Judge Dredd Casefiles

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've been picking up these collection of Dredd stories for a while now but thought I'd start a thread and go through them in order, as I'm hooked and definitely plan to get at least the first twenty.

I'm about a third of the way through the first Casefile and in many, many ways it reflects the Dredd we know and love, but it's clear they're still finding their way in to the world of Mega City One and quite a few elements would change. It's probably not jarring to a first time reader yet references to reports from "Police Control" and seeing "The new police bloodhound robot" caught me off guard, but the biggest shock was seeing Dredd quit and hand his shield after one argument with the Grand Judge



As for the stories themselves, I think this collection is slightly patchy at the beginning, but understandably so, and I've enjoyed a certain Kevin O'Neill and his robots causing mayhem, the thieves who steal old cars which led to this moment:



and I'll be interested to hear if that's ever explained, or if from now I'll be picturing Dredd as terribly and horribly disfigured. I've just finished "Call Me Kenneth" which really impressed, and the Heavy Metal Kids singing mad songs was delightfully weird and funny, and I'm really looking forward to what comes next.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I started them a while ago but stalled somewhere around 11 or 12; I might start from the beginning again.

[Pink Gregory]

Call-Me-Kenneth is ace; "Ah yes, Adolf Hitler, I'm a big fan"

I got the casefiles books at about one a month up to the Apocalypse war; a real education as to which artists you have a taste for.

Really love Ezquerra and McMahon in particular - don't like Ron Smith's Dredd at all but I love his mutants.

Favourite single story has to be the genetically modified monkey mafia.

Shame about

Spoiler alert

Judge Giant

[close]

, but it raises the stakes I suppose.

[madhair60]

I have the first six of these; I'd like to get them all but fuckin' space man. At a premium!

[bgmnts]

I'd love to start reading Dredd when I can afford to get some of these books. The only 2000AD I've read is Halo Jones which is great.

Is it a fascist satire parody or does it play it straight?

[Pink Gregory]

Read up to where Walter appears and tell me if it's being played straight.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Call-Me-Kenneth is ace; "Ah yes, Adolf Hitler, I'm a big fan"

I got the casefiles books at about one a month up to the Apocalypse war; a real education as to which artists you have a taste for.

Really love Ezquerra and McMahon in particular - don't like Ron Smith's Dredd at all but I love his mutants.

Favourite single story has to be the genetically modified monkey mafia.

Shame about

Spoiler alert

Judge Giant

[close]

, but it raises the stakes I suppose.

I read book 2 before book 1 (as the latter took 3 weeks to arrive from some seller in Germany who I'll never use again), and the Judge Giant aspect is just bizarre, and him calling Dredd baby all the time seems weird. I've written up my notes for Casefiles 2 once I've finished 1, and as I loved it to pieces as a whole.

I do love Ezquerra and McMahon but I'm also fond of Ron Smith's clean, sharp style, and Bolland, McCarthy and Ewins turn in superb work in casefiles 2.

I'd love to start reading Dredd when I can afford to get some of these books. The only 2000AD I've read is Halo Jones which is great.

Is it a fascist satire parody or does it play it straight?

It's definitely a mix of fascist satire and parody a lot of the time, the first few issues play it fairly straight and Dredd seems quite humane compared to the brutal character he'd soon become, but it's not long before the satire comes in to it.


And as Pink Gregory mentions, Walter is a very obvious comedy character.

Spoiler alert

I don't actually remember when he was written out, but I am looking forward to seeing that as while I found him funny at first (especially in Call Me Kenneth) he did begin to grate a little bit after a while.

[close]

[jobotic]

Walter was pretty funny in the Judge Cal story.

[13 schoolyards]

There's a real difference once you get past The Day the Law Died - the writing team is firmly Wagner / Grant (writing as TB Grover) and they commit both to the satirical elements and Dredd being a real hard bastard. A lot of the comedy cast get shunted aside as well, as the focus becomes much more Dredd vs the craziness of Mega-City 1.

I reckon Smith comes into his own as a Dredd artist after the Apocalypse War, I'm not quite sure what it is about his earlier work (though who doesn't love his two-gun version of Dredd?) but it doesn't quite click for me. I guess as well he's a better contrast with Ezquerra in the post-Apocalypse run, before that when he's up against Bolland's slickness he always seems a little second best.

