Title | : | Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05 |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 1905437080 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9781905437085 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 384 |
Publication | : | First published April 18, 1981 |
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05 Reviews
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Judge Death's second showing is pretty great, but I think it should also have been his last one. Or the second to last before Necropolis, at most. These days the Dark Judges have been milked for all their worth and more: Judge Dredd is a flexible comicbook where a lot of things go, but unkillable supervillains ain't one of them.
This first Hotdog Run really is pretty brutal compared to the later ones. In stories such as Hunting Party and Sturm Und Dang, everyone survives and passes. Perhaps over the decades, even the Justice Department has learned - figured out how to get the lessons across better - but in this version it really emphasizes the harsh nature of the training to be a Judge, and how much is needed of the cadets, and how easily you may be found wanting.
And then of course there's the main event, the Block Mania and the ensuing Apocalypse War. I appreciate Day of Chaos trying to make a citywide berserk plague something to be taken a little more seriously, but overall it's still just a fairly weak shadow compared to this first going. You just can't top nukes. -
Features one if the most insane Dredd epics ever, the apocalypse war!
In Dredds early years there are two tremendous, borderline insane epics. One is of course, The Cursed Earth. The other is The Apocalypse War. Beginning as a scheme from the rulers of Sov City East Meg One to bring Dredds city to the ground, it's mayhem and craziness frm beginning to end! -
One of the reasons I loved 2000AD the first time around was that the story lines seemed to have some sort of planned arc, whatever the relative merits of that storyline. This volume is no exception and I delighted in the fact that the 9 episode arc of the Block Mania story was simply a scene setter for the 25 story Apocalypse War.
The Apocalypse War mirrors the other early epics in the Dredd series, in that I never got round to reading the whole thing before; I missed a lot of progs in the early years until my awesome father decided he was going to bring 2000AD home every Monday regardless of my waxing and waning tastes! So it's great to be able to catch up like this.
The Apocalypse War is, of course, melodrama in the extreme but it's also a science fiction opera crying out for a movie treatment. It deals with big political issues but also tries to get at the human aspects of survival. I think it does a great job of showing the fate of the masses (the 99%?) when two competing forces lose their minds; because, let's not pretend, the law in Mega City One and its favorite Judge are at best Conservtive in tone and so the citizens are not likely to be leading happy lives regardless of who wins the war. This story also predicts quite nicely what may happen should rogue, or not so rogue, leaders get their hands on destructive weaponry.
The reason that 2000AD works so well is that there is no pandering - even as a 10 year old I remember being blown away by some of the story lines, in fact I remember not understanding some of what I read. As an adult I'm able to appreciate the nuances a lot more and it's made me a bigger fan. -
This volume contains some of the best artwork of the series, as well as two of the most famous Dredd stories, "Judge Death Lives" and "The Apocalypse War." I miss the more satirical tone of the previous volumes somewhat, but it's hard to complain when what's here is so compulsively readable.
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Judge Dredd is a total badass riding around on his motorcycle and stomping on all the creeps of Mega-City One! I heard this volume of the Complete Case Files was a good place to start if you're new to Judge Dredd. I've never really read these types of old school hero comics before but something about Dredd interested me. I suppose the dystopian setting had a big role in that.
While I'm definitely a new fan of Dredd as a character I have mixed feelings about the comics. The tone just seems a little off, it's an odd mix of silly and serious. There are goofy aliens and the blocks are named after 1970s pop culture and Dredd has a Jar Jar Binks-esque robot named Walter. The crimes are sort of kid friendly with things like addictive "candy" and then you have villains playing Russian roulette, which I personally think is really dark. So I had a hard time figuring out who the intended audience was (which was important to me because I bought it for one of my nephews).
My absolute favorite story in the whole collection was Judge Death Lives. There you get to meet Judge Anderson for the first time in this collection, and instead of goofy sci-fi stuff there's another dimension with these weird undead villains. It's very dark and a little scary. While there are still silly elements (they're judging the living because the living commit crime?) I felt like there was finally a good mix of seriousness and intrigue. I also enjoyed the art in this part of the series, with easily read text and full page pictures. And come on, Dredd is so badass!
