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Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files + The Restricted Files+ The Daily Dredds
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 08
In Mega-City One the streets are awash with danger, whether it be rampaging giant alligators or crazed perps with murder in mind. Keeping order in this crimeridden metropolis are the Judges, stern guardians of the peace with the power of judge, jury and executioner at their disposal. The most fearsome is Judge Dredd and these are his greatest cases. This bumper volume of Thrill Power includes such classic tales as 'Dredd Angel', 'The Wally Squad' and 'City of the Damned'.
Collects:
- Many Unhappy Returns (Prog #376)
- Dredd Angel (Progs #377-#383)
- Gator (Progs #384-#386)
- Question of Judgement (Prog #387)
- Error of Judgement (Prog #388)
- A Case for Treatment (Prog #389)
- The Wally Squad (Progs #390-#392)
- City of the Damned (Progs #393-#406)
- The Hunters Club (Progs #407-#411)
- Monsteroso (Prog #412)
- Spugbug (Prog #413)
- Juve's Eyes (Progs #414-#415)
- Sunday Night Fever (Progs #416-#418)
- Hagatha Smeld (Prog #419)
- Aftermath Ron Reagan (Prog #420)
- Thirteenth Assessment (Prog #421)
- Casey's Day Out (Prog #422)
- 99 Red (Prog #423)
Collects:
- Many Unhappy Returns (Prog #376)
- Dredd Angel (Progs #377-#383)
- Gator (Progs #384-#386)
- Question of Judgement (Prog #387)
- Error of Judgement (Prog #388)
- A Case for Treatment (Prog #389)
- The Wally Squad (Progs #390-#392)
- City of the Damned (Progs #393-#406)
- The Hunters Club (Progs #407-#411)
- Monsteroso (Prog #412)
- Spugbug (Prog #413)
- Juve's Eyes (Progs #414-#415)
- Sunday Night Fever (Progs #416-#418)
- Hagatha Smeld (Prog #419)
- Aftermath Ron Reagan (Prog #420)
- Thirteenth Assessment (Prog #421)
- Casey's Day Out (Prog #422)
- 99 Red (Prog #423)
400 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 1984
16 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
John Wagner
1,289 books191 followersJohn Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
December 16, 2015
"Dredd Angel", ""The hell trekkers" and "city of the damned": not one but full 3 great sagas made me enjoy a lot this classic collection.
No surprise, at all: Judge Dredd universe is so kick-ass and full of potential for thousands of good stories that never needed a reboot like more famous other ones. Drokk!
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No surprise, at all: Judge Dredd universe is so kick-ass and full of potential for thousands of good stories that never needed a reboot like more famous other ones. Drokk!
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July 16, 2022
Helltrekkers was the highlight of this volume, but the Question of Judgement story was also good - a rare moment of weakness for Dredd.
March 26, 2025
City of the damned
There are some really good ones here. Mean Machine makes an appearance but city of the dawned is definitely the standout. More brilliant artwork & storytelling.
There are some really good ones here. Mean Machine makes an appearance but city of the dawned is definitely the standout. More brilliant artwork & storytelling.
October 15, 2023
If you are still hanging out for the eighth book in any given line then you are likely a fan or you hate your money and buy solely out of habit. Either way, this era of Judge Dredd is low on character development and high on action. Dredd isn't much different here than he was in his earliest adventures. This is a fast-paced, light read that holds up very well three decades later.
In the Dredd Angel arc we see Mean Angel of The Angel Gang return. Due to forced brain surgery Mean Angel temporarily sees his sworn enemy, Judge Dredd, as his father. Dredd and Mean Angel journey into the north Texas Rad-Lands to recover the five clones of Mega-City's greatest judges. I really enjoyed Ron Smith's artwork on that arc.
Kim Raymond takes over the artwork for the Gator arc, and his art has a gritty, hard-edged vibe to it. It gives the strip an almost Noir feel. It is an interesting take, because despite the over the top violence there has always been an almost tongue in cheek feeling to the strip due to the somewhat cartoony feel of the art. Things seemed more serious with Raymond's artwork.
Folks who discovered the character because of both Judge Dredd movies (the 2012 one and the other one that sucked) are led to believe that Judge Anderson was his constant sidekick. This is, so far at least, false. She was his partner for a short while in The Complete Case Files Vol. 3 trade paperback, and is featured again here.
