#Judge Dredd: Necropolis

[krafty1]

The Daily Panel 12/20/24

Image Credit: Rebellion Publishing

[midnighttraindemo]

the three part 2000AD series 'wot i did in necropolis' from december 1990.

part one is sadly the only one i have with a cover.

from my dad's 2000AD collection

[avalon-of-babylon]

The 2012 Judge Dredd film is severely underrated, and I'll always be disappointed Dredd 2 and 3 never happened.

This is one of the greatest comic movies of all time period full stop. It had a perfect cast with a surprisingly phenomenal performance by Karl Urban, an amazing set direction that made the world look not only lived in but so realistic you could step into it, costuming and props that do an exceptional job adapting the comics look for a more modern and grounded approach, fantastic fight choreography that takes full advantage of the space, an enthralling story that to my knowledge isn't based off any actual issues yet still feels perfect in the world of Judge Dredd, and surprisingly good directing given how few films Pete Travis had made to that point none of which were action movies.

But no for some fucking reason Dredd under preformed in England where the damn comic is from and everyone involved has moved on. We could have had Necropolis but it was never meant to be.

[judgeanon]

Which stories or comics would you recommend to someone who wants to know the character of Judge Dredd?

If you're just, juuuust getting started, the Complete Case Files collect all of Dredd in chronological order, so you can just start from Vol 1. However, early Dredd is not everyone's cup of tea, so if you find it a bit too cheesy, you can skip ahead to volumes 3-4-5, which are pretty much peak Dredd. 5 in particular is very good to understand Dredd.

For more specific character-related suggestions, The Midnight Surfer/Oz, Necropolis (and its prologue, The Dead Man) and America are all great tales that put Dredd's character front and centre, examining different aspects of him. America in particular is essential stuff.

And once you have a pretty good idea of Dredd as a character, I can't recommend Origins enough. Origins not only gives you the full backstory of Dredd, the judges and how they all came to be, but also sets up a years-long arc of brilliant character development that continues into the Tour of Duty storyline and, in many ways, is still ongoing right now. The Case Files are perfect to see classic Dredd, but modern, current Dredd starts at Origins for me.

[spaceintruderdetector]

Judge Dredd - Necropolis : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[gotham-at-nightfall]

Essential Judge Dredd: Necropolis

[kudzucataclysm]

how has se changed since you first created it? are there any plot ideas or concepts that fell by the wayside?

oh god, let me travel back in time mentally almost 3-4 years or so-

well first off, i rmm that a large foundation of SE was inspired by the Venture Bros? the guild of villains aspect of it most likely cuz i genuinely found that interesting. Dez and Francis were proper like, apprentices to VILLAINY and it was all meant to be a more lighthearted story, of them going on adventures while trying to be “professional criminals” (Dez doing so accidentally). Francis was actually NICER somewhat? and Dez’s family loved him to bits. Carmine was much more of a father figure to Frank (EUGH) and he wasn’t a former nazi? And Maya acted more like a chill business partner/friend to Carmine rather than like, his leash holder of sorts…Carson was also egging to be a prof villain and sucked at it so Hammond had to help her or something

i rmm also that the worldbuilding aspect of SE was ULTRA FLIPPANT? like, i would make just the stupidest/most fantastical shit happen in the timeline for no reason and i think that mainly fell through cuz i ended up wanting to justify everything…and the timeline became so cluttered and chaotic tbh. so much was going on that didn’t make sense, im much happier with the one i have now (smaller/less detailed tho it may be)

i genuinely don’t rmm how the city of Necropolis came to be however. i just knew it was Necropolis and it was BIG and built on top of the ruins of an old city, inspired by the coast spanning megacities in judge dredd. the babel-like structure of the city is entirely new/recent and its no longer in new york (got tired of ny…TBH…)

mmm what else…ah plotlines. i rmm one that primarily featured tugarin as an antag and old foe of Carmine’s and there was gonna be a big confrontation in Soviet Russia or something…tugarin is now like, SUUUUPER background fodder. the villain awards ceremony plotline. dumb asf. i also rmm exploring a plotline where Martians tried to like, pull a transformers 3 and PUSH MARS right next to earth for some reason. it was dumb 😭 lots of nigh world ending events that these kids had to deal with…not anymore!!! and superheroes! that was a major thing. like them being corporate tools and such, and there being a lot of them that the kids had to fight due to aforementioned villainy…thats all def backseat now, there’s like only a handful of people considered supes now, everyone else is just a freak…and as of rn im wondering whether or not to dash everything with ATLAS and the comet and stuff like that…or maybe just redo the lore surrounding them! im unsure