"Gaze into the FACE OF FEAR!"
For a moment the icy chill of terror courses down Dredd's spine. The shock of this gaze can kill an ordinary man. But Dredd is a Judge - and Judges are not ordinary men!
"GAZE INTO THE FIST OF DREDD!"
At the end of this collection you get into the Apocalypse War which comes in 25 parts, plus 9 parts of Block Mania that lead up to the war. I sort of enjoyed Block Mania more and I imagine the Apocalypse storyline was more exciting during the Cold War. It was definitely action packed if that's something you like! I think my opinion might have been influenced by Ezquerra's weird small lipped Dredd, I preferred the more snarly frowny versions by Bolland and Smith. -
This is the case file people in the know say is one of the best because of the Apocalypse war (which runs 22 chapters) is in it. And while I enjoyed this - my first Judge Dredd book - I actually would say the AW was my least fav part of the book. It was SUCH a downer with so much death that it became almost absurd. And yes, that is a weird criticism of a book that is all about extremes and the absurdity of life in this bleak future society but that chunk was even too much for me. Also, I really hate the art of Ezquerra. It is (to me) very amateurish. But luckily the first half of the book was so strong I still enjoyed this book.
It is hard to describe Dredd, since it is so different than most comic books I read. And while I am glad not all of them have the bleak tone of this book, I will say it was a very interesting read for its uniqueness. Basically, what we have is a sci fi future where the authors explore themes from the present day when they are taken to extremes. What saves it from being too bleak is the character of Dredd. He wins. He wins in a no nonsense way that takes no prisoners. You break the rules - you die. A forerunner of the Punisher in every way.
These volumes are an amazing value for the money. Would I buy another? I'm not sure. But I am glad I have this collection of a very unique comic book character, with some very creative stories told in 5-6 page segments. -
My girlfriend was reading this while we were on holiday, reminding me what a brilliant stretch of Dredd this is - the return of Death, now with his mates in tow (and hence one of the single best panels in comics history, when Dredd faces Fear) - plus Block Mania and The Apocalypse War, the first Dredd epic not to outstay its welcome, and to really justify its sprawl. Excellent stuff.
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An excellent introduction to Judge Dredd. I bought the recent Dredd Humble Bundle and this was the suggested starting point. As someone with absolutely no prior knowledge I found this a very easy read. Dredd is a brilliant character, and the world of Mega City One is fascinating. What I love is the multi issue story arcs that really explore what it means to live in this future.
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First of all, let’s get the non Block Mania/ Apocalypse War stories out of the way. Wagner seems to be coalescing his ideas of Dredd’s world at an incredible rate, helped no end by Grant. The Mega Rackets widens the scope of the series but still focuses things on actual crimes. We get a Futsie story, some more Cursed Earth shenanigans including the first Hot Dog Run and a general tone of writers and artists in complete control of their universe. Hell, even Death comes back with company, including probably the most iconic panel in Judge Dredd history
Which they then utterly destroy
For some reason, in all my years as a 2000AD reader I have never read the Apocalypse War series - all the precursors and responses, but never the actual thing. As a huge fan of Day of Chaos, I now appreciate how much that exists as an echo and response to this. Block Mania slowly builds the tension (whilst also incorporating gonzo violence), with McMahon and Bolland taking their leave of the strip, Ron Smith capably carrying much of the story and new artist Steve Dillon knocking it out of the park in his first story. It carefully builds on threads and ideas the story has been creating over the last four or five years and inexorably builds to a climax. Beat for beat it’s an approach Day of Chaos refines and comments upon
And then the war itself. Over in nine days, much of Mega City One is destroyed while Tex City and Mega City Two look on in powerless horror. The story becomes in essence a cross between SF horror and old fashioned war comic, but one that spends 3/4 of the time having the ostensible good guys (and that ostensible is really stretched here, for the first time) lose horribly before bouncing back and devastating the Sov Block in retaliation. Day of Chaos is mostly build up with the devastation a terrible domino effect of events towards the end. This is all action and drama and mayhem and incredible violence and horror. Ezquerra finally debuts properly on the series he designed and it’s astonishing to see one of these epics done by one artist all the way through. It’s like the strip was waiting for him to show up and demonstrate exactly how this world looks
The story is flawed and at times very scrappy, but it’s definitely a real step up in showing what the comic could do. For all those faults, it’s an astonishing work of mature confidence and arguably is the high water mark of the early golden years of Dredd as a series -
Reason for Reading: I love the Judge Dredd universe!
