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Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files + The Restricted Files+ The Daily Dredds
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 12
Judge Dredd, Mega-City One’s toughest law enforcer, is back on the streets in this collection of explosive cases. This volume of scintillating Thrills features some of the very best Dredd stories including Full Mental Jacket, Bloodline and the Return of P.J. Maybe, featuring everybody’s favourite pint-sized master criminal. Also included are some of the first Dredd strips to go full colour! Volume 12 features the writing of comic-book legends Alan Grant (Lobo) and John Wagner (A History of Violence) along with the work of such classic artists as John Ridgway (Dead Man), Colin MacNeil (Strontium Dog) and Jim Baikie (Skizz).
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 1988
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140 people want to read
About the author
John Wagner
1,264Ìýbooks183ÌýfollowersJohn Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. ()
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 14, 2019
By far the most filler tome of JDTCCF. Too many below average oneshot stories, the only redemption are the sequential Oz & Mo stories.
June 15, 2020
Really great as we get further out of the canonical/re-hashed and better known Dredd stories. Good to see the color. Spacing at the gutter is better so material isn’t getting lost in the binding. Books from here on out are thinner, but that’s due to the thinner, glossier, paper compared to CCFs 1-11.
We’re seeing more and more character depth for Old Stoney Face. He’s facing getting older, questioning himself and his ethics, and even making mistakes. Timely issues like excessive force are prevalent.
We’re seeing more and more character depth for Old Stoney Face. He’s facing getting older, questioning himself and his ethics, and even making mistakes. Timely issues like excessive force are prevalent.
August 9, 2019
As everyone's newly revealed favorite closet racist Morrissey once sang, "That joke isn't funny anymore."
Judge Dredd has always been touted as one of those "legendary" comic book characters who become an ubiquitous part of the comics canon. I've been able to find eleven of the twelve volumes of this series via the Cleveland Public Library CLEVNET system, but honestly, I probably should have stopped ages ago, as reading the adventures of a "hero" who is essentially a fascist law enforcer who serves as judge, jury and executioner hits a little too close to home these days, since our president doesn't seem to believe in due process or the law. The early volumes belie that creator John Wagner (and later with co-writer Alan Grant) was making a satiric statement on the likes of Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, who preached law and order and played on people's fears to get elected. By this point in the series, however, there isn't much to say that hasn't been said already and Dredd's "legendary" status has been cemented by fanboys who missed the point. (I'm sure these fans--likely privileged and angry white males--loved the Punisher and Guy Gardner at the time as well.) Since it's a regular check, Wagner just keeps plugging along, trying to think of new situations to stick Dredd in.
This is the first volume that featured colored strips, and the early strips in this volume feature color opening spreads with black and white for the rest of the story. While this eventually leads Wagner to do a clever play on The Wizard of Oz once the strip goes full color, the coloring doesn't add anything to a strip that up until this volume I had been consuming in black and white. Dredd is still Dredd. Color doesn't change that.
I wish some of these volumes had featured the work of Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis among others who eventually wrote for 2000 AD but apparently that is not to be. But I'm pretty sure I've had my fill of Judge Dredd. It's definitely time to move on.
Judge Dredd has always been touted as one of those "legendary" comic book characters who become an ubiquitous part of the comics canon. I've been able to find eleven of the twelve volumes of this series via the Cleveland Public Library CLEVNET system, but honestly, I probably should have stopped ages ago, as reading the adventures of a "hero" who is essentially a fascist law enforcer who serves as judge, jury and executioner hits a little too close to home these days, since our president doesn't seem to believe in due process or the law. The early volumes belie that creator John Wagner (and later with co-writer Alan Grant) was making a satiric statement on the likes of Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, who preached law and order and played on people's fears to get elected. By this point in the series, however, there isn't much to say that hasn't been said already and Dredd's "legendary" status has been cemented by fanboys who missed the point. (I'm sure these fans--likely privileged and angry white males--loved the Punisher and Guy Gardner at the time as well.) Since it's a regular check, Wagner just keeps plugging along, trying to think of new situations to stick Dredd in.
