I've been reading this over the last 3 nights just soaking it all in. I've read some Dredd, just not a whole lot. Mostly the some of the Eagle Comics reprints from the 80s and a little bit of the pretty crappy one DC did back in the 90s.
What really knocked my socks off was the size as this is reproduced at 12x9 size (if my trusty tape measure is to be, uh, trusted). So, you really get a good look at that luscious art. Which it certainly is. It is amazing that Bolland's style is so fully formed way back in 1977. I just love the permanent scowl that Bolland's Dredd has on his mug.
The back of the book includes Bolland's covers and some pin-ups which are just about worth the price of admission alone. ($50 cover price).
It isn't all rainbows and unicorns though, as I did have just a few problems with the book.
First, a lot of the times you don't get full stories. That is completely understandable as some of the arcs are really long. Brian Bolland only did a few chapters of Cursed Earth for example, but it ran for 25. Including that and The Judge Child would have made this twice as big as it was. Like I said that I understand as it would have just been to unwieldy.
It was also a bit hard to read at times. If was a comic and stapled it would have been easy to read, but the binding made some of the stories tough to read. The only other bit that I didn't care too much for was the very tiny color section which marred the art a little bit, because the coloring technique at the time wasn't that great, and when you compare it to the black and white art it isn't even close in terms of quality. It is Brian Bolland, so it is still pretty great.
For me it is the little things that make the stories. The fact that Dredd can tell the difference between human and robot made cookies. The Cisco Kid and Pancho Judges. How war is handled.
One last thing, one of the most visual bits was the Jigsaw Disease. Wow, just awesome looking
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