Mr. Jones: JUDGE DREDD #4 Delivers
WARNING, REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!
IDW is giving a lot of love and respect to the Hall Of Justice and Mega City One with their take on Judge Dredd with the new series, and issue #4 is no exception.
To recap from last issue, a group of demented surgeons is making clones of citizens (even pets!), and threatening to kill the clones unless their loved ones pony up the cash. Unwilling to see copies of their loved ones bite the big one, Judge Dredd and Judge Tarjay escort a vehicle full of creds through the mean streets of Mega City One guided by Psi Judge Anderson, fighting off thugs trying to get an “easy” payday and leaving us with the cliffhanger that Judge Tarjay is a clone planted by the surgeons about to put a bullet in the head of Dredd!
Will Dredd be able to fight off Tarjay, deliver the ransom and save the clones?
First off, the task of writing and introducing a world rich with characters and background like the one of Dredd is no easy task, and my hats off to Duane Swierczynski for not only doing that, but making it, in my opinion, accessible to the person who is new to this world. Mega City One is NOT a little place and he’s giving the reader a great GPS to navigate this world thus far.
And the world and characters are kept loyal to the source material so existing fans aren’t alienated and left out in the cold. The art of Nelson Daniel also helps with the intro into this world, given the satirical and absurd world of Dredd, he gives it a great mix of an almost Batman: The Animated Series style simple feel, not losing sight of the scope and violence that this world contains.
Extra kudos to the backup stories within the issues! So far we’ve seen the fleshing out of the world of Mega City One, and background of Judge Tarjay, setting up for more stories and conflicts in the future. Not to mention the piece at the end of the book, detailing all the writers and artists who have contributed to this rich history!
Folks, all in all, if the Stallone movie (ugh!!) turned you off from Dredd, or you’ve been hesitant to pick up the British ongoing books for fear of not knowing what’sl is going on, the IDW book is a book jumping on point. You like that taste, start picking up the Complete Case Files TBP’s on the shelves now and give yourself a history lesson on one of the best comic characters put to page.
