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Any group of assassins/mercenaries in the Dredd-verse?

Started by Sandman1, 09 March, 2017, 04:53:45 PM

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Sandman1

Does the Dredd-verse have any professional group of assassins or mercenaries (excluding aliens) that carries out assignments by contract? Armon Gill seems to fit the description, but he flies solo with no liaison to any group. 
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Frank


Gila Munja are contract killers. John Cooper botched their debut appearance with a design that was Dr Zoidberg meets Time Bandits, so Greg Staples was tasked with redesigning them as a mutant strain of generic Giger lizards (Enter Jonni Kiss, prog 830).

Sovs do well for assassins, having gifted Orlok and the slightly more bootylicious Nadia (Day Of Chaos) to the Dreddverse. Stan Lee put Dredd on the mat, and Al Ewing created a recurring hired killer character called Deller, who gave Dredd the runaround.




Dark Jimbo

The Gila Munja and Mob Blitzers are your two most likely candidates - either will happily enforce a contract on whomever you might wish to inhume, and they're both supposed to be especially good at what they do.
@jamesfeistdraws

Greg M.

John Smith introduced an assassination bureau called Hate Inc., secretly run by a disillusioned Judge (in a story that also featured Gila Munja, no less) but Dredd had shut them down by the end of the story.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 05:38:46 PMJohn Cooper botched their debut appearance
I liked those at the time and still do. Much creepier than the boring Alienesque effort.

Rogue Judge

The Hunters Club also comes to mind, "an illegal organisation dedicated to the murder of random citizens". Although they kill people randomly, they were sponsored for their murders during the Death Aid event.

Link:https://dredd.obsidianportal.com/wikis/hunters-club

TordelBack

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 09 March, 2017, 07:48:10 PM
Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 05:38:46 PMJohn Cooper botched their debut appearance
I liked those at the time and still do. Much creepier than the boring Alienesque effort.

Yeah, they are brilliant, unique and disturbing. The lizard versions are predictable and unexceptional.

(But I think Frank was being a bit sarky too).

Frank

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 09 March, 2017, 07:48:10 PM
Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 05:38:46 PMJohn Cooper botched their debut appearance

I liked those at the time and still do. Much creepier than the boring Alienesque effort.


Terrifying!





Just because Staples' anonymous xenomorph variant didn't work, doesn't mean Cooper's initial take on the brief did. I like Cooper, but he's not at the top of my list of go-to artists for weird creature designs.

If McMahon or O'Neill had been rostered on Dredd that week, I'm sure the Gila Munja would have gone on to play a much larger role in the history of the strip.

You can see why folk kept trying to bring them back. They're a great idea - they must be, because invisible assassins clutter every corner of Megacity One today - but it's telling that nobody goes with that initial design*.


* Except for Ron Smith in The Hotdog Run. Missionary Man went with a very literal gila monster look - as did Judge Minty - but took the same opt out as Ennis's Jonni Kiss story and explained them as a different sub-species (Gila Bruja?)

Steve Green

Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 09:09:04 PM
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 09 March, 2017, 07:48:10 PM
Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 05:38:46 PMJohn Cooper botched their debut appearance

I liked those at the time and still do. Much creepier than the boring Alienesque effort.


Terrifying!





Just because Staples' anonymous xenomorph variant didn't work, doesn't mean Cooper's initial take on the brief did. I like Cooper, but he's not at the top of my list of go-to artists for weird creature designs.

If McMahon or O'Neill had been rostered on Dredd that week, I'm sure the Gila Munja would have gone on to play a much larger role in the history of the strip.

You can see why folk kept trying to bring them back. They're a great idea - they must be, because invisible assassins clutter every corner of Megacity One today - but it's telling that nobody goes with that initial design*.


* Except for Ron Smith in The Hotdog Run. Missionary Man went with a very literal gila monster look - as did Judge Minty - but took the same opt out as Ennis's Jonni Kiss story and explained them as a different sub-species (Gila Bruja?)

Yeah, we pretty much followed Colin's Gila Bruja designs crossed with Greg's.

Since they were now more lizard-like, we entertained the idea they might be escapees from Sauron Valley - similar experiments that were done to the apes in MC-1.

It would have been interesting to do them as the Morlock Zoidberg versions. I guess semi-human would have been even more disturbing - I think it's the lobster claws that kills the design for me.

Frank

Quote from: Steve Green on 09 March, 2017, 09:22:55 PM
I think it's the lobster claws that kills the design for me.

No wonder they're scurrying up the side of that building. It's not as if they'd be able to use door handles.



Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Frank on 09 March, 2017, 09:09:04 PM
Except for Ron Smith in The Hotdog Run. Missionary Man went with a very literal gila monster look - as did Judge Minty - but took the same opt out as Ennis's Jonni Kiss story and explained them as a different sub-species (Gila Bruja?)[/i][/size]

The Gila Bruja have different powers to the Munja, don't they? They're psykers and psi-talents rather than predator-style stealth assassins.

Neither Cooper's Morlocks or Quietly's geckos made much sense to me as this honour-based tribal society they're originally written as. The lizard-people may be the least unique of the three designs but it works.
@jamesfeistdraws

Mardroid

Appearance-wise, I suppose the morlock look would be most realistic for mutants of human origin (assuming they are human in origin. Maybe they (or the bruja) are actually from animal stock and sentience and linguism came with the mutation) but I think I prefer the predatory lizard look. Tht might be largely due to their excellent realisation in the Judge Minty film as well.

Being reptile based, (at least in appearance. They could still be mammalian)  I guess they share some similarity with the kleggs, but they're different enough, being based more on lizards than crocodilians. Their bodies are actually rather different too, giving the impression of something sleek, mean and fast, while the kleggs are more like bulky humanoids with crocodile heads. Tanks, in the gaming non literal sense of the words. They're possibly more powerful in a one on one punch up, but once the munja/brujas do their stealth thing and start scrabbling around walls, the odds change a lot. They're both interesting in their way.

And yeah, I don't like the crab hands, of the morlocks. They are scary looking creatures though, I will say.

As for the Xeno-with-mohican look, no thanks. It's kinda scary, but it's been done before, and it's too alien (pun unintended).

Sandman1

You think the Gila Munja or some hired killer from a criminal organization is capable enough to murder someone high up in the food chain, like the head of the SJS or even the chief judge?   
Error...

norton canes

Can't find any images online but Ron Smith had a pretty good take on Cooper's version of the Gila Munja in 'The Hotdog Run', didn't he?