This is the first volume that featured colored strips, and the early strips in this volume feature color opening spreads with black and white for the rest of the story. While this eventually leads Wagner to do a clever play on The Wizard of Oz once the strip goes full color, the coloring doesn't add anything to a strip that up until this volume I had been consuming in black and white. Dredd is still Dredd. Color doesn't change that.
I wish some of these volumes had featured the work of Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis among others who eventually wrote for 2000 AD but apparently that is not to be. But I'm pretty sure I've had my fill of Judge Dredd. It's definitely time to move on.
August 4, 2024
The 22nd century’s greatest lawman is back…in color! This time, most of the progs collected in the 12th edition of the case files are finally in the full spectrum of colors that this series had been missing for years. Even in 1988, the majority of comics in the world had moved to full color. 2000 AD was lagging behind so it’s good to see they had embraced the change fully by the late 80’s. The move to full color was nice since now the illustrations look a lot better without the black and white pen and ink. They’re also far more violent and contain quite a bit more blood than we are used to seeing�.as do the stories themselves. The progs feel a lot more dark and gritty as the tongue in cheek satire of the character of Judge Dredd is slowly being replaced by something a lot more dystopian and violent. We are getting to see just what a mess Megacity 1 is, and how screwed up the Justice Dept. has become. In addition, many of these pros feel continuous, meaning they actually build on each other, whether from previous arcs (especially Dredd still dealing with the fall out over the Chopper fiasco), or just keeping the stories going consistently over the multi arc issues.
December 31, 2023
No epics in this volume, but some intriguing short stories that don't always go where you're expecting. The tone starts to become more serious here, and Dredd less certain of his mission after the ending of Oz in the previous volume.
December 25, 2022
Again, this is the stuff that I would have been reading week by week as a kid and it’s amazing what has lodged in my brain from it. Will Simpson’s art absolutely terrified me, which is probably why I remember Spider Woman so well. I also remember how uncomfortable Liam Sharpe’s art made me feel - it has this odd intensity even now so something otherwise a bit daft like the PJ Maybe stories instead feel incredibly dark and worrying. I also remember just how much of pop culture puns I picked up from these strips first: Full Mental Jacket, Crazy Barry Little Mo� I had no idea what the references were so would always get a weird spark of recognition when I saw the title they were riffing off. I also remembered how pleased I was at guessing where the Jugs McKenzie story was going to go, but am still impressed by how clever a way of turning the strip full colour it is
Reading now, the fascinating thing is how much the Grant/ Wagner split seems to happen so quickly. You can already see in Hitman, the first story here, the fissure growing with Wagner more interested in exploring Dredd’s anxiety over his grudging respect for Chopper which leads to a general sense of malaise about the justice system. Meanwhile Grant was probably enjoying the idea of a hitman knocking off celebrities as a dark comic story. Otherwise, the last couple of co-writes seem to go nowhere near Dredd’s sudden expansion into conflicted hero - I remember the Sage very well indeed, although there are suggestions that this was a pre-Oz story that just took forever to draw because of Fabry’s beautiful art (similarly Simp Around The House was promised pre-Oz in the last volume). Otherwise Grant solo feels very old fashioned somehow - Brainstem Man could have come from five years before, and although fun the other knockabout stuff only really sparkles in the other Fabry contribution here, complete with “nice� Dredd
For the most part it’s Wagner trying to juggle old fashioned Dredd stories with his decision to play about with his previously monolithic hero’s motivations. A good example is the Sino City story which at first is almost gratuitously offensive in terms of casual racism, but soon sort of makes itself clear as a story about Dredd being the sort of villain here and coming up against a slightly more extreme version of himself. That casual racism is definitely meant to be part of the Mega City One’s contingent’s slightly patronising relationship towards their rivals, underestimating them considerably. But I think this is really the first era where Dredd’s age becomes an issue, and the sense of him as in some way old fashioned. I had completely forgotten Kraken first appears during this era, in a plot that starts the slow progression towards Dredd quitting the city, but there’s also elements of this in his views towards insane Judge Barry Kurten which I think is meant to highlight how much of a very particular view of the system Dredd has will eventually highlight the rift between him and his peers. It’s not quite there yet, but the new era of Dredd is fascinating to see coming together
