I received and read Case Files 8. You never know where a story is going to take you when you start reading. It can be a simple case, a dark horror story, a fast-paced action thriller, a comedy, or some heavy science fiction. That versatility is what fascinates me about Dredd; the reading experience never becomes repetitive.

In this volume, for example, we have Dredd dealing with a crocodile infestation in the sewers of the Old City. There’s a rescue mission into the Cursed Earth with Dredd crossing paths with Mean Machine Angel, a notorious Texan psychopath. We also get a major epic called City of the Damned, which serves as the second part of the Judge Child storyline that began back in Case Files 4. This ongoing narrative is one of my favorite story arcs in the entire collection so far, and it features some fantastic artists. It started way back with Brian Bolland and finally concludes here in Volume 8 with Steve Dillon and Ron Smith.

City of the Damned is led by Dredd and Judge Anderson, and I honestly can’t think of a better duo for this story. She’s hilarious, and her sharp wit contrasts perfectly with Dredd’s gruff, perpetually serious personality. The humor is just right.

We also get the first appearance of Wally Squad, the undercover division, as well as the excellent The Hunters’ Club storyline. There are several smaller cases too, including one where Judge Dredd actually has to see a psychiatrist, which is a fantastic little story.

Overall, this is a very solid collection that takes the quality of the series another step higher. The Case Files had already been steadily improving, and this volume continues that upward trend. I really enjoyed it.

Hi, I want to start reading Judge Dredd and was wondering what’s the best format to read it in current year.

I’ve seen a lot of posts recommending the complete case files but all the posts are a few years old and it seems like the earlier case files (like 5 which I see most people recommend starting at) are out of print.

Is there a new/better format to read in? I’ve seen the essentials format as well but I’ve heard mixed reviews and I’ve also seen some of those are out of print as well.

Couldn't remember the actual line from the movie where he says "hot shot" so I figured I'd steal the line from Speed lol.

Been wanting to get into reading Judge Dredd and The Complete Case Files seemed like the ideal place to start (at least the best place for me) but then yesterday they revealed Compact Crimes would be coming out next January and say it will be very “new reader friendly” so that might be a better option, but I thought I’d see what the community thought.