Judge Dredd: Case Files 02 ( + Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Uncensored)

The name says The Complete Case Files. That is not the case with this book. 2000AD had some trademark problems with four issues of The Cursed Earth. They didn’t dare to add them into Case Files 02 collection. When parody laws changed they released uncensored version of The Cursed Earth saga. Case Files don’t have burger war story and another story with many trademarked character. Burger War is fun story. Another one feels complete filler. Burger War isn’t worth the full price when Uncensored has worst image quality. I read everything else from Case Files. Don’t know worse picture quality that is possible. I got Uncensored in Humble Bundle. Wouldn’t have paid full price.

Case FIles 02 has The Cursed Earth and The Day the Law Died plus few shorter stories. The Cursed Earth is Dredd’s journey from Mega City 1 to Mega City 2 through Cursed Earth. The Day the Law Died tells what happens when future Caligula becomes Chief Justice. I haven’t seen it mentioned too often but to me it is most memorable Judge Dredd story. So memorable I had forgotten how long it was.

First Case Files was collection of short stories. This is mainly two long stories and few shorter stories at the end. Can’t say which one is better format. Shorter stories give you good jumping off point when you read late at night. First case files felt bit off at the beginning. This is the Dredd I remember reading decades ago.

Metro 2035

I don’t usually spoil anything I write about. This book works better unspoiled but the way the world currently is this post has more value with spoilers. I will spoil the major plot points. Before I go to spoilers I say this is best book in Metro trilogy. Russia invaded Ukraine when I was listening the book. Book felt quite different after that. Don’t comment about supporting Russia or buying Russian goods. I got this before the invasion and was listening it before invasion. To spoilers.

Metro trilogy happens about 20 years after nuclear war. World has been destroyed. Only survivors live in Moscow metro. That is what we think after first two books. First book’s protagonist Artyom tries to contact other survivors. He is only one trying to do it. Others attempt to discourage him. Metro is divided into different factions which fight each other. You have fascists and communists who do most of the fighting. Other factions concentrate on other things.

Metro 2035 gives quite bleak picture of people living in metro. We meet communists’ prisoners who don’t want to escape because they think they might not be punished if they stay in prison. Everyone except Artyom rather stay where they are instead of leaving the metro. Even after they learn the truth. Artyom wants to lead people away from metro but people rather stay in metro.

We learn others survived too. Moscow has radiation problem because it was shot with nuclear missiles. But people can live normally away from Moscow. Or as normally as you can after nuclear war. Why people in metro think they are only survivors? There are jammers around Moscow which block all radio communication. Jammers are there because people running the metro assume war is still going on and enemy will launch nuclear attack if they knew there were survivors in Moscow.

After this we learn there really are no fascists or communists or any other factions. It is really just people behind the scenes trying to control metro population. They divide people into different factions and try to limit population with fighting. Factions’ leaders know what is going on into some extent and they provide resources to keep jammers running.

Why I wanted to spoil this? You need to know the situation before I talk about depressing ending. People of metro could leave anytime they want. They could if they weren’t fearing the enemy and thinking any change to current situation leads only to worse situation. In long ending Artyom wants to convince others to leave with him but everyone rather stay in metro than leave. They prefer their miserable life in metro to going outside. One mother rather let her child die than let him leave with Artyom. That ending hit really hard after reading from Twitter what is currently happening in Russia.

Judge Dredd: Case Files 01

I have read Judge Dredd decades ago. Have wanted to read these case files for sometime. 2000 AD sells them as files. When Comixology was still around it was more convenient that using files and reader. Now that Comixology library is unreadable and I have saved only 15% as backup files it was good time to start this project. There are currently 38 case file books and few more books collecting specials. 39th is coming in couple months. Not sure if I get all of them. I read these as long as I enjoy them. Everything I have read before should be in first ten books.

