Books: A Wrinkle in Time

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A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel 
By Madeleine L'Engle and Hope Larson
2012





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


So: the question is - when you're writing a review (or whatever it is you wanna call these - a "post" or blah) about a children's book: should you try and adopt the perspective of a child (which - I dunno - means kinda stunting your brain a little I guess) or - should you approach it the same way that you look at everything else?

I'd never heard of A Wrinkle in Time until I saw it sitting on the shelf in our Children's Library: but seeing how the back cover has a quote from big-shot James Patterson [1] on the back cover: I figured it must be kind of a big deal. And well - I mean: just the way it kinda announces itself on the cover "A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel" (like that's supposed to mean something important) I got the feeling that maybe this was a like an American thing that had failed to make it's way across the pond [2].

Speaking to a couple of American friends over the weekend it turns out that - oops: yep: that's exactly what it is. Described as "required reading for bookish teenage girls" it turns out that A Wrinkle in Time is merely the first installment in the "Time Quartet" (which also includes (and I've gotta say - these are some great titles): A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters): so I guess these are like proto-Harry Potter books: mixed with some A Series of Unfortunate Events, a pinch of Enid Blyton and a daub of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: you know - bookish kids have a series of adventures and in doing so come to learn a bit more about themselves and their place in the world: what could be simpler (and more fun) - right?

Well: yeah. Only for me it turns out things weren't that simple.

I mean: it's a pretty common cliché at this point that England is the 51st State of America. And speaking as a (relatively) normal citizen of the UK [3] my whole life has been absolutely saturated with every possible form of American media: I mean - I could write you a list of all the books, films and TV shows I've obsessively consumed over the years but we'd probably be here for quite a long time... (and I'm sure we've both got better things to do - yeah?). Point being: it's a little bit weird to come across something like this book (or - well: - and I should keep reminding myself of this - the graphic novel adaptation of a book) that has completely escaped my detection: it's a bit like - I dunno - finding a whole new type of chocolate bar or something you know? I mean: it's not that I want to be eating all the chocolate in the shop: but at the very least I thought I knew what the names of all of them were. But whatever - nevermind.

So - there's this book - what's it like?

Most of the famous English children's books are about discovering a secret door to somewhere: Alice and the hole in the ground, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy looking inside their clothing receptacle, Harry messing around in Kings Cross etc [4]: I'm having trouble trying to sum up the right words to explain the feeling - but there's something kind of quaint about the way that the adventures start: small, humble beginnings that aren't really about much more than tottering about the countryside and maybe having a nice picnic somewhere [5]. Walking into the pages of A Wrinkle in Time with no clue as to what awaited me inside I just kind of assumed that it would be about conjuring the same feeling: doing things on a small scale without too much fuss and bother: but if your traditional "English" children's book is a small scone with a small dollop of jam and cream on the side then A Wrinkle in Time is a mountain of ice cream and cake all mixed together and served in an extra large "big gulp" serving: and (for once) I don't mean that in a good way. Nah: it's more to say that instead of treating the world as this big mysterious thing that even if you lived to be 100 years old you'd only be able to really know one really really small part of it [6]: A Wrinkle in Time flips things the other way and ends up - over the course of it's story - making the universe feel small and the main characters feel very very big. I mean - not that's a bad thing in and of itself: but it kind of added up with a lot of other things that left me feeling pretty distasteful with the whole thing by the time I finished it - like a fly had flown into my mouth and I had to scrub my tongue to wash the flavour away (you get what I mean?).

I mean (well): as this blog has gone on and on - the more I've been interested in stories and what they mean and how the work - and all that kind of stuff goes double (triple!) for stories intended for children. After all - when you're new and fresh-faced your brain is all mushy and easily absorbent - which means that the lessons and ideas that get manage to get purchase at that point will be very much wedged in their for the rest of your life... (I could very much belabor this point and write several mini-articles: but let's keep moving on yeah?).

Because - yeah: with that kind of stuff in mind - there's a lot in A Wrinkle in Time that is - well: troubling. I mean I don't want to spoil it all for you - but the fact that there's a moment where a character is trying to think of something in order to keep herself from being brainwashed and ends up relying upon reciting the Declaration of Independence is - well - I'd say it's a little bit messed up - no? And further from that (and this is where I'm going to get a little bit liberal and tree-huggy - so you know: apologies): it's damn strange to have the one of the main antagonists be a great massive blob of evil ("The Black Thing"). I mean yeah: it makes things a lot simpler for a story just to have an evil blah and then use that to drive the story forward: but I can't shake the feeling that a way more - well - human - story would show that people aren't just bad because they're born or made that way [7] - but that rather: everyone has their reasons and "evil" is mostly just used as a stick to beat someone into silence when they don't want to take the time to understand them [8]. And then the whole thing ends (and this is very much a spoiler so erm yeah: maybe turn away now): on the idea that love is a finite resource and you shouldn't waste it on people that aren't your family: like - yeah: I think I know understand a little more about why America seems like it's so messed up [10].

But hey: even if it's morally wrong (or however you want to phrase it) - I will admit that (for that very reason) it makes pretty interesting reading. And it's whole strange science-fiction fantasy mishmash (so it's not really clear where one ends and the other begins) - not to mention the crazy seeming free-associative leaps in logic - (and - what the hell? - it's called A Wrinkle in Time (and is sold as a time-travel adventure): but there's no damn time-travelling) gives the whole thing a feeling like you're inside someone's head watching them dream. I mean - if (for whatever reason) I'd been reading the book then I would have felt been pretty irate that I'd allowed it to trespass in my mind: but hey - seeing how it's just a comic book (so: in and out in about a hour) there's no proper sense of invasion (a proper book is like a home: a comic is more like a fun place to visit - no?).

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[1] You haven't heard of James Patterson? Well - according to most surveys he's the most borrowed authors in English libraries (and probably most other countries too I'd imagine): and every library I've worked  in has always had about three or four shelves (at the very least) dedicated to his oeuvre. What bread and milk is to corner shops: James Patterson is to libraries: you know - he's one of the essentials.

[2] Man: I must say - I love using that expression. There's something so powerful about referring to the Atlantic Ocean (the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions with a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres (41,100,000 square miles) it covers approximately 20 percent of the Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area) as a "pond." (ha).

[3] Yes. I know that the United Kingdom and England are two different things - but I wanted to avoid the boring repetition of "England, England, England" - ok? And "UK" sounded good - and whatever.

[4] Although I guess I should admit that my only experience of Harry Potter comes from half-watching the first two movies. But yeah - whatever. You're not going to hold it against me are you?

[5] Actually - well: I guess with my three examples I was hoping to set a kinda precedent of typically English children's stories - but now I consider it a little bit more I realise that it's only really Alice that fits the template that I was hoping to make: just an average nobody who accidentally falls down into a strange magical world - does some stuff - and then leaves. As opposed to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe where the kids (sure) are nobodies are the start (well to do nobodies - but still nobodies) but then they end of being best buddies with Jesus (which is a bit much I must say): which is a touch too grand and ostentatious - which then leads to Harry Potter - where it turns out (and this is right - right?) that the main character was Jesus from the start and was just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up - right? (Right): which to me seems like small scale Englishness (as I imagine it) and more like - well - something that stems more from an American way of seeing the world ("I am so smart! I am so smart!" etc). I guess the things I was thinking of was more: Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin - that kind of stuff. But yeah - whatever. Maybe none of this makes sense (oh well).

[6] Which reminds me of this cool mini-article here: "I think the famous opening shot, seen above, contains the answer. Star Wars was big. As big as I could imagine things being. Maybe to imagine a bigger thing was in fact impossible. Maybe this introduced and thus defined the very concept of bigness in my imaginative life."

[7] And if you want to say that type of thing isn't possible in a children's story - then I would respond by recommending that you watch pretty much any Studio Ghibli film.

[8] I mean - I know it's probably not very cool to quote Russell Brand - but he wrote a thing in the Guardian recently that basically sums up my current attitude (talking about the Daily Mail columnist [9] Melanie Philips) : "When the audience – who, incidentally, make all the best points – boo her, I think it a shame. The wall of condemnation is an audible confirmation that the world is a fearful and unloving place. Like most of us, Melanie just needs a cuddle."

[9] Daily Mail columnist being the nearest thing that the world has to being employed as an actual hate-spewing demon. Obviously (but you knew that already - right?).

[10] Ok yeah: so the actual book was written all the way back between 1959 and 1960: but that ain't no excuse.

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Links: Based on Nothing Review. 

Further reading: Mercury, The War At Ellsmere, Stardust, The Hobbit, Coraline, Anya's Ghost, The Unwritten, Promethea, Arrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine Uniforms.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Manhattan Projects

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The Manhattan Projects
Vol. 1
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra
2012



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Would it not be enough for me to just say: "you should really read this comic - it's really actually just totally great" and just leave it at that? No? You want me to say more? Pad it out a little? Well - ok then.

I came to The Manhattan Projects pretty much totally cold. The only name that meant anything to me - Jonathan Hickman - has been responsible for books of such varying qualities [1] that at this point
you could pretty much replace his name with a question mark and I'd had just as much of a clue as to what exactly I was letting myself in for.... I mean: I guess it would have some sort of gee-wiz attitude to science (like one of the kids from Tom Strong grown to semi-maturity) but without the need to obfuscate that you sometimes get with Grant Morrison or (at a push) Warren Ellis: nah - Hickman is always so to the point that I doubt that "obfuscate" is even in his vocabulary: he's more like the guy who cuts all his big epic concepts into small bite-sized pieces and then serves them with some salad and extra mayo in a tasty white bun. And as for the artist - Nick Pitarra - well I'd never heard of him - so I didn't even know what the book was going to look like [2].

So when I got a copy of Vol 1 in my hand I opened it up with a pair of tweezers - ready for anything: prepared for the worst (while hoping for the best) and - well - boom. I don't know how exactly - but somehow it managed to get behind and whack my brain from an angle that I wasn't quite expecting: which (in case you couldn't work this out yourself) is almost exactly the kind of thing I love.

