Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03: N/A

Third in the excellent series reprinting every Dredd story, this covers progs 116 to 154, published between 1979 and 1980 (both in 2000AD and the annual). Focussing this time more on self-contained stories (there are two small series, one being “Father Earth”, the other the first appearance of “Judge Death” - which is excellent), the bulk of the stories are written by Wagner (often as John Howard), with Pat Mills also contributing and the artwork is superb, especially that of Brian Bolland (naturally), Ron Smith (who drew a lot more of my childhood/teenage reading than I’d remembered), Ian Gibson, Mike McMahon, Barry Mitchell (who I’m sure drew “Twisty” for Bullet) and the excellent John Cooper amongst others. Wagner, in some stories, also manages to predict events that would happen a few years beyond his writing (and get worse thirty years later - the gap I re-read these at), with reality TV shows such as “Sob Story”, so I hope he wasn’t as prescient elsewhere. The bulk of the stories work (I’m not so keen on Walter), some of them are brutal, some amusing, most are clever and occasionally you get flashes of anger from the writer, especially in one where a mad scientist is going to unleash the common cold. Great fun, with top notch writing and artwork, superbly reproduced and iconic to the core, I’d highly recommend this.

With the Third Mega Epic, ‘The Judge child’ looming in volume 4, Volume 3 of the series is slimmer than those surrounding it. However, I recall reading the stories from this volume in ‘The Complete Judge Dredd’ and they were among (for the most part) some of the very best shorter tales the comic had put together at this point. There’s a real sense of ‘world building’ and as a reader you really start to see Dredd’s world take shape. There are any number of in my opinion very good to excellent stories here. The introduction of the recurring villain Judge Death probably the highlight but stories such as ‘Cityblock’, ‘Father Earth’, ‘Sob Story’, ‘The Invisible Man’and ‘Judge Minty’ introduce themes that would recur for the next three decades. Indeed there’s probably only a couple of more mediocre stories. Not enough to merit anything less than a full five stars. Well written and for the most part very well illustrated, a must for any Judge Dredd fan. Thoroughly recommended.

Not much more to say. This is a very worthy addition to the files. It's not quite as thick as the previous two volumes but makes up for it in variety. While #2 was mainly two epic storylines, this is one short adventure after another, mixing up the artists so each new prog you arrive at is different. Great for a quick 15 minute read to get a whole story done before bedtime. Each of these I read makes me look forward to the next and this is no exception.

After the two epic story lines dominated the previous volume, this collections gets really into the world of Dredd. There are lots of different writers and illustrators having fun with the world of Mega City One and exploring the lives of some of the 800 million inhabitants, and of course, the perps that roam the streets. I'm a bit of a fan of the stories beyond the boundary wall, so enjoyed "The Black Plague" in particular, which sees Dredd having to fight back a horde of mutated spiders from the Cursed Earth and also the mystery and intrigue of "The Invisible Man", which is quite the detective story.I guess some may thing the Walter the Wobot narrated stories are a bit silly, but I like them and I like Walter as a character, providing a little light relief. Regular Dredd readers will know he's a hero, so cut him some slack!One criticism is the slimness of the volume - it's probably half the size of  Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files v. 4 , Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files v. 5  and some of the other Case Files Collections.However, plenty to like in this volume, and something for everyone, I think. Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files v. 4Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files v. 5

Big fan of the 2000AD comics. M.A.C.H.1 , FLESH Books 1&2 and of course Judge Dredd are only some of the most popular stories and characters. If you are new to Dredd, i recommend you start from the beginning with Vol 1. This collection of Dredds adventures is a must have.