Review- JUDGE DREDD: THE RESTRICTED FILES VOL. 1

JUDGE DREDD: THE RESTRICTED FILES VOL. 1 (2000 AD, First Printing, 2010; Softcover)

Collects the Judge Dredd stories from 2000 A.D. Summer Special 1977, 2000 A.D. Annual 1978-1985, 2000 A.D. Sci-Fi Special 1978-1984, Dan Dare Annual 1979, 1980, and Judge Dredd Annual 1981- 1985 (cover dates Summer 1977- Annual 1984)

Writers: John Wagner, Alan Grant, Steve Moore, and Malcom Shaw

Artists: Mike McMahon, Carlos Ezquerra, Brian Bolland, Kevin O'Neill, Brett Ewins, Brendan McCarthy, Steve Dillon, Ian Gibson, David Jackson, Keith Page, Colin Wilson, Cliff Robinson, Robin Smith, Jose Casanovas, and John Byrne

This book collects the material from the ancillary specials that should have been included in the core Complete Case Files line. I am guessing that the reason why they didn't go that route originally is that many of these issues are in color and the first bunch of CCFs are in black and white. Later volumes in CCFs are in full color, but the optimal route would be what they did for the third Rogue Trooper collection: Coated stock paper so that they can print the color stories in color and in their proper place. That ship has sailed, although there is a hardcover of The Complete Case Files Vol. 1 on the horizon. We'll see if that rectifies this error. If it does, that, along with the larger trim size that it will boast, may just suck me in for the double dip. Kill me now.

These stories are all over the place in terms of quality. These are all self-contained short stories for obvious reasons, since they appeared in random special editions to lure new readers into the fold. There are a number of references to then-current events in the core title that would have made these stories more enjoyable if they were presented in their proper context in the Complete Case Files line, especially the one with the sort-of return of Fergie, King Of The Big Smelly.

We get treated to a Brian Bolland drawn story in The Alien Zoo from the 2000 A.D. Annual 1982. I was shocked to see John Byrne handle the artwork in Block Out At The Crater Bowl from 2000 A.D. Sci-Fi Special 1983. I was unaware that he had ever done work for the UK comic industry. It also makes me wish that he would have been able to give this character a shot, because I think that he could have done some cool stuff with him. Oh well, at least we have this one story.

It's interesting to see the airbrushed and water colored art, as some UK comics were printed on slick paper. While it looks primitive by modern computer coloring it was a real step forward. I remember seeing some of the Marvel Magazines from the late '70s and thinking how cool comics on slick paper with an expanded color palette looked.

This was an uneven but entertaining read. Aside from the stories mentioned this is for completists only.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These books are wider than standard trade paperbacks, although they are still smaller than the original publications.

Five of the covers which Judge Dredd appeared on are presented in coloUr in the back of the book.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with minimal tinkering. Since many of these are in color you get to see the limitations of the printing processes of the time.

Paper stock: Thick glossy coated stock.

Binding: Sewn binding on a softcover? Yes please.

Cardstock cover notes: Dull matte coating on the cardstock which is easily scuffed, even when handled gingerly.

Review- JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 4

JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 4 (2000 AD, First US Printing, 2011; Softcover)

Collects the Judge Dredd stories from 2000 A.D. Nos. 156-207 (cover dates March 15, 1980- April 11, 1981)

Writers: John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Kelvin Gosnell

Artists: Mike McMahon, Ron Smith, Brian Bolland, Ian Gibson, Steve Dillon, and Brett Ewins

Things start out with a bang with The Judge Child, one of the more famous (or is it infamous?) early Dredd arcs (also available in a stand alone trade paperback). That runs from issues 156 all the way to 181, 26 parts in all. That's one long arc. It ran in weekly six page increments over seven months in 1980. We are treated to some outright gorgeous artwork by Brian Bolland and Ron Smith. Smith's almost as good as Bolland, while Mike McMahon's artwork is merely serviceable. Both the writing and artwork continue to improve as we move along with the series.