And in terms of Hickman-ology: well - I think that I'm starting to get a grip on him - the way I see it - it's like this: with some authors - even when doing work-for-hire stuff so that they can just do some blah and cash a big fat cheque at the end of it (am thinking mainly of Alan Moore and Warren Ellis here - but hell: it's not even like that kind of attitude is just restricted to the world of comic books [3]) the stuff that's put out without that much passion is still well worth a read: but Hickman - well for this reader at least: I can really tell when he's faking it - and (well gee) - it's kind of embarrassing when he does [4]. The flip-side of that tho is that when he's doing something that he really believes in and is willing to commit to (and isn't bound by the restrictions of mainstream comics [5]) well - then you get the good stuff.

Or - to put it another way: it's like that friend with the varying moods. Some days he's awful, irritable and grumpy like a camel with twisted bowels: other times he's polite and socially respectable - but just kind of hangs there like magnolia wallpaper and then - somedays (every once in a while) - they're like a beautiful sunny day where there's not a cloud in the sky and every traffic light you get to turns green.

If you still want more: well - the thing it made me think of (in a very roundabout sort of way) is the story of Syd Barrett after he was kicked out of Pink Floyd: (I don't know if this is true or not) but it's been said that he used to spend all day in bed - not because he was lazy - but because he believed that from that starting point it was possible for him to get up and do absolutely anything: he could start a new band, become a painter, king of the world - anything anything anything. Only (his thinking went) as soon as he got out of bed all of those possibilities would collapse into one: and no matter how great that single possibility would be - it wasn't worth sacrificing all the other ones: and so - he stayed in bed, lying completely still - keeping all those possibilities alive.

And if you want to know why The Manhattan Projects reminds me of that - well: you're going to have to read it to find out. Sorry.

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[1] All the way from the sickingly lows of his stint on the Fantastic Four (which I'd say is one of the very worst comics I've read in recent years) to the middling middle of The Red Wing and his science-fictional take on The Ultimates all the way up to his very splendid S.H.I.E.L.D. which left me with a warm all-over glow that I still treasure today.

[2] Except: oops - when I tagged this post - his name popped up already loaded: which is how I discovered that he was actually the artist on another Hickman book called: The Red Wing (which is also good - but (for me): not as good as The Manhattan Projects - which (I guess) I'd mostly put down to The Red Wing (because it's just one book) seemed kinda rushed and squeezed in - while Manhattan Projects has a lot more space to kind of take things slow and roll out it's (many splendored) ideas one at a time. And as for what his like art looks like - well: it's like Geoff Darrow: only it's like ketchup instead of mustard (hope that helps).

[3] Steven Soderbergh famously has a "one for them, one for me" approach to film-making that seems to suit him down to the ground (which is only confused by the fact that a lot of the time his "one for them" films are much better than the "one for him" ones: but go figure).

[4] Meg Ryan he is not.

[5] And - well yeah: I guess that's my point - some people do really well when you give them somesort of restriction to work within: but Hickman's wings and sense of imagination are too unwieldy to be contained in a small box - so when you put him in a small space: the stuff he comes out with feels stifled and (dur) boxed in but if you set him free and leave him to his own nutty devices - well - then (not always - but mostly) then he starts to get some altitude and starts to really let loose and (goddamnit) he spreads his wings and soars.

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Links: Patient Comic Addict Review,

Further reading: S.H.I.E.L.D., The Red Wing, Feynman, B.P.R.D., Planetary, The Invisibles, The Ultimates, Prophet, Hard Boiled.

Books: Saga

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Saga 
Vol 1
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples
2012



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Comics can do anything.

Yeah - ok: sure - they can't make you a cup of tea (etc) - but facetiousness aside - (and trying my best not to sound too much like Scott McCloud) the potential of types of stories you can use them to tell is (pretty much) limitless: you know - words and pictures working together and all that: I mean - yeah - (ok) maybe there are a few stories out there that only work in terms of sound (although the only one I can think of would be Orson Welles' infamous War of the Worlds broadcast): but at least in this point of human history [1] - telling a story with pictures is the thing that we all respond best to. Which I guess is why I always end up feeling a little bit (hell - a lot) let down by a book that (on the one hand) is all real world locations and people talking in kitchens or (on the other hand) opts for the usual superheroes having fights with supervillains fare ("Take that! Evildoer!"). Like - come on! Give me something I haven't seen before. Something that pushes up against a few limits - or jumps over a few boundaries - (do I need to break out the caps lock?): GIVE ME SOMETHING NEW.

As basically (as far as I see it) - if you're a comic book writer or artist or whatever then (well) for all intents and purposes you basically have the power of god. Why then are you merely content with serving up more the same? With the entire spectrum to choose from - why is everyone seemingly content to serve up the same shade of brown?

In fact - I recently stumbled across an introduction that Alan Moore wrote a book called The Vorrh [2] that (talking about the fantasy genre) managed to hit the nail precisely on the head: "By definition, surely every fantasy should be unique and individual, the product of a single vision and a single mind, with all of that mind’s idiosyncrasies informing every atom of the narrative." Except I don't think that this is just a problem with fantasy - I think it's a problem with all stories everywhere: with not enough storytellers willing to take risks or stretch themselves past the point of the people who came before them. I don't know if any of you saw that Patton Oswalt Parks and Recreation Star Wars speech that was making the rounds on the internet last week [3]: but - if they ever made it (and hell the way things are going - I really wouldn't be that surprised if it did happen) - it would be the omega point/singularity of nerd/geek culture (and after it finished - I guess we could all pack up our bags and go home): but that's the (imaginary yeah) culmination of what I'm talking about I guess - where the greatest creative act isn't to make something new - but to join up the parts and pieces of the stories that came before (and maybe this is all just a roundabout way of moaning about the never-ending proliferation of sequels and reboots: but whatever): that's not my point.

My point is - (like I said at the start): comics can do anything.

I'm guessing that most of the people reading this have already heard of Brian K. Vaughan. In all the pictures I've ever seen of him he's wearing a black shirt and a red tie and an impish grin on his face that looks just a little (if you lean in just a bit) like he's trying too hard. But - what the hey: it looks like it's working for him seeing how he's basically one of the only (that I can think of anyway) success stories of 21st Century mainstream comicdom (and by success I mean - he's not trailed by bitter fans complaining that his early work was much much better: and he's sold out all the things he used to stand for etc etc etc). He first broke big with Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina (amongst others)- then followed that up by landing a job working as a Lost writer (jumping ship before the final season [4]) - and (after his movie projects stalled) has now returned to the comics world in a big way with Saga.

The artist - Fiona Staples - is more of an unknown quantity. Nosing around her wikipedia page it seems that before Saga she was existing on the out-skirts of the industry: doing the colours on Book IV of Button Man, doing one shots of minor superhero characters ("The Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor") and series that no one really mentions anymore (sorry Northlanders: but you know it's true): but having treated my eyes to the beauty of the artwork in Saga - all of that seems more like people not being able to spot the treasure right beneath their noses rather than some sort of lack on her part: putting it bluntly - the artwork in Saga is spine-tingling fantastic. At the outset I'll admit that I was a little non-plussed - it all seemed a little bit too round on the edges - like a pair of child's safety scissors wrapped up in candyfloss: but it only took a few issues before either my defenses melted or her technique improved for me to fall into her arms. The grace and simplicity she manages to capture her characters with - I mean: well - it's cool. And: in places - kinda reminds me of Sean Philips: only if he's a dog - she's more like a cat (and I don't care if that only makes sense to me). And - in fact - comparing the art in Saga to Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina - it's seems like Brian K. Vaughan has managed to find the perfect person to split the difference between the rough and ready lines of Pia Guerra (of Y: The Last Man) and the hyper-stylized / frozen in amber look of  Tony Harris (who did Ex Machina [5]): Fiona Staples manages to draw characters who feel alive and dynamic whilst at the same time - capturing them at the moment in which they're most beautiful.

And - together: well - right at the start there's this bit about what a great thing it can be when two people join forces to create something new and even tho (being English and all) it made me cringe like I was having a spasm: I've got to (begrudgingly) admit - there is magic in these pages. With both Vaughan and Staples coming together to create something that - well - feels new.

Of course - yeah yeah yeah: the basic building blocks of story is as old as time - but then what isn't you know? What's exciting tho is the way that they decide to tell that story and the fabulous creatures they cook up to make it run (my favourite so far being The Stalk): there's a feeling that only a few comic books have managed to give me - that everything is kinda floating on air and absolutely anything can happen and - hell - you know what? - I don't think I've seen such an interesting blend of science-fiction and fantasy since Star Wars (which I realise might be setting the bar a little high - but there you go).

Yes: there is more sex and violence than what you'd get from an average Game of Thrones episode [6]: but it's done with such a cheeky smile on it's face that it never really feels like a cheap shot. Instead - it feels more like a fairy-tale that never feels the need to keep things sanitized - Neil Gaiman with a few drinks inside him: holding forth whilst dressed up in a Boba Fett costume (if that helps: I'm guessing not - but what the hey).

But - yeah: totally worth the price of admission: when you've got a comic like this the only thing you need to worry out is how to get your hands on the next volume.

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[1] I remember learning back at school that people used to say that they were going to "go hear a play" as opposed to go see on: as there used to be a much greater emphasis on aural rather than the visual (which is apparently why Shakespeare could be so virtuosic with his dialogue): but I don't know if that's true or not.

[2] You can read the introduction here (and - oh - hat tip to Mindless Ones): the book itself is by someone called B. Catling and unfortunately - sad face - it's not currently available from Islington libraries (oh well).

[3] I'd include the link here - but I can't find it (the one that everyone else has been using is only available to view in America). And - damnit - I can't find a transcript (oh well): summing up then - it's his crazy pitch for the next Star Wars film and how it could bring in The Avengers, Thanos and the X-Men (in fact - just look at the poster someone made: that should give you the right idea).

[4] Which obviously you could interpret in a number of ways.

