I got inspired to read this by the 2012 "Dredd" film starring Karl Urban: One of my favourite science-fiction action films in a long while, which basically felt like a cyberpunk "Die Hard" directed by John Carpenter. The comics, however, turn out to be a level weirder than the movie at least.Most of the stories herein are episodic one-shots with a couple longer epic story arcs appearing. In the comics it's clearer than the films, both the Sylvester Stallone version from the mid 90's and the rece...

Let's get things straight. I am NOT a comic book fan. I never have been. There is something about trying to read dialogue and thought bubbles while looking at pictures at the same time that is just distracting. I'd rather read a novel and visualize things myself, or go see a movie. This is probably why, even though I enjoy the Marvel movies and The Walking Dead, I have never been one to try and get the entire history behind them or compare original stories with the movie version or what's on TV....

Read this with my six year old who loves it. Absolutely loves it. Now he calls his dad Call-me-Kenneth!

"Judge Dredd" is the most popular title of the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD, and this first volume collects the title's earliest stories from 1977-78. Dredd is a law enforcement officer in the futuristic North American Mega-City 1, empowered to pass death sentences or jail terms on the job. Robots perform most traditionally human tasks, providing the 800 million people living in Mega-City 1 with an abundance of wealth and leisure time. And what better way to enjoy all that wealth an...

I tracked this down because I've spent the past 35 years haunted by the image of Rico Dredd's surgically altered face to enable him to serve out his 20-year sentence on Titan. The reveal is still shocking, but I had forgotten that it all leads to a terrible joke where an exhausted Judge Dredd carries Rico's body claiming, "He ain't heavy..."Where this short strip terrified me years ago, this time around it made my cry and laugh within a few panels.It'll be another few hundred issues before the l...

Reason for Reading: I've read quite a few Judge Dredd collections now including book 5 of these Case Files and knew it was time to start at the beginning.This is where it all started! The very first Judge Dredd stories collected together in chronological order are a delight for any fan to read. I had such a fun time reading this book. The book starts off with single episode stories but it doesn't take long until the Robot Wars issues start and we have a long running sequential story. After this

Ok I am irrational and biased - so there! This is a collection of the Judge Dredd comic strips collected together and presented in one book- they are taken from the pages of the British Comic 2000AD (yes there are other publications as well but this is really his home admit it). The reason for the high praise for what is essentially a dated and simplistic comic strip - simple - my past. Growing up in a village - not really in to reading (yet mind you), this was my slice of escapism. A friend of

This is the first of the Judge Dredd case files and an interesting look at how Joe Dredd and Megacity One was conceived and developed in the beginning.Mostly consisting of single episode stories with two early multipart stories in the form of the Robot Wars (against Call-Me-Kenneth) and Dredd as Judge Marshall of Luna-1.Walter the Wobot, Dredd's fawning robot servant, gets introduced, mainly as comic relief as well as Dredd's landlady (later, maid), Maria.His helmet gets removed twice here (gasp...

For many, Judge Dredd and 2000AD are not so much synonymous as interchangeable. So it’s a weird old thing reading a young and still not quite Dredd like Dredd. His character slowly takes form as the book and progs go on, but it’s weird to see him almost be funny a couple of times and be fond of Walter his annoying robot butler. But the strength of this first volume is seeing the world of Mega City One come togetherCall Me Kenneth and the robot rebellion is the first longer plot the story tries a...

A fantastic idea from 2000AD, the Complete Case Files reprint every Dredd story that appeared in the comic. Volume one covers issue 2 (he didn’t appear in number 1) from March 1977 through to issue 60 from April 1978 and as an early reader of the Thrill Zone (the first issue I remember is 18, from June ’77), this was a real blast from the past. While some of the early stories suffer from format issues as it tries to find its feet (the incident, Dredd says no-one is above the law, sorts the baddi...

Judge Dredd rules. As badass as it is to see a Judge dealing with baddies, there's also a degree of humor with his land lady and Walter the Wobot for example.

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 collects the Judge Dredd stores from 2000 AD #2-60.Like a lot of people, I only know Judge Dredd from the pair of movies and the times he teamed up with Batman. In my quest to fill in some gaps in my comics knowledge, I picked this up. This is a collection of 4-8 page shorts, some linked, featuring Judge Dredd, lawman of the post-apocalyptic future. He patrols Mega City-1, a sprawling metropolis that encompasses half of North America from what I gather.Thi...

I love this character, and understand the comic medium well enough to know to keep my expectations low for a first volume of a thirty-five year old character. I approached this book as an exercise for the sake of appreciating this character's history and development, and I'm glad I did. The art improves significantly over the course of the book. Still, most of the book is made of short stories, four to nine pages, in a monster-of-the-week format. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but those who...

The original Judge Dredd Case Files go back to the 1970s in the early days of the satirical authoritarian protagonist who works in New York City and later Mega City One. The strip is rough compared to how it would eventually come to be with a lot of the stories lacking some of their later edge. Still, some of the satire is still biting like the fact the Statue of Liberty gets replaced by a bigger Statue of Justice. The "Call me Kenneth" story arc takes up a lot of the early strips and is just ba...

I thoroughly recommend going back to the start, the inception of Judge Dredd. Almost all of the stories here are one-off tales which serve to demonstrate the day-to-day life of a Judge in Megacity One. Even the prolonged series of stories set on Lunar One follow this pattern. A few characters pop up more than once, some of whom you’ll recognise from more recent editions.Great fun.

Going back to the original source material can really change your perspective on a character - without doing so you might never know about Judge Dredd's stereotypical Italian lady landlord, his lisping robo-butler Walter the Wobot (who even lisps in his writing?!?) his brother Rico, his adventures fighting the Ape Mafia or his stint as Judge of the Moon. None of which I made up.

2.5 Stars The year is 2099 AD. Welcome to Mega-City One: A highly populated city with staggering crime rates. To ensure peace and uphold the law of Mega-City One, the justice department uses judges: An officer of the law who acts as police, judge, jury and executioner if necessary. Who is the toughest and smartest of them all?Judge DreddThe collection contains some brilliant stories a lot of terrible ones.A gun that shoots six types of bullets? Face changing machines? A Fingerprint triggered g...

These stories seem a little rough by modern standards, but they must have been exciting to read when they were originally published. It's interesting to see Dredd's character and world as they are first established, but this collection will most likely be of interest only to die-hard fans and completists.

These case files are amazing value for money. RRP is £15 but you can pick most of these up for a tenner thanks to the internet. You a get a years worth of Dredd stories printed on a pretty good paper. It’s not parchment but compared to Marvel and DC collected editions, it might as well be. It’s not that terrible pulp you get with manga. These are a bloody bargain; with other comic companies you would get 4-6 issues at this price point. 5 stars for value.Now onto the content. Yeah, I didn’t reali...

Got to love Dredd. These stories from the early 2000AD are superb to watch the evolution of a character who was ground breaking back in the Seventies and Eighties. Some excellent tales that include his six month deployment to Lunar 1 and the classic Robowar story arch. Annoyingly finished just at the start of Cursed Earth - better look out for Volume 2 !!!!!