Help! I need to know when the new Judge Dredd Partwork is coming out!

[Judge Dredd]

You make some great points how they would show different sides of Dredd between the two different stories but I feel America has more weight if you have read some Dredd. The reason I felt America was not the best place to start was because it shows how much of a horrible person Dredd and the Judges can be before showing how much they put into defending Mega-City One such as in the Apocalypse War. Did they include Block Mania into the Apocalypse War book?

[borntohula]

Looks like there are some order to the books, but that they're released a bit random.



Love the covers!

I'll probably try to pick up the ones I'm interested in through some backorder or such. 80 books are a bit too much for my liking.

Hope it won't become too much of a problem since I'm living in Scandinavia.

I'll most likely get the books collecting

Cursed Earth/Day law died
Dark Judges
Judge Child Quest
Block mania/Apocalypse War
Necropolis
Chopper (perhaps also Oz. Also hope it doesn't go beyond Song of the surfer.)
America
Democracy now
Origins
Tour of duty
Day of Chaos
Dark Justice (Could perhaps collected with Dead Reckoning, My Name is Death and The wilderness days?)

You make some great points how they would show different sides of Dredd between the two different stories but I feel America has more weight if you have read some Dredd. The reason I felt America was not the best place to start was because it shows how much of a horrible person Dredd and the Judges can be before showing how much they put into defending Mega-City One such as in the Apocalypse War. Did they include Block Mania into the Apocalypse War book?

I think it collects both Block Mania and Apocalypse war, hence the listing of artist on the cover. From what I'v read, America comes with Judgement call (a Beeny story set inbetween ToD and DoC I think) and also two other Dredd stories drawn by Colin Macneil.

[Endsville]

You make some great points how they would show different sides of Dredd between the two different stories but I feel America has more weight if you have read some Dredd. The reason I felt America was not the best place to start was because it shows how much of a horrible person Dredd and the Judges can be before showing how much they put into defending Mega-City One such as in the Apocalypse War. Did they include Block Mania into the Apocalypse War book?

Hm, I dunno about that. The kind of story that I think has more weight with prior reading is something like Day of Chaos, which shows the consequences of a single act of "judgement" carried out by Dredd years and years before. America on the other hand is a story I strongly believe makes for a hell of a standalone tale regardless of whether you're a new reader or old. As for your other point: as I said, I think the following book, Mechanismo, somewhat balances that with Dredd being shown from the opposite perspective but also, I wouldn't exactly say that The Apocalypse War brought out Dredd's heroic side, especially when the debatable ending that I won't spoil comes around. That and, in general, Dredd's a bastard through and through. Of course he isn't always that way and is more complicated than he seems, but he certainly isn't the sort of lead character you spend the entire series rooting for.

And yes, borntohula's correct - Block Mania is included (so it's quite a nice thick book for a tenner actually, especially as the bonus section reprints all the covers in full colour).

[borntohula]

Hm, I dunno about that. The kind of story that I think has more weight with prior reading is something like Day of Chaos, which shows the consequences of a single act of "judgement" carried out by Dredd years and years before. America on the other hand is a story I strongly believe makes for a hell of a standalone tale regardless of whether you're a new reader or old. As for your other point: as I said, I think the following book, Mechanismo, somewhat balances that with Dredd being shown from the opposite perspective but also, I wouldn't exactly say that The Apocalypse War brought out Dredd's heroic side, especially when the debatable ending that I won't spoil comes around. That and, in general, Dredd's a bastard through and through. Of course he isn't always that way and is more complicated than he seems, but he certainly isn't the sort of lead character you spend the entire series rooting for.

And yes, borntohula's correct - Block Mania is included (so it's quite a nice thick book for a tenner actually, especially as the bonus section reprints all the covers in full colour).

Perhaps Mechanismo follows America thanks to Collin's art? Or perhaps it is to even it out a bit, since America, Apocalypse War and Origins are some of the absolute finest Dredds. Not a bad story, but I feel I would'v liked it better if shorter. While Dredd falsifying evidence was cool, I wish it did more the fact that the robots was based on Dredd.