[5] And - which - I would mostly put down to the fact that his technique seems to consist of taking photographers of people posing in various positions and then coping them into his drawing: with the result that - well - a lot of his artwork looks like people posing in various positions (as opposed to actually just - you know: being natural).

[6] True story: one of my friends was on an aeroplane - watching Game of Thrones on his laptop when the stewardess came around and asked if he'd like anything to drink - he looked up as he paused the DVD and said that he was alright when he noticed a strange look on her face: and as she walked away he looked back at his laptop and realised that he'd paused the screen so that all you could see was a pair of boobs. Such is the dangers of watching Game of Thrones.

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Links: The Founding Fields Review, What Would Ellen Ripley Do Review, AVClub Interview with Brian K. Vaughan.

Further reading: Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Arrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine Uniforms, Prophet, Orc Stain, Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty, The Umbrella Academy, Joe The Barbarian, Button Man, Northlanders, Stardust.

All comments welcome.

Books: Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga

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Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga
Written by Pat Mills and John Wagner
Art by Mick McMahon and Brian Bolland
2012




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


"I play with a ball... Dick and Jane play with a ball... Judge Dredd will not play with a ball."

At the last meeting of the Comic Forum someone (I forget who and I forget why) mentioned Judge Dredd: to which someone else responded - with a snort (I think it was Wayne but I can't be sure): "Judge Dredd? That's for children isn't it?" [1]

I mean: ok yeah - strictly speaking it's true: Judge Joseph Dredd: born and raised on the pages of 2000AD was created as something to keep young boys entertained and away from the evil grasps of punk rock or whatever back in the late 1970s: since then tho he's ascended through the ranks to the upper tiers of society and there attained the heady status of cultural icon: I mean - even if you've never read a comic (or seen the two film adaptations) you still know who Judge Dredd is and what he stands for - right [2]?

But - man - dismissing it as just being that is like thinking that adults can't enjoy fireworks: it's just - well: it's just silly (sorry Wayne). Because even though - yeah: it's been calibrated for the brains of teenage boys: when it reaches it's proper sweet spot and has all the right elements  in place (namely: concept, plot and the proper artists) then: well (oh boy) - it becomes (pardon me) transcendent.

Which brings us to The Cursed Earth Saga: and - well - basically (not that I want to build it up too much or anything) one of the best comics of it's era (1978 - a whole decade before all your Watchmens and Dark Knight Returns): I mean - yeah yeah - it is fantastic that Judge Dredd has managed to keep going and going and going well past the point that anyone ever thought that he would and that is obviously part of the reason why he's still such a thing and people are still making movie and whatever - but (and seriously I have no problem at all in saying this) even if 2000AD had been cancelled after this story was completed [3] - people would still be talking about it today and referring to it as a high-bench mark of - well - the science-fictional comic genre (I realise that maybe that sounds like faint praise - but it's not supposed to be).

(And - just so no one there gets too confused: I should point out that - this is a story that's been collected in the Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files 02: only Islington currently doesn't have a copy of that - so we'll have to make do with this mini-sized copy instead [4]).

But - whatever - what makes it so good then?

Well - like it says on the back cover ("A road trip through hell") this is an epic that takes Dredd outside from the comforting clutches of Mega City One and subjects him to the berserker craziness outside the walls: I mean - at this point it's pretty much a genre staple to have your heroic figure venture through an unforgiving post-apocalyptic wasteland [5] - but mostly (in film terms at least) that kind of thing is done because it's a hell of a lot cheaper to go and shoot in desert and pretend it's the year 2100 rather than: you know - build a future city with flying cars and whatever - of course - seeing that Judge Dredd doesn't have to worry about anything as niggling as a special effects budget - the writers are free to go as crazy as they want: and - hell yes: having an entire landmass to fill means that they give full rein to all of their sick and fevered imaginings - which means that it's total jackpot time for all the lucky readers out there.

Because - like I said: it's all basically written for the short attention spans of teenage boys (who we all know need constant stimulus or else their heads explode in a big fat sticky mess) the barrage of cool things is non-stop right from the get-go: as you should know - 2000AD is a weekly anthology comic and so all the Judge Dredd stories come out in 5 or 6 page installments [6]: over time the writers have got a lot more self-assured with spreading things out and not making things feel too crammed - but at this early point in time there's this great feeling of having nothing to lose and everything to play for and this amazing frantic energy that means that it feels like you're reading the entire thing on fast-forward with all the best bits jammed next to each other: with anything deemed unnecessary left on the cutting room floor ("Never a dull moment when you're a Twenty-Second Century cop!").

But - as it's all welded to a story that's timeless in it's simplicity (I've never read The Odyssey - but I'm guessing the story structure is exactly the same - get to the place and try not to get killed by all the monsters you meet on the way) it free to luxuriant in it's many splendid diversions: you know that phrase - it's not about the destination - it's about the journey? Well - it's in full effect here: with a feast of freaks and otherworldly sights and smells to enjoy: safe in the knowledge that if there's any of it that starts to drag - well: it won't be long until you're on to the next thing.   

What also makes it such a great trip is the company. I've remarked before (I'm sure) that Dredd isn't much of a character with interesting nuances or hidden depths (but I'd argue he's not really supposed to be) and as much fun as it is to watch him punch people - after a whole epic his one-noteness would (I'd fear) start to get a little bit worn out - thankfully then - he gets a lot of support from elsewhere (in fact - towards the end there's a massive double-page spread of everyone featured in the Cursed Earth that makes you realise just how populated a barren wasteland can be): number one mention has got to go to Spikes Harvey Rotten: a 22nd Century man who cribs all of his moves (and fashion-sense) from 20th Century punks (who were all the rage back in 1978): I mean - yes - on the one hand he's a bit of a stereotype: with dialogue full of "dis" and "dat" and not much in the way of subtlety - but then again: there's a reason why if you play Anarchy in the UK everyone in the vicinity will get up and start to jump around like their neck's on fire: it's loud and it's noisy and that's what makes it fun.

The artwork by Mick McMahon [7] is fantastic. The best way I can describe it - is that it's like Moebius woke up in a bad mood and a shaky hand: it's detailed and feels like you're only ever seeing a small part of a fully realised world - but conveyed in such a way that it's always "BAM!" and on to the next thing: like he was so excited to get this stuff down that he didn't want to get too bogged down in making things look too pretty: and it's absolutely perfect for the story.

And - yeah - the story: full of proclamations like "It was not a nice way to die." and "sometimes the human race makes me sick!" - it's beautifully stark and ugly in the world that it depicts. Unlike the majority of kid's stories nowadays where it seems that most of the muck and danger gets cleared away and put into tidy little boxes - The Cursed Earth is a sprawling, teeming mess of muties, criminals and - ah yes - dinosaurs.

I mean: I really hate giving plot points away - but I feel like I should briefly touch upon the dinosaur aspect of The Cursed Earth - especially seeing how (oh my god) it bears striking similarities to a well known 1993 film directed by Steven Spielberg. I'm not accusing anyone of deliberately ripping anyone off: I mean - we all know the story of how two people invented the light bulb at the same time right? And - (if you don't mind sounding like a hippy) Idea Space and all the rest of it [8]: well - yeah - I guess it just means that Pat Mills was the first person to stumble upon something and then - years later - Michael Crichton came (independently) to exactly the same place [9]: and - hell - if I was Pat Mills I don't think that I would ever ever shut up about this - but what can you do huh? (and if you think that maybe I'm over-selling this or whatever - then pick up a copy of this book and read pages 85 - 88 and we'll talk - ok?).

(And - also: yeah - to be fair - I should point out that there is a strange understanding of cloning happening - namely that clones have the memories of the subject that they were cloned from  ("For a moment, memories of his first life flashed through his tiny brain"): but then - that's a mistake that tends to get repeating in a lot of films [10] - so I can't really blame Pat Mills too much)

But that's really the only niggle. And - hell - there's so much style and wit infused throughout this whole comic (as my literary flatmate put it so succinctly: "Satanus is a great name for a dinosaur.") that it seems churlish to complain about - well - anything really. I mean - it's all just for kids right? So - just strap yourself you: marvel at the construction and the pulsating thrill power and get ready for the ride of your life.

"Oooh! I get so excited just looking at it's multi-level kill power."

"Calm down, McArthur. This is unseemly behaviour for a Judge... and kindly remove your hand from my uniform."

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[1] You know, for kids.

[2] Or is this assuming too much? I don't know: people who don't read comics or watch science-fictiony films are a mystery to me: so maybe don't listen to anything that I have to say. In fact: I rewatched Dredd (Karl Urban version) with my girlfriend and it took her a while (until his "I am the law" speech in fact) to get into the swing of things: for the first hour or so she was screaming out in horror things like "This is horrible!" "These people are being brutalised!" and "The reason there's so much crime is because the system is corrupt." Still: eventually she acclimatised and towards the end was cheering along with the skull-smashing: which I guess goes to show that even if people have heard of Judge Dredd - they don't really know what it's actually about: it's like if people thought that that Doctor Who was a medical drama or something...

[3] And - holy moly - this was just progs 61 to 85 (progs = issues: with one per week) - which - to give you some perspective: last year was prog 1800: so - you know - this is practically (in 2000AD terms) the Jurassic period or something.

[4] For some reason (maybe they're aiming it at kids or something?) - unlike the Complete Case Files - this book is published at half the size of the original comics. As my literary flatmate put it best: "it's annoying small." - but what the hey - the story is so good that by the time it's sucked you in - you won't even notice. Me - I was just happy to get a chance to finally read the whole thing. Back when I was a kid I used to have Book Two but never managed to get my grubby mitts on a copy of Book One (and - shockingly - even tho it's been - what? - 15 years? - I can actually say that it was worth the wait - wooo!).

[5] The example that springs to mind first is Mad Max but - surprisingly for me - that didn't come out until 1979 - the year after The Cursed Earth came out: which I guess is just one of the many things that puts it ahead of the curve (see also: Jurassic Park - which we'll come to in a bit...).

[6] Yes yes - there's also the Judge Dredd Megazine which allows for much longer chunks of stories - but that didn't come out until 1990 - so at this point it doesn't really count.

