Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files 01

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files + The Restricted Files+ The Daily Dredds

by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Steve Moore

Collects together forgetten and rare gens from the Thrill-power archives. Readers can experience Dredd strips that haven't been reprinted in over 30 years. This collection of classic strips in a must-read for any comic fan!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2010

About the author

John 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)

Reviews

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of Judge Dredd tales from various 2000AD Specials and Annuals between 1977 and 1984. As such, there are no long tales, and it consists of one-off stories, with some in colour. Probably the most unusual tale is set at the time Dredd was assigned to Lunar City. There, Tharg the Mighty appears, along with a cast of 2000AD characters to celebrate the holidays with Dredd. As is usual in such tales, it does not end well, even for Dredd in this case.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one weird volume - the first third is a bunch of writers and artists who appear to not know how to even begin to approach Dredd or his world (and reassuring evidence that even Kevin O’Neill had an early, dodgy period; the second third is Wagner and Grant, oddly working solo for huge chunks of it, nailing the world far more confidently; the final third feels like they’ve finally worked out how to stretch out and relax in the slightly longer medium allowed by annuals, enjoying the use of colour and test driving plots for future use (Big Bang Theory is almost literally reused as a plot for one of the democracy stories many years later). It’s a fascinating cross section of a comic positively blooming

It’s full of some properly mad stuff though: Mega Miami and the racist robots; a parallel universe story that basically exists for Ezquerra to draw some villains he missed out on first time round (and feels like an early go at the Dredd story in prog 2000); a story that literally rips off Not Now Bernard; John Byrne looking like he’s tracing Steve Dillon; a Halloween story which is just an excuse for Ezquerra to draw lots of wonderful mutations up against Dredd for once, rather than backing Johnny Alpha; and some nice callbacks to early stories for the more careful reader, which in their own way demonstrate the strange continuity that marks part of the appeal of Joe Dredd some forty odd years after some of these were initially published

[Mat Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

You know. I continue to be surprised with Dredd. Whilst waiting to get a copy of the Case Files Volume 10, I figured, why not read the Restricted Files in the meantime. I have not heard much about it in the past and the reviews are fine but lacklustre.

I loved this. Firstly, yes they are episodic but that is what they are. I was not expecting an epic. In terms of story, there are a lot of callbacks to the amazing characters which populated Mega City 1 between 77-84.

Seeing Judge Death, Cal, Fatties, and many others was so cool. It was like checking in with old friends and being reminded what makes Judge Dredd ace. I was even happy to see that bloody silly robot, Walter. And that brings me to what is great about this - it shows the evolution of Dredd.

In no way is this clearer than the art. We begin like Case File 1 did and move through a series of art work which captures why Carlos Esquerra, Mick McMahon and Brian Bolland did wonders at creating this world.

However, it also contain some excellent work from the amazing Cliff Robinson who continues to amaze me and Steve Dillon. It is all here. There is so much to like about this restricted file, however I would say it is best to read it after finishing case file 7 or 8 like I did.

Ace!

[Rachel Redhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a mixed bag than the regular case files, this is a collection of stories from various specials over several years, so the variance in quality is more apparent, but that shouldn't go against it too much as there's some good gems in the book to enjoy

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nice book, much of it in colour, collects Judge Dredd stories from various 2000AD Summer Specials and Annuals between 1977 and 1984. Being culled from Specials and Annuals it features no long, continuing stories, only short one-offs. There are three scriptwriters: John Wagner, Alan Grant and Steve Moore, though a few individual stories are credited to unknown. It's mostly Wagner, which is no bad thing. There are ten artists listed on the cover, the usual competent 2000AD members and one John Byrne, of X-Men fame who drew a story called 'Block Out at the Crater Bowl'. All the art is pretty good, though in a few of the early stories the Dredd one seems a bit small-bodied and big-headed so he looks like Billy the Cat, of Beano fame.

Given thirty-four stories to choose from the best thing to do is pick out the highlights. The opening third of the book is pretty unremarkable but not unpleasant. The first story I really enjoyed was ‘The Fear That Made Milwaukee Famous’ written by John Wagner. Dredd goes out into the Cursed Earth with a warrant for the arrest of Rhode Island Red, a chicken-headed mutant. Milwaukee was nuked by ‘friendly fire’ in the Apocalypse war that created Dredd’s future and the grumpy citizens are rumoured to haunt it every night. The idea of Americans accidentally nuking one of their own cities is not far fetched for they said in World War II: ‘When the Germans shoot, the British duck; when the British shoot, the Germans duck; when the Americans shoot, everybody ducks.’ As true today as it was then. This enjoyable tale was greatly enhanced by lively art from Mike McMahon. ‘The Sweet Taste of Justice’ next in the book, has even better art, albeit in black and white, by Colin Wilson.

