Collector's Dream 1 - Judge Dredd: The Mega-Collection

This is the part of the blog where I want to chat about comics old and new and everything in between. Anything and everything to do with my lifelong obsession with the brilliance that is sequential art.

By the way, the origin of the "Collector's Dream" name is a *long* story - involving (amongst other things):  three comics fans, Gary Spencer Millidge, a shop in Southend-on-Sea, a Commodore 64, Titan Distributors, an awful lot of Copydex and a guest appearance from Warren Ellis. One day I'll bore you with the whole complicated tale...

Anyway, first up - the brand new collection of Judge Dredd strips.

 

2000 AD has been a part of my life since I was ten years old.

I vividly remember buying that first "Prog" back in early 1977 and I haven't missed a single issue since. 38 years worth of collected issues are still the most important thing in my comics collection.

2000 AD was (and continues to be)  the breeding ground for the best of British comics talent. Those high-profile creators you love with their hugely successful and influential US comics? 99% of them started out writing or drawing for 2000 AD.

Obviously with a weekly publication schedule there have been a huge number of important characters and strips - and I will perhaps return to some of these at a later date. But striding across them all is the most important British comics character since Dan Dare in the 1950's - Judge Dredd.

Dredd first appeared in 2000 AD in Prog 2 in 1977 and has missed only a handful ever since. That's over 1,700 issues, plus 300+ monthly "Judge Dredd Megazine" comics. When you add in annuals, specials and assorted other appearances, it's a vast body of work.

Quick potted history for those who may not know:

Judge Joseph Dredd is an officer of the law in the future city of Mega-City One, which covers the eastern coast of the USA. A series of atomic wars turned much of the rest of the planet into a radioactive wasteland.

Most of Mega-City One's millions of citizens live in gigantic "City Blocks" where crime is rampant, unemployment is the norm and addiction to the latest drug, fashion or idiotic craze is an everyday occurrence. Judges have the power of "judge, jury and executioner" over the perpetrators ("perps") of any crime, ranging from littering and jaywalking to homicidal murder and alien trafficking. Dredd is the most infamous (and one of the longest serving) of them all. The Law is everything to him. He's not known as "Old Stoney Face" for nothing.

In between everyday cases (if a marauding alien bounty hunter can be considered ordinary) Dredd has over the years faced a number of major threats including a robot rebellion, corrupt Judges seizing power, the alien super-fiend "Judge Death", a war with East-Meg One, democracy terrorists and even a zombie invasion. Many of these "mega-epics" have resulted in the destruction of vast swathes of Mega-City One and the loss of millions of lives.

What makes Dredd even more special though is that a) the strip progresses pretty much in real time and b) it's been mainly written by one man over it's entire history - John Wagner.

Of course the Dredd stories have been reprinted many times before - and I bought most of them, despite already owning the originals. Notably, from the 1980's there were the slim Titan Books volumes and the exceptional colour US format Eagle comics  - both with fabulous new covers. Then there were the not-so-good Quality versions:

In more recent year's there have been the Complete Case File "omnibus" editions and the excellent range of graphic novels from 2000 AD owners Rebellion:


Personally I'd not bothered with these later editions due to space / financial constraints at the time.

So what made this set of reprints from Hachette / Rebellion worth a look and persuaded me to part with my money? Part work collections are often a mixed bag. (Although a collection of Dredd strips is far more interesting than a 150-part "build your own Millennium Falcon from scrappy bits of plastic").

Well, published fortnightly, the 80-issue Judge Dredd Mega Collection is meant to be something slightly different. Instead of printing everything in publication order, the series is structured around key "themes". All the classic Dredd stories and Mega-epics will be there, but alongside them will be smaller tales dealing with similar subject matter. In addition there will be collections of stories from the various Dredd spin-offs - Anderson Psi Division, Devlin Waugh, Simping Detective, etc. The sales blurb describes the series as the "...definitive collection of Judge Dredd and the world he occupies...".

I'll admit that I did have to think long and hard before subscribing to this. Haven't I bought a lot of this (several times) before? Don't I have the original issues sitting there anytime I want to pick one up? However, in the end there were several key factors that swung it for me:

a) I don't have collected editions of a lot of the "expanded Dredd universe" stories.

b) The books are nice sturdy hardback editions (I remember the Titan versions and the binding glue that only lasted a few weeks before you ended up with pages falling out).

c) Each volume will feature previously unseen concept art, sketches and bonus features.

d) When complete the spines will form a single specially commissioned new image.

