Writer: John Wagner et al.Year: 1977-1978
Publisher: 2000AD
Pages: 320 (progs 2-60)
One of comics greatest icons, Mr “I am the law” has been around almost 35 years and his popularity shows no signs of diminishing with strong sales and an upcoming film due in October.
With such a huge volume of material, it was inevitable that Judge Dredd would get his own “phone book” reprint series, similar to Marvels’ Essentials and DC’s Showcase Presents. Each book contains a years worth of stories presented in b&w on newsprint paper. Weather they were originally in colour I can’t say as I wasn’t alive when these were first printed. The presentation is very nice and several of these volumes together will look impressive on the bookshelf.
Set at the dawn of the 22nd century, the earth has been tormented by nuclear and biological warfare. Most of humanity has walled themselves off inside enormous Mega-cities for protection. With huge populations and a heavy crime rate, the rule of the land has been given over to the Judges, an organisation of patrollers who are enforced to act as police, issue sentences and even order & carry out executions on the spot. Joe Dredd is the most famous judge.
The scope of the comic is it’s greatest strength. Mega-city 1 feels like a living, breathing metropolis. Each story is quite short at 5-6 pages with sporadic multi parts throughout but told at such break-neck pacing that the reader can easily gobble up a third to half the book in a single sitting!
Dredd is a hard nosed, serious officer who lives for the law. There isn’t too much to say about him at this early stage as his character hadn’t been fully rounded yet. (funny enough, when I was reading this, I couldn’t help but give him the Robocop voice and it seemed oddly appropriate) Later in the book he’s given a foil in the way of Walter the servo-robot (who comes with a lisp for comedic effect) The continuity in this book is very strong, with locations and concepts that seemed throw-away at the time brought back again and again. Even peripheral characters (and let’s face it, next to Dredd, that’s just about everyone) make returns months after their initial appearance.
The bottom line.
Characterization is light in this early volume, but that’s not really an issue next to the amazing world of the Judges. The storeys are imaginative and action packed, if a little simplistic but these books only get better with time! This is Dredds world and he is the law.
Next stop.
Judge Dredd: The complete case files: vol. 2
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