The rest of the book is mostly one or two part tales, with some going as high as four parts. Things are definitely scaled down in scope after a 26-part story. The foundation of Dredd's law as an absolute philosophy are reiterated so that there is no doubt in the reader's mind. Some fans refer to this as the “two-dimensional” era of Dredd but I had a good time reading this stuff. 

Since comic books in England were not under the Comics Code Authority the violence is way over the top when compared to American comics of similar vintage. The tone and pacing of this comic is so different from US comics of the day. It's obvious that these British comics had a huge impact on American comic books, especially stuff by that Alan Moore guy, whoever he is. This reads pretty smoothly and has aged really well.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Okay, this no table of contents, no page numbers, and no indication of any kind of which story came from which issue is driving me insane. It's pretty bad when I have to sit on comicbookdb.com and piece things together that way.

The only covers that are included are the ones which feature Judge Dredd on them. Those would be Progs 156, 159-161, 163, 164, 168-170, 172, 173, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 189, 191-193, 197, 199, 201, and 204. Dredd's popularity was obviously rising, given the number of cover slots he received this time around.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: None.

Linework and Color restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5. Things look really, really good here, with no discernible linework dropouts or pixelation of any kind. The only times that things look murky are in the issues where the two-page splash was originally presented in color. Those were scanned and then printed here in black and white, and as such, look a little murky compared to the rest of the book. There are only a handful of these throughout the book.

Paper rating: 4.25 out of 5. This has thick uncoated stock of paper which is different from the paper used in the other US editions.

Binding rating: 4.5 out of 5. This has a crazy, super thick band of glue.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. The cover has a weird, almost rubbery coating to it. It feels odd and yet seems to be really durable.

This book is currently out of print, but you can buy other volumes in this series at InStockTrades!

Review- JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 3 TP

JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 3 (2000 AD, First US Printing, 2011; Softcover)

Collects selections from 2000 A.D. Nos. 116-154 and 2000 A.D. Annual 1979 (cover dates June 9, 1979- March 1, 1980)

Writers: John Wagner and Pat Mills

Artists: Mike McMahon, Ron Smith, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Brendan McCarthy, Gary Leach, Ian Gibson, John Cooper, and Barry Mitchell

There is a huge leap in the overall quality of the stories, from the writing on down to the artwork. The artwork in particular is where much of the improvement comes in. Before you had Brian Bolland and a bunch of mostly serviceable artists. Here we have Ron Smith, who draws in the style of Bolland but is great in his own right as well, and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), who also does some tremendous artwork.

There are several firsts in this book: the first appearance of the City Block, Judge Anderson, and Judge Death. While Judge Death is the only “historic” arc in this book, I found Father Earth and The Forever Crimes to be nearly as good. Issue 126's untitled story is about a talking cat who gets Judge Dredd to investigate Mega-Labs, where unethical animal experiments are taking place. Dredd ends up getting The Dredd Act passed, forbidding experimentation on animals. This was all rather offbeat when you consider what a hardass Dredd is. It is also decades before PETA became a household name.

Issue 127's untitled story (often referred to as Night of the Fog) has some brilliant Brian Bolland artwork. Night of the Bloodbeast and The Black Plague! are also winners. Judge Death is, of course, the highlight of the book, but every story is solid and worth your time.

Judge Dredd is still a two-dimensional character at this point...but both of those dimensions totally rock! Everything is black and white (and I'm not just talking about the monochromatic color palette here) and absolute. Guilty or not guilty, period. Dredd is almost robotic in his mannerisms and speech. Robocop is a clear cut ripoff of Judge Dredd, but I mean that as praise. Like Paul Stanley from Kiss one said: “There's nothing wrong with stealing as long as you steal a diamond and not a piece of glass.”

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These phonebooks could certainly use a detailed Table of Contents, stating which stories came from which issues. Numbered pages also would not suck. The only covers that are included are the ones that featured Judge Dredd, Progs. 117, 121, and 128, and those are of course in black and white. The title was originally black and white but the covers were not.

Buyer beware! There are multiple printings of this book, all with different cover art and a multitude of spine variations. You have been warned...

Linework restoration rating: 4.25 out of 5. There are a handful of pages that have linework dropouts. Whether this is the result of poor scanning or damaged film, I cannot say.