In the City Of The Damned arc Dredd and Anderson journey to the future of 2120 to find the answers to disastrous predictions, finding themselves face to face with The Mutant. The Mutant turns out to be (!!!SPOILER!!!) the evil clone of the Judge Child.
In The Hunters Club we find The Hunters Club Of Mega-City One randomly target people from the citizens directory. They warn them and then pick them off at their leisure. Unlike most cases, Dredd does not nail the perps this time out.
The writing and artwork are all solid, and the brisk pace of the stories makes them hold up well when compared to modern day comics. While some of the Cold War overtones and black humor might be lost on younger readers I think that these stories read well enough as straightforward action tales to hold their interest. This is fun, escapist stuff.
There is gutter loss on the double page spreads. Many word balloons are swallowed up in there, resulting in you trying to pry the book a little to try and read what is written. This book is wider than a standard trade paperback. The material is still reprinted smaller than the original publications, as UK comics were larger than US comics.
In the Dredd Angel arc we see Mean Angel of The Angel Gang return. Due to forced brain surgery Mean Angel temporarily sees his sworn enemy, Judge Dredd, as his father. Dredd and Mean Angel journey into the north Texas Rad-Lands to recover the five clones of Mega-City's greatest judges. I really enjoyed Ron Smith's artwork on that arc.
Kim Raymond takes over the artwork for the Gator arc, and his art has a gritty, hard-edged vibe to it. It gives the strip an almost Noir feel. It is an interesting take, because despite the over the top violence there has always been an almost tongue in cheek feeling to the strip due to the somewhat cartoony feel of the art. Things seemed more serious with Raymond's artwork.
Folks who discovered the character because of both Judge Dredd movies (the 2012 one and the other one that sucked) are led to believe that Judge Anderson was his constant sidekick. This is, so far at least, false. She was his partner for a short while in The Complete Case Files Vol. 3 trade paperback, and is featured again here.
In the City Of The Damned arc Dredd and Anderson journey to the future of 2120 to find the answers to disastrous predictions, finding themselves face to face with The Mutant. The Mutant turns out to be (!!!SPOILER!!!) the evil clone of the Judge Child.
In The Hunters Club we find The Hunters Club Of Mega-City One randomly target people from the citizens directory. They warn them and then pick them off at their leisure. Unlike most cases, Dredd does not nail the perps this time out.
The writing and artwork are all solid, and the brisk pace of the stories makes them hold up well when compared to modern day comics. While some of the Cold War overtones and black humor might be lost on younger readers I think that these stories read well enough as straightforward action tales to hold their interest. This is fun, escapist stuff.
There is gutter loss on the double page spreads. Many word balloons are swallowed up in there, resulting in you trying to pry the book a little to try and read what is written. This book is wider than a standard trade paperback. The material is still reprinted smaller than the original publications, as UK comics were larger than US comics.
May 26, 2023
This is almost more interesting for what it gets wrong than what it gets right - the Dredd and Mean Machine team up feels like a great idea in theory but it stretches too much disbelief to really work, and probably worked as a warning to Wagner in particular to make sure he didn’t overwork ideas too much. But that makes the Judge Child sequel of City of the Damned even more interesting as a failure, because it’s essentially the same lesson not learned on a much bigger scale. You can almost see the moment Wagner and Grant get a bit bored with this - somewhere around the Hershey cameo - and things like Dredd having his eyes poked out feels like an attempt to make the story more interesting (it fails, but the eyes become a sort of key example of Dredd’s aging in the future). They sort of cobble together an ending that just about works, but you can sort of see where Wagner was paying attention for Necropolis - Judges you can’t trust; Dredd himself incapacitated; seeking help from the lowest of Mega City citizens. What’s most interesting is that the smaller arc of Dredd doubting (the first appearance of tight boots!) is far more important for the series going onwards
The rest of this is great fun, with the Hunters Club and Wally Squad particularly standing out. The aftermath of the Dark Judges story is a bit perplexing because that was an Anderson story with no Dredd so feels a bit weird, but is a happy reminder of when Death was used sparingly (as opposed to whatever the hell is going on in the Megazine at the moment with him). In many ways it feels surprisingly like a sort of final flourish of the dafter ideas, with the Sunday Night Fever feeling like what would once have been gruesome black comedy having a sort of weird melancholy that isn’t there before. It’s not a transitional year as such, but does sort of feel like there’s a big change in tone due
The rest of this is great fun, with the Hunters Club and Wally Squad particularly standing out. The aftermath of the Dark Judges story is a bit perplexing because that was an Anderson story with no Dredd so feels a bit weird, but is a happy reminder of when Death was used sparingly (as opposed to whatever the hell is going on in the Megazine at the moment with him). In many ways it feels surprisingly like a sort of final flourish of the dafter ideas, with the Sunday Night Fever feeling like what would once have been gruesome black comedy having a sort of weird melancholy that isn’t there before. It’s not a transitional year as such, but does sort of feel like there’s a big change in tone due
January 31, 2019
I'm not sure what to think of Judge Dredd.