EDIT OMFG LAS NEVADAS!!! how can i forget ok so like, it was meant to be a sort of solo arc kind of? like how pokemon had the spin off movies that weren’t like lore accurate. the main crew were to go to the city state of Las Nevadas and do a whole nuclear casino heist thing inspired by oceans 11 and casino 1995. WOW ya that got abandoned sadly 😔

that’s all i can rmm rn! mainly that it used to be way more lighthearted and episodic (think Adventure Time), just kids messing around with atompunk superscience, villainy and going on adventures together…i’m attempting to go through old notes but there’s not much substance to be found unfortunately- a lot of it is just dialogue…? like my mind straight up refused proper notes and things i think, all i have is old cringey dialogue between characters from 3 years ago now 😭😭😭

[dalesramblingsblog]

Brief Thoughts on Judge Dredd Novels, Part VI: Dread Dominion by Stephen Marley

If Stephen Marley's second and final contribution to Virgin's Judge Dredd line feels less polished than his first, then it probably only speaks to just how well-oiled Dreddlocked was.

This is, admittedly, a novel which starts and ends absolutely fantastically. The beginning, featuring a Mega-City One haunted by the intrusive presence of an alternative timeline, sings with the usual literary Marley weirdness, perhaps best exemplified by an extended sequence at the very start featuring an imperilled citizen by the name of Edgar Allen whose misfortune turns out to have been witnessed by a "Judge Corman."

Which is about as unsubtle as you can get, really, unless you were to have three clone versions of Lord Byron named Mad Byron, Bad Byron and Dangerous to Know Byron. Just... speaking hypothetically.

Also nice is the way in which the evolving status of Chief Judge McGruder, tying into contemporaneous developments in the comic from around this time, manages to reinforce the sense in which these novels have actually been surprisingly welcoming to any non-afficionados of the 2000 AD lore. Y'know, like myself.

Obviously all the big, cataclysmic developments in McGruder's arc are kept firmly to the comic strips, but even without having read a single Prog, the status quo as of Dread Dominion feels like a totally logical extrapolation from the steadily building characterisation of McGruder ever since Deathmasques.

Sure, these comic continuity ties are occasionally a double-edged sword - take a drink every time the events of Judgement Day and Necropolis are mentioned, and while you're at it, here's the number of a good rehab centre I know downtown - but by and large, it really helps contribute to the notion that the world of Mega-City One is a constantly evolving tapestry.

Once the action shifts to Dreadcity... well, issues do start to present themselves here. As with a lot of attempts at alternate timelines in a medium like novels where you're always a bit pressed for time, the necessity to establish how this realm is a departure from its counterpart leads to some rather brutal exposition in the book's middle portions.

This being Marley, I was never outright bored, and it helped that there were a lot of gonzo ideas to hold my attention. At the end of the day, Dread Dominion is still a book which opens with an Acknowledgment to the Emperor Caligula himself, so you're certainly in for a wild ride.

Still, it's perhaps quite telling that Marley's next big attempt at a bizarre and inventive world with Managra was very much framed as a discrete construct that isn't defined in opposition to an existing timeline, which does rather cut down on the excruciating exposition.

Things pick up quite a bit once we reach the climax, what with Caligula's complete breakdown and a pitched aerial battle between various flying marble heads and fists, however, and it's just about enough to overcome any misgivings I might have had to that point, so I'd still broadly call Dread Dominion a success, albeit a qualified one.

(Although I'll also point out that Marley's ominous literary quotation game isn't quite as polished here as it was in Dreddlocked, or as it will be in Managra, feeling a bit too much like the occasional and haphazard dropping of an arbitrarily chosen Shakespeare line in an effort to impart a deeper meaning.)

Tough to rank this one, but I'd probably do it like this:

Dreddlocked

Deathmasques

The Medusa Seed

Dread Dominion

Cursed Earth Asylum

The Savage Amusement

[lifethenecropolis]

Might be the most ambitious page I’ve ever done.

Let’s count the influences: Moebius The Long Tomorrow, Carlos Ezquerra Judge Dredd: The Necropolis, Frank Miller Ronin, Philippe Druillet RED, Ghost In The Shell alley, and Ralph Bakshi. Think that was it...  

[quasar1967]

2000 AD #673-676

Judge Dredd (countdown to Necropolis 1) - Dear Annie (part 2 - final part) 

The Harlem Heroes (part 3) 

Shadows (part 2) 

Poster - Things to Look Forward To... (no.1) Spare-Parts! 

