He's dead Dave. They're all dead! They're. All. Dead. Dave.

[Dark Jimbo]

Well you'd have to admit it's about the only death scene we haven't speculated about here in the past: "the ambulance Dredd's in just sort of blows up". Not even in the top 20.

The very notion that anyone believes or is supposed to believe that this is the actual death of Dredd... No-one in the story even suggests it is, not even Dredd himself! Editorial and PR are silent, it doesn't even get a cover.  It's a dramatic cliffhanger, the start of a mystery even, and it's a good one.

Well said. The fact that over on FB John Wagner's absolutely got no clue what some squaxx are getting het up about tells a story of its own...

[Frank]

over on (Facebook), John Wagner's got absolutely no clue what some squaxx are getting het up about

That was brilliant, wasn't it? When this board's own WR Logan said Wagner doesn't bother reading other writers' Dredd strips, I assumed he was exaggerating a little to make a point, but Wagner's response seems to confirm it.

I enjoyed absolutely everything about Grindstone Cowboys, especially the harder edge it seemed to bring to Mike Carroll's writing, so I'm interested to see how he plays the mystery of Dredd's disappearance.

[Dandontdare]

My vote is for a Brit-cit secret rendition - which will lead to Dredd and MC1 proving that they aren't as beaten as they appear. Can't wait! If it allows for a few weeks or months of strips exploring the reaction to Dredd's "death", all the better - we know it ain't so!

[TordelBack]

Maybe it's the rapture?

And Dredd's the only one righteous enough to be taken!  Oh that would be a good little tale: 'Last Judgement' by Alan Grant and Ian Gibson, lots of cheesecake angels with wispy clouds covering their naughty bits singing parody hymns in an impenetrable Scots accent, and a finale where Dredd uses St Peter's key to lock up God and the entire heavenly host for judgin' without Justice Dept approval. 

(FWIW, it's either an insanely complicated op organised by Hershey so Dredd and Joyce can go undercover in Brit Cit and clear their names, or it's what DDD said).

[GordonR]

That was brilliant, wasn't it? When this board's own WR Logan said Wagner doesn't bother reading other writers' Dredd strips,

Except that's not true at all. The last time I saw John, we had a brief conversation about the new wave of Dredd writers, and it was obvious that he keeps up with what they're doing. More so than me, anyway.

[Frank]

My vote is for a Brit-cit secret rendition

FWIW, it's either an insanely complicated op organised by Hershey so Dredd and Joyce can go undercover in Brit Cit and clear their names, or it's what DDD said

Dredd's on Diego Garcia, being beaten, water boarded, and forced to listen to Britney & Metallica at high volume. Or worse, he could be on the Isle of Man.

It's not impossible that it was a (potentially fatal) deception, but - if the aim is to convince everyone he's dead - why do it where there are no witnesses? Why go to the bother of staging a display if everyone just has to take your word for it anyway?

Then there's the question of why they'd need to convince the world he was dead just so he could get a face change and Jason Bourne it around Douglas and Dublin for a few weeks. It might be quite fun to see Dredd trying to pass as a tourist, right enough.

It'd be fun if Carroll is doing a Dead Man on us. The pledge and turn of Grindstone Cowboys followed by the prestige of pulling a live judge from his hat, and revealing that Dredd's been right under our noses all along ...

[TordelBack]

Perhaps the wannabe quisling Farrow is the intended audience..?

Building on Butch's dangling wotsit, all that early confusion between Dredd and Rico could have been intentional...?  Dredd rejuved to look like Rico, with a bio-robot clone body looking like Dredd? Dredd face changed to look like Koburn? Joyce facechanged to look like Dredd? My arse facechanged to look like... Well.

More generally (and seriously), how do the other little oddities in Grindstone Cowboys play into this? The succession of rather brutal executions, the cameo by Giant and Joyce, Waldron's' bizarre mutant-rights speech, and what exactly was it that Farrow was going to say...?

And not forgetting the biggest mystery of all: where did Thorn get that giant hockey mask from?

[jacob g]

And not forgetting the biggest mystery of all: where did Thorn get that giant hockey mask from?

Maybe Norma Moriceau helped him?

[Steve Green]

Perhaps the wannabe quisling Farrow is the intended audience..?

Building on Butch's dangling wotsit, all that early confusion between Dredd and Rico could have been intentional...?  Dredd rejuved to look like Rico, with a bio-robot clone body looking like Dredd? Dredd face changed to look like Koburn? Joyce facechanged to look like Dredd? My arse facechanged to look like... Well.

More generally (and seriously), how do the other little oddities in Grindstone Cowboys play into this? The succession of rather brutal executions, the cameo by Giant and Joyce, Waldron's' bizarre mutant-rights speech, and what exactly was it that Farrow was going to say...?

And not forgetting the biggest mystery of all: where did Thorn get that giant hockey mask from?

http://www.hockeygiant.com/

[Proudhuff]

Spoilers!!





Looks like our man [spoiler]Joyce[/spoiler] has went the same way! But no blue lights...

[Frank]

Perhaps the wannabe quisling Farrow is the intended audience..?

That occurred to me, but they weren't watching Dredd's death on video.

They could have staged the entire thing as a radio play and achieved the same effect without an undercover giant spending months murdering farmers and hijacking food convoys, then making a 100/1 shot with an artillery weapon, so it only one kills an invaluable 77 year old asset just enough to look (spectacularly) convincing.

Other than that, it's a great plan.



P.S. I haven't decided whether to follow the Megazine episodes yet, but if Carroll's pulling a Dead Man my money would be on [spoiler]Koburn[/spoiler] having square pupils and a chunk missing from his duedenum.

[IndigoPrime]

Except that's not true at all. The last time I saw John, we had a brief conversation about the new wave of Dredd writers, and it was obvious that he keeps up with what they're doing. More so than me, anyway.

What is it with you wanting to keep bringing your FACTS and FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE into arguments on this board? It's like you imagine people will take notice rather than frothing speculation into the air.

[Tjm86]

Spoilers!!





Looks like our man [spoiler]Joyce[/spoiler] has went the same way! But no blue lights...

On a reread I felt like the action there was ahead of the motorcade rather than in't.  Willing to be corrected though.

[TordelBack]

Perhaps the wannabe quisling Farrow is the intended audience..?

That occurred to me, but they weren't watching Dredd's death on video.

They could have staged the entire thing as a radio play and achieved the same effect without an undercover giant spending months murdering farmers and hijacking food convoys, then making a 100/1 shot with an artillery weapon, so it only one kills an invaluable 77 year old asset just enough to look (spectacularly) convincing.

Other than that, it's a great plan.

Hershey's plans seldom are.  However, I meant just the H-Wagon teleport part - can't see even Babs cooking up the Lord Humungous just for Joe's sake. Opportunistic thinking, but the odds of Joe being injured or evac'd were pretty good.

[Modern Panther]

Recent stories have reinforced Dredd's own willingness to put together elaborate plans without involving the Chief...