Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I often say Dredd's a humorless bastard, but I could be wrong:
The windup...
He could just be really, really deadpan in his delivery.
...and the pitch!
If you read Dredd's panels out loud--which I heartily encourage you to do, particularly if you work in an office setting--I think the most common reading would be the first lines quiet: "Do you have a problem with rats?...No? You know why?" Then loud, and borderline hysteric, "'Cause the goddamn alligators eat them!" Maybe that's an American reading, since I think most of us over here would be upset to the verge of complete panic after the gator attack Dredd mentions, and would probably punch Smellie one in the face for good measure.

For Dredd though, that's either poor form, or Dredd's gravelly voice is menacing enough without him raising it. I don't know if this has ever been mentioned either, but I imagine Dredd has having serious dental problems, from gritting and/or grinding his teeth, clenching his jaw, and so forth.

Drokk, I had this scanned almost a year ago, but didn't note where it was from: from Judge Dredd #30, "Gator" Written by John Wagner and Alan Grant (both as "T.B. Grover"), art by Kim Raymond. I thought of this story again recently, while watching The Hills Have Eyes 2: in the second half of "Gator," a survivalist class had unknowingly set off into the sewers for a final test, which goes about as well as you'd figure. As most of the class is brought through a manhole...in handfuls...a passerby asks what all that was about. "Survival class." "Huh. Looks like they all flunked out!" I was totally expecting a variation on that at the end of the movie; it sure as hell couldn't have hurt...

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