Reading now, the fascinating thing is how much the Grant/ Wagner split seems to happen so quickly. You can already see in Hitman, the first story here, the fissure growing with Wagner more interested in exploring Dredd’s anxiety over his grudging respect for Chopper which leads to a general sense of malaise about the justice system. Meanwhile Grant was probably enjoying the idea of a hitman knocking off celebrities as a dark comic story. Otherwise, the last couple of co-writes seem to go nowhere near Dredd’s sudden expansion into conflicted hero - I remember the Sage very well indeed, although there are suggestions that this was a pre-Oz story that just took forever to draw because of Fabry’s beautiful art (similarly Simp Around The House was promised pre-Oz in the last volume). Otherwise Grant solo feels very old fashioned somehow - Brainstem Man could have come from five years before, and although fun the other knockabout stuff only really sparkles in the other Fabry contribution here, complete with “nice� Dredd
For the most part it’s Wagner trying to juggle old fashioned Dredd stories with his decision to play about with his previously monolithic hero’s motivations. A good example is the Sino City story which at first is almost gratuitously offensive in terms of casual racism, but soon sort of makes itself clear as a story about Dredd being the sort of villain here and coming up against a slightly more extreme version of himself. That casual racism is definitely meant to be part of the Mega City One’s contingent’s slightly patronising relationship towards their rivals, underestimating them considerably. But I think this is really the first era where Dredd’s age becomes an issue, and the sense of him as in some way old fashioned. I had completely forgotten Kraken first appears during this era, in a plot that starts the slow progression towards Dredd quitting the city, but there’s also elements of this in his views towards insane Judge Barry Kurten which I think is meant to highlight how much of a very particular view of the system Dredd has will eventually highlight the rift between him and his peers. It’s not quite there yet, but the new era of Dredd is fascinating to see coming together
May 27, 2023
This is am important book in the series for a few reasons. Firstly, this is when Judge Dredd shifts from B&W to colour. It is done very well in this book. Secondly, you can sense that the way of plotting stories is changing. The Simp story from case file 11 is concluded here, and there are a couple of other stories such as Judge Barry and the teenage psychopath which have not been resolved.
That is quite different from previous case files. I assume that at this point Judge Dredd is a very secure part of 2000ad so there is no need to finish all the stories. Or it could be because we have had long stories such as Oz etc and this is another style Wagner is playing with. Whatever the case, I like it, but I am glad that I am reading the case files and not waiting many months for the resolution.
There are a handful of good stories here such as Hitman which follows the Oz story in case file 11, Barry and Mo, and the Spider Woman. Additionally Full Mental Jacket, the wizard of oz jolly and our introduction of Judges in Tokyo also kept me engaged. There is a lot to like in this case file and plenty to dip into depending on mood.
Probably the most jarring and interesting aspect here is the art. There are a lot of artists which are new to me. The days of Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon and Carlos Esquerra (who comes back from time to time) as the staple of these stories is truly in the past. The likes of Glen Fabry and other names I have yet to become accustomed to offer a new 'colour' to Dredd.
Strong case file!
That is quite different from previous case files. I assume that at this point Judge Dredd is a very secure part of 2000ad so there is no need to finish all the stories. Or it could be because we have had long stories such as Oz etc and this is another style Wagner is playing with. Whatever the case, I like it, but I am glad that I am reading the case files and not waiting many months for the resolution.
There are a handful of good stories here such as Hitman which follows the Oz story in case file 11, Barry and Mo, and the Spider Woman. Additionally Full Mental Jacket, the wizard of oz jolly and our introduction of Judges in Tokyo also kept me engaged. There is a lot to like in this case file and plenty to dip into depending on mood.
