we're about half way through the ranking here, with some appropriately average stories. Some are in fact quite good, but lose points because they are kind of out on their own in terms of 'impact'.
DeMarco, PI by various
(Vol 3 Issues 70-71; Vol 4 issues 3-8; and then a selection of episodes from
Megs 343-370; 410-present)
What was this? In short, the adventures of
ex-Judge-turned Private Investigator Galen deMarco. But in long, she’s suffered
quite a few incarnations. At first she was a supporting character in Judge
Dredd. A rather popular one that Wagner used for a couple of years spanning the
Pit to Doomsday. In that epic, (which starts off her journey as a PI, not a Judge) she was
basically the main character in the Megazine episodes. Very soon she got a solo
series proper by Robbie Morrison, who gave her a companion intelligent gorilla
with a bowler hat. Somehow, this ludicrous but charming detail is STILL the one
memorable things about DeMarco’s solo stories.
 |
| Main cover image by Kev Walker |
Since then she’s run through a series of fortunes and misfortunes either giving her millions of creds, or taking them all away. None of this was very interesting. She is always on the side of the angels, or at least the Judges. In general she comes across as grumpy, but less mean than most Judges, who she respects but think are too dehumanized, or something? It’s never enough to build an actual story out of, not when she has crimes to investigate that have to find obscure ways to not be things you’d go to the Judges about directly.
Si Spurrier brought her back into people’s minds as Jack
point’s girlfriend in the Simping Detective. Lucky Jack – but I’m not
sure I really bought it as something the DeMarco of Wagner’s series would do.
Quite a bit later, Michael Carroll had a turn. He is one of
the 21st century’s best Judge Dredd writers, with lots of fun and
clever stories to tell about that man and his friends. He could not crack the
DeMarco code. He sent her to Mega City 2, which in his version is being rebuilt
by the Sovs for some reason that never quite amounted to anything interesting.
DeMarco rooted out some bad eggs but didn’t have a very nice time.
 |
| DeMarco being sassy and laid back. Koburn lite? Words by Carroll; Art by Yeowell |
Jump ahead a few years, and a new set of writers are having
a crack. It’s a narrow brief – conjure up crime-based stories set in Mega City
1 that would require a person to hire a private investigator – and NOT involve
the Judges – of a sort that said PI would agree are not things to immediately
report to Justice Dept. Tricky! Anyway, the first such adventure, by Laura
Bailey, had a clever plot that fit this bill. It also gave DeMarco a facial
scar, which has now become her defining characteristic. You know, beyond a
vague sort of built-in pro-authority but anti-authoritarian streak (or should
that be the other way around?).
 |
| Neat touch with the sci-fi insta-stitches gadget there. Words by Bailey; Art by Paul Williams |
In general I think Bailey has done the most of anyone to deliver a series that feels like neon-soaked sci-fi noir, but is still not quite hitting ‘this is really good comics’. Maybe it all comes back to the inherent problem that although DeMarco is cool and has a fun chip on her shoulder, she doesn’t really have a driving force to motivate her story? And frankly, the concept of a P.I. in a police state is a weird one – her stories, no matter how clever the plots, always come back to corrupt Judges / organised crime, my least favourite subgenre of Dredd.
Dreddworld relevance? She’s a direct spin-off
character from Judge Dredd
Writing: 7/10 as an average. But honestly, the range
is minimal, like 6.5-7.5 for all of them. Perfectly decent comics.
Art: 7.5/10 For me, best in show are Laurence Campbell’s original
Gorilla-focussed take, and the most recent efforts by John Richardson.
Impact: 5/10 I mean, they keep trying, maybe in time something will stick!
Overall score 19.5/30
Has it been reprinted? All the bits up to and
including the Simping Detective stuff, in the Hachette Volume of that
name. Also the original Morrison stuff is in the floppy with Megs 343 and 344. But the Carroll and bailey-scripted stuff is too recent, I guess.
Diamond Dogs by James Peaty and Warren Pleece
(Three series split across Megs 404-445)
What was this? I could be cruel and say it was a
mid-tier guy Ritchie movie set in Brit-Cit. But actually it’s better than that.
But it IS about future-East-End gangsters in a twisty betrayal-heavy plot, and
it 100% is meant to evoke to feelings of British gangster movies, only with
some sci-fi leanings and a more diverse cast. The actual story follows Nia
Jones, daughter of a mid-level gang-related guy but mostly she’s a good person,
except she’s trapped into being a spy/informant by a not-so-good undercover
Judge. So she splits her time from spying, informing, and plotting all manner
of tricks to save her friends and herself and maybe make the East End a
slightly better place? Not much of the latter going on though.
 |
| Nia Jones is the Max Normal of Brit-Cit Words by Peaty; Art by Pleece |
The series suffers a bit from Jones being both
hyper-competent with her plans but also kind of hyper-unlucky, otherwise the
story wouldn’t go anywhere. But, crucially, I do CARE that her plans succeed,
and am sad when they get interrupted. The setting has occasional sci-fi ideas
and some fun retro-future flavours that are reminiscent of the old Dredd ‘Mega-Rackets’
story that focussed on American gangster tropes, and that’s a good thing.
Dreddworld relevance? It’s set in Brit-Cit, and has Judges in it.
Writing: 7 / 10 Peaty knows what he's doing, but somehow seems reluctant to stray too far beyond the 'rules' of the subgenres he's working in.
Art: 7.5 / 10 Pleece does an excellent job with some deliberately retro
character/set design ideas, and helps keep the tone light, even as the core
emotions are quite heavy.
Impact: 5 / 10 Three series isn’t bad! And I think it maybe helped pave the
way for a return of Armitage after a long absence. The Brit-Cit setting
continues to have legs.
