Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection discussion thread

[Trent]

Can't argue with any if the recent comments. Cam Kennedy is ine of the defining Dredd artists and I always had a rush of excitement on opening the prog and seeing his art.
His Rogue Trooper art was equally stunning and elevated rather pedestrian plots far beyond what they deserved.
One of the few artists that could elevate a poor script into essential Dredd.
La Placa Rifa!

[TordelBack]

I did like the Hairsine take though.

I never 'got' Hairsine during that period (and I'd never seen this story), or why people seemed to rate him so highly back then. As a full Damascene now, it was great to see a strip from that time with fresh eyes. Lovely stuff.

[Trent]

I remember first appreciating Hairsine in Wilderlands where it was clear he (as did Flint) was channelling McMahon. No bad thing either.

[Robes]

I hadn't read the Half-Life story and it's been one of the most enjoyable so far in the mega collection.

I agree with some of the comments regarding the running order, I've found it quite confusing as we are clearly getting all the stories out of sync with each other.  I would have preferred it another way and I find it a little bit of a cynical way to ensure that people keep buying to the end.

Still, it's great and I'm eagerly awaiting my next set!

[TordelBack]

I would have preferred it another way and I find it a little bit of a cynical way to ensure that people keep buying to the end.

Valid point, but this is the nature of the part-work beast and I imagine even Tharg has to play the game to get Eaglemoss on board. And it could be argued that Rebellion already offer the great bulk of this material in strictly chronological order via the Casefiles, Psi-Files and other TPBs and magazine collections.

[IndigoPrime]

With arc-based stuff (as in x-part stories rather than ongoing series like Anderson), it does seem deeply strange to give you the middle or end book first. The nature of the partwork is to keep you hooked, but that's achieved by giving you the first part and making you wait a year for the next instalment. I've just ended up temporarily shelving books until I've all the parts.

[Mattofthespurs]

With arc-based stuff (as in x-part stories rather than ongoing series like Anderson), it does seem deeply strange to give you the middle or end book first. The nature of the partwork is to keep you hooked, but that's achieved by giving you the first part and making you wait a year for the next instalment. I've just ended up temporarily shelving books until I've all the parts.

All bar three are still in the wrappers on my shelf. I shall delve in once the series is completed. I only opened those three to see what they were like and they were the first three.

It's not like it's new stuff. I've read it all before, much of it more than once.

[Cyber-Matt]

I would have preferred it another way and I find it a little bit of a cynical way to ensure that people keep buying to the end.

I imagine even Tharg has to play the game to get Eaglemoss on board.

Or Hachette, even.

[robert_ellis]

I'm so glad the collection hasn't been chronological or played too heavily on familiar, already collected material. No collection of 80 volumes would please everyone. A cynical collection would have half the page count, generic end-papers, glowing endorsements of each story and recycled book covers. I'm genuinely surprised at the care and attention this series has been put together with. I'd love to see the text pieces expanded on and published as a standalone read. i can get through the odd bit of duff repro when the overall standard of this series is this good.

[Trent]

Well said Robert. The books are lovely things and superb value for money. The fact they have kept to roughly 200 pages of story per volume is amazing and often results in existing trades being combined (Young Death/My Name is Death, Insurrection) or extra tales beyond those previously collected (Tour of Duty, Cursed Earth Koburn).
It is our nature to nitpick but I was gobsmacked when this series launched never thinking our private world would support a general commercial venture.
Best thing from the House of Tharg for years, and that really is saying something with the effort Rebellion have been putting into offerings.

[Arkwright99]

I'll admit I thought carefully before deciding to take the plunge into subscribing to the Mega Collection (80 volumes at £10 a pop is the better part of £1k, after all) but I'm glad I did. As an alternate to the Case-Files, which I don't get, it can't be beat. Of course I wish the repro in some of the older strips was better than it is and a couple of the volumes won't get more than one reading but in the round this is MEGA collection and if it expands to 100 volumes (as we currently suspect/hope?) I won't be disappointed.

[TordelBack]

I would have preferred it another way and I find it a little bit of a cynical way to ensure that people keep buying to the end.

I imagine even Tharg has to play the game to get Eaglemoss on board.

Or Hachette, even.

Point.

My only regret WRT the MC is not subscribing. I've been cherry-picking since the start, but I can count the number of volumes I'm not fussed by on the fingers of one hand. I was expecting some good must-have issues, but mostly mediocre, when it's really been the other way around. I should have taken the plunge.

[IndigoPrime]

A cynical collection would have half the page count, generic end-papers, glowing endorsements of each story and recycled book covers.

Again, it's interesting to see the difference between the 2000 AD and Marvel collections. The latter had sycophantic text throughout that was of zero interest to me, dull cover art, and wildly varying page counts. I can think of only two things that series did better than Dredd: the spines had character icons so you at least had a fighting chance of quickly accessing what you wanted (although, you know, titles would have been better), and it provided context pages if there was a big timeline leap mid-book (something a few of the Dreddworld collections — notably Anderson — could have done with). Beyond that, the Dredd books are superior in every way, to my mind.

I'll admit I thought carefully before deciding to take the plunge into subscribing to the Mega Collection (80 volumes at £10 a pop is the better part of £1k, after all) but I'm glad I did. As an alternate to the Case-Files, which I don't get, it can't be beat.

From a value perspective, it's hard to fault 10-quid hardbacks with 200-odd pages.

and if it expands to 100 volumes (as we currently suspect/hope?) I won't be disappointed.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. Some partworks are broadly finite by the nature of what's being covered. That Doctor Who one can't indefinitely continue without some serious conceptual gymnastics. But I see the Marvel one that blazed past its initial 60 books has now also left the 60-book extension in the dust. Wikipedia now lists 145 titles, and you imagine that could continue further.

With Dredd, there's of course less material, and I'd hope the series would stop before it starts barrel-scraping. But if the subscribers are still there, it could be a smart way for everyone — readers; Hachette; Rebellion — to 'win'.

[IndigoPrime]

I should have taken the plunge.

You can still sub, and the website provides alternate start issues (35 through 40, although I suspect you could ask Hachette for something else if you wanted). Plugging gaps should be easy enough either through Hachette or eBay. (Someone today has the first 37 books for sale for £239, which is quite the barg.)

[Tony Angelino]

I subscribed and any of the issues I'm not keen on I will put on Ebay. I've kept about 50% of the issues so far as I prefer the earlier 'classic' stuff or the more recent Wagner stories.  I also wouldn't have room for the whole lot when the series is finished anyway.

I wonder if Rebellion plan on releasing any of their recent IPC purchases via this partwork method?