[SweetPomPom]

There's a lot of good Smith stuff in the Daily Star strips which are in a separate collection.

[Pink Gregory]

I reckon Smith comes into his own as a Dredd artist after the Apocalypse War, I'm not quite sure what it is about his earlier work (though who doesn't love his two-gun version of Dredd?) but it doesn't quite click for me. I guess as well he's a better contrast with Ezquerra in the post-Apocalypse run, before that when he's up against Bolland's slickness he always seems a little second best.

I feel like Smith was the one I came across the most, reading them in order.  He must have been an absolute workhorse.  Hence doing the Daily Star strips as well I suppose.

[Norton Canes]

Kenneth Niemand (who else?) wrote a fantastic strip 'Mega-City 2099' in issue 451 of the Dredd Megazine recently. It totally captures the action-packed feel of the very early Dredd stories but also features a lot of the wayward nascent continuity like the police force. Conor Boyle's art is pretty much spot-on too (except some of the gradients, I guess).

Here's the first four pages:









 

[Norton Canes]

Ron Smith's my favourite Dredd artist. In his pomp, no-one could touch him. The Judge Child quest, The Graveyard Shift, The Hotdog Run, the Daily Star strips... incredible.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Kenneth Niemand (who else?) wrote a fantastic strip 'Mega-City 2099' in issue 451 of the Dredd Megazine recently. It totally captures the action-packed feel of the very early Dredd stories but also features a lot of the wayward nascent continuity like the police force. Conor Boy's art is spot-on too.

That's really great, I hope they do more of that sort of thing. It reminded me of how odd it felt when the Empire State Building features heavily in a story early on, and along with other references to Mega City 1 being built in 2012 which I think gets retconned at some point.

A friend of mine who loves 2000AD and still buys it to this day is convinced that Kenneth Niemand is a pseudonym as straight from his very first strip he was knocking it out of the park - I've no idea myself but a quick search shows others wondering the same question.

[Norton Canes]

Definitely a pseudonym, as it riffs on Kenny Who?, the struggling Scottish artist who came to Mega-City 1 seeking a career, in the early years of Dredd ('Niemand' is German for 'nobody')

Who it is exactly has been a subject of some debate... 

[badaids]

These are great, I only got into 2000ad in 85 or so, so I was amazed to find out that they didnt really nail down the classic Dredd look as we know it today until Brian Bolland sorted it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Definitely a pseudonym, as it riffs on Kenny Who?, the struggling Scottish artist who came to Mega-City 1 seeking a career, in the early years of Dredd ('Niemand' is German for 'nobody')

Who it is exactly has been a subject of some debate... 

Ah, I vaguely remember the Kenny Who? story, but didn't know the "Nobody" aspect of the story, and hope one day all is revealed.

[Goldentony]

read all of the first one working a shift in a cloakroom a tiny while ago and loved it. Think it was SirHenry on here who made the point that there's no better place to start with than the very beginning because of all the odd little Thatchers England references and pisstaking that made it what it was Looking at the shelf here i've got 2, 3, 6 and 14 still to read out of the ones ive got, think that sees to be the Apocalypse War/Dead Man stuff since ive also got Dead Man here waiting to be read.

[SweetPomPom]

Ah, I vaguely remember the Kenny Who? story, but didn't know the "Nobody" aspect of the story, and hope one day all is revealed.

Kenny Who? makes his comeback in Case Files #41 and it's worth the wait.

[13 schoolyards]

Definitely a pseudonym, as it riffs on Kenny Who?, the struggling Scottish artist who came to Mega-City 1 seeking a career, in the early years of Dredd ('Niemand' is German for 'nobody')

Who it is exactly has been a subject of some debate... 

The smart money early was on it being one G. Rennie, but Niemand appeared on the 2000AD podcast sounding very much unlike Rennie according to those who'd know.

The official version (such as it is) is that he's a games writer who's worked with Rennie (and who's possibly done other kinds of writing) and who wanted to start on Dredd with a clean slate, hence the fake name.

Being experienced in other kinds of writing would explain how they started strong straight out the gate, but the flip side of that is that just about every other kind of writing pays better than comic books (which is why 2000AD is currently dominated by a handful of writers - they have to write so much to make a living from it). So unless you were a massive Dredd fan who was willing to do it as a side gig, or could punch out multiple scripts over the weekend, it seems like more trouble than it's worth for someone who can get steady work elsewhere.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I read more of the first case files last night and was surprised by Dredd's reaction to Max Normal:



I've have thought Dredd's reaction would be the opposite, but then these are early days and the way Dredd is written is sometimes inconsistent.