Probably the most jarring and interesting aspect here is the art. There are a lot of artists which are new to me. The days of Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon and Carlos Esquerra (who comes back from time to time) as the staple of these stories is truly in the past. The likes of Glen Fabry and other names I have yet to become accustomed to offer a new 'colour' to Dredd.
Strong case file!
January 4, 2021
Cool that color finally got added. The "Wizard of Oz" and "Our Man in Hondo" stories have especially beautiful art and are also the most interesting stories. "Bloodlines" was a good story too, but so complex I had to read it twice to understand. I didn't really get the PJ Maybe storylines. Hopefully it will be wrapped up soon.
October 13, 2022
Brilliant edge of the seat full of daring do, cunning, three-dimensional characters, plot twists, cinematic vistas, daring, old and new characters, plot development, world building, unbridled heroics, the law, great art, a rollercoaster ride from the beginning, adventure and action! Crisp high five highly recommended! Get it when you can! :D
June 8, 2018
I can't think of any story that really stands out in this book, however the use of colours is phenomenal and the writing is strong.
October 28, 2018
another enjoyable installment of the series
September 28, 2019
Dredd is always good.
I did think so me of the color art was not quite up to the usual standards. Dredd should be in black and white.
I did think so me of the color art was not quite up to the usual standards. Dredd should be in black and white.
February 11, 2020
The stuff that works is solid, traditional Dredd; the stuff that doesn't just weighs the book down. The Barry and Mo story ends the volume on a high note, though.
April 25, 2020
A lesser volume
PJ Maybe is back in a mostly sub par entry in the Dredd lexicon. Dredd in Japan is the best entry in this case file.
PJ Maybe is back in a mostly sub par entry in the Dredd lexicon. Dredd in Japan is the best entry in this case file.
October 27, 2020
So many one-shots. Some funny, so not.
Some longer arcs too, but not enough to ease my needs.
Great art all the way through.
Some longer arcs too, but not enough to ease my needs.
Great art all the way through.
August 5, 2021
I must have stopped reading 2000AD by this point. The colour sections are a little too much at times. Interesting where stories skip a few issues and return at times. Some diamonds in the coal.
February 13, 2017
Finally Dredd is in colour! Well, some of the time anyway. As a result some of the artists take some great liberties to experiment with a few new styles of drawing, most of which is an absolute pleasure. Story-wise it is very much run-of-the-mill with a few odd exceptions which are strange even for a Dredd story, the Wizard of Oz tale being both the oddest and one of the best on offer. With such great visuals on offer I can suggest no explanation as to why they chose that particular one for the cover, which is neither a memorable moment in the series or indeed even a particularly good visual, comparatively speaking. The best moment in the entire book has to be our first look at a Japanese Judge. WOW!
January 3, 2016
Some good stuff here, as usual, but patchy. This is where the artwork moves into colour, and the colour art is not that great, for the most part. For example, there's a strip drawn by Glenn Fabry that begins in colour and switches to black and white, and the difference is huge. The definition and clarity of the monochrome is so much nicer. I'm guessing this is down to it being published in the eighties and the new coloured production was an exciting factor for the comic at the time. Right now, I'm missing the black and white but I imagine the colour work will improve as it goes on.
On a positive, loved Ian Gibson's art on Full Mental Jacket.
On a positive, loved Ian Gibson's art on Full Mental Jacket.
July 18, 2013
Revisting things you loved in your childhood can always be a bit hit or miss. And this was a bit miss. Reading it collected like this, instead of weekly installments, the limitations of the 6 page story really become clear. No wonder the megazine was an improvement with it's longer stories.
Didn't help this collection didn't include many of the classic stories. The only really good one was the story set in Alzheimers Block, where we discover the city routinely euthanises old people.
Didn't help this collection didn't include many of the classic stories. The only really good one was the story set in Alzheimers Block, where we discover the city routinely euthanises old people.
March 27, 2009
More awesome Dreddness. The switch to full colour makes for great print quality and more artistic depth.
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