Daily Star Strips Worth Revisiting?

[Old One Eye]

When I was wee my most regular fix of JD was through the Daily Star newspaper strips.  I really enjoyed them and, indeed, it was through them that I got into 2000AD.

I was thinking of picking up volume one of The Daily Dredds but money's tight so I'm a little wary. 

What's the general consensus on the strips?  Are they fun for nostalgia only or do they actually contain some real merit?  Is the Daily Dredd compilation worth picking up?

Any and all opinions welcome.

[Greg M.]

Dunno about the consensus, but for my money, they're enormous fun - pure, distilled Dredd with an energy all their own. I particularly like the way they follow contemporary Dredd continuity - the Apocalypse War and the resignation of McGruder, for instance, are both featured to memorable effect.

[Trent]

The Daily Star Dredds are a stunning showcase for Ron Smith's art in the first volume.
Stories are more like gags in most cases but it is a wonderful tour of the craziness of Mega City One that is all but absent from the strip these days regrettably.
Also, you get to play spot the 80's celebrity in many strips.
Looking forward to Volume 2 as the longer stories had some brilliant ideas and Gibson art among others. The tales were somewhat simplistic compared with modern Dredd but crammed with good stuff all the same.
I would absolutely recommend Volumes 1 and 2. Beyond that, not so sure.

[IndigoPrime]

It was a good read on the whole, and it's a beautifully made volume. The actual material stands in stark contrast to modern Dredd, though. Dredd is on the whole a massive dick, and as noted by Greg, it's like distilled Dredd, packing six pages into a half.

[Spikes]

Yes, the Daily Dredd book is a thing of real beauty, and the first time ALL the strips have been collected.

The tales are great, great fun, and plenty are incredibly memorable.
Ron Smith is at his very best here. And Ron always excelled at the fun and wacky Dredd tales in the prog. A match made in heaven.

Distilled Dredd is the key word here. Look at the Apocalypse War, for example; That Dredd epic is condensed into less than a dozen panel, and it still works wonderfully.

Never really read the later tales, that will make up the bulk of Book 2, but for me, Book 1 is an absolutely essential purchase.

[Dark Jimbo]

Dunno about revisiting, but the recent Daily Dredds book was my first introduction to this material. Here's what I had to say afterwards in another thread -

What a treat. To be honest this surpassed my expectations. It's like the pure, distilled essence of good Dredd - no intergalactic space sagas, no undead super-fiends, no jaunts to other Mega-cities so other writers can springboard their new character into the Dreddverse - just a cop on his beat, the cits being reliably stupid/violent, and Dredd handing out the sentences. That's my favourite kind of Dredd story and one we rarely get these days, so it's lovely to have a book of almost nothing else!

I love that the format allows Wagner and Grant to really just cut loose in a way that the prog perhaps didn't. Sometimes they're clearly having great fun just being deliberately, indulgently stupid, or even breaking the fourth wall - like Dredd arresting the man who cryogenically revives Cliff Richard on the grounds of bad taste. When the guy protests that it's not illegal, Dredd growls 'It's my strip, creep. I'll decide what's legal.' 

Some genuinely nice call-backs to events in the main strip, too; the Judge Souster memorial, the long-suffering sector 403 getting nuked for a third time, the Alphabet Killer's first victim being Aaron B. Aardvark (Aaron A. Aardvark having been snuffed out by Cal, of course); it's genuinely clever/subtle stuff. On a similar note there's an awful lot of worldbuilding crammed into this book. All helps give these strips an extra life beyond the goofy gags and sometimes groan-worthy punchlines.

[Dark Jimbo]

In short - it's probably my single favourite Dredd graphic novel out of all the ones I own.

[Old One Eye]

Well, I think I'm convinced. 

I remember the older releases called The Judge Dredd Collection.  There were 5 volumes, the 5th containing one long arc.  Is that arc covered in the Daily Dredds Volume 1 or is that saved for the next release?  I only have the vaguest memory of an ongoing story in the paper...

[Trent]

The first 2 long stories Alien Tongues and Pyro are both included. Both drawn by Ron Smith and perhaps my favourite Dredd line "Pretty lippy for a box".
Genius.

[Old One Eye]

That's good to know.  I've just bought a copy from Ebay for £20.

Heh, that is a nice line and very JD.

[Old One Eye]

Well, I finally got to spend some time with the collection.  It is really lovely.  I was amazed how many of the early strips were still in my old memory banks - they just took a little jogging...

I'm pretty glad I bought this rather than going for the old Mega Collections.  It was tickled pink discovering previously un(re)printed strips.

I hope the 2nd volume holds up to this though I'm not so sure the quality of story telling can hold up to the early stuff.  Either way, I can't wait to find out.

[sheridan]

Well, I finally got to spend some time with the collection.  It is really lovely.  I was amazed how many of the early strips were still in my old memory banks - they just took a little jogging...

I'm pretty glad I bought this rather than going for the old Mega Collections.  It was tickled pink discovering previously un(re)printed strips.

I hope the 2nd volume holds up to this though I'm not so sure the quality of story telling can hold up to the early stuff.  Either way, I can't wait to find out.

The second volume will have some absolute classics, though quality may dip thereafter (still want to get them all though).

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Good to dip into when you're dashing about for something to read, if you get my drift...

[jannerboyuk]

I think it depends a little bit on how you feel about Ron Smith's art, as bizarrely their are heathens who are not fans. Personally I love his art and he is at his best on this strips. I agree with all above that they are essence of dredd, used to always love seeing them in the annuals

[Mute77]

This is one of my favourite Dredd books-its beautifully presented and I find myself often re-reading it for a quick fix. It's surprising how much depth and humour can fit into just a handful of panels. I didn't care much for Ron Smith's art when I was younger but appreciate it so much more now. Can't wait for book 2.