:51

BENGHAZI 2: Oct 13, 2007; by Cyrano4747

Hot take necropolis sucks

# ¿ May 2, 2019 23:15

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > BSS: Bisexual Super Son > Tell me about a good reading order for Judge Dredd