Judge Dredd is published in 2000 AD’s magazine in few pages chunks. Stories happen in “real time” or close to real time. Meaning Dredd is getting older and world changes as stories go on. This book collects first comics published in magazine. At the beginning they are figuring out how to do this. By the end it start to feel more like comics I remember. If they knew how popular Dredd would become they might have started with younger Dredd.

I wanted to read these books instead of classic story collections because short one issue stories are quite interesting. Longer stories are still told in few page chunks but take many issues. Few page format has benefit and drawbacks. Benefit is they can go crazy because it is just few pages. Drawback it they have to have some sort of conclusion or cliffhanger every few page. It makes binging the stories bit exhausting. Book’s longer stories include robot war and Dredd’s time on moon colony Luna 1. Shorter stories have Dredd’s brother which was used in Sylvester Stallone’s Dredd movie.

Judge Dredd 20220220

It was week when Comixology died. It was time to finally get in Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd fan art felt like best way to go. Review of Judge Dredd: Case Files 01 coming later. Text was inspired by first Judge Dredd comic which you can find from Case Files 01. It has little bit different Judge Dredd. Original idea was to have him shout “I am the law” but with gun in that place it didn’t work.

I finished inking course. Not sure what course to take next or how fast I will do it. I have started to ink and color drafts. Before I only made drafts. Starting to get better at it. Not good enough to draw same character over and over again but getting passable characters. Now the question is should I just draw more or try to do course which teaches different style and pick something different for problem areas. It is not like I have to buy new courses for that. Just start one I have bought earlier.

Homestudio update February 2022

It has been a while since I wrote about my homestudio. I was bit critical of Moog Subsequent 25. Now I have had more experience with it. You need to have it connected to computer when you create patches. I created few default patches for different kinds of sounds. I can use them as starting point when I want to play without opening computer. Better get Subsequent 37 if you don’t want to use it with computer. You can remember few common hidden features but to change values fast you need computer and editor. Subsequent 37 have almost everything on front panel. At least it look like that for Subsequent 25 owner.

I have bit more positive look on Subsequent 25. I can see what it brings to setup. It has to do mostly with all key tracking and velocity settings which are easiest to access with editor. Probably could get similar sounds from Prophet Rev 2 with all the modulation but it is easier with Subsequent 25. I have started to get better sounds out of it but I still think Subsequent 25 wasn’t worth the money when compared to Bass Station 2 or MiniBrute 2 which cost half of it.

I have six analog synths in setup. Still considering which one should be sixth one. It has to be small. Currently it is Tetra but it doesn’t have power switch and I have Rev 2. Power switch is important because I don’t want to put power cord on and take it off. Almost got Nymphes. Then realized it doesn’t have power switch either. Is that so expensive small poly synths can’t have one? It makes having synth in setup more convenient. SE-02 has power switch but VST controller isn’t the most usable. It gives different sound than Subsequent 25 but because of VST I rather use Subsequent when I want Moog sounds. There doesn’t seem to any synths on market which is small, analog and has proper VST controller and power switch. Well there is one but is is already on setup. It is Pulse 2. Guess Tetra can stay for now.

Batman: Harley and Ivy: The Deluxe Edition

Deluxe Edition collects three issue Harley and Ivy miniseries by Paul Dini and Tim Bruce of Batman the Animated Series and over hundred pages of Harley and Ivy stories written by Paul Dini. Until last story art emulates animated series to some extent. Last one was weird. It had gritty black and white art which didn’t fit to rest of the collection. It didn’t help it was about criminal who kidnapped kids. It got more light hearted by the end but it was weird way to end the collection.

Three issue story show Harley’s and Ivy’s adventures in South America and Hollywood. Paul and Tim had fun with Hollywood issue like they didn’t like something of the way Hollywood works. Other stories are shorter ranging from ok to my favorite bat comic. Favorite bat comic being one with Batgirl. I am not into Batman comics so bar wasn’t too high. Fun cartoonish comic was enough.