One one side, Dredd presaged the coming of some of the masterpieces of "dark" comics in the 1980s--dystopian visions in Alan Moore's Watchmen and V for Vendetta as well as Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns probably owe some of their existence to the Mega-City One of Judge Dredd. But on the other hand can we really say that Dredd is the hero of his own strip? While Watchmen wrestles with the moral ambiguity of how to save the world, there is nothing ambiguous in how Dredd sees the world--the law is black and white, and punishment is meted out instantaneously. For a world that is increasingly becoming a surveillance state, Dredd may be the perfect law enforcement officer.
I think when John Wagner (and later with Alan Grant as T.B. Grover) created Judge Dredd, it was probably considered satire--"hey guys, at some point this world is going to be so fucked up it will need a guy like Judge Dredd making sure it doesn't completely disintegrate around everyone" and the book became popular because of the early stories and the early work of Brian Bolland, who was a regular contributor. However, I feel at some point Dredd became a parody of the parody, and in this volume Wagner and Grant feel like they are going through the motions, just trying to come up with story lines in a "jeez, we have to produce one of these every week?" sort of feel. Like with the early Bolland strips, this volume contains the early work of Steve Dillon who went on to work on Preacher with Garth Ennis which is probably "must see" for fans of Dillon's work, but the quality of the stories just doesn't reach some of the earlier Dredd high water marks.
One one side, Dredd presaged the coming of some of the masterpieces of "dark" comics in the 1980s--dystopian visions in Alan Moore's Watchmen and V for Vendetta as well as Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns probably owe some of their existence to the Mega-City One of Judge Dredd. But on the other hand can we really say that Dredd is the hero of his own strip? While Watchmen wrestles with the moral ambiguity of how to save the world, there is nothing ambiguous in how Dredd sees the world--the law is black and white, and punishment is meted out instantaneously. For a world that is increasingly becoming a surveillance state, Dredd may be the perfect law enforcement officer.
I think when John Wagner (and later with Alan Grant as T.B. Grover) created Judge Dredd, it was probably considered satire--"hey guys, at some point this world is going to be so fucked up it will need a guy like Judge Dredd making sure it doesn't completely disintegrate around everyone" and the book became popular because of the early stories and the early work of Brian Bolland, who was a regular contributor. However, I feel at some point Dredd became a parody of the parody, and in this volume Wagner and Grant feel like they are going through the motions, just trying to come up with story lines in a "jeez, we have to produce one of these every week?" sort of feel. Like with the early Bolland strips, this volume contains the early work of Steve Dillon who went on to work on Preacher with Garth Ennis which is probably "must see" for fans of Dillon's work, but the quality of the stories just doesn't reach some of the earlier Dredd high water marks.
April 15, 2021
This Judge Dredd Case File (eight in the series) features some interesting long stories, and other stories that show a different side of Dredd. It begins with Dredd teaming up with a brain-altered Mean Machine Angel on a quest to find some missing treasure in the Cursed Earth. Things get 'bonked' once the effects of the brain surgery on Mean Machine starts to wear off and his hatred of Dredd surfaces.
Probably for the first time, Dredd begin to show signs that he had trouble being a Judge (gasp!). He seeks another Judge for advice over a judgement he carried out on a perp and told the most unlikely thing to do to keep his mind off it involving his shoes.
This would lead up to the main story in this collection: "City of the Damned", where Dredd and Anderson are sent into the future to discover just what kind of disaster happens to Mega City One as foretold during the earlier Judge Child quest. The answer would reveal that the solution might involve changing the future. But whether the solution would work is not revealed for now.
"The Hunters Club" would be one of those tales where Dredd does not get his perp. Club members hunt other people and here, Dredd would get close to catching its members.
Probably for the first time, Dredd begin to show signs that he had trouble being a Judge (gasp!). He seeks another Judge for advice over a judgement he carried out on a perp and told the most unlikely thing to do to keep his mind off it involving his shoes.