[7] Ok - yes - and Brian Bolland as well: but (and I think this is due to the fact that Bolland is famously slow when it comes to turning in pages - a side-effect of the fact that his art always looks so squeaky clean and freshly polished) nowhere near (in percentage of pages or whatever) as much as Mike McMahon.

[8] I thought that Idea Space was a common concept - but looking it up - I realise it's something from Alan Moore and so (I dunno) maybe not in common usage? So - here's him talking about it (to help you realise what it is I'm talking about): "A space in which mental events can be said to occur, an idea space which is perhaps universal. Our individual consciousnesses have access to this vast universal space, just as we have individual houses, but the street outside the front door belongs to everybody. It's almost as if ideas are pre-existing forms within this space… The landmasses that might exist in this mind space would be composed entirely of ideas, of concepts, that instead of continents and islands you might have large belief systems, philosophies, Marxism might be one, Judeo-Christian religions might make up another."

[9] There's a good Grantland article that goes into the ins-and-outs (that - I would say - should (if life was fair) include a reference to the Cursed Earth - but what can you do?): "When was Jurassic Park hatched? We could start in 1924, when the American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn wrote about an "alert, swift-moving carnivorous dinosaur" — Velociraptor mongoliensis. We could start in 1970, when Steven, a young movie director, and Michael, a young novelist, had a chance meeting on the lot at Universal Studios. But I'm thinking we should probably start in 1983. Entomologist George O. Poinar and his wife, Roberta, had begun taking DNA from insects trapped in prehistoric amber. They'd published an article about it in Science. One afternoon, a stranger dropped by their office in Berkeley, Calif. "Tall, pleasant guy," Poinar recalls now. "Really lanky." The man quizzed the Poinars about their work. He asked about amber mines in the Dominican Republic. Then, with his notebook filled, the man left. He never mentioned anything about a dinosaur novel. Michael Crichton, in fact, was already trying to bring dinosaurs back to life. But he'd gotten stuck. "It is always a problem for me to believe in the stories that I am writing," Crichton later wrote to Poinar, "and a dinosaur story especially strains my own credence." When Crichton discovered the Poinars and their bugs-in-amber, he stumbled onto the foundation of a billion-dollar enterprise. It was a beautiful premise for a thriller, in that it both contained cutting-edge science and was ridiculously easy to understand."

[10] (from TV Tropes) "While probably impossible, the popularity of this trope can be attributed to the Rule Of Cool, and how in Real Life biology, DNA acts like a form of advanced memory storage (containing massive amounts of data for production and assembly of various complex proteins). However, this won't become a fully Discredited Trope until and unless someone succeeds in creating a viable clone of an adult human being."

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Links: Judge-Tutor Semple Review, Grovel Review.

Further reading: Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05, Orc Stain, Prophet, Crossed, Wasteland, Just a Pilgrim.

All comments welcome.

Books: Prophet

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Prophet
Vol 1: Remission
Written by Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple and Giannis Milogiannis
Art by Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, Brandon Graham and Giannis Milogiannis
2012

Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

"Being thrown into the deep end." [1] Most of the time people say that like it's a bad thing. And - yeah - ok: maybe back when you're a kid and going to the swimming pool mainly consists of running around and splashing your friends - the deep end is something that you want to stay away from. But - growing up, maturing, whatever: well - the deep end ends up being the best place in the pool: it's the place that you can extend completely, reach new depths and etc etc etc.

Most of the time - talking to unwary travellers who've stumbled into my library and who look like they may appreciate a good comic (maybe): and are thus suitable candidates for attempted Comic Foruming (although I will say that there's few things worse than asking someone: "Excuse me: do you like comic books at all?" only to be given a withering stare and an incredibly condensing "Comics books? - ha - no thanks." - but that's just a hazard of the job I guess) - I always try and make a point of delineating between "superhero comics" and the "more chin-strokey stuff" (as in: "You should totally come to one of our meetings. Don't worry - it's not all superhero stuff: we do have lots of serious chin-strokey things too.") - mainly because I guess I don't want them to think that the Comic Forum is just people arguing over who would win in a fight between Spider-Man and Superman [2]: but also because - well - that's pretty much the way the books are split: in a totally obvious way: it's like a big bag full of red balls and blue balls - I mean - how else are you gonna divide them? Ok yeah - sometimes you get your Watchmens and your Dark Knight Returns or whatever: but mostly [3] if it's got someone with a cape and tights on the cover then - well - you know it's going to be shallow and and fluffy and light (with lots of punchings and fightings and things) and if it's a cover with a picture of one person staring forlornly into the middle distance then - no duh - it's going to be something with a little bit more for your brain to chew over. And speaking to comics fans - well: there's the people who think that the only division between comics is whether you like Marvel or DC and then there's the folks who read the Comics Journal and are always talking about Love and Rockets and Daniel Clowes.

Obviously tho - as with all things - you know (we all know) - the stuff that's really good is always the things that manage to combine the best of both. It's like my good to answer when people ask me what movies I like: well - there's the "Hollywood" stuff on one side and the "Art House" stuff on the other - and somewhere in the middle: well - that's the sweet spot. 

And that's where Prophet [4] comes in.

I'd notice that there's been loads of talk across the internet about Prophet when it first came out. Seeing how all the comics I read are the ones that Islington gets I kinda did my best to ignore all the things people were saying so that I wouldn't end up spoiling it for myself (it's a little like if there's a buzz band of the moment: you see their name mentioned so much that you almost feel like - by not having ever listened to them - you've somehow failed as a 21st Century human being or something): and so when Volume One mysteriously turned up one day: it was a mini-event (well - at least for me).

So - I snuggled up - put on the new Godspeed You! Black Emperor [5] and decided to see what all the fuss was about. And - well: splash.

I guess the first thing I should say is that: yeah - Prophet is damn good comics reading that pushes the limits of what comics are supposed to do - hitting that all important sweet spot between the mindless and the intellectual. Yeah - it's science-fiction and aliens and strange weirdness - but it's not presented as just another backdrop for some punchings and fightings - the point (and the pleasure) here is found in how it explores and reveals the world it's set in - with it's stunning creature design (most of the time alien monsters just look like human's with extra make-up plastered on - but the creatures in Prophet: look more like the products of a biologist's cheese dreams) and plenty of bizarre and freakish jargon ("the Towers of Thauili Van!") all combining to create the electric feeling that you're not just reading another story with some bare-minimal set-dressing to try and make it feel different: it's more like you've been injected head-first into another world. I don't know if this is just the totally obvious thing that everyone else has already said (as previously noted: I've done by best to shy away from reading anything else about it [6]) - but if Iain M. Banks ever decided to write a comic book: then it would something awfully similar to Prophet (and in case you don't know [7]: that's a good thing).

I know that quite a few times on here I've described artwork as looking "European" and pretty much every time I say that -- what really I mean that it looks like Jean Giraud (aka Moebius [8]). Well - out of all the books on this blog: this is the most Moebiusy (which is also a very good thing): yeah - it's kinda hard to put into words exactly - but it's generally just all the crazy alien landscapes and the whole solitary human figure making his way across them.

Plus: obviously - yeah: what with the whole distant far-flung future thing and all the strange and delightful beasties crawling all over the page - you can't help but be reminded of the (also very excellent) Orc Stain (you haven't read it yet? Well then - do yourself a favor and go check it out). But Orc Stain is a lot more - I dunno - buoyant and compared to Prophet: like it's more a saturday morning cartoon compared to Prophet's feeling like it was directed by Alien-era Ridley Scott [9].  

One final note: if - like me - you got a little confused when you finished the book and reached the back cover only to see that it says it collects "Prophet #21-26" on the back ("what the hell?") - well - (and this just makes me love this book even more) - Prophet isn't exactly a new character. In fact (brace yourself) he was originally created by Rob Liefeld back in 1990 he used to be a lazy uninspired Captain America rip-off ("John Prophet, a poor and homeless man living in the World War II era, volunteered to participate in the medical experiments of Dr. Horatio Wells, a time-travelling scientist from the future who used DNA-enhancing methods to transform Prophet into a super-soldier"). Which - for me: just makes the comic even better (in fact - unlike pretty much all the new comics I've written about here which can be consumed whole in one go and don't really merit a second look - I'm actually planning to reread Prophet a few more times in order to fully take it all in).

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[1] A phrase which always makes me think of this little symbol from the artwork on Radiohead's Kid A.

[2] Plus: Superman would win. Obviously.

[3] Yeah - ok - so I'm exaggerating loads for effect here. I mean - yeah - there's loads and loads of great "mature" superhero comics (a fair few of which I'm managed to mention on this blog) - but still: you get the point - right?

[4] I keep wanting to write "A Prophet" - because - I dunno - just saying "Prophet" sounds a bit strange. (But maybe I just have that French prison film stuck in my head. You want to know what I thought of it? Well - it's pretty good. And worth watching once - but I don't think I loved it as much as everyone else in the world seemed to).  

[5] 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! Twenty Minute Songs! Canyons of Feedback! Bleak Samples! Buzzing and Rusty Guitars! Joyful Crescendos! The Sense That Something is Wrong: but What The Hey Let's Just Raise Our Fists And Cry Out Until Our Lungs Explode Anyway! And Just Make Sure You Play It As Loud As It Can Possibly Go!

[6] And - another thing that I wonder if anyone else has picked up on: has anyone remarked on how similar the whole Prophet set-up is to the Alan Moore and Jim Baikie three-issue mini-series, Deathblow Byblows (as collected in the book Alan Moore: Wild Worlds)? I not saying (and I don't think) that Brandon Graham ripped it off - I'm just saying it's an interesting coincidence...

[7] You've never read a Culture novel? Wow. You're missing out. Go and correct this mistake immediately by reporting right now to your local library and getting one out now. Go on - Go!

[8] Sadly we only have one Moebius book currently in stock in Islington and it's not a very good one. Have been trying to order a copy of The Incal: but so far not had much luck - still: watch this space.

