(2021) John Wagner et al, 2000AD / Rebellion, £14.99 / Can$26.99 / US$19.99, pbk, 128pp, ISBN 978-1-781-08895-1
For those new to Judge Dredd from the weekly 2000AD comic, this full colour graphic novel collection of shorts is a good place to start. Indeed, unless you want to buy into the weekly comic and the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine, the graphic novels are a great way to keep up with things in the Dreddverse. And why should you get into Dredd? Well, with over four decades of world-building and a wry reflection on late 20th, and early 21st, century politics, this is one of the iconic and socially astute franchises the SF genre offers. Further, with Rebellion (who own 2000AD) building a large television studio, you will in a few years time be hearing a lot more about Dredd.
Dredd is a clone of the father of justice who established the Judicial system in the crime-ridden USA just prior to a nuclear world war. In this world, Judges are policemen, jury and judge all rolled into one and capable of dispatching instant justice. This system was so successful that many nations created their own versions of it including: Brit Cit (Great Britain), Cal Hab (Scotland), Sino Cit (Japan) and the East Megs (Russia).
The nuclear war turned central USA into the Cursed Earth. Dredd himself operates in Mega City One which is made up of all the eastern seaboard US cities including New York and Philadelphia. Mega City One has a population of many, largely unemployed, millions but not as many as it once had due to several disasters including: an East Meg invasion; a supernatural parody of Judges from another dimension led by Judge Death taking over; and, more recently, a bio-warfare attack with the artificial Chaos virus.
This volume consists of four stories of which the titular 'Guatemala' is the longest.
Mega City One learns that the robot-led state of Guatemala has nuclear weapons and will threaten Mega City One unless embargos and trade sanctions are lifted.
Guatemala is ruled by the despotic El Presidente robot who treats humans as cheap commodities and a resource to use regardless of suffering and life.
Dredd is ostensibly sent on a diplomatic mission, but in fact it is also a covert operation…
For regulars of Dredd, it has to be said that the story begins with a major event (unconnected with this tale) but an advert for another graphic novel included in this one reveals that this event is but a ploy. So regulars need not panic…
The 'Guatemala' story itself has some present-day resonances: it is not difficult to see parallels with the current N. Korea situation.
The second story, 'By Private Contract', sees Dredd reunite with a mutant bounty hunter from the future, the Strontium Dog Johnny Alpha. The latter is the protagonist of another 2000AD strip. Johnny comes back to Dredd's time as someone in the future has put out a bounty on Dredd. Johnny wants to help Dredd find out who and, if he can, claim the bounty. Dredd, it transpires, will encounter a former enemy, Judge Cal (an insane former Chief Judge who is inspired by the Roman emperor Caligula)… This story is drawn by the late, great Carlos Ezquerra who, with John Wagner, co-created Dredd and gave him his look as well as that of Mega City One.
'Get Jerry Sing' is the second story in this collection drawn by Carlos Ezquerra. A scrawl (graffiti) saying 'Get Jerry Sing' appears and then goes viral. It is not good news for the singer Jerry Sing…
Finally, we have 'The Trouble with Harry' and Brit Cit decides to privatise its monarchy… No difficulty in seeing present-day parallels here.
The beauty of this graphic collection of shorts is the diversity of Dreddverse perspectives devoid of the long-plot arcs that span many stories. Newcomers might like to use this graphic collection to dip a toe into the Dredd universe: Dredd fans will, of course, simply enjoy it.
Jonathan Cowie
[Up: Fiction Reviews Index | SF Author: Website Links | Home Page: Concatenation]
[One Page Futures Short Stories | Recent Site Additions | Most Recent Seasonal Science Fiction News]