What a fantastic volume! This is epic in nature as it collects together the much talked about Apocalypse Wars in other smaller collections. Well here it finally is! Also the prequel story that led up to the Apocalypse "Block Mania" is included and with these two stories we have (the pages aren't numbered) what looks like just a little over half of the book. That's one complete storyline for over 200 pages of this 400 page volume. Some major action takes place here and this is just a stupendous volume to read. The first half of the book follows along the regular vein with short stories and occasional 2 or 3 part episodes of crime in Mega-City One. But not only do we get the epic Apocalypse story, in the first half comes the return of Judge Death and Judge Anderson in an awesome episodic storyline. Simply a fantastic dose of the Judge Dredd universe. Dredd's character becomes more and more dark and hard with this volume as well. His "the end justifies the means" philosophy is put into full action. I really can't wait for Vol. 6 to see how the world is put back together after this destruction!
I haven't read the other Case Files but I've already got 01 and I'm going to try and get caught up by the time 06 comes out (no date as of yet). I am majorly hooked! -
Read this again at the start of 2023. It is a great access book. So much good stuff. A solid introduction to crime in Mega City 1. The return of Judge Death and his mates. And a cracking story ''Block Wars'' which leads wonderfully into the Apocalypse War. Less Bolland and McMahon here, but great stuff from the return of Ezquerra and a bit of Steve Dillon. Really good.
B4.
Nailed it. Sure, parts are dated. But here we have a series of stories which explain what the Judge's lives are like, then the return of the super Judge Death and his buddies, followed by more cool mini stories, Block Mania and the Apocalypse War. I mean, all which makes 2000AD ace is here. -
Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries -
The fifth in the series reprinting every Dredd story from 2000AD, this volume covers progs 208-270 which were originally published between 1981 and 1982 (which was the latter part of my ‘golden period’ for reading ‘the galaxy’s greatest comic’). Although this features the excellent five-part “Judge Death Lives” (written by John Wagner - as TB Grover - and drawn by Brian Bolland) - which is worth the price of purchase alone - the longest run is the nine-part “Block Mania” which runs directly into “The Apocalypse War” (25 parts) and sees the destruction of Mega-City One (and ends this collection). There’s a lot to love here - the stories are bright and sharp with some nasty moments and clever bits of satire (all of it was written by either John Wagner or Alan Grant) and the artwork is astonishing (as well as Bolland there’s work by Steve Dillon, Ian Gibson, Mike McMahon, Ron Smith, Colin Wilson, John Cooper, Barry Mitchell and Carlos Ezquerra (who drew most of “The Apocalypse War”). The strips are beautifully reproduced and there are so many iconic images that each story has something vivid to remember it by. Nicely nostalgic for those of us who enjoyed the comics the first time around, these 40+ year old strips are still essential reading and I’d very much recommend the collection.
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Returning back to the dystopian world of Judge Dredd and Megacity 1 after almost 2 years away was just what I needed, and picking up the saga again with The Complete Case Files 05 was just the place to do it.
It's already been said in multiple reviews before me that 05 contains some of Dredd's best stories and I whole-heartedly agree. Aside from the often praised and even more frequently mentioned "Apocalypse War" and "Block Mania" arcs, there's another run-in with Judge Death (who has brought along some pretty terrifying friends this time), a pseudo-prequel in "Hot Dog Run", that gives some more back story to the training of judges, and some one-off strips that breath more life and creativity into the fictional world of 2100's America.
I almost gave this one a 5 star rating, but the horribly stupid "Stookie" storyline and a few instances over over-inked panels brought the rating down a bit.
