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 By John Wagner, Robbie Morrison & Henry Flint
Buy Judge Dredd: The Henry Flint Collection
What to Expect: One of the best Dredd artists in recent years gets a collection all to himself.
Review by Martin Charlton
"The Henry Flint Collection". Mull the words around in your head. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it?
Surely you’ve already started putting together the contents in your head, haven’t you? Total War’s got to be in there, given its massive impact on Dredd’s world. Dredd vs. Aliens is a must, as it’s the closest Dredd has come to a ‘high-concept’ story in the past five years.
Then you open the book and realise that neither story has made the cut. Both have recently been reprinted by Rebellion and understandably aren’t included here so to not kill the sales of other volumes. Fears then begin to manifest regarding the purpose of this book, with memories of the somewhat bizarre Carlos Ezquerra ‘Judge Dredd’ collection (“it’s not all Judge Dredd, and parts of it are drawn by someone else” being my favourite quote about that book).
 I’m pleased to reveal however that while that book didn’t exactly do what it said on the tin, ‘The Henry Flint collection’ is possibly stronger by not featuring the aforementioned mega-epics. Total War, while impeccably illustrated should be chalked up as a masterwork of writing rather than art, and Dredd/Aliens was about sheer spectacle than the more measured approach to Dredd we’ve come to expect (hence the presence of Andy Diggle on co-writing duties.) What we’ve got here are a series of more incidental stories that plot the evolution of Flint as an art droid, with some interesting points emerging from the changing colourists featured.
First up we’ve got two light comedy stories featuring Mrs. Gunderson which display a rough, sketchy part of Flint’s career seen in the Judge Dredd: The Hunting Party collection. Of most importance here is the collection of ‘Turned out Quite Nice Again’ featured in the notorious Prog 1208 and as such is somewhat of a rarity. After that, the book is composed entirely of Flint’s Megazine work, starting with the wonderful ‘J.D. Megson story, a thoroughly enjoyable extra-textual satire regarding the status of the Megazine at the time, before moving on to the ‘Turkey Shoot’ Christmas story, the first of three stories coloured by the sublime Chris Blythe.
 While the quality of Flint’s art shines before this, the introduction of Blythe’s colours is like adding a flake to an ice cream cone – it suddenly all comes together and becomes an altogether more appetising prospect. Blythe’s colours also grace Flint’s work on Total War, Helter Skelter and Dredd/Aliens and the partnership is one of the true greats, like Lennon & McCartney, Morecambe & Wise or Wagner & Grant.
Turkey Shoot itself is a delightful story, followed by the triple length ‘Flood’s Thirteen’ which at 36 pages is still the longest ‘all in one’ Dredd story published in 2000AD or the Megazine. A masterpiece of writing, this is a typical Wagner ‘devour in one sitting’ story like Button Man or Judge Dredd: Sin City. By now we’re in the ‘classic’ age of Flint, with the energy of McMahon and the attention to detail of Bolland. After that, we get a misfire of sorts with the passable Robbie Morrison ‘Streetfighting Man’, which from a storyline perspective is nothing special as, alas, are most Morrison Dredds.
The volume is rounded off with the inclusion of one of the more recent P.J. Maybe tales in which Maybe becomes mayor of Mega-City One. Flint’s art seems to have moved away from the hyper detailed faces seen in Total War or Dredd/Aliens, and the return of Len O’Grady on colours seems to flatten out the art for this story. It’s still stunning and it’s a delight to see Flint have a go at P.J. Maybe, but in terms of finished art, it is an anti-climax to this book.
 So, Judge Dredd: The Henry Flint Collection. Is it worth buying?
If you’re after Flint’s more high profile work then probably not. Forum comments seem to suggest that this is what people are after. Perhaps the way Rebellion need to go with these books is the Storming Heaven route – cherry pick from the career of an artist, not just their Judge Dredd work, given that this would have allowed the inclusion of Flint’s Alien Invasions stories or his Missionary Man work (surely due for a reprint.)
However, if you’re looking for a natural evolution of an artist who may be (with the exception of Jock, and he did so little of it that it’s hard to make a case) the finest Dredd artist of his generation, then yes. The stories are pleasantly coherent as a book, containing at least two modern Dredd masterpieces (J.D. Megson & Flood’s Thirteen) and are presented with the usual Rebellion panache. And I’m sure the artist is proud of this work, which is no higher recommendation.
Buy Judge Dredd: The Henry Flint Collection
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