Judge Dredd the Megazine, ranked part 4: these are still not very good comics

 I guess all of these stories had the pontential to be pretty decent?

The Bogie Man: Return to Casablanca by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Robin Smith
(Megs 227-233)

What was this? The final outing of Scotland’s favourite lunatic, the man who thinks he’s Humphry Bogart, this time in Edinburgh getting mixed up with Russian gangsters. It’s an original story, but basically in the Megazine as more of a spiritual home than anything else, after being first a totally independent publication, then with sequels that ran in Toxic! comic. The premise is, there’s a guy who looks a bit like Humphry Bogart. He blunders through his days thinking he is in one or other Bogart movie, and that the people he meets and the situations he gets into are too. I think you can guess which Bogart movie this serial is mostly riffing on.

Of course, it’s not really about referencing movies as such. It’s more about mining comedy from a blunderer who totally does not get what is going on around him. I find that sort of thing fitfully amusing at best. I’m given to understand that the original Bogie Man series (the only one I have not actually read) was genuinely very funny, especially if you are Scottish. Sure. This final outing might perhaps be the worst?

For a comedy strip, there's quite a lot of straight-up action and drama.
Words by Wagner/Grant; Art by Robin Smith

Dreddworld relevance? None

Writing: 7/10 It’s better than Bob the Bum, and it's still Wagner and Grant so not a waste of time - but it’s not for me.
Art: 6/10 Robin Smith suits the material, and he knows how to land a gag. But his style is somehow kind of comics-competent, rather than comics-exciting.
Impact: 1/10

Overall score: 14/30

Has it been reprinted? Yes, within the ‘incomplete’ Bogie Man Case Files. 

 

Darren Dead by Rob Williams and John Higgins
(Megs 240 and 287-289)

What was this? This was a character and set-up in search of any kind of plot. I guess it was kind of ‘what if Russell Brand died, but came back to life as an undead ghoul who could see and talk to dead people, and milked this ability to become a minor celeb in Mega City 1’. Yeah, you can kind of tell from that description that it was always going to be a struggle. The original one-off intro was intriguing but not exactly demanding a follow-up…

...but it got a very short series anyway. There’s some fun to be had exploring a side of Mega City 1 that isn’t all about Judges. And there’s no reason why a venal ghoul (with a sarcastic assistant) couldn’t be a compelling character. But sadly he isn’t – he’s annoying as hell. John Higgins matches the tone exactly with his art – there’s a lot of mugging.

Dreddworld relevance? Doesn’t break any toys, but doesn’t add much neither.

Writing: 6/10 Williams is too competent to make this terrible, but it’s never quite as funny as it wants to be, angry badgers and all.
Art: 7/10 The colours, as always on a Higgins/Hurst joint, are impeccably beautiful. The character designs work, but they are VERY broad as comedy goes.
Impact: 1

Overall score: 14/30

Has it been reprinted? Yep, in Hachette 72: The Art of Taxidermy

 

The Straightjacket Fits by David Bishop and Roger Langridge
(Issues 9-20 and the Judge Dredd Yearbook 1993)

What was this? After the first episode, this was a one-page comedy strip about the misadventures of a psychiatrist in a Mega-City 1 mental institution. The jokes were a mix of terrible puns, weird disorders, and references to TV and film. Honestly, the clever double-meaning of the strip’s title (the whole story is a series of ‘fits’ endured by a man in a straightjacket, you see, as well as a reference to the phrase ‘if the jacket fits, wear it’. Clever!) was never bettered by the contents of the strip, which was more often groan-worthy than laugh-inducing. But, you know, it really was trying to actually tell jokes, as opposed to some strips which just lazily point at supposedly comedic things. And some of the surreal jokes are still funny. But only some. It helps that Langridge was the perfect match artistically for the material.

This strip is trying REALLY hard.
Words by Bishop; Art by Langridge

Dreddworld relevance? Basically none. For all the weird problems on show (the best being the man who thinks he’s a tree), they didn’t really delve into anything Dredd or even Sci-Fi/future related.

Writing: 4.5/10 There’s sort of an over-arching plot, but it comes to nothing, leaving only the jokes, which are more miss than hit.
Art: 7.5/10 I do love the design of the central robot doctor.
Impact: 2/10 Another strip I suspect is mostly forgotten, despite its relatively long run.

Overall score: 14/30

Has it been reprinted? It has not. Probably should be!

 

Calhab Justice by Jim Alexander, John Ridgway and Lol
(24 episodes spread across Volume 2, between issues 10 and 72)

What was this? Well, it started out seeming like it was a new series telling tales from Justice Dept Scotland, which might involve such things as mutant whiskey-based clans fighting each other in the highlands, and petty bureaucratic battles with those bastards from Brit-Cit. But all too quickly it becomes a long story about a mutant Psi Judge and the long-term consequences of the decision to build various nuclear-powered things in Scotland in the 20^th century. I think?

It certainly shifts from being ‘the fun action adventures of maverick Judge McBrayne’ and into ‘the confusing and horrific unravelling of Psi Judge Schiehallion’. Was the series a victim of its own success, with writer Jim Alexander feeling he had to plot out some sort of epic narrative? Or was this always his intent? In any event, the ‘fun action adventures’ were only quite fun, and often with plots that were kinda confusingly laid out (in the Jim Alexander no-hands-held style), and by the time the psychic stuff starts happening it was all just a bit boring and hard to parse out. Not helped by the radical tonal shift in art from classical comics penciller John Ridgway to thick-pen punk artist Lol.

There is one excellent episode in which a Brit-Cit Judge is posted to Cal-Hab for a short stint and is treated wit the respect he deserves...