Paper rating: 3.75 out of 5. Thick uncoated stock that is surprisingly smooth. It feels strange, but in a good way.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. This has a nice thick band of glue.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 4 out of 5. The cover has that dull coating that makes the cover image look washed out and lifeless. This seems to be the new thing, and I hate it. Having said that, it seems to be durable enough in this case as it doesn't scuff as easily as other coatings of this type. It's just not my preference for cover coatings.

Buy JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 3 TP at InStockTrades!

Review- JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 1

JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL. 1 (2000 AD, First US Printing, 2010; Softcover)

Collects selections from 2000 A.D. Nos. 2-60 (cover dates March 5, 1977- April 15, 1978)

Writers: Pete Harris, Kelvin Gosnell, Malcom Shaw, Charles Herring, Gerry Finley-Day, Pat Mills, Robert Flynn, John Wagner, and Joe Collins.

Artists: Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon, Massimo Belardinelli, Ron Turner, Ian Gibson, John Cooper, Bill Ward, and Brian Bolland.

A pox upon you, completist OCD! I was warned that early Dredd was a bit dry and to start out with Volume 2, but no, I have to own the complete collection. In all honesty, this was a fun read. It was interesting to see the very foundations of the character, and even more interesting to see how much Robocop ripped off from early Dredd. Judge Dredd is almost robotic in his complete indifference to the reason why humans break the law. He just wants them to obey the law at all costs. Dredd is about absolutes. Absolute compliance, absolute justice. 

There is a major arc almost immediately with the Robot Wars, where the Judges find themselves in battle with renegade robots. There is a cynical black humoUr to this dystopian view of America's future, and sadly, much of it has come to pass. America has become more of a police and nanny state in the last 35 years. The next major arc, a ways further into the book, is when Judge Dredd becomes appointed Judge-Marhsal of Luna1, the United Cities of North America's colony on the moon. Once there, Dredd roots out corruption and rules with an iron fist. He gets tricked into fighting a war with the Sovs during the first Lunar Olympics. The book ends shortly after Dredd's appointment is over and he is reinstated as a Judge in Mega-City One. 

As you can see above, the writing and artwork is handled by a lot of different creators. Since this was a weekly serial, this was necessary to make deadlines. Most of the writing is decent, especially when you consider how long ago it was written and how well it holds up being read here in late 2012/early 2013. The artwork is mostly passable, with the exception of the brilliant Brian Bolland. This is some of Bolland's earliest work, and he only gets better. I have read some of the Bolland stuff that's a little further down the pike, and it's incredible. It gives me something to look forward to in future volumes. 

The downside to this book is Walter the Robot, Judge Dredd's Robo-servant. Something happens and he develops a speech impediment, replacing Rs for Ws, i.e. Judge Dwedd. It is incredibly annoying to read after a while. Walter and Dredd's housekeeper are supposed to provide the comic relief to Dredd's serious, deadpan nature. I hope that Walter is phased out before too long.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is phonebook style collection. There are no page numbers, nor any information as to where each story came from. A page number and info at the bottom border at the beginning of each issue would have allowed me to sleep better at night. It's bad enough that only two of the 59 covers are included. Only the covers with Dredd are included in this collection, and those are in the back. These things cause us OCD purists to toss and turn at night.

Linework restoration rating: 4.75 out of 5. The linework looks excellent throughout the book, with no dropouts or pixelation. The rating debit comes from the blotchy look of the handful of pages in the end which were obviously in full color and scanned. Since this book is printed in black and white, the colors looked all murky and gray on those few pages.

Paper rating: 3.75 out of 5. This book has a thick, uncoated stock paper.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. This book has glued binding. It has a nice thick band of glue and should hold up well with repeated reading and handling.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 3.5 out of 5. The cardstock cover has that thin, easily scuffable coating that drives me nuts. It has to be a cost save. Either that, or my conspiracy theory is that publishers are going to continually decontent their product until people would rather read their books on Nooks and Kindles. Hey, they decontented vinyl records throughout the '80s to the point where people switched to cassettes and CDs. Then they brought them back out as deluxe reissues, charging double the price (adjusted for inflation). There's a moral in there somewhere...