And I did find this amusing:



Mainly as I'm struggling with Walter this time around, so any story which sees him abjectly miserable makes me smile.

[Dayraven]

I've have thought Dredd's reaction would be the opposite

It's just "cop is suspicious of anyone who dresses funny" with a sci-fi inversion of what "dresses funny" means.

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's just "cop is suspicious of anyone who dresses funny" with a sci-fi inversion of what "dresses funny" means.

Oh yeah, I got that, it was just Dredd's over the top reaction that made me smile, "It makes me sick just to look at you" especially!

[Norton Canes]

Even funnier now that 'stomm' has been appropriated as the Mega-City all ages equivalent of 'shit'

[13 schoolyards]

It's funny to think of a time when Dredd needed informers keeping him up to date with what's happening on the street, considering every second storyline now involves some massive quasi-magic threat to the city or focuses almost entirely on some awesome supporting character who makes Dredd look like a chump. Get back to the streets, baby!

[Ron Maels Moustache]

It's funny to think of a time when Dredd needed informers keeping him up to date with what's happening on the street, considering every second storyline now involves some massive quasi-magic threat to the city or focuses almost entirely on some awesome supporting character who makes Dredd look like a chump. Get back to the streets, baby!

I really miss the kinds of stories where Dredd acts like a real police and does some proper investigating, remodelling the strip around the format of an Ed McBain style police procedural was one of the best things John Wagner ever did and it's a shame the current writers don't really have much interest in that side of things.

[13 schoolyards]

I really miss the kinds of stories where Dredd acts like a real police and does some proper investigating, remodelling the strip around the format of an Ed McBain style police procedural was one of the best things John Wagner ever did and it's a shame the current writers don't really have much interest in that side of things.

Especially as the future procedural model is a much more viable one for the strip as far as other writers go. The 80s-era Dredd was very much the product of a single writing team's unique skills and interests and I doubt there's anyone writing comics at the moment that could consistently come up with as many wacky or bizarre concepts and make them work so well as Wagner / Grant did. Let alone base them in a strip with such a difficult premise as "he's a straight-up grim fascist bastard but it's also often a comedy" Dredd.

I'm not sure what the model is for a lot of the Dredd stories at the moment, but I suspect the current Tharg is focused more on getting the best overall writers he can onto Dredd than finding writers whose sensibilities suit the strip.

Even if they didn't want to write procedurals, the strip has a long history of doing the whole noir thing of focusing on the criminals and having Dredd more as a looming threat in the background. You'd think that'd be a natural for writers who don't really want to write Dredd himself. Which is what we're getting I guess, only instead of future crimes as the focus we're getting future fantasy adventure backdoor spin-offs

[Small Man Big Horse]

That's a shame about the direction they've taken Dredd in 2000AD - Is the Megazine any better? I dip in to 2000AD a couple of times a year to see how it's going, but haven't read the Megazine since the mid-nineties now.

Back to Case Files 1, and this was my favourite moment from last night's read:



I normally love Dredd being a moany old git, but he's gone too far this time, I mean look how happy that beautiful dog is!

[Ron Maels Moustache]

Meg Dredd isn't massively different as it's still the same pool of regular writers. They recently concluded the long running Red Queen arc to an almost universal cry of "meh".

Ironically, the two best new Megazine strips of recent times, Niemand & Taylor's "Megatropolis" and Carroll & Higgins's "Dreadnoughts" are effectively re-imaginings of the main strip (well the latter is technically a prequel, but still an extrapolation of the central Dredd premise applied to a more grounded "real world" scenario). It's a shame the actual strip itself feels so lacklustre at present.

[Pink Gregory]

That's a shame about the direction they've taken Dredd in 2000AD - Is the Megazine any better? I dip in to 2000AD a couple of times a year to see how it's going, but haven't read the Megazine since the mid-nineties now.

Back to Case Files 1, and this was my favourite moment from last night's read:



I normally love Dredd being a moany old git, but he's gone too far this time, I mean look how happy that beautiful dog is!

The woman's pose in that has mystified me for years.  Is she mid-skank?