This would lead up to the main story in this collection: "City of the Damned", where Dredd and Anderson are sent into the future to discover just what kind of disaster happens to Mega City One as foretold during the earlier Judge Child quest. The answer would reveal that the solution might involve changing the future. But whether the solution would work is not revealed for now.
"The Hunters Club" would be one of those tales where Dredd does not get his perp. Club members hunt other people and here, Dredd would get close to catching its members.
March 19, 2023
There are some very good stories here. City of the Damned and Angel Dredd in particular. It was good to see a proper finish to the Judge Child storyline. There were also some good one shots especially early in the volume about Judge Dredd's psychological state.
Unfortunately, some of the art is really spotty for me. There are moment of greatness with Steve Dillon and Ian Gibson, and Ron Smith continues to maintain that healthy level and consistency. However, I really don't care for some of the other artists's work.
The inking is also quite rough in a few pieces. If that meets someone's tastes then that is awesome. But it is a hard pill to swallow after the volumes with Carlos, McMahon and Bolland. So overall, strong story, weak art in places. Average volume!
Unfortunately, some of the art is really spotty for me. There are moment of greatness with Steve Dillon and Ian Gibson, and Ron Smith continues to maintain that healthy level and consistency. However, I really don't care for some of the other artists's work.
The inking is also quite rough in a few pieces. If that meets someone's tastes then that is awesome. But it is a hard pill to swallow after the volumes with Carlos, McMahon and Bolland. So overall, strong story, weak art in places. Average volume!
November 2, 2022
3.5 stars
8 volumes into old Stoney face and his typical bad ass ways. While this isn’t the best collection of Judge Dredd progs, this particular volume does have the fun “Hell Street Blues” storyline as well as a few one-offs like “Bright Eyes”.
I do have to say that the many of the stories feel played out and lack the creativity of the the first few years of the series. Both Grant and Wagner’s ideas are almost parodies of their original parody at this point and now that massive arcs like “Apokolipse War” and “Cursed Earth” are far in the past, there just isn’t anything that can measure
8 volumes into old Stoney face and his typical bad ass ways. While this isn’t the best collection of Judge Dredd progs, this particular volume does have the fun “Hell Street Blues” storyline as well as a few one-offs like “Bright Eyes”.
I do have to say that the many of the stories feel played out and lack the creativity of the the first few years of the series. Both Grant and Wagner’s ideas are almost parodies of their original parody at this point and now that massive arcs like “Apokolipse War” and “Cursed Earth” are far in the past, there just isn’t anything that can measure
February 17, 2023
This has some real high spots, usually the longer sequences like the Dredd/Mean Angel team up. From around 415 the quality ratchets up, with the superb Sunday Night Fever and everything that follows posting a witty social commentary of 22nd Century life - oddly like a hyperbolic 80s. One sour note comes from the story of the Puerto Nuevoan pyrotechnic character which has a pretty ugly conclusion that really has ho place in a children's comic.
From an aesthetic point of view, Cam Kennedy's art is seminal and full of life and amusement.
The next edition starts with The Midnight Surfer, surely the finest of all of the Dress strips.
From an aesthetic point of view, Cam Kennedy's art is seminal and full of life and amusement.
The next edition starts with The Midnight Surfer, surely the finest of all of the Dress strips.
July 28, 2020
Solid collection of Dredd stories, originally released between mid 1984 and mid 1985. Nothing here stands out as a particularly key moment in the history of Mega-City 1, so I wouldn't call it a "must have" volume, but if you like the classic Dredd mixture of absurdity and bleak satire, you'll be well served.
February 16, 2025
I think the quality of stories was slightly higher here than in the last two volumes. We get two multi-part call backs to the Judge Child saga and the Mean Machine which were strong enough. I love the way these volumes sit on my shelves. I don't image I will do a lot of re-reading as I really need an index to the best stories, but I will keep going with these as long as I can still pick them up.
July 10, 2025
I am on a bing reading marathon to reread all the Judge Dredd comics since it debut from 1977 upwards.
I just simply love the story plot, the dialogue and the story plot itself. This is my second time around and as ever I thoroughly enjoyed it once again. I can never be bored of the Judge Dredd series as I complete a volume of a graphic novel per week.
Best wishes. Sean
I just simply love the story plot, the dialogue and the story plot itself. This is my second time around and as ever I thoroughly enjoyed it once again. I can never be bored of the Judge Dredd series as I complete a volume of a graphic novel per week.