[9] Or maybe that's just me getting swung by the Moebius thing again? Seeing how he helped on some of the design work on Alien? Check out this excellent Tor article (Moebius: The Visionary’s Visionary) for more. (And also I found this: Alien Explorations: Space Jockey's origins in "Swiss Family Robinson" - which credits (amongst others) Jack Kirby for the design of the Space Jockey so - you know: go treat yourself).

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Links: The Comics Journal Review of #21-22, Comic Book Resources Interview with Brandon Graham, Comic Book Resources Article: When Words Collide: Colonizing the Post-Extreme With Brandon Graham's "Prophet."

Further reading: Orc Stain, The Manhattan Projects, Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga, The Ballad of Halo Jones, B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth, Hard Boiled, I'm Never Coming Back, S.H.I.E.L.D., Saga, Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty, Just a Pilgrim, The Filth.

All comments welcome.

Books: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06

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Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06
Written by John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art by Ron Smith, John Cooper, Steve Dillon, Carlos Ezquerra and Jose Casanovas
2006



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


I only started reading Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 06 (or as I've taken to thinking of it: "the orange one") because I've read the other ones and it seemed like I had some sort of duty to - I dunno - complete the set or whatever (gotta catch them all!).

Of course my main motivation for starting the whole looking at the Complete Case Files books in the first place is because of the Dredd movie that came out in the summer (and - yeah - still my favourite film I've seen that's been released this year - take that Dark Knight Rises / The Raid / Looper / The Avengers / Skyfall / Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol etc etc etc [1]) and since I saw it and vented out (well - most of) my inner-most thoughts and feelings (most particularly in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03) about the whole thing: well - I figured that there wasn't much left to say.

In addition to that - The Onion's AV Club published a thing of the biggest cinematic flops of the year [2] and although Dredd wasn't at number 1 (that dubious honour went to The Oogieloves In The Big Balloon Adventure (Box office: $1 million / Budget: $20 million)) it did manage to come in third (Box office: $28 million / Budget: $50 million): and just typing that kinda breaks my heart: especially when I think of all the cruddy films that came out this year (I'm looking at you again Dark Knight Rises). Oh well. Maybe by the time we get to the 22nd Century the Dredd film will have got the love it deserves: still - there goes all hope for a sequel I guess [3]. Which just kinda meant that - yeah - I wasn't in much of a rush to go and revisit the sights and sounds of Mega City: too many memories. Plus (well) - three collections in (not to mention all the Dredd I've read in the past) - I just kinda assumed that there wasn't much more for John Wagner and Alan Grant to show me.

So: when I started reading the orange one - it was more an obligation than out of sense of fun: which might explain why I ended up having such a great time (low expectations win again!). In fact - for the first third or so [4] I think this might be my favourite Dredd book of all (I mean - maybe if I ever get around to rereading it - that could change - but typing it down: it doesn't feel like I'm lying [5]). I was taking a few notes when I was reading it (so I could remember all the good parts to write them down here) and at one point I wrote down "Ok Computer" because - ok here we go (let me try and explain this right): there's this kinda sense I got of creative minds just kinda hitting this perfect flow of ideas and creativity (or whatever you wanna call it): like listening to an album (it doesn't have to be Ok Computer - I mean: it could be anything: choose your favourite band and take it from there) of a band that's just in peak physical form: making everything seem sorta - I dunno - effortless (yeah? Does that make sense?). Or - to go with an example from cinema - it's like when Pixar came out with - say - Ratatouille (you don't like Ratatouille? Well - then you're wrong and you don't know anything): I mean - all the films that came out before that were amazing: and watching  Ratatouille (for the first time) - I kept waiting for them to - I dunno - mess up or let it slip - but instead it just keeps going and getting better and better and better. That (for me) was what it was like reading The Complete Case Files 06.

At this point I guess I could tell you all the ideas and stories containing within: but instead (because I don't want to ruin it for you): I'll just give you some quotes (devoid of context) to give you some idea of what to expect: "Forward the fat!" "What about the other judges who came here?" "They got wrestled." "Jim Grubb's reign as major will soon be forgotten. But his last words will live for ever." "Remember Larry, any prize you can't remember, you will be forced to eat." "Bacteria soup followed by tender maggot steaks." and (my favourite [6]): "Don't want Christmas! Want flesh!"

The only thing I would say - is that you should definitely read Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05 before you start reading this on: seeing how (much more so than the other books) 06 acts as a big sequel to the horrors of the Apocalypse War. In fact - in pretty much every story there's a reference here or there underpinning everything - all leading up to (and one of my favourite moments in the book) the sight of the Apocalypse Monument ("Peace to All") which has to be seen to be believed (just - trust me on this: it's great) - I mean - I guess a kid would look at it and not think twice - but looking at it with older eyes: it's like something from George Orwell and/or Chris Morris.

Actually - now that I've said that: that's actually a good description of the whole book. I mean everyone tends to think that Dredd is just an action hero (and he does work well as that yeah I know) - but it's all the grim and dirty funny stuff where he really kinda excels (and I can understand a bit more now those old school 2000AD fans who were left disappointed by the Dredd film: it did sacrifice the twisted Mega City strangeness for making things a little more steam-lined and easy to get to grips with: like if they made a Brass Eye film and just made it about a current affairs team or something...). Because - yeah: the effects of radiation poisoning played for laughs, punchlines of innocent people being killed "for the good of the city" and  things like that. Speaking as someone that doesn't have a patriotic bone in his whole body: it still kinda makes me feel proud to English.

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[1] In fact - if it wasn't for Dredd I would probably would have been put off totally from going to watch films at the cinema completely. As it is: well - I'm not in that much of a rush to go back. For me: there's very little worse than going to see a disappointing film at the cinema: it's kinda feels like being robbed: where not only have they taken your money - but your time and the kinda - I dunno - your potential enjoyment as well or something (yeah: #firstworldproblems I know...).

[2] See: The list of the year's biggest flops is here, and it's probably not all that surprising. 

[3] And the fact that we live in a word where we're not going to get a Dredd sequel - but there probably will be another Tron film is almost enough to make me give hope altogether. (In fact - yes. I'm giving up. Do Nicorette make some kind of patches I could get? I could just stick them on my arms and readjust to a life spent in calm acceptance of everything bad that ever happens: that sounds like it would be nice).

[4] It does lose some of it's momentum when it starts (literally) digging up old characters and running through some of the more familiar motions: but then that's almost understandable seeing how Mean Machine Angel is (probably) one of the best Judge Dredd characters - like - ever ("How would you like a face full of 4?")

[5] That's how morals work right? If you feel bad when you're doing it - then it's bad. And if it feels good - then it's good (yeah - that sounds about right...). 

[6] That's spoken - obviously - in the voice of Zorg.

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Links: Dredd Reckoning Review.

Further reading: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 07.

All comments welcome.

Books: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03

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Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03
Written by John Wagner and Pat Mills
Art by Mike McMahon, Ron Smith, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Brendan McCarthy, Garry Leach, Ian Gibson, John Cooper and Barry Mitchell
2006

Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


This has grown into a bit of a Mega-post: so - you ready?

("You don't look ready").

Me? Well: yeah - I guess I've hated Alex Garland for a long, long time. I mean - I know that maybe "hate" is a strong word to use: but then again - I take my pop culture consumption very seriously and I don't like it when something gives me  indigestion - or makes me sick (so what the hey: "hate" it is!)

My first exposure I guess was The Beach (book - not the film). I'm pretty sure that I didn't read it when it first came out (back in 1996) but I remember hearing lots about and the rave reviews that came with it ("[Garland is a] natural-born storyteller" who "combines an unlikely group of influences - Heart of Darkness, Vietnam War movies, Lord of the Flies, the Super Mario Bros. video game - into ... ambitious, propulsive fiction." ... "A Lord of the Flies for Generation X" ... "Generation X's first great novel" ...“A furiously intelligent first novel … a book that moves with the kind of speed and grace many older writers can only day-dream about”): and - damn - this was when I was just a teenager so if this was a book that was appearing on my radar all the way back then: well - then I guess it must have been making lots of waves.

I can't remember what made me pick it up and read the stupid thing a few years after that... (Maybe it was the release of the Danny Boyle film or something? Although so scarred was I by the book that I didn't actually get around to watching that until a few years ago [1]) - but when I did: well - I liked the start, and yeah I thought the concept was kinda groovy (apparently backpacking being a big thing back then - but then I guess there's some clichés that never go out of fashion [2]: so hey - kudos to him for spotting that little gap in the market and writing something so zeitgeisty etc) but - oh boy - that ending. Maybe my sights were set too high - but I was left feeling personally wounded by the way it just sorta fizzled out completely - like a balloon with a hernia slowly bleeding to death: to say it was disappointing is a understatement: it's more accurate to say that it left me feeling really sad: like I'd made a new friend who then turned out to be a thief. Getting to the end of the Beach was like opening my wallet and noticing that Alex Garland had stolen my last tenner.

(But wait - what the hell has all this got to do with Judge Dredd? I can hear the less media-savvy of you say: just hang in there guys - I'm getting to it...)

Since that point I thought that I'd do well to steer clear of Alex Garland so that I wouldn't get hurt again. And - I mean - it's simple right? Just don't pick up any of his books: how hard can it be? Except - it wasn't that easy. Because of 28 Days Later.

I don't wanna spend all my time going through all this movie stuff before we get to Dredd: but this feels sorta necessary (I'm hoping that by the time I get to the end of this I'll feel some-sort of closure or something which - well - seems unlikely - but what the hey right?): 28 Days Later seemed like exactly my sort of film. I wasn't / I'm not the biggest Danny Boyle fan in the word [3] but - oh my god - a zombie film? I freaking love zombie films: and this was all the way back when nobody made zombie films (which of course - has all changed now [4]) and - oh my lord: this was a zombie film set in London which just made it all seem a thousand times better (come on: who doesn't want to see their hometown depicted as a savage post-apocalyptic zombie-filled wasteland?). So - yeah. Come opening day I was sat right at the front - popcorn in one hand - cold drink in the other all ready to be wowed. And - oh my god - that opening [5]: Cillian Murphy walking around Oxford Street, Westminster Bridge, that upturned red bus: not to mention the - is that? is that? is that Godspeed You Black Emperor!? playing on the soundtrack? (I think that might have been the exact moment that my mind split apart in two). I'm not sure if I realised before I entered the cinema that 28 Days was written by Alex Garland but at that point - oh boy - I don't know if I would have cared either way - the rush (and yeah it was a rush) was so intense and pure that I don't think I would have cared if someone told me that the script was written by Adolf freaking Hitler.