 

So from this panel, you can tell that there's a moody overtone to the whole thing,
a desire for pithy one-liners, and a young artist who really likes Colin McNeil.
Words by Alexander; Art by Lol

Dreddworld relevance? Set in the future UK, and it certainly works hard to set up what Scotland might be like, both in terms of Justice Dept, the relation with Brit-Cit down south, and what life is like for people living in Cal-Hab both urban and rural. I get the general impression that other writers have rather ignored any of it, inasmuch as Cal-Hab comes up from time to time in other series.

Writing: 5.5/10 Some big swings and fun moments, but also plenty of evidence of a new writer working out his craft…
Art: 2.5-7.5/10 John Ridgway knew what he was doing, and puts some real effort in at first. Newcomer Lol surely did not know what he was doing at first, although he surely put the effort in. Colin MacNeil and Kevin Cullen somehow did not make any impression on the series overall.
Impact: 4/10 Not a fondly-remembered strip, but it was a big part of Volume 2.

Overall score: it averages out to 14.5/30

Has it been reprinted? It has! Read it and weep at what might have been, in Hachette 57, or a big chunk of it in the floppy bagged with Meg 352.

 

Karyn by John Freeman and Adrian Salmon (mostly)
(Volume 2 issues 56-61 and 67-72; Volume 3 issue 8; and a couple of outings in Specials.)

What was this? The solo adventures of the latest Psi Judge on the block. She first appeared in the Dredd story Raptaur – when Anderson was in an institution during ‘Engram’ – and then got a shot at a solo series. Partly one wonders, because Anderson had at that time quit Justice Dept and was travelling through space, so there was a gap for Psi Judge adventures in Mega City One, rather than because there was anything specific about Karyn as a character that demanded she get a series? She sure does have big hair, and Adrian Salmon knows how to draw that in a stylish way, so that's one thing?

Such luscious hair!
Words by Freeman; Art by Salmon

ANYWAY, the stories are about Psi Judge Karyn having run-ins with psychic/occult enemies. And winning, but suffering on the way. If the story is illustrated by Adrian Salmon in gorgeous blocky black and white, it is quite hard to tell what is going on. If the story is written by John Smith it’s quite weird. (the John Smith story was a prelude to Fetish, for anyone who missed it. It was not collected in the relevant Judge Dredd Case Files, which is I think a bit of an oversight) At no point does anyone really give Karyn a defining characteristic, except that she finds her job a lot harder then e.g. Anderson or Dredd. 

Gordon Rennie later co-opted the character for a handful of Judge Dredd stories, giving her a noble sacrifice and more obvious character traits. She has even resurfaced within Anderson's own series quite recently! but none of that is relevant to this exercise. 

Dreddworld relevance? Lots! I mean, we don’t really get new insights into Psi Division or anything like that, but this is set in Mega City 1, and involves characters who appear in both Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson. And Karyn’s ‘final’ fate is very much referenced in years to come.

Writing: gonna average it out to 5/10 - these are OK comics, not great comics.
Art: 5.5/10 Salmon’s style from panel to panel can be quite breathtaking, and it oozes atmosphere (see also Ashley Wood). But is it compelling comics if you don’t always know who’s who, what’s what and where they all are?
Impact 4/10 Sadly Freeman and Salmon didn’t get too much more work from the Megazine after this, but Karyn as a character has lingered in both Dredd and Anderson tales.

Overall score: 14.5/30

Has it been reprinted? Most of it! The Freeman/Salmon tales are in Hachette 13: Stars of Psi Division (along with the rather better Judge Janus series), and also in the floppy with Meg 349. The John Smith/Ashley Wood story has not, I think, been reprinted anywhere?

 

Samizdat Squad by Arthur Wyatt, Paul Marshall and PJ Holden
(11 episodes across three series between Megs 305-326)

What was this? It’s the one set in/near the post-Apocalypse War ruins of East Meg 1 that is a bit less about psychic ghost horror and a bit more of an action-adventure-comedy type strip. It only ran for three shortish series and didn’t quite build up enough of a head of steam to have a simple description. Basically a couple of Sov soldiers who are notionally ‘good’ are set up to work for/alongside others who are notionally ‘evil’ and they stumble across zombies and such while tussling with each other in places that are affected by a mix of radioactivated monsters and government cover ups. They end up having further adventures and adding new recruits / uncovering new internal enemies.

Words by Wyatt; Art by Marshall

There’s one delightful throwaway gag about a scientist delighted to find a world that embodies the original Soviet ideal, only to be stifled by power-hungry military types. I wonder if this strip was perhaps hoping to be more about the idea of a future Communist society? But nothing comes of that.

Dreddworld relevance? It’s a perfectly respectful follow-up to the Apocalypse War idea.

Writing: 6/10 Early series-length work from Arthur Wyatt, who has plenty of ideas and a commendable desire to avoid cliché, but also not quite enough skill to stop his ideas and character beats from getting in the way of actually telling a clean story.
Art: 6.5/10 I’ve come to terms with the fact that I very much admire Paul Marshall’s skill as a setter of scenes, but am basically not a fan of his character designs. I mean, he knows how to make his people emote, but somehow, outside of Firekind, his people rarely fire my imagination. The background details, though, LUSH. PJ Holden, who tackles the final story, is more my bag and I think delivers a bit better on the character front but none of it is spectacular. And dammit, from the Megazine we want spectacular!
Impact: 2/10 Yet another exploration of East Meg that fails to tie into any of the other explorations of East Meg that people have tried either as standalone series or as part of the core Judge Dredd strip.

Overall score: 14.5/30

Has it been reprinted? It has! You'll want Hachette 59 Behind the Iron Curtain.