Tuan Jim

My local scifi bookstore is having their annual St. Patrick's day sale tomorrow and all comic books, etc. are at least 30% off. Unfortunately, most of the TPBs I really want are still cheaper -- ie. 37% off plus free shipping at buy.com, but there are some older books and a few strange ones in stock that I'm hoping to pick up. -- some Humanoids HC's, old paperback novels, etc.

I've been wondering about some of the Judge Dredd/ 2000 AD books for awhile now. I'm guessing there're some good ones and some bad ones, and most are probably hard to find in a mainstream store. Are any specific volumes recommended? Artists/writers to look out for? They've got quite a few different ones here to choose from.

thanks,
Tuan Jim

Mutley Hyde

All the early Dredds rock. I'm sure the 2000 ADs do too, but I never actually read those.

Brian Bolland

Bean-si

As regards Judge Dredd - I'd recommend 'The Apocalypse War', the 'Judge Death' stuff and I'm struggling with the last one's title but it probably has 'Judge Caligula' in the title. All well worth a look.

Josh-da-man

Of the Judge Dredd books, the best books are the oldest:

Judge Death
Cursed Earth (Presumably still missing the notorious section that various American companies made them remove)
The Apocalypse War

Emerald Isle - This is a newer collection, but it's of interest because the main story is written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon, the creative team behind Preacher. Oh, it also has a painted cover by Glen Fabry. Plus, it's Ireland-themed, and appropriate for the holiday.

Other 2000AD books of interest.

Slaine the Horned God The first of three books, the first one is definitely out, don't know about the second.

Ballad of Halo Jones Early b&w Alan Moore work.

D.R. and Quinch another early b&w Alan Moore work, illustrated by Alan Davis. Sort of a humor book, may not be everyone's cup of tea, though.

Judge Anderson They've done at least one TPB of Judge Anderson stories (spin-off of Dredd), and it features the return of Judge Death. I read this quite a while ago (in comics form) and it was pretty good, better than the modern Dredds they were doing at the time.

Tuan Jim

Thanks for the info. Based on suggestions here and on another message board I found, I picked up Judge Dredd: The Pit, and Judge Anderson: Death's Dark Dimensions. My store had a decent amount of books to choose from, but not some of the ones that were highly recommended here and elsewhere.

If these turn out to be good I'll probably pick up some more in the future. Considered the ABC Warriors: The Black Hole and some others.

Kudama

I wish I jumped in sooner because I wanted to make some of the recommendations that have already been made!

The “Judge Cal” (first and last appearance of Fergie) and “Dark Judges” sagas were definitely the best.

Of note, at least, is the “Judge Child Quest”. It’s an exploration of the cursed earth and the first appearance of The Angel Gang (minus Fink Angel).

adding

That just reminded me!

The only times you are allowed to see Dredd’s face (that I’m aware of) are in the Judge Cal episode (swathed in bandages after a head shot) and in the one where he fights his twin Rico. The trick was that Rico’s face was mangled from a cybernetic attachment that allowed him to survive on the moon Titan. All corrupt Judges go there. If you can find a TB with that story in it I recommend highly.

It’s only like 4 or 5 pages. My favorite line: “I sed DRAW!!! Lawman!”

Lampei

Ah, pity I got here a bit late, but I whole-heartedly agree with all of the previous recommendations. I enjoyed Necropolis and Dead Man, and if you can find any of the Button Man, they are excellent. Missionary Man was a fun story. Generally speaking, most of the graphic novels that 2000AD release are well worth the read. Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Zenith, anything with JD, The Apocalypse War, Horned God (fantastic artwork and story), ABC Warriors, The cursed Earth, Sinister Dexter, Chopper, Nikolai Dante. I also rather enjoyed all of the Batman Vs. JD stories. Pick up the JD Megazine from the UK if you can. They've started to produce some excellent stories.

Josh-da-man

Zenith was to have been released with the new batch of Titan graphic novels that started a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately, it's currently tied up in a legal battle. In a nutshell, it appears that Grant Morrison believes that he never signed the work over to 2000AD and still controls the rights.

Sadly, it's starting to look like this may go the way of Miracleman.

Lampei

Glad I still have most of the original comics then My wife thinks I'm very strange, but every so often I just love going back and re-reading my comics. I started back in the late 500's, and picked up most of them up until now (1300's). Some crap stories along the way (as with most comics), but you can always be glad of at least two or three good stories per issue.