2000 AD & Judge Dredd: The Drokkin' Mega-Thread

[Judge Dredd]

So they just announced new 2000 AD TV show, Judge Dredd: Mega-City One, Rebellion is involved, but no cast or channel announcement yet.

[Dark-Flux]

After Dredd bombed im just happy to get anything, tbh.
Here's hoping its good though. The property seems better suited to a TV series, though id be worried about budget constraints.

[Judge Dredd]

After Dredd bombed im just happy to get anything, tbh.
Here's hoping its good though. The property seems better suited to a TV series, though id be worried about budget constraints.

They did mention in the press release it would be a big budget show, it is a company IM Global and Rebellion doing it. They talked about capturing the tone of the movie along with the humor from the comics. They also talked about a large cast, but no casting yet. Hopefully if done right it will be an excellent show, no mention on what or where it would air.

[Dark-Flux]

Yeah, ive just got through watching the release statement vid and they said all the right things. Its cool that Rebellion is gonna be so deeply involved on the creative side, and that theyre gonna capitalise on the more crazy/comedic stuff as well as the gritty aspects. Hopefully it'll be a big success.

Between the announcement of this and Hellboy its a super sweet time to be a fan of these characters!

[MadWorld]

I also prefer more the Weston 2000D combined cover with plenty of characters because it shows me how complex and diverse they are and I start dreaming about the following series.

[DanMad1977]

I am too lazy to read the whole thread. Can somebody tell me if the IDW series is a reboot? Do i have to read everything before? With which IDW book should i start?

And how can i read the older storys from the beginning?

[Dark-Flux]

The IDW material is its own continuity, separate from the Rebellion stuff. I only read the initial series; it was meh. I heard good things about Year One though.

Rebellion have started to collect the Dredd 2000AD and Megazine strips in chronological order in the Complete Case Files trades.

[Judge Dredd]

Not a fan of the IDW stuff at all. Dredd is very much a British product and I do not think IDW gets it. Complete Case Files are the way to go if you want to read Dredd. They are about halfway through the whole series. However as it is still ongoing weekly that gap will widen, but they do an excellent job collecting the series.

[DanMad1977]

Thanks to both of you...

I will try the Case Files, though i liked the first issue of the IDW Dredd...

[Judge Dredd]

I can see it be more enjoyable if you have not read much Dredd. However once you read enough from Wagner and Grant Dredd it is hard for others to compete. I would also suggest checking out the Origin trade. It is a newer story, but does give the origins of Mega-City One along with Dredd and Judge system.

[DanMad1977]

Sounds like a great idea...thanks for the info!

[CraigTheCylon]

Just to throw my 2 cents in: while the first series of IDW Dredd (written I think entirely by Duane Swierczynski) left a fair bit to be desired, with its only real highlight being the new, increasingly weird Dark Judges, the current run by Ulises Farnias and Erick Freitas (with art from Dan McDaid and Daniel Irizarri) has impressed me quite a bit. It's dense, to the point where following it month-to-month doesn't really do it favours, but read in bulk it works real good, and it's doing what I feel IDW Dredd should do: telling the kind of story that simply wouldn't fly in the main Dredd continuity. No-one, even Wagner and Ezquerra themselves, would begin a tale with Mega-City One being utterly depopulated and destroyed overnight unless it was a blatant fake-out, if nothing else because 2000AD's Dredd has to support multiple spin-off stories (if the city is a ruined jungle that kinda crimps on any plans for a new 'Low Life' or 'Simping Detective' tale). And nuts or not, reducing Dredd to the last guy alive who remembers how an ordered society works in a world where barbaric tribes are the rule puts him in a really interesting position.

I should also note that, for all intents and purposes, the current IDW Dredd - going from 'Mega-City Zero' to 'The Blessed Earth' - is its own continuity and doesn't acknowledge the earlier IDW issues. At first I thought it simply wasn't mentioning what happened before, but the most recent issue had Judge Hershey in it, and I'm pretty sure Swierczynski killed her (and the full council of 5) during the latter parts of his run.

[Judge Ted]

I am too lazy to read the whole thread. Can somebody tell me if the IDW series is a reboot? Do i have to read everything before? With which IDW book should i start?

And how can i read the older storys from the beginning?

Recommended Reading for newbies to Dredd from Rebellion itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yUwX1rR-zc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G25g5EbLzpI

That should give you a few ideas.

[Judge Dredd]

Just to throw my 2 cents in: while the first series of IDW Dredd (written I think entirely by Duane Swierczynski) left a fair bit to be desired, with its only real highlight being the new, increasingly weird Dark Judges, the current run by Ulises Farnias and Erick Freitas (with art from Dan McDaid and Daniel Irizarri) has impressed me quite a bit. It's dense, to the point where following it month-to-month doesn't really do it favours, but read in bulk it works real good, and it's doing what I feel IDW Dredd should do: telling the kind of story that simply wouldn't fly in the main Dredd continuity. No-one, even Wagner and Ezquerra themselves, would begin a tale with Mega-City One being utterly depopulated and destroyed overnight unless it was a blatant fake-out, if nothing else because 2000AD's Dredd has to support multiple spin-off stories (if the city is a ruined jungle that kinda crimps on any plans for a new 'Low Life' or 'Simping Detective' tale). And nuts or not, reducing Dredd to the last guy alive who remembers how an ordered society works in a world where barbaric tribes are the rule puts him in a really interesting position.

I should also note that, for all intents and purposes, the current IDW Dredd - going from 'Mega-City Zero' to 'The Blessed Earth' - is its own continuity and doesn't acknowledge the earlier IDW issues. At first I thought it simply wasn't mentioning what happened before, but the most recent issue had Judge Hershey in it, and I'm pretty sure Swierczynski killed her (and the full council of 5) during the latter parts of his run.

Why would they ever destroy the whole city that is incredibly stupid, the reason Wagner or Grant would never do it is because they are not stupid. If you want to tell a story outside of the city just have Dredd go a trip, all you are doing is laying out why IDW Dredd is crap, but Mega-City One is way to big of part of the charm that makes Dredd work. The city is amazing and loaded with a great many stories completely getting rid of it is like shooting yourself in the foot.

[CraigTheCylon]

Why would they ever destroy the whole city that is incredibly stupid, the reason Wagner or Grant would never do it is because they are not stupid. If you want to tell a story outside of the city just have Dredd go a trip, all you are doing is laying out why IDW Dredd is crap, but Mega-City One is way to big of part of the charm that makes Dredd work. The city is amazing and loaded with a great many stories completely getting rid of it is like shooting yourself in the foot.

Agree to disagree, I suppose?

I mean, I agree with you that the city is amazing and absolutely the core of Judge Dredd stories...but I don't think it's the core of Dredd as a character. What is is, is his home turf, where he knows every corner and alleyway like the back of his hand. It's his comfort zone. And sometimes, that stifles drama - likely why every few years we get an Apocalypse War or Necropolis or Day of Chaos, to screw up MC1 royally and maybe chip away some of that familiarity that feels so safe.

IDW Dredd has basically yanked Dredd clear out of his comfort zone and left him with no way back to it, and while I accept that may be tough to swallow for many, to me it succeeds by showing what Dredd is made of when he's left with a whole new world, one still badly in need of his particular brand of policing, but completely unfamiliar and stripped of the tech advantages Justice Department is used to. It's very clearly supposed to be the Wild West, and so the story becomes not about preserving the city, but of building it from the ground up.

I don't know, man, I just think there shouldn't be such a thing as 'going too far' with the same character who once beat Satan in a fistfight in a story written entirely in limericks.