I mean I guess you could say that it couldn't last - and that with a start that great it's just the law of gravity that means that things are going to take a dip. But no. It's not that. It's that that as soon as Cillian Murphy starts meeting up with people the whole film falls apart like a cake that's been taken out of the oven too quickly... (I think that's the right metaphor - truth be told: I'm not that hot when it comes to baking) and all that's left is a sticky unappetizing mess - full of half-done George Romero steals and a bunch of people running around a house like they're in a Scooby Doo episode (sigh) [6].

28 Days left me feeling ultra bitter and even more determined never to trust Alex Garland again. As far as I was concerned he now owed me time wasted for his novel and his stupid zombie film. But hey at least I knew enough now to make sure that I wouldn't be fooled again...

...Gruddamnit.

Because - few years after that came Sunshine. A film whose last part is so awful that even Quentin Tarantino (who loves every film ever made) think's it's poo [7]. From the trailer [8], to the concept (bunch of astronauts fly directly into the sun) sounded like the kind of slightly berserk / slightly existential science-fiction concept that tends to form the type of movies that normally end up getting all the way under my skin [9]: and oh my god - wow: those first - what? 40? 50 minutes? The film is just totally, brilliantly sublime. That John Murphy soundtrack [10] that whole "What can you see?" to that ever-constant yellow glow that just bathes the whole film in this gorgeous yellow light so that everyone watching knows exactly why Searle spends all his time immersing himself in the light: it's great, great, great. And then: blam with no warning - the whole film nose-dives and switches from - one of the best science-fiction films ever made ever - into something approaching an embarrassment ("Oh god - yeah - Sunshine? Erm. I'd rather not talk about it - if that's ok?"). And of all the times Alex Garland has let me down (three and counting) that one hurt the most. I guess because his game in the first part was so on (come on Alex - you can do this - you can do this) that when the ball got dropped (I mean - shooting your bad guy with a blurry camera filter (or whatever): I mean - really? Really? I get all the deep reasons you thought you had - but it's like watching a sixth formers idea of doing something smart: and (for me) it just totally sinks the whole film [11]).  

Wow: this is getting pretty long. Ok - no matter - stay with it, stay with it. Because this is when we get to the point that I've trying to get to (struggle struggle struggle - and wham): the Dredd film. (Yeah boy).

I mean - like I think I've said - the inspiration for this whole writing up on the Judge Dredd Complete Case Files comes from the Dredd film. I saw it coming down the tubes and all the pre-publicity and stuff and I thought that I'd use it as an excuse to go through all the stories that I'd already read and haven't read and blah blah blah - I mean - the comics are always good for a laugh right?

But as for the film itself - well yeah. To be frank: I wasn't expecting anything good. All the signs looked like they were pointing to "bad." The director - Pete Travis - was (according to his wikipedia page) a TV director who had directed an episode of The Bill here (The Bill? Yawn) - two episodes of Cold Feet there and was the one responsible for the immensely forgettable Vantage Point (starring Jack from Lost!) [12]. Plus - Dredd doesn't really seem like a concept that would translate well to screen (I mean - like everyone else has already said: when it comes to character he's a bit of a void). And yeah - (the reasons why should be more than evident by now) there were those four words that send a shiver down my spine: "Screenplay by Alex Garland" (brrrr!) [13] and the little synopsis that came out - what? - made it sound like complete rubbish [14]: I mean - "Slo-Mo"? That just sounds like Brass Eye [15]. I mean - I guess it says something that I paid so much attention to it's development. But it seemed more like rubber-necking at a slow motion (or should I say "slo-mo"?) car crash. I mean - all the signs pointed to terrible and I guess I just wanted to know - how terrible. You know?

But - hell: last week me and my friends wanted something to do. My literary flatmate wanted to go to the cinema in order to see something to boast his spirits and what the hell - Dredd was showing. That very day I had read a review from Drew McWeeny (who I mostly tend to side with) who had praised it as: "a grimy hyper-violent faithful take on the comic icon", "Stylish and bloody" "Dredd 3D should give genre fans a thrill." [16]. I agreed to come along but only under duress and whining and complaining the whole way there ("So let me tell you all the reasons that this film is going to be totally awful.") and sharing my favourite Dredd stories that the film should have been based around (and yeah: The Graveyard shift was mentioned I'll admit it). And then we get to the cinema: and - it turns out that it's a little bit cheaper than what I feared. And it turns out that they're showing it on the main screen. And in 3-D. And - why did I not notice this before? - on the big white cinema sign outside above the doors (does that have a special name that I just don't know about?) next to Dredd it says "18." (Wow - I can't even remember the last time I went to see a film that was rated 18: especially not what is essentially a superhero comic-book film - nearly all of which tend to be rated on the baby end of the spectrum: The Dark Knight? The Dark Knight Rises? Iron Man? All rated: PG-13).

But still: when the lights went down - I readied myself for the worst: because this film was gonna stink - right?

Well - no. And this: All of this blah blah blah is to say: I was wrong. And going through all this Alex Garland history is my way of saying: hey Alex - you know what? You've finally managed to make something good. I didn't think you had it in you - but you've finally made something that I could bring myself (hell - want to) watch again. Well done. And seeing how I feel (in a roundabout sorta way) I've been a little bit harsh to the Dredd film (I think in the notes to the Complete Case Files 07 post I made a few snarky comments) I thought I would use this space to champion it because (damn) it's been lot much of a long time since I went to the cinema and had a good time and so I'm very much about championing the good stuff (and - hey - life should be about championing the good stuff - I mean - that's why we're all here: right?)

So yeah: Dredd (let's just ignore that 3-D thing yeah? [17]): let's talk Dredd.

It starts just like the Stallone version (at least I think so: it's been 17 years (oh my god) since that came out and I've never bothered to rewatch it since that first crushing disappointment in the cinema - so this is a pretty old memory yeah?): shot of the Mega City One from the Cursed Earth with a moody voice-over spelling everything out. I mean - I get why they did it: but it's not a good sign... And then. Well: I'm not going to give you a blow-by-blow account of the entire film and as usually like with how I try and write about the books: I'm not going to spoil all the plot points (so don't worry if you haven't seen it yet - this should be safe to read): but then you get your first look of Mega City One proper and - I'll admit - I was (well) stunned.

Because even if you've never read a Judge Dredd comic I'm pretty sure that you probably still know how Mega City One is supposed to look - right? Hundreds and thousands of City Blocks piled on top of each other as far as the eye can see: think Blade Runner or the Fifth Element: only more blocked in and much (much) more crazy. And in fact - if you think back to the Stallone Dredd: that's pretty much the only thing they got right: a never-ending megatropolis fall of flying cars and garish neon advertisements [18]. Yeah - well: the 2012 version of Dredd obviously wasn't paying attention: because their Mega City One is: better. Much better. With less of the "Mega" but much more of the "City." What the film absolutely nails is the basic idea that cities don't every radically change: but rather - are built up - bit by bit by bit over and around the city that's already there. Mega City One in the comics has always been rather cartoony (I mean - it depends who's drawing it true - but even at the most realistic Arther Ranson-end of things (see: Judge Anderson: Satan below if you're interested in that sort of thing) - it's always future future future and grey City Blocks and things. When I first saw the trailer to Dredd [19] and it's aerial-view of the city I just assumed that it was because the movie was going to suck: instead of buildings upon buildings - it was like looking at a graveyard: empty spaces with isolated markers sticking out from the ground here and there - in a very un-cluttered, un-Mega City-like way [20]. But then: why assume that there isn't enough room for the new and the old? In the comics (urg: I hate that phrase: "In the comics" but still) i think (?) the idea is that Mega City One is built upon the ruins of the old cities: there was a big war and so they just decided to lay concrete over it all and start again. And altho this idea has a lot going for it - namely it's appeal to that deep-seated human urge about fresh starts and blank states and stuff (I'm thinking about that bit in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: "Blank Is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World" and all that [21]) - it's also massively unrealistic: an unobtainable ideal and yeah I know it's science-fiction and stuff (and so really only one small step away from fantasy): but - hell - things ususally tend to get more interesting when you start to subject it to a little dose of reality. Which is exactly what the Dredd film does: giving us a future city that still has lots and lots of traces and features and buildings of the old - which for me: is just all kinds of brilliant and puts the film into a reality that feels much closer to home than I thought it could get and kinda makes the comic books (which up until this point seemed to be a sort of unquestionable authority that could accept no deviations lest the critic be excommunicated) seem - well - kinda comic booky.Because - yeah: stating the totally obvious: the future is going to look a lot like the present. If someone from 1970 were suddenly transported into now - yeah they'd be amazed by ipods and the youtubes - but walking down the street I don't think that their eyeballs would hemorrhage at the sheer futureness of it all: it all (basically) just looks the same you know?