Armoured Gideon (part 3) 

Universal Soldier - Universal Soldier II (part 1) 

[waitwhatpod]

I’m not sure if this is entirely true -- especially when you factor in outliers like Cal -- but is Chief Judge Silver the most destructive Chief Judge in the history of the Dredd strip? Between his behavior here and in the run-up to “Necropolis,” he’s shown impressively poor decision-making... (2000 AD Prog 531, by John Wagner, Alan Grant and John Higgins) -- Graeme

[downthetubes]

Upcoming Heritage European Auction offers 2000AD, Starlord art by Carlos Ezquerra, pluys Moebius, Garry Leach and more

Upcoming Heritage European Auction offers 2000AD, Starlord art by Carlos Ezquerra, pluys Moebius, Garry Leach and��more

There’s plenty to savour and perhaps consider bidding on in the upcoming Heritage European Auction, taking place in October.

Included in this event are artworks ranging from creators such as Moebius and Milo Manara to 2000AD and Starlord work by Carlos Ezquerra, Marvelman art by Garry Leach, Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett – and much more.

Some of the lots in the auction are still being…

[thisiscomics]

Professor Dirving- a name that sounds strangely reminiscent of one David Irving...

But what could a known Holocaust denier possibly have in common with this man, who questions the number of deaths during Necropolis, and asks if the Dark Judges really were responsible for any deaths that may, or may not, have occurred? Anyone?

This is one of the most pointed parodies I can remember seeing in Dredd- most of the references to modern day figures tend to be played for comedic value, or they use very broad parallels to the individual in question that don’t necessarily leap out. Dirving’s real world counterpart is painfully obvious: even if you don’t know the individual, you would recognise the type immediately.

In a future full of lunatics and simps and near-suicidal fads that are almost unimaginable, it’s a little sobering to see that something as mundane as lying about tragedy to further your own agenda is still around in Mega-City One. Emphasising that this is clearly something the script feels strongly about, Dredd finds a way to punish the Professor despite no Mega-City law being broken (in itself, a relatively unusual move for the Judge, given the primacy of the Law in his life, but then Necropolis was an event that literally scarred him, and he is unlikely to forget the cost to the city, or allow anyone else to do so), forcing him to face the objective reality of the death toll under the guise of ‘protecting’ him from his enemies, ensuring that he is unable to spread his lies for the time being and, perhaps, he might come to slowly recognise the truth of the tragedy.

Of course, that supposes he isn’t already fully aware of the true toll and is only denying the cost in lives because of a lack of understanding, when it is more likely that he knows exactly what happened when the Dark Judges took over and is distorting history for his own perverted purposes. We might not be able to fully punish the people that provided the inspiration behind this tale, but at least we have Dredd to recognise where justice is needed to make us feel a little better about the problems in our own time.

From "Judge Dredd: The Big Lie" by Gordon Rennie, Steve Parkhouse, Chris Blythe & Tom Frame, in 2000AD Prog 1225, reprinted in Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 33

[judgeanon]

What are some of your favorite Judge Dredd runs and why?

The thing about Dredd is that there’s not really “runs” in the same way as an American comic has them. It’s easier for me to talk about stories, writers, or maybe eras. That said, my absolute favorite Dredd writer bar none is John Wagner. now There’s three main eras of Wagner to me:

- Everything from Judge Death to Necropolis: the classic Wagner period, aided by Alan Grant. A wonderful tapestry of classic high concept perfectly-paced sci-fi action that slowly but surely grows more mature and starts dealing with heavier stuff and how it affects Dredd and his setting. Highlights are the Judge Child Quest, the Apocalypse War, City of the Damned, Oz and the Democracy storylines leading up to Necropolis.

- Wagner’s mid-90s return to the strip: after leaving Dredd in the dubiously capable hands of Garth Ennis and later the not capable at all hands of Millar and Morrison, Wagner came back with a salvo of long and short stories that more or less wrote the blueprint for the next step in the series’ storytelling. Highlights are Wilderlands and the Doomsday Scenario, but most importantly, The Pit.

- Everything from Origins to Day of Chaos: Wagner’s other magnum opus, just as good and in some places even better than his classic years. Expertly-crafted stories of deep character development and lasting changes not just to the material setting itself but to its thematic core itself. This entire run is one huge highlight to me, a masterclass in overarching plots and character development.

Overall, I’d say if it was Wagner’s name on it, there’s a 99% chance that it’ll be great. And even the remaining 1% is readable enough.

[spaceintruderdetector]

Judge Dredd - Necropolis : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive