Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artists: Steven Scott and Nelson Daniel
Release Date: 23rd September, 2015

IDW’s run of Judge Dredd has grown out of it’s infancy, now the seventh trade collecting the US based publisher’s Mega City based stories. Duane Swierczynski has stuck out the run serving as writer for pretty much most of it. Here the trade collects issues #25to 30, though the title and Dredd classics seem to be on hiatus at the moment.

The thing that strikes one about this trade is that it heavily riffs off of established events and material, hardly ideal if you are looking for a fresh take and perspective on the character. Anyone remotely aware of the 1995 movie will feel that this treads similar ground, if handled slightly better.

The story itself revolves around Judge Dredd on the run from the law, having previously spent time on a Titan prison colony, hence the parallel previously mentioned and even more so when you throw a clone heavy plot into the mix. It is all part of the machinations of Chief Judge Cal, whose intricate plot is gradually unwoven by Dredd and Anderson.

The art direction of this book is well handled with both Scott and Daniel splitting duties between them, there is no marked difference in style over the issues so this broadly speaking worked well in conveying a sense of continuity over the arc. Admittedly though the landscapes of Mega City One seem a little too clean, a lot of what works in 2000AD printed Dredd stories is how busy everything looks.

I’m trying to figure out who this book caters towards, whether it is for die hard 2000AD/Judge Dredd fans or to hook in newer and more international fans but it isn’t immediately clear. Overall this trade works as a pretty tight self contained story and that is where I place it, I doubt it will appeal to everyone given it all feels a bit too familiar — and the problem with that is that there are already stories out there with similar elements, it is like when a US movie studio imports the script from a Asian horror movie as it is technically well handled but doesn’t bring enough to the table at least in this particular trade.

Rating: 3/5.

The writer of this piece was:
Gary Kane aka (GK)
GK tweets from @Kanoclassic