Apart from that: what else does the film get right? Well - Karl Urban is spot-on as Joe Dredd. I mean - even if in the end it ammounts to nothing more than a Clint Eastwood impression: it's a really good Clint Eastwood impression and he stands there and growls in all the right ways (but I'm a bit of a Karl Urban fan after his spot-on DeForest Kelley impression in that Star Trek film: "Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait'll you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence." (man - I could watch that scene all day)). Olivia Thirlby does lots of good doe-eyed stuff as Anderson (and in another case of going better than the comics: there's a big show-stopping physic-power scene that goes strange and deep in a way that none of the Anderson stuff I've ever read ever seems to come close to (normally it's just her touching her head in a James McAvoy Charles Xavier-type way [22]). But in terms of the pretending people: Lena Headey wins for her Heath-Ledger-as-the-Joker levels of insanity and violence crackling around inside her eyes (too bad they didn't give her more to do: so could have won like awards and stuff)

Also good is how it's just so supercrazyultraviolent. I mean - this is the Dredd that my teenager self would wanted to see back in 1995: there's blood spilling out of the screen: over the edge of the black bars of the bottom even and lots of smashing and crushing and perps getting judged (and oh my god - is that - is that white phosphorus? Wow. That's hardcore). Plus (and this is just me I know) there's just something that's innately pleasurable about slow helicopter shots of giant buildings - especially when they're doing big mechanical things and slowly rolling things into place (someone make a relaxation tape of space shuttle doors closing and those big space shuttle carrier things rolling around please): and - more things I like - there's just so many great images of dirty motorways stretching out into the distance and giant starscapers: grids and lines my inner-Kubrick kept letting out little sighs of joy. And balancing all that against the small-scaliness of it all being set in the same location gave it that pleasingly claustrophobic feeling that you normally get from John Carpenter films (hell: maybe The Graveshift wasn't the ideal model after all? I dunno): so best of both worlds!

And the soundtrack - oh boy - I absolutely adore the soundtrack. I mean - I'm sure I'll get sick of it sooner or later - but I've been listening to it none stop since I saw the film. Paul Leonard-Morgan is my new soundtrack crush dude. It's like John Carpenter's moody synths decided to learn how to play guitars and brought in a evil gorilla to play the drums while they all listened to Cliff Martinez's Contagion and Drive Soundtracks I mean yeah: it's perfect [23].

Hell: I even loved the bikes [24]: they looked like refugees from an 80s action film: like Robocop or Escape from New York (in fact that's a good way to describe the whole film: a mutant 80s action film - grim as hell and as mean as Dredd himself).

In terms of source-material faithfulness and getting the comics right and all that baloney: well technically Anderson's badge should have been only half-finished and the respirators should have dropped from the helmet (although there's an obvious reason why that didn't happen) and since when did people in Mega City One say "Motherfucker?" (would a "Drokk" or a "Grud" been too much to ask? We are living in a post Battlestar Galactica world after all you fraks) and was it libel-laws of something that meant that you couldn't give the City Blocks their more familar-sounding names (Peach Trees? [25]): but that sorta stuff was more than made-up for the geeky graffiti shout-outs to Chopper and Kenny Who? (yeah - I think when I saw that second one I may have let out an involuntary "squee!").

Lots of the reviews I read made mention of another film that came out this year called The Raid [26]: and while Dredd's later release means that it's kinda being touted as being the Raid's little sister (summing up the media narrative it's basically: "The Raid is the best thing ever! Dredd isn't as good - but it's still alright") but allow me to blow a big fat raspberry in that direction. Mainly just to say: The Raid ain't all that. I mean - I'm obviously not in the target audience seeing how I've never really been into fighting films (sorry - "martial arts")  but godamnit - just in how it's structured: keeping the audience on it's toes from start to end and never taking it's foot of the tension pedal (that's a thing right?) - I'd take Dredd over The Raid any day of the week (The Raid starts off well - but then just sorta gets really predictable really quickly and by the end you can tell who's going to win which fight - and the climax made it seem - well: like an episode of The Bill (The Bill? Yawn) or something).

It wasn't a 100% perfect film - and there's a few points where it does fall into predictability and outrageous coincidences (with one moment in particular relying on an architectural feature that seems outlandish even by Mega City standards): but I struggle to remember the last time I had such a great time at the cinema: I cheered at the end. I didn't mean to - but it happened. 

I mean I know that I could have just summed all of that up by saying: that new Dredd film? Yeah - I liked it. But hell: I'm kinda falling out of the habit of doing things the easy way. So yeah - when (please when) the sequel comes out: I'll be first in line. (Please can we have a sequel soon please please please? And you know what? You can even get Alex Garland to write it: it seems like he's finally found his niche).

(Pause for breath)

Now. Of course if this was just a blog of random thoughts or whatever I could just leave things there. Happy with the fact that I'd managed to write more than just a single solitary paragraph (didn't anyone ever tell you? Writing about comics and stuff is hard): but this is the Islington Comic Forum blog and so we have to maintain at least an air of respectability and talk about the stuff we're supposed to talk about - that is: comics. And so - rather than just leaving this now as a Dredd review and all my hang-ups about Alex Garland let's try and link this up with an actual Judge Dredd book (how's that sound? That ok?)

So: after seeing the Dredd film I was well up for some Judge Dredd comic action. Because that how it works right? You see the film and then after you get that strange urge to read the book: even tho (no duh) the book is nothing like the film but the only reason you're bothering to read the book is to capture some of the same feeling and excitement you got from the film: it's like you really enjoyed (stupid metaphor alert) an apple sweet (like a fruit pastille or something) and so you decide to eat an apple in order to get the same sort of sensation: it's pretty pointless and is only going to leave you feeling unfulfilled but then - hey - that's like the story of all of our lives - right? (Right?).

The book I came up with was this: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03 which - at the time of writing is the earliest example of Dredd currently available in Islington (maybe someone could order Complete Case Files 01 and 02 so that I can finally get to read the first part of The Cursed Earth please?) and - well - yeah: after the hard-bitten dirty futurism of the Dredd movie: it was a bit of a trip encountering such an embryonic-version of the future law man. Towards the start there's the first instance of a concept that I used to love when I was a kid - Future Shock! (or "futsie" as they call it) - but (oh the irony) reading this - I got Past Future Shock (I need a better name - but you get the point right?): reading a version of the future that now (mostly) seems out of date.

You think I'm exaggerating?

Well the first story reveals the hitherto unknown fact (to this reader at least) that Judge Dredd has a niece. For this reader - who was expecting some more of the violent carnage that he got from the Dredd film (hell - who knows I reasoned: maybe the early stories were extra gritty and they had to tone it down as things went on?). But no - instead I got Dredd pushing Vienna (Vienna?) on the swings while she screams: "Swing me again Uncle Joe!" and dialogue that seemed more like it comes from a Mad Magazine parody: "You don't kiss me and hug me very much but I know that's just your way. I love you Uncle Joe! You're my daddy now!" I mean - I thought this was great - but it wasn't really what I was expecting. (I ordered strawberry - and hey this is chocolate! kinda thing) [27].

And there's a lot more of that sort of slightly mawkish slightly childish slightly lame (yeah - I said it) happening again and again: there's Monty the Guinea pig and a talking cat and later - Henry Ford - the smart mouthed talking horse, there's the suggestion that drinking Tyrannosaur blood can turn you into a weredinosaur (what the?) - and (oh yes) Walter - Dredd's lisping roboservant ("As Walter Wemember, there was a wobbey at the cwedit bank that day.") who's - well - a bit mincy (not that there's anything wrong with that obviously). But it's pretty obvious in point that this is the kinda stuff that was written for children back in the 1970s rather than - well - late twenty-sometimes in the 21st Century (that would be me of course): and I was really feeling the disconnect between what was on the page and the Paul Leonard-Morgan Dredd soundtrack playing in my ears.

But then: just as I was getting ready to maybe think about setting it aside and trying out something else I started to get more of what I wanted: Bleak predictions of the future: "By the early 22nd Century only 13% of the population of Mega City One had work... Humans, too long used to working, could  not adjust to the huge increase in leisure time." (And reading that as someone who is just about to start working with self-service machines (it's the future!) - well: it touched a delicate spot). Horrific plagues of mutant spiders. Killer Hippies (Father Earth - who's like the yin to Dredd's punk yang). And that delicious evil sense of humour that the British tend to do so well in the form of Sob Story's [28] greatest hit: Otto Sump "Yeah, I know all about ugly... I've had eight face changes and still I look like this! The Doc says I'm deep-down ugly, the kind they can't get out." Plus lots of hard-bitten action: "First try the special cocktail I've mixed for you Molotov!" (Woop!) not to mention the first appearance of Judge Death and - wouldn't you know it - Judge Cassandra Anderson (who is way more more ditzy than her later incarnations) and a peek inside the Hall of Justice that makes it look like they've been stealing furniture from the set of Dr Strangelove... (and - wow: it turns out that Brian Bolland has always been an amazing artist: damn him).

But yeah: I guess that's it (at least that's all I can bring myself to write). But what? Is there some kind of moral here? Something I can say to wrap this all up in a tidy little bow? 

Nope.

Not that I can think of anyhow [29].

So - instead I've leave you with these wise words from Judge Minty: "When you get old you start getting strange notions... like maybe people aren't so bad, maybe if we treat 'em with kindness, the good in them will come out! I guess that's when it's time to quit."

...................................................................................................................................................
[1] I don't remember that much about it - but my abiding thought was that it was much, much better than the book (which hey - couldn't have been that hard - right?).

[2] "And then I chundered everywhere" etc.

[3] Shallow Grave = Yes. Trainspotting = Yes.A Life Less Ordinary = I don't think I ever saw (think the 2000AD adaptation put me off - because boy was that stinky). The Beach = Yeah. Ok. 28 Days Later = Well... Millions = Not bad. But it's like something that would on ITV on a Saturday evening (maybe that's just because James Nesbitt is in it - but whatever). Sunshine = Well... Slumdog Millionaire = I mean - yeah. It' ok. But it's not a film that I've ever gonna really wanna watch again - you know what I mean? 127 Hours = Haven't seen. But I don't know if I could stomach a whole film that was wall-to-wall James Franco (sorry dude: you're just way too annoying).

[4] I could pick on any film at this point to illustrate the fact that maybe the zombie film market is a little bit more - well - saturated this days: but - hell - let's go with Cockneys vs. Zombies: "A bunch of east-enders fight their way out of a zombie-infested London, led by an unlikely gang of amateur bank robbers and foul-mouthed plucky pensioners." No. I'm not making that up: and also (hell) who knows? Maybe it'll actually prove to be pretty good? I mean: who knows?

[5] Which you can enjoy here. Repeat after me: "Hello!?" "HELLO!?" (I mean - it's like someone took my main childhood daydream and just plastered it across a screen).

[6] 28 Weeks Later? Well - that's a whole different story (a story that goes: I frigging love that film).