Still though, so far, 05 is easily my favorite of the Dredd canon and continues to show the evolution of Dredd's storyline. -
I'll set my stall out and say Judge Dredd is the absolute best character to emerge from grown-up British comics. These volumes from Rebellion have been excellent and quite generous releases, giving plenty of reading and showcasing the talents of some of the best comic writers and artists of the past forty years.
JD Vol 5 is possibly the most iconic offering of the series. From the pages of early 1982 2000AD we get the return of Judge Death and the Dark Judges, with the freshly-revived Judge Anderson at her most highly-strung and penned by the inimitable Brian Bolland. Next, we have the Mega-Rackets, a glimpse of the eccentric criminal underbelly of Mega-City One featuring the imaginative talents of Colin Wilson and Ron Smith. The same artist pens the Hotdog Run, a three-parter that follows Cadet Judges on their Cursed Earth assessment test.
So far, so good. Yet there is even space left for two of the most exciting, bleak and iconic strips ever to feature Ol' Stony Face. First is Block Mania, brilliantly portrayed by the kinetic art of Mike McMahon (some of the best work we've seen from him) and the pinpoint exactitude of Brian Bolland. It follows seamlessly into Carlos Ezquerra's epic artwork for the Cold War fable The Apocalypse War which sees Mega-City One decimated by a Sov-Block nuclear assault and invasion. One of the bleakest and most intractable challenges for Dredd, the judges are turned into a paramilitary resistance force against the robotic armies of East-Meg One.
Although as a long-term fan this was pure nostalgia for me, if you're new to Dredd and looking for a place to start you couldn't do better than this volume to whet your appetite. -
Some ok-to-good stories, but then this series kicks into overdrive as soon as the Block Mania storyline starts. Then it flows straight into The Apocalypse War which is (so far) the absolute best Judge Dredd story. Full octane warfare against two fascist states, all drawn divinely crude by Carlos Ezquerra. If you're given the chance to read only one Judge Dredd book before you die, you have to make it this one.
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Great material - both the smaller case files in the beginning and the bigger stories around Judge Death and The Apocalpyse War. Note on the latter: It is an achievement in itself to feature constant nuclear assault for about hundred pages or so while still keeping the story very entertaining.
Gaze into the fist of Dredd, creep! -
The volume where Judge Dredd as serialized fiction clicks into place. Every story in this collection leads beautifully and succinctly into the next, from Mega-Rackets to The Dark Judges, Block Mania in the magnificent, definitive Apocalypse War. Previous volumes have been varying degrees of Very Good—Volume 5 is unequivocally the Best of Dredd.
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the first half was a little mundane but the return of Judge Death and the appearance of the other three dark judges starts an upsurge in quality, and when Block Mania began I knew the best was being saved to last as the Apocalypse War unfolded ending the book on a high note.
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I would actually not recommend this for a first Case File? It’s too dark, with the lengthy Apocalypse War section, and lacks the dark humour that Dredd has at it’s best. Good comics though, even if Ezquerra’s art style isn’t to my taste.
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First half, some entertaining stories from 1981 or thereabouts. Mostly two-parters. Entertaining. Then the Block War/Apocalypse War story. Not enough Chopper or Walter for my liking but some great crimes and the odd wisp of humour.
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This is classic Dredd at its best.
Dredd, as always, is the funny villain who somehow looks like a hero at first glance.
There is so much societal commentary if you just try and see it. It is there front and centre.
And, for such a violent storyline, a beautifully depicted anti-war story. -
Another great collection to continue the series. Includes The Apocalypse War saga and Judge Death rises from the grave again.
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Ruthless Judging! :D Epic Battles! :D Brilliant Review to Come! :D
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Excellent read. The one with The Apocalypse War. That was brutal.
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Come for the Apocalypse War Saga, remain for the manly drawings by Ezquerra. Recommended.
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Some absolute classic tales here, not least the relentlessly epic Block Mania / Apocalypse War storyline, which really needs to be a movie or better yet a tv series.