If the first three reasons were not enough, the spanning image was the clincher. I'm a real sucker for that kind of thing. (By the way, subscribing does get you a number of free gifts - mugs, coasters, bookends, etc. I'm not really bothered by those and they didn't influence my decision).

So far there have been four volumes published: "America", "Mechanismo", "The Apocalypse War" and "Origins"  - with the fifth: "Anderson: Shamballa" available only to subscribers as yet.

 

 

 

The first thing that stands out is the cover design. This minimalist approach of black and white with a hint of red is really striking and I hope they continue it throughout the 80 issues. Some of the artwork (such as the Mechanismo cover) has been specially commissioned for the collection. It's a really bold design choice.

The volumes themselves are lovely and sturdy and run from 200 to 250 pages dependant on the stories contained. The spine has a big number for it's place in the collection along with a slice of the overarching image. Each issue has a timeline / story so far to bring you up to speed with where the story is set in the Dredd canon, along with a new introduction by 2000 AD editor (and current Tharg), Matt Smith (no not that one!).

It's worth mentioning that like many collections of this type, the 80 parts are not being published in order. Issue one *is* part 1, but issue two then jumps to part 24, issues three to part 36 and so on. It means that you have to get all 80 issues to fully experience that spine spanning image and the stories you may be longing to see released might be a long way down the line. I can see that it makes business sense, but it does seems to have confused a few people from reactions I have seen online.

Having said that, Hachette / Rebellion have obviously decided to start with a bang for these first few issues by collecting major pieces of Dredd lore.

"America" is often cited as the greatest Dredd story ever published (odd considering Dredd himself only appears in the background until the end). A tale of love, loss and terrorism against judicial oppression, it features stunning painted artwork from Colin MacNeil - who also provides the majority of the art for "Mechanismo", a series of stories about the introduction of robot judges.

"The Apocalypse War" was the first true mega-epic, depicting the devastating impact of an attack by the Sov East-Meg One. All 25 episodes were drawn by Dredd's co-creator - the peerless Carlos Ezquerra. Even 30 years later the effects of this story are still being felt in the strip. It's one of my personal favourites.

"Origins" is exactly what it says on the tin - a 23-parter telling the story of the last US president, Robert Booth, how he started the atomic wars and the Judges eventual rise to power. It took 30 years for this story to be written and it was worth the wait. Fittingly it is only Wagner and Ezquerra who could tell it.

Flipping through the books, the quality of the production is evident. The pages are crisp and white. The colours are vibrant and the artwork is beautifully reproduced. Well almost....

This is my one gripe with the series. It appears that with the older stories where only the centre spread was in colour, Hachette are just going to print everything in black and white. So the "Apocalypse War" edition perhaps loses some of its impact by omitting those 25+ colour sections.

I contacted Hachette directly about this and was told that the colour quality was too poor to be reprinted. I find that a bit strange as they were able to reprint one of the colour pages plus the covers in the extras section in the back. I suspect (and this is only a personal opinion) that the artwork files they are using are the same one's used by everyone else who has reprinted these stories before - and those were all in black and white too (the Eagle comics were an exception because the whole stories were recoloured). Indeed Rebellion are to publish their own special edition hardback of the Complete Case Files volume 1 in 2015 which will "include the addition of the famous colour centre spreads, restored to their former glory for the first time".

 It's a disappointing omission in an otherwise first-rate set of books. I am slightly concerned about how things will look when we get to some of the darker colouring on later centre spreads and how turning it to "greyscale" will turn out. Time will tell. However the lack of colour does not detract from the power of these stories.

One final thing to mention - the smell of the hardcovers. I personally *love* that new book smell when you first crack open the cover and these do not disappoint. A small thing but I guess I am easily pleased. Maybe it's the smell of concentrated Thrill-Power ?

So are these editions worth your investment? After all, the "omnibus" editions of much of 2000 AD's output is perhaps better value for money.

I would say yes there are. The production quality is top-notch and the hardbacks will stand the test of time. The extra material is interesting and diverse. The stories selected are well worth reading and later issues will collect some lesser known classics. If you are totally new to Dredd I think it's an brilliant place to start. If you are an existing aficionado then these still have great merit - this is an exemplary collection of one of comics most important and enduring characters.