Overall score: 19.5 / 30
Has it been reprinted? It has not – too recent,
really.
Judge Dredd: the Lost Cases by Alan Grant and various
artists
(Megs 292-297 and 333)
What was this? A series of one-off Dredd stories set
in very specific time periods in Dredd’s past, e.g. the Apocalypse War, or the
Oz epic. With artists designed to match the pre-eminent Dredd styles of the
time. Kind of not much else to say, except that they were pretty uniformly
quite good. I suppose it means something that Alan Grant was able to tap into
the mix of funny/mean that he channelled so well when co-writing the original
stories these are homaging. Which is something he almost never managed to do
when writing ‘new’ Dredds in the same era, the satire always felt too heavy-handed
or just plain not funny enough.
 |
| Dredd saves the day - but is a dick about it. The essence of the early years! Words by Grant; Art by Anthony Williams |
Dreddworld relevance? Total – these all feature Judge Dredd, and are a total hoot for continuity nerds. Not because they affect continuity in any way, but because it’s fun being reminded of stories / eras you remember, usually fondly.
Writing: 7.5/10 Honestly, these are among the better
solo Dredd stories Alan Grant ever wrote. They have the humour and imagination
of the early Wagner/Grant days, but also the ‘Dredd is an absolute bastard’
feel that seems to be Grant’s main touchpoint.
Art: 7/10 The nostalgia goggles are definitely all in place, but I don’t
think anyone managed to deliver any visceral panels or moments to rival the
eras being evoked. There’s something about nostalgia grabs that are always just
a shade paler than the originals.
Impact: 5/10 There were too few of these stories to really count as
impactful, so I’m guessing readers didn’t demand more. But they surely paved
the way for Mega City 2099, a much more recent but similar strand of Dredd nostalgia. And they’re
fun!
Overall score: 19.5 / 30
Has it been reprinted? It has! It’s all bundled
together in the mini-trade that came with Megazine 399.
HAVN by Si Spencer and Henry Flint/Jake Lynch
(Megs 382-287)
What was this? A slightly scandy-noir flavoured
mystery thriller about the people living within HAVN. Which is an enclosed
community in the Iceland of Dredd’s world. For unknown reasons the story was
set up by Jake Lynch and then finished off by Henry Flint, but they’re both
excellent so no bother on that front.
Anyway, it’s a tricky beast, this one. Only 6 episodes long,
and it’s DENSE with ideas and characters and themes. This ought to be a good
thing, and certainly it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, but honestly it could’ve
had a few more episodes to allow us to understand what HAVN itself is. Which
is, as we’re told, a sort of paradise city in a giant dome, where there’s no
crime and everyone is happy and nice to each other.
 |
| A crime-free city! Imagine that! No questions to ask here... Words by Spencer; Art by Lynch |
Which is the set-up for a general twist one can see coming a
mile off (something is rotten in the state of Iceland), but there are in fact
one or two other twists that are more surprising.
I think what this story is really about is the dangers of
people getting hooked on a VR world/lifestyle – although this theme is kind of
buried.
And the story is ALSO about the indigenous/mutant population called Alfar, who
are theoretically excluded from HAVN but keep findings ways in.
And it’s also about how there might be an alternative way to run a police state
without it being horrible like Mega City 1 (although it might secretly be more
horrible).
Anyway, lots of themes, lots of plots, I haven’t even mentioned the characters, and it’s all squished together. But it’s never boring.
 |
| All is not as it seems. Words by Spencer; Art by Flint |
Dreddworld relevance? Technically it is set within Dredd’s world, and one of the main characters is an ex-Mega City Judge, and the theme touches upon anti-mutant prejudice, but it’s all in a deliberately obscure part with no bearing on anything else.
Writing: 7/10 There’s an interesting story here, and
Spencer does an admirable job telling it in a small space, but maybe not quite
enough of a job making me care.
Art: 8.5/10 This is about the point where Lynch moved up from budding new
art droid to really very excellent art droid. Flint, meanwhile, can do this
sort of thing in his sleep. It’s maybe a bit unfortunate that the story and
setting require everything to be either pale blue or mud brown, but it’s never
not nice to look at.
Impact: 4/10 No sequels or anything, but it surely grabbed people’s
attention, and got Spencer back into the Megazine fold.
Overall score 19.5 / 30
Has it been reprinted? It has! Meg 423 is your friend. One of the quicker turnarounds from original run to collection.
Riley’s Rebels by Honor Vincent and Stewart K Moore
(Megs 480-?)
What was this? One of those stories originally commissioned for 2000AD Regened, now just running as an all-new strip in the Megazine. Frankly, if one didn’t know anything about Regened, it’d be totally irrelevant. Yes, the two leads of this story are kids, but why shouldn’t they be?
So what this really is, is a story set in a rather novel part of the Cursed Earth, where desert gives way to Everglades-type jungle. There are some kids who seem to be part of a colony-type place where really elderly people are in charge, and survive thanks to over-powered cyber-suits. They use the kids as slave labour, especially to scavenge supplies to keep the suits going. The titular 'rebels' - a girl and her kid brother - mange to escape...
 |
| We have been to the swampy jungles of Alabama long ago in the pages of Judge Dredd. Cannibal Blimps, anyone? Words by Vincent; Art by Moore |
What's the story going to actually be about? Who knows? But I like it a lot so far, the setting, the characters, and the deliciously weird, vibrant art of SK Moore.
Dreddworld relevance? It’s set in the Cursed Earth.
Writing: 8/10
Art: 9/10
Impact: 3/10 Absurdly early to say, but the fact that I actively like it
compels me to give it a boost. If it goes on to get more series, this will move significantly higher up the ranking, for me.
Overall score: 20/30
Has it been reprinted? It has not – it hasn’t even
finished its first run!
No comments:
Post a Comment