Judge Dredd

Mihawk

I'm wanting to read some Dredd just wondering where to begin.

nweathington

You might want to get Judge Dredd: The Complete Brian Bolland book that just came out. Plenty of great material in there.

Gargoyle

I'd go for the Case Files, they're black and white Essentials-sized reprints but as the originals were almost entirely b&w you're losing nothing.

Thebookdepository.co.uk will ship them internationally for free and have them for about 30% off.

DoctorDoom

Thanks for this thread. My only exposure to Dredd is a crossover with Batman, and I'm looking to start from the beginning with him.

Mihawk

Thanks everyone just order Vol 1 & 2 of the Case Files

larry

I have never read any Judge Dredd myself. I have the new Dredd series by IDW on my pull list right now. I liked the first issue a lot. Much more going on in that first issue than many others that have been coming out lately. I am not sure how it compares with the earlier Dredd but I do enjoy it!

Gargoyle

Early Dredd is fascinating. In a lot of ways I find it similar to early Lee Kirby FF, you can literally see the world of Dredd being created in the stories, some things work and are still there nearly 2000 issues later, others bit the dust early.

"My" Dredd is a bit later, case files 4 or 5 onwards. But there's great stuff throughout.

If you're on a 2000AD kick then I'd also recommend Rogue Trooper and Strontium Dog.

John_Steed

Judge Dredd gets first female writer

Emma Beeby co-writes Suicide Watch, a new story about the veteran comic hard man, with Gordon Rennie

Judge Dredd gets first female writer

Caliban

And it's a pretty good first episode as well

jaydee74

I had heard of Dredd before but never really got into him but having watched the most recent movie, I am now pretty curious about him myself. I loved that movie. Is that a close representation to what I might get from the comic?

Caliban

The comic has a lot more wackiness going on. There were no aliens, huge monsters or dimension hopping serial killers in the film, although they were sort of planned for the sequels.

If you want the gritty, action movie type Judge Dredd then you might want to start with something like The Pit, or the Chief Judge's Man, or the all-time classic America.

There's a good list of the ten best Dredd storylines here
http://www.scifinow.co.uk/top-tens/26527/top-10-best-judge-dredd-comic-book-stories/

jaydee74

Wow. Nice list and some very interesting sounding stories. Thanks for that.

Caliban

The new IDW series is generally thought to be a miss by most 2000AD fans, but their new Judge Dredd: Year One is written by the current editor Matt Smith (no, not that one) and looks pretty good from the first issue

jaydee74

There seems to be a recurring name in that list on your link which is the writer of the Dredd books. Is he someone who helped create the character?

John_Steed

jaydee74 said:

There seems to be a recurring name in that list on your link which is the writer of the Dredd books. Is he someone who helped create the character?

John Wagner co-created the character with artist Carlos Ezquerra

jaydee74

That's what I thought. Thanks. I'm excited to check out Dredd.

Caliban

John Wagner is indeed the definitive Dredd writer

dubbat138

@jaydee74

I know I see the 80s Judge Dredd reprints from Fleetway/Quality all the time for cheap. Check those out. I love Dredd and wish he was better known in the States.

jaydee74

I see some great suggestions. Thanks everyone. Looking forward to delving into some Judge Dredd.

John_Steed

A celebration of 2000AD – video

Comics, graphic novels and the people who create them will be celebrated at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival. Richard Lea visits the offices of science fiction comic 2000 AD - which sold 100,000 copies per issue in its 80s peak compared to 15,000 now - and asks writers Neil Gaiman, Dan Abnett and artist Warren Pleece about its enduring appeal

A celebration of 2000AD – video

mwhitt80

I've been reading the complete case files. You can get the from amazon for about 15 a volume. I think they are up to 6.

playdohsrepublic

mwhitt80 said:

I've been reading the complete case files. You can get the from amazon for about 15 a volume. I think they are up to 6.

They are pretty great. There are a couple of different ways to get 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine too, if you're interested in catching up with current storylines. My LCS gets a monthly 4-pack with the last 4 weekly issues in it, the iBookstore carries it and I usually get it from Clickwheel.net which offers legal DRM-free files in multiple formats.

Flintlockjaw

John_Steed said:

Judge Dredd gets first female writer

Emma Beeby co-writes Suicide Watch, a new story about the veteran comic hard man, with Gordon Rennie

Judge Dredd gets first female writer

Completely over hyped politically correct crap. Beeby is Rennie's plus one on that story. And the story is totally out of character for Dredd. One of the worst Dredds in recent memory. If they want to make a big deal about a female Dredd writer...let her write it on her own...and then hype the crap out of it. If you want good Dredd...completely skip IDWs regular series. It's absolutely shockingly bad. Not as bad as DCs efforts a few years ago...but is really really bad. So badly written..it insults the readers intelligence. Read IDWs miniseries 'Year One'. I wouldn't recommend the Bolland book....because it prints a lot of incomplete works. I'd start with the 'Case Files' and for 'modern' Dredd...The Pit. Day of Chaos. In fact...anything written by Wagner. If it's not Wagner...it doesn't really count.