The extra stories in America are Firepower and Snow right? While being penned by Ennis, I think they inject a bit of absurdity to the character. At least Snow with the sugar thing.

[Judge Dredd]

Hm, I dunno about that. The kind of story that I think has more weight with prior reading is something like Day of Chaos, which shows the consequences of a single act of "judgement" carried out by Dredd years and years before. America on the other hand is a story I strongly believe makes for a hell of a standalone tale regardless of whether you're a new reader or old. As for your other point: as I said, I think the following book, Mechanismo, somewhat balances that with Dredd being shown from the opposite perspective but also, I wouldn't exactly say that The Apocalypse War brought out Dredd's heroic side, especially when the debatable ending that I won't spoil comes around. That and, in general, Dredd's a bastard through and through. Of course he isn't always that way and is more complicated than he seems, but he certainly isn't the sort of lead character you spend the entire series rooting for.

And yes, borntohula's correct - Block Mania is included (so it's quite a nice thick book for a tenner actually, especially as the bonus section reprints all the covers in full colour).

I would not call what he did in the Apocalypse War heroic but it shows that he will do anything to fight for Mega-City One. I generally always root for Dredd no matter what he is up to even when he being a bastard, if it was real life then yeah I would hate him but in the book I root for him. I enjoy the little stories were he hunts down someone who littered in front of him or in the Daily Dredd where a citizen helps him catch someone only to be put in jail for a citizens arrest I personally get a good laugh out of him when he is being a bastard love it.

[Endsville]

I would not call what he did in the Apocalypse War heroic but it shows that he will do anything to fight for Mega-City One. I generally always root for Dredd no matter what he is up to even when he being a bastard, if it was real life then yeah I would hate him but in the book I root for him. I enjoy the little stories were he hunts down someone who littered in front of him or in the Daily Dredd where a citizen helps him catch someone only to be put in jail for a citizens arrest I personally get a good laugh out of him when he is being a bastard love it.

Good points, especially about rooting for Dredd anyway, a point I'll mention at the end of this reply.

Honestly, I was a bit unclear when making the point that Dredd's a bit of a dick. That was intended as a response to your concern that new readers being introduced via the meaner side of Dredd ('cause there is no nice side to ol' stoney face) in America would be turned off by what they see whereas I, as I said in my first post, think it's a story that doesn't meet the usual expectations of what role the titular character (well, technically two in this case) takes and that that's a great hook rather than a turn-off. And as you just pointed out, one of the best things about Dredd is the black humour used in conjunction with the much heavier stuff we see in the likes of America - I guess my point is that, if you don't like the latter, then you won't like much of what else the guy gets up to, even if it is played for laughs or to make a point. It'd be nice if the latter approach were a good way of introducing someone to the strip but, thinking from a reader's perspective, I'd rather be shown some of the worst things Dredd's capable of (this is just the tip of the iceberg, really) through a standalone tale like America first, rather than something more humorous and then that. Besides, I think the sequels are excellent for a new reader not only because of Beeny as I originally said but, now that I think about it, because they also show that, yes, the Judges are okay to root for even when dishing out extreme punishments precisely because of people like her. And Vienna, following these sequels, shows clearly that Dredd isn't all that bad a guy himself either.

Really, if you were to summarise my reasoning for why America's the perfect introduction to Dredd into a short sound bite, it would be that it masterfully shows the character's complexity and if you don't like it because he's mean (in a way, the different perspective of the first story is perfect for a reader to situate themselves into the world too), then you're not going to like much else. You could do the same with The Apocalypse War, I feel, which is why I think it's the alternative ideal starting point. Its ending is also shocking, as are a few decisions in between, and if that's too mean for you, then you're all in likelihood not going to want to continue. But that would be a great shame because such shocking policing, and other acts in general, is only one of many ways that the strip so brilliantly makes for good, honest satire.