[7] See: here. ("Space exploration mediation"? Don't try saying that with your mouth full).

[8] Which you can watch here. (That music at the start is Six By Seven's Another Love Song - which is a band that I used to think represented the absolute pinnacle of epic brutalist guitar rock (hell - whatever - still do) and that music at the end? Lux Aeterna obviously).

[9] See also: bunch of scientists go and talk to super-intelligent ants (Phase IV), scientists uses drugs and sensory deprivation tanks in order to themselves regress genetically (Altered States) and a team of scientists fight against a super-bug from outer space (The Andromeda Strain). Obviously I have somesorta deep seated obsession with science-fiction films about scientists - but hey - I guess that's my problem right?

[10] YUM: I want to be buried to this music please. Or - hell - not buried. Fired into the sun. Yes.

[11] And - hell - the know what? Maybe that's not even Alex Garland's fault. Maybe it's Danny Boyle calling all the shots and making all the decisions (he is the director after all). But - still. The problems seem like they stem from the script and (plus he's got previous with The Beach) and so I'm a-gonna blame Garland. Sorry dude.

[12] And I do mean "forgettable" seeing as how I've watched it and all I remember is something about an ambulance flipping over (?) and lots of weak sauce Rashomon-style window dressing that never really seemed to add up to anything more than just a gimmick.

[13] Which leaves out the gossip that Pete Travis was actually replaced by Alex Garland in the post-production process so that when the film came out it was going to credit Garland as the director. (Which just seems sorta crazy to me - but then I guess I don't work in the film business (I work in a library)).

[14] "The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture – a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute-turned-drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan’s inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound’s control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and director Pete Travis bring DREDD to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film. Filmed in 3D with stunning slow motion photography sequences, the film returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s revered comic strip." Problems: That name "Ma-Ma." (I mean - why?) And having Dredd just go up against one villain and the idea of Slo-Mo. It just made it sound like a big slice of cheese-cake when want I wanted was a raw slice of beef - you know? And then (although I guess this came later) the fact that they decided to name it: Dredd 3-D. Seriously? I mean - unlike some - I don't have a problem with 3-D. But when you decide to stick it into the title - it just makes it seem disposable and cheap. And what are they going to call the sequel: Dredd 3-D 2? (Yuck).

[15] The Horrors of Cake! (Noel Edmonds: "What is Cake? Well, it has an active ingredient which is a dangerous psychoactive compound known as dimesmeric andersonphosphate. It stimulates the part of the brain called Shatner's Bassoon. And that's the bit of the brain that deals with time perception. So, a second feels like a month. Well, it almost sounds like fun...unless you're the Prague schoolboy who walked out into the street straight in front of a tram. He thought he'd got a month to cross the street.") And I mean - yeah - obviously the reason for Slo-Mo is to do lots of bullet-time style action (all of which in the film is absolutely-completely-gorgeous) - but it just seemed kinda obvious and easy or something and a - well - a whole lot of yawn (I dunno).

[16] You can read the full review: here: (sample: "Ultimately, your reaction to "Dredd 3D" will depend on your tolerance for an almost breathtaking level of graphic violence.")

[17] Although: hot damn - this film certainly had some nice 3-D action going on. Totally keeping with it's ever so-slightly exploitation film feeling.

[18] I tried to find a clip of it online and found that someone has actually uploaded the full movie. Watched the first five minutes and - holy cow - is that James Earl Jones doing the opening narration? And did how blatantly Marvel steal that opening let's show all the pages of the comics flicking past really quickly thing? And: wow - now I can see why the film was such a massive let-down: in those first 5 minutes they get everything just right: the use of the proper old school Judge Dredd font, those marching drums give it the right atmosphere, nice slow introduction to the city - that pan up that keeps going up and up and up: and Mega City One looks just like it's supposed to (nice use of the Lady Liberty there - (no Statue of Judgement tho - sad face)): and oh boy - so many actors with so many great names: Armand Assante! Jürgen Prochnow! Balthazar Getty! (That doesn't actually add to the quality of the film - I know: but I just wanted to point it out). I mean - if you just saw that - you could easily imagine that this was going to be the most faithful film adaptation of all time... (hysterical fanboy voice: "and then Stallone had to ruin it all by taking his helmet off!" And - oops - oh yeah: and the rest of the film sucked to). Credit where it's due tho: it does have a totally awesome trailer. (That music? It's Jerry Goldsmith: sadly not used in the film: something about him having scheduling conflicts or something and not having enough time to score the film: oh well).

[19] This is turning into a proper trailer fest huh? (But - hey - I love trailers - and in some respects they're the only pure art-form left and let's face it: one of the most exciting (if you've never said that you wish you could watch a whole film that felt like a trailer then I don't believe you)). But - yeah - if you haven't seen the Dredd trailer yet - here you go. And - well - ok: since you asked. I think it's one of the worst trailers I've seen since forever: it's one the few (if only?) examples of the film being better than the trailer - normally (and depressingly) it's almost always the other way round... It just makes it look really cheap (that POV shot from the Justice Camera or whatever looks like someone looking through a cheap binocular toy that they got from a happy meal) and all of the images and supposedly "cool" lines just feel really flat (which is mainly due to the fact that - in the film - context is key: and taken out from that - it just seems half-inflated: like someone who's really bad at telling stories trying to sum up the film they saw last night: "And then he said "You look ready" and it was so awesome."). Plus - with that Ma-Ma line: "We could take the whole city" etc. It makes it seem like maybe the film is going to be way more epic that it actually is: Dredd versus someone who's some kind of crazy super-villain - while actually: it's all much more pleasingly low-key, reined in and enclosed than that. Plus (like my literary flatmate pointed out) there's way too much "judging" dialogue: "I am the law" / "Judgement time!" / "the Sentence is Death" etc (I mean - what's next? "Order in the court?" "Has the jury reached a verdict?" "Please rise!" - hell - actually those are pretty good!). But yeah - so - basically - yeah: fails all round. (Oh - and seeing how we've also been doing all the music for stuff - that La Roux song is a Skream remix remix: and that second song? No. That's not Daft Punk's Tron Soundtrack - it's some guy called Danny Cocke doing a very good impression of Daft Punk's Tron Soundtrack)

[20] This is a good picture of it.

[21] I'm not that this is actually relevant but here you go: “Fervent believers in the redemptive powers of shock, the architects of the American-British invasion imagined that their use of force would be so stunning, so overwhelming, that Iraqis would go into a kind of suspended animation…In that window of opportunity, Iraq’s invaders would slip in another set of shocks—these one economic—which would create a model free-market democracy on the blank slate that was post invasion Iraq. But there was no blank slate, only rubble and shattered angry people—who, when they resisted, were blasted with more shocks…Like Cameron, Iraq’s shock doctors can destroy, but they can’t seem to rebuild.” (But - hey - it's a good book: if you get a chance - you should read it: available in your local Islington library!).

[22] Oh my god: have you seen X-Men: First Class? He's like touching his head in that all the damn time. (Next time I watch it - I'm turning it into a drinking game). 

[23] Few notes on the soundtrack: someone's been listening to Justin Bieber 800% Slower (not that that's a bad thing - just saying). And Lockdown and Tick of the Clock (from the Drive Soundtrack) = separated at birth? And - of course - there's the Drokk: Music Inspired by Mega-City One album by Portishead's Geoff Barrow and some guy called Ben Salisbury which was supposed to be the soundtrack before I don't know what happened and it was left "on the cutting room floor" - if you like your science-fiction soundtracks a little bit more sedate and calmed down (and really yeah: they're both good in different ways).

[24] YEAH BABY. (For some reason I can't quite put my finger on - they reminded me of those creepy Star Trek Wheelchairs. Maybe it's the black slopingness of it or something? I dunno).

[25] Apparently it was named after a restaurant when Alex Garland and John Wagner met up. (To me something like "Charlton Heston Block" would have sounded much better - but heigh ho).

[26] Most notably this Empire Review  which went so far as to declare that there were two shadows that fell over the Dredd film: the Dredd film and The Raid: "This wouldn’t be to Dredd’s detriment if The Raid hadn’t a) got there first and b) been the best action film in years. And so, as Dredd and Anderson tiptoe down dark corridors, where danger lurks around every corner, or bullet-bludgeon their way through Ma-Ma’s seemingly endless waves of expendable henchmen, it’s hard not to compare and contrast with Evans’ movie, where similar situations led to action that was vital, insanely violent and full of variety. Dredd retains the extraordinary violence (flesh pierces rippling bare flesh in loving slo-mo, a machine gun reduces a head to a pulp, and bodies spiral through 200 storeys before splatting), but the action is rather more circumspect and workmanlike – there are no dizzying camera moves, no sense of building momentum or mounting danger."

[27] Wow. Twenty-seven footnotes? (Wow). That seems a bit much: but oh well: here's another: what's with the "Dokk?" at the start - I mean - they correct it to "Drokk" two stories later: but it kinda added to the feeling that what I was reading wasn't actually real Dredd...

[28] Sob Story is a television programme which is supposed to be satire (people who go and tv: tell everyone how awful their lives are and then beg for money) - but oh: wouldn't you know it - is now yesterday's news (see: Charlie Brooker's Wanking For Coins article: here. "I liked the phrase "wanking for coins" so much I went on to use it again and again. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to sum up an entire world of low-level employment. Stuck in a dead-end job? Wanking for coins. Obliged to smile at customers? Wanking for coins. Working extra shifts to pay the rent? Wanking for coins.")

[29] Actually - now that I think about it a little bit more - and having read a few more Dredd reviews - a lot of which have said that the film - as good as it is - doesn't quite capture the flavor of the comics: I guess the moral would be: having read such a big fat slice of the comics- there's no possible way that any film could ever hope to contain all the different multitudes of what makes Judge Dredd - Judge Dredd.

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Links: Dredd Reckoning Review, Bookgasm Review, Grovel Review.

Further reading: Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 07, Judge Anderson: Satan, Sláine: The Horned God, Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty, Skizz.

All comments welcome.