There is a recurring strain of black humour in the life of Dredd. In ‘Compulsory Purchase’ the city buys the heart of Norman Williams because it's needed for a top defence expert. Norman objects even though he will get an artificial heart as a replacement. In ‘Anatomy of a Crime’ Bub “Jellybelly” Jones wants to win the coveted title of Mega-City Fats but can’t afford the Flabbon supplements necessary as he is unemployed, like 87% of the population. He turns to crime. ‘The Beast in 24b’ has parents thinking the fang-beast that ate their son is their son, changed by some experiment with his chemistry set. This sort of thing is good fun.

Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files 01 is not as good as the later volumes of Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files because by its very nature it doesn’t feature the epic continuing stories that have moved the big-jawed one into the top rank of comic characters. Even so, it contains some good yarns, some excellent art and is probably worth the 1200 pennies you can now buy it for online.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects the material from the ancillary specials that should have been included in the core Complete Case Files line. I am guessing that the reason why they didn't go that route originally is that many of these issues are in color and the first bunch of CCFs are in black and white. Later volumes in CCFs are in full color, but the optimal route would be what they did for the third Rogue Trooper collection: Coated stock paper so that they can print the color stories in color and in their proper place. That ship has sailed, although there is a hardcover of The Complete Case Files Vol. 1 on the horizon. We'll see if that rectifies this error.

These stories are all over the place in terms of quality. These are all self-contained short stories for obvious reasons, since they appeared in random special editions to lure new readers into the fold. There are a number of references to then-current events in the core title that would have made these stories more enjoyable if they were presented in their proper context in the Complete Case Files line, especially the one with the sort-of return of Fergie, King Of The Big Smelly.

We get treated to a Brian Bolland drawn story in The Alien Zoo from the 2000 A.D. Annual 1982. I was shocked to see John Byrne handle the artwork in Block Out At The Crater Bowl from 2000 A.D. Sci-Fi Special 1983. I was unaware that he had ever done work for the UK comic industry. It also makes me wish that he would have been able to give this character a shot, because I think that he could have done some cool stuff with him. Oh well, at least we have this one story.

It's interesting to see the airbrushed and water colored art, as some UK comics were printed on slick paper. While it looks primitive by modern computer coloring it was a real step forward. I remember seeing some of the Marvel Magazines from the late '70s and thinking how cool comics on slick paper with an expanded color palette looked.

This was an uneven but entertaining read. Aside from the stories mentioned this is for completists only.

[Etain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is really good, it would probably work as a perfect introduction to this series it's like a vertical slice of the first decade of Dredd. There's a handful of genuinely fantastic stories in here and some amazing full colour art.
It's kinda funny how stark the difference is between a John Wagner story and any other writer he just feels so much more comfortable and is able to strike the perfect balance between adventure and absurdity

[Derek Moreland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that’s more like it! I have to say, I think I’m a bigger fan of the early days of Dredd than most...I deeply enjoyed the return of Walter and Maria in this collection, for example. After the disappointments of volumes 8 and 9 of the case files, this was a great return to form.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally we get to see Dredd in colour! Mostly from annuals and specials, this volume takes stories from a range of sources that span about 7 years, and it's great to see just how far the look of the character has come in that time. His first ever colour outing is in the 1979 Dan Dare annual, in which he seems to be sporting some green kneepads. The story is typical Dredd of the era and unremarkable save for the fact it is in colour. Much more bizarre is his second colour outing, which appeared in the following year's Dan Dare annual in which all of the other popular 2000 AD characters hold a surprise Christmas party for him! The premise alone is rather embarrassing and isn't helped by the story (which really isn't much beyond the premise). Thankfully, crossovers of this kind are rare. While the entire book may be a collection of odd curiosities the truth is that it is still a lot of fun and a wonderful panorama of Dredd's early years.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books collect the Dredd stories that were printed in specials and annuals, and the first few stories really aren't up to the quality of the main strip. It swings from okay to terrible for a few installments, then finds its feet very well with some really enjoyable vintage Dredd throughout the latter half. For that chunk, even when the stories aren't particularly exciting the artwork should see you through, there's some really gorgeous Ezquerra stuff in here.

[Zoë Birss · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my second Dredd book, after gaining an interest in the character from the recent (2012?) film. This book is mostly just terrible, with the occasional bright spot in the art. But when it's bad, it's really bad. Panels are even out of order sometimes. I found the general tone and wit at its best to be somewhat comparable to Mad magazine. Skip it.

I hope to discover that this strip improves. The story has a lot of potential, as evidenced in the film.

[Timo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong, but I do really love Judge Dredd and his world, but these.... every time I read something from the Annuals or specials, they seem to carry stories that didn't make the cut for the 2000AD. Solid art. some really good from Esquerra, but the stories.... stories were just like ideas for a joke that had to be done to get pages filled.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's a reason why these stories haven't been reprinted in over 30 years. They are scraping the barrel. Stick to the case files.

[Raymond Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this Judge Dredd book of stories that were printed in Magazines and newspapers,I found some were better than others but overall very good.