You won't be able to miss it. Volume one is mounted onto a huge display card (see above) and is prominently displayed in shops. This first issue has a special low price of £1.99 which is an absolute bargain.
So what do you get? A chunky hardback book reprinting the famed Dredd saga America in full, along with associated back up stories. There are also a few background notes and Colin MacNeil's character sketches.
There's also a free A2 poster with this first volume, with art by Brian Bolland.
Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection will be published every fortnight, building up to 80 volumes. Volume 2 will feature Machismo, and will be priced £6.99, and volume 3 features The Apocalypse War and will be £9.99 which is then the regular price. Even at a tenner, it's still good value compared to most graphic novels.
Some readers may have preferred the books to reprint the stories in chronological order but it's understandable that they'd hook buyers with some of the most acclaimed stories first. The quality of the books look great, and this is a fantastic way to bring in new readers and to give older readers a nostalgia fest. Hopefully it will also boost sales of 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine.
Judge Dredd is one of the best known British comic characters of all time so he's a natural choice for a partwork. It would be ideal to see Hachette expand to produce books on other classic UK comic characters too, but that's not too likely unfortunately. In the meantime, let's celebrate the fact that Dredd is getting this treatment which hopefully will prove to be a success.
Here's the official website to read more about it and subscribe:
http://www.judgedreddcollection.com/
Looks like a top quality partwork! I've started collecting the Judge Dredd Complete Case Files to read all of his stories from the very beginning so unfortunately won't be picking this up, but I do hope plenty of people do. I listened to the first 2000AD podcast there on Wednesday which tied in with this (and will with each future part) and they're going for thematic rather than chronological which, when you're not reproducing them all, is a good idea. What I would love is if Rebellion reprinted all the 2000ADs in order form #1 in book form somehow, but that's just a pipe dream!!
ReplyDeleteIn that case a thematic approach makes sense. Thanks. I hadn't listened to the podcast.
ReplyDeleteMakes for very interesting listening into the creative process behind America, especially the artwork as they have the actual artist on the podcast. Or "Thrillcast" to give it it's proper name. Not on iTunes yet but you can listen to it on the web here - https://soundcloud.com/2000-ad/the-2000-ad-thrill-cast-episode1-20-jan-2015
ReplyDeleteLew, thanks for featuring this!
ReplyDeleteI will try and buy it on saturday, I hope that the WH Smiths round here stocks it! It seems that many of the comics/specials you highlight on your blog are never available in my area, except the ubiquitous Dandy/Beano specials/annuals/whatevers which seem to just stockpile and are perpetually for sale!
I got mine yesterday - a beautiful book!
ReplyDeleteFor those who don't know, I recommend 10 yarns to watch out for : -
JUDGE CAL
JUDGE CHILD
THE CURSED EARTH
BLOCKMANIA/THE APOCALYPSE WARS
JUDGE DEATH
THE DARK JUDGES
THE CITY OF THE DAMNED
OZ
NECROPOLIS
JUDGEMENT DAY
Read and enjoy!!
Anon, the shelves in my WH Smith are getting very crowded now with Beano Summer and Christmas specials still being on sale, plus in the older section, several Essential Doctor Who issues all fighting for space. I don't understand what's happened to their system, whereby previous issues should be replaced by new ones not shelved with them.
ReplyDeleteThe Mega Collection should be in your Smiths but due to the size of its backing board it'll be displayed on it's own probably near the checkout.
Hi Lew
ReplyDeleteAre some of the bookazines offered to WHS on a firm-sale basis? That would explain why the various DC Thomson/ Panini one-shots are cluttering-up the shelves for so long... WHS are lumbered with them!
They could well be firm sale. Seems counter productive though because it's getting hard to notice each new mag as they're buried.
ReplyDeletebought the first one as soon as it came out, outstanding.Just collected issue two and about to start reading. The collection will take pride of place on the shelf, only complaint is that the collection isn't in order, not the stories but the collection itself. Issue 2 is actually number 24 in the collection. Go figure..
ReplyDelete