Dredd 2--Dredd Harder

Judge Dredd is back!! In convenient book form!!

For we poor, deprived American readers, the long and slow process of getting Judge Dredd reprints in a comprehensive form took another step forward this week as the second volume of The Complete Case Files turned up, and actually shipped out early!!

This volume covers another 50+ issues (or "progs"...oh, you silly Britishers!) of chronological Dreddness, including the entire epic "Cursed Earth" storyline--minus four issues they couldn't reprint, because apparently they infringed on a few too many trademarks in poking fun at the fast food industry.

Yes, many of my same complaints from volume 1 apply here: the whole package just reeks of cheapness, right down to using a virtually identical cover image to the bland one they used for volume 1:

I mean, the covers on the British versions of this series are sooo much better. What's the deal, dudes?

And again, no essays, no historical context--things you'd think an American audience, probably generally unfamiliar with the British comics industry, would want to have. (There is a sort of forward, but it merely vaguely explains why the issues are missing, and synopsizes those stories). Seriously, would it kill them to have somebody put together a couple of pages on their memories of Dredd, and his place in the British comics world, and the many many talents who have worked on the strips??

Still, you're getting nearly 60 Dredd stories for less than 14 bucks, which is a great value no matter what the presentation is. And Volume 3 is already on the schedule for April. And that will take us into the 1980s!!

So that's what I'm doing this weekend...reading a whole lotta Dredd. If only they'd release the Stallone movie on Blu-Ray, my life would be perfect...