Best wishes. Sean
September 20, 2017
Dredd Angel saves it from getting two stars.
December 16, 2017
Some classic Dredd tales here. The Judge Child is great and Gator. Always fun and grimly funny.
May 22, 2018
this has been a really good book in the series and right at the end the first Dredd that I remember (vaguely) reading back when I was kid
July 13, 2018
Not solid gold. Mainly because not any ultra long sagas and I just do not like Ron Smith's art. And there is plenty of that in here.
April 19, 2019
Better Dredd than Dead!
September 15, 2019
I know City of the Damned gets a lot of crap—and you can see Wagner and Grant lose interest on the page—but I dunno, I really enjoyed it.
That and Wally Squad really propped this one up for me.
That and Wally Squad really propped this one up for me.
January 4, 2020
Tech error
Was looking forward to some nostalgia, unfortunately the book only partially downloaded. What very little I could read was excellent😟
Was looking forward to some nostalgia, unfortunately the book only partially downloaded. What very little I could read was excellent😟
December 22, 2021
Excellent gripping from the start! Full of three dimensional characters and plot twists! Adventure and action! Brilliant Crisp High Five! Get it if you can! I am the law! :D
July 20, 2022
Some pretty poor reproductions in this volume make for hard reading. Cracking time travel based fun
December 31, 2023
Actually also DNF. It's ok but a bit blend
December 31, 2023
Pretty much a perfect volume of Judge Dredd stories, my favourite being City of the Damned .
August 8, 2025
A return to form after the mild disappointment of volume 7. All cracking stories with some time travel thrown in too.
November 21, 2025
3 of the best sagas so far a d a couple of other decent stories in here.
Definitely a classic
Definitely a classic
December 7, 2025
"city of the damned" an all timer
August 1, 2014
A nice collection of Judge Dredd stories.
Returning from the Judge Child story in Case Files 4 we have stories featuring both Mean Machine Angel in Dredd Angel and Owen Krysler, the Judge Child, in The City of the Damned. Both of those stories along with The Hunter's Club were the best of the collection.
Here you'll learn a bit about Judge Dredd's pre-Judge life and how he lost his eyes and got them replaced with bionic ones.
Not much over the top fascist law enforcement, which I missed for its comedic value and what was there seemed added as an after thought.
The final few stories in the volume are not particularly good one offs. One promises a return of the Dark Judges, but ends up not being about the Dark Judges at all and they don't even appear in the story.
Except for the weak stories at the end I believe Judge Dredd fans will like this volume.
Returning from the Judge Child story in Case Files 4 we have stories featuring both Mean Machine Angel in Dredd Angel and Owen Krysler, the Judge Child, in The City of the Damned. Both of those stories along with The Hunter's Club were the best of the collection.
Here you'll learn a bit about Judge Dredd's pre-Judge life and how he lost his eyes and got them replaced with bionic ones.
Not much over the top fascist law enforcement, which I missed for its comedic value and what was there seemed added as an after thought.
The final few stories in the volume are not particularly good one offs. One promises a return of the Dark Judges, but ends up not being about the Dark Judges at all and they don't even appear in the story.
Except for the weak stories at the end I believe Judge Dredd fans will like this volume.
October 9, 2014
This has been my least favourite Case Files so far. For example, the epic 'City of the Damned' I found a bit tedious. Personally I don't like the time travel stories in the JD universe with the resultant rewrites of its history. One of the things I like about JD is how it doesn't "reboot" its universe. There's an interesting moment when Dredd gets blinded and has to rely on Anderson - it's a change to see a JD being "weak". And there's an interesting short story where JD questions his judgement in fatally shooting a perp. But none of the stories stuck in my memory. No new Mega-City craze like Otto Sump's ugliness or Boing. I noted that the Hunters Club reappeared recently with the Sensitive Klegg story.
October 5, 2015
From a great start with the 'odd couple' style comedy of Dredd and Mean Machine to the final story in which a Judge turns bad, there were plenty of thrills in the 8th volume. While stories like 'Gator' may have been inspired by popular B-movies of the era, there is still some satire to be found in the likes of 'Error of Judgement'. Although there are many excellent episodes to entertain, such as 'The Wally Squad' and 'The Hunters Club', nothing comes close to the time travelling, Vampire-Judges battling epic 'City of the Damned', which is worth the cover price alone. Beyond this there is also the spectacle of Monsteroso to enjoy, the irreverence of Spugbug, and the usual pointless riots waged by the citizens of Megacity One.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews